Emil

  The dawn of the next day arrived with the rise of the scarlet sun. The reddish light scattered through the night’s darkness in disparate streaks like luminous spears. The desert sand’s refraction was the apparent source of this esoteric phenomenon. It was hauntingly beautiful, Emil thought as he watched with a childlike fascination while readying himself for the journey into the Saar. He wrapped the lower half of his face in a tunic while putting on a long, breathable robe that extended to his ankles. The material was surprisingly light despite its length and it adhered to his skin nicely without feeling intrusive. He left the flame-resistant cloak that Petra had purchased for him behind—the Saar’s harsh heat would make it unsuitable to wear. Plus, his recent revelations with Blaze bestowed him enough control at this point where he won’t burn off his clothes when using the Gift.

  After placing on a clothed headgear to protect his hair from the sand, he stepped out of the inn. Kai and Liesel were already waiting at the front, similarly dressed.

  “Where’s our reliable and esteemed leader?”

  “Meeting with the guide. Debriefing him with a cover story using our merchant backgrounds. The Gharian isn’t supposed to know that we’re here to find a terrorist,” Kai responded.

  Emil shifted to face Liesel. “And how do you find the outfit?”

  The scion of House Belle raised an eye as her lips curled into a sneer. “Fine. It’s rather comfortable and practical. I’ve wore much, much worse for the noble’s masquerades if you’re concerned about this offending my aristocratic sense of style.”

  Sometimes I forget that she’s surprisingly pragmatic. Despite being raised in one of the most influential noble houses in Ardair, Liesel was, at her core, a warrior. It was rather offensive to treat her as the typical Ardairan noblewomen.

  “Sorry. Yeah, good point,” Emil said, wincing as he was reminded of when Kai had forced him into a gaudy outfit for the Clash of Dawn banquet.

  A few seconds later, Anna trudged out of the inn. She looked like a ghoul, the heavy bags underneath her swollen eyes told the entire story of how her night went.

  “And there’s finally the sleepy one,” he teased with a bright voice.

  “Shut the hell up,” she mumbled lethargically as she stifled an urge to yawn. Anna had many talents, but the skill of functioning at an early hour remained elusive to her.

  Van soon returned with the Gharian guide accompanied by three hulking four-legged beasts. They bared a vague resemblance to the horses, if it weren’t for the two distinct humps protruding out from their backs.

  “Camels,” Liesel muttered in awe, “Never thought I’d see one.”

  Van made the introductions. “Everyone, this is Taksh. He’ll be escorting us to our destinations. He has graciously provided us with camels to carry our packs and to ride if any of us gets tired from the long trek.”

  Taksh nodded with a friendly smile on his face. The Gharian looked well past middle-aged, his dark skin weathered with scaly cracks like fractures on a pane of glass, and his hair had shrivelled to a small patch atop of his head. Despite his years, he looked remarkably fit and sturdy.

  “Let us depart if you’re ready. We have a long journey ahead.”

  ***

  It didn’t take long before they neared the outskirts of Cereza. The lush greenery produced by the volcanic soil and the rich basin quickly faded into a dull monotonous gray as the landscape turned craggy. The scarlet sun was high above the skies at this point and its scorching rays beamed on them with its relentless gaze. Emil’s innate heat resistance from Blaze kept his body comfortable, but he could tell from his friend’s faces that the climb and the rising temperatures were beginning to take its toll.

  And they all have an Exalted constitution as well.

  He frowned, anxious thoughts gnawing at the back of his mind about how they were going to fare for the rest of the mission. To be fair, most of Ardair was temperate throughout the year. Gharia was unique for its hot and arid climate. No matter how fit his friends were, there was always going to be an adjustment period as their bodies acclimated to their new environments.

  They soon arrived at the precipice of the mountainous outcrop.

  “Welcome to the Saar,” Taksh said with a resounding pride in his voice.

  There was sand as far as the eyes could see. Everywhere. It permeated the entire land, stretching from beneath the mountain to over the horizon. No trees. No rivers. Nothing, except sand and the rolling rise and dips of the desert terrain. A sinking discomfort settled in Emil’s stomach. He was used to vivid colors and the abundance of greenery amongst diverse landscapes of Ardair. This homogeneous sight, on the other hand, seemed desolate. Devoid of life. Like he was before the ruins of a dead civilization.

