The main market, being the busiest place in Oasis, had a unit of guards dedicated to it. They not only patrol the area but also help in maintaining order, collecting taxes and sometimes helping with miscellaneous works, like through very unlikely, finding the lost children. The reason for being unlikely was simple. Oasis is the city of old people which rarely had young adults and no children. But today, Joseph, a knight with a sixty-year-old body and whose face seemed to scream boredom, got to see some children.

He leaned in towards them from his wooden chair that made a creaky noise and looked at the pair that came to him. One was red-haired with rag-tagged clothes, a combination of a yellow shirt and slightly blue pants which had some back greasy substance stuck at some places. And behind him was another boy, a little shorter, with brown hair and eyes, with clothes covered by dust. Seeing the first one holding the hand of the other, they looked like brothers. He was in his thoughts as the red-haired boy interrupted him.

“ Sir, are you listening?”

“ Huh… ah right. You said your name was…”

“Azir.”

“ And the person behind you is…?”

“ I don’t know his name.” Azir released a long breath and felt his throat drying. When he came, he found this old man sleeping in his chair, and even now he looked slow to get to the point. Joseph looked at the brown-haired boy who was observing the spider web on the ceiling and then looked back at Azir. “ You sure he’s not your brother?”

“ No, he’s not. And something seemed wrong with his head.” Azir then raised his hand and shook it in front of Rayen, who ignored his movements. “See?”

“You sure it's not just your brother sulking?”

“ Why do you keep insisting on him being my brother?”

“ Because this is Oasis.” Azir’s mouth got shut when he heard this. He almost forgot about this thing. He was going to say something, but a bell rang from the other room. Joseph stood up when he heard it and said to Azir. “ Wait here for a minute.”

Azir was once again left alone with Rayen and couldn’t help but sigh. He pulled Rayen to the side and made him sit on a wooden chair. They didn’t have to wait for long, as Joseph returned with a baffled look after a few minutes. “ We will search for his whereabouts. You don’t have to worry.” He said as soon as he arrived in front of Azir.

“ Alright, I will leave him in your care, then.” Nodding, Azir looked to Rayen, wanting to say goodbye, but Joseph's words made him stop.

“ Take him with you.”

“What did you say?” This time, it was Azir’s turn to look baffled. He scratched his ears and asked again while pointing to Rayen, “ Did you just say take him with me?”

“That’s right.” Joseph gave a quick nod and said to him. “ We have been lacking funds for some time. So you have to take care of him till we find his caretakers.”

Azir stared at his face and took a deep breath as he tried his best to hold back the list of curses towards this old man. “ You want me, a poor teenager, to take in another teenager with me?”

“Yes.”

“And take care of him until you guys find his caretakers?”

“ I see you are sharp for your age.”

“..You sure you don’t want to retire yet?” Azir can’t help but blurt this out. Anyone who looked at his skinny body could tell at a glance that his situation was not good, but this old man was telling him to take in another mouth to feed. It’s no wonder he started to question the mental being of market guards. At this time, another ring sounded from inside and Joseph jerked and he began to push Azir and Rayen outside while saying. “ Alright, we will find you later if we find something. Now we need to clean this place, so go out.”

“ Are you trying to make us go away?” Azir wanted to push back but found that the old man was stronger and pushed both of them outside before closing the door. Azir started for a minute at the closed door before he turned to Rayen and said. “ I always heard guards being useless, but this? This is a call for revolution against the system.” Azir looked back at him and found him with a tilted head. He pitched his nose and took some deep breaths. Not wanting to disappoint the Great Mother, he grabbed Rayen’s hand and started walking. “Ai, my life is really tough.”

As they walked away, inside the cabin of the guard’s captain. A man with rugged skin sat on a chair with a face that dripped with drops of sweat. He gulped as he glanced at the letter on the table with multiple paw prints on it. This letter, which just flew from the window had instructed him to turn both Azir and Rayen away, without force in the first part. ‘I need to inform higher-ups.’ He thought about the latter parts of the letter before leaving towards the city lord’s mansion.

