Chapter 7


    I manage to spread my wings soon enough to keep from breaking a leg, but Evaline hits a dune hard and rolls all the way down. I slide down to her, and I enjoy the reckless slide more than I probably should. I kneel at her side. She’s out of breath, but otherwise fine. I help her up.


    “Where exactly did that man take us, Evaline?


    “We’re in the Ghost Sands desert, although what part of it is a mystery.”


    “Please tell me there’s not a good reason it’s called the Ghost Sands.”


    She shrugs, looking toward the horizon, “They call it that because it’s Broken Ones territory, and because of all the bloodshed that’s happened here. Supposedly the ghosts of people turned to Twisted or lost to war haunt this area, creating pits of sand that act like water and drag anyone who falls in to a sandy demise.”


    I shudder, “Do you believe it’s ghosts?”


    “No, I think that the people who disappear are being turned into Twisted at a Broken Ones base, and they created the story to keep people from looking for a base here.”


    “Would Tam be held here?”


    She pauses, “Maybe, but we’d have to find the base.”


    “How would we find the base?”


    “Following a patrol would work, if we can find one. Another option would be to wait here.”


    “Wait here?”


    “Yes, portaling requires an immense amount of Radiance, and, as such, is incredibly easy to detect. There’s probably multiple patrols headed directly toward us right now”


    I don’t have a problem with this development, but I do wonder if we could fight off multiple Broken Ones patrols. What is a patrol even made up of? Twisted? Soldiers? Mages? I’m suddenly much less sure of this plan. We wait for a while, and I get restless. I walk to the top of the dune and look around, and, when I don’t see anyone, fly up to check if a patrol is further out. I still see nothing but empty desert, so I fly back down to Evaline.


    “I still don’t see anything other than sand,” I say, tucking away my wings.


    “I think we’re in one of the most remote parts of the desert, and landed far from anyone. Most of this area has ruins somewhere nearby, but if you didn’t see any from the air, that must mean we’re pretty far from any hint of civilization,” She seems pretty confident in that conclusion.


    “What do we do now?”


    “We start flying north. Almost everyone on the continent is north of us right now, as that’s where the fertile areas are.”


    I knew that, and I don’t know how, so I don’t mention it to Evaline. I think some of the knowledge is from those so-called ‘imaginary’ geography lessons that Tam used to teach me. Tam had- No. Has a lot of secrets. I remind myself he’s still alive, that the Broken Ones are trying to turn him into a Twisted, and that’s why I went to Houston. Like I could’ve gone anywhere else. I still don’t know how I knew that everyone was north because of the better soil, because I’m certain it isn’t from Tam’s lessons.


    Evaline has her wings out, which is still surprising. I spread mine, and take off, flying up a ways before making sure she’s in the air too. I swing north, gliding on updrafts from the hot dunes below us, and watch as Evaline does the same. She caught on much faster than I did.


    We fly for most of the day, stopping for lunch but being conservative with our water. We camp on top of a dune for the night. I’d noticed a blue portion of my magic, which might have something to do with water. I decide it’s worth a try, and stand up, spreading my wings. Evaline looks over from her spot, confused. I summon the water portion of my Radiance, and it works. I can feel the water, deep in the ground here. I use a little more of my power to try and bring the water to the surface. Water flows up from the ground, coalescing into a sphere a few inches off the ground. The sphere grows slowly, and I dip my canteen into the water. It fills the canteen without breaking its shape. I motion to Evaline, who’s looking at the sphere with wide eyes. She tosses me her canteen, and I fill it too.


    I dispel my Radiance, then look to Evaline.


    “What’s wrong?”


    “How did you do that? The amount of energy required for that kind of water magic is obscene.”


    I shrug, “It isn’t that hard, I feel like I’ve just ran a somewhat difficult sprint, but I’m not utterly exhausted.”


    Evaline is shocked, “Could you do that again?”


    “Easily,” I say as I do it again, this time moving the sphere of water within Evaline’s reach.


    “Didn’t you say that, along with the change in your Shift, the overload that gave you wings extended your well of Radiance?” I ask.


    Evaline’s eyes widen in realization, “Yes, but I haven’t really used my Radiance much, so I don’t know how much more I’m capable of.”


