Despite a rough introduction, the trio decided to remain together, the group exited the tavern and headed back towards Hytham's shop so that Kyllian could conclude his deal. Both the archivist and inventor knew that if he wanted to, he could take the maps away from them and go on his own, so they decided it was better to simply stick with him as he was also the only thing between them and other violent hoodlums of the city. They entered the bazaar and a few customers were inside looking at the various marchandises available. Hytham's was pacing at his counter and gave a nod to Kyllian when he saw him enter. The young man turned around towards his two new companions.

  " I just have a deal to make with him to conclude, just wait for me for a sec."

  Kylian walked over to the counter and pulled out the rings he snatched earlier in the day, Hytham's pulled out a small magnifying glass and started examining the rings.

  " Interesting, for this one I can give you twenty coins and fifty for the other. "

  " What?! Come on Hytham they are at least worth two hundred each!!! Look at this gold, look how shiny it is! "

  " Let me show you a little trick." Hytham's pulled out a small bowl and poured water into it, he then added some salt to it and dropped the rings in the water. " Do you see this at the surface of the water ? "

  Kyllian leaned in and noticed small dark spots appearing in the water.

  " Yeah."

  " Do you know what it is ? "

  " Rust ? "

  " Exactly."

  " So what ?! "

  " GOLD DOESN'T RUST YOU IDIOT !! Those are fake ! They are just iron rings that have been covered in gold "

  " So what ?! Weren't you the one saying the customers wouldn't know ? "

  " Yeah but I can tell ! So I will give you seventy for it and then I will sell them at twice their prices because I'm a good friend."

  " You are garbage Hytham, just like everything you sell."

  " I sell good garbage, valuable garbage that people buy. '' Hytham reached under his counter and dropped a pouch of coins on it. " So ? You're gonna let me have your garbage or sell it cheaper somewhere else ? "

  Kyllian let out a heavy sigh and took the pouch. Hytham was smiling from ear to ear and placed the rings in a small box full of other types of jewelry.

  " It was my pleasure to do business with you."

  " Fuck you. "

  " Ahah cya Kyli. "

  " Out of all the cockroaches of this town, he is the only one I can't kill.". Kyllian gave a hand sign to his traveling companions and the three of them exited the shop. The air was getting colder as the sun was going down, the streets were emptying themselves and shopkeepers were closing shops, ready to go home and count their earnings of the day. Yordan's stomach started growling as they were passing by the last opened shops.

  " Shouldn't we head back to the Stuffed Squash for the night ? "

  Kyllian turned around and kept talking while walking backwards.

  " I can't protect you guys if I'm asleep so no we are not going back there. Everyone saw what happened or must have been talking about it so there is no chance that they would not come after us if we showed our asses around again. "

  Dagissaro let out a moan of exhaustion.

  " I'm starving, I'm cold and I'm tired ! This could not get worse. "

  All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning struck the sky in the distance, quickly followed by a few droplets of water, Yordan glared at Dagissaro.

  " You HAD to say something didn't you ? "

  " How could I have known there would be a storm ?! "

  " Why can't you just shut up sometimes ?!"

  " No you shuddup ! "

  " I'm gonna make you swallow your next invention, I swear to the Creator. "

  " Then I'll shove your fancy maps up your - "

  Kyllian decided he had enough of their bickering, his palms were once again starting to heat up. He screamed loud enough to make people in their homes flinch.

  " BOTH of you SHUT THE FUCK UP !! " the two man stood there in silent, staring at the young man " We need to save on money for the trip, meaning no fancy rooms if any room at all, no extra meals, come on, follow me, I know a good bridge we can sleep under. "

  The two men looked at each other with disarray.

  " Bridge ?! "

  The cold sun of winter was slowly rising over the town of Kolipa, never had both Yordan and Dagissaro ever awoken in such a grim, gloomy and depressing setting. The water running close to the spot they slept smelled like all of the pot chambers and latrines had been emptied in the streets and the water ran down to this part. The smell was so horrendous that both of their stomachs stopped growling and a nauseating sensation took over them. Yordan rolled to his side onto a rock and let out a groan of pain.

  " This ain't no way to live oh lord, my back is messed up, is it what it feels like to grow old ? "

  " Awnn, well you will know when you are my age, where is our young friend ? "

  " Huh ? " Yordan looked around and Kyllian was nowhere to be found. " Kyllian ? "

  Yordan stood up and painfully stretched his back, making it crack, he then looked around and noticed something else which sent him into a panic.

