I jump out of bed at the sound of shouts coming from outside. One of the mercenaries, Gamba, barges into my tent and the fact that I am half asleep and barely dressed seem to be the least of his worries.
"What is going on?"
"We are under attack!"
I hastily wear my trouser and shirt, then my shoes. Now fully clothed, I follow Gamba out of the tent.
I am met with total mayhem.
Flying Junjus are spread all over the camp. They look like overgrown bats, except that what is supposed to be their heads is instead a patchwork of multiple eyes and razor-sharp teeth, and what should to be talons are instead replaced by hooves.
They let out ear splitting cries as they wantonly attack anything that moves. Thankfully, the mercenaries' response was swift, they have already brought those who can't fight to shelter, only leaving the battle-ready once on the field.
A dozen of mercenaries have taken position, aiming their arrows at the hideous creatures to shoot them down, but they are too swift and effortlessly dodge every projectile. At this point, swords and spears would be useless.
I stretch out my hand as I call for the wind.
In response, violent gusts rise and form a small tornado, sucking in the flying monstrosities. When I am sure that none has been left out, I change the structure of the wind to form a sphere of powerful gale, effectively trapping them inside.
Then out of nowhere, an energy beam blasts through the sky straight to the horde of trapped Junjus. It does nothing short than pulverise them to smithereens.
As I disperse the wind, the ashes of the calcinated Junjus with it.
A heavy silence falls unto to the camp as every pair of eyes slowly turn toward the source of the blast.
Out there, at the very edge of the camp, a delicate figure can be seen floating above the tents.
With the soft light of the moon at her back, she appears no different from an otherworldly being, or a spirit of the forests, coming out into the night to protect her territory and its denizens from the vile monsters aiming to spread corruption into the world.
Firmly cradled in her hands is a staff, the mystical power emanating from it being proof that its wood comes from a tree with all but mundane attributes. The staff in itself has been carved in a very simplistic manner; its head coils in the shape of a crescent moon, while the stem is wrapped by what seem to be an extremely light and translucent piece of cloth, which dangles loosely at the base.
She slowly glides closer. Her body is covered by an ample beige robe which does a poor job at completely of her voluptuous figure, her pitch-black hair is styled into long braids down her waist that she allows to be carried freely by the soft nightly breeze.
Her skin is the colour of an Oak tree wood, and her face is even more lovely; refined eyebrows, a small nose, full lips painted in a deep shade of black… But the most attention gripping part of her face are her eyes, not because of the unfathomable mysteries and knowledge they seem to be the keepers of, but due to the vibrant golden hue of her pupils, surrounded by chestnut-coloured irises… this, more than anything, amplifies the ethereal aura exuding from her.
At last, she joins us on the ground, then observes the state of the area around her, finally, she turns her gaze toward the mercenaries which were fighting a while ago.
She lightly tilts her head to the side.
"Are there any wounded?"
Even though she spoke softly, her voice echoes across the area.
For long seconds no one answers. She turns her face at me, a question in her eyes.
"No… No one… Everybody's fine."
It is Ewa's voice which breaks the strange daze the rest of the mercenaries were plunged.
She casually walks toward Vyswe'eyaga and pass her arm around her neck in a half hug.
"Young lady, will you please stop with all your…" she wiggles the fingers of her other arm above their heads as she adds, "…sparkling and enchanting… the poor men over there will turn into brainless fools if you continue like that."
Vyswe'eyaga frowns a bit then snort as she says, "Eh? Why will it be my fault? I was just helping."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
It has been well over three months since my team and I left the underground tunnels, and not empty handed, if I can say it that way.
A few weeks after our exploration in the tunnels started, Ike sensed that we were being followed by someone, as one would imagine, it was concerning. It was not like our expedition into the wilderness was a secret from anyone back in the Archaeology Institution but the presence of a potential contestant trying to sabotage us, or attempt steal any of our discoveries would have been problematic.
It was preferable to not take any risks. Hence Ewa, with her unmatched stealth skills, volunteered in restraining him.
The intruder turned out to be a young woman, not the kind of hardened assassin and spy I had imagined.
The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew who she was… I felt it in my gut.
A Nchāren.
The most powerful civilization of its era. It prospered for millennia, giving birth to the greatest thinkers of their time. They are at the origine of countless creations, architects of wondrous infrastructures, mechanical constructs, and many other inventions that, to this day, endured the trial of time. They were also the first sorcerers who devised a plethora of spells, potions, and rituals of all kinds.
Three thousand years after their eradication, I am met with one of their kind, just a few meters away. A living Nchāren.
I almost couldn't believe my own eyes… maybe I was hallucinating or was I dead?
Of course, it was known that the people in those times were long-lived, a couple of centuries at most, but not that long-lived. It was virtually impossible for any of them to have survived the descent of Defilement… and to outlive it? It was inconceivable.
She couldn't be one of them.
But the way she wielded sorcery, her ability to use multiple elements, the golden pupils, it was all like the ancient texts described them.
If this was a dream, I never wanted to wake up.
I had so many questions to ask, so many mysteries that were yet to be uncovered… I had to speak with her.