    “I think you should try it.”


    “Maybe, but if the change is as drastic as the one in my Shift, I don’t know how good my control is. Also, I know you haven’t seen the limits of other mages, but the amount of Radiance you can use is unheard of.”


    I chuckle, “Right, and we didn’t kill that Twisted.”


    She doesn’t laugh, and I realize she’s dead serious.


    “Myar, you are capable of feats of magic we thought long lost to time.”


    “Lost to time? What do you mean?”


    “We have legends of mages able to move mountains and split oceans, but modern mages can barely shift a hill, or adjust the tide, and they are the powerful ones.”


    “What happened?”


    “The people who could do magic like that were called Fated, and were… Some call it blessed, some call it cursed, to only live as long as normal humans, but, because they burn out faster, be capable of more magic at once.”


    “What do you mean, only as long as normal humans?”


    “Well… uh, most mages live for centuries, the lucky ones millenia.”


    “What?! We’re nearly immortal?”


    “I don’t think so, at least not anymore.”


    I sigh in relief, drawing a quizzical look from Evaline.


    “Why are you so relieved to be mortal?”


    “Imagine what near-immortality would be like. Generations upon generations of people, including any mortal friends you would make, living and dying as exactly nothing happens to you. The world, changing, technology improving, leaving you behind. Having to witness atrocities only ever talked about in history books firsthand, and, if you don’t have proof of your age, people thinking you’re crazy when you try to get the experience off of your chest.”


    Evaline is looking at me, stunned. I can see gears turning as she runs through each point, nodding every time she decides one is viable. Then, she provides a counterpoint,


    “You would also get to witness people’s quality of life improve with technology, your friends’ descendants having families of their own, and people rebuilding their lives after the atrocities.”


    I nod, “True, but I’m still glad I won’t have that issue. Why don’t you think we’re immortal anyway?”


    “It’s not important anymore,” She says, shrugging off my question.


    It’s getting late, and the heat is leaching out of the air at an alarming rate. I lay down, folding my wings around myself, and Evaline does the same. She seems just as surprised as I was by the warmth and softness of our wings. I soon fall asleep, the wind swishing across the dunes the only sound.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    I startle awake at some point in the night, and look to the moon. If the moon here is the same as on Earth, It’s around three in the morning. I look around, seeing nothing in the dim moonlight. I can hear crickets chirping. I do my best to go back to sleep, but I wake up minutes after I doze off. I give up, and decide to start messing with my magic. I try to test the other variations of my magic. I know red is fire, blue is water, green is earth, yellow is air, and purple is mind. I don’t know what orange, white, black, or gold do.


    I test orange first, spreading my wings and summoning the power. I try to make it manifest outside my body, but it seems to reflect inwards. I feel it take effect, but I’m not sure what it does. I add more Radiance, and nothing changes. I do notice that I feel less tired, but chalk it up to the excitement of using new magic. I try white next, which conjures strange blue flames that seem to take heat from the air instead of adding it. I assume that’s frost magic, and it’s cold enough already, so I dispel the fire. Black is a curious one, it summons a sphere of pure, unnerving nothingness, hovering a few inches above my hand. That, too, I dispel quickly. Gold is the exact opposite of black, creating a sphere of burning light that seems to illuminate more of the darkness than it should.


    “Myar?” a groggy voice says behind me.


    I whirl around, spooked by the noise. It’s Evaline, she’s looking at me like I’m crazy. What’s wrong? I ask through the link, which was activated by my use of Radiance. That much power will get the attention of any of the Broken Ones within a hundred miles! She’s scared now, and it confuses me. Didn’t we want to find a Broken ones patrol? I ask. Yes, we wanted to find one, not be captured by one! She replies viciously, standing up and spreading her wings. Let’s get out of here before they find us! With that, she takes off, and I follow. She starts a search pattern spiraling out from our campsite, and I do the same, traveling in the opposite direction. I keep the link open so I can easily respond if something happens. We circle for a while longer before Evaline calls out through the link; I found a patrol. She sends an image of the patrol.


