The woman standing at the entrance looked at me but it felt like it was more then that. then a sudden voice rung though my head and it was soothing like hearing my mothers voice as a child.

"forgive Liliana she is short tempered and does not agree with my decision to bring you here." her eyes wander to her sister and all I hear is a huff from Liliana before she trundles off to the other side of the cave. leaning against the wall she doesn't take her eyes off me as he sister puts down her large bow and "quiver" 

"I'm sure this is a lot to take in but I ask that you be lenient before you forsake this new life of yours. there are advantages that come with the changing, your regenerative powers being one of them. despite your severe injury's in less then a day you are up though nothing had happened." moving pass the I have a dick now bit she was right despite having that massive beast make me its chew toy there are no scars left everything felt normal well as normal as it could given the current circumstance. as I looked up from my body and Mae was standing in front of me. when I say in front of me I mean maybe an inch from my face when I looked up, her eyes staring deep into my own as though she was looking for something. she stared into my eyes unblinking her face completely emotionless and I couldn't look away. it felt like hours passed as I stared into her eyes. when I first saw her eyes they seemed beautiful but now when I stare into them. I'm reminded of a passage from a book I once read, if you stare into the abyss long enough the abyss will stare back. there is something behind these eyes of hers... cuz the whole talking only in my head didn't tip me off before that she was special or anything.

"ahem" Liliana fake coughed

Mae turned to her sister smiling

" your the one who is going to scare her off staring like you do and yes I'll mind the outpost go tell the scavs" Liliana says to her sister.

Mae side stepped me reaching for a wicker basket that was beside me bringing up and over her shoulder before strutting off behind makeshift curtain. as she walked that way though I could swear I was still under her gaze, I couldn't take my eyes off her. until I heard a sharp whistle from her sister. her hard gaze said wall that was needed quit staring. it was a few minutes before Mae came back out wearing more then she had before. over her leather bra strap was now a colorful vest but it was small so it was open down the center and the sleeves only came to the triceps of her arms. the small vest had what looked like one half was of a bright night using beads of obsidian and a large white chrysanthemum using some kind of bone. on the other side was a bright side with some yellow bead and a bluebell at its center using lapis. how could they make these though, as far as I could tell they had primitive equipment. moving on she no longer had a leather loincloth but instead a what looked like an attempt at a short skirt using large feathers as she walked you could see that each feather was tied to the belt to move individually. as she walked out heading for entrance she beckoned me to follow.

"I am sorry about your life changing so drastically but that doesn't mean its the complete end of your old life. come with me the old man you meet before wish's to speak with you."

seeing as I don't have any real other option I got up and walked with her out of the cave. to where ever in the gods name she was taking me. we must have walked for about an hour though the thick foliage and muddy ground. to my surprise my feet didn't hurt as you may think how odd I thought. Mae tapped me on my shoulder taking me out of my thoughts and i looked around be fore me stood a massive cliff. following the cliff to either side and it looked like it went on for as far as I could see. right in front of me was a large cave entrance going into the cliff face. 

"Almost there" rung though my head and I turned to Mae who was standing beside me smiling. 

"what are you smiling at?" I asked, she just continued to smile as she walked into the cave. not wanting to be left behind I walked though the cave with her that turned out to be a tunnel. when I left the cave and rubbing my eyes to adjust to the light flooding back into them. when I opened my eyes I couldn't believe my eyes what stood in front of me wasn't a little village with a few huts dotted about the place. what stood before me was a fully fledge town with with fields surrounding a town of if I had to guess a little under three thousand residents. the town was built going up the cliff with what resembled a long house at the top and plateau farms around it. there are massive trees mixed into the town as well. in the center of the town was some kind of stone monument but can't make it out for sure from here.

"Not the backwater you were expecting." a smug voice rung though my head came. a lot less stone then back home but it didn't lose out in terms of scope which surprised me. "come on can't stand here all day." Mae spoke again another fifteen ish minutes later we were approaching the entrance to the town. as we got closer to the town people started showing up on the same road as us but something was odd. as Mae walked people got out of the way bowing their head in reverence as though they were in the presence of someone divine or so well respected that it may as well be the same thing. 

"why are they bowing" I asked Mae 

" That is because I am one of the twenty guardian's of Caldera. you don't think all of us can hunt monstrosities do you?"

"No?" I answered her 

" even with our more resilient bodies most people simply can stomach what we hunt out there and those that can simply can't can't all hunt. the guardians are the "lucky few" that meet both requirements to be guardians. three guard each cardinal direction and eight that go out to hunt anything that the four outpost's deem to dangerous for any given team."

"I didn't see a third when I was at the cave?"

" Rex, yes he is a loner that prefers hunting and scouting with minimal contact. he does his job well enough always report when required so I don't ask for any more."

As we got into the town proper with houses being more closely clumped together and more people were on the streets people were sensible enough to simply move out of the way of Mae who stopped at a rather large building compared to the others. geussing by the smell it was a tanner but it wasn't as strong as the ones back home. 

"head up to the gathering hall up at the top" Me pointed towards the long house that stood above everything else. "the old man will be up there try not to get lost on the way~" and with that she walked into the building leaving me to my own devises.

well nowhere to go but up I guess both figuratively and literally I thought sigh.