As we head back with the unknown individual who needs medical aid to stop the bleeding which me and mark don’t know so we run as fast as humanly possible “Merry do you think you can set up a space to have first done in ten minutes” I ask over the net “Yeah I can but why?” I look over at mark who nods back “we have an injured person me and mark are heading back to the house, I tell you the rest when we are back” I say taking a breath in.

My mind is going all over the place, who is the person I am holding in my arms at this moment Bavon, Marcus or Jasmine. While we run the question eats at me. we reach the main door to the house and rush inside seeing merry wave us over to the room she set up.

When I was about step inside to place the patient down merry stopped me “It’s a girl I got this” that response halts me, I have two questions answered now but one more that is eating a lot more of my brain then the others question. I lay the person down and walk back out leaving merry in the room.

I look back over at mark who is just as confused as me, both me and him could not tell the gender of the person well I know who they are its jasmine if I am correct, as she was wearing realty thick coat to protect herself from the snow and wearing a helmet.

“Well if she decides to stay have fun” I say while we both stand in front of the door “What do you mean have fun, I am not dating someone who is actively after you to kill you” I look over at him “They might think I have died a long time ago as ten years is no fucking joke to keep looking for someone” he nods in agreement to that statement.

“But what happens if she finds out that it is really you?” He has a point there are currently two options that are possible that have happened, one is that they think I had died out here in the desert of white or two they believe I am alive even going through the white dessert. It really depends on how much they want me dead but I doubt we will hear from her for a couple days knowing merry she will most likely put them to sleep so they will recover faster.

Don’t know how sleep helps to make you recover faster but according to the only person that is a medical professional in the group it helps on scale that is unknown to me. we both walk into the new and improved common area with the campfire replaced with a table, we now also have seats found from I don’t know where.

Warmth in here is nice and comfortable, without the protective clothing against the cold. I start to take off bits and take a seat, I pull out a book from a shelve next to the seat and start to read it, although failing to take my mind off events.

I may look calm at this particular moment but in reality I am panicking the whole way to the moon and back. how and why was an envoy heading this way in the first place? Did we set off some kind of alarm or something.

I get that base might have done something but that is unlikely in my point of view as it looked that abandoned it was hard to imagine the systems working in that place, maybe they were heading here to look for new areas to expand the empire as a lot of maps and such from before the freeze were all purged for some reason.

I lean forward to have my face rest in my palms of my hands, the book falling to the table. How do I react to this sudden appearance of someone I once knew and is related to someone that is actively hunting me “God fucking dam it” I mutter under breath catching the attention of mark sitting across from me.

As I sit I am unsure of how to continue with this whole situation, I can’t reveal myself nonchalantly or casually otherwise my location and status of being live is reviled and I am going to be hunted. Before I could get too deep into thought merry sits down in a chair sitting between me and mark.

She sighs an place’s something on the table, I lift my head up hearing the sound of it being placed. A recorder for orders and such what does this nifty thing doing with jasmine, she taps on it for it to play.

“Jasmine” Nathans voice fills the room, his voice from deep and tender from when I was kid to deep and raspy “at this time the civil war with the traitors has escalated beyond our control” I sit up fully hearing that “The people who are sizing the authority of the Empress are hitting us hard it ales me to send you out into the white desert but I need you to go out there and search for Arthor” What? “The reason is that he can be helpful as to travel around the snowy terrain of our homeland and” ah, like I thought I was going to be use- “Because he is my son under law of the empire so as his guardian I must look for him, I understand that you don’t want to search for someone who is most likely halfway across the earth but before I die I want to see him”.

The room falls quite with the end of the recording, I sit back in my chair surprised and conflicted with what to think. “there’s one more do you want to listen or do you want to leave it be?” merry ask’s looking as shocked and confused as me. Well we already heard the first one what can be worse finding out we have been lied to for most of our lives? I nod my head to play it “Report done by the Royal Court lead by House Lord Nathans, a rebel who is assisting the oppression of the queen has been operating in the area north west of the empire we had reports of a group heading to an old settlement abandoned by the empire during a war with the Commonwealth of Asia, while they were traveling we identified a key figure of the oppressors” a picture showed up from the recorder, a familiar face is shown.

“The target is none other than Jackson Nail a high ranking sniper in the traitors ranks he is to be captured and beaten to have information, this bord meeting is dismissed” the picture and the sound of the voice both disappear but the questions don’t “This is fake! There is no way our uncle is someone who is cooperating with the people who killed our family!!” mark yells out of anger, merry sits there unsure of what to do “Arthor you can’t believe this shit right!?” I stay silent not answering marks question.

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Through many instances I have noticed some strange behaviour like not wanting to leave wick after what happen with merry, how he never wanted us to go near his room or even go to certain area in places at that city here somewhat the same don’t go here or there although not told verbally but by writing on notes left by him, the sudden expansion of the house and fast progress there is so many things that have not had answers but having listened to this it makes sense somehow.

I slump forward and ruffle my hair, but why would he do this it makes sense but at the same time it does not, like when I was child there was pure evidence there that they were trying to kill me and now missing holes of why he acting the way he was being filled out with that he is working for people wanting power in the Empire.

