“That’s...That’s impossible.” Janiss sputtered out.

“Clearly not.”

The room was nearly entirely silent as Ren whispered to Jaylin.
“D-Did you really jump over the gate?”

“Yes.”

Ren flinched as Jaylin responded loud enough for everyone to hear. Janiss glared at his brother disdainfully.
“You brought someone back to the home base and you don’t even know where they came from? What, are you begging for spies?”

Ren was quiet as he realized he never bothered to ask Jaylin anything about himself. Not even his name. 
I was too busy convincing him to come in the first place!

Janiss scoffed at his brother and looked back at Jaylin.

“We need your last name. I don’t care how you got in to the city without a general I.D, but if you want a to become part of the Striped Devils you can’t just come in without proper identification.”

“I don’t have a last name. Can I go in now?”

Exilis spoke up, Master.

What?

With the mass census a few years ago, everyone has a last name these days. It’s illegal to change it so if you know someone’s last name and you have the authority to check people’s general I.D card records, you can basically find anyone.

...

Yes precisely now is the correct time to inform me of this.

At leas-

“Hey! are you listening to me?!”

Jaylin noticed Janiss had been talking to him. He stared the marginally taller angry guard in the eye.
“No.”

Janiss’ eyelid twitched.
“You-”

“Why don’t you just give me one?”

If it was possible for everyone to become anymore speechless, that’s exactly what happened.

“A last name.”

“...”

“A good one, if you don’t mind.”

...

“Hey! What’s the problem over here!” An Auburn haired bearded man wearing a leather suit of armor walked over to the entrance. This man was the head guard. Janiss greeted him with a ‘hey boss’ which the man completely ignored.
   Ren stepped in front of Jaylin. The head guard was a strong man. He was very loyal to the Striped Devils, and he was the most strict when it came to spies. If he had the slightest doubt about your identity, you wouldn’t be allowed in. Anyone with the slightest idea about the inside of the Striped Devils knew not to try to join during his shift. Ren doubted Jaylin would make it past this man alive if he let him speak.

“Sir Rodrick, with all due respect, I don’t believe you’re needed to intervene here.” Ren spoke politely. There was no doubt that Cadre leaders were a league above guards, but guards certainly had important parts in making their lives easier. It was only trouble for them to offend one.

“If you need to tell me that, then I probably am.”

“Sir-”

Rodrick stared at Ren with a silent fury. He stopped talking immediately. 

“Move out of the way.”

Ren bit his lip. The situation was becoming precarious. He clenched his fists as he stepped to the side, revealing Jaylin. Jaylin’s unexpressive face looked unfitting to the tense atmosphere. Rodrick paused for a second after seeing his naive face before he continued.
“You causing trouble kid?” 

“Not that I’m aware of.”

Why do people keep calling me kid? I don’t doubt that I’m the oldest in the room.

Exilis responded mercilessly, uninterested.
Have you seen yourself? You could pass for a 16 year old if you really tried.

...Is that a compliment?

I would never dare to compliment you, Master.

...

Unaware to the totally unrelated conversation going on between the two, Rodrick turned and looked at Janiss, who immediately jumped into retelling the event.

“Reporting to head guard sir, the rookie that Ren brought back himself is believed to be a spy. He is unwilling to give me his last name and claims ‘he doesn’t have one’. You can make your own assumptions at this point, Sir Rodrick.”

“Really? We haven’t gotten one of those retards ever since the mass census act. I was thinking the people of Inzoscape got a little smarter but I suppose I was mistaken.”

Rodrick twirled a dagger between his fingers as his cold eyes focused entirely on Jaylin. Ren made a movement to block Jaylin from him. 
“Sir, I swear-”

Before Ren got speak, Rodrick used a strengthening spell on his empty hand and swiftly punched him in the gut.

Ren’s eyes widened at the abrupt punch. His figure could be seen flying backwards through the cloud of dirt in the air. Ren wasn’t a weakling. He landed on his feet, skidding backwards a few meters, leaving trails in his wake.
He glanced back to see the rapidly approaching cavern wall. He grit his teeth as he dug his left hand into the ground, slowing his momentum.
Jaylin watched as Ren slowed to a stop and collapsed on one knee, coughing out a mouthful of blood. Ren was gasping for breaths in pain as his right hand clutched his stomach. He raised his limp left hand and weakly wiped the blood off his face with the back of his hand. His intact right hand let go of his stomach and pressed against his knee as he stood up shakily.

