You take a deep breath and trek south. There was no way they had made it to the fields, but there was a chance that they were forced to ask for entry and settle at the fort.

It was unlikely. You knew it was unlikely.

But you needed to try. You wouldn't go all the way south, but just far enough to ask the people at the fort. They had to know something. Anything.

You feared a storm was about to rage several times on your trek, but it appeared the skies could feel your sorrows and halted their lashings for now.

You felt uneasy. You were being followed. You've been here before, you knew what people were lurking in the corners of your view, and so you turned to face them. They leaked out of the trees like a fog. Two R-classes on their steeds. A year had passed since you last saw them. You reached into your bag for a few items.

"Is this the strange knife explorer from before? uuu"

You pull out all three of your current knives and raise them into the air for them to gaze upon your ever-growing collection.

"I got more knives. =3"
"Affirmative. vvv"
"You don't need to affirm it after the explorer pulled out all those knives. uuu"
"Understood. vvv"

Both of the R-classes circle you. At any moment you felt you could be attacked.

"What are you doing back here knife explorer? You know this place isn't for you. uuu"
"Agreed. vvv"

Sliding back all the knives into your bag you take a step forward towards one of the R-classes and steed. The unicorn moves perfectly opposed to you, stepping back as many as you stepped forward, but it showed no hostility or fear. Unicorns were able to tell the emotions of every living being that could feel it. The unicorn knew you came here with no ill-will.

"I'm looking for my friends. I came into the woods with them, but I went exploring for a year, so I could find a spot for them to stay. They were supposed to pass through here, and I know you two had to see them. You can sense anything. Did my friends go to join the fort, or did they make it past this location just fine? =3"

You start explaining how your friends looked, their classes, and even how they act. You describe Z-3894 the most and talk about how he could understand the languages of birds and other animals. You try not to sound too desperate about things, but you fail to. Your sadness makes the unicorns uncomfortable. When you finally finish you await a response. The two H-classes look towards each other as if silently communicating and asking each other questions with just subtle movements. Eventually, you get a response.

But it's not the one you wanted.

"Negative. vvv"
"But how couldn't you have seen them? You can see anything!"

You shouted at them as if they had personally caused this to you. Their steeds eye you more uneasily due to your emotions. You attempted to regain your composure, but it was difficult.

"Which way were your friends suppose to come from, knife explorer? uuu"
"From the south-east! =3"
"Hawkland. vvv"
"Sounds like they walked right into Hawkland then. Hawks likely made them join them or have all of their supplies taken away. Even we don't go to the south-east. Whole south-east part is hawklands. The place your friends went was the ruins. The hawks like to hang around there, but they're not as thick with hawks as the spots just to the east of that one. They must have gotten unlikely and ran into a swarm of hawks, E or Q-classes. Hopefully not F-classes-"
"Worst type. vvv"
"The worst types. uuu"

Sensing that this conversation was over, both of them turned, and their steeds and they slowly melted back into the darkness.

You stood there.

You don't know how long.

But when you regained control over your legs, you went north.

Not south-east.

North.

That was the direction you went.

Abandoning your friends.

You Went North.

Z-3894?

Don't know him.

You stay by the tower like you're supposed to. You train your charm by learning to lie to sway others.

You train your knowledge by offering to trade some of the locations you have found with information and lessons they could provide.


=========


Winter had ended, and you could tell spring was coming to an end. You had spent months by the tower, and you decided one day, very suddenly, to climb it. You brought food and water with you, as well as arranged for someone to watch Slithers.

You climbed upwards.

By the time everyone below you was a speck you were tired and regretting your choice. You couldn't stop thinking about how one lousy fall would spell death for sure.

You kept heading upwards.

If you had any fears of heights, you evidently lost it.

It took a full day to get to the top, with breaks to eat, sleep and all.

There stood a statue of you guess, some capture creature. It had to be an important one for someone to put it all the way up here. It could have been a possible legendary, but to be honest, for a legendary it was frankly underwhelming. What was more interesting to you was the large button like object on the floor.

Maybe it's because you were tired, but you walked over to it and stepped on it with not a second thought in your mind.

The button slowly sunk until there was a click.

And you were engulfed in red light.

The button you stepped on seemed to activate lights that shot far into the sky, and in the middle of the night, it was breathtaking. Notails for miles would be able to see it due to the lack of clouds in the way.

You stared up, waiting for something to happen.

But then after a solid minute, the light flickered once.

Twice.

And then died out.

It felt like something about you changed just slightly, but you couldn't put your claw on it right now, as you were distracted by something else that had changed.

At least, you felt like it changed. You don't remember its red glowing eyes, the knife in its hand, or the horns that seemingly erupted from its head.

