'What a strange and eclectic group...' Odysseus wondered as he watched the resting members of the order with their young charge... 'and what a continuous mystery...' It had been two days since their return from the old ruins to the north and the shining city of Offtopic, ever bustling; ever changing; stood watch just on the edge of the horizon. The wild plains he had traversed to reach the mountains they now rested on seemed smaller now; something within him yearned... a soft bed, a twisted and fragrant Fig tree growing in the room... full of bloom. What were these memories? Were they his? They felt alien. As if from someone long ago in another life. As he scanned the horizon behind them he pondered deeper... The fellow named Tiln had sent him North to search for answers to his past, and now he only had more questions. These people he had rescued... They had told him the creature in the gate was a Speaker of some kind, it had spoken to him through the doorway... "You..." He was certain he had felt the creatures gaze on him at that moment. Even without eyes it was able to see him, and the screams... He had never seen something so horrific, how could it have known him? Odysseus shuddered to think of it. It had been a demon, surely, but of what? This land was far more dangerous than he had previously believed. Still, in it there was hope. As the one known as Vegge cared compassionately for the young child they had rescued, Odysseus smiled to see it. The young warrior beast-maiden had remained close to the child as well, Nep was her name, and the one nearby staring at a small glowing device was Tilman-[i]something[/i], The fellow with the strange whirring metal insects always around him was Robo Owl. They were brothers in an Order that Odysseus would learn about when he was given the chance. The screams of that creature still echoed in his mind...