I was reading some of Master’s spells in my own room until I felt a presence coming towards where I am right now. I cast my protection spell before I go to check outside my window. When I observe the streets outside my window I notice someone is approaching the barracks. It’s Santi and what looks like a kid with a hood on his or her head. I don’t know what they are doing here but it’s rare that Santi comes here in the first place.

The only time that he visited this place is when we needed to do a job that one time he forgot to tell me that we were meeting that day. Or that time when he told me that he’ll be out for a week. So seeing Santi here must mean something for me and the kid he’s with has something to do with it.

I closed my book and put it in my drawer. I might as well meet him now and get it over with. I’d hate to waste his time coming over here and waiting somewhere for god knows how long. I get out of the room and go to the commons area so I can greet him and see what’s up.

Once I get to the commons I hear Santi saying something to the kid, telling her about meeting someone in the library. At least I know where they’re trying to meet me. Something bothers me about the kid though, I’m not sure but I know she’s way different than the kids living here. I tried to follow them before they went on to the right hallway.

Wait, why am I trying to hide anyway, it’s not like I have anything to fear, right? I get to the hallway to try to catch up with Santi but something is keeping me far away from them that it’s unusual. Normally I catch up to Santi at this point and ask him how’s his day and everything.

Before long they already get inside of the library and try to wait for me and everything. I stand in front of the door and can’t even grab the door knob as if something is compelling me not to. I must have been standing here for half an hour trying to lift my arm to grab the door knob. And finally with all of my willpower I grab the doorknob and enter inside the library.

I enter inside and at first glance I don’t see anyone else in the library. Then I hear Santi’s voice coming from one of the secluded places of the library.

“Hey Prina we’re over here.”

I follow the voice and see that they’re seated together with an open book. I approach them as quietly as I could to not disturb the whole library even though there’s probably nobody here except for the 3 of us.

As I approach them suddenly the kid speaks up.

“Oh so that’s what you are.”

Every single fiber of my body freezes as she does an intimidating stare at me. It’s as if the moment she saw me, she already saw what I am in the first place, this flesh that is supposed to imitate every living being fails from her eyes. She doesn’t know right? That was just a random phrase that one could say when greeting right? I mean a kid like her isn’t supposed to be able to deduce that immediately as soon as she saw me right?

“Prina is something wrong with you? You stop midway and just stare blankly.”

I snap out of my mind and continue to walk until I take a seat across from them. I then greet them.

“Good morning Santi and whoever that kid is.”

“Good morning to you Prina.” The kid says.

“Hello Prina I’m Abae Quin, you could call me Abae and I’m sorry about what I said to you earlier.”

“It’s no problem Abae, I’m just surprised at what you said to me.” I’m sure that she doesn’t know about what I am if she’s like this. I ask Santi.

“So Santi, why is Abae here today is she our new member of the group or just someone you adopted?”

“That’s right Abae here is going to be a part of our group starting today from now on.”Abae then speaks up.

“Before anything else I think it’s best to reveal what I am.” She removes her hood.

She’s a deshar, and I see now why she made that statement earlier. My master has told me about the deshar and to be careful around them because they are the only ones that can see what we truly are even if we hide it perfectly. I need to talk to her after this.

“I’m a deshar first of all and if you’re feeling any discomfort or fear right now that might be because of me and I’m sorry for that.”

That explains a lot of things. My master doesn’t tell all of their characteristics because he doesn’t run into them that much but I should be aware of her at least. She then continues.

“I’m going to be with you guys for awhile, and it’s nice to finally meet you Prina.” She bows at me.

“It’s nice to meet you Abae.” I reply back to her. Then Santi starts up.

“Since greetings and introductions are done I think it might be best to see Abae fares in a fight.” Abae becomes surprised at the statement that she replies.

“Immediately?!”

“Well I still need to know how you fight and how I can incorporate in our jobs.”

“That is true I never told how I fight. Let me tell you in advance that most of the spells that I use either come from Defari and Shaarolun.”

