“...What?”

The ruffian and his cronies stared in horror as their bullets froze midair, then harmlessly fell to the ground in a ring around Sanchi and Ava.

“Heh, sorry. Those things are really loud, you know! Scared the heck out of me, so I accidentally strummed my banjo a bit. Is there a problem?” Sanchi innocently blinked, but his wide grin told another story.

“You’re kind of a terrible person, you know that?” Ava muttered.

“Is that any way to thank the person who just saved your life?” Sanchi casually strummed the banjo again. A barely-perceptible sonic wave rippled out from its strings and exploded outward, knocking all the ruffians onto their rough behinds.

A few quickly clambered to their feet and pointed their weapons at Sanchi, but their leader waved them down.

He looked at Sanchi with newfound respect—and more than a bit of fear, though he did his best to not show it.

“It seems we should reintroduce ourselves. I’m Toby, third chair of The Garrison. Who are you and what are you doing in our territory?” he asked.

“Fuck off, you! This is MY territory! Leaky Lighters territory!” Ava spat at Toby.

Toby angrily snorted. “An upstart, ragtag squad like yours doesn’t have the ability to lay claim to any area, nevermind an entire town.”

He turned his attention to Sanchi. “What is it she promised you? Wealth? Love? Join The Garrison and we will provide you with whatever you need and more. A man of your…”

Toby eyed Sanchi’s banjo. “...talent deserves more.”

Sanchi raised the banjo. “Oh, you like my banjo, eh? How about my violin? My flute? My guzheng? My shamisen? My lute?”

Toby’s eye twitched as Sanchi pulled instrument after instrument out of his sling bag, while Ava clenched her teeth shut to keep herself from bursting into laughter.

With an incredibly overexaggerated slap of the forehead, Sanchi exclaimed, “Oh wait, I know! You’re a man of culture.”

Sanchi deposited his assortment of instruments back in the sling bag and pulled out a red tablecloth. He draped it over his left arm, and, like a matador taunting a bull, tapped the back of it with his right hand so that the cloth shook.

After a few seconds, Sanchi pulled away the cloth, revealing a cello. “Tada! This is the instrument you’re looking for.”

Several of Toby’s men angrily stepped forward, but a single movement from him—a raise of his right hand—stopped them all in their tracks.

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“We’re leaving.”

Discontent murmurs spread amongst the ranks, but the ruffians eventually turned and left, making their way back into the forest and disappearing within.

Once the last of his men reached the treeline, Toby holstered his own gun and nodded toward Sanchi.

“How long will you be here?”

“As long as I need.”

Toby stared at Sanchi, who calmly returned the gaze. After a few moments, Toby’s gaze shifted to a grinning Ava before returning back to Sanchi.

“One week. Out of respect for the ability you showed, we will wait one week for the Leaky Lighters to come into the fold. If that has not happened, then the full weight of The Garrison will return and do what must be done.”

With that, Toby turned heel and followed his men into the depths of the forest.

Sanchi and Ava waited for a few more moments, completely silent as they scanned every inch of the forest line for movement and strained their ears for the rustling of footsteps in the grass.

“I think they’re gone,” Sanchi finally said. “Are you alright?”

Ava ignored Sanchi’s question and asked her own, “Did you know they were going to assassinate me tonight?”

“Nope. I just came here to look for you. Happy coincidence, I guess. I think I’ve earned the right to a favor, no?”

Ava grabbed the plate of meat Sanchi had handed her earlier and left, walking in the direction of the town.

“...Is that a no?” Sanchi yelled after her.

“Follow and find out!”

Sanchi grinned and muttered to himself, “Sounds like a yes to me!”

***

Dario was slouched over the back of a camel, his eyes only half-open as the combination of the heat rising from the desert floor and the sun from up high combined to lull him into a semi-conscious state.

For the fiftieth time that hour, he complained to himself, “Where the hell is this giant ocean supposed to be? The people at the last town said I was gettin’ close. Well, it's been two damn days, so how close is close!”

Dario suddenly sat upright and shouted his indignance towards the heavens, “I haven’t. Seen. A. Speck. Of. Green. In. Days!”

Indeed, after utilizing the first layer’s spy network to determine his destination, Dario had immediately set out west, toward the center of the first layer.

It had taken him almost a month to leave the city behind and enter the desert…

The desert was far worse.

The Holy Kingdom, his blessed native land, was a land of fertility, brimming with life in each and every inch and corner. Of course, such was fitting for the land inhabited by those chosen by the Holy Truth.

So it wasn’t that he was surprised that the other side was made up of such a hellish landscape—he’d just underestimated how hellish it was. Dario couldn’t imagine in the slightest how anyone without a holding item filled to the brim with food and water would be able to traverse this massive desert.

Not that all the food and water was for himself; most of it was actually for the camel, not that he could complain. He’d purchased the camel at the western edge of the city in a backroom deal. Two gallons of precious ice cream—one of vanilla, one of chocolate—for the trader’s best camel.

It’d pained him to part with so much of his precious supply, but given the opportunity of spreading the Holy Truth to the most damned of places, he’d forced himself to make the trade.

In hindsight, Dario realized that he’d clearly done the right thing. Carl, which is what he’d named the camel, was perhaps the best investment he’d ever made. Regardless of the heat, the time of day, or even the lack of an end in sight, Carl trudged forth with a stubbornness that could potentially even bring the two of them through this giant desert.

Somehow, through his delirious mind, an interesting thought came to mind. That perhaps there was a reason for the vastness of the desert, in that it served as a barrier between the outer ring of the first layer, which was filled to the brim with unfortunate souls, and the center.

A barrier created by someone who did not want to be bothered, and perhaps enjoyed a bit of sunshine.