I blink.

"This- this is Pyranaleath'tai?"

"Yeah. You sound amazed."

Glancing back, Chasan and I both exchange a look before my bewilderment is expressed at the two strangers.

"So it does exist?" I ask, not sure if I want to celebrate prematurely.

"See," Ahri 2.0 points out to Lan. "They really don't believe this place exists."

Chasan interjects at this, his eyes wider than a pubescent boy seeing bare titties for the first time.

"How? No one ever returns from this place and there's never been any communication from this side. What else are we supposed to believe?"

"There's a barrier," She explains.

"A barrier?"

I'm not liking the sound of that.

"Yes," She sighs. "It's meant to keep strangers out and people in, it's dangerous if you try to cross it carelessly."

"Doesn't stop your people from traveling over here, though," Lan adds. "Not that most of them make it very far. You two should consider yourselves lucky to be spared."

I shake my head. "Oh, not without our battle scars."

Those waves on the open sea were unforgettable, I shudder just thinking about them.

"Which begs the question, why did you try to travel here?" She asks critically, her tail flickering.

"My brother, I need to save him. God, I should just take a recording of this at this point but whatever. So there's this emperor guy here that kidnapped my brother and challenged me or something- long story short, I'm here to kick ass and bring my brother home."

Her tail stops twitching. "Tymos? You're talking about Tymos?"

"Yeah. I'm not a fan of him right now."

Now it's the two of them exchange a look briefly before she speaks up again.

"Well, we hope your journey goes well, but we must be going, the posts have been abandoned for too long."

While she tries to usher Lan away, he remains.

"Is there anywhere you can stay tonight?"

"Lan!"

I shrug. "New to an undiscovered land, I didn't have much planned in the way of where I'd be staying, but if you're offering..."

"We're not," Ahri 2.0 cuts me off curtly.

"Where's your gentle, giving spirit gone, Nimu?" Lan reasons. "These poor souls are out here at the mercy of this brutal, foreign place and you're denying them shelter?"

Nimu, as she's called, gives Lan a sour face which he returns with a cheeky grin, trying to look all angelic and stuff.

Seeing her contemplate, I chime in cheerfully, nudging her like a buddy. "Come on, Nimu, make this your good deed of the day. In fact, make this the best deed of your life."

Though she gives me the same sourpuss look, she mutters disgruntled, "Fine, but only for a night."

I knew I could wear her down.

This Nimu chick and Lan guy are such a stark contrast to the Verith clan- they were a happy, hospitable bunch, these two are something else entirely. We follow the duo as they skillfully make their way through the jungle without a path or map. I actually don't mind being in the back since I get to see Nimu's tail move on its own- it's so freaky how she's like a hybrid cat person or something. Chasan drags his feet the whole way, too busy staring in disbelief at his surroundings.

"You done ogling yet?" I fall back a little to match his slow stride. "No offense but you look like a half-wit staring like that."

Pulled from his Enlightened moment, he scowls at me briefly. "Do you ever remain quiet for a minute?"

"If you think I'm talkative then you've clearly never met anyone from my town."

"No, and thank the Fates for that. Perhaps I phrased it wrong the first time, let me correct myself, what I meant to ask was do you ever say anything beneficial?"

"Beneficial?" I pretend to think deeply about this. "Explain."

He catches onto my act which results in an annoyed half eye roll and scoff.

"You know, I'm beginning to believe you are fourteen more and more."

"Gee, you don't say."

Before he can make a shrewd comeback, Lan steps in with an observation that a second grader could catch onto faster.

"Do you two not know each other like I thought you did?"

"How'd you think we knew each other?" I ask.

"I don't know, I assumed you were friends or lovers-"

"I'd rather drown in a drunken man's vomit than be linked to this girl."

Well, damn.

"Yeah, not even remotely close to civil," I reply, ignoring the previous response.

"I can see," He says.

I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious when I didn't give a crap about him dying, but some of us are faster at connecting the dots than others.

"You're fourteen, correct?" Lan asks.

"Fourteen?" Now we have Nimu's attention. The dubious expression on her face is a classic everyone wears when hearing the truth.

"She acts about it," Chasan grumbles.

"Yeah, fourteen in the flesh, right here."

Though Nimu says nothing more about it, Lan blinks twice.

"If you're fourteen then I'm six."

"He acts about it," Nimu mumbles.

These peeps aren't actually too bad to be around. They're annoying on their own, but together it's actually kind of amusing.

