A Party Divided

The five of them stood just inside the town’s entrance, the noise of the marketplace washing over them in waves of sound and color. For a moment, they simply stared—strangers in a world that should have felt familiar, and yet didn’t.

Linda: “This is bigger than I expected…”

Her voice carried exhaustion—her eyes drifting from one street to another, overwhelmed.

Linda’s Thoughts: “Gods, these buildings… these crowds… everything feels so foreign. And I’m supposed to guide these idiots? Why am I even trying…?”

Mark: “Ughhh! Ahahahah!”

Linda snapped her gaze toward him.

Linda: “It’s that funny to you?”

Mark grinned, lips peeling back from tusks that gleamed wetly.

Mark: “I’ve got something way bigger than you’re expecting! Ahhahha!”

A few people in the crowd turned. Linda’s face froze—then twisted.

Linda: “Don’t make me kill you in front of all these people…”

Her tone was too calm. Too collected. The kind of calm that promised ****.

Mark’s Thoughts: “This plump ass whore. Heh. She gets all flustered when I tease her. Maybe I should keep pushing… she’s fun when she’s angry.”

Leo: “It is as big as you said… which means, we need to split up.”

His lizard eyes scanned everything with predatory calculation.

Emily: “The heck we will!”

Emily’s Thoughts: “Split up?This day just keeps getting worse. Great. Fantastic.”

Ethan: “I agree, we need to stay together.”

His voice was steady, but his hands were tight around his sword hilt.

Ethan’s Thoughts: “If they split… I can’t protect them. Lilith’s warning—her face—her threat. No memories means no bonds. No bonds means danger. I can’t lose them again…”

Leo: “We need to find accommodations. We need to go to the Guild. I am hungry as well… we need to split and cover everything…”

Linda: “The Guild? What for?”

Mark: “He probably means there should be someone there that at least knows us, or seen us once…”

Mark’s Thoughts: “Or maybe someone remembers HER. Something from her past. Now that would be useful in controlling her into becoming my breeding bitch.”

Linda: “That’s smart. I like it. I’ll go with Ethan.”

Her hand rested on her hip—subtle, protective. Ethan blinked, hopeful for a moment.

Ethan’s Thoughts: “Mom…? No. She doesn’t remember. But she still feels… something. Maybe that’s enough…”

Mark: “No you won’t…”

He stepped forward, possessive.

Linda: “You don’t get to tell me what to do, green skin…”

Her glare could peel bark from a tree.

Leo: “Fierce… sssshhh… I like that in a woman. But yes, I too agree—you will not go with him. I don’t trust you or him either, especially together, I think he’s hiding things from usssssshhh…”

His tongue flicked out, tasting the air around Ethan.

Ethan’s Thoughts: “He can smell fear… great. Perfect. As if he needed another advantage.”

Emily: “Then what are you proposing?”

Emily’s Thoughts: “Please don’t say I’m stuck with the lizard. Please don’t—”

Mark: “I will go with Linda to the Guild. Leo and Emily, you will find the Inn and book our rooms. Ethan… you will go alone. Find the tavern.”

Leo: “I agree…”

Leo’s Thoughts: “Better the girl than the boy… she smells sweet, buuuuthhh.... I don'thhh mhiiind hiiim either."

Ethan: “If you don't trust me, why are you letting me go alone? I don’t agree. Like I said, we need to stick together in order to find—”

Ethan’s Thoughts: “I cannot let them go with those two idiots… This is wrong. This is dangerous.”

Mark: “Shut up! You’re not in charge of us.”

He placed a thick, meaty hand on the handle of his axe.

Ethan’s breath caught.

Ethan’s Thoughts: “Lilith’s warning… If I tell them anything—anything at all—she’ll kill them. So I can’t even defend myself with the truth…”

Linda: “Stop. I too agree that we should split up. Cover more ground. Meet here in two hours. Look around, talk to people, engage—perhaps someone will recognize one of us.”

Her voice was cold, cutting through the tension.

Linda’s Thoughts: “I hate this. I hate being near those two beasts. But it’s logical. It’s smart. The orc is probably more adapt and stronger than Ethan. Be smart Linda. smart keeps you alive… If I was the one who formed this ‘party,’ maybe they were useful.”

Leo: “The bimbo speaks truth… let us go, archer girl…”

Linda: “Don’t make me cut that long ass tongue of yours…”

Her voice dripped venom. Yet the true venom slipped through Leo's teeth on the ground, licking it in the proccess with his 10mm tongue.

Emily: “I have a name, you know…”

Leo: “Tschhhhrtrhh… I don’t care…”

Emily’s Thoughts: “Perfect. Just perfect. I’m stuck with this reptile. If he eats me, I swear I’ll haunt all of them…”

Ethan: “Here they go… all alone again… Still—I need to find the tavern. I’m hungry too. I can’t protect them if we’re scattered. But if I push too hard… I’ll draw suspicion. Lilith’s threat still hangs over me. I have to play along—for now. Just survive. Survive long enough to find another way.”