'Are we in any danger'?
'Not immediate, if they wanted to attack us they would have done so already'.
'I haven't given them a reason, I don't know what's going on but I don't like it'.
'How are there so many' she said counting them out two out of ten of them are emitting a mana signature, a weak one but a mana signature non the less.
'You never know, I think it's best for us to leave sooner rather then later though'.
'You don't even know the way' Ava said thinking of the times death almost claimed me in the desert.
'I'll figure it out, can't worry about tomorrow if we don't focus on today'.
I was able to talk and greet everyone that Lissi met and when we made our way into the large boulder we found children playing all around.
Even high above were they can fall some of them poked a head out and looked down at the passing stranger.
'How did you figure it out without me'?
'At the feast I had my suspicions, but when I was with Ho'thaw I was sure'.
'This area is too harsh for one mage to operate, more than likely they have a bunch of self taught mana users'.
'And the food last night... some people just ate too much'.
'Why would they hide it'?
I smiled and let a child play with my bag, nothing of importance was in it anymore.
'Because there is power in anonymity' I replied to my naive little friend.
The dark skin made the yellow pupils the main focus of the childrens face enchanting me at times.
'They are so beautiful' I thought to myself at some point.
It wasn't a compliment but the only way to describe the little children laughing and mimicking Lissi and the rest of the adults.
There laughter echoed in the high walls and not a single unfed child was in sight.
"No, your name is Hime" said one of the five year old when I introduced myself as Ambrose.
I brushed it off but was told later by Lissi it's a term for mixed races like us.
It went without incident and I followed them all out to prepare food.
They chopped bright red plants and boiled it in water from the well, the riders came a few at a time dropping off freshly picked fruits and fresh caught meat.
'It seems like they are learning Terra and Olim pretty well already what does she need your help teaching them for'? Ava asked while I drew letters on the ground with my scabbard, just so the children could jump all over and mess it up.
'She probably wants to see what kind of person I am, that or they are buying time to figure out who I really am' I said drawing the same letter again.
"Your doing really well, most people would get frustrated and walk right out" Lissi said smiling.
The sun was starting to set marking the time to eat.
"It's all part of the learning process, look over there" I pointed at the same little girl that called me Hime.
She was drawing on the ground just to have other kids jump on it as soon as she was done.
"Have you done this before"? she asked.
I think about my god daughter and when she was born.
Leeland was a doting father through and through, when he got married to Sarah it was only months after we graduated college.
It was odd because they started seeing each other since he was fifteen, she was his second in command in the game ERA online.
A ten year relationship before they tied the knot, most people would have done it sooner.
They had a baby named Seely, my god-daughter.
Even though I never believed in god or showed any interest in religion Leeland still wanted me to be there for his daughter if anything happened to him.
But it ended up being me who passed away first, she was a teenager and such a good girl.
A genius like her mother and father but she decided to be a poet, something we all encouraged at the time.
All the memories of holding her on holidays or hearing her call me uncle with the same southern twang as her daddy came flooding out.
Along with the reality that I would never hear or see that again.
"I've done it a couple of times" I smiled at Lissy burying all the pain and hurt that came along with the passage of time.
As the fires are lit riders began to come in, slaughtering beasts and using every bit of them even the bone marrow to boil broth.
I ate like I didn't spot twelve mana signatures positioned perfectly around me.
Stuffing my face with all the foods and making as much small talk as I could.
I eventually see Kata sitting quietly smoking her long pipe and laying her head on her hand.
One of the riders came into the camp dropping off a leather sack to the people cooking.
He was strong and lean, dismounting smoothely.
His face illuminated by the firelight as he crossed the wide area given to Kata.
Tall dark and handsome didn't do him justice, with perfectly placed features one could even say he's beautiful.
Making his way in front of Kata he bowed, with an erotic glare yshe took him by the hand into her home.
"Where are they going"? I asked Lissi who turned a bright red an looked the other way.
'What are they doing'? Ava asked when I smiled knowingly.
'Making the beast with two backs' I snickered getting a reproachful look from Lissi.
"Ill be taking my leave as well, see you in the morning" a warm smile hid my intentions.
I took my l leave and went back to my boulder and counted down the time, I was leaving.
I didn't have the luxury of waiting around, and I didn't trust these people.
It's a shame I didn't get a blade but I got food and information which was priceless.
Why are so many mages here and pretending to be normal people?
I didn't know and didn't care, my instincts told me to run.
Once it was the dead of night and the fires have died I begin running west towards the cactus that Lissi and I ate.
'Once we get past the fields I will be flying, keep a look at for me until then' I told Ava.
Her mana could be mistaken for world energy so it was a safer form of reconnaissance and I wanted to save my energy, just in case.
I didn't want to be a flashing beacon in the night.
'We've got trouble' Ava shuddered as she recognized the mana signiture that brushed against hers.
A lone figure with yellow pupils that glowed in the dark was seen in my path when I was yards away.
Holding a long curved dagger in one hand and sending small pulses of mana.
'She could just want to talk' Ava said.
I didn't bother to respond.
"Leaving so soon"? Kata said stretching her lithe body, her hair was still wet begging to question where she came from.
My blade reflected the starlight as I let it poke out of my cloak.
Activating fast thinking my eyes shown white in the dark.
'I might not make it out of this one Ava'
'You mean we're going to die'? she sounded more dissapointed then afraid.
'There is a high chance of that, if you feel the connection between us break go directly into the earth and get as deep as you can, maybe she won't notice you'.
'What will I do without you'?
'Survival is the name of the game, try and last until the last star in the sky dies'.
'It doesn't matter how, life is too precious to let go'.
Steeling myself, white swirls of mana began to be emitted.
"Truely an audacious child" Kata said while strolling towards me.
Any moment now those steps will turn into lunges and her energy will surround me and pin me down.
I could already see it.
I tilted the blade slightly in front of me.
With an opponent like this tricks won't work and no fancy moves will last.
I had to strike fast and hard.
I thought about my life, how I lived it up to this point.
'I have no regrets' I thought while looking at the beautiful huntress.
She didn't make my young blood boil now, with every step she took I was one step closer to the blender.
She wasn't Kata anymore, she was the sum of all my pain rolled into a seductive gaze.
All my energy flared around me while I bent my knees.
I refuse to be a captive by my fear.
I refuse the base instinct that tells me to 'run' only to be mauled from behind.
I will struggle.
I will fight.
Opening my mouth I send a challenge to the cruel and unending fate that trapped me in a cycle of infinite torment.
"It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll. I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE, I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL".
My words created a ripple of mana reaching Kata who depite never hearing the english language hesitated.
Kata had lived for over a hundred years and hunted beasts who used mana to intimidate their prey often.
But this wasn't an attempt to scare prey into submission, for a moment she stood still wondering what it was she felt from the raging storm of mana I created.
That moment of hesitation was all I needed, moving forward with all my power it looked as if I dissappeared to the naked eye.
Debris below my feet was kicked up and a small hole was made.
My joints creaked along with hairline fractures in my legs due to the force.
Kata swung her weapon defending herself from the blade coming down from above.
As soon as the metals make contact Kata realized what that feeling that made her hesitate was.
An emotion that built empires and drove armies of men knowingly towards the jaws of death.
An emotion only those who have been tempered by the crucible of life can truly convey.
Conviction.