🐲 Dragon and Phoenix (Path of Light and Fire Book #2) (Completed) 🐲

Chapter 49

The sand of the Wastelands scraped across Sabin's skin, coarse and grainy, which combined with the sun formed a strong irritant. It felt unnatural, this sand, like soil which had all its life drained.

His father, Aegis the Chanyu, warned him that the sun held its own danger. So much so, that Sabin wore the hood of his silver and black coat, despite how warm it felt. He had several skins of water and if things got complicated, he could light back to his father whenever he needed.

It should have been strange to see his father, once a blacksmith in a small town, now a leader of legions of people. Yet it wasn't. Now he knew some of his father's history, he had to admit to himself this made much more sense.

Besides, I've seen stranger in my life.

He was a man of seventeen turns, two years into his second adult-year and nearing eighteen. Most people his age where still discovering the person they wanted to be. While he didn't remove himself from that category, he'd seen more in the last year and a half than most people had with thirty turns.

It started with him learning he was a Serien and having the fate of mankind thrust on his shoulders. Then he had to recruit the other Seriens, some more willing than others. In the journey, he learned what love meant and then lost it, only to find it again thanks to a some miracle of magic. To complete the circle of impossibility, he and the Seriens had demolished an ugar army determined to invade the human lands.

And that was just the start.

He snickered. The one trial he hadn't conquered yet was his impeding fatherhood. It was a lot of responsibility to bring a life into the world. Somehow in the books he'd read, even if the hero and the lady made love, no one ever seemed to get pregnant. And with everything on his mind, when he and Kianna made love, he hadn't once considered that consequence. But also, he wasn't surprised. What happened in the real world and in the books was often different.

Sabin hadn't known if he'd be able to balance the responsibilities of being a Serien and a father and it seemed as though he would never have the chance to find out. The last time he'd seen Kianna, she'd nearly died. She hadn't remembered him, but as the memories of him returned, so did the memories of her death. And her body responded to that in a way Sabin did not wish to recall.

Sabin wondered if his biological parents had a similar plight. He'd hated them growing up and in his youthful mind it was simple: anyone who would have given him up must have been horrible people. Yet now, despite his biological brother's tales of his childhood, he couldn't help but wonder if King Yua and Queen Djeneba had made a similar choice. He didn't want to abandon his son or daughter, but it was the only way Kianna would live. His parents should have killed him as a baby, and it was their absence from his life that permitted his own.

Sabin shook his head. It doesn't matter the reason for my absence. If my child hates me, she or he will be justified.

He needed to focus on his mission: finding the city in the Wastelands. Sabin wasn't sure if the city was real or an illusion of Yulan's mind, but it made sense. One of the Guan's greatest weapons was their ability to fade into the background as myth and rumor. Yet they were real, and they had to have a home. There was a good chance that home was somewhere in the Wastelands.

It was a natural barrier. The harsh climate and lack of food and water, combined with the roaming ugar, made exploration impossible. Even with the Seriens, there was something wrong in being here. Yulan talked about a buzzing and pressure that flooded his mind in the Wastelands and while Sabin felt it, his control of his senses allowed him to mitigate those issues.

This was where their first fight ended and if Sabin had it his way, it would be the site of their last.

Tiny legs pulled against the sands, the first sign of life Sabin had encountered in the Wastelands. Sabin projected his thoughts towards the creature, the first skill he had learned on his journey. He should have known then that his Path was not fire and something different, but this Serien thing didn't come with instructions.

"City?" Sabin projected towards the animal.

There was a long pause as it stopped. Then Sabin was drooling from hunger. He could go for a fresh mouse or gecko...

Sabin blinked and shuddered. He was out of practice if that animal could project to him stronger than he could to it.

I should practice this skill more.

He wiped his eyelids to make sure they were free of sand and opened them to look for the creature he had just spoken to, but he couldn't find it in the shifting sands. It gave him hope however. If there were animals in the Wastelands, he was wrong about the lack of resources. It made him even more sure he was on the right track.

The wind picked up around him, so he tugged his hood close and shut his eyes again, pushing the energy of his sight to his other senses. When he stood, he felt a pull to turn to his right. It was a small nudge, one he would not have noticed if he hadn't enhanced his sense of touch.

If they want me to go right, I will go left.

He pulled from his sense of taste to keep his touch enhanced. It would not serve him here in the least and now he had a guide. There was something here, meant to keep him confused and disoriented. He likely had been walking in circles the entire time he'd been here, yet in his mind, it looked as though all was well.

Neat trick.

He gripped the hilts of his god-spears, its leather cool despite the heat. He blinked every so often to take a view of the horizon, but he trusted his touch to guide him and his ears to catch any incoming threat. The ugar flooded these lands and so far he'd had yet to see one.

It was only a few minutes before Sabin found his next clue he was on the correct trail. A giant shard of metal came into Sabin's field of view and he stalked it, the goosebumps rising on his arms. It looked like a bird, lying on its side, with metallic feathers sticking up. He caressed its rusted surface, his heightened touch feeling each jagged crevice.

A landmark?

There were a few indentations, but nothing that looked like a language he'd seen before.

He sighed and took a swig from his water skin, choking as it tasted like ash and soot. He exchanged his sight for taste and it returned to normal. It also made him wonder if there were other ways he could apply taste and how hyper-taste could serve him. He'd thought things would taste like nothing, but there had to be something more to that sense.

With his thirst quenched, he continued on his path, heading towards wherever it was the Wastelands did not want him. It felt like hours had passed, yet the sun hadn't moved from its perch in the sky. If he weren't already sure this was some magical purgatory that would be another key that something was wrong.

It was a few more minutes later while climbing a sand dune he saw it. In the distance, there was a giant, spinning bowl, with a needle sticking out of its center. He'd thought he had his fill of the strange and bizarre, but fate just kept proving him wrong.

What is Schewa's name is that?

He crested the hill, looking down at the tower that jutted from the valley, with the spinning bowl at its top. It was unlike anything he had ever seen, constructed of metal and glass, like someone had created it in the forge.

The activity at its base grabbed the bulk of his attention, however. All the missing ugar concentrated at its base attacking someone or something. Whoever it was, had found this place before him and could fight ugar. Alone.

That narrows the possibilities.

Sabin lighted towards the fray. Anyone who could do this, was someone he needed to meet.

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A/N: Happy New Year, Serien Nation! :)

What or Who do you think Sabin is about to run into? And what's up with that mysterious tower?

Let me know in the comments.