Akairo's eyes quaked as he watched smoke rise from the left half of Daş’s face.

“ARRRG!” The guard screamed as he suddenly sat up making Akairo flinch in fear.

Daş glanced at Akairo with a twisted expression for a moment. His right eye was wide and shaking with what could only be rage.

His gaze fell to the multitude of pockets on his chest as the sounds of explosions and gunfire filled the air.

He shoved his fingers into one of them and grabbed a grey box which was no larger than a box of matchsticks.

From it, he retrieved a dark pill which he threw into his mouth.

He then seemingly crushed it with his teeth and this resulted in a loud crack which was followed by wisps of green smoke that rose from his nose and mouth.

He quickly inhaled them and Akairo watched as the flesh around the guard’s burns healed.

Daş then threw the box at Akairo before rushing out of the cruiser.

Akairo grabbed the box and tightly held it all while keeping as low as possible.

He heard screams, gunfire and explosions as the battle outside continued.

A few moments passed and it seemed as though the carnage had ceased but, regardless, Akairo kept his head down.

He then heard the sounds of footsteps coming from his right.

He closed his eyes and as the footsteps got closer and gasped as he heard someone sigh.

“Hey, are you hurt?” Teyrn asked prompting Akairo to slowly open his eyes.

He cautiously sat up to find a dust-covered Teyrn.

Akairo’s eyes widened as he looked the guard over but Teyrn waved his right hand dismissively.

“Don’t worry. I’m fine.” He assured before standing upright and scanning his surroundings.

“Alright, we need to move! How are our casualties lookin’?”

“A few grazes! Nothing serious!” Someone yelled.

“Alright! Patch ‘em up real quick so we can put this place in our rearview mirrors!”

“Got it!”

Teyrn nodded before glancing at the box in Akairo’s hands but just as he raised his brows, Daş walked up to him with a twisted expression.

“How bad is it?” He growled through gnashed teeth.

“Let’s just say you won’t be goin’ on dates any time soon.” Teyrn grinned while inspecting Daş’s face.

“Shit.” Daş cursed before suddenly standing upright.

“Wait a minute! Doesn’t this mean I’ll be able to get an eyepatch? Women love guys with eyepatches, right?” Daş asked with an almost desperate expression.

Teyrn gave him a tap on the shoulder before walking away.

Daş then turned to Akairo.

“Right?” He whimpered.

Akairo didn’t respond making Daş sigh.

He then joined Teyrn in watching the surrounding area from behind the cruiser.

Akairo let out a deep sigh as he sat upright.

It’s here that he realized his heart had been racing this whole time and so he took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself.

While he did, he inspected the box Daş had thrown to him and saw that there was one other pill inside.

Akairo took the pill out revealing that it was made out of a dull green, almost black crystal which faintly glowed.

Along its side, in faint grey font, were the letters “UA-EBCC”.

“Damned savages are probably making their way into the Inner Fields as we speak.” Akairo heard Teyrn scoff making him return the pill into its box.

“Yeah, but that’s good for us. It’ll give us the room we need to safely make it to Babilu.” Daş noted.

Akairo glanced to his left, towards the bus which was now littered with bullet holes and burn marks.

He wondered where the attackers from before came from. He wondered why they had attacked in the first place.

Akairo had heard that those who lived in the Outer Field, the area beyond the bounds of any of Em’tza’s major cities, were lawless but he never imagined that they attacked other people for seemingly no reason. He wondered what they possibly could’ve wanted but before this thought could gain any momentum, Teyrn slapped the cruiser’s roof, frightening Akairo a little.

“Alright, let’s move out! Daş, sit with Kairo.” He barked before rushing into the driver’s seat.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Daş complied and promptly closed the door after sitting next to Akairo.

“Hold on to that for me, just in case I get my hands blown off, yeah?” He smiled.

Akairo nodded while clutching the box closely.

“Hehe.” Teyrn snickered while flying the cruiser behind the bus which followed closely behind the other cruiser.

Akairo looked at Daş’s now scarred face and was reminded of his own burns.

Daş's smile dimmed a little upon seeing a tear fall from Akairo’s face.

Akairo was next to notice the streams of tears were falling from his eyes and as they did, flashes of the day before tormented his mind.

“Aww, come here, bud,” Daş said while reaching out to Akairo, who limply fell into the guard’s arms but not even they could stop Akairo from violently twitching and convulsing every time he thought back to the suddenness of that moment.

“Shh.” Daş sounded while gently holding Akairo who’s eyes were wide open because whenever he closed his eyes, he saw a red sky.

“What the- he’s really burning up. Are you feeling sick or something?” Daş asked but it was Teyrn who answered as he drove.

“Did Sully never tell you? Akairo’s had a condition where he spontaneously combusts if he’s too stressed. It’s been this way ever since he was very young. That’s why he’s covered in those bandages. I’m not sure about the exact details but something happened in his early childhood that caused his Tal Circuits to go haywire and now, if he’s under too much stress, he unconsciously generates fire from all over his body. Sully told me that he and... he and Engel to him to every doctor in Eastview but they just didn’t know how to help him.”

“Damn,” Daş muttered while holding Akairo who took countless deep breaths all in an attempt to rid himself of the visions but the harder he tried, the clearer they became.

His eyes then widened upon seeing a flickering ember leaving his mouth alongside his breath.

He breathed out again but saw no ember and so he disregarded it as an illusion caused by pain.

