It was late into the night, even most stars had gone to sleep. Looking up at the sky, you could see huge swatches of darkness and almost no tint of light. That meant the city itself was asleep.
The nights of Last Heat gave a very stark contrast to its days. While the days were short and hot, the nights were long and cold. Now that it was already the third week of the Last Heat, the night was especially cold as if trying to balance the hellish heat of its day.
The city was asleep, but only this little part of the city refused to give in. This dingy old transit station and its occupants fought back against the lulls of reprieve and instead kept themselves ready for travelers going in and out of this transit station. Most of them were offering simple food and drinks, while some also offered massage and other kinds of services to help weary travelers out of their tiredness.
It could be considered a kind of battle of its own, a battle against the order of the day, against yourself, and against your need for rest. After all, when you think about it, when did they rest?
Satoshi was thinking along these lines as he sat at the departure area of the transit station. He arrived here by chariot several hours ago and had been entertaining himself by observing his surroundings. This was his first experience going close to the border of Mhasgara, and also his first time seeing this many travelers from so many different places at one time.
At times like these, Satoshi preferred to put down his books and observe his surroundings. The creeping realization that each and everyone of these people had their own unique life and experience, left him with an inexplicable feeling. The kind of feeling that you couldn't get from reading a book, but only by experiencing it yourself.
As he waited, Satoshi heard the sound of notice making its way through the stations. It was an announcement for arrivals made by the transit stations, so anyone that was there to pick-up someone would be prepared.
This kind of announcement had happened several times since Satoshi arrived, but he still looked up. He was fascinated by the sights of the transport vehicles he had seen, and was expectant on what kind of vehicle would show up next.
Not long after the announcement, a big vehicle made its way into the transit station.It was different to the previous ones. It was a big vehicle that looked like it could accommodate a hundred people. It got a lower, a middle, and an upper part, with its upper part looking like it could accommodate another kind of smaller airborne vehicle of some sort.
There was a huge belt going around the perimeter of the vehicle and it was as tall as a regular adult. From the look of it, it should be made of rubber. On the bottom, it was mostly covered by the rubber belt, one could see some parts of what should be spherical omnidirectional driving wheels. There were six of them.
Almost the whole vehicle was painted bright yellow, except its upper part which was painted pearly white. On the middle of its body, there were some letters painted on bright red: XJK.
Near the rear of the vehicle, there was a crest that depicted a two-headed beast, standing over what looked like a six-headed serpent. It was the crest of the Imperial Descendants of Xinjia-kor.
Satoshi watched with interest. He looked calm but he would be lying if he said he wasn't excited. After all, this was the first time he ever saw the Imperial Descendants crest in real life. Not to mention, there was some probability that this particular vehicle might have an actual member of the Imperial Descendants as its passenger.
Although this was his first time seeing the crest in real life, Satoshi had learned about the Imperial Descendants a long time ago, both from his time in compulsory education, and various books he had read. Even though the glory of the Imperial Family was not like how they used to be, the stories he had read still painted a picture that they were the kind of figures that should be treated with respect.
After all, they were the descendants of the Imperial Family that used to dominate almost half of the known history of the Third Era.
Along with the Last Collapse at the end of the Third Era, the hegemony of the Imperial Family had ended. In its place, various powers began vying for supremacy and shaped the world as it was today.
It was more than six thousand years ago when the Imperial Family was brought down amidst the destruction of the Last Collapse. The next era was then aptly called the Fourth Era, the current era. However, even after more than six thousand years, the world still couldn't rid itself of the remnants of the Imperial Family.
This reminded everyone again that, even though they were now weak and small in numbers, they were not to be taken lightly.
Nowadays, they were no longer called the Imperial Family, but the Imperial Descendants instead. This seemed to be the kind of compromise they were willing to settle with the rest of the world. After all, no matter what kind of shady dealings and nasty deeds they had done in the past, they still deserved some appreciation for what they did for the human race during the Third Era.
In the end, everyone agreed that they still deserve some respect and privilege for the merits of their ancestors, but they still had to change the way they refer to themselves. Thus, from that moment on, they were called the Imperial Descendants.
As Satoshi looked on, the vehicle had completely stopped and opened its hull. Cargoes could be seen to be unloaded from its cargo hold. On the passenger door side, some people disembarked from the vehicle. Their clothes caught attention from other travelers. Those passengers began talking among themselves, and when they did, their accent and dialect drew more attention.
Satoshi began to recall the things he had learned and read in the past and came to a conclusion. These passengers should be from Xinjia-kor, the three letters on the vehicle body gave out this fact, while the clothes and the accents of these people also suggested this. But looking at the passengers themselves, they didn't fit the description of Xinja-koreans he had read before. Instead, they looked more like your regular Mhasgarans.