***

On the other hand, Azir brought Rayen into a different colony. Far away from the market, built near the walls of the city, at the foot of the mountain. It was a very different scene, with rows upon rows of broken buildings. Some of them had marks of black ash on their outer walls, which showed the signs of a big fire that had once spread around this area. Because of such a scene, few people would even come here, minus those who had nowhere else to go, like Azir, who called this place home. This journey took them an hour to make and ended in front of a similar half-broken, single-storey building.

Only some remains of walls for the second floor remained while the wooden beams protruded from the ceiling of the first floor. Surrounded by a pile of debris with wild plants on adjacent sides. When Rayen stared at the door, which looked like it might fall the next moment, Azir coughed and said, “ Don’t look at it like that. Finding a still intact building near the walls is difficult.” He didn’t want to wait outside any longer and thus pushed the door. The door didn’t have any lock to it and Azir didn’t worry about someone breaking in. After all, almost all those who managed to reach here had always prided themselves on being the greatest sons of the Great Mother. For them, Oasis is the Holy Land, and they don’t want to bring shame to its name. That is why he doesn’t get surprised at Joseph sleeping in his chair. In Oasis, being a guard was the most useless job. Even the guards at the gate of the city didn't carry any weapons on them. Beast from outside never came close to the walls of Oasis and guards just maintained lines among those that arrived.

Entering through the door, a somewhat dirty room with half of it being filled with rubbles appeared in front of Rayen. And of the remaining space, a hay sac, almost half their height, took the most central place. Azir pointed his finger at it and said.“ Look over there, that’s our comfy bed. And that worn-out barrel holds the most important thing of Thar, Water.” He pointed at the mud barrel beside the hay sac with a white cloth on the top. There was a wooden plank that covered the small hole right next to it. “ That’s where my secret vault is.”

“Woof!”

“ And that’s a dog beside..huh!?” Azir then paused as he just noticed a dog sitting beside his vault. With its dangling tongue and huffing chest, the dog looked at home as he looked at both of them. It was Cherry who intruded upon Azir’s house without knocking. Azir froze when he saw her and soon a frown appeared on his face. With careful movements, he walked towards his vault and removed the plank. Inside was a bag with some coins, some pieces of chalk, a blackboard and a thing wrapped with clean red cloth. He picked up the red cloth and opened it to reveal some pieces of bread along with dried jerky inside.

He made sure Cherry’s eyes caught the bread as he moved out and placed it in the middle of the road before moving inside and standing beside Rayen. Cherry tilted her head in confusion, but then understood the gesture. She's used to this, everyone in Thar pays tribute to her and this boy in front of her was no different. At normal times, she was very picky about her tribute, but today she’s got some trouble of her own. If Bella comes to know that Rayen’s head almost got blasted today, Cherry could imagine Bella ripping open her mouth and forcing the barrels of pickle into it. No, she might even throw her in a lake of pickles and her body shook just thinking about this.

To avoid her ever so darker future, she needed to delay Rayen's return. At least until Rayen forgets about that scene because there's no way he's gonna tell a lie in front of Bella. That’s why she moved ahead and made sure guards didn’t take the case of finding Bardar and Cellia. Now, since she’s a guest in Azir’s shabby house, she decided to humour him and accept his tribute. Though she felt him lacking in proper rituals for paying tribute, she decided to overlook this as him being a pub. When she eventually arrived at the middle of the road and picked the piece of bread with her mouth, the sound of something slamming entered her ears. She turned her head back and the piece of bread dropped from her mouth. Azir had closed the door and left her staring at the door for quite a while without any movement while the wind blew her hair.

On the other hand, Azir clapped his hands after throwing the uninvited guest and had Rayen sit in the hay. He then jumped on the hay and said,“ See that? It's a little strange to sleep on hay at first but once you get used to it, there’s no going back.” But when he looked back at Rayen, he found the problem he had ignored till now. He didn’t know what to call him yet. He asked many times, but Rayen never told him his name. “ Hey, did you really not understand me?” He can’t help it. Rayen never replied, even though he dragged him the whole day. Azir had never seen another boy of his age and thus didn’t want to abandon the one he just found. He then remembered something and pulled some water in an old cup and handed it over to Rayen, who looked at the cup in his hands and then again at Azir, who sighed.

