On one of the many nights of their campaign, they spotted an orange glow off in the distance. It was either outcasts that tried their luck to live outside the capitals or bold merchants eventually run out of luck avoiding the Tower monsters. Even if they wanted to help, they couldn’t fight the Shadows alone in their current state.

It might be harsh to decide not to help even with the power to defeat them, but Kihet started late as opposed to the Shadows who had years to build up their forces. The most he and Lily could do with their current strength was to defeat small groups at a time.

At every start an adventure, overconfidence was the most gruelling and traitorous killer. Unpreparedness was a sabotaging silent force of havoc to be reckoned with. If they’re to survive until they have allies to cover their weakness, Kihet must perform the Oracle’s legend..

The land of Vivrus was about two and a half weeks from the Xu, Vivrus border. Slowly, they traveled from snow to dirt -which Kihet had to disassemble the sleds and reassembled wheels- then through a thick jungle. The inhabiting creatures were large arthropods, possessing tough shells instead of hides or fur. Most of them were docile, but there were occasions where they drove off predators aiming for the horse pulling their carriage.

“Where are we on the map?”

“Beats me. As long as we’re on the road, I’m sure we’ll get there.” Kihet scanned the area for a landmark to use. He hoped to find Vivrus’ tower but everywhere he looked was blocked by the jungle crowded vines and tall trees.

From morning to night, the area buzzed loudly. Lily covered ears, then hid underneath her cloak, anything to lessen the noise annoying her but nothing worked.

“Geez! It’s so loud! I can’t get any sleep!”

“If you don’t think too much of it, you’ll eventually fall asleep.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Have you tried putting your head under the blankets?”

“I’ve tried almost everything!”

“Almost?”

“There’s one thing I haven’t tried.”

Lily waved for Kihet to sit at the ledge of the carriage. He made a face to which he knew what she was about to do but complied anyways. Sitting on the edge of the carriage, he made himself comfortable when suddenly, Lily’s head dropped on his lap and placed a hand over her ear to cover up the noise around them.

“I thought you promised Martha about correcting this behavior.”

“That rule is only effective when we’re at a city.”

“Mosquitoes are going to target your face.”

“What about you? Why aren’t they biting you?”

“I taste terrible.”

“Cheater.”

She was right. For some reason, it seemed like Kihet had an invisible barrier around him to which the buggers avoid. Maybe it was the Oracle’s blessing at work.

After their brief exchange, Lily finally fell asleep. Still awake, Kihet carefully slipped away after rolling her back in the carriage and closed the mosquito nets.

Then two letters fell out of his pocket.

-Oh right. A letter from Miyabe and… Kenji.-

He decided to read Kenji’s letter later or hope to forget about it. Meanwhile, Miyabe’s letter stated the list of topics she wanted him to discuss with Vivrus’ leader. First and foremost, she needed Kihet to secure an alliance against Rozzosea. Then there was an optional trade agreement to which the previous ruler was interested but was halted because of a newly elected leader.

The contents suggested Vivrus had an abundance of tin, copper and most importantly, iron. Xu had a deficiency with its iron mining as previously. When strolling through Xu’s market, he noticed the price of steel and iron forged items were expensive. Most of their military might came from striking their foes from afar.

He strolled around the camping grounds, carefully collecting samples of strange new plants native to Vivrus. Once he harvested a handful of unique species, he flipped through Lemi’s medical encyclopedia that was built up of knowledge passed down from generation to generation. The tome occasionally had drawings and descriptions of plants Kihet hoped to find. There were also warnings of those that were poisonous and looked identical to herbs. Not only does it apply to herbs, but fungi as well. While reading, he admired how dedicated his friend was to her career.

Out of the handful of plants he foraged, most of them were poisonous. A few of them were edible and only one could be used in medicine. Figures. In the wild, if you didn’t know where to look and randomly picked, this was likely the result. At least he now knew what he should watch out and what to keep an eye for.