"Hopefully, we won't be in too much trouble for abandoning post," Nimu says several minutes later.

Lan blows it off. "We'll be fine. Besides, you'll just blame me if we're caught anyway."

"What's this post you guys have been talking about?" I ask.

"We rotate post shifts around the village weekly," He explains. "It's mundane and as uneventful as you could imagine it to be."

"But necessary," Nimu adds firmly.

I can already tell who's going to be a stick in the mud here- and I thought Sir Douche was bad.

"Necessarily useless, in my personal opinion. Nothing has ever happened as long as I've been on duty."

"That's the point, to keep the village safe."

"Um, why do you need to guard your village?" I ask. "Aren't there security people for that?"

Nimu glances back momentarily at me. "Pyranaleath'tai may be beautiful but it's also lethal."

Sounds ominous.

"You'll understand what we mean soon," She finishes.

I hate waiting for something, even if it's just a few seconds- it's excruciating to me as a girl who's whole mentality is staying ahead of the pack- but when we finally arrive at the gates of the city, I think I understand what she means. All along the perimeter, as far the eye can see, there are thick, pointed wooden stakes acting as a wall around the village. I'm amazed at the effort for a mere Jericho wannabe village, it's almost tempting to take back what I said before.

Tempting. Keyword there.

Not only is this entire place surrounded by the stakes they used to burn and impale people on, a huge ass door- the biggest I've seen- blocks us from entering. Nimu steps right up to the door, though, gives it three good knocks then soon the boulder-like doors open, allowing us in.

"Sheesh, what kind of things live around here where you need this kind of protection?"

"Unfriendly things," She replies, not bothering to look back at me.

"Well, what about if you need to leave?" Chasan asks.

Lan scoffs at this, "We don't. Nobody leaves the village unless necessary."

Studying this place with its moderate huts, that aren't too rudimentary, and its, frankly, unimpressive, mundane structures, I'm not sure this is the ideal place to bunker out while whatever lives out in the wild thrives.

"Seems like an unnecessary prison," I comment.

I'll admit, Cauldron isn't San Francisco or New York, but it does have some fun places to hang and explore, not to mention the people at home make things ten times more exciting than they actually are. Here- here- my God, here, this is the village only those who love to press useless buttons for fun would feel at home in. Not trying to knock it or anything- first glimpse at Pyranaleath'tai life, yay- but when witnessing kids kicking around dust like it's some intriguing game, I know a place is lacking life. Every person we pass looks like their soul has been sucked from them. It's like living in a town of Eeyores- and this is just first impressions!

"So, um, yeah," I scoot up to Nimu's pace. "This village you got here...it's a little dry for my taste. Why does everyone look like they've been told Santa's not real?"

Understanding everything but my last comment, she looks at me quizzically.

"Dry?"

"Flat, boring, dull, blah."

"I'm not sure how that factors into any-"

"I can't really stay in a village this dry."

Now she's just looking at me like I'm stupid or something. "I-I don't know what you want me to-"

"You can't do anything, it's fine, I'm just sayin'."

Again, Cauldron isn't Beverly Hills, but when kids are building mud bricks it's a pretty sad sight.

I don't mention the pathetic scenery anymore as we make our way through the tight, hut clustered village with its windy roads. The further out from the core of the village that we get, the more grassy it becomes, though the huts start becoming more worn down the further we go. At last, with feet aching, we arrive at, what I assume to be, Nimu or Lan's hut.

Like I kinda already assumed, the huts are as unimpressive as the rest of the joint but hey, at least it's a roof over our heads- a very crummy roof over our heads.

"So, do you guys live here together or with a roommate or something?" I question, sitting down in a rough chair.

"This is my place," Lan answers. "Nimu lives a house away."

"Believe me when I say my residence is in much better condition than this."

I mean, I'mma trust her on that one, but none of these sorry shacks were looking too hot.

"Now," As she takes a seat across from me, the mood gets serious all of a sudden. "You cannot mention Tymos around here."

"Okay...why not?"

Her volume gets lower. "Because you can't."

Uh, she was going to have to spill more than that if she wanted my full cooperation; I don't do miniscule details very well, I need the whole picture in order to understand and shut my mouth.

"I can try," I reply.

"Good," She said, putting an end to that kind of tense, sudden moment. "You can only stay here a night, people are fickle about strangers here, especially your kind."

"That's cool." I was only planning to stay a night anyway.