At this moment, a strange sound came from outside. Azir stood up and moved close to the door and planned to peek through the gaps in the door. But the moment he came close, the door fell towards him and crushed him. Cherry, who had just jumped and crashed on the door, looked everywhere to find the fiend who did the disrespect towards her, but only found Rayen’s blank stare. She hid her teeth again after not finding her target but she definitely remembered hearing his sound just now. “Ah, get off of me.” Azir finally pushed the door with Cherry from the top of him and huffed. “ Ah, you four-legged rotten brains!! Look what you just did.” He started shouting the next moment while glaring at Cherry, who also refused to back down in the face of another disrespect towards her.

“ What are you even opening your mouth for?” Azir had seen the various monster beasts that haunt the city outside. In front of them, Cherry’s bark sounded like a child's cry. It was then he noticed the collar on the neck of Cherry and he got the swords he needed to attack. “ Right, who the heck is your owner? Bring them to me. I will talk to them.” Cherry flinched at this. She just remembered about her dark future and her barks sounded much like low whimpers. After all, sometimes, one needed to compromise with their foes, and she felt this was such a moment.

But the balance had shifted towards Azir’s favour and, like a general who found the weakness in the enemy's formations, he rushed straight to finish them with a final scoop. “ I will sue them for compensation, for not only you breaking the door but also the pride of the Great Mother.” In fact, in the moment of rushed feelings, Azir didn’t even know what he just blurted out. But Cherry’s defence got broken after the ultimate attack of Azir and, like a shameless enemy, she ran off to another safe haven.

Azir looked at her running to Rayen and rubbing her head on him, who in-turn rubbed her head. The scene made Azir twitch his lips, and he found the hidden party he ignored during his conquest. “You- you are his owner?” This was the moment he found the dog going for a proxy battle. This situation demanded a different approach since he can’t shout at Rayen. Azir softened his tone and asked the other key party, “ Hey, friend, we are friends, right? Come on, help me throw this intruder away.” But Rayen seemed to commit to neutrality and refused to extradite the dog at his request. This made Azir rub his head with frustration. But he’s not to be outdone, and brought his hand forward towards them and said with a firm voice to the dog. “ Then, pay the damages.”

Cherry stared at his hand and then his face, speechless. She had met many people over the years, but it was the first time for her that she met someone like Azir. Forget about him not being afraid of her razor-sharp teeth, which she’s sure would shine in the sun. Just him trying to reply to her without even understanding her woof was something she had never seen before. Heck, not only talking to her, but he was actually blackmailing her. What would she do if Bardar found out about this? And sands forbid, that flying lizard came to find out about this, she would become a laughingstock for the rest of her life. She had no choice but to turn to her last option and woofed. Rayen looked for a while as he listened to Cherry, but it took more than one nudge from her for him to stand up and kneel in front of hay. And under Azir’s wide eyes, Rayen moved his fingers across the sand on the floor and wrote some words on it.

Negotiable?

These were Cherry's words that he translated, but Azir doesn’t care about such a thing now. He looked at the impressive cursive on the sand and said with astonishment stretched across his face. “You can write?"He found Rayen staring back at him.

“ Woof!” Cherry, on the other hand, was still downcast seeing Azir like this.Rayen erased the previous words and wrote a new one that made Azir's brain turn in full.

Still not negotiable?

‘Hey, I think I can use her.’ Azir turned to the down-faced dog and decided to say his offer. “ We can negotiate.”

Cherry’s ears rose at this, ready for his price. She knew humans like gold and shiny stones. She had them in tones on her collar. But Azir's words made her pause for a while. “ Tell him to write his name and I can forgive you.” She made another woof, and Rayen followed suit.