“Shaarolun? The goddess of nature? Seems weird that death and nature would come together.?”

“Well there are sayings that life is created by Shaarolun and that is imitated by the other gods in return. They do have a saying that life and death are 2 sides of the same coin right?”

“Either way I still need to know how you fare in a fight.” But Santi made me take a job and fight a horde and oh right she’s a kid. He continues.

“I have a training ground somewhere far away from here but we’ll use that in the afternoon. You have to know the city first Abae especially if you’re going to live here.”

We stand up from our seats as Santi says.

“Right now is the best time to do this as the city is busy enough that you know what’s happening.”We start walking towards the exit as Santi asks me.

“Hey Prina you already ate breakfast right?”

“Yeah I already did, why are you asking?”

“Well it might be a bother if you got hungry in the middle of the tour when it isn’t lunch yet.”

“I am sorry about that time when I got hungry like a starving animal. I get really really cranky if I don’t get my fill.”

We continue bantering like these as we walk until we get outside of the barracks. As we get outside, Santi gets serious as he starts talking about the city to Abae and describing the layout of the city. It’s the same explanation that I got from Sylia when we toured the city together. It feels similar somehow even though they shouldn’t say it like that word for word.

I don’t exactly have to listen to this explanation again but I do have to wonder how does one know the city so much even with a few years of staying here. Sure I can imagine someone being able to tell about the village’s entire outline and be done with it but a city this big? I might have been suspicious about it but I don’t exactly know common sense so I might as well keep it to myself.

As we are touring I notice in a variation of Santi’s explanation he seems to know the history of this place as he kept saying.

“Well there was a time when this city was at war with another country, they got into a peace treaty after both sides suffered massive casualties. That happened over a decade ago and it still hasn’t recovered properly yet. The ruins in the city indicates that.”

Oh that explains why the ruins and the orphanages exist. Lots of stuff must have happened in this city for that to have happened. He explains these as Abae listened intently to him like a child listening to her parents’ instructions.

Sometimes she has questions like these.

“But why are there so many children isn’t there supposed to be only a few of them in the first place?”

“What? It’s normal that there are many children here; it's a growing city.”

“But in our tribe I’m the only child out of maybe around 20 people.”

“Well maybe it’s because you're different from the rest of the Von, the Von makes many children well maybe too much.”

“I think I do remember my parents telling me that deshars only have babies rarely like 1 out of a century.”

“See you’re a special case, enjoy life while you still can because your tribe cares about you even if you are here.”

“I guess everyone in the tribe cared for me, I think? I’m not sure what your customs are on the topic.”

“I’m not gonna ask for now but the fact still stands there are many children here in Winstow.”

They continue asking questions like these while Santi is explaining the different districts. Seeing the vast difference between the culture of the deshar and the other Von is apparent enough. The way they raise their children and how important their duties as a deshar. Apparently being a personification has their work cut out for them.

************************************************************************************************

I got hit by a deja vu when I realized that we’re eating together. We’re already eating in the tavern that I recommended and I see that the 3 of us are eating together. I still take heaps of food to relinquish my hunger just enough to last until dinner considering we’re probably training or testing Abae this afternoon.

I remember that time 3 months ago when I and Sylia toured the city together and we had lunch together while doing so. Crazy how time flies huh? I was doing jobs with Santi and now we have another member for our group. But first I need to talk to Abae alone so I know her feelings for me because I really don’t know what is their opinion on Master and I.

In timing Santi says to the both of us.

“Well I need to take care of something for a bit so if you girls don’t mind getting to know each other while I’m out.” He says as he finishes his food and walks out of the tavern.

That was certainly a ruse or something but knowing Santi and how mysterious he is at times he might be dealing with something by himself. But this gives me a chance to talk to Abae alone and pursue the subject at hand. But she tells me first.

“I know what you’re going to ask me, I know what you are the moment I saw you. Being a deshar means we are able to perceive beings that are supposed to be alive and dead.”