After he finished sorting the plants, he picked up the book again and read. By the time he put down the book, there was a bit of sunlight and the flames from the campfire became embers. He smothered the remains and continued driving the carriage down the path.

The deeper into the woods, the warmer the air became. It wasn’t dry, but slightly humid. Kihet removed the cotton filled layer of his cloak to accommodate for the temperature change.

He then heard shuffling from the back.

“Morning.” Lily crawled up to the front beside Kihet. Her eyelids were still glued shut as she felt around for Kihet’s arm to support herself.

“Sleep well?”

“It was okay. Are we still in the woods?”

“Yeah.”

“En.” She drunkenly nodded. “I need a drink.”

“I refilled it last night.” He reached in the back, handing Lily a waterskin.

“Thanks.”

Feeling the same, Kihet took a gulp of water, swishing it in his mouth. As he put down his container, the horse slowly came to a halt and refused to go forward. Realizing the horse sensed danger, Kihet straightened himself from his seat and drew his weapon, scanning his surroundings. Since there wasn’t a confirmed threat, it might’ve been a passing predator their carriage wandered too close to.

By now, the horse would’ve moved, but it was standing perfectly still. The cart vibrated lightly, branches swayed back and forth, leaves were dropping down everywhere.

“Mm. It’s so loud. Kihet, do you hear that?”

“The rumbling or buzzing?”

“Both-.”

Suddenly, a bear sized black beetle crashed through bushes. Startled, the horse fled to the opposite direction, crashing their carriage into a nearby tree. Kihet managed to pull hard on the reins, stopping before anymore damages occur. As for Lily, she was frozen, scared to the boot hugging his arm. Her hold was tight enough Kihet felt her nails dug into his cloak.

Kihet reeled a wooden spear for a throw, but he noticed the beetle laid on the ground motionless.

“It’s dead.”

“I-it is?”

“Stay here and get your bow ready while I check it.”

“Hang on a second! You’re going?!”

“It’s in our way.”

Kihet held close to the bottom of his spear and gave the carcass a good poke. Studying it closely, he discovered a total of eleven javelins lodged on it. Eight of them pierced all the joints of its legs while the other three penetrated the exoskeleton protecting the head. From a shard of the broken shell, he could tell from scattered fragments it was about ten millimeters thick, which was impressive for iron tipped wooden spears thrown to puncture.

He then spotted a small shadow gradually growing on a spot next to him and looked up. The backlight of the sky made it hard to identify the person until they descended under the jungle’s shade.

It was an insectoid, a denizen of Vivrus, a dragonfly type at that. It had two pairs of glass like wings, fingers almost like claws and it was dark purple with a tint of blue. Its head was undoubtedly oversized, almost as wide as its shoulders with its compound eyes scanning Kihet while its four arms retrieved its javelins.

-Did it kill the beetle alone?-

“Oi.” Kihet called out, but the dragonfly clicked its mandibles and silently stared again.

Its antennas pointed up to the sky as it noticed the cart behind. It stood up and bowed profusely using gestures to explain it would take a moment to clear the path for them.

“Can they not talk?” Lily whispered.

“They can. Before you brought me out here, a group of them visited. It was awkward. They kept staring at me and stayed quiet, but they didn’t look like this one. Not one bit.”

They watched it threw a net over its catch then towed it out of the path. Kihet was surprised one insectoid could move something that large by itself. Usually, they’d worked in a group to move something this large and heavy, or so he was told.

“Umm! We’re lost. Do you know the way out?” Lily asked.

The insectoid cocked its large head to one side and pointed to itself.

“Lily, it doesn’t understand you. We’re in another country.”

“Could you translate for me?”

Kihet found himself feeling awkward, looking an expressionless face. Without eyes, mouth and a voice, he hated he couldn’t read the insectoids expression. He went ahead being an intermediator to get Lily’s message across, asking it to guide them out of the jungle in return for helping it tow its trophy to a nearby settlement.

While the insectoid tied the carcass to the cart, Lily nudged Kihet. “Psst. Your eyes.”