Maybe it was always like that, but you didn't bother to notice before because of how tired you were.

You had to admit, you were worried that the statue had come alive, but as you got lost in its eyes, it proceeded not to move a single inch. It was a strange statue, but you're sure it was just a statue.

You look back to the knife, and you cannot resist it. You climb up the statue and pull at the knife.

It takes a bit of effort for sure, but you get it out. This knife doesn't feel like the other knives you've obtained so far. This one has a delicate design on it, and yet a look of heavy use. Something about the design on it tells you that this knife is used specifically to hunt insects and thus would do heavy damage to them.

Before you leave the tower to walk back down you, scan the statue to see if it can pick up what type of capture creature this is. Big bold letters appear on the screen.

You should have guessed it was going to be like this. You're not in any mood to think about climbing three more of these towers so that you can scan what's at the top. Maybe someone else already did it all so you can mooch off of their work.

You think about it all over and over as you descend the tower. Thankfully walking down is more comfortable than walking up.


=========================

You spend the next few weeks relaxing at the base of the tower, having felt both accomplished in your actions and more resilient. You speak around with some of the kids who live at the bottom of the tower. Many of them are extremely surprised that it was you who caused that bright light to cut across the sky, a few of the older one remark that they've seen that light before, and only a total of three of them have even attempted to climb the tower.

You ask the only one to them to get to the top about the statue. She is a bit hesitant to talk about it, but she remarks she felt a great uneasiness when she saw it. She had planned to stay at the top of the tower for a day but had to leave in no more than an hour in due to the statue.

You had to admit, you felt a tad creeped out by it as well after you thought it had changed. You weren't sure if it had changed or if it was just your mind making up things, but either way, you and her can agree, there is something up with those towers.

Unfortunately she has lived by this tower for most of her time in the woods and never dared to climb another.

A dead end.

=========================

Marching in was the swarm of E-classes. Leading them all was the short annoying notail you've come to hate.

"E-2732! I'm so delighted that you've kept to your word and will be joining us! Where are your friends? <:)"

Shut up.

The bag you were pulling up felt extremely heavy. They just had to mention it. They just HAD to. You put on your bag and spun around, walking right towards E-4. Despite being smaller than you by quite a bit, E-4 showed not a sliver of fear.

You shrug.

"I dunno I didn't see them. =3"
"Such a shame E-2732. Maybe we'll see them on our travels. <:)"
"Yeah, uh huh. Maybe. =3"

You melted right into the crowd of other E-classes so if E-4 says anything else pretending to have not heard them would be a valid option. They seem to let you go without any issue.

Or maybe, you just didn't hear anything else they had to say.

To no surprise, you were on "Carry our stuff" duty, along with Hawk kid, who everyone had started calling Tiger kid now. Tiger kid was ecstatic to see you again though the group was in such a rush to head to the lake that you two were barely able to talk until you got there. Finally with all the shelters set up for the summer you two could have a conversation.

Or at least, what counted as one.

"Everyone is really nice to me here! They helped me when I was injured instead of kicking me around and forcing me to work anyway. >=3"

Tiger kid is more excited and talkative now. He shows far less fear and genuinely seems happy for the first time since you've met him.

"They say I'm very useful to them and-"
"They think you're stupid. =3"

You watch tiger kid visibly slouch down and look away. There is an awkward tense few seconds. You feel like you can hear him working through his thoughts as you poke the fire between you both with a stick to watch how the fire warps around it. Tiger kid perks up again and clasps his hands together.

He's trying so hard. As always, him clasping his hands together is his signal to the world that he's stressed out, but this time he doesn't mumble at the floor but looks straight ahead and does his best to sound confident.

"Oh, we were so busy we didn't really get to talk before! I'm so glad my best friend is back! >=3"
"Who is your best friend? =3"

Why did you say that? You knew perfectly well who he was talking about.

"U-Uh, you E-2732! You're my best friend! You've been so nice to me, and you helped me out a lot! You think the same right? >=3"
"Not really. =3"

Your head feels weird and your vision distorted. You tap one foot on the ground repeatedly. You didn't even know how stressed you were until this moment, and now, you're being aggressive towards him for no reason.

You guess you're kind of pissed off about how well he's coping with things.

At least, he was. You caused him to regress into speaking at the floor instead of looking you in the eyes.

He attempts to speak again, but he starts choking up as he makes a terrible effort of not crying.

"W-W-Wh--hy a-are you...y-yoooo..."

He gives up the moment one tear slips under his face and starts crying. He slides his hands under his face in a weak attempt at wiping away his tears.

You poke at the fire some more.