I am from Earth. I have a mother. I have a father. I know how wrong killing is. And stealing is wrong too. I am a human.

  Now, I am here. I am now 17. I can now use Cael Seryth's abilities. I am the author of the story. I can do something. I have to...

  "...He's sleeping again."

  One whispered.

  "Is he really?"

  Another whispered.

  "..No, I'm not.", I opened my eyes, staring at Millie and Lilah once again.

  "Ah! You scared me!", Millie put a hand on her chest, "You're really good at being still."

  Lilah nodded, "Yeah, almost like a statue."

  "Haha, a lot of people have told me that before.", I smiled.

  Lully chimed in from the side, "Yeah, I agree with everyone else."

  I glanced at him, and resisted the urge to sigh.

  Right, there was that...who was it again? Esteine?

  Esteine Argyros.

  In addition to the original scenario, I made, or just accelerated, a new threat entirely on my own. He would certainly be targeting Lully now. I tapped my chin.

  Although I don't regret it since I gained crucial information, it's truly troublesome how narrow my possibility of escape is now.

  "Troublesome, troublesome...", I whispered, mentally looking over what I knew.

  Verna knows about Handon and Lully, but doesn't know Handon's guilt, and is likely wary of me since I came here with Lully and said I was his friend.

  Handon knows Verna and Lully, is likely also wary of me, but is emotionally paralyzed.

  Esteine on the other hand likely knows Verna and Lully but doesn't know about Handon.

  As for Millie and Lilah...they probably know who Lully is, and nothing else.

  Meanwhile, Lully doesn't know anything.

  I clenched my fists. This was an almost impossible situation for an ordinary human to navigate. But if I want to survive...I'll have to fully immerse myself, and think of nothing else in my mind.

  Do I have anything to lose anyway? I knew a few answers to that question. But for the sake of my persisting motivation, I convinced myself there was nothing.

  I shut my eyes tightly.

  Figure it out alone, or suffer.

  After some time, with the feeling of Verna's watchful gaze, I opened my eyes slowly.

  I can't hesitate.

  With no plan, I stretched my arms and cracked my neck. Let's start.

  Millie scooched over to Lilah's side, "Hey, hey."

  "Millie-Lillie?", Lilah smiled, "Do you need anything?"

  "Hmm...", Millie glanced discreetly at everyone around the fire, thinking for a little while.

  "What's wrong?", Lilah reassured, "You know you can trust me."

  Eventually, Millie caved, "Yeah well, I'm glad that we're both moving with capable people, but I feel like we're not exactly..."

  "There?", Lilah took a bite of tiger meat.

  "Yeah. Yeah. Like that. You get it?", Millie sighed.

  On the other side of the fire, Lully fidgeted awkwardly with his head tilted, trying to listen in.

  Lilah rolled her eyes a little, "Hmm...I dunno. But I mean, the green guy keeps on fidgeting all the time like he doesn't know any of us, even when he's been here since the start."

  Millie nodded, "And it feels really tense, right?!"

  Lully opened his mouth, "I agree-"

  In that moment, Verna spoke, "Cael, it's been quite some time now. Could you report your findings?"

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Flinching, Cael, sitting close by, nodded and made his way over to report what he found during scouting to Verna.

  Seeing this, Lilah slowly looked over to Millie, "And he's weird."

  "Hah, that's what I'm saying.", Millie crossed her arms, "Anyway, there shouldn't be much left to this maze. I bet it's just a few hours left before we make it out."

  "Don't jinx it.", Handon jumped in.

  "Okay so why don't you butt in instead?!", Lilah gritted her teeth.

  Whoosh! Suddenly, the fire flared up, nearly touching Lully's hair on the other side.

  "Ah! Keep your fire under control!", he scooched backwards.

  "Sorry sorry!"

  Millie rolled her eyes, "But really, are Cael and Lully really friends? Cael didn't even glance when the fire got bigger!"

  "Eh...", Lilah didn't know what to say, "Wait, what's he doing now?"

  They both watched as Cael sneakily made his way over to Handon after finishing his report, whispering something in Handon's ear.

  Just a few seconds later, Handon's eyes went wide, and he fidgeted nervously. Similarly, Cael's shady smile went wider to the point of his teeth being seen.

  "What, are they scheming something..?", Millie narrowed her eyes, tuning into her senses to listen in.

  Lilah whispered, "Tell me what you hear after!"

  "...-ith me."

  "..What are you planning?"

  "No! No, I just thought we were a little similar, so I just wanted to bring some camaraderie. At least, give what I have to say a chance."

  "...Fine."

  "Follow me."

  Cael and Handon then stood up and went into the darkness, a little farther away from the group.

  "?", Millie couldn't make sense of it.

  "So? What did you hear?", Lilah's eyes sparkled in contrast.

