“Gather the water and turn it into ice, Frozen Cascade!” willing his magic into life Xander created a blueish white circle in the air. Shortly after the air around him began to freeze and like a chain reaction separate and reached out behind the enemy lines.

Legs frozen into place, hands and weapons stuck together but some of the slave warriors escaped Xander’s grasp. “You’re not going anywhere,” Xander targeted Hessian next and cast another spell to hit him from the side and expand to encase his enemy into a block of ice.

Stuck in mid-air who was just about to strike with his sword.

“You know, I actually never intended to help you when things got dire,” admitted Xander as he threw Kiur’s arm over his shoulder to get him away. “But with things coming to this I couldn’t just leave you behind. You know, being the leading man and all, and helping a friend in need.”

Kiur bobbed his unconscious head, giving Xander a misleading signal that he understood and supported his decision.

“You’re too understanding, aren’t you-” just as Xander was about to leave he felt a cutting presence edging into his back. Jumping away he faced the frozen block with Hessian still inside but emanating a dominating aura as he stared after Kiur.

A fissure formed and Hessian broke free, unleashing a sharp shockwave to cut where Xander had been not a second ago.

“Can’t you just let us go?” Xander asked kindly but was met with a deep grunt and a breath of cold steam. Hessian’s eyes fixed wildly at Kiur and the poor soul with him. “I guess that’s a solid no.”

—☼—

Kiur picked up the vase with both of his tiny hands, carrying it to his mother without being able to see where he was walking to.

He was barely four, his body covered in bandages and wearing robes that were so big he dragged most of it along wherever he went and hid his face in a hood.

It was no surprise that Kiur tripped, fell and broke the vase he intended to bring to his mother. A loud crash would echo through their rented house in the old city-state of Kutha.

Worried about the child, Esha dropped all her tablets and rushed over to see Kiur surrounded by a field of shards and him hiding his face in shame.

“Oh, you little klutz,” Esha let out a chuckle before repairing the vase with a fling of her wrist. Kiur expected to be scolded but instead he would be taken to sit on her lap and learn the alphabet.

Excitedly Kiur would take in every single word and sentence she would utter and make sure he was comfortable.

The next scene was when Kiur moved to Nippur and met his brother for the very first time. Archil was as tall as ever but much more frightening in his teens. His animalistic eyes making anyone think he was ready to pounce at them and rip them to shreds.

So Kiur’s first reaction was to hide behind his mother’s frame, tightly clinging to her wine-red robe in fear.

It took them some time to get along. A long time to be exact.

“Do you see the desert, Kiur?” asked Archil, holding Kiur’s hand as they tried to get along and go for a walk in the early morning. Reluctantly Kiur watched the sun rise from the east where the sea was.

From atop the mountains of their home they could see the whole landscape in all its splendour. The sea to their left, Navarre on its coast and stretching far to where the edges of the desert began and swallowed everything in its proximity.

In the very centre Kiur saw a structure going higher than any mountain and piercing the very sky with its peak. A rugged black obelisk which reflected the very rays of the sun to colour the proximity in an amethyst hue.

It was one of the most beautiful sights Kiur had ever seen in his life and Archil put him on his shoulders so he could enjoy the view even better. That moment was one of the first he ever bonded with his brother who became a part of his family.

However, the present Kiur didn’t feel much of what his past self had experienced. Kiur stared at his younger self hugging his mother and spending time with his brother then switching to his time with his two best friends. He could only master a slight smile on his face.

Feeling dejected by everything he saw.

“Why am I seeing this?” Kiur returned to the dark temple of Ganzir with the giantess in front of him. He felt cold, his heart radiating even less warmth than before. “What am I supposed to feel?”

He couldn’t believe what he was just saying. It wasn’t usual for him to say crude things like this. What was happening to him? Was it his real self-surfacing?

“What is going on with me?” Kiur pleaded before the giantess, trying to understand. She bent forward towards Kiur and cupped her hands as she put them on the ground.

The air around them swirled and whirled as it produced a mirror with Kiur’s image inside. One where he was smiling sympathetically, warm and full of life and joy. The same Kiur he just three years prior.

Placing his own hand on the image of the mirror his reflection imitated the gesture a second later. Then the image distorted, revealing the form of a woman Kiur always saw.

She was miserable, crying and full of emotional pain. Furious Kiur smashed the mirror with his fist with blood spilling on the floor.

“You are you,” the giantess finally spoke, her red eyes swimming in a sea of darkness but they were far from frightening. “Try not to rile yourself up too much. Listen to the drive of your heart. Act on it and don’t let it wither.”