“S-sir, he’s harmless.”
Ren’s hoarse voice rang out from a distance.

I strongly doubt that.

Quiet Exilis you’re ruining the atmosphere.

Who’s atmosphere? Not like they can hear me.

Still staring blankly at the bloodied Ren, Jaylin sighed lightly.

 

“I will not allow the slightest possibility of corruption in the Striped Devils. The fact that you’re still alive is out of my respect for you as a cadre leader.”

Ren looked downwards and chuckled lightly, the soft laughter soon turning into a pain filled cough. He didn’t try to remedy the situation any longer. 
“We all know how many spies are in this place. We can weed them out properly in one go. Your paranoia only makes them wary and harder to deal with. You...”
Ren’s angry eyes shot straight at Rodrick.
“...Aren’t helping in the slightest.”

This answer ticked Rodrick off, no doubt, but he simply sighed disappointedly. 
“All of you people these days always come up with the same excuses to cover up your lacking loyalty.”

“Loyalty shouldn’t be used as an excuse for stubbornness.”

“I’m doing my job. You can speak to me when you get your cadre back in check.”

Ren stood up straighter, feeling the metallic taste of blood as it rose in his throat. He hissed in discomfort as he clutched his injured stomach.
There was a second of silence before Ren clicked his tongue.
“Dragging in outside matters when you run out of things to say? I’d heard you were a master of negotiation, but I see your age is hitting you hard.”

The spinning dagger within Rodrick’s hand stopped, signaling the end of his patience.
“Ren. You’re being unreasonable. We would never accept someone who claims they don’t have a last name, an impossible circumstance. I’m not declining just because I’m stubborn. I’d expect any other guards would do the same.”
Rodrick eyed the two guards who led him to the scene in the first place. At the sight of his glare, they seemed to have suddenly gained an incredible interest in the details of the ground, cold sweat trailing down their backs.

Ren clenched his fist. He knew how suspicious Jaylin was to everyone else, but...
The kid doesn’t even know what a torch is! I wouldn’t be surprised if he escaped the grasp of the mass census act!

Someone who hasn’t interacted with Jaylin would think he was a naive and innocent youth.

Someone who had spoken to him, like Ren, would think he was straightforward, careless, oblivious, and just happened to clear looking eyes.

If any of them could see his inner thoughts they would probably change their minds.

Jaylin just didn’t care.

If a cat could talk, talking with it still wouldn’t be very fun. You would be on entirely different wavelengths. This was how Jaylin felt about conversing with mortals. As someone who’s lived for far longer than even Exilis knew, his life and motivation consisted of exploring things he’d never seen.

Jaylin was a glutton. Someone who gobbled up the wonders of the world too quickly and ran out of things to do to pass the time. The only thing he could do was wait. Wait to reap the harvests of human creativity and advancement.

Humans could never understand the sorrows of someone who’d lived for too long.

Jaylin wasn’t as taciturn with Exilis because at least the sword felt a similar sentiment. Exilis too had nothing to do in this world. Though, unlike Jaylin, he wasn’t interested in the new creations of the mortal realm, nor was he so disinclined to boredom. Although their raison d’être was a bit different, there was a semblance of relatability between the two’s mindsets. On the other hand, their wildly different personalities made up for it.

Also, Jaylin doesn’t really like talking. It’s troublesome. The ways humans react to conflict and misunderstandings bred from silence could be entertaining to him as well sometimes. 

Ren was currently part of the handful of people who saw Jaylin as a blunt man of few words. Perhaps even a bit naive towards the world.

Although Ren lamented Jaylin’s lack of propriety, his confidence would be an asset to the declining B-cadre. Plus he felt kind of bad about dragging the kid here only to get him completely slaughtered by Rodrick.

Rodrick clutched his dagger, ready to stab at any moment, and crouched down slightly.

Ren watched Rodrick leap toward Jaylin, his dagger ready to pierce the kid’s chest as soon as it got the chance. Time felt like it was inching by as the dagger approached Jaylin. Ren wasn’t a person who was particularly good at spell casting. He'd been single mindedly focused on seals for the large majority of his life. If his life had been endless like Jaylin's, perhaps he'd be good at both. He was the leader of the B-Cadre because of his immense effort and skill as a Rune-Master. He used what little mana he had on a mediocre acceleration spell and dashed at Rodrick.

He speed through the air as fast as he could go, reaching towards Rodrick. 
Dammit! I’m not going to make it!
The cavern wall he ran from was too far from the entrance to get there in time to stop Rodrick.

