ONE POINT FIVE (1.5 in the Amnesia Archives)

Chapter 5

Aknon's POV

I stood in front of the bakery with Sarphi, Prin, Onyx, and Mesh. Sarphi was muttering under her breath, and she kept subtly wiping tears away from her eyes as she looked up at the sign above the doors.

"So, it's ours?" she asked quietly, sniffling still as she looked back at me.

I nodded my head and squeezed her hand. "It's yours for as long as you need it. As long as you do a good job that is." I gave a small chuckle. I didn't want her getting any clever ideas which would get her kicked out of the village just so that she would come with me and look for Acer. "But I have no doubt that you will. You've always wanted something like this, right?"

Sarphi nodded mutely before turning around and pulling me into a tight hug. "Bring them back, okay?" she whispered in my ear, her face buried in my neck.

I hugged her back and rested my head on top of hers. "Of course I will." My voice sounded more confident than I felt. "I'll bring them both back, and then we can slap them silly for getting in trouble like that." I kissed the tips of her horns before pulling back and turning to Prin. "Take care of my sister, and yourself, okay?" I ruffled her hair somewhat awkwardly. I wasn't really a people person, but I'd grown attached to Prin, seeing her like another sister. That didn't mean that I felt comfortable being incredibly close, with physical contact and everything.

Unfortunately for me, Prin was very comfortable being close. She pulled me in for a big hug, making me almost believe that she could lift me up, despite her small stature and peculiar upbringing. "I'll take care of her, and so will Onyx." She pulled back and patted Onyx's head.

Onyx whimpered as he came over to me, weaving in and out of my legs a few times, before looking up at me with his sparkly black eyes. I felt my heart melting as I bent down and stroked his head and gave his back a rub.

"Onyx, you be a little protector too, okay?" I asked him, even though I knew that we would probably be meeting a lot more often than the girls and me. "If there are any problems, come find me." I stood back up again and moved over to Mesh, who seemed to have a tear in his eye.

"Ready, Ak?" Mesh asked, finally getting around to calling me something other than 'blue boy'. He figured that it was also like using his own name, which he didn't quite have a typical understanding of. I was just happy that he was trying.

I nodded my head and sighed, turning away from the bakery and beginning to walk. "I'm ready," I said quietly. I waited until we were a few feet away before turning back and looking behind me.

One part of me wished that I didn't, because I wanted to run right back over there and tell my sister how proud I was of her. Another art of me wondered if I would ever come back to see them doing what they loved. I imagined my sister and Prin making cakes and bread, trading them with the villagers. I imagined them getting to know each person who lived here and building deep connections with everyone, and I wished that I could be a part of it.

But I couldn't. As I watched Sarphi jump up and down excitedly inside the bakery, with Prin's laughter barely reaching my ears, I mourned the future I might not have. But I had to do this for acer. I knew that Sarphi and Prin would both be safe in the Wandering Village, nobody would be able to track them down. There would be people and forces here protecting them.

Acer had nobody to protect them, besides maybe Senka. But I trusted that if Senka was with Acer, then they would both be here right now. Dwi brought us there for a reason and that reason was for our protection.

I patted my bag, making sure that my book and dagger were still in there, and walked besides Mesh through the village, waving to those who waved at us, greeting Mesh by name and giving me a strange look. News spread like wildfire here, and so everyone knew that he was leaving on an endeavour to Kourjit. I wondered if they thought that I was some kind of villain a few times, as I was taking one of the kindest orcs away from their village. But it seemed that everybody knew that he wanted to leave, that he had something to do.