“So why haven’t you ratted me out yet? Or even tried to kill me the moment you saw me?”

“Defari tells us when something or someone is going to die. It is especially when a person is so persistent in not dying against all odds that we are called to deal with it, your master does however.”

“So if I live long enough I get killed by you guys?”

“No no no, you get killed if you aren’t dead by the event that kills you.”

“That’s so confusing.” I scratch my head.

“Okay imagine it like this by using your master as an example. Let’s say your master is supposed to be dead 10 years ago but for some reason the gods don’t know how or why your master is still alive, so we deshars have been tasked to hunt him and kill him.”

“So wait are you saying I wasn’t supposed to be like this in the first place.”

“Look Prina, I don’t know Defari even chooses to kill someone in the first place, but when we do it’s to avoid catastrophe most of the time. I know because all of the Von and Zokun we killed are going to do something that could change the world a bit worse.”

“I don’t get all of this!” Everyone in the tavern looks at me after I shout.

“Prina to offer you consolation, this information has rammed into my head ever since I was born.The most important thing is that certain Von or Zokun needs to die whatever it does in the time it has left when they’re trying to survive especially when it concerns others doesn’t affect when they die.” She sighs for a bit and then continues again.

“If you want to know if you’re supposed to die when you’re around 60 then no you’re not apparently. You apparently live way too long than that like your master.”

“For real? Oh that soothes my heart a little bit.”

“Well if that answers all of your questions, let’s continue eating for a bit.” She takes another bite at her meal and chows it down,

I follow what she does and eat my portion and dig down. After that discussion with Abae I think I know why master is still alive up to this point. I continue to eat absentmindedly until Santi comes back from his errand.

“Oh are you girls done eating? I already prepped the place we’re going to use later.”

I finish my portion as lots of plates are being stacked in one corner while Abae finishes hers as well.

“Yeah we’re done.” I say to him as I burp. Abae and I stand up from our seats and pay our tabs to the cook and go on our way to Santi’s training ground.

That massive info dump that I got from Abae isn’t making myself feel better if I say it truthfully. Does that mean that no matter what, I’m going to be like this in the first place whether master is there or not? I don’t believe that I’m supposed to be like this. I wanted to live like a Quaraman that’s in it for adventure and fame. I’m robbed of that future because Master just needs a freaking heir of course.

I might as well join the hunt with the other deshar just to kill him or something. I’m pissed at him. But what pisses me more even if he wasn’t there another guy would just do it to me instead. AGHHHHHHHH. You know what I might as well just destroy a ruin on the way to the training grounds just to vent my anger.

We’re already in the ruins part of the city so I might as well cast a spell and aim it at the nearby building. I already start my prayer and hope it might destroy a building or two.

“Niyontia, materialize my rage for my master, just as you have shown others through storms and blizzards that I can do so as well. Ice Spike.”

A large ice spike is materializing behind me as Santi notices me as he tries to stop me, tells me.

“Hey hey, stop that for a moment you’re gonna crush a building with a spike that size. Abae then says.

“Let her be, she’s angry at someone right now and is trying to vent it.”

“Even so this isn’t really a good way to spend that anger, just venting it on destroying other things might be a good way to relieve it but it’s not the best way to deal with it in the long term.”

I still release the spike to a nearby building and leave it and Santi sighs in reaction to it. Now the building just has one massive ice spike piercing it almost as if someone did the spell from the inside in retaliation to an attacker. It’s disgusting to look at if you ask me, that spell doesn’t even have an ounce of beauty in it, just brute force through a building.

We keep walking to Santi’s training grounds hoping to get some sort of privacy from the main part of Winstow. I think that’s why Santi created that training grounds in the first place, make sure no one even sees what you are doing there. Or maybe he just wants to have his alone time there from time to time.

The ruins are already familiar to me at this point after 3 months of walking from the main city and Santi’s training ground. It’s still a maze to me at this point to be honest although I can walk to the training ground and back on my own but if i want to explore other parts in the ruins I may have to climb a tall building and see where I am going.

