Haru pressed his mouth into a thin line as one girl brushed past him to barf on the porch, and another girl stifled her drink down out of fright. Apparently that wasnât the best approach he could have taken to prove his authenticity. His misguided efforts were punctuated by the horror of a straggler who missed his entire spiel.
âWhere are we? And how do we get back?âHaru slowly ground his molars together, a stress-related habit he started to notice a lifetime ago. Obviously he had his work cut out for him: Most of them werenât fighters and some of them, from first appearances at least, didnât seem like team players. This slow and steady approach wasnât really his thing and in retrospect he wasnât sure why he tried it in the first place. He couldnât get a read on how the others felt about this cutthroat scene, but if witnessing him survive what should have been a life-ending injury wasnât enough to get them to believe in at least a bit of magic, then he didnât see any point in testing out any more elaborate ways to get them up to par with what was happening. If handling them with kid-gloves and scare tactics wouldnât work, he was left with being as painfully honest as possible.
He glanced at his partner in theatrics who had just finished lopping up the last of his blood from the floor.
âI suppose I was never good at making people feel good about less than ideal situations,â he hummed with a slightly glum smirk. âCould you check on the one outside? See if sheâs in good shape to come back in with us?â
The woman with the scar nodded and left the room immediately. As she exited, the redhead hoisted himself up from his chair and turned to the new young woman. He wiped his hand on his cloth napkin and extended it for her to take.
âIâm sorry you missed dinner. Iâll be sure to have them bring you something before you turn in for the night,â he said. He felt sympathy for them, he really did. Waking up with a completely different lifeâs purpose and being bound to that position by destiny was a taxing realization for him too.
âI hope that you will give me time to explain your situation.â
Tallyho drew back from the railing as the woman with the scar tapped her back. She had a surprisingly calm reaction to the sudden physical contact, and silently looked at the woman who in turn looked at her longingly.
âI know what youâre thinking,â the woman said, accompanying the words with a soothing back rub. âBut Haru⊠You have to trust him. All of us here who work on this farm, we had nowhere to go.â
Tallyho caught her eyes dancing along the womanâs long, brown scar and turned her eyes away, embarrassed by her own curiosity.
âWe were all deplorable: A score of outcasts, sinners, prostitutes and drunks before we came to this farm. The world, not even our own families had anything to do with us. None of us had purpose in the way we lived and no one was willing to help us find it. But when deplorables like me come to this farm, suddenly we get a breakâa break from a world who casts a judging eye and ever looks back. He doesnât care where we came from, only that we are willing to live past it and become better before itâs too late. And I think he does this because he knows what itâs like to make mistakes and never be forgiven.â
Tallyho didnât look back at the woman but her breathing evened out, and after a few moments she spoke.
âYou believe in all that stuff? The Old Thought? The Goddess and the Month Warriors?â
The woman smirked as she pushed a dark hair out of her face.
âI donât believe in one God. I have many. They are in the trees, they are in the fire⊠But I do believe in humans. And I believe an honest man when I see one.â
When Tallyho entered the room again, Haru released a sharp breath. Third time was the charm.
âLet me try this again⊠I realize how this all sounds, trust me. And if I didnât have to be here doing this, I wouldnât be. But this is Aires. You are not on earth anymore. You are not ordinary people. You were brought here to defend, not just this world, but your loved ones just a reality away. You are chosenâand each of you wield extraordinary capabilities that Iâd be happy to delve into later.â
Haru glanced at Tallyho, who was still reeling from her gastric episode. Heâd need to give them a taste of it if he had any hope of convincing them.
âYou are Tallyho Abel, you were born on February 17th, and you received this amethyst necklace from your Baba as a birthday present when you turned fifteen. You can control the lightning and electrical currents⊠Angela Taylor, November 2nd, you like tarot cards and other⊠interesting things. But thatâs fitting because with your topaz you can communicate with and manipulate the energy of the dead.â
Haru went on and on like this, introducing each person in the room, telling them a bit about themselves and rounding it off with their special power. He did this for everyone until he got to himself.
âAnd again, my name is Haru Sinwood. I donât know my exact birthday anymore but I know that I was born in the summer years and years ago. I am one of twelve men and women sworn to protect and prepare you for the fight to come. I was once an important person in this world⊠A military official from an old, cold country called Hales. They called me The Red Commander. I was cruel back then, and when I died I was punished to this⊠in between state. Alive and not alive⊠I guess in some of your religions you might call this purgatory? My spirit was not allowed to pass to its final resting place, and soâŠâ He gestured to the fresh wound on his neck. âI cannot die. Not yet⊠I cannot die until I complete my mission. And so here Iâve been, roaming and waiting for you. And now here I am.â
He took a long look around the room. If this didnât help then he wasnât sure what else he could do. He took a step back, opening the door to whichever party felt the need to leave.
âI canât prove much more at this point. I want you to be able to go home to your families. But this cannot be done until your purpose is fulfilled, and I donât have the power to make it so. Only the Goddess. But if you do not trust me, and you want to take your chances out there alone⊠Well you are adults and I cannot stop you. Please, walk through this door and do not look back. I can only warn that you are safer together as a team than alone. Nothing out there is like anything most of you have ever experienced.
But if you do trust me then great. I will get you settled and take care of you. I will take you to the mountains to get proper training because in a world like this you need to know how to defend yourself. Most importantly, I will help you unlock your powers. And the sooner we win the war, the sooner you get home.â
And with that Haru was officially tapped out. If they chose to leave so be it. He only hoped that heâd be able to work with what he had even if the team wasnât complete.