Rodrick’s dagger was inches away from Jaylin’s chest as he looked the kid in the eye. Looking up at Jaylin from his crouched position, he saw the kid’s calm expression. There was no emotion in his clear dark blue eyes as they looked down at his face. Jaylin’s piercing eyes almost seemed to glow as they peered through his inky black locks. The weak kid looked incredibly intimidating as a shadow passed over his features. 

In such a lackluster coincidental moment, Rodrick suddenly felt an all-consuming sensation of alarm.

It was an instinctual fear telling him to escape as fast as possible. It was far too late to stop now. Alarms went off inside his head and he suddenly felt that this was his last second alive.

Rodrick felt the terror continue to consume his mind when a strong gust of wind stirred up a large blanket of dust, clouding his vision. His barely rational mind felt an unbreakable grip stop his wrist. The hand that locked him in place him didn’t tremble in the slightest when stopping his magically strengthened arm.

Long tendrils of ash blonde hair could be seen fluttering through the dust cloud. 
Ren who was rapidly reaching for the entrance felt a wave of relief wash over him.

Amiya!

Rank 4 Amiya. He wasn’t a member of the Striped Devils. He was a frequent visitor as of late while he waited for the next ranking competition. He got lost when he first came in and Ren happened to help him out. They’ve been good friends since then.
This time however, Amiya hadn’t stopped Rodrick in consideration of his relationship with Ren. 

Jaylin stared at the feminine man as Amiya scrutinized him. Their eyesight intersected and Amiya’s calm face suddenly shifted as his eyebrows furrowed. The emotion on his face were as clear as day to Jaylin. Suspicion.

Meanwhile, Rodrick sprung back with heavy breaths, distancing himself from Jaylin. He stared at the youth who hadn’t moved since the beginning, the primal fear slowly but surely fading from his mind. The memory of it was still agonizingly clear as he struggled to regain his composure.

Amiya hadn’t stopped Rodrick when he jumped away, but he glanced over with a darkened expression. Earlier, he excused himself from the conversation he was having to see what the strange presence he sensed was, and walked out to find Ren getting punched in the stomach. Needless to say, he wasn’t in the best of moods.

Ren, at this point, was still barreling towards the entrance at high speeds.

Fuck.

Was his last though as he crashed headfirst into Amiya who was busy glaring at the frightened Rodrick.

Amiya wasn’t good with abrupt scares. He nearly screamed when Ren slammed into his arms and brought them both to the ground. He felt the air get knocked out of him and coughed in discomfort.

“Ow! What the fuck Ren?!”

There was no response.

Amiya tried to shake Ren up, only to get no movement as a response. It almost felt like Ren was sticking to him.

“Ren. Get off me.”

The limp unconscious body flopped to the ground like a doll as Amiya moved to the side.

"......"

Ren’s eyelids fluttered open as he woke up. He rubbed his forehead painfully.

“What the-”

Amiya pulled Ren up by his wrist without warning. He was still peeved about Ren startling him.
Ren knees gave out and he nearly fell back down when Amiya grabbed him by the back of his collar. Ren impulsively clutched Amiya’s arm for balance before he looked Amiya in the eye.

“My thanks, Rank 4 Amiya.” His formal tone was a bit silly, considering he was hanging by onto Amiya's arm like a drowning cat clutching a log.

“Damn it Ren, how many times have I told you not to call me that?”

Ren put on an oblivious look as Jaylin came to the realization that this man was quite good at acting.
“But you’re a ranker, Amiya, you should be proud-”

Amiya cut him off with a helpless look as he used his sleeve to roughly wipe the blood off of Ren’s face.

“Ow- hey-”...

Exilis' voice sounded within Jaylin's head. Why do I see pink bubbles.

Confused, Jaylin was about to respond to the sword’s strange inquiry when Amiya’s eyes suddenly darted towards him.

Exilis was shocked.
Did he hear me?

While Jaylin still had no idea what the sword was talking about, Amiya’s eyes narrowed dangerously as soon as Exilis spoke, answering his question.

How?-

Amiya sensed a strong magical presence appear around Jaylin once more. Amiya’s cold voice rang through the cavern, bringing the still struggling Ren to a standstill.
“You.”

Jaylin, who was looking down at his sword wondering what he was up to this time, looked up to the voice that called out to him. Amiya let go of Ren and marched over in front of Jaylin. Ren, who had lost his support, nearly fell. He glared at Amiya angrily, only to be faced with his friend’s back. His gaze turned curious as he watched the man nearing his new recruit.