“What do you mean?” Kiur exchanged glances with his delusion again who was avoiding his gaze. What was she ashamed about? “Why are you following me? Answer me!”

“Don’t ask what you know,” her eyes opened fully, and wings expanded to encase the entire room, but Kiur didn’t feel like stepping away. After all, she wasn’t trying to intimidate him because if she tried to, he would know it in an instant. “Do what your heart and gut tell you to do.”

With a single gentle push of hers Kiur fell backwards, falling off the ziggurat and hitting an ashen pool of water, sinking like a heavy rock. His eyes never wandered away from her as he sunk further and further down the dark and muddy water.

There was no air to breathe, he was drowning with water filling his lungs. Suffocating, Kiur screamed the water out of his lungs until he was sucked back into his body.

“Hey, you, you’re finally awake,” Kiur stared blankly at Xander who was holding on tightly to the violently shaking wagon. “How was your nap? We are a bit, ehm, preoccupied as it seems.”

Preoccupied didn’t really describe it in the slightest and Kiur knew it as the wagon made him jump up. The rider changed directions to follow an escape route with the other wagons following suit.

Reiszer were on their tails and hellbent on catching them on their galloping horses.

“We hijacked the wagons?” asked Kiur, holding on to the shaking wagon with Xander.

“We sure did,” a female scout answered, clinging on the metal bars outside of the wagon with her clawed hands with red feathers sticking out of her arms and hair.

“Your friend over there made it possible!”

She pointed at Cylia, holding tightly on the back of Jeorg who was riding the horse of a wagon. “She isn’t our friend!” protested Xander loudly before Kiur shut him up with a kick. “What was that for!?”

“Stop bad mouthing others. It makes you less likeable.”

“Hmph,” insulted by this Xander crossed his arms and turned away from Kiur, spotting an approaching cavalry by chance. He screamed, “They are coming!”

“We see them,” the female scout flung herself forward to Jeorg, landing on the front of the wagon by gliding via the feathers on her body and her cloak. “Jeorg, danger to our left, turn right!”

“Right? By all what is holy, are you insane Gallina!? There’s a cliff on that side!”

“We will shake them off there, they don’t know the desert like we do.”

“Alright, everyone, hold on tight- Hiyah!” Jeorg shouted when he pulled the reins sideways to turn the horse. They tried to shake off their pursuers by employing fire magic and crossbows, but nothing worked to deter the approach.

They could only watch as the first few soldiers hopped onto the wagons to try and take them over.

The few scouts could do little to stop them. “Girl, keep the horse steady. I will take care of them,” Kiur and Xander watched how the dwarven scout handed over the reins to the fidgeting Cylia so he could fight off the soldiers.

The enemies’ numbers were steadily increasing with more and more reinforcements coming in until all scouts were pinned in place, fighting off more than two soldiers at once.

“At this rate we will get caught,” Xander jumped back as one of the soldiers decided to hit the wagon with his weapon. In retaliation Xander shot him off his horse with water magic. “We can’t lose any more of them, we need to free that scout!”

Pointing at the pinned dwarven scout Kiur got an idea though wasn’t sure how well it would work. “Hey!” Kiur held his hand out of the carriage despite the danger it held from getting attacked. “I need a crossbow!”

“Huh? Hold on,” Gallina hit off a reiszer with the back of her foot and another with a swing of her kukri sword. Bolts of fire erupted from her plan and hand Kiur a dwarven made crossbow. “Do you know how to operate it?”

“Not really,” admitted Kiur and adjusted the angle to not hit the dwarven scout, shooting off a reiszer by striking their shoulder. Tumbling over the wagon Gallina and Xander gave Kiur a curious look.

“You liar, you do know how to shoot with a crossbow, don’t you?” insisted Xander, visibly impressed by Kiur’s sudden display of skill.

“I really don’t,” Kiur lowered the crossbow on how heavy it was. “But it doesn’t matter, we need to do something. They won’t stop coming-”

Then suddenly the whole wagon started to shake and lose control.

Reiszer sticking their spears and swords into the wheels, trying to block them. “We’re going to derail!” Shouted one of the scouts, losing control of their wagon. Hearing the wood squeak and metal breaking everyone held on for their dear life.

The shaking off the wagon made it impossible for anyone to react or get on their feet to respond. Kiur sat there, holding on to the cage bars and watching how the soldiers were about to succeed.