For some reason he felt his cheeks relax. When did they tense up? “Keep an eye on him.”

“En.” She leaned her back against his shoulder as she stared at the dragonfly. “This is my first time seeing one. They look different than I imagined.”

“This one is definitely out of the ordinary.”

Tap, tap.

The insectoid pointed a path for them, and eventually led them out of the jungle.

The air here was lighter and humidly. The fresh air sterilized their lungs of bad air outside the jungle behind them. As Kihet observed the trail of tall glowing stalks guiding them to a town, he noticed a ginormous superstructure at the center of the land, and it wasn’t a tower. It was a tree that dwarfed Xu’s Sacred Tree and it was many times wider than a city. In fact, they were inside its bio dome grown from this tree’s crown. Its branches covered the entire sky, painting the background in dark brown strips with green clouds and basically sheltering most of the country from the wasteland outside.

Light in this dome came from the center of the tree. A star that seemingly burned eternally shined on the whole country, perfectly imitating day and night cycles. As they wandered into Vivrus at dusk, the star was orangey, mimicking the sunset.

“The entire mainland is underneath that one tree?” Lily stared at the sky. “You wouldn’t believe it until you’d see it.”

“Yeah.”

They were speechless but amazed of its sheer size and its ability to sustain all sorts of wildlife around it. You’d think it’d suck up all the nutrients, leaving everything to wither. Kihet was jealous that Megith and Malth, two of his missing friends, were able to see this place before him.

“Kihet, we’re close to town. That Dragonfly pointed to a place where we can park.”

Snapping back to reality, Kihet guided the cart near the entrance and helped unhook the Giant Beetle.

The insectoid thanked them with another bow and dragged its catch into the middle of the plaza. Before Kihet and Lily went ahead and explored the place, it waved them down. Using two hands, it rubbed an imaginary stick. “Fire, do you have anything I can use to start a fire?” It was a simple gesture even a child could understand.

As Lily tore into their belongings for some flint and steel, Kihet saw the insectoid picked dry branches for tinder.

“What’s it doing?”

“Cooking it, I think?”

“In the middle of a street? Is it a food vendor or something?”

“Don’t ask me. We should leave. It might be trouble to stay near him.”

“But I want to see what it’s cooking.”

The dragonfly brought out a pick made from monster bones and cracked the Beetle’s exoskeleton. He dismantled the creature and placed its shell over the flames to burn off the fur. Once it was ready, he used it as a large pan, pouring a generous amount of oil from its flask then dumped a pile of meat extracted from the beetle. Anthropoid meat have little to no fat, almost stringy like crab and so, oil was necessary to stop them from sticking to cooking surfaces.

A group of curious children popped their heads out behind a building and began making their way to the dragonfly.

“He’s here! It’s Aten!”

“Aten’s here!”

“Aten, you caught this by yourself? You’re so strong!”

They were orphans with tattered clothing. Some lost a few limbs, others an eye or wings. Everyone and passerby looked different than the dragonfly known as Aten. He was smaller than fully grown adults, but taller than children. His head kept the primitive appearance of an actual dragonfly with mandibles while people in this town had grown skin, lips and teeth around the oral region.

Aten waved at the children to mind their distance around the fire as his extra set of hands handed them cloths to use as plates. After all the orphans were served, he held out two dishes, holding them up to Kihet and Lily.

“For us?” Lily pointed to herself.

The Dragonfly nodded.

“Not again!”

Before Lily tried her first dish from Vivrus, Kihet warned her of two guards approaching them. They drove the children back and kicked over the cooking set, extinguishing the fire with a bucket of dirt.

“Aten, we’ve told you before! You can’t cook here without a permit and you’re disrupting the public!”

“See? Trouble.”

As Aten was being berated by the guards, the children hid behind him, ready to pull him back in case he was going to be arrested. The guards were relentless, but that’s probably because they had to deal with this exact situation regularly. The language they used was just familiar enough to know they were aquatinted.

“We know you’re doing a good deed, but rules are rules. You could’ve set the while town on fire. Do you understand?”

