CH923

They checked a few more houses from there and found mostly the same.

Mostly.

Nothing looked taken. There was still fresh food to be found and the enchantments around still held a trickle of power, yet occasionally, small things stood out. A knocked-over glass or chair, items and food that looked more like they had been thrown than spilled. While in the cases of houses with opened doors and windows it could be chalked up to animals getting in, that couldn’t explain all of it, painting a subtle yet worrying picture of whatever had happened to the people living there and leaving the two to walk back in silence where most of them had already regrouped, leaving Ben to count heads at the end.

Just one missing then. Abel.

The one among them he needed to worry about the least, he still poked around the rest of their memories to see if any of them had spotted her in their own investigations before speaking up.

“All of you, sit tight. I’ll grab our last member and then from there we’ll get moving and discuss everything we’ve seen here.”

Even if there’s not much to discuss.

He’d found the same scenes in all of their minds and most had come to similar conclusions as he and Thera. Whatever had happened to the town had been recent, and the fact that the shifter had passed through it was on all of their thoughts, each of them drawing different conclusions.

Had whatever captured him done something or had Foast himself? Was it a coincidence he’d passed through an abandoned village, or was there some greater conspiracy at play, a proper reason for him to hide away without contacting the gods and sending them all on their tracking missions? All of their worries and his own swarmed his head as he went, eventually breaking into the other end of the village, seeing Abel there.

Normally expressive, her face had taken on a more neutral mask, her focus so great as she stared out that she didn’t immediately acknowledge him even as he reached her side.

“Abel, you okay here?”

“Of course I am,” she told him, still focusing off in the distance.

“Alright, well that looks like a lie. What did you find?”

“You’re a peeker, check my head yourself.”

“I know you’re not a fan of that and since you’re my friend, I’m asking. If you found something or if you have any thoughts, then tell me.”

“…You know, I don’t really get this world a lot of the time,” she sighed. “Don’t get me wrong, I like it here but you all treat life so heavily, you know? Usually, you can’t even kill a guy for trying to rob you without it being a big thing, but where I grew up, killing each other over food was just how the day would go, you know?”

“Yeah, your old reality… well, from what I can tell, it seemed tough.”

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“I guess? I mean, good or bad, I don’t really care about that stuff but it was different and the old perv did a decent job trying to make sure I knew how it was different, the rules you all live by and the common sense and you know, I’m doing great at them. Fitting right in, and I don’t even mind the fact that I can’t just hunt someone that looks tasty enough most of the time, you know? Plus, every now and then I find some pals like you who don’t mind sharing a bit.”

“Well, what can I say, it’s interesting.”