Holding out his hand Kiur tried to cast a spell, any kind of spell. His eyes were glowing from the attempt, and he could see the little lights around him glow brightly. They were waiting, expecting a command but Kiur didn’t know how to pull it off.

His channels were overfilled with mana, ready to cast but nothing came. It was like a seal on him, refusing to work. “Come on, why does it never work when I need it to? Now of all times, work!”

Disappointed, the particles vanished, leaving Kiur in his failure to conjure magic.

“What is that?”

“Something is approaching us.”

“Is that a person!?”

Hearing the shouts of the reiszer soldiers, everyone gathered at the back of the wagons.

There they saw a sandstorm approaching. The area was still at the borders of the desert and rarely saw any storms and yet there was one coming fast.

One so big it covered the sky, a size anything Kiur had ever seen in his life. And it was conjured by a person who was running at the speed faster than any ordinary horse could master.

Rushing towards them the person dragged the storm with them, swallowing up horses and wagons of foe and friend alike.

“I can’t see anything,” coughed Kiur with everyone else. There was sand all around them, making it unable to see or breath. Then Kiur’s eyes spotted a tunnel amid the storm where light was peering through. “Everyone, turn to your left where the tunnel is!”

Speaking in his native language Kiur guided everyone to follow his directions towards the tunnel. For some reason only he could see it as the entrance was glowing with magical particles.

Perhaps it was a precaution in case a reiszer spotted it too but eventually the scouts saw it as well and they made it out of the storm with no reiszer following behind them.

“Turn right and circle around,” informed Kiur on what he could see. He was the only one who was able to predict the random patterns of the sandstorm while every other individual succumbed to it.

“Switch places with me lass, you did well,” Jeorg changed places with Cylia so she could come over to where Kiur and Xander were.

“I’m beat, how is it going over there?” she hung on the metal rods, staring directly at the two before shoving a smug grin at Xander. “So, did you do something useful today?”

“Get off your high horse, you were just taking over for the scout to steer the horse,” Xander argued again with Cylia.

Seeing how they could argue so nonchalantly the situation seemed safe to conclude for their favour. “Seems like we will finally be able to get home, right?”

Looking at Kiur the two had an awkward time not to argue but agreed, creating a silence between them.

“When I come back, they will be surprised to hear what has happened. I hope I will never return to this place,” Xander answered first, raising a hand to emphasise.

“Not sure I can agree with the sentiment of you two,” Cylia broke the conversation, looking uncertain at the sandstorm. “I don’t think it will be so easy. At least not for me, I don’t have a home after this.”

Sharing a glance with one another Kiur and Xander didn’t know what to say. Unlike them, Cylia’s home was in the Reiszer Nations, as a slave. Her home country was possibly long gone, becoming a vassal state.

They have been too inconsiderate of her.

“There’s the exit!” They heard Gallina shout above them and they could finally see the end of the tunnel.

It was within spitting distance with fresh desert wind blowing into their faces the closer they came. Some of the prisoners were already celebrating their freedom and the trio couldn’t help themselves than to join in.

The end of the tunnel symbolising the road away from the danger of the reiszer even though it would still take a while to get fully away.

However, Kiur noticed amidst their cheers a disturbance approaching. Slowly the sandstorm experienced changes in its pattern. Caving in from pressure and blowing westwards.

One of the wagons was cut into shreds and the others began to derail.

Right over the cliff they were trying to lure the reiszer in their plan worked now against them. They were the ones to fall off the cliff.

Character Profiles

Jeorg, a dwarf from Navarre and a scout. He was commissioned for the relief mission to free everyone taken prisoner by the Reiszer Nations.

He has a braided beard and brown hair with a scar going over his nose and up to his forehead.

Isn’t particularly happy leaving Navarre for long periods.

Magic: Earth ; Main Weapon: a crossbow and a one handed hammer.

In his free time, he enjoys visiting settlements in the Navarrien Outskirts and joining in mock fights.

Distrusts foreigners who are not from the east.

Gallina, a therianthrope with bird-like origins and a scout from Navarre. She was commissioned for the relief mission and was looking forward in working together with the scouts from Idaris. She is a skilled fighter who worked a lot together with idarien scouts.

She has red eyes and hair with feathers sticking out on some parts with braids tying up most of it behind her head. Her forearms are covered in red feathers and her hands are like claws.

Has a chipper attitude.

Magic: Fire ; Main Weapons: a crossbow and kukri blades.

Gallina enjoys eating sunflower seeds and taking part in discus throwing.