It was noon and we were getting fried by the sun. We walked into the village. We knocked at several doors. No one answered.

"Is this village abandoned...?" Lena wondered aloud.

"Let's try for some more time," I said.

I knocked the door in front of me. No one answered. I sat down, leaning on the door.
I glared at Axel. Who knew when we'd get out of here?

Suddenly, I fell backwards, hitting my head hard on the floor. I looked up in annoyance to see an upside down face of a white haired boy with black eyes, standing above me with the door open. Black and white, huh?

"Who are you?" He asked Axel and Lena, completely ignoring me.

"Ugh." I got up rubbing the back of my head.

"Would it kill you to say sorry?" I asked.

"Why should I? I didn't tell you to lean on my door. If anything, you should be the one apologising for dirtying my door with your oily hair." He said, turning back.

This guy..! I clenched my fists. I wanted to punch him in the face. Before I could do anything I would regret, Lena intervened.  

"We want to go back to the city. Do you know any buses that go through here?"

He scoffed. "Buses? Forget buses, even people don't come to this damned village. Except the crazy ones like you. Adventurers, they call themselves. They go into the forest, ignoring our warnings, only to never come back. It's a ten mile walk to the city. Every month a truck comes here with supplies. The perilanters killed and infected most of us. It wasn't a pretty sight. We just cleaned the corpses up." 

"A month! We don't have that much time!" Lena exclaimed.

"Which is all the more reason we should take the forest route!" Axel asserted.

"Oh god, why do you want to go in there? Are you suicidal?" The white haired guy asked.

"We're after a person who has the cure to the sleeping sickness," I said.

"No way... there's no cure to this disease."

"Yes, there is. I got infected by a perilanter and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was completely fine!"

"The wound must have been small."

"It was slash on my abdomen and I lost a lot of blood, so."

"Could it be...no, someone like you...! It's impossible!"

"What?"

"It's- it's nothing. So, you're looking for the cure? Can I come with you too?"

"Dude, you like called me crazy a minute ago. What's with the sudden change in mind..?" Axel frowned.

"Uh... you know, because a lot of the villagers are infected.. I have to save them, right?"

"Wait, what's your power?" I asked.

"That's none of your- I mean, it's wind."

"You were just about to say something rude, weren't you?" I narrowed my eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"He could be useful," Lena whispered.

"Fine then. We have this guy too, so let's go to the forest. Just remember, if we get killed it's Axel's fault."

"Hey! How is that fair?" Axel protested.

"So, what's your name?" I asked him.

"Airen."

"Aiden?" Lena asked.

"Ay-ren." He said, clearly frustrated.

'Isn't that a girl's name, though?' Lena telepathised.

"Eh, must be unisex." I blurted out, forgetting to reply the same way.

"What?" Asked Airen.

Lena snorted, failing to contain her laugh.

"Nothing, nothing! C'mon, let's go!"

"Are you really just going to march out there?" Airen exclaimed, facepalming himself.

"Well, what would you do, extraterrestrial genius?" Axel asked.

"I would wait for them to attack."

"Okay, now you're being the suicidal one here," Axel retorted.

"Wait, is there anyone with invisibility?" I asked.

"I guess you weren't as stupid as you seemed. But I don't know if she'll help us..."

"Oh, she doesn't need to come with us. Axel just needs to hold her hand."

"What?!"
.
.
.

We visited Hannah's home. She opened the door when Airen told her. She was a young woman, a bit above twenty, with blonde hair.

"Sorry to disturb you, Hannah. We're going into the forest and-" Airen was cut off by her.

"Are you crazy?"

"Hannah, can we talk in private?" He asked.
"Give us a moment, guys."

"Do you think we can trust him?" I asked once he was gone. "Something just... seems off about him."

"But I don't think he stands anything to gain by cheating us. He can't rob us," Axel said pointing at Lena's earring.

"Axel, you totally forgot the fact that I'm, you know, wanted!"
"But Rita, I doubt this place even has technology. I don't think they know about even the Healer's touch being legal."

"Let's see. Axel, copy his ability the first chance you get." Lena said.

Hannah exclaimed something in the hut. It wasn't clear. What did he have to discuss in private?

He came back with Hannah, who kept eyeing me in...fear? What the heck?
She came forward, hands shaking. "Y- you can copy my ability, here." She placed her shaking hand on mine.

"Huh? Oh, my friend can do that, not me."

"Oh... But...I'm s- sorry. Here." Axel copied her ability. This didn't make any sense. When she exclaimed, I thought he wanted to turn me in. But she was looking at me in fear.

We waited. Airen said that the perilanters attacked in waves, feeding on the corpses. Hannah had helped some of them stay alive but they wouldn't last long. The safest time to enter a lion's den would be when it wasn't inside.

So, technically, using invisibility, we could slip in unnoticed into the forest. That only gave us a small headstart, though. There could still be more of them inside. We waited. It was evening, and the sun was setting in the horizon.

It created a beautiful scenery, with different shades of pink, orange, red and yellow all mixed together. One that I'd have taken time to admire under different circumstances.

I heard a screech. They were coming. And we were ready for them.

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