“You looked like you knew these guys.”

  Bariton had sat besides the flame, after tying the two intruders up. He was staring at Shammus, as though he had more secrets than answers to give. And maybe he was right. Shammus was repairing his cloak when the accusation left Bariton’s lips.

  “I do,” Shammus winced as he heard himself say it. The voice of the traitor Achilles. “Or better yet, I did.”

  “And why, praytell, have you not mentioned this till now?” Bariton continues his line of questions. The fire looked far more interesting than the burning glare those blue eyes gave.

  Shammus had no answer at the ready. He hated his voice, and hated this topic. “Because I’m a traitor to them.” His voice was the same. He couldn’t recognize his voice from Swordmaster Achilles nearly as well.

  Bariton’s silence was just as clear. Daedalus was already dead and Eurylochus was barely breathing. Shammus silently thanks the gods that they were unable to bring forth the name.

  “Who’s Achilles?”

  That name sent a shiver down Shammus’s spine, his hair standing on the back of his neck. His eyes snapped into the blue eyes that contrasted his own red. The way they reflected the fire. The fire. ‘It burns, doesn’t it?’

  That question rings in his mind as well as he clutches at one of his two swords. He takes a deep breath. The world slowly returns to him, as his gaze shifts away from the flame. He continues to breathe. He needs to remember to breathe.

  He speaks through the tightness in his chest, praying that it loosens a little, “A codename for me.” It doesn’t help, as all he hears is himself from that era. But it was so long ago. Shouldn’t it not be such a sensitive topic now?

  “And who’s the man he called Zeus?” Shammus thinks for a minute, but he isn’t given a chance to answer before the questionnaire continues. “Isn’t that a god of Greek Myth?”

  That question was more confusing, “you recognize Zeus but not Achilles, Eurylochus, nor Daedalus?”

  “Well, I recognized those too, but odd coincidences like that happen all the time. Back to the topic at hand.”

  “Zeus is what we called the Thunder Swordmaster, the last of us to reach level 500, but his usage of his skills matched my own.”

  Shammus’s eyes locked into Bariton’s, and Bariton’s jaw seemed to have gone slack. His eyes filled with such a child-like wonder that Shammus couldn’t even imagine how Bariton was looking at him with such daggers.

  “And… why’d you betray them? How’d you betray them?” The questions slowly twisted Shammus’s stomach into a knot, as he stared into Bariton’s eyes. They were still filled with wonder, but the questions a venom that Shammus couldn’t bear to swallow down.

  A ringing slowly filled Shammus’s ears as more words flowed out of Bariton’s, question and question. They were all muffled, only a few words making it through Shammus’s defenses. The ringing just grows louder, and Shammus bites his own tongue to avoid a reaction to the ringing.

  Bariton’s voice suddenly has a clarity it shouldn’t have had, “Did you even betray them?”

  That question pierced straight through the ringing, as the world once again returned from just him, Bariton, and the fire. “What?” was all Shammus could manage as his body slowly lowered its guard. His knuckles regain color that he hadn’t realized they lost as he lets go of his sword.

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  “I mean, you said they view you as a traitor,” Bariton begins analyzing Achilles’s speech, not Shammus’s, “but you didn’t try to defend that view, or oppose it.”

  “S-sorry?” Shammus noticed himself more than Achilles in there. It scared him.

  “Why apologize?” Bariton’s questioning continued.

  “I- I can explain the story,” Those words left too quickly. He seemed to be defending himself. That must mean he’s guilty. “I-if you w-want me to.” Those words too. He can’t control his tone, another obvious sign of guilt.

  Bariton just looked at Shammus, with a look of pity.

  “My hour’s almost up. Maybe in the morning you can explain this to the entire group. Let’s hear each others’ pasts.” Bariton speaks, with just a small hint of… Hope in his voice. “Maybe you could exchange backstory with the other three. I’ll wake up Clara before heading to sleep myself.”

  The hour with Clara was quiet. Shammus spent a good fifteen minutes explaining the two people that were tied up, and another thirty burying Daedalus. Eurylochus needed higher quality chainings, and as such Shammus had to do that.

  Clara offered to help, but Shammus declined. He knew plenty of binding spells, and even had a few binding skills as well. He used the skills first. As easy as waving his hand, they were applied.

  A gold chain locked around the unconscious man as [Ichor’s Chains] had activated. Another binding around his arms as [Skill Lock] activated. A binding around his neck as [Lock and Key] activated, this one a simplistic silver coloration.

  And then another Legendary binding, [Imprisoned Justice]. This one had a far more fancy and elaborate activation, but it was pretty easy against an unconscious opponent. The floor rose up as the foundation of the prison of Eurylochus’s real name was listed.

  “Lisnu.” Up next came the walls, which involved saying their stats in order from highest to lowest. This one was hard without using an analysis skill, or knowing the target. “Power.” The highest of Lisnu was easily Power, and a wall formed.

  “Constitution.” He wasn’t as certain about Agility and Magic, but that was an easy second. The next wall formed, with a carving of a bandaged man, a carving of an injured one.

  “Magic.” He had to be more cautious from now on. A single wrong guess would lead to his imprisonment failing. The walls had to be said in this order as its strength depends gr eatly on it. The wall formed, with a magical rune appeared. The rune behind the Uncommon skill, [Fireball].

  “Agility.” The only stat remaining. The next wall rose, with an unknown carving. He was inable to see inside unless he flew upwards. The final thing he had to say was the class of Lisnu. It was always a sad thing to do, imprisonment easiest to do against someone you knew well.

  A perfect ability to have for a traitor, Shammus thought to himself before saying aloud the class he knew Eurylochus to have, “Swordsmaster of Betrayal.” How unfitting for someone so loyal to be labelled that way. The roof formed, and the prison was complete. It rose into the air.

  The prison stood still, as proof of it’s success. Up next was just many runes he picked up over the hundreds of years. There were hundreds, thousands, that his sword carved into the dirt below the prison. They were done well, as though practiced so much that they became muscle memory.

  He ignored the eyes boring into the back of his head as his hour was almost done. It finished with the final connecting line of a Rune of Banishment. Were Lisnu to break out of his prison, he would be banished for 10 minutes with a loud noise utilizing the other runes. He had fifteen minutes left.

  Fifteen minutes to burn, and he decides to just keep watch. Watch over the potential violence that may follow. Watch over the forest to ensure no doppelgangers take one of his allies place.

  The fifteen minutes end, and he asks Clara who to awake.

  “Just wake up Judine, she sleeps in that tent. Then, you can rest easy.”

  She spoke with a hushed tone, and also with an air of formality you raise against a stranger. She walks off to continue watching over the forest. Shammus does as she says, waking Judine up for her two hours.