Chương 3: The Squalling Desert

In an empty room with rotting wood floors, peeling paint, and a flickering candle, a young auburn-headed boy was seated with his back against a wall. His head was buried in his knees, and his eyes were red, swollen, and unfocused. On his right hand lay a small section of an old newspaper. Plastered on it was an image of a man's back taken from a high vantage point. His built arms were at his waist, revealing large back muscles and broad shoulders that showed through his blue and white skintight suit.

His chestnut brown hair fluttered in the wind. Ahead of him was a massive crowd of workers, holding various encouraging signs, cheering, and celebrating their saviour. The caption atop the image read:"TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR OWN FUTURE."

'UNYIELDING FIST' ALARIC SAVES ALMER CITY FROM TERRORIST ATTACKS! 15, 000 DEAD AND COUNTING. Suddenly, the doors began to shake violently. BANG BANG BANG! The force of the knocks killed the small flicker of candlelight, and the boy was now left in pitch darkness. He clenched tightly onto the newspaper and buried his head deeper into his knees. The silence set in once again. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG! Silence. BANG! Suddenly, the door flew open, and the dark, isolated room was lit up by a blinding light.

A voice yelled out from behind the door.

"Wake up, Mr. Magician!" Evel's eyes shot open, his heart beating out of his chest. A cold sweat ran down his neck as he took a moment to collect himself. Right. I'm no longer in Yosten. The sun was now right above the horizon, casting a soft orange hue onto the sky. The gorgeous sight somewhat revitalized him. Although he didn't feel much better physically, the headache that was tearing into his skull had dissipated, thus the nap was successful. He jumped up to his feet.

"Thank you, Leo," Evel said as he dusted off his pants, "And you can just call me Evel." Leo looked at Evel apologetically.

"No problem, Mr. Magici... err Evel, but I lost count at around the 5th minute, so I might be off by a few minutes." Evel turned to Leo in surprise, "You counted every second?" Leo looked away, embarrassed.

"I don't have a clock, so…" Evel didn't really know how to reply. I guess I never specified that an approximation would do. He gently patted Leo on the back and made his way to an edge with the fewest people. He sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes and finally got the chance to consider all the information he had. In his pockets, he continued fiddling with his deck of cards. It helped him focus. He was currently in the Squalling Desert, a desolate area with violent waves of noise and rumblings.

Every direction was filled with nothing but sand, till the distant horizon. It was an unforgiving Danger Zone, usually a location to avoid at all costs. Their destination was a training camp, and their journey a test. Another test was probably on its way, and Evel needed to do three things in order to survive. Get stronger physically and with a weapon. Familiarize myself with my ability. And make strong friends. The affinity test... Evel shook his head.

Sure, it would probably decide his fate moving forward, but there was nothing he could do about it right now. The first two were pretty obvious, but Arlo mentioned a week as a timeframe. Evel wasn't quite sure if the week started the day of the message or once they arrived at the camp, but nonetheless, time was short. I'll assume the week starts now. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The situation was urgent. As for the third piece of advice…

He glanced over at his current colleagues. A large part of a person's strength came from their affinity and core ability. They hadn't even yet gotten tested for their affinity, and like Evel, many preferred to keep their core ability hidden. Evel didn't even know where to start, despite the seemingly easy task. The only two things he could judge were their physique and mental fortitude during the waves.

I fared relatively well in these waves, but I know if I had to fight these recruits, I'd lose to most of them, so that alone can't be worth much… I'll just hope the people I like are strong, I suppose. But first… Evel closed his eyes and activated his ability. Noticing the minute shift in the air, Arlo glanced over at Evel. A mysterious ethereal aura now surrounded Evel, indicative of him using his ability. Having been kept in the dark, Arlo was naturally curious about the nature of Evel's ability.

Arlo observed from a distance, looking to discern any clues. He waited… And waited… Then, finally, he watched as the aura slowly faded away. Evel got up, stretched his arms and walked over to a nearby group of people to join in on their conversation. His ability seemingly did nothing. Arlo turned back to the horizon. Evel, oblivious to the attention he was receiving, found a group that looked friendly enough in a small circle.

A confident young woman with shoulder-length red hair had one arm wrapped around a man's shoulders in the midst of telling a story, while two girls sat huddled nearby, listening closely. The man under her arms had dark, slicked-back hair and large, unfocused eyes. His arms were violently shaking, and his bottom lip was quivering. The girl softly stroked his hands while telling the story with forced, exaggerated expressions.

"And then this moron had the absolute gall to actually go to Father about his intentions to wed me! The one time he had the courage to do anything!" Noticing Evel approaching, the woman smiled politely at him and signalled at an empty spot on the circle. Evel politely nodded and joined in.