  " Dagi get up ! "

  " What ? Why ? What's going on ? "

  " Our bags aren't there !! "

  " What ?! "

  Dagissaro instantly stood up and noticed that all their belongings and Kyllian had vanished.

  " That little shit he stole everything ! "

  " We should have never trusted him in the first place ! "

  " We should not have come to this shit city in the first place. "

  " Well whose idea was it huh ?!"

  " I thought it was safe ! "

  " Well obviously it was NOT ! "

  " I swear if we get out of this city alive I'm not traveling with you anymore ! "

  " Let's settle this, now then come on ! "

  The two men started wrestling in the mud, their fight was interrupted by a loud crunching sound next to them.

  " What are you guys doing ? "

  They stopped and looked where the voice was coming from, Kyllian was hanging upside down from one of the wooden foundations of the bridge. He swiftly leg go of the wooden piece his legs were hanging onto and landed easily on the ground. He took another loud bite of the apple he was almost finished with. Yordan threw Dagissaros aside and walked up to Kyllian.

  " Where are they ?! "

  " Where are what ? "

  " Our maps, our money, all of our stuff ?! "

  " Oh, look up. "

  Yordan looked up and noticed a few bags stashed under the bridge foundations.

  " Oh. "

  " Did you think I stole from you ? "

  " Well stealing and killing isn't something that is foreign to you. "

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  " True but I'm trusting my gut feeling that I need you two. I went and got us some breakfast."

  Kyllian pulled out pieces of bread and two apples for them. Dagissaro stood up, muddy and out of breath.

  " Well thank you I'm starving, what is the plan for today ? "

  Kyllian handed him out an apple and walked towards one of the bridge pillars, he started scaling the pillar to reach the bags he had stashed there.

  " Well boys, today we start our trip, we are heading north towards Sutra, it is two weeks away and the roads aren't safe so you better mentally prepare for it. "

  He then retrieved the bags and used the pillar again to go down and sat down to eat his apple. While doing so he took out new bandages to wrap his hands and arms. Dagi and Yordan looked at him unbinding the dirtied and old rags, when he noticed them staring he turned his back on them and kept on going. Yordan leaned towards his friend to whisper to him.

  " Why do you think he hides under those wraps ? "

  " I don't know, maybe he is some sort of mutant. "

  " You think ? "

  " I've heard of these strange mixes between demi-humans and humans that create mutants, they inherit only a few parts, sometimes only an eye, just an arm or sometimes their internal organs are different from humans. So they don't belong anywhere, they are humans, they aren't beasts or demi-humans, they are just seen as abominations. "

  " Maybe he is covered in feathers or his arms are slimy with frog mucus or - "

  Kyllian interrupted the two of them.

  " You done eating ? "

  " Yeah yeah ! "

  " Let's get moving, we have a lot of distance to cover. "

  Yordan was following Kyllian as best as he could but could feel his lifetime of not moving much catching up to him.

  "Kyllian can you walk slower please? We have been power walking for two hours now. "

  Yordan turned around to watch his friend out of breath walking up the hill.

  Kyllian looked back as well but kept the same pace as he was walking backwards.

  " We barely started, I don't like going so fast either but honestly the faster we get away from this city the better I feel. "

  " Yeah but we are far enough now aren't we ? I'm gonna sit for a second. "

  At the sound of that, Dagissaro dropped his bag and sat on a rock to rest. Kyllian was still walking ahead of them trying to make the way safer. Yordan sat next to his friend, he was getting tired too, moving in this cold after such a bad night of sleep was making it harder on them. He looked towards the horizon.

  " Kyllian ! Is there a city or a stop before the port?"

  " Nope. It's just two weeks on foot like I said. "

  " WHAT ?! "

  " You better start walking, the break should only be in three hours."

  " He is actually going to have us die from exhaustion."

  " We need to move out to escape patrols."

  " Patrols? Patrols of what? "

  " You guys really don't know squat about this country do you ? "

  " Well no, we come from an island west of Tzungstat, it is isolated and untouched by the war. "

  " You should have stayed on your island then, this country doesn't have a decided ruler so most cities are left in chaos and it's basically a country you come to if you are a criminal or want to escape any pursuit from the others. What I call patrols are groups of renegade bandits that attack on sight. Fardug sends their prisoners here instead of executing them and Tsungstat recruits magic users or uses them for experiments.''

