《The Askium Detail: Corpses in the Dunes》


 Crystalline - Part I

    ¡°I should''ve started him at wing back.¡± Isa said, black eyes glaring at his holodevice. Adama¡¯s reply came without a morsel of empathy. ¡°You say this every week.¡±


    You say this every week. Zayna thought angrily, she was tired of this, tired of the sun''s relentless assault, tired of paying double for water at every rest stop north of the Tahgaz, tired of sitting in her hoverbike for 4 hours straight but most of all she tired of listening to her partners argue over fantasy league points.


    Isa and Adame weren¡¯t bad men just redundant men, the type of recruits happy to conduct their business far away from the frontlines. Not the sort of company a seasoneddonzo keeps.


    Posting Update: Desert Ranging. Zayna felt wounded the first time she¡¯d read the notification.


    The order had come straight from the unit captain, her uncle --her favorite uncle. Flesh and Blood. Madness. Her uncle was wearing the face of Colonel Jallo when she¡¯d walked in and presented him with hard facts.


    She was a seasoned donzo with more kills than friends, now she was being reduced to spending 12 hours a day in the Sahara''s warm embrace, prowling from village to village on the trail of insurgent raiders --a plague to anyone with common sense yes but her skills were surely meant for impactful means not perormative ones.


    ¡°And that is exactly why we need people like you in those villages.¡± Colonel Jallo had said, with stern black eyes, wrinkled black skin, unblemished sitting posture and laconic speech.


    Zayna was sure she¡¯d bypass the charade soon. She always did. After all she was his favorite niece.


    He broke faster than expected. Conversations with Zayna always left him happy, the opportunity to relax and be an uncle instead of a unit commander brought him the mental respite needed to fight such a drawn out war.


    However duty commanded he be both with Zayna. Despite his warm demeanor her uncle remained adamant over the posting.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°See just put yourself in the villagers shoes, a frontline soldier , a magi, with your ¨C what do I call it infamy?¡±


    ¡°Call it whatever you want.¡± Nora said sharply, she came for answers not questions.


    ¡°I can see you¡¯re angry but I can also see that you¡¯re famous, that one man Calvary act you did months ago is still making rounds on the internet, most traffic coming from the villages I posted you to.¡± Uncle Jallo was pointing at crosshairs on his holomap.


    ¡°Hamzah gets more views than mea, how come you didnt-¡° Jallo cut her off then.


    ¡°Because you and I know that this war is at a stalemate, this thing wont be settled on the battlefield. Rebellion and public opinion are the new belligerents here. The people, not the ones protected by Askia''s high walls, need to know we¡¯re not just a force for the army. These villages on the city''s outskirts have seen nothing but droids and armored patrols for years now, we''re starting to impose too much of a military presence.¡±


    ¡°Too much of a military presence?¡± Zayna''s comment was laced with brief stints of soft laughter. She''d helped herself to a cup of what was clearly alcohol sitting on the desk separating them. Zayna downed its contents in one short swig then continued ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve noticed dear uncle but we''re at war.¡±


    ¡°You''re not listening." he said pointing one finger at his ear "I said, the war is moving to a different sort of theatre.¡±


    He paused, tapped the glass surface of his table and projected a video recording Zayna had lived through.


    ¡°Reports say somebody I know took out 34 medium and 7 high ranking soldiers that day plus an armored ship. You¡¯d think that would¡¯ve broken their spirits a little but nooooo it was back to business the very next day.¡±


    It was her uncle¡¯s turn to drink. ¡°38 ranked officers, at least 4,000 infantry men, 7 magi, countless droids, more tanks and planes than 3 previous campaigns combined yet they only lost half a mile of territory.¡±


    Zayna rolled her eyes, she¡¯d read the reports. Her uncle was making a point and she hated him for it. He went on about inspiration, chess and other things she didn¡¯t care about, only when he mentioned raiders did her attention steer from the still playing recording of her exploits in Timioune.