"What about me?" Chasan asks.

"Uh, yeah? What about you?"

"You stranded me here."

Glancing side to side, I shrug. "Whoops."

"That's it? That's all you have to say?"

I swear, we probably sound like an old married couple.

"Uh, I'm sorry. Was that what you were looking for?"

He admits a low growl as he runs his hands through his hair. "How many I supposed to return home?"

Now I give a hint at my annoyance with an eye roll.

"I don't know. What do you want me to do about it?"

Before he can snap back, Nimu jumps in.

"So you," -she points to me- "Want to find your brother, but you," -she points to him- "Want to return back to where you're from?"

We both nod in unison.

"Well, you might just have to come to a compromise because leaving here is tougher than-"

"It's either come along or stay here until I come back," I lay it out. "Or if  I remember to come back for you."

"You see!" He objects. "There is no compromising with this girl!"

"I mean, I'm just telling you your options."

"That's not much of a compromise now, is it?" Lan says thoughtfully.

"I don't compromise when it comes to my brother's life."

"Why did Tymos take your brother?" Nimu asks, sitting criss-cross on the bed.

"Not a freakin' clue maybe he just wanted to kidnap kids. I think it has to do with my dad, though, I'm not sure, but he keeps calling me a girl with a bloody crown so I'm guessing he's not really mad at me per say."

"Girl with a bloody crown?"

They all give me questioning looks.

"Yeah, I can't really explain it, he just called me that randomly."

"Was there bad blood between your father and him?"

"Sounds like they don't even know each other."

"That's unusual."

"You're telling me. Now I have this stupid sword that he wanted me to get and I don't have a clue on how to find him."

Tymos must have gotten bored of me because he's certainly not telling me where he's lurking. If there was one thing I hated in this world it's a coward. You taunt me, you talk big game, then I come through and all of a sudden things go quiet- interesting how that works.

"Can we actually return to our previous discussion," Chasan asks, trying to drag out this chain-and-ball situation with me.

"Actually, I'm kind of over this conversation so I'm going to put it on standby until I'm ready to pull it off the shelf again," I say, brushing it aside.

"You know, I give up, you win, I will gladly wait here and try to figure out a way to get home over going along with you. In fact, you don't even have to-"

"Oh, but if you wait here then you'll miss the real fun."

Holy f-

Even with my back to the silky voice and only remembering a few lines of our previous conversation, I can tell who it is without delay. Twisting around to see if my mind really is being truthful with me, I see exactly who I thought I was going to: Tymos.

As the shock wears off, anger replaces it.

"You summoned me?" A Cheshire grin spreads across his face. "I have waited for generations, I thought you'd never get here."

I banish my sword, going to threaten him at knifepoint. "Where's my brother?"

"You believe you are in authority to command things? That's rather interesting indeed," He laughs.

"I believe I deserve to know where my brother is."

"Don't fret about him, he's safe. We need to focus on more urgent matters."

"My brother is the most important thing to me. Now tell me where he is or else."

Unfazed by my hostile demeanor (that's a first), he gently pushes the tip away from his neck, a sly smile still on his face. His eerily unperturbed mannerism isn't sitting right with me, and as much as I hate to admit it, even just to myself, he's kind of throwing me off my game.

"You called and I have arrived to put an end to your questioning. I've come to explain the rules of our game."

"Game?" I don't remember ever signing up for a game.

"Yes," He sounds so eager that I can't help but be intrigued, though I don't want to be. "It's winner's conquest."

Stepping forward a bit, I sheathe my sword, signaling my willingness to listen.

Before he starts, though, he glances behind me. "Oh, we can't talk with others around, they might ruin our fun." With a flicker of his wrist and a "poof" they're gone.

I didn't know he had powers like that! That changes a lot.

Sensing my alarmed surprise, he chuckles, waving the same hand dismissively.

"They're safe, don't worry your darling head about them. Now we can talk." He gets comfortable in a crudely crafted wooden chair, leaning back slightly with ease. "The first thing you must know about me, my darling Joan, is that I am a fair man- no matter the outcome, I will always uphold my end of a deal. Can I be assured of the same from you?"

I play a poker face for this, keeping my hand secret as I reply-

"Just get to the point."

"Ah, that's not how my rules work. You must first assure me of your fairness."

"Fine," I practically spit. "I'll play by the rules, no matter what. Now get on with it."

Another Cheshire grin emerges briefly from him before he briskly moves on.