  How does anyone live here?

  Taksh gave them a minute to marvel at the view and then led them down the steep slope off the mountain. Emil stared at his back, wondering why the nomadic tribes of the Saar chose to make this land their home. Surely, they must have been insane for trying to survive in this lifeless region. And somehow, that insanity persisted over various generations until the present day. Soon enough, they took their first steps upon the Saar.

  Emil’s foot sank into the sand, his heels digging back as his body weight reluctantly pushed him forward. Right, he had to change the way he moved. The lack of solid earth made walking normally a challenge. He shot a glance at Taksh and studied the old man’s movements.

  Shorter strides. Try to keep the foot flat as you step.

  It took a moment to adjust, but he quickly got the hang of it. Emil relayed his findings to his friends.

  Their trek continued in silence for several hours. The sun blazed down relentlessly. The smell of baked clay permeated the endless stretch of sand. Aside from the melancholic winds, the Saar was quiet. Disturbingly so. Emil slowly grew unsettled. Ardair was usually teeming with life. A journey like this would normally be accompanied by cries of animals or the crips of birds and cicadas in the background. If not that, then there would be the occasional rattle of leaves from the wind or the rush of waters flowing downstream a river. Here, there was nothing except for their own exhausted panting.

  Feeling like he was about to go insane, he sped up his strides to walk alongside Taksh.

  “Is there anything you want to share about the Saar and Gharia? I’m curious to know more about these lands and your culture,” he asked.

  The old man gave him a sidelong glance as though studying his intent. “Lady Troya told me not to inquire about your purpose here. But I’d imagine it’s rather important if the lady herself willed it. So I was content to keep to myself,” he explained.

  “Please indulge my curiosity.”

  Taksh shrugged. “Well, if you insist. Now where shall I start?”

  It didn’t take too much for the old man to start rambling. His voice quickly grew animated as he explained the current affairs within Gharia. After its annexation by Ardair, the city of Cereza was constructed to build a new capital for the new province of Gharia and House Ulster took over as lord of the region. Temporary diasporas in Azure City, Nordica, and the Rosales province were created to give any Gharians who wanted to assimilate into Ardairan culture a chance to migrate.

  “Prior to our annexation, the Saar was home to over a hundred Gharian tribes, each with their own cultures and customs. Now, they have consolidated into three major factions segregated on ideology.”

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  “Ideology over what exactly?” Emil prodded.

  “Mostly about Gharia’s relationship towards Ardair. How should we feel about our conquerors? Should we assimilate? Or should we take more drastic action for our independence? Needless to say, our people have suffered since our annexation. It is subtle, but we are treated as though we are inferior to Ardairans. Perhaps there’s truth in that given we’re the losers.” The old man wore a self-deprecating smile. “Regardless, the differences between our races are too vast to be bridged within a single generation. Our traditions and customs are at risk of disappearing. We used to be nomads. Now we’re forced to reside in settlements and cities. It is an unusual way of life for those who are used to freedom. It is suffocating.”

  Taksh went on to describe the individual tribes. He was part of the Dhazara who were a moderate group that leaned towards assimilation. Most of its members accepted their rule under the Ardairan royal family and were open to change. They desired stronger investment in the region to give Gharians better quality of life.

  The Shiraza was the second group he mentioned. They were more conservative and aimed to preserve the Gharian traditions. They desired independence from Ardair or at least something similar to Azure City’s right to self-governance.

  The last faction was the Zal’Khari. Militaristic and violent, this was the most extreme out of the three groups. Their members were easily identified by the warlike tattoos painted over their skins. They held a strong disdain for Ardairans and desired separation from their conquerors.

  Does Hortensia and the royal family know about this?

  Judging by Taksh’s openness, it appeared that the three tribes and their ideological differences were common knowledge within Gharia. Yet, two out of three factions appeared hostile to Ardair. Did the royal family not fear a rebellion? Most likely, House Ulster was installed as lord of the province for this exact reason. As one of most militaristic noble houses, they were well-equipped to suppress an uprising without needing the royal family’s intervention.

