She smiled. She had never smiled. Whether from daze or craze her mind could not focus. And her feet, running but not directed, forgot in an instant about all that was done to return to their primal instincts. She was free. Or rather her mind was free but not her soul. Chained within, her true self called, and in its roar, all were tamed. Her lips now at rest, the crumbles of the alliance she called self came together to seek and find. Seek and find.
She arrived at the city palisades, high and mighty in their stature. In a brutal show of strength, she slashed at the chains until they surrendered. Dragging the walls open, she traversed the border. Annoyed yells were heard behind, but Adei did not react. The landscape extended outwards, and observing the future possibilities, she saw at one side the dark sandstorm she escaped, and at the other side the silhouette of a chain of mountains, hidden by the night.
"You didn't think you could get rid of us so easily, did you?"
It was Nomu, his swords on his back. Behind him could be seen Katala, dragging a huge black bag. She approached, worry in her eyes.
"Sorry for my attitude, my dear… we'll talk about it more later, but it was all fake. I was assigned as the person to teach you and control you, so our encounter was artificial. However, when I saw you walking away, I understood your freedom was much deeper, much better than all the Pasmathan lies. Me and Élen tried to talk about it to the Bathys, but they simply scoffed and…"
Her voice wavered. In the bag, she revealed one end, showing Élen's unconscious beaten head. He still breathed but was in no condition to walk.
"When that happened, I rushed to Nomu, and we came to see you. I'm sorry, will you let us follow you, my dear?"
Adei pondered. Raising her weapon to Katala's neck. Peering into Adei's eyes, the message was clear: 'I'll let you come, just don't get in the way.'
The sand extended far, but not a soul was seen.
"We'll go south," Claimed Nomu. "That's the closest city."
"But-" Katala showed her discomfort "That's Nepo, they're enemies!"
"Don't trust what the Pasmathans said, we're the ones who ran away, not the other way around. Besides, we have Adei, there's no way they can just ignore the oddity of the century passing by them."
Lacking resources, they departed promptly. Nomu lead the way, Katala kept Élen safe at the middle, and Adei guarded the back.
"I guess I'll tell you, my dear… We all know it inside, but nobody talks about it. The Bathys control all information in the walls of Pasmathe, and most of it is misinformation. They told us you were dangerous and then made you fight Nomu to prove it, but look who hurt us
now… was it you or them? Running away was the only…"
From behind a dune, a great grey-white beast emerged. Its most prominent feature was a trunk-like proboscis replacing its nose. The creature stood in its belly, and it was colossal.
"An Ounga! Beware of the stones it throws!"
The next thing Nomu felt was the overwhelming power from the monster's fin-like arm, and then the rough sand of a nearby dune. Katala's scream pierced the air. The soft rustle of Adei's sword unsheathing marked the start of the battle. The girl rushed in as Katala scuttled away. Closing in on the creature, Adei went for a horizontal slash. The Ounga's thick blubber took the hit while it did a 180° turn to attack with its tail, the sword still stuck in its skin. Now disarmed, Adei jumped backwards to avoid the swing and formulate a plan, but she was not ready for the two black stones hurled at her from the Ounga's trunk, as they were almost invisible in the night.
She crumbled, coughing blood from her damaged chest. On the ground, she saw Katala, petrified with Élen in her arms. Taking in a deep breath, she got back on her feet. The creature was coming in a disturbing lumber standing on its fin-like limbs, throwing its entire massive body at the small girl. Ignoring the pain, she jumped as high as she could, landing on the head of the monster. Fighting to conserve her footing, she took her dagger and plunged it deep into the Ounga's forehead. In a final low screech, the creature's upper body flopped forwards, sending Adei into the sand. In a groan, she got back up, stumbling back to the corpse.
Removing her weapons, she noticed that the whiteness of the skin mirrored the inside. Like necrosis, the color penetrated flesh and blood alike. Snapping from her daze, Adei turned to Katala. The librarian was hiding, trembling behind the bag. As the warrior touched her, she blenched. Nomu joined them.
Few words were exchanged as they silently traversed the abyss ahead. Movement could be discerned at times, making the group aware of their vulnerability.
They kept trudging forwards, watching every step. There was nothing else to do. Katala started softly singing to get her mind off things.
"No cost too great, step after step
No there's no fate, you can't find help.
Who will change you? Only you can do.
Just get up! Shoo! Keep pushing through!"
Although Adei was disturbed by her mentality, she simply overlooked it, as Katala looked as motivated as ever, and that was all that mattered.