You stupid?

“ Where are your owners?”

Cherry decided to not think too much. She was sure that something was wrong with the cub's head., otherwise he would not ask for such a small price. She urged the silent Rayen and completed her side of the deal. Rayen and Cherry.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“ Rayen. That’s a nice name.” Azir at this moment felt happy. He knew how to talk to his new friend now. “ Say, where are you from?”

Cherry’s eyes turned sharply at this and her teeth came out. She felt Azir was trying to go back on his words and she would not allow it.

“I am just trying to help him. Why are you bringing out the teeth?”

Cherry backed down, but she refused to believe this cub. He’s both too stupid and smart for her. She would not take any risk with him, her reputation and bright future depends on this. And without her active nudges, Rayen didn’t write anything on the sand. Azir rubbed his head at the strange duo.

He talked some, but the answers mostly depended on how well he could convince Cherry, who was on guard against him, for some unknown reason. Thus, after going back and forth, he decided it was for the best to just save his breath. For the broken door, he decided to just have it leaned against the gaps. It’s not like he needed to worry about thieves in Oasis and then there was also a dog with them now. The sun was going down and Azir once again pulled the food from his vault and placed bread with jerky in front of them. But the thing that followed next made him blank. Cherry’s collar flashed and a bottle of some purple potion with a spoon appeared in front of her. And Rayen translated again, which Azir wished he didn’t.

Edible. Gave in full.

“Is it some medicine?” Azir took the bottle and poured the potion on the spoon. He didn’t notice any smell. He brought it close to Rayen’s face, and when he thought Rayen would drink it, the potion turned into purple smoke and flew into his nose. Azir’s mouth opened wide at this. His eyes slowly moved to the spoon. He ignored it before, but now when he looked again; he found it to be a silver spoon with one of the Thar’s five beasts engraved on it. Sandwing Scuttlebug, a beetle with shiny armour. “ Well, you seemed to be rich.” Cherry once again felt this pub was a strange one as he stopped looking at the spoon and continued feeding Rayen. Soon, the bottle became empty and Azir’s stomach made some noise. Cherry saw him picking up the piece of bread and another potion bottle appeared.

“ Huh? How many do you have in your collar?” Although Azir never owned one, being the capital of Thar, Oasis never lacked the space equipment for storage. He also felt curious about the potion and thus didn’t refuse the offer. When the potion turned into smoke and entered his nose, different flavours of food came to his tongue. It was hard to describe. Sometimes it was spicy but also sweet, mixed with different spices like turmeric, ginger, and garlic being dominant. He looked at the potion with wide eyes and found it difficult to form some words to say. Rayen tilted his head and Cherry was too busy eating Azir’s dried bread. It was such that the night fell on the Oasis.

***

In a room decorated with red colours with intricate designs of beasts and a well-lit interior from a cool white magic orb at the ceilings, Bardar sat on a sofa. His face frowned as he studied the city map of Oasis. Sometimes, he would use his quill to mark down some areas while erasing other times. It was then that he had to look up in surprise when Cellia slammed the door open and ran towards him. “ We have a situation!” She didn’t stop but until directly in front of him and pulled while ignoring his look. “ A local guard delivered this letter from Cherry and I have lost my tracing spells on Rayen.”

Bardar frowned even more and took the letter from her. Cellia got more impatient when she saw his brows getting eased and said again. “We need to hurry and find Rayen. The night had already fallen on the city.”

“ Don’t worry. The letter says Cherry would take care of him.” His words surprised her a little as he put the letter on the table and leaned back. “ As long as Cherry is there. Nothing in the city could harm Rayen.”

“Listen, I know Cherry is a monster beast.” She felt that Bardar and Bella trusted Cherry for far more than the limit. After all, just how far could they trust a monster beast? “ But that didn’t mean we should leave Rayen only in her care.”