  “The last two groups don’t seem so different,” Emil pointed out.

  “It is nuanced, but their end goals are similar. Both want to break away from Ardair and regain Gharia’s independence if possible. But the conflict lies in who will rule over the newly separated Gharia in this hypothetical scenario,” Taksh explained, “The Shiraza are ruled by Princess Kiniyani and her group of advisors while the Zal’Khari are led by a warlord named Rakan. For there to be any semblance of a reunion between the two parties, one needs to submit to the other.”

  I see. Classic infighting. The individual tribes on their own probably don’t pose any significant threat against House Ulster. Maybe if they were unified but that seems unlikely to happen.

  “Are there any Gharians who choose to be unaffiliated?”

  Taksh took a swig of his water pouch. “Not if they’re living in Gharia. Social pressures force one to pick a side or else they risk being ostracized and exiled. The three tribes aren’t exactly friendly to each other. And the Saar isn’t some sort of paradise where you can survive without community. Only those who live outside of Gharia could afford to stay out of this petty infighting,” he said, his tone grave and heavy.

  Karni’s potential allegiance came to mind. It was highly probable that she belonged to one of the two factions vying for Gharia’s independence. After all, a terrorist that laid waste to Isarelle didn’t exactly scream “moderate” and a “desire to integrate with Ardair.”

  Emil fell silent as he mulled over these details. The political situation within Gharia was more complicated than any of them had anticipated. Finding and extracting Karni from the Saar was already hard enough to begin with, but the new information only further dampened his spirits.

  Running into the Shiraza or Zal’Khari might be problematic.

  ***

  The day’s trek finally came to an end as the sun started to descend past the horizon. The group was utterly exhausted. Kai, Anna, and Liesel looked half-dead, drenched in sweat and dirty with sand. Van and Emil didn’t fare much better, but they were accustomed to putting their bodies through strenuous circumstances.

  “I was going to rest us earlier, but you were maintaining the pace better than I expected,” Taksh revealed, “If we’re lucky, we might be able to shave a day or two off from reaching our destination.”

  Their refuge for the night soon came into view. It was a small settlement situated in the shadows of a large sand dune. Taksh explained that this place served as a rest point for those who want to venture further into the Saar.

  The town was oddly silent as they neared its outskirts. No movement. No lights. No signs of life. While the desert was almost unbearably hot during the day, the Saar was frigid at night. There should have been at least fire and smoke rising from the dilapidated huts.

  “Trace.”

  Emil activated Seismic Sense. The ripples of mana along the ground confirmed their suspicions—there was no one within the immediate vicinity of the town.

  “This is strange. I haven’t been here for a few months, but there were at least fifty or so people living here the last time I visited,” Taksh muttered.

  “Stay alert everyone. Be ready for anything,” Van commanded. Everyone immediately got into formation and readied their Gifts. Emil and Anna led at the vanguard with Liesel and Kai watching the flanks. Van stood beside Taksh in the center. Carefully, they entered the presumed ghost town.

  The eerie silence was suffocating. Nothing appeared out of the norm except for the fact that there was not a single living soul in town. The modest cluster of huts scattered around appeared normal aside from natural degradation caused by the desert winds. There were no signs of destruction. No hints of a conflict that might have compelled its residents to abandon their homes. Assuming they were even still alive to being with.

  Although any of those traces of conflict will probably have been erased by the winds.

  After scouring the entire town, they found nothing to explain why the settlement had been abandoned. The sun had fully set at this point. Night plunged onto the Saar. The temperature fell drastically compared to the blistering heat of the day. Wary and exhausted, Van ordered everyone to make their camp for the night. They picked the least conspicuous buildings located at the edge of the town and refilled their water pouches from the wells.

  When no one was looking, Emil used Blaze to ignite a small campfire. His control of the Gift became much more precise and deliberate after his fight against Melody.

  He sighed out of relief for the warmth of the flickering flames. The desert winds howled loudly in the distance. It was strange. He was used to all the ambient noises from the nocturnal creatures at night. It was surprisingly harrowing once he realized the absence of those familiar sounds.