    I turn to face her general direction before actually inspecting the image she sent. It shows a mixed group of people and Twisted from above, the Twisted on the edges scouting ahead, while the main body of the patrol, mostly people, are doubled up riding some particularly large specimens of the wolf-like Twisted. I fly faster, soon catching the patrol, and Evaline flying above them. We fly for hours more, and eventually they stop, soon after the sun rises. The humans make camp, but the Twisted fall to the ground, asleep, as soon as the sun touches them. I’m shocked, but Evaline remains unsurprised. Every Twisted we’ve captured does that too, as soon as the sun rises, they pass out. They all awaken at the beginning of sunset. She explains as we fly low over a dune a few hundred feet away from the Broken Ones patrol.


    We land on the side of the dune opposite the patrol, and I’m glad we managed to get some sleep in, because I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep knowing that Twisted, and the people that create them, are just on the other side of the ridge. I offer to take the first watch, because Evaline is drooping from exhaustion, and I feel fine. Evaline less accepts my offer, more passes out before she can reply. I peek over the hill and see that the entire camp, save two that are standing by the wolf-like Twisted, is asleep. I watch the two that are awake, and notice something. They’re both in long, over-the-top black cloaks, although one of them is so grotesquely tall the cloak doesn’t cover their rail-thin ankles.


    I watch them for a few more hours, but nothing of interest happens. Around noon, I wake up Evaline, who takes over while I try to sleep myself. It doesn’t work, unsurprisingly, and I end up laying on the sand, eyes closed but not really asleep, until Evaline taps me at sunset. The Twisted have awakened, and the patrol is soon moving again, and us along with it. Evaline and I stay fairly high up, just barely close enough to see the patrol. We fly north all night, but turn east just before the sun rises. We land, and Evaline takes first watch. I fold away my wings and settle into the sand, quickly dozing off. I wake up about an hour later, judging by the sun, to Evaline shaking me.


    “We need to get out of here. They noticed something and started walking towards us.”


    “How’d they find us?” I ask.


    “I don’t know, but we have to start running.”


    I start running in what I remember to be the opposite direction from the camp, and Evaline follows. We get a good distance away and find a road. I follow the road for lack of better options. I stumble to a stop about an hour later, and Evaline stops beside me, panting. We start walking, heading northward along the road, trying to stay ahead of the patrol. I want to take flight, but it’s too risky when we know we’re being followed and we’re heading toward civilization. Late in the day, we stumble across an inn. The main building is dilapidated, and the small outbuilding behind it isn’t in much better condition.


    I lead the way inside, looking around the low, dark room, taking in the few customers already in the building. I walk up to the bar.


    “Do you have any rooms open?” Evaline asks the burly, somewhat unsavory looking man looming behind the bar.


    “One, upstairs and on the left,” He grunts out, in a voice that perfectly matches his figure, low and raspy.


    “We’ll take it,” Evaline replies, flipping a silver coin onto the bar.


    The man gets a greedy gleam in his eye, but it disappears once he glances back up at me, more specifically the twin blades held in their scabbards on my back. Evaline saunters up the stairs, and I follow her to the second floor. I tap the floor with my foot, and it creaks dangerously.


    “I don’t trust this,” I say skeptically.


    “Good. You shouldn’t,” Evaline throws over her shoulder.


    We keep going, and I stick near the walls, where I could have a handhold if the floor gave out. I know that I could probably catch myself with my wings if necessary, but that wouldn’t exactly be subtle. We make it to the room, and its significantly more stable floor. It’s fairly well lit, largely due to the massive cracks in the walls and ceiling. I can see the dinginess of the room all too well.


    The sheets are yellowed and stained with a mysterious substance that looks like blood. There are rat droppings in the corners, and I watch as a roach scuttles out from under the bed to the wall. Evaline seems satisfied with the room, plopping down on the bed and eliciting a loud creak, as well as a few more fleeing roaches. I sit down on a large trunk at the foot of the bed, more carefully than Evaline.


    “I’ll take the floor,” I say, unpacking my bedroll.


    “You were the one that had his sleep interrupted,” She says.


    “I’ll be fine as long as I get some food in me,” I counter.


    “Then we should go down and get some food, maybe talk a few people into giving us current news.”


    “Why would anyone here know current news, and more importantly, why would we ask them?”


    “All the patrons are going to be travelers because this inn is so far from civilization.”


