Chapter 28

Three headed back towards the village, he had been gone for over a week, he wondered how the others were doing, and what they had been up to during his absence. He walked up to the gate, waved to a guard he recognized but did not know the name of and entered the village. It took him a while to get used to the regular hustle and bustle of the village, although small it was still much larger than Snowhome. People were crying their wares on the street and the food stalls spread a delicious aroma through the air.

He walked towards Emmi's house, waving at the people he recognized along the way. He saw Grimli and Bob arguing over the fine taste of ale and wine at one of the stalls, seeing the two of them made him smile. He still felt it was a good idea to trust the dwarf, regardless of magical influence. Same for Emmi and her family, he was not sure how the others faired however. He really wanted to hear Jer's opinion on the subject.

He stood in front of the door, hesitating, he felt strangely nervous after being away for a time. With a cough and a shake of his head, he knocked on the door. He could hear the footsteps heading towards the door, they were heavy yet feminine, that meant Emmi. The door opened to prove him right, She grinned when she saw him and swept him up in a hug, to his surprise easily lifting him off his feet despite his weight. He was even more shocked when she smacked him upside the head.

"Next time you go off on a grand adventure make sure to take us with you!" She scolded, "Who knows wh-...." Her gaze slipt passed him as she stared with open jaw behind him. Three confused by her reaction followed her gaze, she was staring a very large, very curious Jurgor in the eye. Three looked at the two of them and smiled.

"Crimson this is Emmi! She's a friend." Crimson cocked her head and sniffed at Emmi, then her long tongue licked Emmi's face. The jurgor nuzzled the new friend she just made happily, purring all the while.

"Oh my, how did you, she is so... beautiful." Emmi breathed as she stared at Crimson.

Crimson understood what she was saying and continued happily slabbering Emmi as thanks for the compliment. Emmi giggled and was soon playing and scratching the Jurgors scales enthusiastically.

"Oh Three you're back!" Davis called as he walked over, Talin close behind. "Things have been quiet without you here, we mostly did boring training, it's a lot less fun without the actual fights."

They both watched with wide eyes as Emmi was playing with the largest Jurgor either of them had ever seen. "W-whats with the Jurgor?" Davis asked.

"I met her, we fought, I won, now she's my bloodbound Companion, Her name is Crimson." Three stated, "I have other tames, but it will take them a while to reach Grathum, by what I'm feeling atleast a day."

"Tames?" Talin asked, running a finger over his pointed ear. "You have a class, and became a monster-tamer then I assume?"

Three nodded, "Yes, the class... spoke to me, I just realized I should have discussed my decision first."

Talin shook his head, "Everyone must choose their own class themselves, the class most suited will feel right, natural to you. It is best to pick the class you feel fits you best, few people actually have a thought out level plan. In the experience of adventurers, instinct works best in these cases."

Three nodded his head, thankful for the reassurance. "Where's Sumi?" He asked.

Davis pointed at the house, "She was getting ready for bed, she felt you coming and said that it was high time to 'Gather'." He scratched his growing stubble, "I assume she means that white room and your friends, you should head on up. We can catch up tomorrow, it's late and you've traveled for quite a time."

Talin smiled and nodded, "You do not have to worry, I'm sure Emmi will take good care of your Jurgor."

Three smiled, saying his thanks as he entered the house. He made sure to politely greet Emmi's parents first, apologizing for his time away without notice. Both told him that running off to save others is the right thing to do and he should continue to do so should he ever have the chance. He smiled at the both of them when they shooed him to his room. He opened the door to see Sumi sitting there waiting for him, her blond hair loose and semi-messy as she smiled her enthusiastic smile.

"Glad your back bro!" She said grinning. "Felt your fluctuating emotions from here, I'm sure you have a lot to tell us so I figured I'd go ahead and make the beds, no need to tell the same story twice and all that!" She patted the bottom bunk as she swung herself into the top one. "Let's go see what the others have been up to!"

He smiled and took off his pants, he got into his bed, making himself comfortable under the blankets. He closed his eyes, and felt his mind drift away into the strange room where they gathered.

He felt the other strings tied to his own gather, turning into a ball and creating walls, a roof, a floor. Every time he did this he had to admit it was an odd feeling. Then once again he stood there surrounded by those he felt most comfortable with, his brothers and sisters, family, kin.

He stared around at the others smiling. Fliít walked up to Sumi, trying to give her a hug only to walk right through each other, both of them bursting out in giggles. The rest exchanged greetings and small talk. Then Three stepped up and cleared his throat, the others swiveled their gazes to him, shutting up to hear what he had to say.

"A lot of things happened to me this week, and although I could show it to you, there are some things I have to talk about first." He conjured couches for the rest of them and motioned for them to sit down. He conjured a chair for himself and placed himself in front of the others, meeting their gazes. "I found another experiment."

The rest froze, the atmosphere turning colder as they all adopted serious looks. "What do you mean by another experiment," Jer asked. "Someone like us?"

"Not exactly, I think this girl was an experiment before ours, and I do not think the experiment was successful. She is more powerful than people her age, similar to us. But I am sure her mind was damaged during the experiments, nor did her body change as much as ours. I snuck a peek at her status plate, and she has a core like ours, except hers is shattered."

The rest muttered at the implications. "So what happened to her, how did you meet her." Strem asked, folding his hands.

"She has become a necromancer, she holed herself up in a cave to hide from the hags, she created an army of undead and was having them level in an attempt to evolve them into more powerful creatures in the area around where she hid. She did not know however, that a village was nearby and that they had come under attack of her undead. Luckily no one had been killed and the village has decided to take her in."

The rest relaxed a little to hear that the girl was doing alright. Jer folded his hands, placing his elbows on his knees and resting his head on his fingers. He looked Three in the eye and asked, "There is more that you want to tell us isn't there."

The rest focused their gazes on him, Three took a deep breath. He released his breath and spoke. "I believe we have all been infected with mind-magic."

The rest froze, before all hell broke loose, Most started asking questions at the same time. Others were trying to remember what they had done and if that was unnatural. Jer shouted to clear the air, "Let's listen! He's not finished!"

Three nodded in thanks before continuing. "I went to a friend to have the mind-magic parasite or whatever it is, examined. Unfortunately due to my core, I seem to have magical interference. Magic cast on me or near me, will not work properly. So she could not properly examine what the magic did and what its purpose was. What we have ventured to guess is that it makes us more trusting, it forces us to help people, to connect with people. We are unsure why or how this works but you guys will have to investigate that on your own, as I can't do it."

Valana spoke up, "I don't think I have the parasite."

All the gazes in the room swiveled to her, Jer arched his eyebrow. "What makes you think that?" he asked.

Valana stared at him, "When you taught the mercenaries our sign language I thought it was the wrong thing to do, when you brought in the tortured bandit slaves into the fold, I thought it a dangerous decision. Now that I know there are parasites in our heads I think that it is what affected your decisions. Since I don't seem to be as trusting as the rest of you, either I am resistant to the parasite or I don't have it at all."

Everyone stared at Valana for a moment, most of them simply surprised by the sheer amount she had spoken. Jer nodded thoughtfully, "This explains a lot of things now that I have given it thought. The true question is why did they do this to us, we need to get a magician to investigate this parasite. This raises a lot of questions."

The rest nodded, each of them lost in thought for a time. "We won't get anywhere just thinking about it." Fliít said. "We should do what we came here to do, then find out what this parasite thing is first thing in the morning." The rest nodded doing their best to put their thoughts to rest.