In the way back, everyone is quiet.

This is nice.

No need to worry about imitating the right features, doing the right movements, making the right sounds. Even the simplest gestures require a perfect coordination of hundreds of u.

Not that they are difficult for us to do. They aren’t.

But there’s always the worry that we would do something wrong. Somehow, we would give our disguise away and they would realize what we really are.

It hadn’t happened so far. But it only needed to happen once, and it would all be over.

So, the silence suits us.

We decided to go by the fastest route back to the city. Even though the chances of us getting into another fight were higher, the group was counting on us and on Rosa to keep the path clear.

There was always the risk the Goblins would come back with more troops. Or, if Diego’s suspicious were correct, with more monsters.

So everyone wanted to go back as fast as possible.

It had been weeks since the last time that we had seen Lucas awake not saying something at least every fifteen minutes.

But we all knew how close Anna had been from dying. If the Goblins had stabbed her just a little more, it would get to a point where there was nothing Daniel could do.

You wouldn’t be able to tell she had a near death experience by looking at her, though. Daniel suggested she should take it slowly; that we should maybe camp for another day, let her regain her energy.

She forbade it.

Well, she wouldn’t be a true Holy Warrior if she let things like pain and fatigue stay on her way.

"I'll move forward, don't matter the hurt” was in their oath, after all.

After hours of quiet walking, we finally reach Termorius.

Since its construction, the city had never fall for an invasion. Their walls are so reinforced, that a giant could punch it for hours and barely make a crack into it.

It is the safest city build in Wild territory. After all campaigns, we would come back here to rest, plan and then depart to another quest.

All the guards knew us.

Diego, the Champion of Humanity. The one that dared to duel against the half-giant Skandhar and won. Every man wanted to be like him and every woman wanted to marry him.

Rosa, the Spreader of Justice. Even before she joined the group, she was famous for helping anyone who had been wronged, don’t matter they social status. Alone she had hunted and killed whole gangs, often receiving nothing in return. Every kid in the city still had hope because of her.

Lucas, the Chosen of the People. He had challenged nobles and captains and whoever abused of power at the expense of the simple folks. He managed to defeat all guards that tried to arrest him, and for years he was untouchable. Walking above every law, but merely to make sure they were fair to all and never abusing them. Even though there were some that considered him a criminal back then, since he joined the Shinning Siblings his popularity had only increased around the commoners. They consider him one of them, in a way different than the others.

Daniel, the Unbreakable Shield. He would visit hospitals every time we stopped in a city and would heal most injuries. He saved uncountable lives. Knowing he was near you was knowing someone had your back.

Anna, the Unstoppable Warrior. The one person army capable of breaking in anywhere, fighting with anyone. The girl that, single handed, stopped a fleet of Bankers invaders from annihilating a fishing village...by annihilating all of them first.

The same one that we saw almost dying just a few days ago.

And, finally:

Raiv, the creep freak. The guy that would usually hide away from the crowd. The one that made little kids run away scared, that made the women want to throw up.

That’s us.

Even now, people wondered why we are a member of the Shinning Siblings. Ever since we joined they would whisper among themselves, speculate.

And we are always there, listening to their conversations.

We were not even kidding about the title. We heard it coming out of people’s mouth dozens of time.

We scare most of them. But that’s not only because of our looks and behavior.

We scare them because we are one of the Shinning Siblings. Worst, we are the one that people know less about.

And the Shinning Siblings are above any other human.

The others are monsters that people can connect, somehow. Identify with.

For them, we are just a monster.

If only they knew how right they really are.

We enter the city, greeted by the guards. Diego has a few words with them and two youngsters insist to escort us to the main fortification. There, we part ways.

Diego and Lucas go talk with the board of Hunters. Lucas goes to The Fastest Cut, a pub that was created on his homage. He usually stays there when we are at the city. Rosa walks to the opposite direction. She always checks on the orphanage the day we are back, to make sure the kids are alright.

This leaves Anna and us.

While we walk, we don’t talk much.

She knows we prefer it this way, so she keeps to herself. Her busy with her own thoughts, and we busy eavesdropping hundreds.

All around the city, people go on with their lives. They gossip about our arrival, drink at the local bars, buy clothes, food or other products in the market, while others sell it, yelling special prices and discounts, and others steal and run from the guards. All around the city, people talk, work, fight and fuck.

We watch them all.

 It’s a waste of resources to stay at just one place. We function better having ourselves scarce around us.

While we walk besides Anna, we know exactly what’s happening 600 feet to every direction.

So we see the ambush we are walking into way before it finally reaches us.

We see Felipe, the archer from the Golden Hope, positioned on the roof of a building.

We see Natalia and Sasha, their close range fighters, waiting behind a corner. If we keep walking on the same pace, we would reach them in two minutes.

Gregory is here as well. He is waiting behind the main market, ready to block our exit.  He has Dragarius unsheathed, the sword that he likes to light on fire. Two lads that we don’t recognize are with him, both carrying spears and big shields. New additions to their little group. They must be good, to be accepted by them.

But this situation didn’t make any sense. Why would they be attacking us? Why now, after fighting alongside the Shinning Siblings for such a long time?

But suddenly, a voice echo in our ears.

“What are you doing?”

What the fuck was that?

We search for it, try to pin its location. It makes no sense. We heard it from all our bodies. It came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

We keep walking alongside Anna, thinking about what to do.

Should we tell her about the ambush? With our awareness and her reflexes there is a good chance of us getting out of it without having to display most of what we can do, but what was that voice?

It had talked directly with us. Did it use some special frequency? Did we hear it by accident, somehow?

No. it definitely was meant for us.

We need to be careful. We couldn’t risk getting exposed. First, we pin its location. Then find out what it knows, somehow. But what about the ambush? What is the smart decision now? Could we handle both situations with Anna right here?

“Why are you here pretending to be a human?”

For a micro second, we lose control of our coordination.

Anna notices and looks at us. She raises one eyebrow, but says nothing. We keep walking at the same pace, and she does the same.

For a micro second, we weren’t human. We risked losing everything, because of a moment of trepidation. It could have been over.

But we are fine now.

We’ll find the voice.

We’ll shut it.

Everything is under control.