    “Why haven’t I seen anything resembling electricity or running water here?” I ask as I go over the day’s events mentally.


    “Auron has been in what people on Earth would call the Middle Ages for thousands of years. Progress was stopped at the point where Earth invented guns because of Radiance.  A gun isn’t worth much when you can use a beginner spell to stop it. Radiance also allows for most of the luxuries of the modern world.”


    It makes sense, so I don’t say much more about it. Evaline walks out of the room, floor creaking dangerously, and I follow cautiously. We make it to the ground floor without incident. Evaline walks up to the bar and orders a stew with small ale for both of us. We take a seat in the dark corner of the room, and Evaline makes sure to sit with her back to the wall. I follow suit, surveying the still mostly abandoned bar. More people came in when we were upstairs, but they don’t look very friendly.


    The massive man who was behind the bar briefly eclipses my sight as he brings us our food. I look up at him, but he’s focused on Evaline, and the coin she flicks in his direction. He catches it without looking, lightning fast. The move is obviously meant to intimidate, but it doesn’t work. He jostles his apron when he pockets the coin, showing off the proportionately massive rolling pin on his belt. It’s big enough that it could easily be used as a club, and a good one too. He walks away, and I return to watching the patrons of the establishment.


    The room is even quieter now, and almost everyone is focused on a new arrival. The figure looms in the doorway of the tavern, short enough to not have to stoop, and rail-thin, but with enough sheer presence to seem the size of a mountain.


    They walk to the back of the room, straight toward Evaline and I. I subtly activate the link, and Evaline speaks as soon as she’s able to: Act like you don’t see them unless they directly talk to you. I think that’s a member of the Broken Ones. I dig into my stew, staying aware of both my swords and the positions of everything in the room. The Broken One stops at our table. They stay silent for a moment, then a raspy voice emanates from underneath their dark hood.


    “Get out of my seat, mortals.”


    The last word is spat out with particular venom. The amount of contempt they have for people is unbelievable. My mouth starts running before my brain catches up.


    “Why should we?”


    The Broken One seems stunned for a moment, then I feel my mind magic tingle a little. They lean against the table, and I feel the tingling increase. They start to sweat, or at least I assume it’s sweat that drips on the table from underneath the hood. That’s when I realize the Broken One is the source of the tingling. I’m curious as to what they’re trying to do, so I partition off a small portion of my mind and open it up to the outside world. My temporary defenses are instantly assaulted by a flood of information from my surroundings.


    I bolster them quickly, then begin to sift through the deluge of separate thoughts and feelings. Those who are travelers are easy to find, because they all have a sense of contentment mixed with dread or relief, depending on whether they’re coming or going. The barkeep is very nervous, but willing to defend his inn, and everyone has a healthy layer of fear on top of their normal feelings. Except Evaline and I. Evaline is willing to fight, but undaunted, and I share the sentiment.


    Finally, I detect the mind of the Broken One. It’s dim, and dark, and not entirely human. I can sense a presence, of sorts, feeding on their emotions. The Broken One is sending mental daggers my way, tipped with whatever is feeding off of their mind. They shatter uselessly against my defenses, but it’s unnerving nonetheless. I send a small attack of my own their way, doing my best to keep my eyes open and focused enough to look normal. The Broken One doesn’t react for a moment, and I prepare to send another, stronger assault. I notice the Broken One tense up, although I only see its shoulders bunch.


    Suddenly, they turn around, stalking silently away from our table. As they open the door, they call back to the room,


    “Apologies, Shards, I did not realize you were not mortal.”


    I almost detect a quaver in their voice, but it could be my imagination. Evaline is evidently very concerned, and every single person in the room seems to share the sentiment. I turn my attention to the link. How much context, exactly, am I missing? Evaline seems shocked. Shards… he called us Shards. I have never seen her this way before, so I change the subject. Do we need to get away from here? Evaline shrugs, We can finish our dinner, but yes. What did you do to them anyway? I’ve never seen a Broken One react that way.


    It’s my turn to shrug, I opened up a part of my mind to them, and they tried  to attack. They weren’t stopping, so I attacked back. She’s silent at that, and we eat the rest of our mediocre soup in silence. After that, we head up the unstable stairs to our room, where we grab our things. Soon enough, we’re back on the road.