  Millie turned her head towards her, "Hm...ah, I don't know. They just talked about being similar, Handon was a little suspicious, um, and then..."

  "I simply told Cael to report a few things to Handon.", Verna interrupted.

  "Verna? Oh, so it was your doing?", Lilah flinched at being eavesdropped on.

  Verna nodded slightly and sighed, "Yes, it was. And there's a much greater threat than whatever secret plan you might be catching on to, so it would be appreciated if you two could stop rattling behind our backs and focus on communicating well with the team."

  "Ah, yes ma'am!", Millie saluted.

  "We're sorry! We were just...bored, is all!", Lilah smiled nervously.

  With a grunt, Verna turned her gaze away.

  Lully looked at the three, confused, and leaned closer to Verna, "Leader, actually, I think Millie and Lilah are the most suspicious in the group!"

  Verna focused her gaze on Lully sharply, "Oh, and why do you think so?"

  "Eek! Well...", Lully averted his gaze, struggling to find the words to explain himself, "I-I don't know! It's just...uh..."

  "I can hear you, you know.", Millie puffed her cheeks.

  "...", Lully shut his mouth.

  Meanwhile, in the darkness, Handon and Cael stopped just about 10 feet away from the group fire.

  "So? What did you want?", Handon frowned, "What do you know?"

  "Ah, I don't know much.", Cael put his hands up, "It's just...I guess it's a little difficult, needing to choose between yourself and your parents' wishes, huh? I was once like that too."

  "...", Handon's frown tightened.

  Cael turned to look at Handon, "Don't worry, I know everything. Lully, Verna, and your family situation. It's not actually hard to guess, from how obvious your dad was making it."

  He snickered, "But even so, I'm way too weak to deal with things like that even if I wanted to."

  Handon raised an eyebrow, "Why are you even trying to get involved in this?"

  If Cael knew everything about it, then he should know that getting involved in such political matters would put himself in danger as well. Handon felt suspicious. Why was Cael going to him instead of just leaving the group to survive on his own?

  "Because we're friends."

  Immediately, Handon's eyes widened, "Friends..?"

  "Yes.", Cael smiled sentimentally, "Didn't we say so before? I was lucky I found someone I was familiar with a few hours into this maze. Why would I leave a friend to face danger alone? The very least I can do is be here and support him."

  "What I didn't expect was to see someone like you here, especially since we have similar goals."

  "...", Handon paused, "Similar goals?"

  Before Handon could continue further, Cael chuckled, "Of course. After all, we both don't want to get innocent people caught in the crossfire, right?"

  "And, regardless of innocence, it would be best if no more people died."

  Handon didn't know what to say. Such a noble cause to prevent further unnecessary deaths is much like a human, but for some reason, he couldn't refute it.

  After some time, Handon spoke shakily, "...I don't know what my father would do to me once I leave this place."

  Cael looked concerned, "Ah, I'm...sorry. Are you being mistreated?"

  "...Well, no."

  He looked at Handon silently, and after about 3 seconds, he smiled again.

  "Then, I look forward to seeing you in the academy."

  "Why don't you say we're friends too?", he held his hand out.

  Handon hesitated slightly, looking at Cael's outstretched hand, but shook it, "Okay. Friend."

  Cael looked at him knowingly, then moved back to the group, still chattering about.

  Handon stared at his back. Unclenching his tightened fist, he followed after.

  However, what Handon saw was the last thing he wanted to see.

  "Don't worry, I'll only take a small amount of your time."

  There, Verna urged Lully to stand up and follow her to 'discuss' a few things, just like he and Cael did just a moment ago.

  Cael watched this scene, his brows tightening, knowing Verna's motives.

  He put a hand behind Handon's back, whispering to him, "I trust you."

  Getting the memo, Handon gave a nodded and moved to follow Lully and Verna.

  Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, I sat down next to Lilah.

  Lilah nudged my arm, "So, what did you guys talk about? What thing did you report to Handon?"

  I raised an eyebrow. Report? Oh yeah, Verna did tell me to talk about Esteine and his group...

  "The 'thing' I reported to Handon was another group of people I found during scouting. Unfortunately, they seemed quite hostile and I found them while they were looting a few demon corpses."

  "What?!", Lilah covered her mouth, "No way! How many people did they have? How many people did they kill? Are they heading our way?"

  I scratched the back of my head, "Ah, it's a bit difficult to say...I didn't count the number of bodies precisely, but they have 3 people with them."

  "Oh my!", Lilah gasped, and turned to Millie, "Hey, did you hear that? He...uh, Milie?"

  Beside Lilah, Millie's face looked grave, with her hand covering her nose.

  Millie's eyes widened, she looked at me, then at Lilah, and opened her mouth slowly.

  "A-...monster. A big one. It's coming."

  I looked at Millie indifferently. Oh, this is kind of.. perfect?

  Looks like I know what route I'm going for.