Abae is taking it carefree at least, looking around us in curiosity and awe. I don’t know what interests her about the ruins. Although Abae being a deshar makes me feel a bit afraid of her I mean my master has told me about them. He’s been hunted by them in the past and probably is right now and it still makes me wonder how he was able to teach me for 2 years.

Looking at the 3 of us it looks like we are three shady people due to the way we are dressed. I’m using a hood and so does Abae, and Santi just looks intimidating with his clothes and armor. Although for good reasons I really need my hood but what Abae does she need to hide the fact that she’s a deshar or just something else?

As I’m wandering in my thoughts I didn’t notice that we’re already in the training grounds? I look more carefully and notice that the place might have a few more things than it should have in the first place. There’s some training dummies there already, some targets aimed for archery and a space for sparring I think. What is supposed to look like a run-down square is replaced with actual training equipment and gear. I ask Santi.

“So when did you get the time to actually put those there in the first place?”

“Oh that, I arranged it earlier while the two of you are talking, my people work fast enough that they can do some of my requests that giving them an hour or 2 would be enough. “

“I mean I wouldn’t believe it and say that you did this while we’re not training but what’s happened already happened.”

“Anyway Abae we still need to know how you fight and fare especially if you’re going to join us on our jobs. I mean how old are you? You must be 8 or 10 right?” Abae answers his question.

“Well I’m actually 12, aren’t children smaller than they should be in the first place?”

“Well it’s around your age that they start growing well except for the Folorn those are different. “

“Of course they’re different. They live thousands of years in the first place although I could say the same for myself but we live way longer than any living being should be.”

“When do you guys even mature or even be considered as an adult.”

“Maybe around 50 years old or 100 depends on the person itself and how they act but that’s what everyone in my tribe says. I’m the only kid there in the first place.”

“Wait wait wait.” Santi thinks for a moment and continues what he wants to say.

“What’s the age of the person nearest to your age.”

“If I remember correctly Daken is around 150 years old?” I and Santi widen our eyes in response to the answer.

“Hey come on guys, whatever is normal in my tribe isn’t normal for you, get used to it. I’m getting used to some of your stuff already even when I’m already in a week here.” I reply to her.

“Don’t blame us, we just never hear from the deshar except when it concerns about their strengths and the scary things they can do.” She shrugs and replies to us.

“Well wanna see that in person right now?” She says with a smug child-like face.

“If you’re going to show us how you fight make sure you don’t destroy the nearby buildings for it they work as camouflage against the Zokun.”

“Kk Santi I will try my best not to destroy this place.” She starts chanting her spell as she holds her hand in front of herself.

“Defari, I as one of your children grant me the weapons we deshar used ever since you created us and as we use this since the beginning show us that your protection for us is still here. Materialize.”

Just as she finishes there is a rod that is materializing near to her hand. Then the rod then gets a bit longer than her height and as a final touch a blade sprouts out from the top showing us a simple scythe. I guess this must be her weapon of choice no matter how unwieldy it is.

She grabs it and gives it a few graceful swings as if she’s practiced it already. She gives it a lot of twirls and some finesse in her swings as if she’s already mowing down Zokun as if it’s natural to her. She then finally says after her display.

“This is how I fight normally without magic.”

“A scythe huh I see.” Santi says with a serious face. He then continues.

“If you were to fight among us do u have let’s say a chance to accidentally hit us?”

“If it’s one of my good days yeah I think so, but I’m not that skilled yet compared to the others in my tribe.” To my surprise, I reply to her.

“What? But you already look skillful with it. That grace and finesse that you showed us it’s like someone has been able to kill Zokun with it easily.” Santi then speaks up.

“It might be a good idea to know her skill if you fight her Prina besides if she says what she says that it’s normal as a deshar then it’s best not to question it and deal with it, they’re beings whose strengths and power is way better than us.”

