Before Wall Commander Timberland could steamroll into his questioning, Lee pointed to the ‘lie detector’ and asked a question. 

“Is that a lie detector?” 

The simple question caught Wall Commander Timberland off guard as he paused, causing him to cut off the beginning of his own question. He glanced at the small round orb and spoke.

“It is a Truth Stone. But, a lie detector may be another apt name for such a device.” 

Once again, the small round orb shifted from its camouflage stone into a calming pale blue. 

Lee used Identify on the Truth Stone. 

Lee wasn’t sure how he felt about being put under a lie detector, but he didn’t have any room for negotiation at the moment. He gave Wall Commander Timberson a weak smile and spoke.

“Am I legally required to answer your questions? Is this some sort of formality?” 

Almost as if a puzzle was solved, Wall Commander Timberson’s slowly worrying face turned into one of understanding. He patted the paper on the desk before him as he replied.

“Ah! Not to worry. This is merely a formality. If there are any questions you feel unwilling to answer, you are free to remain silent. There is only a singular question you are required to answer, and that will be my first. Is that okay with you, Mr. Barnes? Sir Genesis? Worker of Miracles?” 

Wall Commander Timberson was a very lithe man, but he held himself confidently as he was the commanding officer of his station. The thing was, Lee saw some cracks in his stoic facade. A bead of sweat dripped down near his temple, and his hands were constantly in motion, never seeming to come to a standstill. 

Lee’s inspection of Tomas Timberson seemed to exacerbate the issue. The awkward silence Lee unwillingly created during his thinking made the atmosphere in the room heavy. Lee spoke, ending the silence. 

“Mr. Barnes or just Lee is fine, Tomas. You can ask your questions. I have nothing to hide.” 

Upon hearing his first name, Tomas stilled for the briefest of moments. Not a second later he smiled and started his questioning. 

“First, do you seek entry into the Kindom of Thexis to cause harm to either the kingdom as a whole or any of its citizens?”

A simple enough question. One which Lee readily answered. 

“No.” 

Tomas could have drilled a hole through the Truth Stone with his heavy gaze alone as he waited for the colors to shift. He was as still as possible until the gray stone turned pale blue, indicating the truth. His shoulders relaxed minutely, and he continued on to his next question.

“From here on out, everything is just a formality. You don’t strictly need to answer, but it may help with expediting your entry.” 

Tomas waited for Lee to gesture that he understood before he continued on. Lee did, so he coughed to clear his throat before carrying on. 

“You said you come from the city of Neldam, home of the Dark Elves?”

Lee nodded in response, but Tomas pointed to the unchanging Truth Stone. Lee looked at the stone, then understood his mistake. He smiled as he verbally answered. 

“Yes. By the way, am I restricted to yes or no?” 

Tomas wrote down some information on the paper in front of him as he responded. 

“A simple yes or no will suffice, but you are free to give more information at your leisure.” 

“These Dark Elves you speak of, what kind of people were they? Were they aggressive or threatening?” 

Seeing a perfect chance to spread some good words about the people who saved him from near-certain death, he took his chance. 

“No. They were great hosts and very respectful. They saved my life and taught me many things—for example, magic.” 

Lee noted that Tomas didn’t write anything about this, causing Lee to frown slightly.

“Are you aware of the history of the Dark Elves in relation to the Kingdom of Thexis?” 

“Yes. I am aware of what the Dark Elves call The Harrowing.” 

Tomas recorded the information, and once he was finished and about to ask his next question, Lee spoke more. He was testing a theory.

“If what was told to me was accurate, I can safely say that they are a changed people. I would even go so far as to say that they are no longer a threat and could re-establish relations with us Humans.” 

Tomas, once again, didn’t write anything down, confirming Lee’s suspicions. 

“Do you know how far Neldam is from The Wall of Shadows?”

At this, Lee remained silent. Tomas looked away from the Truth Stone and at Lee’s frowning face. Another bead of sweat began to roll from his temple. 

“Do you know what the defen…” 

Lee cut in, knowing what was being asked. 

“I will not answer any questions in relation to the defenses or placement of their city—nothing about their levels or skills.”

Interestingly enough, that caused Tomas to write some more. When he was finished, he changed topics. 

“You say you are a healer and wish to spread your healing magics into the kingdom. Is this true?”

Lee nodded, still wearing a slight frown, and spoke. 

“Yes. As the Genesis of Healing, I have created healing spells.”

He patted the chain connected at his waist, which held his spellbook. 

“I have a spellbook in which to teach others my spells.”

When Lee finished speaking, he looked to Tomas only to see his hand trembling with the quill he used for writing. His face was much paler than before. Lee waited a moment, but after a few seconds of no other movement or question being asked, Lee spoke again.

“Is something the matter, Tomas?” 

Tomas jerked and redipped his quill into some ink as he furiously wrote on his paper. 

