Chapter 9

Thomas and Kaitlyn led him deeper into the village while he managed to stop crying. One of the houses, which was more significant than Thomas's own, was where he stopped. When they arrived, he looked at Kaitlyn.

"Do it," he ordered.

She closed her eyes as she held out her hand. Aaron clasped the girl's hand before she threw him off. She then palmed the surface of the hands guarding the door. They opened for her.

"Excellent," Thomas said. "You now live here. The manus houses will open for you every time you enter. This is where all of our Access Armor wielders live, save for me. As the chief, I have certain duties that require me to be alone."

"Lucky you," Kaitlyn said. "This place is packed. Come on-"

She was interrupted when a piece of bone with wriggling vein-like things surrounding it hit her head. Angered, she gave off an intimidating scowl before Aaron felt struck by the same thing. He turned to the source of the bombardment.

He looked to see one older man, two younger men, and a young woman had pieces of bone-like material. They all looked the same as if they were related. Behind them was a woman who looked the same age as the older man carrying a baby. The mother of the child seemed somewhat embarrassed but also worried. The man Aaron assumed to be her husband and their children glared. Beside them was what looked like the skeleton of one of the triangular-shaped houses made of human flesh.

The outline of the house consisted of the same white bone-like material thrown at Aaron and Kaitlyn. Several dozens of straight poles of bone sprouted from the blue, fleshy ground of Seren's bowels before meeting at the top to form a pyramid-like structure. Red blood veins stretch from the joining poles of white bone to connect one to the other. However, the fleshy substance that looked like human skin that composed the other houses had yet to cover half of the bone outline of the building. Aaron could even see the unfinished house's red innards, which fascinated and mildly disgusted him. They built the house by attaching more pieces of bones to the inner structure.

"Taking in another newcomer, I see," the oldest man, obviously the father, said. His face looked dirty and hurt. His brown hair clumped together as it was apparent he had not recently bathed. "As we weren't suffering from foreigners enough."

"Joseph," Thomas said. "It is our job to shield others from the tyranny of Fulir. This one is not an infiltrator, I can assure you."

"Do you think that matters?" his brunette daughter asked. "You think we have enough to feed every stray dog wandering in, looking for a handout?"

"What about us?!" one of the boys said. "You ever think about how the original clans feel about this?!"

"You're a fool to expand the resources to someone who hasn't proved his worth!" Joseph said.

"Would your mother say the same thing?" Thomas asked. "After all, she treated newcomers with the respect and dignity they deserved. She understood that even the original clans were newcomers themselves. Without fear, no one would have enough if we rejected everyone new. We wouldn't be as prosperous as we are now."

"You call this prosperous?!" one of the sons yelled. "Ever since the massacre of the Remnant Villages, we've been struggling more than ever!"

"What gives you the right to bring in others when we don't know if we'll have enough to eat or not?!" Joseph yelled. "Don't forget. My clan helped you stay in power as chief! Next election, we might not be willing to let you stay in power!"

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Thomas looked visibly worried before he visibly tried to regain control of himself. The wife walked up to her husband and put her hand on his shoulder from behind. Her baby began crying.

"Please, Joseph," she said. "Calm down. We'll make it through. We have to-"

"Have to what?!" he asked after turning to her. "Ever since we lost the other Remnant Villages, our food supply has dropped to less than a fifth of what it was. Rationing out food only helps if the number doesn't keep increasing!"

He turned to glare at Thomas.

"I warn you," he said. "If that boy eats more than his daily rations, there will be no armor to save him from what the Seshi clan will do to him."

"Get back to working on your house, or I'll exile you," Thomas said. "There's been too much violence because of your trivial disputes."

The four turned away before they attached pieces of bone to their house. Thomas shook his head while Kaitlyn smirked. Aaron looked at Thomas in confusion.

"What was that all about?" he asked.

"From the events that transpired recently," Thomas said. "We lost many of our villages from...that event. Now that the remnant villages that produced the most food are gone, everyone is nervous."

"I think nervousness is an understatement," Aaron said. "They seemed like they were ready to kill me."

"There have been violent outbursts," Thomas said. "Those born into clans were raised by the ancestors of the people who originally fled from Fulir. Our ancestors have been here for thousands of years. Newcomers are those who more recently escaped Fulir's grasp after discovering their reality's true nature. Because we can only supply so much food from within Seren's bowels, we've always had to control the population.

However...since we're most likely the last village left, we don't have much hope left."

"Joseph's become a fearmonger as of late," Kaitlyn added. "I'd be able to take him even without my armor."

"His fears are understandable," Thomas said. "You see, his brother and sister were gardeners in another of our remnant villages. Once Fulir captured them, he's been a nervous wreck, afraid of losing those closest to him."

He glanced at Kaitlyn.

"I have work to do," he said as he walked away.

Aaron followed her inside to find two more people already inside. One was a guy with skin that wasn't pale but not as dark as Aaron's lying on his side on the beds made of fleshy material. A woman with paler skin than Kaitlyn was continuously tapping against a flat, gray object that seemed to produce weird characters with every touch. When Aaron entered, they both looked up at him with suspicion.

"Who are you?" the light brown-skinned man asked after rolling flat on his back.

"A new armor wielder," Kaitlyn answered. "Thomas's stupidity trusts this obvious spy–I mean, a victim–enough to give him access to the house where all our strongest fighters are."

"Well, wasn't that sweet of him," he said. "I was just looking forward to a new infiltrator to rat us all out."

"You don't know that, Luis," the pale woman said. "He could be another casualty. As an armor user, he's a valuable asset to us."

"You didn't remember anything about last time?" Kaitlyn asked. "Did you, Akemi?"

"You guys keep saying last time," Aaron said. "What exactly was last time?"

"When another poor pitiful runaway came in and got many of us killed," Luis answered. "We're the last Remnant Village because of that."

"But you don't remember that Thomas wasn't the one who decided to bring that spy in, do you?" Akemi asked.

She looked at Aaron for a long moment until he began to feel uncomfortable.

"I don't know who he is, but I know I'm not going to treat him differently just because of what happened," she said.

Kaitlyn sighed.

"At least Luis still has some sense left," she said. "Men's beds are on that side."

She pointed to one of the eight beds in the room. The bed was hardly a bed as it was more like a mat. As depressed as Aaron was, he was almost just as tired. He laid down on the skin-like material. When he did, it wrapped around him like a blanket.

But he didn't hear them. His exhaustion proved too much for him, and he immediately began to be lulled into slumber. The mat that rolled him up synched with his body temperature. It was not too cold but certainly not too warm. He didn't even mind that his clothes were on as the bed was just that comfortable. Aaron soon drifted off to sleep. His surroundings dulled to him from overexertion.