Departure And Dispute

 As they all sat down to discuss what happened, Avis finally found out why Jason was arrested. His sword and horse were stolen from a shop, that wasn't hard to guess, but he also left the town without an adventurer stone, or without paying a toll. His sister too was going to be placed in an orphanage managed by the guild as she didn't have parents.

 He also found out that the man was from the same continent as them, reasoning why his accent was so familiar.

 But even so, some of those bandits had bounties on their heads, and it seemed that the one with a 'dragon' spirit was their leader, although his spirit was only that of a lesser dragon, commonly called a drake, a flightless big lizard that burrowed in the earth until it reaches maturity, and not a very strong one of those for that matter. But Avis thought that for a weak one to have that much power, a strong one must be beyond his wildest imagination.

 "I only arrived here yesterday and I already hate this 'continent', for every Jason I meet there are ten bastards to take his place, is this whole damn country like this?" Avis demanded. "This would have never happened back home! Those guards are damn useless too, they did nothing as a homicidal maniac was rampaging in the streets, but when Jason stole a sword to kill those bastards he suddenly had to be imprisoned, can't we bail him out, I got money from those bastards!"

 "Unfortunately, that is impossible, bailing people out isn't a thing here, as nobles used it to commit crimes without facing punishment." Thorne said.

 "Today has just been a bad day, I promise you that not the whole continent is like this, but this side of the world is indeed more secluded, people are less welcoming, and consequently outcasts become more prevalent, but that's only because it's much more dangerous down here!" Peregrine explained, but to no avail.

 "Hmph…"

 "What are you giving us that attitude for? Maizy here was kidnapped and she still acts better than you. You are damn lucky too, I used my noble status to get you out of trouble, killing a bunch of people in a cabin is still looked down upon, even if they were bandits or kidnappers, you would have been investigated for months if I wasn't there to pick you up!"

 "Yeah, yeah, let's get going already, I want to leave this shitty town…"

 "Fine, have it your way! But are you really okay, Maizy?"

 "Y-yes… I'm fine."

 "You know, I dealt with stuff like this before, I know the deepest wounds are mental, so please speak up if you want, if we can make life easier for you, please say something… It was also our fault this happened, as your future teachers…"

 "I'll help you gather your things, Maizy, I bought you some cute clothes! I want you to try these on." Peregrine lent her a hand.

 Maizy looked at Avis, then took Peregrine's hand, entering the room she woke up in.

 "Avis." Thorne called out.

 "Yes?"

 "Do not blame yourself for what happened, just do not let today's events repeat themselves. Protect her like she is your head, think that you will die if she gets taken from you, and always keep her close, at least until she recovers, after that, you should give her space, let her enjoy life herself, and then, if you're lucky, she'll realize life is more fun with you around."

 Avis blushed at the last words but took them to heart, he knew he still had much to learn, but the guilt couldn't disappear just like that.

 "Come on, help me get these to the carriage."

 Avis was about to leave the room but suddenly stopped.

 "I-I can't leave her alone."

 "... I didn't mean you should be this protective, just… Just try to support her, to- to be her support, I don't know how to say it, you can be more than ten meters away from her, you idiot!"

 "But the last time I did that she…"

 Thorne put down the things he was holding, and walked to Avis, putting a hand on his shoulder.

 "Listen, you have to ask yourself, does Maizy want you to be concerned about her safety every second of the day? Do you think she wants you to always be serious around her, and on top of this never get away from her?"

"I don't know… I don't know what she wants… All I know is that I just want to go home, all of this is too much for me… I just want to lay on my nice bed and read all day, to just sit there… I want to go back home…"

 "But you can't go back, right? You know it, and the sooner you come to terms with it the better, just hold on until we finish our journey, when we reach the academy you can do whatever you want, but for now, you have to act like an adult, even if you do not want to… Hell, even if you can't!"

 Avis looked down, then slowly nodded, before helping Thorne load the carriage.

 As they waited for the girls, suddenly Peregrine walked out, Maizy hiding behind her wearing a beautiful blue dress in the same hue as her eyes, stunning Avis for a second before he composed himself.

 "Maizy, that dress looks beautiful on you!" Avis said.

 But as he tried to catch her reaction, she just hid behind Peregrine even more, while the woman didn't do anything but look at the sky with a cheerful smile.

 "Let's go before something else happens, why did I even ask you to come with us…" Thorne grunted and got in the driver's seat of the carriage, urging the others to get on.

 They did so, and soon they were already at the gate. Thorne waved to one of the guards, and he let them pass without much struggle.

 As they sat in silence, Avis was looking at his stone, he knew it looked the same, but it felt different. Peregrine saw his intense gaze.

 "Avis, do you want me to help you with that?" She asked.

 "Hmm? Ah, sure."

 She took out a needle from a sewing kit and put it over a candle. Soon enough it was black with carbon.

 "Now, give me your ear."

 "Alright…"

 With the needle, she poked a hole in his earlobe. He wanted to put the earring in right away, but she stopped him.