Coupled with the fact they were now unloading a large amount of cargo that looked like souvenirs, Satoshi became more certain of his conjecture.
'They must be Mhasgarans that work in Xinjia-kor and are coming back home. Looking at the crest on the vehicle, they must be working for the Imperial Descendants!'
Satoshi was actually surprised by his own conjecture. If it were right, then it meant these passengers were able to go back to their hometown at the expense of the Imperial Descendants. In fact, judging by the marking on the vehicle, the crest, and the shape of the vehicle itself, these passengers were traveling on a vehicle owned by the Imperial Descendants themselves!
'Judging by the shape of this vehicle, this should be the so-called multi-terrain all-purpose vehicle. Although the attachment on top that will enable it to be airborne is not installed, it will still be able to travel both on water and land. Could they have departed directly from Xinjia-kor?'
This last line of thought on Satoshi's mind made him equally surprised, because that would mean that this vehicle was able to traverse the treacherous waters of the Middle Seas before they landed in Terra-Esterrna supercontinent. Even more surprising though, is the fact that the Imperial Descendants would go as far as this to facilitate their employees.
Most governments or royalties would just help their employees with some expenses when they wanted to go home, after all. Then these employees must find their own means of travel to get to their own destinations. Thus, the fact that the Imperial Family facilitated these employees would mean that these were very important workers for the Imperial Descendants.
'Well it could also mean that the Imperial Descendants are simply treating their workers very well. But that wouldn't be likely, would it?'
While Satoshi was consumed in his thoughts, the special vehicle had finished unloading and the passengers that had to disembark had disembarked. After an announcement, the vehicle exited the transit station, making its way to its next destination.
Most of the passengers that disembarked had someone ready to pick them up on arrival, so most of them had gone shortly after the vehicle left. Some of them seemed to be looking around for their designated pick-up.
Among these people, a dark-skinned middle-aged man walked into the departure area where Satoshi was waiting. He put down his things and took a seat in the same row Satoshi was sitting in.
Satoshi wanted to strike up a conversation with the middle-aged man as he was very curious, he wanted to hear what it was like in Xinjia-kor. But after thinking that it would be a bother for the man, Satoshi decided against it and kept his silence.
Unexpectedly, it was the man that struck conversation first.
"Excuse me, Brother, may I ask a question?"
"Yes, I'm good, thank you. How are you?" Satoshi was so startled that the man initiated conversation just when he decided not to, so he began blurting random answers.
The man who looked equally surprised by Satoshi's weird answer, still answered, "I'm good too, brother, thanks to you.", the man said while smiling and putting his right hand over his own chest.
"It's okay, don't mention it.", replied Satoshi, which after a second made him furrowed his brows.
"..."
"..."
The man was at a loss at how he should respond to that, and Satoshi was already cursing himself for his weird responses. But after a short silence, they both began to laugh.
"I'm sorry big brother, my mind wasn't in the right place before. What was it you wanted to ask?", Satoshi embarrassedly asked the man
"It's fine brother, at least we got a good laugh out of it. I was wondering if brother knows when the transport bound to Istindi is going to arrive?", the man was still laughing when he answered.
"It should be here in another half an hour brother, if nothing unexpected happens."
"Ah, I see, thank you very much, brother."
After the man got his answer, they both went back to silent. The man looked like he was calculating something in his mind, and Satoshi went back to his own thoughts.
Satoshi wanted to ask whether the man was going to Istindi, because he thought the man looked like your everyday Mhasgaran, but he could be wrong. Since the man looked busy with his own mind and Satoshi didn't want to be nosy, he decided to keep his silence.
"Is brother going to Istindi too?", another sudden question came out of nowhere.
Satoshi was startled this time too, but he managed to properly answer, "Yes, I am heading to Istindi, too."
"That's good! Looks like I will have a companion this time around.", the man said with a big smile.
"Has brother been to Istindi before?", Satoshi asked
"Many times, my wife is Istindian,"
"I see, is brother's family in Istindi, too?"
"No, I am originally from Mhasgara, but I no longer have any family left. Since I work in Xinjia-kor and can't help my wife with the kids most of the time, we decided to move to Istindi where my wife still has many relatives."
"I'm sorry about your family, brother. Forgive me, I misspoke." Satoshi felt bad for asking about the man's family.
"Brother didn't misspeak, it is okay.", the man calmly answered with a smile.
"Ah, where are my manners? My name is Satoshi, what is your name, brother?" Satoshi reached out his hand toward the man.
The man straightened out his body, smiled, and shook Satoshi's hand.
"My name is Mulah."
—
Went back a couple of days, in the city of Salted Bays, before we found Satoshi in the transit stations by the border of Mhasgara.
