***

General Lamah and Linean arrive at their destination in the biting cold. They look up at the dark tower risen into the darkened sky and took in a breath.

"Stop!" they heard the guards order over the large towering gates, "State your purpose,"

"We wish to trade!" the driver answered. There was silence on the other side.

"Do you have papers?" the guard asked.

"Yes!" the driver dismounted, rushed to the gate and handed his pass to the outstretched hand

"Open the gates!" the guard instructed and one could hear heavy iron wheels turning. It was only moments before they were allowed into the city. Linean and General Lamah sighed a relief.

Of all places they could be, this was one of the most dangerous. They were illegal immigrants from Other-side, coming to train with the energy seeping through into This-side from the alignment. They could have chosen better places than the west valley reefs, a land controlled by Lady Lusa; a Thraine.

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This place was seated on land bordered by the west side by wide reefs blocking coming waves from The Unending Seas. It was one of the best places for martial artists to train on a normal year as the energy here was thickest Thriegor. With the alignment of reams, it is thicker than ever. Linean sucked in a breath of pure energy; the closer they were to the centre of the city, the thicker the energy was. They stopped at an inn and they including their men settled in.

When they sat in their rooms, Linean looked at the general with excitement.

"This place is wonderful! I have never felt anything this pure before. If I practised like this for a year, I would be able to break through to the heaven connection stage," he said.

"On normal days, this land is ideal for training. The alignment makes it even more suitable," General Lamah said.

"And we are only on the edge of the city. If we could get closer to the centre..."

"Rest first. I will look into it tomorrow," General Lamah said.

"We are probably not the only ones that risked it to come here,"

"The four powers of Other-side?" General Lamah frowned.

"We are already sure that they are many of the four power on This-side, but is it possible some of them thought to come here like us?"

"Very. If we thought of doing it even with the risks, then others must have too,"

"Then they will know that we are here if they see us," Linean frowned.

"We will keep out of sight. The last thing we want is to be drawn into something we don't care about,"