“ Cellia…”

“ And this mansion had serious problems.” Her mana swept and covered the surrounding space in a silent spell. Just in case someone heard them. " Servants don’t seem to follow my command. Not only did they refuse to search for Rayen, but also stopped me when I wanted to do that myself. They say it was an order from Cherry. I believe they are just using an excuse to oppose us. Like trying to show us our place”

Bardar stared for a moment before he sighed. He didn’t blame her for such thoughts. She, after all, was from overseas and first time being inside Oasis. Since it’s an ultimate resting place for many, the things that happened here, stay here. “ No, they are just following the order. Remember when I said Cherry was not a dog?”

“ I know she is a monster beast.”

“ Not any monster beast. but the guardian of Thar.”

“ What!?” Shock flashed across Cellia’s face and she rejected his words almost instantly. “ You are kidding, right? No way that she’s that guardian.” One can’t blame her for saying this. When Thar spoke of their guardian, they did so with respect, but the word of praises stopped within Thar. Overseas, the guardian had much to do with infamy and little to reputation. Brutal, savage and bloodthirsty were the titles donned by the guardian of Thar, who shallows hundreds of villages in Thar as her food each year. Few had lived to tell how she looked. But everyone knew its name, The Dusty Devil. With the figure that looked similar to the six-eyed wolf at the gates of the mansion. Cellia couldn’t overlap that devil’s face with that of Cherry.

“ But that’s the truth. And in terms of priority of order, Cherry’s only second to grandma.” Bardar stood up and helped her sit beside him to ease her worry.

“ You could have said that to me before.” Cellia took some deep breaths to calm her beating heart. She knew she was lucky to be Bardar’s friend and now his fiance that she was still breathing. After all, there are none as outsiders that are still living after meeting her. The Dusty Devil’s infamy was not just to boast about. “ I need to pay proper respect to her next time.”

“ If you do, she would probably get beaten by grandma. Better not to do this.” He smiled as the fatigue from earlier lessened a little. Cellia then noticed the map of the city and asked him. “ Are you planning something?”

“Hm. You were not wrong when you said about people not taking you more seriously.”

“ Are you planning a show of force?” Both of them are wizards. There were many differences when compared with mages, but one of the most striking ones was how they trained. When mages focus singularly on spells and about one or two different professions of their liking, Wizards major in most things, from spells to management, city or business alike. Becoming one is not easy, it demands more about the will to continue through thorns than the talent it takes for mages. When people say wizards as rulers of the world, they mean it. One could send them through any situation, and they would thrive there. That’s why they were the backbone of the Alliance that stood the test of time.

And Cellia and Bardar were not different either. Though Thar had left the Alliance long ago, that changes little for both. Although they didn’t take politics as their major during their training as wizards, they still trained to take over a hostile base of power. As the saying in Alliance goes, it takes more than raw power to rule through the generations to come.

“Would you transfer them?” Cellia asked. If they both unhinged their ways, then the only person they needed to be mindful of was Bladurus. But that itself had too many complications to it, like the fallout from such an open display of hostility in Oasis to be the one, the spiritual land of Thar. But most importantly for her, Bardar doesn’t like to spill blood, a rare trait among the wizards. That’s why she could only suggest an alternative instead of using more forceful and direct ways.

“ To replace them, I would have to bring the people from overseas.” He shook his head at her idea of getting people more loyal to them. In the whole of Thar, Bardar was not sure if someone would even support him.“ And you know the thing about Thar, even the wizards don’t easily step foot in these sands.”

“ Then how do you plan to display authority?”

“ By the only thing I know best.” His eyes moved to the map of the city when he said this.

***

The chilly night of darkness passed away and the bright sun began to climb the sky. Inside Azir’s place, he along with Rayen, slept on the hay while Cherry lay between both of them. To be more specific, Cherry’s face was too close to Azir’s face and her breath blew to his face. Because of the habit of waking up early, Azir’s biological clock rang and his eyes slowly opened. The first thing that appeared was the half-open mouth of a dog that made his sleep go away. Seeing her not waking up, he planned to throw her away but found her too heavy to move and only made her back leg twitch like a sloth human being tickled.

