章 27: Reality

Hayley lead the group through the city, it took a while but they finally reached their destination. It was a cluster of tents, with the military constantly patrolling the area. Alfredo thought it looked like a prison camp, but knew that this was just how things worked for now.

Hayley led them to a tent near the outskirts of the cluster. It was a decent size, large enough to fit everyone, but aside from that, there was nothing else.

"Anyway, should you need me I'll be at that tent over there," She said while pointing to a tent near the middle. She began walking away, towards the tent she pointed at.

"Alright, let's keep everything in the tent for now," Alfredo said as he placed his bags in the tent.

Lachlan felt something tugging at his mind ever since he saw Hayley's stats, mainly about the soul contracts.

He quickly dropped off his stuff and began walking towards Hayley's tent, hoping to clarify his thoughts and maybe help comfort her.

Opening the tent he saw Hayley sitting at a desk in the tent with tears in her eyes, her face had was laid on her arms which were crossed facing towards the tent's entrance.

Seeing that she had a quest she quickly rubbed her eyes and looked towards Lachlan, "What's up? You need something?" She felt a bit embarrassed that someone saw her like that and attempted to appear fine.

"Just wanted to see how you're doing," Lachlan said.

"You don't need to do that, I'm a soldier I can handle it," she said. She knew Lachlan saw her and was glad he felt the need to comfort her. Except she was a soldier while Lachlan was a civilian she was tasked to protect, she didn't want him to see her in such a state.

"So what happened to your beasts?" Lachlan asked. His question caused Hayley's body to shiver and freeze, unsure with how to answer the question, whether she should lie or not.

"What are you talking about, I never had any beast," She said, her voice shaky as she turned her face away from Lachlan.

"Yeah you did, you had birds, it was pretty obvious you did when Alfredo brought it up that I had some," Lachlan explained, he knew it would be both difficult to explain and bad to bring up his abilities.

"Huh, so it was at that moment that you determined I had birds," She said, her tears began to well up again before streaming down her face.

"Yeah, you seemed a bit down in the dumps when you heard about my birds, I wanted to comfort you," Lachlan said kindly, sounding adorable.

"Aw that's so nice, but you don't need to worry about me," Hayley wanted to change the topic or end the conversation.

"It would be worrisome if your minds not in the right place when you're supposed to protect us," Lachlan said.

"Are you saying I'm bad at my job! That's not your responsibility," Hayley felt betrayed. The boy in front of her was so nice to her but suddenly said something that brought her down again.

"Right now you are," Lachlan said. Although he sounded harsh he didn't want people's lives to depend on someone's feelings, that would be bad.

Hayley froze at what Lachlan said, "There's nothing wrong with my mind, it's perfectly fine and just as I said before, this isn't something for you to say".

"And I believe it isn't something for you to decide how you're doing, a lot of lives depend on you. You're clearly traumatised by their deaths which affected your mind, you need to take a break to get your mind back on track, otherwise you'll probably be a burden," Lachlan said harshly. He didn't like how irresponsible Hayley was being.

Hayley was annoyed that Lachlan called her a burden but calmed down. She leaned back in her chair and her face tilted upwards, "You want to know why I care so much about protecting everyone".

"Yeah," Lachlan answered.

"Alright, come here, I'm going to tell you a story about my birds and why I'm so persistent in staying in the army," she said as she put her feet on her desk.

Lachlan went over and sat next to her, showing that she had his full attention.

"It started a few years ago, I wanted something to liven up the house and keep me company. I couldn't get a dog since I didn't have enough free time and I didn't want a cat since I've just never been able to get along with them," She paused and looked towards Lachlan, checking to make sure he was still paying attention.

"I looked after them since they were young, it was good fun. Then when all this happened I was at home, holding my birds when they grew and changed into massive beasts. At first, I was terrified, seeing my two little birds turn into enormous monsters would give anyone a shock. But I was happy when I realised they didn't forget me, they came up and comforted me, placing their heads next to my legs," She said and paused, tears began welling up in her eyes again. She quickly wiped them off before continuing.

"That's when I tamed them, when we first flew into the air I thought I was invincible and that nothing could touch me. That's when I got a call from the superior to head to the base, I didn't think I had enough time to get in my car, so I flew on my bird. When we reached the base my birds instantly gained a lot of attention, especially by my superiors. I was quickly called in a put in charge of the rescue squad, we saved hundreds of people with my birds, we were able to scout and defend the people till reinforcements came, it felt great," She began hesitating to continue the story, she was now crying, constantly wiping the tears out her eyes.

"We got a call for help, they were trapped at the top of a building that had beasts all around the lower floors. I went to survey the area, checking to see where the people were and help protect them, that's when it happened. I flew too close to the building, an arm shot through the glass into my bird's head, I was knocked off, but looking up I saw my bird's lifeless body be dragged into the building". Hayley's voice began to shake as she tried to continue to story, but it was hard to talk about her bird's death.

"Fortunately, I had two birds, so, as I fell I summoned the other, a bit of a rough landing but managed to survive nonetheless. We flew up the building at a much further distance this time, we reached the top of the building, I saw the people and jumped off. But when I looked back time seemed to slow down, I saw webs coming from below targeting my bird, there was nothing it could do and before I knew it, it had been dragged down. I went to the side to check and all I saw was its tail feathers through a window, I knew it had died as well and broke down. Although I managed to save the people I lost my best friends. When I told my superior that he took me off the team and told me to take a break. But I loved seeing those people's faces, the faces filled with hope I couldn't just abandon that, so I joined patrolling units," Her voice began to sound coarse, she had her hands covering her face as she sniffled.

Lachlan was stunned, he didn't know how to respond. The only thing he could do is try to hug her and comfort her, without talking and just letting her cry everything out.

She turned towards Lachlan, grabbed his hands and held them up between their faces, "Promise me boy, that you won't make the same mistake I did. No one is invincible or immortal, you might be strong but never think you're the strongest, keep working and keep training, promise me that".

Lachlan nodded, "I promise". Although he did know he was probably one of the strongest in the world currently, however, when the information he discovered about the special abilities becomes widespread everything's going to change.

"Good, now go back to your family and enjoy your time, and don't worry, you'll see your dad soon enough," She said while letting go of Lachlan's hands.