The world before her.

As she walked through the market area of the outlier sector, she spread the news. All she'd hear were insults, blatant remarks about her, and violent threats. "You were supposed to be our leader. Now all of us will die, thanks to you," one of the workers stormed off after destroying the food stand in front of her.

They would throw food at her, mothers would slap her, and others would choose the most hurtful language they could use against her.

"You are the reason the outlier sector will die. You are a garbage piece of shit, a piece of shit not even worth sitting out in this world."

Noora walked without a response, all she would speak for was to spread the news. "The goods law passed, I was ordered to shut down all markets by tomorrow."

Noora's treatment was unfair, but it was warranted. She expected the response it would cause, after all, a majority of the outlier sector would likely face death from this law. Even if she had no control of the committee, she would be the one everyone would hold responsible, as the leader.

Once she was out by herself on a path, she let tears out. She felt as if nothing could help anymore, but despite everything that happened. She grabbed a photograph of her father from a pocket, "Father... I won't let  you down."

***

A bell could be heard from outside. The group had a long rest in the room they were assigned, "Morning time! Let's all get some breakfast!" Noora exclaimed. 

An old man walked out of his room, "Can you shut up? I am trying to sleep," he complained and walked back into his room.

"You suck old man!" Lilian yelled, but the old man had already gone back inside his room. Noora stared in confusion, "It's okay, they're a little grumpy in the morning."

An old woman walked out of her room with several children, "It's your fault he's grumpy, you're the reason we are in this building, dumbass," she coughed. 

Enkita, Kezdar, and Lilian didn't take the insults lightly. Noora had clearly been trying to be the best for an entire town, but many things weren't in her control. "I-" Noora was quickly interrupted. 

Enkita walked toward the old woman, "It's not her fault the imperial sector is doing any of this you know? She's trying her best while you and the others sit and do nothing," Enkita exclaimed. 

More people started to come out of their rooms, "To hell the empire. To hell this bitch. She might as well be part of the empire," a man yelled in an angered tone. 

"And? What the fuck do you do to help, huh? Maybe they're right about you bunch being nothing more than trash if you throw your own under the bus," Kezdar declared.

Noora stood there seeing the arguing get louder, "Stop" Noora said in a quiet voice. 

"I work my ass off. Harvesting for my family every single day of the month before the cold, and you come from somewhere else telling me I'm not doing anything. You should live here for longer than a day and maybe you'd know how we feel like," another man added.

Enkita stared at the man, "Sure. You do that, but do you ever think of what she might feel taking care of an entire town? With no guidance? Just like the mothers standing out here right now, you never had any guide on how to take care of your kids, that's what it must feel to her. What if they make harvesting illegal, huh? You guys are just gonna die blaming it on Noora?" he declared loudly. 

"Stop" Noora gets increasingly louder while the arguing continues. "If it becomes illegal. It's her fault. I don't even know why we picked such a useless leader."

"The world that we live in can be unfair. Pushing out one of your own is just following the example of those whom you all hate!" Lilian exclaimed.

Kezdar pushed the man complaining onto the wall, "If ya'll leave your problems to someone else and expect them to do the heavy lifting for you, then you will all rot out one by one, exactly like the poor fuckers out there in that graveyard. Ya'll gotta understand man," Kezdar says. 

Noora yells out in desperation, "STOP!"

"I- I do what I can, sometimes even more than what I'm allowed to. I understand if you may feel upset, I have no complaints, but I do try for all of you. I have my own goals too, I have my ambitions, I want to live a normal life like all of you, but that won't be possible if we do nothing but complain and hurt others of our own," Noora cried out to them.

After Noora said her words, everyone went quiet. Noora took the group outside of the building, "Why exactly did you come to Luitol?" Noora questioned.

Enkita and Kezdar felt as if they owed her a real explanation of why they were there. "We can't say, but we have questions," Enkita replied.

"Actually, we're here to kill the commander of Lyririe," Kezdar said.