    ¡°The raiders have been finishing these villages, if you can even call them raiders.¡± He poured a cup for both of them. ¡°They¡¯re butchering animals and burning the few trees they have out there. He sipped. ¡°If we can¡¯t protect villages so close to Askia they could switch sides out of fear? And even if we can¡¯t protect them we should at least show we care.¡±


    She couldn¡¯t argue with that. Zayna gazed at the video one more time. She was thriving in the heat of battle, blade staff in one cybernetic hand nothing in the other. She leapt and struck an armored enemy, the impact sent the assaulted combatant flying off-screen, whirling around she sent a wave of telekinetic force at a line of similarly dressed soldiers before leaping past them. She remembered this part far more vividly, her jump''s trajectory would send her smack dab in the middle of enemy droids.

 Crystalline: Part II

    Dust, earth and metal rose when her staff struck the ground, but while the natural elements succumbed to gravity''s whims, the droids hung in the air around her like flies caught in an unseen cobweb. Isa''s irritating voice jolted her awake from her reminiscence.


    The fool was asking about her favorite player was ¨Cagain. Zeina had known they¡¯d drag her into their debate sooner or later. She¡¯d wished it was never.


    ¡°Santi''s my best player,¡± she answered, putting much emphasis on the pronoun. ¡°but Ibe gets you stats everyone knows that.¡±


    ¡°Heard that? Everyone!¡± Adame echoed. ¡°Everyone except you.  Daft and dense as you are.¡±


    Luckily that was all they needed from her. She spotted something queer behind Isa as she turned away. Not really queer per se, I mean it wouldn¡¯t be the first horned cadaver she saw sticking out of a sandbank. The strangeness lay in the memories such a common sight invoked in her.


    Dead Things in the Sands. Corpses in the Dunes. The last words her uncle had said before she left his office. The Axumite army had lost not just control but full contact with a certain oasis town deep in the desert¡¯s interior and that was the last transmission they¡¯d received from Tamsaret. His advisors had decided it was necromancy, how they came to that conclusion Zeina would never know ¨Cor care. It was most likely a dramatic call for help during a slaughter but since such morbid magic had been suspected this would have to be classified a shadow mission and excluded from the briefings. Even the bravest of soldiers would lose sleep over rumors of the undead. The town was the final stop before she¡¯d report back to base for reassignment.


    Miles later Zeina felt a sudden nudge in her being. The type of nudge that meant her powers had been awoken. A drone approximately 6 miles away was feeding her reports. She''d had these powers for close to 4 years but she¡¯d never quite gotten used to receiving notifications in her head.


    Command had recently ordered limited satellite messaging in an attempt to prevent any interceptions and forcing the entire regiment to rely on either face-to-face or drone-to-face methods.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Zeina understood how but not why she could do this. Technomancy was relatively new form of magic, I mean technically she was older than it, the first report of scientific Arcanum had been reported barely two decades ago. Zeina like most Technomancers knew and felt the power was old. Archaic even. The Cairo Incident was merely its first recorded manifestation.


    The bionic implant in her skull somehow translated the inputs from Binary to Human language. No matter how many she performed this task she would always find it fascinating. Technomancy: The world of unknown knowns. A book she¡¯d seen online recently. She would had to buy it even though it cost the same price as healthy calf.


    ¡°Drones are saying the road¡¯s clear.¡± Zeina announced.


    ¡°We¡¯re not reaching Tin Zao before night.¡± Isa declared under a reddening sky. The boy was worryingly addicted to stating the obvious.


    ¡°Closest oasis town is 3 miles out, let¡¯s relax there. You know the night cold has killed more soldiers than her majesty over there." He laughed like he just said the finest joke of all time "I haven¡¯t been to -" He paused and squinted at his bike¡¯s holoscreen.


    ¡°¡­Tavenda  but Saharan law states every town is required to have cold rooms, warm food and even warmer legs.¡± He was mimicking a general now. A distasteful joke but a comedic performance overall Zeina had give honor where it as due Now that was comedic


    The sky was painted with uneven stripes of black blue and orange when they got their first glimpse of the much welcomed blot of green staining the golden landscape.


    Upon arrival Isa likened a bloated, twisted and leafless tree to one of his ex-girlfriends. He was 19 and given the opportunity he¡¯d sexualize the word "hard drive". He was already four times guilty of that crime


    Scanted streets soon flooded with onlookers as their hovers approached. The children reached them first. Pups of all sizes came scampering out of every alley in sight, grown folk trailing behind them.