  Enough of that.

  He decided to quiet his mind by munching on a slice of cheese and bread packed in his supplies. The meagre meal was hardly satiating and he already began to miss the wonderfully cooked dishes provided at the expensive inn.

  This is going to be my life now for the next few week or so. Better get used to it fast.

  He leaned onto a pile of straw and closed his eyes, listening to the crackling flames to give his frazzled mind something to fixate on. He needed to sleep. He was on second watch after Anna.

  Just as his mind was about to descend into slumber, something stirred him out of his stupor. His eyes flashed open and turned to the entrance of the hut.

  It was Kai and Liesel.

  The two had a sheepish look on their faces as though they had been caught doing something that they shouldn’t.

  “Sorry, were you about to fall asleep?” Kai asked.

  “Yeah. Sort of,” Emil mumbled.

  “I’m envious. The winds are too loud with these thin walls,” Liesel complained, “But honestly, it’s frustrating. My body is completely drained of energy, but my mind is too alert to fall asleep.”

  Right, I guess they would find this difficult.

  Emil was used to dozing off in disparate locations while on Steiger missions. “The key is to silence your mind. Count heartbeats. Choose something to fixate on instead of letting your mind drift. Or exhaust yourself even more until you can’t even think,” he offered.

  “Sure, yeah. I’ll try that. I’d imagine if it’ll be easier if we weren’t sleeping in a ghost town that was suddenly abandoned,” Kai said, scratching his neck, “Actually, we had something to tell you.”

  Emil raised an eye. “Well, okay. Go on.”

  Kai and Liesel both opened their palms. Mana surged from their Azurite pendant. The blue tendrils of light gathered at the center of their hands in an instant before materializing into their respective phenomena. A ball of water for Kai and a crystal of ice for Liesel.

  “Okay…and?”

  “Look closer,” Liesel prompted.

  Emil narrowed his eyes until he understood what his friends were trying to convey. The phenomena in their hands were uncharacteristically unstable. Both the ball of water and the ice crystal trembled on the edge of collapse despite both being simple phenomena. If it was just Kai, Emil might have been able to brush off his concerns. But Liesel was the Prodigy—she was infamous for her otherworldly control over mana.

  He immediately activated Bulwark. A stone pillar rose from the ground effortlessly as he had envisioned. No difficulty. No instability.

  “Yeah. I had feeling it’s just us,” Kai said with a grimace.

  Why are they struggling with mana control out of a sudden? “Could you explain? Is this related to your Gifts?” Emil asked.

  “It is,” Liesel replied gravely as she dissipated the ice crystal, “Kai’s Gift controls water while mine creates ice. Both of our Gifts rely on the presence of water to work. Namely, the ambient moisture levels.” She gestured at the walls. “It should have been obvious in hindsight, but the air in the Saar is significantly drier than the rest of Ardair. There’s a severe lack of moisture. Our Gifts will be drastically less effective as a result.”

  Emil groaned. He wanted to bury his face into his hands.

  Right, I can’t believe we overlooked such a simple thing. He wanted to blame Steiger and the Lionhearts for foolishly assigning Kai and Liesel to a mission in the Saar, but he couldn’t. Each Exalted’s Gift had their own idiosyncrasies based on how the Exalted perceived their abilities. The inner workings and limitations of a Gift were closely guarded secrets to protect an Exalted’s value. Realistically, there was no way for anyone to know unless Kai and Liesel informed them in advance.

  And those two would have no idea since none of them had visited the Saar before.

  “…Does Van know?”

  Both of them shook their heads.

  “You should tell him. This is important. We might have to reconsider our formation if the two of you are weakened. Or abandon the mission altogether.”

  “Abandoning the mission is out of the question.”

  “Yeah, no way.”

  His proposal was shut down immediately. Pride and desperation glimmered in their eyes.

  Emil clicked his tongue, not appreciating adding another set of problems to their growing list of worries.

  “Then you two better figure out how to improve your Gifts. For now, I guess ration an extra water pouch in case you need access to water in a pinch.”