Lee was beginning to wonder if he had overplayed his hand when he heard a single knock on the door. Before Tomas could utter anything about being busy, the door opened and revealed…

Lee’s face shifted from his unhappy frown into one of absolute bafflement. He twisted fully in his seat to face… a bird?

A three-foot-tall round orb of yellow feathers with large oval eyes and a tiny beak waddled into the room on taloned feet. The creature waddled about a foot into the room before it froze and gazed around the room. 

Lee was so surprised at the appearance of the walking and apparently door-opening avian that he couldn’t even muster any sort of sound. 

The yellow ball of feathers’ eyes widened, and its beak opened a mere inch in surprise. Then, it talked. It talked in a young voice, high and squealing, filled with glee as it bounced from foot to foot.

“Hello! How are you? Are you well? I am well!”

It tilted its head sideways, which was about its whole upper body, kind of reminding Lee of a confused dog. Lee, brain faltering, uncertainly responded. 

“I… I’m good?” 

The large oval eyes of the feathered creature dilated to points, and it began a little happy dance back and forth, bouncing from foot to foot, leaving yellow feathers shooting around the room. 

“You speak the tongue of nature! You understand! That is good! That is great! We are friends!” 

The three-foot-tall bird creature waddled up to Lee and bounced up while flapping its small, winged arms. It gently floated down from the air and landed on Lee’s lap. 

Entirely and utterly confused, Lee looked to Tomas for answers, only to find him writing furiously on another piece of paper. 

Lee looked down at the bird creature, finding that the bird had its head tilted back and was staring happily at Lee’s face. The bird was light, probably only twenty pounds if he had to guess. He gently patted the top of its head, causing it to let out a little shrill. The feathers felt silky smooth and were very, very soft.

Lee just sat there and patted the happy bird creature as Tomas wrote up a storm. 

What the fuck is happening?

—-----------------------------

After being sent away by Wall Commander Timberson, Jeremy, Meriah, Belgrade, and Kendri had to deal with the incoming flood of ‘emergency responders’ from the bell being rung. And, by incoming flood, it meant the slow trickle of nervous, drunk, or useless soldiers wearing poorly strapped leather armor, helmets of the wrong size, or just having flat-out forgotten their weapons. 

The four’s punishment was having to sit there and tell everyone who came that it was just a drill and everybody was late and failed. Nothing too unfamiliar for the leadership of The Wall. 

Jeremy finished sending the last group of late soldiers away as he side-eyed Meriah, seeing that she was still calming down from her bout of panic. She was now transitioning to paranoia. 

Meriah desperately scanned the forest for any sign of monsters as her shoulders shook. Jeremy didn’t know her too well, having only been stationed here at The Wall for a little over a month, but he had his suspicions. 

If you asked any random citizen, most of them would not have anything good to say about any run-ins with monsters. Especially Goblins. Goblins were common around the wall, and everybody knew about how they lived. They just never spoke about it. Jeremy tried to recall where Meriah said she was from but was drawing a blank. He feared what he might discover if she lived near an area with Goblins. 

Being a noble, Jeremy was more informed than most when it came to what happened in the kingdom—At least, for Velispar, that is. The true number of monster attacks was much higher than many people knew, and he remembered the exact moment when his father revealed the actual number of casualties and missing people. It was disheartening, to say the least. But, around The Wall, the number of monster attacks was low. Abnormally so

 Initially, he looked forward to his posting at The Wall, hoping the stories weren’t exaggerated and embellished. It didn’t take long to find out that they were and to a frightening degree.

He would be lying to say he wasn’t disappointed, but he changed his goal from training to grow stronger to trying to discover why monsters didn’t appear along The Wall. That information could be used for Velispar upon his return. 

“He’s thinking again.” 

Jeremy glanced over his shoulder, seeing Kendri glaring at him with a bottle at his side. 

Jeremy didn’t know why Kendri didn’t like him, but he at least hoped to get along amicably if they were to be a squad. 

The hatch leading down into the inner tunnels of the wall lurched open, causing Jeremy to straighten at attention. 

Rising through the trapdoor-like hatch, Wall Commander Timberson rose, followed by the man who was the cause of Meriah’s panic. 

He was about to throw up his arm and salute, but a third figure arose from behind the man., causing Meriah to yell out again from his rear. He grimaced, but what he heard differed from what he had expected. 

“Kooco! There you are!” 

Meriah rushed forward, her pair of spectacles sliding down her nose. A great smile plastered on her face, all panic and paranoia gone as if it had never existed in the first place. 

“Chirp Chiiiiiirp. Chi chir chirrrp.”

Jeremy waited for the bellowing screams to flow from the Wall Commander’s mouth, but instead, he heard the man in the white robes. 

“She says ‘Hello! Are you well, Meriah? I am well. All is well.” 

Meriah and Jeremy looked at the man, Lee, and spoke the exact same words simultaneously. 

“What?”