Satoshi was concentrating in front of a rectangular wooden frame that looked like some sort of jig. Attached to the wall right in front of him was a small chunk of illumination crystal. The light of the crystal was reflected in such a way as to directly shine a light over the jig. With his hand, Satoshi was caressing a sheet of thin paper and setting it on the jig. He made sure that it was set neatly.
His hand moved nimbly, while still being very careful not to tear through the sheet of paper. Obviously, he was very used to this.
After he finished setting up the paper into the jig, Satoshi put the entire jig on top of a rectangular water container filled with water to the brim, the sheet of paper was barely touching the water's surface. Satoshi then dampened the tips of his left fingers with water and gently touched the four glass canisters filled with different colors on his left. His right hand then touched the illumination rock.
After Satoshi finished doing all this, suddenly, a faint glow of light seeped through the things sheet of paper from the water container below. Some kind of pattern could be seen on it. Satoshi then quickly moved his hand over to the glass canister, then waved it over the sheet of paper.
He did this four times, and each time a different colored glow could be seen lingering on his left hand. While from the right hand, an intense bluish glow of light could be seen. The radius of this light was small but very intense.
When he was done with this, a multi-colored pattern could now be seen on the previously thin sheet of paper. Satoshi took out the jig and the paper from the water and the glow from the water container disappeared. In the next instant, Satoshi's both hands emitted a flashing violet light, which flashed along the illumination rock on the wall. It flashed numerous times in two seconds and after that the sheet of paper was completely dry, leaving only a beautiful pattern of multi-colored flowers on the paper.
All of this seemed complicated when described, but Satoshi was very relaxed when he did it. Since he began helping his father 2 years ago, he couldn't count how many times he had done this. Nowadays, Satoshi could make these water-print papers much faster than his father could.
The difference was in the artistic value behind it. Satoshi could do this much faster because he could do the light manipulation technique that produced that bluish glow and flashing violet light. His father couldn't do this, but in return, his experience enabled him to produce much more complex and artistic patterns than Satoshi. Thus, he arranged for Satoshi to be responsible for the less complex ones.
What Satoshi and his father did could be considered magic, since it involved the deliberate manipulation of matters and energy via an applied understanding of its governing laws. While at the same time, it could barely pass as magic since it doesn't require any runes, formations, elemental catalyst, or any kind of schematics. It doesn't even require chants, all it consumed was some energy and stamina.
Satoshi's grandfather got to learn this technique from an Adept that specializes in the element of water. Originally it was used in the making of scrolls, formations, or enchanting water element treasures, but after offering almost all of what was left of the glorious Ishida family inheritance, the Adept agreed to teach him.
After all, it was just a technique, not precious schematics or formations.
The way Satoshi was using light was actually self developed. It was a result of experimentation and crazed research after he thought the way his father had been using was too slow.
After copious amounts of wasted papers, and countless earfulls from his father, in the end Satoshi succeeded. His father no longer had any reason to stop him, he even tried learning the method that Satoshi had developed, but since he couldn't do the light manipulation part he gave up.
Since he was done with his portion of the day, Satoshi started tidying up his work station a little bit, then he just sat there looking at his father's back in silence.
He watched his father tediously work on his craft for quite a while and then said,"I am going to head to Istindi very soon." his voice was flat, as if he wasn't talking to his father but merely stating a fact.
His father's hand stopped moving for a second and equally calmly replied,"What do you plan to do?"
"Not sure yet, but I'm sure I will find out once I get there."
Satoshi's father averted his gaze from what he was working on and looked at his son. His eyes peered into Satoshi's as if he was trying to look into his son's mind to see what he was thinking. Satoshi looked back at his father, there were no emotions in his eyes.
After some time, his father's gaze returned to what he was working on, he then calmly said to Satoshi, "Make sure to prepare well, bring with you anything you need to bring."
Satoshi sat there for a little bit more, looking at his father's back, before he stood up and went to his room. He lied down and began sorting his thoughts.
Since his meeting with his childhood friend, his mind has been out of sorts. Satoshi took out the money bag he got from his old friend and began to think even deeper.
His conversation with his father, the meeting with his friend, what he heard from his Uncle Di and his cousins Xiahn, all these things have been scattering on his mind leading it to places he was unsure of.
Ultimately, it was what his mother said and that strange dream that did it for him. Satoshi began to question himself: if this was really his home, then why his heart wasn't here?
It was a sleepless night for Satoshi last night and it looked like this was going to be a sleepless one too. He wanted to sleep but his mind wouldn't allow it. He began recalling the strange scene in his dream and for some reason he suddenly felt very lonely, as if in this whole wide world at this moment, only Satoshi was left behind with his thoughts.
Satoshi looked outside his room through the small gap of his windows, into a patch of the night sky, then said as if asking it a question, "When we are awake at night, instead of dreaming, is the night sleeping?"