I finally got the chance to, but then I found saw just how scared and lost she was—she slept for thousands of years and woke up in a world who changed without her noticing, I don't dare imagine how confusing it must.
And then she says that there are more of her kind—Great God. It was the best day of my life.
Then the worst day of my life when she refused to tell us where they were kept.
It's not like I will harm them or experiment on them or anything more nefarious… I just wanted to talk. Unfortunately, Vyswe'eyaga was adamant on not saying a thing, not even a clue.
My only consolation was her bargain with us; we would make an 'Oath of secrecy' about her existence and teach her everything she wished to know about this world—to the best of our ability—and she would temporarily stay us and teach me and a few others how to properly read, write and speak the 'Tongue', as she calls it.
This already was an incredibly priceless opportunity, to learn about the Nchāre empire by one of its very citizens.
Still, the other historians and archaeologists of the party insisted that we at least attempt to find the resting place of the other Nchāren. It was unanimous, and even though I wanted to respect Vyswe'eyaga's wish, I was curious too. So, we decided to discreetly send out scouts to check the tunnels from a twenty or so kilometres radius. Vyswe'eyaga said that she left the place about a week after awakening and assuming that she walked throughout the whole journey, it couldn't have been far.
After two weeks of search, we did not find the trace of a single bunker or hidden chambers.
Well… we did find the wreckage of one of the Nchāren's strange transportation device, and what—who it was transporting… Unfortunately, many of such engines had been found throughout the years in the past, so it wasn't anything groundbreaking. The remains were also completed useless since most of the skeletons had completely turned to ash, further investigation showed that the process did not occur naturally—the transportation device was hot when we explored it, the ashes were warm too, and everything else had completely burned. All this showed that the fire was lite recently.
It was fairly easy to guess who the perpetrator was, given that it was in the same direction Vyswe'eyaga had come from. I probed her about it during our teaching sessions and she simply responded that it was the right thing to do and that they deserved a proper funeral… She wasn't wrong, I guess.
A month later she was proficient enough in our language to be able to casually speak with about anyone, though her accent was still present. Since then, she held on to her apprehensions no more and boldly questioned anything that picked her interest… which was mainly; the abilities of warriors and the sorcerers of the new era—truthfully, she cared more about the warriors.
I couldn't understand what she found so interesting in them, they are impossibly stronger than a normal human, yes, but that ends there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone smacks me on the head. I turn to find the woman in question grinning at him, that same sassy grin she likes to give me.
"Were you listening to what I was saying Bossman? Stop spacing around."
"If I'm your boss then why do you keep hitting me."
"Hmm?"
"No… Nothing. What were you saying again?"
A mocking smile spread on her lips.
Tch, violent woman.
"Well, Vyvy and I were wandering if we could make a stop at the next village… you know how we delicate ladies are sensitive to all this humidity and insects."
"To be more specific she needs a place to restock her wine cabinet—", adds Vyswe'eyaga from the side, she is still stuck in Ewa's hug.
"Traitor! We're supposed to be on the same side."
"—and I'm curious about the village too. I wouldn't mind if we made a stop there."
As a reward, Ewa pats her head while nodding in satisfaction. Vyswe'eyaga on the other hand does not look amused in the least, she has a sullen, but the plea of help is evident in her eyes.
The gentleman that I am gallantly ignores her predicament. From my experience with women, it is always the smart choice to not get involve.
"It isn't a village per se, more precisely it's the temporary settlement of a nomadic tribe of the highlands", Ewa taps her feet on the ground, a sign for me to get to the point, "The settlement also happens to be on our way to the capital, so, I suppose we could stop by, for a day or two…if they didn't leave yet."
"Great! We will be leaving in the morning, yes? Then off to bed everyone"
Ewa does not allow for objections and directly walk for her tent, freeing Eyaga in the process. She sighs in relief as she massages her neck.
"You sure have gotten close this past month," I remark.
"She makes it difficult not to like her, in some ways, she reminds of another friend of mine." Most likely another Nchāren, but I repress the need to ask her more about it. I have learned from the time we spent together that, though she is willing to humour us with questions about her homeland, anything too personal is where she draws the line.
She observes me for a short while.
To think that at the beginning, she would look at me like I was some kind of… intriguing puzzle, I think?
It was a bit uncomfortable at the at first, but since it was pure curiosity, I tried not to mind too much. Later when we could properly communicate, I took especially care to explain to her what is albinism and about the other congenital conditions I knew of. She proved to be very interested on the subject.
I hear her sigh audibly,
"Remind me again, why am I following you to the capital?"
"Having second thoughts?"
"I think so. It's just… there will be there will be a lot more of people there, and I—I don't know if I'm ready for that."
Understandable.
"Don't forget that you'll be able to access a lot more records from the capital. My uncle is also there, and he's an Archivist too so I'm certain he will be helpful."
I hesitate before adding, "And I promise you, your presence will be kept a tight-lipped secret… You won't be bothered by anyone."
She still doesn't appear to be at ease but nods, nonetheless.
"I will retire as well, goodnight Kayin."
Then she is gone.