Another Stupid Isekai

- Everybody saw it, and nobody had the answer where it came from, or to whom it belongs, but we had more on our plates, so we kinda brushed it off - said Daniel, and looked towards one other figure in the heavy cloak.

I heard a short giggle, and a hand emerged from under it to take the hood off. It was Tihana. She was smiling at me. That was not the end of surprises though, as Tam poked his head from under her cloak.

- Bawk! - he said with confidence.

I couldn't help but smile. Tears were pushing their way from my eyes.

- It's good to see you - I said with a voice that kept breaking up.

- As Daniel said - she joined the conversation. - There were plenty of things going on, but not for me, and Tam kept showing up around me and bothering me. I didn't know what was going on, but it soon became clear that he wanted to tell me something. I tried to solve the riddle myself, but just couldn't. Everybody whom I asked had no answers. Even Daniel, but compared to others he didn't ignore me, and rather pulled me in his theory that something was happening.

- Yes - the man agreed. - I told her of what I found so far. All the missing memories, all the questions with no answers, everything. The more we talked, the more we came to a really strange conclusion, that the chicken might be an answer, despite how insane it sounds.

- It was quite easy for me to accept that Tam was a very intelligent creature, and could communicate with us. Daniel was skeptical, but I managed to persuade him to give it a try - said Tihana.

As the words left her mouth Daniel rolled his eyes.

- I just thought we had better clues to follow than the chicken.

- But Tam was the right one - argued the girl.

- Yes - he agreed, and then turned back to face me. - We tried to communicate with him, and he just started running. After a moment to realize what was going on, we followed. It was quite a journey. He guided us way outside the city center to a ruin. It was not only collapsed, but also burned down, so it immediately picked up my attention. We looked around, but there was not much to be found there, so I wanted to leave by the end of the day, but Tam insisted we kept looking. He literally started pecking on my legs when I tried to walk off and blocked my path. It became quite obvious what he wanted, so after a moment of persuading him, we decided to return the next day.

Tihana smiled. I was watching them both carefully, wondering a bit who else was among the hooded. I also knew almost immediately that they have been led to my house, or what was left of it.

- It was quite a funny view - she said.

- Mhm - Daniel agreed. - I myself found it ridiculous. Negotiating with a chicken... Who would have thought?

- Bawk! - shouted Tam, clearly annoyed by his attitude.

Daniel ignored that.

- We continued the excavation for a few days. I was scared that we might destroy clues as we were moving the rubble, so we remained careful with it, and that's why it took so long, despite a few strong people being involved. We didn't find anything though, at least not until we dug our way to the basement, and there we discovered a room that was not collapsed, although still destroyed by fire. I believe the flames didn't consume everything due to the space being sealed by the rubble, and without oxygen, the flames died. Still, they burned most of whatever was there. We found translations, books in languages we couldn't understand. Some partially damaged, others completely ruined. It took weeks to go through all of that.

- We even got miss Patel involved.

A picture of Sudarshana appeared in my mind. With her wavy hair, and wearing one of the long dresses with vibrant colors, which made her look even more stunning than she normally was.

- Yes. She was a big help in decoding all the pieces of information we had, but despite sacrificing weeks we ended up in a dead-end. There was nothing pointing to your existence, Peter. But all those efforts were not in vain. The difference was a simple fact that we were looking, and it was a well-known fact in the city. Obviously not among everybody, since we didn't want to alarm the queen.

- She wasn't looking, too occupied with other trouble she encountered looking for Loistavadvaar, but we were - added one of the remaining two hooded figures.

The voice sounded quite familiar, but I was unable to match it with a face. Fortunately, I didn't have to struggle with that for too long, as the person revealed themselves by taking the hood off. It was Katri Xel Avakadaisu.

- Although it was possible for the High Queen to target all the humans with her powers, and remove your existence, forcing the people to destroy all the evidence in their possession, and blocking the memories, she couldn't do it for all of her empire. Although I myself also didn't prevail, my comrades did and helped me to partially regain what I lost. We started looking for you, but couldn't find you. Which led us to keep an eye on your friends, as we thought you might contact them at some point. That's how we discovered that some of them were looking, and we made a contact.

- And together you found me - I stated.

- No - said the last figure.

This time I completely didn't recognize the voice. It definitely was somebody that I didn't know. My thoughts got very soon confirmed, as the figure took the hood off, revealing the head. It was a Sabhetani, but one that I never met before. The shape of his head was familiar, the skin tone different though.. This individual was deeply grey, ash-like, with vibrant blue eyes and no jewelry.