by Max Jager
"We did everything we could to get out, where the hell were you?" Brooke argued. "And we didn't send her out of the cell, she left on her own."
"He left because he felt like he had to, he never had a choice. You don't understand, that's how Carley is, he will throw himself out a window without second thought if it would save someone else's life. And not because he wants to, but because he feels so compelled to protect others that he has to." Jess argued. "He had to go do all of that acting and crap to get in with the bandits, and then to top it all off he had to kill the leader himself, you guys couldn't even do that. And now look at him! He was never meant to kill anyone, monsters maybe, but not people!"
"Jess, I'm fine…" Carley quietly murmured.
"Carley, you can't lie to me. I know you far too well." Jess argued.
"I will be fine." Carley corrected himself.
"But that's not okay! It isn't okay that they are making you go through this much emotional trauma!" Jess argued.
"This isn't our fault." Brooke insisted. "And we are here to try and support her as much as we can. She says she will be okay, so we just need to be here and be supportive."
"Do you not see him? It's eating away at him, he was never meant to kill, never. And he never should have been put in such a situation." Jess argued. "No if, ands, or buts, you all put him in that situation by not solving your own problems."
"We were solving it, and we did. She didn't need to step in." Elliott joined the fight in to defend his sister. "We appreciate it, a lot, but we were fine."
"Exactly, I acted on my own." Carley quietly insisted.
"You were in danger!" Jess pointed at Brooke, almost pressing her finger into the girl's face. "You two, specifically, had gotten yourself into a really bad position due to some bad planning and forced Carley to act quickly to save you. That's your fault! You can't deny that." Jess argued. "When we get back to the city Carley and I are not coming back out with you people. You're going to get him killed."
"I'm not staying in the village…" Carley quietly murmured.
"Don't even get me started on that Jess." Brooke stepped closer to her. "Who's damn fault was it that Carley got separated from us in the fight with the wasps? Yours. And you put Carley in that exact same situation there, she had to save you and got hurt in the process."
"Brooke, let's just drop it." Elliott took a step back, noticing everything getting a little out of hand.
"That isn't my fault! I didn't want to be out here in the first place!" Jess argued.
"Who's fault was it that Carley got taken down in the fight with the cerberus? Yours, again, because YOU went and used your signet incorrectly to switch places with her right before you got hit. You could've switched with another cerberus, but no, you switched with Carley and she took the hit for you. You have a freaking suit of armor! She doesn't." Brooke continued, ignoring Jess's protests.
"That wasn't my fault either! I panicked! I didn't mean to do that." Jess argued.
"And who's fault was it that she got shot? Yours again." Brooke just kept going. "We had her safely behind a wall, but you had to go and teleport her out into the middle of freaking nowhere where she had no cover. You could have stayed behind the damn car and switched places with her, but no, you ran out into the open like an idiot and THEN switched places and left her vulnerable. Fate, Chloe, and Sophia saved her from your mistake."
"I'm not used to fighting, I panicked, and I am not good at strategy like the rest of you. I never thought it through. It's not my fault." Jess argued.
"It is your fault, it all is, no excuses. Carley is more likely to get killed with YOU then she ever was with us! YOU are the biggest threat to her life, not us. If you want her to survive maybe you should go stay in the village and keep away from her, she will be a hell of a lot safer that way! And if she really does have a self control problem that makes her act out to protect others, she's not going to get over it by being coddled. Even Carley herself knows that. YOU are making it worse." Brooke shouted back at her, pointing right back at her and shoving her finger very close to Jess's face.
"None of that was my fault!" Jess argued. "And get the hell out of my face!" She added as she slapped Brooke's arm away hard enough to leave a mark on her arm.
Brooke recoiled and pulled her arm back, Elliott started moving towards Jess,
"Jess! Knock it off." Carley stepped in as soon as she struck Brooke, even if it was just her arm. He attempted to pull Jess back but ultimately was unable to budge her.
"Knock it off you two." Matthew stepped between the two groups, to prevent a fight from breaking out he immediately shoved Jess and Elliott backwards with so much force they were sent stumbling back and Jess fell on her butt. "Separate, all of you. NOW." Neither of them were going to try fighting with Matthew, he as much bigger and more intimidating than both of them.
"Let's go Brooke." Elliott said as he took her arm and pulled her away from Jess and Carley.
Brooke let out a frustrated growl and followed Elliott. "I know, I shouldn't have had an outburst like that, I shouldn't have said those things, but I can't stand her! She's such a fucking hypocrite!" She complained. "I can't stand watching her blame everyone else, when she is seriously going to get Carley killed."
"I know, it bothers me too." Elliott replied.
Brooke sighed "It's frustrating watching Carley defend her when she doesn't even try to improve herself, when she constantly keeps getting Carley hurt and she won't take any responsibility for her screw ups."