Since he’s afraid to wake up Rayen, he can’t shout and thus, could only let her go. Taking some water, he started washing his face and after checking the position of the sun, he decided to wake Rayen and tapped his face. “ Rayen, wake up. We need to go.” He found him much easier to awaken as Rayen’s eyes opened the moment he called out. Cherry also opened her eyes and yawned with her big mouth. Before Azir could comment, a bottle of teeth-cleaning potion and soap appeared in his front, which made his whole face twitch. He held the pink bottle in his left hand and soap in the other with only one thought in his head. ‘Am I the nanny and she’s the boss? Or is it just my imagination?’

Soon, he was able to make Rayen ready and used this chance to use the teeth-cleaning potion for himself. It had a flavour of mint. After dusting off both of their clothes, he grabbed Rayen’s hand and set off. Rayen didn’t understand, but that didn’t stop Azir from pulling through the web of alleyways and only stopped when they arrived in the eastern part of the city. They stood at the back door of a shop. “ Come on, Rayen. Let me show you to someone. Remember, everyone in Oasis needs to work. You are no exception. But don’t worry, it’s not labour work.”

He raised his hand to knock on the door and shouted. “Boss Sam, I am here.”

“ Stop beating on my door. Who gonna pay if it breaks?” A ruffed and old voice came from inside, followed by that of footsteps. As the door swung open, a middle-aged man greeted them. He sported a black beard, with a white cloth streaked with grease wrapped around his stomach. Beneath it, he wore a blue sleeveless shirt and matching pants. His bald head, gleaming with oil, caught the sunlight, momentarily blinding Rayen. He looked at Rayen beside Azir and asked right away. “Who is this person with you?”

“This is Rayen and Rayen, this is Boss Sam. The one we would be working under.”

“When the hell did I hire him?” Boss Sam’s eyes grew sharp when he heard Azir. This was not his fault as too many times he got swept by the flow of Azir and many times took a loss.

Azir made a confused face when he heard him and asked back. “ But you said some days ago that only if there was someone of the same age as me and you would hire him right away. That’s why I searched the city for many days and at last found Rayen.” Azir said as a matter of fact. “ You have to increase my pay this time. You don’t know how much effort I took to convince him to work with us. The competition in the job market is very tough these days.”

‘This rascal.’ Boss Sam became speechless. Azir did not lie about this. As he was an artefact repairer and in need of more hands. Alas, those who came to Oasis didn’t come seeking a job and so he needed to overwork. But that didn’t mean he would hire anyone, even more so Rayen, who kept staring at his chest without a pause. He decided to interview him on the spot because something bugged him when he looked at those eyes. Like they lacked something, but he can’t tell what. “ Who are you, boy?”

“ Didn’t I just introduce both of you?”

“ Quiet, I want to hear from him.” Sam looked back at Rayen with his black eyes, but Rayen never replied. “ He’s not stupid, right?”

“ Of course not! Why would you even think so? He’s more of a silent type.”

“ Silent type?”

“Ya, also a little shy towards strangers.”

“ You think my eyes are blind?” Sam said, but he still underestimated Azir’s thick face to sprout bullshit with a straight face.

“ Boss, he’s not stupid.”

“ Then?”

“ He’s extremely situational.” Seeing the serious face of Azir, even his beard felt twitching. But the boy kept talking. “ In fact, I checked last night and he could do calculus like a breeze.”

“ Aren’t you going too overboard here?”

“ But that’s the truth.” Azir wanted to point towards Rayen’s face but resisted the urge. He felt this would have the opposite effect. ‘I am also shocked at his maths skill, but his face doesn’t really help in terms of confidence. Let’s end this quickly before this goes out of hand.’ Having decided on it, he said his last words. “ And he came with a pack of two. Hire one and get a guard dog free. With absolutely no hidden charges.”

“ Huh? D-dog?”

“ Wait a minute, she was just behind us a moment ago.” Azir was so busy looking back and whistling to call Cherry that he missed the slight panic in Sam’s eyes. He had lived here much longer than Azir did and so knew more things about Oasis. Only one dog appeared in this city and he didn’t want to meet that.

