Ahir came to call Ethan for dinner. Ethan followed him outside the tent and found Juran sitting alone in front of the fire. He went there and sat by the fire.

It was the first night of their journey after they had escaped the ambush at the inn. Early in the morning they had procured four horses from a shady dealer at a backstreet. Ethan had been quite surprised at finding that he could easily ride a horse. He had realized that even though he had no memory of who he was or where he had come from, his learning experiences were still intact.

The four of them had been riding through the barren outer stretch of the capital city for the whole day.

It was a gruelling journey through a rough terrain sprinkled with barren hills and huge crevices. They had to lead the horses very carefully through the broken and mauled landscape. A moment's carelessness, and the horse and rider would fall into some treacherous pit! A cold and dry wind kept hauling at them, making their progress slower and slower.

Towards the evening they had arrived at the back of a low range of hills where the ground was less broken and the wind was tolerable. Juran had decided to camp there for the night. Ethan was surprised to see that the small backpack of Liz actually contained two small tents and some strange-looking objects. Within half an hour they had erected the tents and made a fire with those strange -looking objects.

Ethan had by now got accustomed to the weirdness of this world. The city of the Sun had been artificially created in the middle of a desert. Everything there was run automatically. Even the people there didn't seem to be real people, but puppets, identified by some weird marks crawling under their skin!

Everything here was too mechanical! Too lifeless!

But this was not the time to speculate about them.

Ethan had flopped on the bed Liz had prepared inside the tent. He was too worn out to sit up any longer and had fallen asleep immediately. So Ahir had come to wake him up for the dinner.

Ahir had brought their dinner with him. He spread a mat beside the fire and placed the tray of food and drink on it. Then he went away, leaving the two of them sitting there silently and staring at the fire.

The night was chilling. But in front of them, the fire continued to sizzle and radiate warmth. Ethan noticed that Juran was too silent and gloomy. It made him feel uneasy.

"Why are you so silent?" Ethan couldn't help but ask.

Juran sighed. "Nothing! I'm just thinking about tomorrow's trip," he said.

Ethan gazed at him expectantly. But Juran didn't elaborate on it. The two of them sat still for a few minutes more. Then Juran suddenly said, "You saw Liz and Ahir. What do you think about them?"

Ethan was taken aback. Was Juran asking for his opinion on them? What could he say about them when they were absolutely unknown to each other?

But Juran didn't expect an answer from him. Holding his gaze he said, "Do you want to know who they are?"

"I remember you said they are the nearest of a family that you have now?" Ethan said.

"They are the tools and weapons that I had to win through fights." Juran said.

Ethan was too surprised to ask any question. Instead, he stared at Juran silently.

"Yes. I won them in fights. They are priceless as weapons, so you can acquire them only through some crazy means, not just money."

"You mean they are slaves used as weapons?" Ethan asked.

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"So they are called slaves in the place you came from? It seems your memory is coming back slowly." Juran said.

Ethan doubted it. He still couldn't recall a single piece of personal information. He decided not to dwell on it too much. Right now, he was more interested to know about this world where humans were traded as weapons.

"Can you tell me more about this? I mean, why are you calling them weapons?" He said.

"Didn't you see yourself? How Liz had helped us to escape? Well, Ahir has a similar ability, too. Though it is not required often."

"Yes, I did. That's why I'm intrigued. You see, if you need me to be a weapon as well, you must tell me more about this world; about what's going on here. Without knowledge, I don't think I'll be of much help to you." Ethan said.

"Yes, you are right there!" Juran sighed. For a few moments, he stared at the red glow of the fire which had started to die down. Then he began in a low voice:

"In the beginning of this world only the Demons were here. Guided by their instinct only, they were one with the Elements. They could use the forces of Elements at their will. Then the Seraphs arrived here from another world. They created a new race out of the Demons and gave them the name of Humans. "

Juran stopped speaking and poked the glowing ambers with a long stick. Ethan couldn't help but speak out, "What are you saying? The Seraphs created Humans from Demons? Who are these Seraphs, anyway? I'm sure even in the world I came from, we used to call ourselves Humans. Doesn't it mean that you and me, we are part of the same world?"

"Yes, we are both Humans. But I don't think you belong to this world. Don't you think that, too? Does this world seem similar to you?" Juran said.

Ethan shook his head. There was a sad look on his face. No, this world was too unfamiliar to him. Still, he felt that the Humans in this world were no different from those in his world. "Tell me more, Juran," he said.

Juran continued with his story. "The Seraphs wiped out the original Demons so that Humans could live safely in this world. But this new race of Humans was not uniform. There were intelligent people who could build complex machines and invent new knowledge. They were called Cerebs. Then there were common people who could only run those machines. They were called Citizens as I have told you already."

'Yes, you have told about the Cerebs and their weapons before', Ethan remembered. There was something else he talked about, too. It was Demon blood.

'Will he explain it now?' Ethan thought excitedly.

Juran had continued to speak in that same low voice, "In between the Cerebs and the Citizens, there is a small group of people who carry some mutant genes which give them random abilities like the one you saw in Liz. These genes appear randomly. Those who show its effects are taken away from their families and raised as weapons and tools. For, no machines are yet made which can rival these mutant humans in their abilities."

Ethan couldn't help but interrupt Juran. "You mean these mutant Humans carry Demon genes?" He said.

"I am coming to this now." Juran said. "No, this is just a mutant gene. These Humans have some abilities which allow them to use the powers of Elements to some extent. But they can't control the Elements like the Demons could. It takes true Demon blood to be able to do that."

Ethan was totally confused now. "Then who are these people with true Demon blood? Didn't you say that the Seraphs had wiped the Demons out from this world? By the way, who are these Seraphs?"

"So many questions! Let me answer them one by one." Juran smiled. "The Seraphs came here from another world and went back there. Yes, they did wipe out the Demons, but it seems that a few of them survived and hid themselves among the Humans. That's why the Cerebs are always watching out for them."

Ethan realized his predicament fully. By some unknown fluke of fate he was endowed with powers similar to the forbidden Demons! But something in his heart told him that in his previous life he was a common human being without any supernatural power. 'Just where did this Demon blood come from then?' He thought.

But he couldn't find an answer to this. Not even Juran could provide him with an answer there. Bewildered and exasperated, Ethan hurled a last question at Juran, "What am I to do now?"

"Ah, relax there, man!" Juran said cheerily. "As you know by now, I've some old scores to settle with those Cerebs. They suspect me, too. But they can't destroy me openly. So they are taking some covert measures, like the one you saw yesterday." He patted Ethan's back, "Now let's go try to catch some sleep. Tomorrow morning we'll reach the town of Karna. We have a lot of work there," he said.

With this, he stood up and picking up a small bottle from the food tray, poured a dark liquid on the dying fire. The fire was extinguished at once. Only the starlight gleamed in the darkness and showed vaguely the outlines of their tents. Liz and Ahir had already been sleeping inside one of the tents. As they stepped inside the other tent Ethan felt a sudden tingling sensation in his body. It went away as swiftly as it had come.

'Some kind of force field has been activated around the tents,' he thought. 'Or Juran wouldn't allow everyone to go to sleep without arranging for a watch.'

Relieved, he sprawled himself on the sleeping mat and soon fell asleep.