FAMILY

Wiped out for the day, Neal extended his hands high in the air. A soft yawn escaped his mouth as he shut his eyes tight. With a clean swipe across it's base, he wiped off the liquid that had developed beneath them.

He had suffered a lot in the training of the day, but for some reason he still preferred this to his fight against Maya.

Remembering how he felt when the punch had connected to his face, Neal shook his head trying to erase it from his mind.

Just then, he identified Evans in the distance, fixing the roof of the meeting hall. He couldn't tell how it had gotten damaged in the first place, but he believed it had something to do with the gradual aging of the things around the place.

The thought that the things in the place aged except for them made Neal feel very uncomfortable. It felt good for one to know they could live forever, but not in this kind of circumstances.

Soon enough, Neal walked in the direction of Evans to see if he could help him in some way. That seemed to be possible as he soon realized he used hay as a way to fix the roof.

Tying a bundle of hay with a vine, Evans placed it on the roof, tying it down to it's wooden base. This would go on as he repeated the same process over and over again.

Neal upon arriving tied a bundle of hay himself, before tossing it to Evans who was on the roof. Catching the pile in mid air, he smiled at him in appreciation. Afterwards, a conversation ensued between them as it normally would.

"How was the training with Marcus today?"

"In my opinion, it was way better than the one I had with Maya, even though Marcus was a weird teacher with that sly smile of his," Neal answered full of energy.

Evans chucked soon after, playing along soon after. "Well I understand what you mean. But you shouldn't talk like that about Maya in the open. There is no telling what she would do if she heard you."

"What!? Seriously!?" Neal expression changed to a weary one.

Bursting into laughter, the two soon carried on with their respective responsibilities. Silence dwelled in their midsts as they continued to arrange hay, until Evans spoke once again.

"You remind me of my brother. Your will to keep on pushing on is exactly just like his."

Neal upon hearing this could not help but be astonished. He had come to believe that everyone had lost memories of their past life. Definitely, he was not an exemption.

"Who was your brother?" He decided to ask.

"His name was Cody. He was drawn into the tower some time back and had the same Combat class as me. Even though we didn't look alike in any way, I couldn't help but feel as if we were brothers. That was just how close to each other we were."

Just then, he realized that the brother he referred to wasn't a blood related one. It was just someone he was very close to.

Knowing what his next question could do, Neal still decided to ask anyways. At the moment, he was very curious about this person Evans considered his brother.

"So what happened to Cody?"

Evans cheerful expression to changed to a burdened one, making the atmosphere itself feel like it was heavy. Even with all of this, he still decided to answer the question.

"Cody sacrificed his life for me when we were in the dungeon. He was killed by a sasquatch."

Neal upon hearing this answer could not help but feel he had pushed it too far. This was something that was surely personal, it would be hard for anyone to speak on something like it.

"Since that day I have considered everyone around me as family instead of friends. Since we don't remember if we had one or not, it is only natural we should. What do you see the people here as, Neal?"

Now receiving a question of his own, he did not know how to respond. In the end, his best course of action was to keep silent.

"Oh, I see. I hope someday you will come to see everyone here as the same," Evans spoke as his once cheerful expression returned to him.

'Family,' Neal thought to himself. He couldn't remember the feeling of it. However, Evans words seemed to stir something in his heart, something he couldn't quite understand.

After finishing up the work with Evans, the two went their separate ways. With the word family popping up in their conversation earlier, Neal decided to head towards the lake. He still had no way of telling if the day was late or not, but it didn't matter to him. To him, there was no better way to end the day.