How could he-
Exilis’ bafflement was once again interrupted by Amiya.     
Amiya had stopped right in front of Jaylin with a cold stare. Jaylin, still deadpan, leaned backwards slightly to avoid the androgynous male’s continuously approaching scary expression.  

“What is it, Amiya?”
Ren didn’t tease Amiya any longer. He could tell the man was serious. 

“This recruit you brought. He’s got a strong magical presence on him.”

“And? Maybe he’s just good at magic.”
Ren didn’t see the problem with this.

“It’s not coming from him.”

How could someone possibly!-

“There it is again!”

Jaylin, finally understanding what the hell was going on, told the sword, He’s just got strong senses.

Amiya couldn’t sense Jaylin speaking. Of course he couldn’t. The detail of their telepathic connection didn't allow it. The reason they could speak to each other was because of their soul binding contract. Exilis was Jaylin’s contracted sword. He got to speak directly to his mind, and the only one who would have to use mana to keep the telepathic link open was Jaylin.
Immortal bodies were naturally able to hide their magical presence. Exilis’ body, the sword, could not. The sheath Jaylin gave him hid it for him, but whenever they spoke, Exilis magical presence could be sensed for the duration of his speaking. But you would have to have incredibly powerful senses to find the magical presence of someone hundreds of times stronger than you.

But that’s!-

Exilis, stop-

“Again! Are you trying to hide it?! Why does it keep disappearing?!”
Amiya’s shouting face inched closer with every question.
Jaylin’s eyelid twitched at the aggressive youth breaching his personal space.

Exilis-

The sword ignored him as it continued yelling.
The people who had such senses died out years ago!

Amiya sensed the magical presence once more. He felt thankful it was only for a few seconds, it was incredibly powerful, enough to make him lose his composure. He looked Jaylin up and down, searching for any trace of it.

I know it happened! How could there be someone who still had them!!!
The magical presence got stronger as Exilis grew louder.

Amiya felt an instinctive danger from the strong presence that sent him into a panic. Everyone could see Amiya’s abrupt change. Rodrick’s natural reaction was flight, but Amiya was the opposite. Amiya unsheathed one of his daggers and sliced at Jaylin neck.

“Amiya! What the hell!”
Ren shouted.

Amiya was several times faster than Rodrick. Given a few seconds, Jaylin’s head would fall off. Or at least that was everyone’s assumption.

Meanwhile Exilis was still going off in Jaylin’s head.

I killed all of them myself-!

EXILIS SHUT UP!

;-;

...

Thank you. Jaylin's voice was laced with anger, sending a shiver down Exilis' nonexistent spine.

Jaylin felt an ice cold blade press against his neck, stopping just before applying lethal force.

...

Well, lethal to most people.

Amiya felt his irrational panic fade as the presence disappeared, and he took a deep breath, sheathing his knife back in his belt.

“Amiya, what the hell was that?!”
Ren finally worked up the strength to make his way over to them.

Amiya sighed, stepping back yet keeping his eyes locked on Jaylin.
“He has an incredibly strong magical presence on him, but it keeps disappearing.”

Ren was startled.
“And it panicked you to such a degree?”

“Yes.”

Janiss, who never let any opportunity to blacken his brother’s name pass him by, spoke.
“Was it a wiretap?”

Magical listening devices formed a link between two objects, letting someone on the other side hear whatever was happening in the radius of the other device. As actual wiretaps are hardly used anymore, most just call them wiretaps.

Unfortunately for Janiss, Ren had the perfect way to disprove his ‘theory’.

“Jaylin, do you know what a wiretap is?”

Jaylin had no reason to lie. He shook his head, unfazed by almost ‘losing his life’ twice.

“He could be lying.”
Janiss brought up a reasonable point.

Amiya answered this time.
“Impossible. A wiretap has a relatively weak presence, not to mention that that kid doesn’t have the power to hide it.”

“If he cant hide a wiretap, how could he hide something much stronger?”
Janiss retorted.

“He didn’t hide it. The presence hid itself. I believe it has some semblance of sentience.”

 ‘semblance of sentience’?! I’m not some feral beast-

Jaylin manually cut off the mental communication link between him and Exilis as Amiya’s sight shot back in his direction.
I really should’ve done that sooner. Though, the link was part of their contract, and blocking it took focus. It was doable, but irritating. Jaylin could only wait to come up with a better solution later.

