"Price? What price?" Aknon asked eagerly, it was as though his entire being had lit up as he stepped forward. His hands were even shaking, so much so that he put them behind his back. "We're desperate."

I wasn't going to argue with him. I could take it or leave it, but if we could rid ourselves of this curse, our lives would be much easier.

"The one who you seek is not in the city," Genesis informed. "They live in a cave, a few miles away from Daemofer."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Daemofer?" I questioned with a frown. "That place has a pretty serious reputation. I don't think we'd be able to make it there."

"We have to," Aknon snapped at me, his breathing growing quicker. "We have to." he repeated in a quieter and calmer tone. "We've travelled all over the continent, going by foot, in search of answers. I don't know why we didn't come here sooner." He was looking at Genesis as though he was Abner themself.

"We avoided big cities so that we didn't get publicly executed," Sarphi said, as though she genuinely believed that Aknon had forgotten why we didn't pass through here before. "I like keeping my head on my body, and heart beating."

"It would've been worth it," Aknon whispered to himself quietly. "So, who do we have to meet outside of Daemofer?"

Genesis looked at him with pity, but it wasn't like the usual pity we received. I couldn't count on my fingers and toes the number of times priests or elderly gave us pitying looks, as though our very existence would cause us to be heavily depressed. The look which Genesis was giving Aknon was definitely pity, but it grew with every word Aknon said, the more desperate he looked.

"I cannot tell you their name," Genesis said after a moment of horrible silence where I could hear only the hearts beating in the room. "I can only give you a map and tell you where you will find them. They have the answers that you seek."

"Aknon, think about this," Sarphi urged, walking around me to put her hands on his arms. "Daemofer is a bad place for us. If we were scared of being executed here, the citizens there would have no issues in hunting us for sport. They're a ruthless bunch who don't care for others,"

"I don't care how I'll be treated; I'm going." Aknon looked our sister in the eyes as he spoke in a very firm tone. "I don't mind what you two do, you can take care of yourselves. I have to find this person."

"We don't even know if this person is a real person. We could be sent out on a wild goose chase," I argued. I then cleared my throat and turned to Genesis. "No offence, I'm sure that you're trying your best and that you're not a liar." It was clear I didn't actually believe that. We had just met Genesis, and I wasn't going to go on another life-threatening journey because a stranger gave us a map with an 'x' on it. "We need to think about whether we actually have to go into the city, the rations we need and how to actually get there."

"I know I do," Aknon replied, narrowing his eyes at me. I didn't care if I was treating him like a child, he was being stubborn and reckless to agree straight away.

"We do," Sarphi corrected. "We aren't splitting up." There was a familiar fire in her eyes, one I adored unless it was used against me.

"Okay, so where do we have to go?" Aknon asked, dismissing Sarphi's words, but at least correcting himself. "What do we need to know?"

"The cave is north-west of the city, I do not think that you would need to go through the city, unless you run out of supplies," Genesis explained, shifting in his seat. "Although, considering the journey you are facing, I would recommend that you visit. I am sure that the people there will not pose too much of a threat to you three."

"I disagree," I interjected. "The rumours of that place surely have some sort of roots. You cannot have a place with a reputation such as that one and expect there not to be mindless violence there." I cringed at the tone of my own voice, it sounded far too serious and wise for my liking.

"I will not deny that there are those who will attempt to harm you," Genesis replied. "However, they will not pose a threat to you. You will be fine."

I opened my mouth to argue that his words were not reassuring in the slightest, but Sarphi jabbed my side before I could.

"So, we just look aimlessly for a cave on the north-west of Daemofer?" Sarphi summarised. "That sounds horrifically stupid for us to do. There has to be thousands of caves near there."

"Well, maybe not thousands, but close." I shrugged. "Do we have to search them all? That could take a long while."

"That would be tedious, but it'd be worth it." Aknon sighed. "Look, if it's what we have to do, then it's what we have to do, so what if we have to look through as many caves as we can until we find the right one?"

Genesis gave another sigh. "I do not think that you will need to look through hundreds of caves. If you are what I think you are, then you will know exactly which cave you should be going to. It will all become clear as you approach the threshold."

The three of us looked at each other, that sounded a lot like magic. We were pretty skilled with magic and the arts. But we also knew that it could be incredibly dangerous. You can do anything with magic, both good and bad. There was a world full of possibilities and it seemed like we were going to have to face whatever lies in those caves.

Or maybe I'm just overreacting.

"Okay, so what else do we need to know?" I asked, trying to gather more information, because I'd be stupid not to. "We just follow our instincts?"

Genesis nodded firmly. "Correct." He stood from the seat and moved towards us again. "Here is a map." I didn't know why he had a map in his pouch, but he pulled it out and handed it to Sarphi. I silently applauded the choice of who he gave the map to. If he gave it to Aknon, he would've run off with it, and I didn't quite trust myself to hold onto something like that. I wasn't careless, just very unlucky.

"So, that's it?" Aknon asked. "We're off."

The room had a rather uncomfortable silence once again, before I spoke up. "We're off. Thank you, Genesis." I bowed slightly. I hoped that this wouldn't be a waste of time or a trap. I had plenty of reasons to believe it could be a trap. In fact, I'd be rather disappointed if this turned out not to be a trap.

"You're welcome, Acer." I could've sworn I heard some amusement in his tone. I glanced around the temple one last time, bowing my head for a moment and sending prayers for guidance, before backing away and leading my siblings outside.

We had just about left the doors of the temple when the men from before returned, but now there was around five of them altogether.

"Where do you think you're going?" the guard who asked to cut my tongue out earlier said with a tilt of his head. "To spread your curse to the rest of the city?"

"If that were the case, half of the city would already be looking like us." Aknon crossed his arms. "It's not our first time here. You didn't notice us then."

That only made the men in front of us look angrier. We were beginning to get some stares from passers-by. I assumed that they were probably waiting for the moment they'll need to bury our corpses.

The guards pulled out their swords and surrounded us. We were once again placed back-to-back. I thought about what the best decision would be here. We could fight with our daggers, but that would mean we'd have to get closer to injure them. I was facing two of them, as was Aknon, whilst Sarphi was only facing one. Despite my sister's low constitution, she was a fierce fighter when she had to be, so that was at least one advantage we had.

"We notice you now," one of the other guards said. "But nobody will be able to notice you when you're in the ground." And so the guard charged right at Aknon.

My brother was quick to duck and punch the guard in their stomach, right below their armour. He then quickly unsheathed his dagger and swung at the other guard's face, slicing their chin.

I couldn't concentrate on his actions much as I was then faced with my own two guards. "Can't we talk this out?" I asked with a hopeful smile, trying to be charming once again.

"It's too late for talking," the guard on the right said. He twirled the sword in his hand before letting out a cry and running at me.

"Excessive," I mumbled as I ducked, following Aknon's example and punching him in the stomach, but instead of swiping at the second guard with my dagger, I used my tail to get the man's sword out of his grip. I used my tail like another arm as I fought the two guards. They were much more skilled than I was, and soon Sarphi joined me, having knocked down her own guard with a kick to the head.

"You need practice, brother," she commented as she elbowed one of the guards in the face. "You're lacking."

"This isn't a time to be mean," I retorted and moved over to grab one of Aknon's guards by the back of the neck, putting my foot on the small of their back so they couldn't get away from Aknon's attack.

"Let's get out of here," Aknon grunted and began running away from the temple. One of the guards still chased after us, but we were quick on our feet.

Time to start our new journey, and hopefully get some answers.