After they won against the crab, Aiden had expected to return to the inn with several hundred pounds of crab meat and plans for a celebratory crab roast.
Instead, he returned to find what seemed to be something wrong with his system.
The good news was that Jax, Selene, and Little Fox, as Jax had called her, were done with their quest.
The bad news was that eight people from the Stormcaller Tribe had been killed, and the party had gained eight thousand XP from their deaths.
Normally, for enemies and monsters, the XP would have been exorbitantly higher.
However, when it came to those with systems, they only ever granted one thousand XP upon death.
Some speculated it was a deterrent.
Why spend the effort fighting people who had a good chance of killing you for such a low amount of XP when a much weaker monster granted several times more?
As they drove up, Aiden saw Jax and Selene outside the city walls.
They were standing at the edge of what seemed to be a large patch of twisting vines.
Small white flowers grew from the vines, and even from there, Aiden could see the thorns covering them.
Selene had her left arm out. It was covered in thick, muscular plates that seemed to be warding off several thorns trying to cut at her.
Jax spoke in Natural to the thorns as if they would listen.
However, as they approached, Aiden saw, to his surprise, that Little Fox stood in the center of the rosevine circle.
A strange look of rage twisted her face.
Her teeth were bared.
Her hackles were raised.
She was yelling something in Natural that Aiden could not understand.
Aiden brought the vehicle to a stop.
Victor, Liora, Thalia, and Aiden stepped out.
A bit to their surprise, Little Fox jumped out of her rosevine circle and darted over to them, hiding behind their group as she looked around, seemingly searching for the words to say something.
"Jax bad," Little Fox said. "Much little, gone. Jax gone little."
Aiden looked down at her, surprised by how on edge she was when she looked toward Jax and Selene.
To her credit, when Jax turned around, Aiden could see blood covering his mouth and paws.
Jax sat with an almost sad look on his face.
Selene looked between Jax and the others, as if unsure what to do.
Aiden had Little Fox slide back toward Thalia as he stepped forward.
"Be scared," Little Fox said. "Jax gone much."
Aiden nodded, still unsure what had happened, and continued forward.
"Jax, dude," Aiden said carefully, "you're covered in blood, and Little Fox, who was practically clinging to you before, is literally shaking. What in the hells did we miss?"
Jax stood there in silence for a moment.
Then he turned to Selene and said something.
She nodded and stepped back.
Jax began walking forward.
Aiden took a step back, worried about what exactly gone meant.
But before he could fully retreat, Jax spoke a simple three-word phrase.
"To find steam."
Aiden felt something settle into his chest.
He turned around to the others.
"You all head back to the inn," Aiden said. "Jax and I are going for a walk around the city walls to see if we can find some water he can wash off with."
Thalia and Liora exchanged apprehensive looks.
Little Fox looked horrified and tried to say something, but Victor put a paw down in front of her.
"If you arrrrrrre surrrrrrre, Aiden," Victor said.
Selene walked over to the others.
Little Fox stood to the side, keeping away from her, using everyone else as cover to avoid being seen.
Liora slowly began to pull the vehicle into town, the gears grinding slightly in her inexperienced hands, and making Aiden wince.
Jax and Aiden turned and began to walk along the length of the wall.
Overhead, the moon shone bright, revealing a dazzling, cloudless night sky.
At first, they walked in silence.
Aiden glanced over at Jax.
Despite the warmth of the night, Jax was shivering slightly.
As they walked, Aiden thought back to the day they had established their password.
It had been the second week of Jax staying with him on the mountain.
At the time, Aiden had still been against adventuring, but he had grown more accustomed to Jax's presence.
He had told Jax about his parents, and Jax had perked up.
"Those of us with sucky dads have to stick together," Jax had said while running around and balancing on a stump as Aiden tried to read.
It had been one of their rest days after a more harrowing encounter with an ash spirit.
"Tell you what," Jax had continued. "How about in the future, if we ever need the other to fully trust us, no questions asked, we have a code phrase. What should it be?"
