Alicia Caras watched the young smolder boy argue with Westbrook.

“Uncle, I can fight,” The boy pleaded.

“You are not even iron rank and you only have one essence ability, you’re not coming,” Westbrook said unflinchingly.

“This isn’t fair, your letting Seras and Rohan come, and they only just gotten their last essences.”

“Rohan is a warrior of the Akemi and has been shooting arrows since he could pull back the string, and Seras has over a decade of combat experience. You haven’t even been away from home for full year. You’re not ready.”

The younger smolder stomped off the sulk.

Westbrook sighed and turned to Alecia, “Sorry about that, he’s my youngest brother’s youngest son. You know how it is.”

Alecia was an only child, but she nodded anyway. “It is fine, though he brings up a good point.”

Alecia had only been in the city for half a day before she heard about the Omeda and knew that she needed to be a part of whatever response the Adventurer society was planning. When she had heard that Director Arlee had tasked some caravan master with the job Alecia was resolved to take over.

But the moment she felt Westbrook’s aura she gave up on that plan, caravan master or not this man was the real deal.

“About Seras and Rohan?” Westbrook asked, getting to the crux of the matter.

“The Akemi I get. His people would be upset if we didn’t include him despite the dangers. It’s the Outworlder I’m curious about. The boy said she only just got her essences, and I can feel it from her aura control, she can’t have had her essence abilities for more than four maybe five months. Why include her?”

Westbrook grinned, “that right there is why. Seras has only been an iron ranker for about a month, and has only recently obtained her aura power.”

No, that can’t be right. Her aura was crude and unrefined, but it wasn’t nearly that bad. “You’re telling me she progressed this far in only a month? I don’t believe you, she resisted my aura suppression too easily for that to be the case.”

“Aura is a projection of the soul and the will contained within. While we can only actively control our auras once we gain an aura power it is possible to affect it in little ways. A person who spent their life hiding their motives and intentions would find they have an easier time withdrawing their aura. A person who spent their life tracking in the forest would better be able to pinpoint other auras. Seras spent her whole life fighting against powerful entities on her world, so she excels in resisting aura suppression. We all personally felt the aura of Director Arlee press upon us, but only she walked out of there without shivering.”

“So your saying she has a natural advantage in resisting aura suppression, that doesn’t answer my question.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I think you missed my point then. Seras doesn’t have a natural advantage, she has a slight talent in developing those abilities, but it was her own efforts that got her so far. I don’t like to use the word, but I can’t think of any more appropriate. Seras is a prodigy when it comes to aura control. And matched by her years of combat experience, mercenary work, and the strange ‘guns’ she uses I would be remiss to leave her out.”

Alicia raised a single slender eyebrow. “You sound proud.” She observed.

“Maybe just a bit. Its nice to see someone you’ve helped flourish. We found Sera naked in the desert, far from any civilization. She was trying to keep a lid on it but we could tell she was way out of her depths with everything. She had only one essence and was too afraid to use another. First time we entered a citadel with her she tried to break off and go her own way, that ended with a burned down bar a dead adventurer and Seras nearly dead from fighting bronze ranker. Now months later she’s iron rank, building her ‘guns’, absorbing magic like a sponge, and volunteering for a dangerous job.”

“She fought a bronze rank as a normal rank and lived?”

“She got lucky a few times, but that only goes so far. She’s got a decade of direct combat experience from her world, and by her own accounts she was one of the best.”

Westbrooke’s words made Alecia reassess the outworlder in a different light. Given the added context she wasn’t too proud to admit that the women had risen several levels in her estimations. Though one thing kept playing on her mind, “naked in the desert?” she asked.

Westbrook blinked and shook his head, “its how outworlders arrive. The only thing that can survive the trip is the soul, everything else gets obliterated. Their souls remake their bodies not their clothes.”

Alecia noticed the rising temperatures near Westbrook. “You seem flustered at the memory.” She noted.

The caravanner cleared his throat, “it was, ahem, quite the sight.” He admitted.

Alecia smirked, “Interesting. I think I might want to see for myself.”

The caravanner blinked and Alecia smirked as she walked away.

~~~*~~~

Seras sneezed.

It was poorly timed thing since she was currently creeping along a rough cliff face trying to get a better view of the Omeda camp.

She and the other two scouts had tracked the Omeda into the mountains and to a rock outcropping shielded from view by huge granitic boulders and scraggly trees.

Seras was the only person of the three scouts who could more or less hide in plain sight, so she was the one sent up the back side of their camp to get the layout.

She was just glad they didn’t insist on escorting her to the location, otherwise she would have had to explain to the two men why her power required her to strip down to nothing.

Back home Seras would have had access to more advanced clothing options that would negate this downside entirely.

“I don’t even have organic lungs. Or a real nose. The fuck was that?” She thought to herself.

That literally could not have come at a worse time, because now one of their sentries was on alert and scanning his surroundings. Fucker was even competent enough to check the cliffs.

Thankfully his eyes glanced over her, and his aura senses slipped right past Seras without a pause.

It did mean she needed to be much more careful.

The camp was set up in two rings, with wooden polls making up the walls. The Outer ring was the most well defended, clear visuals, watching sentries, and a half dozen formations she could divine from this distance. The inner ring was less well guarded it held some lean-tos, tan hide tents, and the cages for the captured civvies.

And right in the center was an ominous chasm in the earth that went down into deep darkness. There were ropes and pullies set up by the side and Seras had to assume it was an entrance into the labyrinth. The grand magical cave network that ran under the entire five deserts.

The strange place where Seras had first awoken.

She sat and watched the camp for close to an hour before she had felt like she’d seen enough.

As Seras was slowly creeping away she saw one final oddity. A small group of Omeda returned to the camp from a secret entrance in the side Seras had missed, making the obvious gate at the front a false entrance. It was the Omeda archer and two others dragging a limp woman.

Poor thing looked beat to shit and had a collar around her neck. Strangely enough she was the only prisoner wearing a collar. The camp became a busy place for a few minutes, and Seras witnessed several hidden archers emerge from out of nowhere, places she was sure she had searched. Magic fuckery.

They all clustered around the beaten woman and talked. Then more chains were procured, and the women was moved into a heavy metal cage, much tougher than the other ones.

Obviously, an essence user, though her rank was impossible to tell. But given the woman’s height and lithe toned muscles under her warm brown skin Seras pegged her as a warrior. Especially given the beating she had taken.

Seras had an idea as she watched the women stir to consciousness and smash against the bars. There was a path down from her vantage point, and given the right combination of essences it might be possible to sneak a small group in.

She slowly worked herself back up the rock, taking one last look at the camp before she finally made her way back to the others.

The women in the cage had pulled her knees up to her chest, her head was buried between them, but Seras could easily imagine the tears.