He then tightly held onto Daş while wishing the visions would go away.

.

..

Hours had passed as the trio of vehicles rushed across the westward road under the dimming light of the setting sun.

Akairo, who had left Daş’s embrace, peered out of the window and saw that the further west they travelled, the more green everything became. There were more trees, taller grasses and he spotted a few animals.

Teyrn made it a habit to occasionally fly the cruiser a little higher, allowing Akairo to see more of the world.

This allowed him to notice, hidden beneath the green, ruins of all kinds. Buildings, vehicles and even gigantic machines that he didn’t recognize. All were covered in plant life.

Akairo then noticed that the cruiser had begun to slow down and just as it did, it drove past a tall metal fence which was illuminated by the first streetlight Akairo had seen they left Eastview.

The three vehicles came to a stop and Akairo’s heart slowly began to race again.

“Can’t remember the last time I passed through here,” Teyrn muttered as a soldier walked up to his window.

Teyrn rolled down the window allowing the soldier to peer into the cruiser.

“You’re the last, huh?”

“Yep,” Teyrn replied.

The soldier nodded before stepping away from the cruiser.

The bus then began moving forward prompting Teyrn to fly forwards as well.

He flew past several soldiers who stood at various points around a tall, concrete wall.

Several buildings then came into view and they stood mostly untouched.

They were covered in coats of relatively fresh paint and served numerous purposes, from housing vehicles to just general housing.

The trio of vehicles moved through what appeared to be a mixture between a military outpost and a gas station.

They stopped by a row of shops allowing Daş to wrap half of his head in bandages.

He then opened the right door and exited the cruiser allowing Teyrn to do the same.

“Alright. We’re gonna Grab a few things and then head straight for Babilu, alright? Emet knows if they’ll feed us properly over there, hehe.”

Akairo gave Teyrn a curt nod promoting the two guards to close the door and walk towards the stores leaving Akairo in the silence of the cruiser.

He let out a breath but this made him remember the ember from before.

This then led to him remembering the red sky and as his racing heart reached its fastest, he remembered the faces of those he had lost and this led to an anguish that consumed his entirety.

He let out a frightened breath and, much to his horror, it was laden with embers that flickered brightly in the darkness of the cruiser.

He wanted to cry out for help but every breath simply released more embers which burnt his throat and it wasn’t long before the entire cruiser was filled with sparks.

“Help-“ Akairo wheezed but just as he did, he thought back to the being that had robbed him of everything and at this point, the inside of the cruiser had turned into an oven, filled with countless sparks and smoke.

Akairo fell to his side as pain engulfed his entire body but before another second could pass, something ripped the side door off of the cruiser and grabbed him before pulling him out.

Akairo’s vision threatened to leave him but he could see just enough to know that it was Teyrn who had pulled him out.

“Dammit! Here! Bite on this.”

Akairo felt something small and coarse fall into his mouth and without thinking, he bit it only for his mind to be overwhelmed by a sense of clarity and relief.

He tried sitting up but Teyrn forced him down as the sensation of relief spread through his body.

Several people gathered around Akairo but although he could hear their all of their words of concern clearly, he chose to focus on Teyrn who looked at him with a pained expression.

“There, now breath,” Teyrn said over the many voices.

“Breathe.”

Those words echoed endlessly in Akairo’s mind and they followed him into unconsciousness as his eyelids slowly fell.

.

..

Akairo was awoken by a sudden jolt.

He opened his eyes to find himself lying in Teyrn’s embrace and just as he realized this, he tried hugging Teyrn only to realise that he was covered in a new set of bandages. Not only that, ringing throughout his body were waves of fresh pain.

“Whoa there. Calm down.” Teyrn urged while gently rubbing Akairo’s back.

Akairo saw that they were back in a moving cruiser but it lacked any kind of burn marks.

“You had a bit of an accident yesterday. Do you remember what happened?”

“A bit of an accident, you say.” Daş scoffed from the driver’s seat.

“Shut it.” Teyrn hissed before returning his gaze to Akairo whose eyes trembled.

“E- Engel.” He whimpered prompting Teyrn to hold him even tighter.

“What was that, anyway? Was it some kind of broken Tal Manifestation or something else?” Daş asked as fresh tears fell from Akairo’s face.

“I don’t know. All I can say is that he probably can’t control it. It would be best if we talked to some doctors once we get there.”

“Yeah. Hehe, you should have seen the faces of those station guards-“

“Not now, Daş.”

“Alright.”

Silence followed.

That silence was eventually broken by the sound of something flying past the cruiser but at a much higher altitude.

“Huh. Looks like whoever they sent to Eastview is on their way back. Wonder why they sent anyone in the first place, though. The whole city’s gone.” Daş sighed making Teyrn let out an agreeing hum.

“They probably went to investigate the exact cause of what happened.”

“Hehe, maybe it was the White Hairs.” Daş chuckled.

“Maybe. I heard they were deployed in Southview for aid. But who are they going there to fight? And if they find anyone, why have they decided to strike now?” Teyrn wondered aloud.

“Whatever the truth ends up being, I pray history doesn’t repeat itself.” He muttered.

He then took a breath and looked out of the window as the countryside rushed by, allowing his breath to slowly leave his lungs.

“Do you think there’ll be another Great War?” Daş asked.

“Maybe. Although I hope, for the sake of every Enoshi, that does not come to pass.”