Leina is taken to Menace's oasis, while Fio tries to follow...?
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The building was simply magnificent. Leina was raised in Earl Vance's territory, considered the most cultural in the Continent, yet she found it no exaggeration to say that the buildings towering over the Khan Oasis were impeccable.
Clear water gushed despite being smack dab in the middle of the desert, spreading via waterways through all the stone streets, protecting the people from the burning sand.
[You don’t see these large-scale mechanisms very often.]
Most were in ruins now, but the ornate architecture of the Amara dynasty’s golden age remained active in the Khan Oasis.
“So there was a capital like this in the desert zone.”
“A capital? This is more like a villa.”
He replied, almost sad.
“Once, there were cities like this all around the desert.”
“And yet, no traces of them remain now.”
“Time and tide wait for no man, as they say.”
Led by Setra, she walked towards the center of the oasis. The people they met on the way greeted him familiarly, which only made her confused.
“Did you bring all these people too?”
“Yes, as requested by Milady.”
He answered, honestly.
[I see, he doesn’t seem to be lying. In that case, I’ll have to look for a way to free them.]
“You didn’t lock them up?”
“We’re not barbarians. If anything, we’re scholars.”
He smiled wryly at her question.
“Why would we lock them up? They can't escape from here on foot.”
“They can’t?”
“Nope. The Khan Oasis is completely isolated from the surrounding oases. There’s only quicksand around here. Traveling by land simply isn't possible. No one wishes to die trying.”
As they kept walking, they saw people greeting them as they caught sight of the pair. The Devil Setra as well, waved his hand and went ‘yo’.
To a casual observer, it wasn't a typical relationship between prisoner and jailer. Everybody looked cheerful.
“Is it fun to live here?”
“Depends on how you look at it, maybe?”
He answered her question with a smile.
She realized one day she might be as familiar as the others with Devil Setra and his Lady, the ruler...
The sheer thought made a shudder run down her spine.
After a few more minutes, Setra led her to a pyramid-shaped temple in the oasis center. She slowly climbed the stairs, towards the temple at the top.
“That’s... your Lady...”
She saw a woman standing to welcome Leina at the entrance to the temple. Both her beautiful black hair and the white cloth she wore—wrapped around both her arms—fluttered in the wind.
“Yes, the one and only. The woman that will become the 15th ruler of the Amara Kingdom, Menace I.”
A hint of pride could be heard in his voice.
***
“I am dry
Everything is forgotten
I flow
Everything is forgotten
I...”
“...This isn’t working, can’t come up with new lyrics.”
In a corner of the desert wasteland, to avoid the intense sunlight, Fio sat wearily in the shadow of a rocky stretch.
He had tracked Leina through the desert by following the traces of his other half, the Sword of the Unicorn... but it seemed he wasn’t able to sense it anymore.
“Leina... I just hope you’re safe.”
Hearing his own whisper forced a bitter smile out of him. Before meeting her, he’d have never have uttered such words.
“If I was my old self, I’d have abandoned you long ago...”
[Leina risked her life to come help me, a liar. That’s why I have to repay her. I must have really changed, if I can actually think this with a straight face.]
“But, before I make it... I might dry up.”
Feeling even his spit evaporated from his mouth every time he talked to himself, he tightly shut his lips.
***
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