“I do wanna try to have a spar with Prina. I thought it might be fun to see how I fare against her. Besides I know you’re stronger than you should be.” Abae says to me.

“I’ll try my best to answer your expectations Abae.”

We enter the space that is meant for sparring and ready ourselves with our weapons. Santi says the rules for our spar.

“First things first, magic is fair game and injuries are okay. As long as the person has fallen to the ground or gets unconscious the spar ends.” He waits for a few moments to check if we are already ready then he says finally.

“Start.”

Before Abae is able to make a move I rush to her as quickly as I could and slash at her arms to disable her. Somehow she’s able to avoid it and parries my attack with her scythe. In retaliation a slash at her head is all I could muster. I thought it would at least scratch her considering she’s a deshar but nope she bends backwards like an acrobat and makes a counterattack on me.

I create some space between and start chanting one of my fire spells like a whisper. Continuing with my attacks to put the pressure against her, but every time I do so she evades my strikes like I’m a child swinging a sword. It doesn’t even take her too much effort on her end.

She looks even calm while we’re trading our strikes and slashes.Granted I might be swinging too wildly lately and not considering properly. Frustrated at this sequence of events I back off from her and stomp my foot to the ground. Apparently that forms a small crater around my foot. Abae reacts to it like an adult would say.

“You’re still angry at your Master? Grow up.” As if she’s goading me. Now she’s taking it too far, I might as well teach her a lesson.

To surprise her I might need to finish my spell faster while clashing with her scythe and keep up the pressure on her. Starting up the clash with her I keep up with my flurry of axes but she parries and dodges most of it. She has managed to get some hits and scratches on me while we were exchanging our blows.

In the midst of that clash I kicked her away from me to try to knock her down. The next thing that happens is that Abae’s body flies away from me like a feather But she lands perfectly as she hits the ground standing up again as I stare furiously.

“Good try Prina, but that’s not enough to get me to fall down.” Abae says to me in response.

Just a BIT more before I could knock her off the ground and win this spar. I’m getting more angrier at the moment but I just need more time and AGHHhh I just wanna hit her and be done with it that I’m already sweating from the effort I’m making here. AGGHHHHH

Rushing to her to start the engagement again against her with a series of attacks I make sure she focuses on avoiding and parrying my strikes instead without noticing my chant in the middle of it. She definitely won’t expect that I’m sure. Keeping up with this kind of pressure will make an opportunity for me. She's bound to make a mistake.

As angry as I could be right now I storm at her and swing at her body and keep up the onslaught. In the midst of it I made a mistake in one of my attacks and she takes advantage of that by hitting me with the rod of her scythe to the ground. Luckily my spell is already finished at this point and I take this opportunity to surprise her

“Fireball.” A ball of flames sprout out from my hands as she’s clearly surprised by the use of magic in the middle of our clash.

The fireball hits her body, not that it does any damage to whatever her body is made of. I take this chance to try to sweep her feet so I can win this spar. Sweeping her feet off the ground she is unable to avoid it and thus falls to the ground with a thud. Santi then does a loud clap and says.

“Okay this bout is over for now Prina wins this bout.”

As I stop to breathe for a moment I realize how out of breath I am with doing all of those attacks in succession. Santi then compliments me.

“Well Prina good on your part on trying to push through the pressure to make her lose.” He then turns to Abae and brings her up from the ground.

“Abae you did good against Prina, trying to tire her out in the first place is a good call. Now both of you take a rest for a bit. You’re still sparring after this.”

I fall down to the ground as my body makes cracks on the floor. I should probably rest in the shade in order to get my energy back for a bit. I stand up and walk to one of the nearby trees that have wide shadows. I sit down and turn off a bit to check if I’ll get a singe or something.

I feel nothing so I turn off my spell and make sure I won’t get the drawbacks later. I notice that Santi is talking to Abae while she’s lying down on the ground. Maybe I should rest for a bit and ask him later while we’re going home. I feel sleepy for a bit so I decide to close my eyes for a bit and wake up a bit later.