“We should take it with a grain of salt but not disregard it, I will ask Jasmine some questions about what is going on and find answers” I say with a plan, if we take this info as truth all work and trust between us will be hampered but if we take with some salt it won’t be as bad “that does not sound like a bad plan although it will take some time to get that info if you want to keep yourself hidden” merry points out, it will take longer to get that info if I hide my identity but will be quicker if I don’t but I also risk exposing where I am.

I am a little uneasy with revealing that sort of information but if it confirms our suspicions about what is going on and if what we found is true I will take the risk but, I am not sure about being suspicious of people you have been with for ten years although, I did up and leave with people I had spent ten years taking care of me once.

How do I talk to her after this long? Do I just say ‘Hi, long time no see jasmine how are you’ can’t really do that can I or I be in deep shit. So how do I do this?

I lean back looking at the celling “Just go in there and get information, if any of this true then” merry starts but stops at the thought of having her uncle be the murder of their family, I only know of this event because they let it slip sometimes when they argued with Jackson at time when we were younger.

I stand up and sigh loudly and walk towards the stairs grabbing my stuff that I took off, I walk up and into my room closing the door behind me and sitting down at the desk under my bed, placing my sniper on it and disassembling it to do cleaning and maintenance. It takes me a while to get things off such as the bolt and barrel as finding the pin on the thing is a challenge and half to do.

I grab a cloth from a draw beside me and a rod and stick it down the barrel of the weapon cleaning out any grime or unsavoury stuff that is not wanted in a barrel, I grab the cloth and wipe down the blot as well getting off grime, I then move over to the stock and magazine port and such, I clean off those parts and once I do I go ahead and do a quick re-check to see if I got everything.

When I find myself happy about it I reassemble the whole thing and place in a rack not far from the table, I look up to see the clock and find that I had spent two hours here cleaning. I place the pistol I have and start doing the same disassemble, clean, check over, reassemble and place it back in the holster, when I look up to see the time an hour had passed.

I lean back in my chair to look at the all comfortable celling, to ponder things about what is going on and why are thongs just going this fast, I had just turned eighteen and all of this is suddenly happening like someone was planning this form start, now that I am thinking about it Jackson has not returned yet although he did climb to high place he should have returned by now it has been three hours and I was not told anything about Jackson returning, could what we have heard on the recorder be right.

I slump forward grasping the side of my head with anger, I stand up and punch the table in front of me, the bang of the table is loud and sharp only being heard for a while, my knuckles hurt from punching table with the amount force I put into it. I felt like screaming “Why” I whisper to no one “Just why did this have to happen now of all times” the anger at this point just turned into me felling like I had been betrayed at this point.

All the evidence and recorder’s and everything was just fabricated so that I would leave the empire and not be a hindrance or an asset to those that want to empire to fall, I was fooled and lead astray leaving the family that had been taking care of me since I was born and no one else to go to. I start to cry having water fill my vision and drop down onto the table.

I walk to my chair and bring it over back to the table and sit there in defeat. No tears no nothing, I felt nothing at this point just defeat and nothing else. I sit up straight and wipe my eyes clear. I will continue with the training until I think I have the basics memorised and leave back to the empire to help in the war, I want……help and feel like I have a choice unlike the past 10 years thinking I had the choice to choose what I thought was best.

The door to my room opens and mark steps in brining his own chair and seating himself next to me at my table, with stay quiet for a little thinking over things “I should tell about what happened when we were kids” mark says braking the silence in the room “It would be thirteen to fifteen years ago now” he starts taking a breath before continuing “We were living in a city in the outer areas of The Empire that was a military hub as it was close to other countries and kingdoms, we lived in that city as kids then news about a potential civil war popped up, talking about why it would start and how it would cripple the Empire if it were to happen” he stops suddenly clearing his throat “During the time that was airing bombs across the city went off and people armed and carrying the symbol of the Vilight but later reports found that the people were from a different house, our next door neighbours apartment” he stops again struggle to continue on with telling me what happened.

“Our neighbours had a bomb in there without them noticing, so when it came it blow a hole in the wall between was gone then bang barely even heard as we were so close to it when we were okay and starting to look around to see what happened our neighbours were just gone not there nothing remained then came the people with guns shooting anyone” he stopped and thought for a second, out of the corner of my eye I could see a tear slowly roll down his check “They came in and shot our parents not long after uncle Jackson came in and dealt with both them and found us hiding in a closet, we then started to head towards the place we found you we took out time traveling there stop in cities for a couple months and continued on our way then we had you join us” he stopped talking, wiping away tears.

With the story I had just heard there were plot holes in it very big ones at that, if the whole city was bombed and armed gunman were just roaming around how did Jackson reach their building let alone room “you know how are uncle got their so quick has always bugged me, he had told us that he was going to be on the side of the empire a couple days before it all happened then to just show up to save us at the perfect time” he stops confused on how to continue like he knows what to say but cant get the words out ”I have always have question it as it takes three days at most to travel from side of the empire to the other, it feels like he was involved in it but I never wanted to question it but now it’s hard not to.”

This just answers my suspicions more and makes me believe I had done something that will change my life from this point onward.