Exilis despised wasting mana so there was no way he would send a telepathic message. The sword had no choice but to swallow his anger.

Janiss noticed Amiya’s actions and was naturally curious.
“What was it, Amiya?”

“I didn’t give you permission to call me that.”

There was an awkward silence before Ren asked.
“What was it, Amiya?”

Much to Janiss’ chagrin, Amiya responded immediately.
“It appeared again, but it’s different this time. It feels like it’s completely gone...”

“How is that any different from before?”

“Before when it disappeared, it felt like it was still there, simply hiding. But this time...it’s like it’s completely gone. Was it just toying with me this whole time?”

Exilis, who could still hear within the cramped scabbard, would like to protest that him ‘disappearing’ was not, in fact, his choice. When Jaylin closed the mental communication link, he also locked Exilis within his scabbard. Most likely trying to prevent the sword speaking out loud on ‘accident’. Exilis could not speak, see, and he could barely hear. When he was locked within the scabbard, it locked his sense mist in there as well.

The sense mist was an adaptation that the bodies of possessed objects would achieve after the soul had spent a substantial amount of time within its new body. The mist would grow stronger over time.

As someone who had been in a sword for the majority of his extensive lifetime, Exilis’ sense mist was very strong. Although the mist was mostly for sight and hearing, it could move around. He felt like a ghost no one could see, as he hovered around Jaylin. Of course he could also speak through the mist, but an invisible voice in public isn’t exactly the most ordinary of situations.

Jaylin had trapped his sense mist within the scabbard so he could hear, see, and speak as well as anyone else could if they were trapped within a thin metal sheath.

Barely.

It was similar to the corrupted mana situation, where his sense mist was trapped within the sword. At least within the sword, it felt like a large space. It was like being stuck inside your head. Large, yet small. He didn't have the choice to leave the sword and go into the scabbard that time.  Although the sense mist didn’t cost mana, it was an extension of the soul. The soul, if it couldn’t receive the nourishment of their original body, would need to use mana to keep itself... well, existing. A soul that had possessed an object was essentially an impure soul. It was diluted with mana, and while the mana did strengthen it, it would prevent it from ever being able to return to a normal body without the continued support of that mana. The mana was part the soul now. As mana could be corrupted, so could the soul, and by extension, the sense mist. Thus, he was stuck in his sword husk for decades.

This time was different. Far more uncomfortable it may be, Exilis preferred to being entirely unaware of his surrounding and trapped within his own head.

 He begrudgingly lived with the situation.

Exilis sighed inwardly. At least his life wasn’t at risk this time.

But come on. This is got to be some kind of animal abuse. Wait no. Child abuse? Employee Abuse.

As Exilis’ inner brooding came to an end, Ren and Amiya were still discussing his ‘disappearance’.

“Was it just toying with me before or... did someone hide it?”

Everyone subconsciously looked at Jaylin, who still hadn’t moved.

This is getting boring.

=_=
Exilis couldn’t respond.

Amiya shook his head, dismissing the idea.
“No that’s impossible. I can’t sense the slightest magic presence from him.”

“We can only continue to monitor him" said Ren.

“What!? No, we should get rid of him!”
Janiss was not happy with Ren’s suggestion.

“We’re not going to let someone or something that knows the location of the home base get away.”
Amiya took Ren’s side.

Janiss' expression seemed to scream "Kill him then!", only to be refuted by a strong head shake from Ren.

Janiss settled for mockery and said, “Why did you bring someone so suspicious to the home base anyway, Ren? I swear, you’re desperate for spies.”

Ren tried to retort.
“Well he didn’t-”

“Enough Ren. We just have to put him in a cell until he tells us what that magical presence is from.”

Janiss nodded, deciding to compromise. 
Amiya was ready to convince Ren to do the same, but he turned and saw no signs of disapproval on Ren’s face.

“Well.” Ren huffed.

Janiss turned to Ren, wondering what the hell his brother was up to now.

“Did we ever try asking him?”

“...”

“Isn’t he mute?”

“...No, I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean ‘I don’t think so?’ ”

“Well me and Janiss heard him speak, I think.”

“He did say something, didn’t he?”

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t really remember.”

“His presence is that small?”

“Ah, when I first met him, no one else even notice-”

“I can speak, thank you.”

All three of them paused for a while. His voice was wildly different from their imagination.

It didn’t match his impression at all.