Vex and Aurelis walked towards the gates, dirt crunching under their feet.

  They went past multiple buildings, their walls covered in slash marks and gaping holes.

  Two guards approached them.

  The two stood big, they held lances, and wore heavy knight armor.

  They had an emblem of a root on their chest. The helmets had built-in holes for their antlers, sticking from the sides.

  One of the guard's eyes locked on Vex as soon as he saw him.

  He raised a finger at Vex, his tone casual "Ah! you must be the one that helped stop the attack."

  The soldier smiled "What do you seek in this part of the town? and.."

  He looked over to Aurelis, raising an eyebrow "Who is this?"

  Vex grinned "I want to get out of town. And this is Aurelis, my friend!"

  He stretched his arm over Aurelis' shoulder "We want to go to the mountains north from here, to meet some sort of.."

  Vex stopped himself for a moment "Blacksmith, I guess."

  The guard nodded "Well, the high ranks appreciate your efforts, so I believe you'll get to pass the gates with ease!"

  He stretched his arms, walking back to his spot near the other guard.

  The guard gestured Vex to continue forward.

  Vex and Aurelis walked over to the gates.

  The guard suddenly chuckled, stretching his hand forward, stopping Vex and Aurelis "Ah, before I forget! I just need to do the usual protocol, you know how the high ranks are... A pain to deal with!"

  Vex nodded "Well, what's the protocol?"

  The guard looked at the two, his eyes scanning them "I just need to know what things are on you, but I wouldn't reckon you'd have anything illegal now would you?"

  Vex nudged the guard, his grin stretching wider "Oh come on! A hero like me would have nothing to hide!"

  Aurelis dragged Vex down, whispering "Are you stupid? You have a literal hand in your container.."

  Vex's eyes darted between Aurelis and the container, his smirk faded "Oh right."

  Aurelis stepped back, flailing his hand towards the guard "Hey, just.. give us a moment, we forgot to buy err.. food! Yes. Food for the trip."

  The guard waved them off with a smile "Alright, just don't take too long!"

  Aurelis dragged Vex away "Listen, I have an idea.. lets just hope the guard didn't notice your 'features' too much."

  Vex raised an eyebrow "Now.. what are you suggesting?"

  Aurelis grabbed Vex to a small alley, and took the severed hand out of the container.

  As the hand came out, it started to smell rotten. Filling the air with a nasty smell.

  Aurelis blocked his nose with his other hand "Just.. stay still, and don't shout too much in pain."

  Vex stumbled back, raising his hand forward to stop Aurelis "woah woah woah"

  He huffed "Lets not do anything painful now! R- remember, the guards love me! Heh.. we don't need to hide the hand, they look like very understanding people!"

  Aurelis shook his head "We are in one of the biggest towns in this part of the world. Their security is pretty tight dude. Just stick with my plan."

  Vex stumbled back, hitting a wall.

  Aurelis flailed Vex's severed hand around "Look, lets just get this over with. We have much more important things to be doing.."

  Vex raised his hand, but before he opened his mouth, Aurelis dashed forward, catching Vex.

  He exhaled "Got you."

  He pinned Vex down and froze the severed hand into his shoulder.

  Vex wept in pain "Gah! holy-"

  He held his frozen shoulder "Are.. are you crazy?!"

  Aurelis stepped forward, his feet scratching the ground "Look, we can break it once we pass the gate. Just.. please, don't make a scene out of this."

  Vex rolled in pain on the ground for a solid minute, shouting curses at Aurelis.

  Eventually, Vex stood up, his severed hand barely strapped to his shoulder with ice, covered under his shirt.

  The two went back to the guards, as Aurelis and Vex approached them, the guards welcomed them "Ah, you're back! The protocol shouldn't take long. I promise."

  The guard stepped forward, his eyes darting between the two.

  He took the container from Vex "And this should be where you stored the food you bought, right?"

  He opened the container, the empty container had nothing but the sound of a buzzing frost spell, casted by Akito to preserve the hand.

  It emitted a cold sense, one that made the guard close it quickly "Alright! invisible food it is!"

  Aurelis let out a fake laugh "Hah.. yea, we sort of forgot.."

  The guard shrugged as he handed the container back to Vex, Vex awkwardly turned to his side, to grab the container with his working hand.

  The guard took a deep breath "I guess that should be it, but I have to ask.."

  He looked over to Vex, Vex's eyes still red from sobbing minutes ago.

  The guard firmly asked "Are you.. okay?"

  Vex quickly nodded "Uh, yea! I am!"

  The guard took a step back, returning to his spot "Well, I wish the two of you the best of travels!"

  He let the two pass, waving them goodbye.

  Vex waved back, his container awkwardly spinning in the air, while his other hand flailed lifelessly.

  Aurelis pushed Vex, deliberately coughing.

  Vex lowered his hand and placed it on his shoulder, keeping the severed hand intact.

  After the two went out of the gates, the loud noise of chains rattling followed by the gate closing shook the ground.

  Aurelis grabbed Vex a little farther away, to a small grass patch "This should be a good place to thaw your hand.. I don't think they noticed"

  He placed his hand on Vex's shoulder.

  Vex flinched as Aurelis touched his shoulder.

  Eventually, the ice came off and the hand flopped to the ground.

  Aurelis picked up the hand and placed it back into the container, handing the container back to Vex.

  Aurelis looked over at Vex "I guess someone's got a reputation now, huh"

  Vex smirked, striking a prideful pose "Hah! You bet it. worth the hand!"

  He lifted the container with a big smile on his face.