  " My books never mentioned something like this."

  Still looking in the distance, Kyllian's voice became colder.

  " What we find in books is simply from the perspective of the one writtng it. Each kingdom and rulers see themselves as great people who are in the right about everything. They are all garbage like most humans."

  A heavy silence fell, only the cold wind moving the slim trees of the forest could be heard.

  Kyllian whistled at the two men and gave them a hand sign.

  " Break is over, let's get moving."

  Dagisarro let out a heavy sigh and stood up. The group resumed their trip.

  The country of Euhya was nothing like anything Yordan had ever seen before " It looks like everywhere that is not a city or a village is''dead ''. Maybe it's just the fact that we are in winter but this whole land feels like we are ghosts roaming the earth." For some reason, Kyllian seemed to be wanting to avoid places with people, he would always find excuses to have them sleep outside of villages and even when he would sleep outside he would remain as far as possible away from them as he could. The only moments he was allowing himself to be in the proximity of someone was when he was fighting. The group had been traveling for a week now and their rations were depleted. A gentle rain was showering them as they were making their way through a dense forest, both Dagi and Yordan were shivering as Kyllian's was completely unfazed by the temperature. Dusk was nearing and they still needed a place to camp. While walking Yordan spotted a small village half an hour away from them.

  " I think we should sleep in the warmth of a home, in a bed and eat a warm meal."

  Dagissaro agreed with him.

  " Yeah for real, I feel like my balls are about to fall off in this cold ! "

  Kyllian let out a sigh of annoyance.

  " When I started this trip I didn't think I embarked with two whiny little kids, you know what ? Go in town, I'm sleeping right here, I'm not meddling with filthy peasants. "

  " Come on Kyllian, we are traveling companions, we should stick together, we are going anyway, and you have to come with us."

  " I don't HAVE to do anything ! "

  " Yes you do, wherever we go, you need to protect us, you need our maps and knowledge. "

  Kyllian walked back to Yordan and stared him down.

  " I could twist your necks right now and take those maps."

  " Go ahead and do it then."

  Kyllian groaned and started mumbling under his breath. Soon after he had been dragged into one of the very places he hated, the group entered a small inn in the middle of town. To some people, a full inn is a sign of good business but to Kyllian it only meant he had to interact with more people. Yordan was walking in front and was the first to speak to the owner.

  " Evening good sir, a table for me and my two friends."

  " We don't have tables available, but we have a few seats over there."

  " I mean there is a table there.. "

  " If you wanna share witgh other people that's on you. "

  Yordan started walking towards the seats he was pointed to but was stopped by the big hand of the owner on his shoulder.

  " Where you think u goin ? "

  " To ... sit ? "

  " Money first. "

  " But we haven't ordered yet ... "

  " You don't pay, you don't sit. "

  " How much is it ? "

  " Twenty coins. "

  Yordan sighed and gave twenty coins to the owner who simply stared at him, Yordan looked back at his friends who were as lost as him.

  " Is there a problem mister ? "

  " I said twenty. "

  " There is twenty right there ! "

  " Per person. "

  " WHAT ?! It's theft ! "

  The owner pulled out a cleaver from under the counter and gently placed it in front of him, Kyllian instantly wanted to go and confront him but was held back by Dagissaro who simply shook his head. Yordan sighed again and pulled out forty other coins. The owner took the money with a grin on his face.

  " Happy doing business with you, have a seat."

  The group walked in the room and sat at one of the tables waiting for their orders to be taken. Kyllian was fidgeting with his necklace inside of his shirt and kept tapping his foot nervously. Around him the customers were getting their orders and were getting drunker and drunker. Finally a waitress came to take their orders.

  " What can I get you gentlemen ? "

  Dagissaro spoke first.

  " Can we get some bread and roasted chicken ? "

  " We don't have any more chicken. "

  " Any meat of any kind ? "

  " No, we are out. "

  " Ok then what do you have ? "

  " Bread or groat. "

  " What's groat ? "

  " It's basically mashed grain and we had potato shavings as well as some roots in it. "

  " Well get us three of those with some water. "

  " I'll come back as fast as possible. "

  The waitress walked away and the trio waited while the rest of the room kept on eating, they were sharing their table with loud men. The only thing Kyllian wanted was to run out of this place as fast as possible. The waitress brought them their meal and instantly after getting it Kyllian stood up with his plate, Yordan looked at him in disbelief .