"So naturally, an assassin was hired to take out Brenton here, so we were then forced to be on the run." She gave the shivering man an look of disapproval.

"Leaving the house... now THAT really pissed Father off. He searched on and on for days, and over a year later, he actually found us." Everybody lives such unique lives.

"But I'm no fool, and I had a close friend watch Father's movements carefully. When the assassin broke into our house, we ambushed him and completely overwhelmed him. Made the idiot send home a message, too. Lucky for us, the army was recruiting anybody who was at least Core stage, and promised to take us out of the city."

"I-isn't joining the military a bit extreme? And an assassin?" The green-haired girl asked. Whatever we face will be easier than negotiating with Father." She looked at Brenton and sneered playfully.

"The only way we can get his approval is if Brenton is able to become rich or powerful, and this man has no talent as a merchant, so this seemed like the best way." Brenton's head snapped to Elena. His shaking had reduced, and his eyes had regained a semblance of focus.

"We couldn't have hidden away forever, Elena."

"I could have convinced my father eventually!" Elena replied dismissively.

"With all the loose screws in his mind?" His voice was weak, but it had a certain snark to it.

"WHAT!" Elena snapped.

"He sent a hit out on me!"

"Oh, stop overreacting." Like this, the two went back and forth for a while. Elena maintained a soft smile on her face despite her escalatingly angry words. Evel's face relaxed as he listened to their increasingly exaggerated accusations. Brenton's earlier exhaustion had all but dissipated. Eventually, one of the girls, the same green-haired girl who had spoken up earlier, started up a conversation with Evel.

He noticed her brown-haired friend had her gaze fixed on the distant horizon with her entire body shivering despite the high heat. The white tips at the end of her hair gave her a very distinct look. The green-haired girl looked over at her friend, then back at Evel. Is her brown haired friend in the same boat as Leo? He quickly understood her intention and took a page from Elena's book and introduced himself, displaying as much flair as he could.

"You wouldn't believe the type of people you meet as a magician!" He told the group about life as a magician and how he came to become one. He kept most of the details hidden; right now, only the happier stories were necessary. He showed them a few tricks, alternating card tricks and using some of his tools of misdirection he always kept on him. His personal favourite was his specially crafted cards. Slowly, the mood lifted higher, and a unlikely feeling of normalcy arose among the group.

He soon learned their names. The short, freckled girl with long green hair was Fern, and the awkward girl with brown hair with white tips was Juniper. Soon, they also began recounting their own stories, and the group gradually fell into a steady rhythm. A few others sat close, listening in to their stories, but never joined the conversation themselves. It helped, even for Evel, to have something else to think about. The sun set, and its light was replaced by that of torches.

The dark expanse spread out far in every direction, out of reach of the artificial light. It would have been a terrifying sight had they not been accompanied by the moon and the stars. The small cohort was interrupted by a transmission from Arlo, warning of the impending wave. Sharing a weak look amongst each other, they hastily put on their helmets as they mentally prepared. The disk slowed to a halt, the ground rumbled, and the screams returned.

Evel sat cross-legged on the floating red disk, eyes closed, fingers quietly shuffling a deck of cards inside his coat pocket. The only thing keeping him sane. He remained otherwise motionless for a few minutes even after the sounds dissipated, then took off his helmet with his shaky hands. His eyes scanned, first looking for Leo, the farmboy who had barely survived in the earlier wave. His eyes quickly fell on him lying motionless on the ground. Evel's heart tightened.

He didn't know the boy, and many on the journey had died before him. Logically, there was no reason for him to care extra for this boy. Yet regardless of logic, Evel's vision bleached at the edges, the world sharpening into a single point of focus on Leo's still body. Then, he noticed Arlo standing above Leo in the midst of creating a healing construct. The blurring fog vanished as quickly as it had come. A huge sense of relief washed over Evel.

He hadn't known Leo very long and had cared about his well-being, but the truth remained that various other people had died before, and Evel had felt slightly bad at most. So why did he care about this random boy? He didn't know. These thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Arlo's voice, speaking directly into his mind. [Good work! You are all now one step away from being soldiers. The rest of the trip won't nearly be as dangerous once we leave this Zone. Rest up, I have some Z-pills for those unable to sleep. When you wake up, it'll finally be time to get your affinities.] Evel took a sharp breath. His affinity. Soft cheers erupted from the group, though nobody had the energy for a proper celebration. After a bit of chatter, each person, one by one, got as comfortable as they could and let the sweet embrace of sleep wash over them. Evel alone remained seated in a lotus position; a mysterious aura swirled around him. He remained like this for a few minutes before he too dozed off. One week.