"I know, but there's nothing we can do." Elliott replied.
"She's going to get Carley killed, seriously. I wish Carley would just save herself and ditch Jess." Brooke growled.
"Well, we just need to put in the extra effort to protect Carley. The others can all handle themselves, and everyone is protecting the kids, so we can focus on Carley when she's to busy protecting Jess to look after herself." Elliott replied.
"I guess that works." Brooke sighed.
"It's the best we can do to keep her alive, despite her staying with Jess." Elliott replied.
"Let's get going everyone!" George called out, pulling everyone's attention back to him. "It's going to be a long walk back to the village." He stated as he lead the way with Snipes and Inami obediently following along behind him.
Everyone followed George, with Matthew and Chloe walking beside him. Elliott, Brooke and Sophia walked in a small group a short distance behind him. Then Eladienne and Lynn following just a short distance behind them.
Carley initially tried to join up with Brooke and Elliott's group, but Jess took his hand and lagged behind everyone, keeping him from walking with the others. The two of them walked alone in the back of the group. The distant and lifeless gaze was still present in Carley's eyes. Jess seemed to be trying to comfort him as they walked.
Fate walked alone a short distance behind Brooke and Elliott's group, with the same distant and lifeless look in her own eyes. They hadn't gotten far before Snipes came over to walk beside her, and Inami followed him
"You okay?" Snipes asked. "You're are acting weird."
"I'm fine." Fate weakly replied.
"You no sound fine." Inami spoke up.
"Really, I'm fine." Fate flashed them a fake smile.
"We know you're not." Snipes spoke up. "You don't have to hide it."
"You're very perceptive for kids." Fate sighed.
"We aren't stupid you know." Snipes replied. "You and Carley both, after that fight you two were not okay anymore. But you're not hurt."
"It's fine." Fate replied, "I'm just, a little shaken from the fight. It's our first time fighting other people you know? I'll be fine." She sighed.
"You sure that's all?" Snipes asked.
"Yeah, that's all." Fate replied. "We killed real people in that fight. Not just monsters."
"So? They were bad guys." Snipes replied simply.
"Yes, but they were still people. There is no such thing as a bad person, you don't know what drove t
hose people to act the way they did. I would assume Carley sees it the same way I do."
"But they would have hurt you and your friends if you didn't do what you did. That makes it okay." Snipes stated.
Fate sighed quietly. "I guess."
"No guess, Snipes right!" Inami jumped in. "You save people, that make you hero. You should smile."
"I don't think I can right now, but thanks Inami." Fate sighed.
***** move to next chapter maybe?! ****** KILL JASMINE
Everyone suddenly stopped when a large green-scaled wyvern swooped down from the sky and landed beside them.
Everyone immediately grabbed their weapons and backed away. "Wyvern! Get back. Watch for fire!" George called out.
Although before anyone could do anything a familiar voice shouted at them. "Don't attack! Don't attack! Charlie is friendly!" Sarah shouted out before she climbed out from behind the beast's wings and jumped off the wyvern's back.
"You have a dragon! That's so cool!" Snipes nearly shouted out.
A moment after Jackson climbed down. "We were looking for you guys. What happened?" Jackson questioned when he noticed the emotional state of Fate and Carley, along with everyone being roughed up.
"Welcome back Jack!" Elliott called out. Receiving a brief glare from Jackson. "And Sarah too, but Jack alone just sounded better there"
Brooke laughed a little at her brother. "Nice to see you again Sarah."
"It's a long story." George answered Jackson's question. "We didn't make it to the dungeon, we were rounded up by some bandits along the way. They kept us detained for a while, trying to use us as hostages to negotiate something with the alphas. But when the alphas ignored them, we just killed them and got ourselves out." He briefly explained. "Now we are headin' back to resupply before trying the dungeon again."
"Bandits?" Sarah asked. "Geez, first I'm hearing of those. Never thought anyone would resort to that when they could live almost free in Belle village. Been a pretty interesting few weeks."
"Where did you two go?" Chloe asked.
"Well, that would be for Jackson to answer not me." Sarah replied and turned to Jackson.
"I needed to keep a promise to some people I met before you guys." Jackson replied. He kept it short, to the point, and lacking in details.
Before they could discuss it further another small group of adventurers came running through the grass towards the wyvern.
Charley ducked quickly to evade a spear that had been thrown at his head. Then with a loud roar he spewed flames at the incoming adventurers, making a wall of fire in front of them to stop their approach without harming them.
"Hey!" Sarah shouted out, using telekinesis on the next spear that was thrown, to magically catch it and throw it back at them. "Don't attack Charley! He's friendly!" She shouted out. "Why are they still chasing us? I thought we lost them a few miles back." She sighed quietly.
"What?" One of the adventurers shouted back.
"Cease fire morons!" Jackson shouted back much louder then Sarah could.