At the time, Aiden had rolled his eyes, hoping Jax would shut up so he could read in peace.
"How about to find steam?" Aiden had said. "Since my parents were all about steam tech."
Jax had jumped around excitedly.
"All right, and for me, it should be Orion"
Honestly, Aiden had assumed they both would have never used the passwords.
Yet they had each called upon the secret passwords for each other already.
Jax came to a stop and lay down in the grass, staring up at the sky.
Aiden stopped and looked down at him.
Then he lay down beside him.
Part of Aiden was deathly curious about what had happened.
The other part knew that probing would not help.
Jax would explain on his own.
So they lay there, motionless and still, until Jax spoke.
His voice was soft at first.
Then it slowly grew to normal talking.
"On our quest, we found the guy we were looking for," Jax said. "He had been kidnapped and was being held by a group of Naturalists."
Aiden nodded.
That explained part of it.
Not everything.
"They spoke to me and called me the name I had while I was in the tribe. Strike Runt."
Jax's voice shook.
"Turns out they were from the Stormcaller Tribe and on a mission in the city. They were young too. No older than eleven, twelve. Barely any levels in their classes either."
As Jax said that, Aiden thought back to how Little Fox had kept saying gone.
Understanding dawned on him.
He stayed lying there, not moving despite the way his mind raced.
"I understand that Naturalists as a whole are considered terrorists," Aiden said carefully. "And that they are known to be combatants, even as young as eleven."
He glanced toward Jax.
"But why did you kill them?"
The way Aiden said it was not blaming.
Not scrutinizing.
It was curiosity.
Jax took a shaky breath, as if trying to hold his emotions in.
"They approached me," Jax said.
He sniffed.
"They approached me saying my dad wanted me back for some reason. I-It flipped a switch."
His claws dug into the grass.
"All I could think about was getting my dad to back off. Then I thought, and I moved, and suddenly I was surrounded by bodies."
Aiden continued to stare at the sky.
Next to him, Jax began to cry, his body quaking slightly where he lay.
Aiden kept his voice soft when he asked, "You don't like your old tribe much anyway. Is it because Little Fox seems scared of you that it hurts so much?"
Jax shook his head.
He closed his eyes.
His voice trembled with emotion.
"It's because when I saw her, I saw my face."
Aiden turned toward him.
"It was the same face I made when Dad killed Orion and forced me to watch," Jax said. "The fear. The helplessness."
His breathing hitched.
"All I could see was my own face back then, and I realized what I was to her in that moment."
Aiden sat up.
Jax did as well.
Then Jax turned to him with a simple question.
One that shook Aiden because he knew how deeply it plagued him.
"Am…" Jax swallowed. "Am I becoming just like him?"
Aiden did not answer with words at first.
He silently pulled Jax into a hug.
Jax buried his snout in Aiden's shirt as his entire body shook with sobs.
"Jax," Aiden said, holding him tightly, "you are not, and you will not ever be like your father."
Jax shook against him.
"He killed Orion to prove his power and cause fear," Aiden said. "You killed those Naturalists because you were protecting us."
He tightened his grip.
"The very fact that you are asking this question shows you will not become just like him."
"Aiden," Jax sobbed into him. "I'm, I'm scared."
Aiden held him, trying to keep him from falling apart.
Jax had always been the strong protector.
The cocky goofball.
The one who cracked jokes and kept that grin on his face no matter the situation.
But as he sobbed, he was not Jax the adventurer.
He was Jax, the kid who had run away from home into a world he knew was dangerous.
A world filled with people who would kill him by association with his father.
He had traveled with nothing.
Made friends.
Found a party.
So as Jax cried, Aiden held him together.
He picked up any pieces that fell and refused to let Jax break.
Jax was one of his best friends.
And if Jax could not find the strength to smile, crack jokes, and keep everyone calm, then Aiden would pick up the slack.
They would make it through this.
Alive.
Intact.
And stronger for it.