    Even though she¡¯d come to find the wide eyes and smiles from the little girls of each village they visited appeasing, she¡¯d didn¡¯t think could last another day the this, posing for selfies, arguing about athletes thousands of miles away, going to sleep with no vanquished foes. She had 2 weeks of this left

 Crystalline: Part III

    Celebrity status was the last thing Zeina thought she''d achieve back when she¡¯d subdued those Tusan Lieutenants at Timioune. Who was she kidding? She¡¯d known word would travel the moment she¡¯d unceremoniously yanked the first officer out of his tank. Back then she¡¯d assumed her audience would¡¯ve been amongst new recruits and vets, not every minor from the Sahara to the Sahel.


    The ride ¨Cor crawl¨C from the town¡¯s outskirts to The Cloud had been too lethargic to be true.  Zeina didn¡¯t have an inch of space to herself until security halted the trailing torrent of fiends at the resort¡¯s entrance.


    Majority of The Cloud was several cube-like structures rising in compact rows and columns by the banks of the town¡¯s only natural source of water. The two oases she¡¯d spotted earlier had been artificially engineered.


    They were welcomed at the base of the polished stone steps by two of the resort¡¯s staff. Both hostess and chauffeur wore identical blue Kaftans embroidered with white floral patterns along its borders and fringes and golden stitches around their chests and necklines. The chauffeur, a boy Zeina judged to be nothing older than 20 also wore matching blue trousers and a contrived smile. Trust me, I hate my job too.


    ¡°The Cloud¡¯s doors are always open to those fighting for freedom.¡± said the smiling female attendee, she had earth brown skin, slightly slanted eyes and her hair would have been shoulder length if it wasn''t neatly packed in a bun.


    ¡°Also open to those fighting against it I¡¯ve heard.¡± Isa said, dismounting his hovercycle. The hostess thankfully ignored that. The last thing she¡¯d wanted to hear was another rehearsed rendition of The Saharan nuances of Neutrality.


    ¡°You¡¯ve arrived at the perfect time, the dining cube is just about to open, Hali will handle your hovers, Your rooms have already been prepared.¡± Her voice was high, calm and trained, same with her speech and enunciations.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Zeina had been welcomed by hundreds ¨Cmaybe thousands¨C of her type on this trip. That''s what this was, a holiday, a fucking vacation. She had half a mind to skip dinner, ask for her room code and pass out, God knows she was tired. Her body betrayed her thoughts however. Dining. The mere mention of the word triggered a small earthquake in her lower torso. Solitude would have to wait.


    The alleged dinner cube was actually a cuboid. It¡¯s originally porcelain exterior shone in different tones under the influence of both natural and man-made lights.


    Rock formations and Palm fronds sat and stood on either side as she ascended the steps, she reached the summit alone because unlike her, Isa and Adame actually enjoyed all the clamoring, they remained at the base taking selfies with a couple of teenage stragglers who¡¯d managed to sneak past security. The first positive from the entire trip came when the fanatical trio darted away to avoid getting tackled. The smallest one skipped, veered and swerved past a guard before mimicking a sweeping motion Zeina had executed at Timioune while the guard literally ate the dust in her wake.


    A wide red door automatically parted exposing a reasonably spacious and lush interior. Sets of circular tables and chairs sat atop the soft carpet, arranged with dexterous efficiency. The architecture was hybridized as was the case in most Saharan towns. Some parts, geometrically islamic. Some parts, colorfully Tuareg


    The hostess pointed her crew to an empty table, urging them to order anything on the already displaying holomenu.


    ¡°Menu?¡± Isa asked in disbelief. ¡°Send us whatever bread, meat and beer you have, we¡¯re not picky.¡±


    They spent the next seven minutes deciding on what stew to order and another three on meat and beer. The verdict was Goat, Beef, Lamb and smoked Fish.


    Less than twenty minutes later and the gang had finished devastating a generous bowl of rich red, creamy stew alongside stacks of fresh flat bread, fruits and lemon cakes. 45 minutes later and the 3 pints of beer stood empty except for the froth sliding down the glass.


    The guys wiped their mouths and hands then started for a table seating four young women who were clearly tourists. Probably here on a friend''s retreat while braver women fought and perished less than a hundred miles east . Zeina had seen glances exchanged between parties and knew Isa wouldn¡¯t waste an opportunity to achieve the warm legs portion of his three step agenda. She had no doubt the sturdy wood on king sized beds was about to be put to test ¨Call night.