"Thanks." Sarah replied. "Don't attack my friend." She called out to the other group.
"That thing is your friend?" One of the adventurers questioned as he walked around the fire and over to Sarah. He seemed uneasy about the wyvern but he put his sword away.
"His name is Charley. And yes." Sarah insisted.
"Oh, didn't realize you could tame pets in here." The woman behind him spoke up.
"He's not a pet, nor is he tamed. He's just friendly." Sarah growled at them in an irritated tone.
"Sorry, sorry." The woman replied as she took a step back, noticing that Sarah seemed offended. "We just saw a dragon-like creature and figured it would be good practice for the real thing. We all joined the attack force for taking out the dragon in Oline city."
"The what?" Sarah quickly replied. "There's going to be an attack on Alydrath?"
"No we are attacking the dragon." The woman corrected her.
"The dragon's name is Alydrath. Never spoke with her personally but I know a few other dragons who know her. They said she was generally friendly."
"Oh, well Mendelen is planning to take the city back. We are running out of space for new people in the village." The woman replied.
"Sarah, is everything alright?" Charley asked, noticing that she was getting visibly frustrated. Sarah was the only one who could understand what Charley said, everyone else just heard some quiet growling.
"Yeah." Sarah replied. "We gotta get back to the village so I can talk to Mendelen." She said as she climbed back into Charley. "I'll hopefully be back to rejoin the group later guys. Jackson, if you or Una need me again let me know." She added before giving Charley a pat on the back of the head to tell him to go.
"What's going on?" Charley asked, unable to understand the humans.
"I'll explain along the way." Sarah replied, and then Charley took flight and headed for belle village.
"Well that was brief." Elliott commented.
"Sarah's made a lot of friends with the monsters of this world. She doesn't want to see an intelligent monster like a dragon be killed." Jackson stated.
The other group of adventurers looked a little awkward as they stood there and watched Sarah fly off mid-conversation. "So, we were heading to Oline ruins, you guys up for tagging along?" The woman asked George.
"No sorry, we just left." George replied. "We are heading back to the village to resupply."
"Oh, well you know of any local dungeons? We were looking for one." Another man in the group asked.
"Just the one we were sent to take out. You could ask the Alphas in the city for directions to one. They seem to know where a bunch of them are." Chloe stepped in to reply.
"We want to take this dungeon and it's loot for ourselves, the ones the Alphas are giving directions to are meant to supply the village. So we don't want to hunt those and take resources from the village." The woman replied.
"Ah, sorry we can't help then." George replied.
"Well it was nice meeting you guys regardless. Shall we share names so we can DM each other if we need anything or want to meet up again?" The woman asked. "I'm Danielle, this is my brother Oliver."
"Nice to meet you both. I'm George." George simply replied.
"Chloe." Chloe chimed in. "And this is Matthew, Brooke, Elliott, Snipes, Inami, Fate, Sophia, Carley, Jess, Jackson, and I don't recall the names of the elves."
"Lynn and Eladienne." Sophia spoke up, glancing back at the two elves who were cautiously watching from out of earshot. "You ever met any non-humans before? Not the monsters, but like the elves and such. The ones that are more lifelike."
"We've met a couple here and there, traveled with a few for a short time now and again. Why?" Oliver replied.
"Well, are they alive or are they AI?" Sophia questioned.
"They are fully sentient." Jackson stated. "Whether or not they are AI is up for debate, but they are alive and sentient regardless of that answer."
"I don't know." Danielle replied. "I mean, all the interactions we've had with them could just be boiled down to quests really. And if they are AI then they can't be truly alive or sentient."
"Yeah, ours too." George stepped into the conversation. "Inami is basically an escort quest, until we find her mother. And the elven sisters are either an escort quest or a fetch quest. Can't tell yet if it ends when we reach the village or after we get the medications for them."
"Exactly." Oliver comment.
"But they do seem like they are alive." George finished his statement.
"Well we did have AI learning and all that back in the real world." Danielle pointed out. "Probably just a complex AI learning system that learned how to act lifelike.
"There seems to be more to it than that though." Sophia spoke up.
"Yeah," Brooke joined the conversation. "There seems to be more than just a program."
"Agreed." Elliott added.
"Well the AI we had back in the real world wasn't really that far fro
m appearing lifelike. It wouldn't be far-fetched to say they were just AI." Danielle reminded them. "Does that answer your question?" She addressed Sophia. "But we don't really know, if I had to guess I'd say they were just AI."
Sophia sighed quietly. "Honestly, that just makes things more murky and complicated. I guess they could be AI, but they really don't seem like it. I think I'll just regard them as if they were living beings for now, better safe than sorry."
Danielle nodded. "Yeah, we're trying to do the same really. Of course, if it comes down to a human life or a non-human, then naturally we save the human. But under normal circumstances we just be kind to anything that appears to be intelligent." She explained.