Bewildered, Tiyasha looked at John, who was approaching the centre of the pentagram. Bell and Arthur were coming towards Tiyasha and Shivam too.

"It's okay," John said. "Perhaps he's disoriented."

"But it worked! Can you believe it worked!" Bell was apparently excited. Arthur held his silence, not sure how to react or even how he felt about a dead man coming back to life.

"Hey Arthur. Can you tell me what's going on here?" Shivam said, looking at Arthur.

"You remember Arthur, yet you don't remember me? Do you remember Josh?" Tiyasha demanded of Shivam, ignoring the fact that he had just come back from the dead. How did he dare to forget her, how COULD he forget her? It was her Ritual! She brought him back to life!

"Of course I remember Josh, my brother. Where's he? He's alright isn't he? And who are you, young lady?" Shivam said.

Arthur placed a hand on Tiyasha's shoulder. After a few moments, he said, "It's okay, Tiyasha. We'll just have to refresh his memory, that's all."

"Let's go back to our rooms, this rooftop is cold," John muttered.

"Who are you, if I may ask..." Shivam began.

Arthur shoved him gently on the shoulders. "A lot has passed since you fought the spiders in the forest, Shivam. Let's go down, and we'll tell you everything."

Took flew down and perched on Shivam's right shoulder. "Do you remember me?" he asked curiously.

"Of course. You're...you're...Josh's dragon. But what was your name again?"

"TOOK!" the baby dragon growled. "Don't forget it again," he said, offended.

***

Soon, they walked down the stairs from the rooftop (that was after they rubbed all the blood and the pentagram clean with some rags), and went back to the bedroom of John and Bell. Josh was still lying on the bed, unconscious, but the greenish complexion was completely gone from his skin.

Shivam and Took went straight to Josh. Shivam placed a palm on his cheek. "Foolish kid. Look at all the trouble you caused," he said. Josh mumbled in his sleep, perhaps discerning the voice of his big brother even through the unconsciousness.

"He'll be alright, won't he?" Shivam said, looking at Arthur.

"Yes, these MediMen have given him the cure for poisoning," Arthur said, gesturing towards John and Bell. He wanted to get on with the explaining part and plan their next moves. The Rebellion against Blikrot couldn't wait forever.

"MediMen...?" Shivam asked, confused.

"Yeah, listen Shivam..." Tiyasha began.

Shivam jumped. "Tiyasha! Don't scare me like that! When did you come here?"

"His memory's been compromised," Bell said shaking his head. "That's the Unseen Price."

John didn't say anything. For he knew the Unseen Price couldn't be as simple as a fluctuating memory. For all he knew, it could be nothing but life-threatening.

***

"So...you mean...I died," Shivam said quietly.

"Yes," Arthur said. He had just finished narrating all the unbelievable events that had taken place upto the Ritual, events which Shivam had missed on account of being dead.

"And a Seamstress visited you," Shivam said.

"Yes, People's Hope," John said.

"And why, exactly, are you addressing me as People's Hope?"

"Well...everyone in our town has heard your glorious stories..."

"Stories? What stories?"

"Stories of how you have defeated Infernos again and again," Bell joined in the conversation.

"I would say we only made some lucky escapes," Tiyasha said, and Shivam nodded in agreement.

"Luck doesn't work against those Infernos...we...we know that best..." Bell shuddered.

"Which brings me to my next question. Why are you people so scared of the Infernos? That's why you initially began fleeing when Arthur here asked you gor your help, isn't it?" Shivam asked.

"We...they are animals, that's all," John said quietly.

"The Infernos use us. They drag us to their battlefields. Force us to join them in their sacriligious quests. They hate us. They don't like the idea of men living together...as...as...a family like most MediMen here do. If they find us walking on the streets, they play cruel jokes on us. The other day they castrated a man, shouting all the while he didn't deserve...did..did...not..." Bell broke down. John did nothing to console him.

The Trio were horrified into silence. For a few moments, the only spunds in the room were those made by Took, who was purring softly in his sleep.

"Why don't you fight them?" Shivam asked finally.

"Because we are not YOU!" Bell shouted through his whimperings. "Show him, John," he said.

John left the bedroom, and came back after a minutes, with two posters.

One of them was a Capture-Painting, with Shivam and Tiyasha's faces on it.

The other was a portrait of Shivam. Above his face, in bold red letters, was written: "PEOPLE'S HOPE".

"What's this!" Shivam asked incredulously.

"The Paintings of Hope are secretly distributed among the sufferers, Shivam. So that we may recognize you if we ever stumble across you. And we did, didn't we?" John said.

"Yes but who paints them? Why the Infernos don't catch him and deep fry him in cauldrons of bubbling oil?" Shivam asked hopelessly. He didn't want to carry this huge weight of irrational expectations.

"It perhaps originated back in the village you fought alongside a Raiser and a Fire Dragon. Where you destroyed Bakrasur's army. But we don't know by whom exactly..."

Shivam looked at Tiyasha with wide eyes. What had they gotten themselves into?

Tiyasha looked back, and thrn said grumpily, "I am hungry."

"I am too," Arthur said, and went to fetch the Trickstar Tiffinbox.

"Yeah but who's he?" Shivam asked Tiyasha, gesturing confusedly towards Arthur. Tiyasha sighed.