Amy's eyes widened, she slowly turned her head to the source of the sound. Her gaze fell towards the same guy she ignored a moment ago, going through her backpack.

  She clenched her hands.

  "Hic... I bet she's one of those spore-bearers!" He exclaimed as his fat stomach shook from side to side.

  Footsteps closed in on him. Clueless, his hands continued the search.

  "Hey."

  The guy turned his head only to meet with an orange-azure enchanted right hook into his face. Losing his already weak balance, he stumbled backwards and met the ground.

  Amy raised her fist once again, then stopped.

  What am I doing? Beating a drunk old man.

  Sigh. She shifted her gaze to furthest of mushrooms.

  "Just drop the backpack. It's really valuable to me." Her voice came out more distant than it was supposed to.

  Getting no response she looked back. The old man was knocked out from the punch.

  She reached for the backpack and pulled it by her side.

  I hope this doesn't escalate.

  Her eyes scanned her surroundings, no one, just a few mushrooms and the camp's smoke in the distance. Putting on her backpack she moved towards it.

  After a few minutes she reached the camp.

  Just a fireplace surrounded by a few stems as chairs. The fire smelled like sweet mushrooms bitter-y but pleasant. She sat down on one of the stems.

  Seraphine on her opposite, a man on her left and another woman on her right was continuing their conversation.

  Amy pulled out her sphere and double tapped on its surface. By flicking her fingers she shifted through the entries, after a moment she landed on her entry about the obelisk.

  She stared at the entry for a moment, then spoke.

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  "Seraphine, do you know this script?" She handed the orb.

  Their conversation suddenly died out as the Fair Lady inspected the scripts.

  Her fingers traced over the signs.

  "This should be Middle Aarstatic." She gave the orb back. "Sadly I don't know how to read it."

  Amy sighed.

  "Are there any literate speakers of that language?"

  "Umm..." The Lady put her finger on her lips and stared thoughtfully.

  "My parents were into that language."

  Before Amy could speak, Seraphine asked...

  "If you don't mind me asking... where did you find this script?"

  I wonder if she will keep being this nice when I say I found them in the ruins.

  She opened her backpack again and her hands reached in.

  Right... I wasn't able to get the certificate.

  ...

  "Iss... Miss... Miss!"

  After staring off the distance for moments, Seraphine's soft voice brought her back.

  "Sorry, I had a quest certificate but I lost it during the fight." Amy whispered.

  The Fair Lady's gentle pity softened her eyes.

  "It's no matter," She smiled gently. "Let me introduce you to my family."

  Amy looked around.

  "Where are they?"

  "Ah..." Seraphine chuckled. "I have to find them first, the spore-bearer attack split us up."

  Amy put her sphere at the backpack.

  "Oh... I'm sorry." She answered

  "No need to be sorry!"

  Amy rose from the ground "Let's try to find your parents."

  "If you say so..." Seraphine answered

  The group got up for the expedition. They started walking to the city which was just beside the horizon.

  Amy stared at gray spores along the way. Silence of the group stretched for minutes.

  The mushrooms grew thinner until they reached the city.

  City got scanned by Amy's eyes, ruined buildings, dried blood pools felt familiar. A shiver ran down her spine as her eyes fell down to the road.

  They moved between the ruins, the pavement raised and fell beneath their feet.

  "Do you know where they might be?" Amy spoke, her eyes fixed down.

  The Fair Lady chuckled "Don't you worry, the spore-bearer attacks are like earthquakes here."

  "That doesn't answer the question."

  "There's an assembly area in the middle of the city." Seraphine said.

  As they moved with the lead of the Fair Lady, the mentioned area became clear. Around five-hundred half-humans were sitting inside a circle far away from the imposing buildings.

  Looking closer, Amy noticed that few of them have lost a limb or two and were getting fed by their care-takers. Her heart sunk and chest tightened, she wasn't able to look them in the eyes.

  They moved closer, the soft murmurs and quiet chuckles filled the air. Even though Seraphine was the one to lead them here, she lagged behind, her expression was unreadable.

  Amy suddenly heard a voice calling for her.

  "Yer still alive huh? Ba-ha-ha-ha!"

  She turned her back, it was a half-sheep with a purse and fluffy wool -though her wool was covered with dust this time- Amy instantly recognized her.

  "Where is yer friend? I don't see her anywhere."

  The question was left unanswered, Amy just shifted her gaze to the pavement on the ground.

  "Ah, I'm sorry... Uh..."

  Another voice called, now for someone else. Amy turned her head to the source of the voice. It was Seraphine running towards the half-sheep.

  Before they can reach Seraphine jumped to the embrace of the half-sheep half her size.

  "Mom!" The Fair Lady said.