  " What are you doing ? "

  " I'm eating outside, I can't handle the stench here. "

  " Oh come on don't be like that."

  Kyllian started to walk away and one of the men at the table stood up suddenly and ended up bumping into him, causing him to drop his plate on the floor. The loud bang of the plate on the floor caused the rest of the table to laugh at the young man. The man who bumped into hm was a fat and bald bearded man obviously drunk.

  " Oy sorry lil man ahah but you can lick it off the floor it will add flavor ah ! "

  " Fuck off."

  Furious, Kyllian wanted to walk away from this place but was stopped by one of the man's friend. To stop the young man he grabbed him by the wrist, only to get his hand slapped away in disgust.

  " Don't fuckng touch me! "

  " You sensitive boy ? Why u got them bandages all over ya hands? "

  " That's none of your god damn business. "

  " Hey Philly! Doesn't that remind you of that one story? "

  Philly was a large man with long redhair, eating like an animal he had piece of food stuck in his beard and stains of wine on his white shirt.

  " Wot ? "

  " Ya know that one story a few years ago about a lad covered in bandages! "

  " Ye wot about it? "

  " There was this one lad he torched a whole village! One second it's standing, the next POUF all gone! "

  " No wayyy ! Are you him boy? "

  Kyllian looked away from them and buried his hands into his pockets, feeling heat coming into them. " Not now, not here, I need to breathe."

  " You are mistaking me for someone else, have a goodnight."

  He started walking away but was stopped by a man large as a door standing in his way, the whole room was now quiet.

  " Excuse me, I need to get out."

  The big man stared at Kyllian and smiled.

  " It's you isn't it, doesn't stay in one place, blonde hair, pretty tall, grey eyes ... " he leaned in and whispered in Kyllian's ear " .. bandages over his arms. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish to present to you the infamous arsonist of Brodenburg ! "

  The whole room let out an audible gasp, still clenching his fist Kyllian remained silent. Dagissaro and Yordan waited for what was going to happen next. The big man gave a slight push on Kyllian's shoulder.

  " You know the people of Brodenburg lost everything in this fire, right ? "

  " It was not me. "

  " It was 10 years ago, and all that people could say about it is that they saw a figure wrapped in bandages. A whole village burned to the ground, that night ninety people died. "

  " It was not me... "

  " You know what you are ? A fucking monster, won't even admit it, what kind of bitch birthed such a shitty kid in this world. "

  Kyllian froze in place, his palms were getting hotter and hotter, he was clenching his fists as hard as he could.

  " Don't.say.that."

  " What ? That you are probably born from a whore who didn't teach you good values? "

  " Stop it. "

  " Where is your mom anyway lil man? Hmmm? "

  " Stop talking. "

  " Or what ?! You gonna call mommy lil man ? "

  " Stop.fucking.talking."

  Most of the room was focused on the big man but Yordan was looking intensely at Kyllian and scratched his eyes when he thought he saw smoke coming from his pockets for a split second.

  " Go ahead, call for your mom, she wont recognize you when I'm done with you. "

  " ..."

  The man took a step back as Kyllian looked at him in the eyes, his piercing grey eyes were full of murderous intent. Slowly, he picked up a pint that was on the table next to him, he weighted it in his hand and lightly threw it and catched it a few times. Mesmerized by him but also terrified by the look he gave him, the big man stood still. Kyllian lifted his head and smiled as he looked at the man straight in the eyes, his face was conveying mixed emotions, he was forcing a smile while his eyes were full of rage. It may have been the most disturbing face the man had ever seen. Kyllian then threw the pint high in the air, everyone in the room looked up, not realising that he had just used it as a misdirection in preparation for his next move. In finesse and with no wasted motion, he spined on himself and kicked the man in the face at the moment the pint reached his eye level shattering the glass into his face. The walls of the inn shook as the man fell heavily on the ground, glass shards were piercing his face in multiple places. He was now twisting himself on the ground screaming in agony. Kyllian walked up to him and stood over him.

  " I hate humans, you all disgust me, you are filthy, noisy and overall garbage to be around. The only human I respected was my mom so don't you talk to me like that ever again. If you do, I will torch this entire village, starting by you. Lil man. And you are right, it was me, remember me as long as you live, My name is Kyllian Ashstep. "