Aten nodded silently to which the guards let out a sigh as they gave a slip of paper containing his fine.

“Now that’s over with, it’s rare for you to bring outsiders. Devil folks at that.” One of the guardsmen faced them. “I hope they know how to speak Vivirian.”

“And understand it thoroughly.” Kihet added.

“That’s a relief. If not, we’d have to call over a translator and you won’t like how much they charge. So anyways, what brings you to Vivrus in this dreary era?”

“This guy guided us out of the jungle and we’re on our way to the capital.”

“Are you merchants, adventurers?”

“Does it matter?”

“The gatekeepers are going to ask. They’re strict on who can or can’t pass.”

“We’re messengers.”

“Of who?”

“None of your business.”

“Kihet, what are you talking about?”

“Nothing. We should leave.” He said, hurrying Lily to get back onto the carriage.

Before they were able to get heir horse going, one of the guards stepped in front, blocking the way.

“I’m sorry, outsider. In recent years, your kind were trying to sneak past our borders. We need to bring you in for questioning.”

Kihet turned to give Lily a look as if he were curious about why the people to Xu were trying to enter Vivrus. More importantly, were they from Xu? It could be Orges or Devils that followed Eizan and migrated to Rozzosea.

He probed the guard with a question. “Did you arrest them?”

“Arrest? We have two right here.” The guard laughed. “But seriously, this is the first time we’ve seen your kind up close and willing to talk. We tried to catch the not-so-friendly ones, but before we could, they fled and the Tower Monsters got to them.”

“We hope you understand we do not mean to threaten you.” The second guard added. “There has been increased activities of spying and smuggling in the recent years. Are you aware of a substance known as Golden dust?”

The instant the guard mentioned that, they were met with a powerful look of resentment. Weapons were immediately drawn and pointed at Kihet as his already small irises narrowed and were boring at them. It was a natural reaction since the guards weren’t sure what had suddenly brought Kihet to exude an immense amount of hostility.

“Outsider, we don’t want any trouble. Calm yourself.”

“Wh- Kihet, what’s going on?!” Lily asked, but she was ignored.

Meanwhile, Aten forcibly stood up and hurried the children to leave as he boldly stepped between both parties with his back facing Kihet. The way Aten moved was nonchalant, almost like he didn’t care if Kihet attacked him or not. From his satchel, he pulled out a small object and flashed it to the guards.

“Aten, you would exert your authority for this outsider?! Do you any idea what would happen if he turned out to be one the smugglers?!”

“I will, take responsibility, for I been rooted.”

His voice was surprisingly low and deep, not suited for his appearance. As grim words came out of the Dragonfly’s mouth, blood trickled from his mandibles and splattered on the floor. While the scene of a person coughing up blood snapped Kihet awake, the guards were mysteriously weren’t bothered by it.

“You- dammit! We’re leaving!” The guard bellowed as he and his lackey marched away. “We’re still going to report this!”

After watching the guards back off, Kihet noticed the blood that was on the ground disappeared. Even if it evaporated -which he knew it was ridiculous and impossible-, it should’ve left a stain. He doubted it was an illusion as he did not detect any magic being casted. What happened?

He looked towards Lily then back to Aten who stood in front, showing a slate with words written on it.

[You know.]

“I saw things done with it. But what I’m concerned with now is that you bled a moment ago, didn’t you?”

[Yes.]

“And you don’t look like any of the town folks. What are you?”

Aten paused a moment as he silently stared at his slate. A few moments later, he wrote [Follow]. His wings suddenly spanned out then he up and vanished. Kihet searched for Aten then saw him in the air. The Dragonfly’s wings beating silently under the tree’s shade that made him look like he was hovering in the air.

“Where is he going?” Lily asked as she lowered her arm from the dust Aten kicked up towards her eyes.

“He wants to lead us out of the town.” Kihet answered as he looked back into town. He saw numerous wary expressions towards him. “We’re not going to find a place to rest here.”