"That's true! We should trust Noora, the way she trusted us with her place," Lilian exclaimed.

Enkita stared at them with confusion. Although, he quickly realized that maybe, she was like them. They were all stray sheep in a big world.

Noora was in shock, "The- the commander of Lyririe? Huh?" she exclaimed in confusion.

They explain the story. The commander of Lyririe is out for them, similar to how the imperial sector sees the outlier sector. They wanted to get rid of any who they saw as abnormal people. The commander of Lyririe despised anyone with Harpe and the imperial sector wanted Luitol to be a spotless royal town. While they had different lives, they could relate to each other to some extent. 

"Earlier when I was helping getting some materials, I saw a tall armored figure. They seemed alone, but I wasn't sure... No one hangs out around that place, it's further into the dangerous part of the outlier sector," Noora said.

"Are you implying that's the commander? How would you know? That'd be a crazy coincidence," Enkita questioned.

Noora took out a ring from her pocket. "Ever since... something happened. I have had weird feelings, and they have always been correct. At that moment, I- I definitely felt that was the commander of Lyririe," she exclaimed.

Kezdar walked toward Noora, "Yo, know that we know that we might as well head out there and complete our goal, no?" he declared. Noora put the ring away and pointed toward an abandoned-looking area, "That way, you will find him," she said.

"Could you come with us, if it isn't uhhh... far?" Lilian asked nicely.

Noora looked toward the building, "All I have is this small map that shows what is there... I- well, sorry. I can't leave this place alone. Where you have to go is a little far from here," she said while giving them the map.

"Thanks, man! if we get back, I'll get you some stuff from Luitol," Kezdar laughed.

***

The group of Enkita, Kezdar, and Lilian now headed directly to their target, the commander of Lyririe. They didn't feel prepared, but they had to move quickly. The walk had only taken about two hours from the outlier sector so far. 

The area they traversed through seemed to be parts of the outlier sector that were abandoned due to the quick loss of population. The only liveable part of the outlier sector was incredibly small compared to how much land they used to have.

They had not made it to their destination yet. They continued walking toward their destination, "I... feel bad," Enkita sighed.

Kezdar looked back at Enkita, "Noora? She's gonna be fine man, look she's a strong woman, and after all; we'll go check on her if this shit goes our way," he laughed.

"mmgrmmimr mim cookie," Lilian spoke while eating cookies Noora had given her before leaving the building. 

"Kezdar. Thanks for helping me out in defending Noora, she's strong, but anyone can lose their mental if they have to deal with stuff like this all the time," Enkita said.

As they walked through the abandoned market, they noticed a tall building. A fort that was built with materials unseen to them, a fort twice the size of the building they had slept. "That is a weird fort, should we take a look?" Enkita questioned.

Lilian raised her hand, "I think it looks pretty scary so yes!" she exclaimed.

"Real sus. We should go in carefully, get your Harpe going before going in," Kezdar warned the group. The group sneaks in through the gaps on the first floor, with their guard up. There was definitely something fishy going on, such an odd building in the middle of an abandoned place. 

???

Without speaking, Hegira allows them to see through the darkness. The fort was entirely dark and even with Hegira, they could only see the floor. It was empty and dark, but they followed the stairs up. There were many floors above.

Darkness, that's all you see. Are you asleep?

They continued walking up the stairs, walking and walking. The fort was tall, so they didn't expect it to take a short amount of time. They continued walking... they? Enkita looked around and noticed that Kezdar and Lilian had disappeared. Without a sound, he realized that it was likely a trap. Enkita decided to run up the stairs in desperation, but nothing. 

The fort felt endless. His friends were missing, and out of fear - he wouldn't speak a word. Instead, it called out to him. "Right here man!" a voice similar to Kezdar's was heard. 

Enkita rushed toward the voice, "Kezdar!?" Enkita yelled while running in the direction of the voice. 

As Enkita reaches the final set of stairs, he hears another voice.

"We meet again."