“Look, here she is.” Maybe she was not far away, but after Azir whistled some times, a brown hair dog appeared from the end of the alleyway.

Seeing the colour of her fur, Sam released a sigh of relief, but that soon got stuck half in as he noticed a collar around her neck. He didn’t hear whatever Azir said next as the bad premonition crept into him. To confirm his suspicion, he moved closer to the dog sitting in his front.

His hands moved towards her collar, and Cherry allowed him to do so. The badge with outlines of a human on the desert on one side and a monster beast on the other appeared before his very eyes and he started to lose his focus. His hand got sweaty just like the rest of his body that shook and he abruptly kneed before her. “ THE LO-ahh…” He wanted to shout her name with reverence but the words got cut in the middle as the sands surrounding him flew to him and strangled his throat. He felt his blood being sucked of life and the body lost its control with a layer of sand atop. Cherry licked her teeth and didn’t even spare a glance at Sam and walked past his kneeled body and after the duo of Azir and Rayen, who long slipped through here when Sam walked towards her.

Inside, Azir pulled Rayen into a shabby-looking room with a bench with various artefacts and a basin in the middle, cloth holders on the left side of the door. He moved to the right, and there was a basket with lots of artefacts. Each had some layer of sticky, greasy black thing on them. “ That’s where we would be working today. Don’t worry about Boss Sam. He might have looked like an old grumpy man with a bleeding heart for money, but in fact, he got a soft heart beneath that rotten shell.” Rayen felt the words by the orb called Azir made no sense, and despite his stoic face, Azir seemed to have understood his confusion without even looking back. “ Don’t believe me yet? You know, when I first met him, I just told him I got first rank in the Silver Citadel. He hired me right away.”

Silver Citadel Academy was the institute responsible for educating the people of Thar. At its peak, it touted itself as the beacon of equality and enforced mandatory free education from the young age of five. The rule was such that even though it lacked a formal branch in Oasis, a local branch opened one for a single child who was born here, Azir, and closed the day he passed.

Azir made Rayen sit down next to the basket of artefacts and explained the task. “ Here, you see, we need to clean these repaired artefacts and place them in another basket here.” He pulled one of the bamboo baskets that was hanging from the nail on the wall behind. But he soon encountered a problem. Rayen still doesn’t follow what he says to the end. That’s why, even though he handed a rectangular box-like artefact to him, whether Rayen would clean it with the cloth was a question.

“ Where did that dog go? Oi, you rotten brains, come here for a while,” Azir shouted as only Cherry could make him do anything. He wondered if Rayen only knew her language, and she was a translator, or is it the reverse? As Azir contemplated the deep question, Rayen looked at the box in his hands. Under his mana-sensitive eyes, he could glimpse at the hidden array beneath the greasy layer and he felt an unease from inside. He wanted those arrays to be clear and bright, just like the time when Bardar showed him. On his other hand, Azir had handed him a dirty cloth, and he unconsciously used it to wipe off the artefact.

Seeing Rayen single-mindedly working on the job, Azir wasted no more time. His pay depends on the number of artefacts cleaned per day. He picked up the artefact from the pile and started to clean, too. Azir hummed to make the work less tedious when Cherry entered through the door and snuggled her way on top of Rayen’s crossed-legged.

“Oi, find another place to sit.”

“Woof” She refused. This time, she was not here to goof around as she grabbed the now mostly cleaned artefact from Rayen’s hand and under the strange look of Azir, licked the rest of the impurities away and dropped it into the empty basket. Her tongue stretched out as she made a face that could vomit but still grabbed another dirty lock-shaped artefact and handed it over to Rayen, who started cleaning it next.

Azir doesn’t know what to say. How could he have known that Cherry was at the end of her ropes as nothing came to her mind that could save her from her dark future. Since she found the taste of grease better than pickles, she decided to do this and hoped Bella would show mercy on her.