  Aurelis face palmed "..You might want to be, you know.. less obvious while holding a bag that contains a dismembered hand?"

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Vex rested his chin on the container "pfft, I guess.."

  Over at the gates of Greage town, the two guards stood.

  The one who approached Vex nudged the other guard, getting his attention "Say.. how do you think that fella grew back his hand?"

  The other guard shrugged "Hmph, beats me. I don't get paid enough to check if someone's hand could be a chemical weapon."

  Aurelis and Vex were finally out of Greage.

  The plains loomed far ahead, grassy fields, flowers, the sound of birds chirping, and water flowing from afar.

  Vex looked over to an ocean to the west, connected to a wooden structure, letting Greage town get their water source.

  He muttered "Cool" as he went along with Aurelis.

  Infront of the two, a patch of huge snowy mountains, barely visible from their position.

  Vex takes a deep breath "Now that's what I call fun travel!"

  He started skipping towards the mountains.

  Suddenly, loud shouts pierced the air.

  Aurelis stepped near Vex, nudging him "Lets not bother ourselves with more trouble.."

  Aurelis gave Vex a knowing look.

  Vex raised an eyebrow, his smirk widening "Oh come on.. It wont hurt to at least check it out!"

  Aurelis pinched his nose "Listen.."

  He took a deep breath "You are missing a hand, and I want to find my brother already.."

  Vex placed his hand on aurelis' shoulder, stopping his lecture "And..? What if that is your brother? or someone else going to the same direction?"

  Aurelis clasped his hands, gazing down at the ground "I mean.. you're not completely wrong. But it better be worth our time."

  He followed Vex to the commotion.

  As they arrived, two groups, one of five demi-humans, and one of four humans, stood right next to a signpost, in front of each other.

  The signpost was held high, noting on each location's direction.

  One man from the human's group, a straw in his mouth, shouted at the demi-humans.

  His eyes shining red "Like I said, we need to search ya'al's town. We have an escapee!"

  The man's hands waved downwards.

  The demi-human on the other hand, a human with rabbit features, seemed unfazed.

  He spat to the man's side, dismissing his request.

  The demi-rabbit's eyes locked on the man. They were dark red and gazed the man down in superiority, even while looking up "I don't care about you and your little security issues! as I,"

  He pointed at himself pridefully "Will not allow filthy humans to enter our town!"

  The other demi-humans nodded in agreement.

  The human clenched his fists "I do not want to start another war with Hoshi town. No one even cares about any of you! I just want to find the. Damn. Prisoner!"

  The demi-rabbit huffed "And I am telling you, that you will not find him there! We don't let humans in, let alone a damn criminal! If anything, did you even look in your little Nuro town?"

  He pointed east, at a small town visible in the distance.

  The demi-human continued "Just like you wont find demi-humans there, you wont find humans there!"

  He moved his hand to point south east, to another small town.

  Another human from the group pushed the guy in-front to the side, this one huge, almost twice as tall.

  He pointed a finger at the demi-rabbit, pushing him a little.

  The giant looked down on him.

  He spoke like a caveman "Listen here bud. Guy's dangerous. He wields a strong habel and is capable of a lot. If there is a chance there, we search there. Understood?"

  The demi-rabbit clenched his teeth, looking up at the giant "Oh, you think you can make me move? Try me!"

  The other demi-humans shouted as they nodded in agreement.

  One of them exclaimed "We're not gonna let any of you step foot in our town!"

  Vex nudged Aurelis "Yo, got snacks?"

  Aurelis snaps his head towards vex "Oh? Um.. this commotion is.. quite dumb, lets just go."

  He tilted his head slightly towards the commotion "They'll.. do fine."

  He nudged Vex to start moving.

  Vex shook his head, blinking twice "Yeah, you're probably right."

  He turned, and as he began walking, he stumbled into a tall man, falling back.

  Vex shouted while rubbing his forehead "Hey! Watch your step!"

  The man he bumped into wore no shirt and had numerous star tattoos across his body.

  He was slim, and he stretched his hand to help Vex.

  As he looked down at Vex, he smiled "Ah, forgive me!"

  As Vex grabbed his hand, the tattooed man flung Vex up with ease, Forcing a handshake "Name's Baniku, a prisoner escapee! Or.. whatever they call me in their little town. What about you? What's your name?"

  Vex blinked twice, trying to balance himself "A.. what?"

  Baniku grinned, scratching his head "Yea, I had the same exact reaction!"

  Aurelis exhaled "Great! We're being dragged into all of this.."

  Baniku tilted his head towards Aurelis, his yellow eyes shining under the sun "Part of what?"

  Another scream came from the group of humans, interrupting their conversation "Ah! There he is!"

  One of the humans deliberately pushed one of the demi-humans as they walked towards Baniku.

  The demi-humans all clenched their fists.

  They stood silent for a few seconds, until the demi-rabbit simply clapped his hands once, getting his group's attention "Alright, lets just go!"

  They went towards the mountains, muttering curses under their breath.

  Baniku's grin widened as he walked towards the group, waving his hand "My fellas! I just came back to say Im really, truly, deeply sorry for everything I did!"

  The group froze, glaring at him.

  The big guy from earlier stepped forward "You- you cant just say you're sorry and go away like nothing happened!"

  Baniku looked up at the giant, and raised an eyebrow, his smirk widening "Oh yea.. what did I do again?"

  The guy with the red eyes stepped forward "Oh, you're going to get your sorry ass back to jail right now!"

  He approached Baniku, stretching his hand to grab him.

  Baniku chuckled as he slapped the hand away with ease, looking down, gazing the man "Huh? or what?"