“Oh no. I'm still here!”

I fell asleep on the balcony in Corsana. I push myself off the wooden floor and stretch my back. The other resistance fighters were around me, making sure no one molested me. They figured Lam Lathi had flown me to the city with one of their surviving flying machines. They were hoping I could help them escape..

“Hey, Lani. Awake again?”

“Yes....”

A silent conversation happens between me and the resistance fighters. We lock eyes and grimly smile. We give each other hugs. They were glad I had woken up. The pilot's creations were already scouting the city and they were holding tight to their rifles. The resistance fighters hold their middle finger inward toward their palms. They brush their fingers up my back, using my body to finish the hand sign for “feel,” instead of their own chests. I was still a dancer and the soul of the Ryoken. They were paying their last respects. My eyes dart to the distant glows. They were going to become more frequent as the days passed.

“Stay alive, messenger,” says one of the fighters. He motions the others inside where it was safer. The night gradually fades to silence.

It was dark, except on the horizon. I told Maur I would be back soon and I was already late. Immediately. I run downstairs, stumbling halfway. I leave the building and enter the noise of crickets. I dash back to the tree and find my jet-pack. Relief spreads over me and I hastily put it on. I pick up all my belongings and grip my controls. The were cold in my hand. It wasn't normal. My eyes start to coat with silver gloss. A silver tear rolls down my face..

“Blessings from Lam Lathi.”

A tempest had possessed me. I panic, not knowing what to do. I struggle against it, but it quickly overpowers my will. I was a flying killer now. I had raided the empire and danced the stages with my own messages. Ever since Atjani and I got separated, I tried to stop the invasion to steal The Far Away Dream. I tried to use my influence against Lam Lathi. This was going to be my end. I felt guilty, caught playing both sides.

“You abandoned me,” I gasp.

My tempests had stopped looking for me. Ever since I was kidnapped, they came less and less. They didn't kill Maur because I told them not to. No one wanted the other Caparan swarms to be collectively sent against them. Killing an heir wasn't the job of foreigners. In the Caparan mind, they wanted each competitor killed by their own kind, in some way. It was a show of dominance.

“Yes. We abandoned you, but we need you one last time.”

The tempest whispers harshly at me. I try to fight him off again, but fail. He speaks again, this time becoming more familiar. He was one of my old tempests. I recognized him.

“Stop resisting, Lani. We need your dreamer!”

“My dreamer. Why?”

I feel myself shrink to a thought within my own head. The tempest was thinking and mustering his strength. He seemed weaker, as if he had been fighting with something. The tempest shuffles around, inside my soul, as he searches for the right information. A memory is given to me. It was his own.

Before the invasion of Cepertine...

Across the mountain fields of the Lam Lathi landscape, a lone messenger pushes through the bustling grasses. Maroon wildflowers touch her fingertips, leaving tiny orbs of dew against her skin. The peaceful smells of incense invade her, until she stifles them with a lit cigarette. At once, she flicks it on the ground. The grasses catch fire. She had dipped her boots in oils and now her footprints were aflame.

I look at her tribal belt and see the name Alana Eloise. Lam Lathi soldiers walk behind her and stifle the flames. They were getting ready to invade Cepertine and steal The Far Away Dream. There's a pause as Alana reaches a building. She motions silently to her followers and they stay put as ordered.

“She's the one Atjani complained about.”

Alana looked concerned. The peaceful scenery contradicted her distress. She never found true love. Her homeland Lam Lathi was a lost experience of stages and passing lovers. A Lam Lathi banner is pushed aside as she enters the building door. It was a checkpoint and meeting place.

Once inside the building, Alana closes the door. She sets a latch, making sure no one else entered in. Her tempest chains shake as she hand signs “leave” against all of them, but one. The chills around her vanish and she approaches another in the room. I stare at two green eyes.

“Atjani!”

Alana's leather boots stop a distance from a man named Atjani Kelsever. She plays with a sliver of exposed thigh below her miniskirt. There was a lot on her mind and she wasn't sure how to say it all. The future invasion was stressing her out.

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“We only have a day before we leave for Cepertine,” she says.

Atjani answers with a smile. He was getting closer to his goal. Life had finally given him the second chance he was looking for. Soon Melinal would be his. He would never lose her again. He was getting back a real home. Alana walks closer to him and speaks.

“If Lam Lathi's invasion doesn't work out, we can always count on your little friend to bring us back,” she smirks. “The one in your memories. I've seen her potential.”

“Who? Lani?,” mutters Atjani. “Let's just get it right the first time.”

Alana walks to a nearby torch and passes her fingers above the flame. She liked watching the reactions. The fire dances beneath Alana's fingertips. She stares over at her adversary. Her mouth opens to speak.

“Get it the right the first time, Atjani?.” she answers. “Maybe, I need more time with you.”