"I do have your brother and you can get him back, there are just some simple directions you must obey in order to reach him. Firstly, you must arrive at my palace before the red sun arrives-"

"What the hell is that?"

"That is for you to figure out. Secondly, you may not rely on any magic to assist you in your journey under any circumstances- unless told otherwise by me. Thirdly, the individuals I have sent away will be your companions on this journey, but you must get them to reveal a truth about themselves by the end of every day of your journey or else they will die. If you tell them of this clause then they will die immediately. Lastly, if you fail to reach the deadline in time then I am allowed to crush your heart and your brother gets to stay with me."

Whoa, whoa, whoa- crush my heart!?

"These rules are ridiculous!"

"They are fairly simple if you wish to see your brother again."

He was good, in all the worse ways.

Glaring, I don't continue to object but I certainly do when out of the blue he strikes me with a snap of light from his hand- it feels like it's ricocheting inside of me like an echo in a cave.

"What the hell did you do?"

Judging from his twistedly pleased face, I can tell it's not good news.

"I made sure your heart will be mine if you fail at your quest."

"Well, luckily that won't be the case now, will it?"

"Hopefully not so."

He's so fake it's unbelievable. The mask of genuineness has never once fooled me about this man- there's just something with him.

He offers me a respectful nod. "Well, it has been an honor, as always, being in your presence and talking with you. Your time starts straightway."

"Wait, so does that mean I have to learn three truths about them today? The day's almost over."

"I will exempt you for this first day, but I expect three truths by tomorrow night."

With a dramatic toss of his cloak, he vanishes from the room in a plume of foggy light. Immediately, after he leaves, the other three return, coming back to reality as though they've just been unpaused.

"What happened? Where did he go?" Nimu asks, holding her head like she's fighting off a headache.

"He left."

Lan blinks, wide-eyed. "What did he say to you?"

"A whole lot of nothing."

Look, I'm not trying to have their blood on my hands so if this means playing along with these stupid ass "rules" then sobeit, but at the end of the day I'm here for Brent.

"Well, that confirms it," Chasan starts. "I'm getting off this island or whatever we're on. I have no business here with-"

"Actually," All eyes are on me. I gotta be natural about this. "I might need your help."

"Oh, no, I am done with helping you. Do whatever you need on your own, this is your mess, not mine."

"Chasan, come on."

As if to convince that he's serious, he starts marching towards the door. No way, I need him here if I was ever going to get to Brent. Jumping into action, I leap over a chair and block the doorway.

"What are you-"

"Look, I know this seems crazy, and yeah, maybe it is a little out there, but- but don't you want to go on an adventure, a journey through a place nobody else has gone and returned from? Imagine being the first Edalirwen person to come here and return. Wouldn't that be awesome?"

At first, it looks like my spiel doesn't stir him.

"You're stalling me. What is it that so desperately needs my help?"

"I'll only tell you if you agree to come."

"I'm not agreeing until I know all the details. What will we be accomplishing on this trip?"

"Rescuing my brother, what else?"

A sigh- I'm losing him.

"Don't you want to be part of something epic? Something good?" I include Nimu and Lan in this little speech. "All of you. Don't you guys want to change something? Haven't you ever wanted to go on an adventure?"

They exchange glances with each other as I continue.

"Look, it won't be easy 24/7, but it will be awesome and rewarding. Whatever you decide is your decision, but...but just don't live with regrets- my dad tells me that all the time- so take a risk and join me."

Not liking the prolonged silence going on here. I for sure thought at least one of them would cave after that PSA worthy plead, but they remain quiet on the matter. With no results from that method, I try a different approach.

"Alright, fine," I toss my hands in the air. "I'll do it alone."

I don't even have to march ten feet from the door before they take the bait.

"Wait."

Lan joins me outside.

"I'll help you."

Milking that Oscar, I let a relieved smile spread across my face. "Thanks"

When one of them falls, the others follow.

Nimu then Chasan comes out of the house with their arms folded across their chest. Nimu caves second, leaving only Sir Douche himself contemplating. But at last, he breaks, going along with the peer pressure.

"I will only go until I find a way out of here," He adds.

"That's all I ask."

So this grand "adventure" is now underway in the works. I'm going to follow these "rules" and tote along three extra bodies I don't need. Not entirely sure how I'm supposed to extract a truth from each of them, but I'm going to have to accomplish it somehow without them catching on.

This is either the start of an epic journey or a train wreck approaching.