As the sun started showing its first rays, they could now make out shapes in the horizon. Illuminated from the left, majestic red fabric was seen, and soon, a whole unit of blood red canopy tents appeared.
"There they are, this is Nepo, the sister of battle."
Adei displayed a puzzled face at Nomu's description.
"Well…" He looked embarrassed "this city and Pasmathe were one single village a long time ago, but then, due to conflicting values, we split, becoming the sister tribes of sands and battle. We focused on defense, they attacked, that is why we were so perfect as a group."
Occasional pairs of black spots could be seen in the sands, but over the massive area, there were hundreds of them. As the group got closer to them, they seemed to drift away. They seemed to drift away! Adei made a few clicking sounds without moving her mouth. Suddenly, she lunged at the black spots and pulled from the sand a tiny grey creature. Now held up, the stalker shook violently in an effort to free itself. The others stared at the two, startled.
"I'm just a Drata! Leave me alone! If you don't then the others will come!"
Adei raised her sword at the level of the Drata's neck. Even though it spoke confidently, the creature looked petrified. Nomu approached and smiled at it.
"Hello! Forgive my friend's clumsiness, we do not mean any harm to you or your city. Would you please introduce us to your leader? We are exhausted. Let them go at once, Adei."
Reluctantly, she dropped it on the ground, sword still drawn. The small Drata had two black eyes that stuck out atop a small rectangular shell. It had five limbs, four arched legs to scuttle on the sand, and two smaller but thicker claws with small spikes on them to grab onto things or burrow themselves in sand. All its color except the eyes matched perfectly with the grey sands. The creature stroke the sand repeatedly, and suddenly, a multitude of small black dots waddled towards the noise. Once they were close, they looked at the strangers coming to their city before waddling towards the tents, dividing to reach each one.
"They will alert our people. I'm Ocy, not that anyone remembers that with every scout looking exactly like me."
Ocy sighed.
"Follow me closely, otherwise you'll lose me."
As they walked, Katala turned to Adei.
"My dear… how did you know there was someone?"
Adei closed her eyes. While emitting a series of clicking, she pointed directly at where Ocy was, then straight at Nomu, and then straight at Katala. Opening back her eyes, she pointed at her ears.
"Oh! Echolocation! I've never seen that before! I thought it was only in stories! You're full of surprises dear. And you should use that more, it would have helped against the Ounga."
They kept chattering, and before they knew it, the blue sky became red fabric. Finally looking around, Adei saw how colorful this place was. While Pasmathe was a collection of black and grey, Nepo had a bustling village. Multitudes of different races came and went at multicolored stands containing intricate weapons.
At the center of each canopy tent was a gigantic individual. They sat in oversized mountain-like shells about 10 m tall that they used as a house, but when the tent had to move, four slender orange legs emerged from the shell's hole accompanied by the two most massive claws Adei had ever witnessed. Its head seemed atrophied in the middle of this gargantuan body, but just it's face was taller than half of Nomu's size, and he already seems to be over two meters tall! It could move the entire tent at once because a steel network held the tent together, and steel bars came down to connect to the stands and houses.
"Ah, I see you spotted the Dio!" It was Ocy… or another Drata that took his place. "They're the cornerstone of our civilization, they allow us to move as much as we want, expand, contract, trade. A city like ours can never be static. At least everyone remembers them!" That was definitely Ocy.
They arrived at a purple lounge. On a yellow mat, a beautiful Neponian was dealing with issues from incoming inhabitants. It boasted an olive-brown broad oval carapace. It also had four pairs of legs and two claws similar to the Drata's, except for the fact that they were much bulkier and of a magnificent deep purple. Curiously, Adei spotted that this individual had on him the same insignia which could be seen on the Bathys. Ocy bowed.
"Hello, my Brachy,
I am your eyes and ears, your Drata.
Only by seeing the storm can you put up your umbrella.
I therefore come to show you my data."
Katala was amazed at how developed Ocy's word choice could be.
"Here are the new arrivals. They come to rest, find a refuge. From Pasmathe they struggled through the sands, accompanied by this curious new race."
The Brachy seemed pleased.
"I am your brain and mouth, your Brachy.
Success may only come from strategy,
Whereby may my words appear as the ones of a deity.
I welcome the strangers to visit our settlement. Learn our laws and you may be welcomed.
Here are mats you may use to rest. Now tell me. Who are you?"
As she could not utter a single thing, Adei crumbled into slumber.