“More time with me?” interrupts Atjani. “Don't flatter yourself Alana. You're about fourth on the list, after death.”

Alana smirks. She lets her miniskirt hang loose around her hips. She had a hidden knife and wasn't going to be threatened by anyone. Alana smiles and replies.

“I always wanted someone to go to the ends of the earth for me. It's funny how time changes our minds. We fall in and out of love and end up with someone unexpected.”

“You're insane.”

Atjani stares at his foe. He walks closer to Alana threateningly. He holds the back of her head steady. He could drive the tusks of his helm into her face. Alana answers without fear.

“Don't let hypocrisy eat you to an end, Atjani. We all know honesty was murdered by the superficial smile.” She pauses, letting him take it all in.

Alana was willing to sacrifice everything to have true love. She wanted to deny Atjani his love story, while she got to keep the one she planned on having with him. Atjani was the only one who resisted her. Her allure, beauty, and influence meant nothing to him. He didn't care about what she had to offer. Love was a committed choice, not a gem to be admired and bought. Alana wanted his love for Melinal, even if it destroyed the world. She needed more time to seduce him.

“You're still helping me save Melinal, right?” rehashes Atjani. He tries to shake Alana, but her knife separates his hands. Atjani stops. He could see her fear in Alana's eyes. It was the fear of ending up with no one and the fear of sabotaging Lam Lathi from the inside. Once The Far Away Dream was captured, Atjani would never be single again. She was playing with fire.

“Make no mistake. I'll help you, Atjani” smiles Alana tauntingly. “That's what lovers do.”

Alana hesitates. All the suffering in the world was worth a taste of true love. Lam Lathi had promised she would find it and she never did. Her mother had told her to never underestimate intimacy or give up on true love. Alana still remembered being torn from her mother's loving grip. Her desperate father held her hands tight and was ripped away. Now she would stand against the sands of time and force them to blow differently.

The two lock eyes. The consequences didn't matter. It was something both she and Atjani could agree on. Lam Lathi was just the background noise now. Everything else could be thrown to the wind in the passionate search to have true love. The light moves across Alana's corset. I hear her speak softly.

“If I fail to bring back Melinal, your friend Lani will help. She has a dreamer. I know she can kill the pilot inside and bring us back. She's stronger than me.”

Alana smirks and my flashback ends.

“Why is this happening to me?”

I felt sad and confused. I knew the two were lost forever. There was nothing I could really do and I didn't want the added stress on my shoulders. Barely anything could stop the pilot and his leechers. I didn't want to be the one to attack him. It felt like everyone was counting on me for something, and had little to give back. Someone had to be responsible and not throw everything away for true love. My eyes narrow slightly. I was angry Atjani and his frenemy did this to me. I didn't want to be entangled in my past. I wanted to be free and fly away. My body moves unexpectedly.

“We need your dreamer!,” hisses my tempest.

My eyes try to dart around cautiously. My body becomes more restrained I didn't know who else was around. I never expected a tempest to be this far out with Lam Lathi gone. I listen closer, as my tempest has me sit in the chair. I could hear the crickets below the balcony. I wanted to jump off and escape. The tempest speaks.

“The pilot redraws our world, using our souls like paint. Enter his new picture – our redrawn world. Get close to his aura. Steal his energy. You can use your dreamer to draw like he does.”

“Like in The Far Away Dream?”

“Yes!” hisses my tempest.

“It doesn't matter. Lam Lathi is gone,” I argue.

“It isn't if you redraw it from your memories,” whispers my tempest.

I wasn't sure how my tempest knew everything. He must have seen another messenger create something in the pilot's aura. She must have had a dreamer too. I still had my picture in my boot. It had been a while since I went exploring. The pilot had created monsters inside of it, using all the souls he leeched. Maybe, it was better to confront the pilot up close like the tempest said.

“Why should I want Lam Lathi back?”

“Because there are a million love stories to be danced, and only one messenger to save them.”

My chest tightens. I gradually force my tempest from my body. He seemed weak from fighting. I wanted to help, but I lacked skill. All I had done was drawn a rock, some grasses, and a rose in the desert. I brought back Melinal one time. I couldn't draw armies like the pilot could. How was I supposed to erase what he created?

I wipe the stupid liquid from my eyes and my tempest lets me fly away. I sense him watching me as Maur and Toah approach. They were looking for me. I elevate to join them.

The trees branches shake and begin to wail in the direction of the pilot's creations. I watch as the swamps coat with leaves. There was a glowing light approaching, that seemed to extend the day. I wanted to ask the tempest more, but I knew he would find me in Capara. He needed something from me, like Alana and Atjani. I close my eyes and grip my arm. I was going to need a lot of help. I didn't have many friends. The choices seemed too heavy to make alone.