 "Leave it to heal for a bit, you could get an infection that way."

 "But…

 "No buts, I know you want to put it in, but control yourself!"

 "That's a strange way of phrasing it, Peregrine." Thorne remarked.

 "Damn, it already closed…" Avis said, regaining her attention.

 "What are you saying… By gods, it's really closed up!" As she pulled on his bloodied ear to look for the hole, she found that it was intact, not a sign of it ever being there.

 "..." She was silent for some time.

 "Avis, what kind of spirit do you even have?"

 "Oh, this must be from my new one, it's really useful, I would be dead without it by now and it als…!"

 "WHAT DO YOU MEAN NEW ONE!?" The two shouted in unison.

 Avis was taken aback, but he told them the story of his spirits, and they were left speechless.

 "Avis, humans can only have one spirit…"

 "What? That can't be true, I have two!"

 "There is one exception to that rule, however…" Thorne spoke up.

 "Are you going to tell us or are you going to keep us in the dark?"

 "Avis, you are probably an inhuman…"

 "An… Inhuman? Like the driads? Are you talking about intelligent monsters? I'm really confused…"

 "Do you know how monsters get strong?"

 "They eat other monsters." He said matter of factly.

 "Not only that, they also absorb their spirits, getting their body enhanced by their powers, it's just that they aren't intelligent enough to use them… That's where inhumans come into the picture, they are smart, smart enough to use their spirits properly, even smart enough to infiltrate human society…"

 "Are you saying…"

"You… Is your body getting changed by the spirits you absorb, that is a known ability of inhumans."

 "All it does is make more eyes appe…" As he was unbuttoning his shirt, a dagger was pointed at his throat. "Wh-What are you doing, guys?"

 "..." They said nothing as they tried to wrap their minds around what was going on, occasionally taking glances at each other.

 With all the ruckus, Maizy was woken up from her sleep, and as she saw Avis being threatened, she quickly jumped between them, trying to shield him.

 "Why are you doing this, Thorne!? Are you going to kill Avis?!" She shouted.

 "H-he's an inhuman! He's dangerous! Get out of my way, Maizy!"

 "What are you talking about? Are you stupid? You've known Avis for months, do you really think he's a monster?!"

 "He has multiple spirits, Maizy! Get away from him!"

 "I-I swear I'm a human! Thorne, I'm not a monster!" Avis shouted back.

 "You aren't, Avis! You aren't! You are a dammed monster, your urges will eventually catch up to you, you could attack us at any time!"

 "I-I don't have any urge…"

 "Aha! See?! He does have urges, it's only a matter of time until they become out of control!" 

 "N-no…I swear, guys! I would never hurt you!"

 "You freak, I swear I'll…!" Thorne raised his dagger, ready to strike.

 As she saw this, Maizy freaked out and hid behind Avis, the scars of her kidnapping were still fresh.

"Stop this!" Peregrine shouted. "This isn't going anywhere! We need to take some time to calm down, we can't just throw out accusations like this, Thorne! Leave them alone!... We need to confirm it before we do something stupid."

 Thorne frowned, but as he thought about Avis' actions up until now, he couldn't feel any bad intentions, he couldn't just kill off his companion, especially since he didn't do them any harm.

 They decided to let it go for now as they still thought about what they would do.

 Avis walked to the back of the carriage, outside of it was a small, uncomfortable, bench hidden by a curtain, he sat there, feet dangling over the ground, blood falling from his ear as he poked it with the earring, letting it drip on the ground below.

 …Days passed, and Avis was being isolated from the group, he thought he would be kicked out, but as time passed he was just left alone, the two didn't speak to him much, and Maizy would not speak to any of them. 

 The road was silent, and they didn't encounter any problems along the way, but even so, the group's trust was in pieces.

 As Avis was trying to sleep, facing the wall of the carriage, Maizy was looking at his back, hugging her knees.

 …

 One month later, it was Avis' birthday, he didn't get any presents, but he didn't expect any anyway. This day however marked another event, their arrival at the first branch of the family, in a big city hidden in the mountains with dark forests surrounding it on all sides, it was a beautiful city and by the looks of the buildings, even the ones at the edge of the town, it was stupidly rich.

 Once they were let in, the couple got them an inn room for around a week and left them without another word.

 "So…" Maizy finally broke the silence. "You… Are you a monster?"

 "I-I… I think so…"

 "And… About your urges."

 "I only feel them when, I think, it is appropriate for bloodlust to appear, but when it does I am not myself anymore... And what's even worse is that I can feel it slowly changing me... But overall... I don't feel any different from how I was a year ago, but… I don't know what to do. Thorne was giving me advice then, the same day I broke his trust and he wants to kill me… I didn't even know I was a monster! It still feels impossible…"

 "Avis…"

 "..." He looked down, then he felt the eyes on his chest squirming. "... I need to go!" He got up and rushed the door, throwing it open, and rushed outside.

 As he was running in the streets, only the moonlight offered him any light, that and the spirit energy of what was chasing him.

…