The group didn't resume their travels until two days later. Kainene, in particular, was adamant about ensuring Somadina had rested enough before they set off again.
"You advanced in the heat of battle and had to power through that to keep fighting," she said, her brow furrowed with concern as she examined Somadina's still-tired features. "Your body needs time to relax and adjust to the new changes. You need to rest. No work for you."
And that was that.
Instead, they spent the rest of that time exploring their magic and the new abilities advancement had granted them. The air around their campsite buzzed with an electric excitement as they tested the limits of their newfound powers.
Which was why Somadina was currently ensconced under the shade of a large dogonyaro tree, its broad leaves casting dappled shadows across his face as Rai napped on his lap, purring contentedly. He flexed his arms experimentally, a slight frown creasing his forehead.
"I feel stronger. But not by much," he observed, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "I'm definitely faster than I was as an Adept, but barely."
Across from him, Olisa and Kainene were huddled over his map, their heads close together as they, as usual, bickered over the right way to go. Kainene's response to Somadina was distracted, her focus split between the map and Olisa's proximity.
"It is to be expected," she replied, her train of thought momentarily derailed as Olisa planted a surprise kiss on her cheek. She shot him a mock glare, fighting back a smile. "You went from Adept to Disciple, Somadina. As far as your body is concerned, that isn't much of a change at all."
She took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts. "Advancement is exponential, the difference between the ranks rising with each level. Plus, the increased speed, strength, and sharper reflexes are simply side effects of cleansing the body channels. All that stops the moment you hit Ordained and start on the soul ones."
Her voice took on a more professorial tone, reminiscent of their early days of training. "We're dibias, Somadina, not jarumi. We focus primarily on magic. It's best to leave the martial arts to the Karfi.”
Somadina's forehead creased a little more as he processed this information. "But don't blade anwansi users practise martial arts?" he asked, curiosity piqued. "Their affinity all but requires them to use weapons like swords and spears, right?"
The question brought Olisa and Kainene's map-related argument to a temporary halt. They exchanged thoughtful glances, considering Somadina's point.
"You know, I've never actually thought of it that way," Olisa admitted, scratching his chin. "I guess they do, at least a limited form of it. I mean, I've seen dibias combine both magic and blade skills, using weapons other than our staffs. But it's still mainly magic going on there. True martial arts are a lot more impressive and aren't just limited to swords and spears. For a jarumi, their body is the weapon."
Kainene nodded in agreement, irritably flinging back a lock of her kinky hair that had fallen into her eyes. Olisa, ever attentive, gently took the offending lock and began to expertly braid it. Kainene repressed a smile at his tender gesture.
"No kidding," she said. "The things those people can do with their bodies alone is unreal."
Somadina nodded, wearing a smile of his own as he watched their affectionate interaction. A warm feeling blossomed in his chest, a mix of admiration and something warmer, deeper.
"What about you guys?" he asked, eager to change the subject. "How does it feel to be Ordained?" He squinted his eyes at them, noticing something different in the air around them. "I don't know why, but ever since you woke up, it's been hard to breathe around you two."
It was only after the words had left his mouth that he realised what exactly he had just said. Olisa noticed, of course, and tossed him a roguish smirk, his eyes twinkling with mischief. Kainene, however, remained oblivious to the potential double meaning and swiftly came to Somadina's rescue.
"It's our souls," she explained, looking down at her chest as if she could somehow see through it and into the roiling mass of energy and light that was her spirit. "We're cleansing them now, and the purer they get, the 'heavier' they will feel to anyone of a lower rank than us." She sighed, a hint of worry creeping into her voice. "Looks like we will have to learn how to veil them as soon as possible. Sages have been known to kill Adepts just by unveiling their souls."
Somadina's eyes widened at this revelation, both awed and slightly unnerved. "What else can you do?" he asked, his curiosity overriding any trepidation.
"Well, so far, the only thing we've noticed is our affinity sight," Olisa replied, his multicoloured eyes seeming to glitter with an otherworldly light. "We can see the anwansi flowing around everything. It's quite freaky."
"Don't all dibias do that when they cultivate?" Somadina asked, remembering his own experiences.
"True," Kainene acknowledged. "But now we do it all the time. Takes some getting used to, but the world is prettier like this."
Olisa made a dreamy sound, his gaze distant. "Imagine how clothes would look on me. Proper ones, not these rags we're wearing." He paused, a stricken look suddenly spreading across his face. "Mother save me. I've just realised how carelessly I've been choosing my attire! Who knows how many times they've clashed with my anwansi."
Kainene slugged him across his shoulder, ignoring the Ordained's dramatic moans of anguish. "That's enough about us," she said, rolling her eyes fondly at Olisa's antics. She turned her attention back to Somadina, her expression softening. "What about you? When did you break through to Disciple?"
"Oh. It was nothing special," came the shy reply. Compared to their advancement, his seemed minuscule, almost insignificant.
"It was special enough to keep us safe," Olisa countered, his voice firm. "You killed Father knows how many Aberrations."
"They were just Direlings," Somadina mumbled. "Rai killed most of the bigger stuff." But he was visibly perking up under the glow of their unabashed praise.
"You did good," Kainene said firmly, reaching once more for the map and plucking it neatly from Olisa's outraged hands. "More than good. I remember when I first got to Disciple. It was in a battle against the most terrifying of foes." She paused dramatically. "A sparrow-hare."
"You're kidding," Somadina grinned, unable to reconcile this image with the fierce, competent Kainene he knew. Sparrow-hares were possibly the most gentle of soul beasts and notoriously shy. You were more likely to die from an infected mosquito bite than from the fluffy things with winged ears.
"I wouldn't stop crying for days," she admitted, a rueful smile playing on her lips as she dodged Olisa's attempts to reclaim the map.
Olisa scowled at her in mock anger, his eyes dancing with mirth. "Crying is an understatement. The entire Court could hear her screams."
He ducked another playful punch from Kainene and seized one end of the map with a victorious hoot. Defeated, Kainene hung her head in mock shame and allowed him to share. Olisa turned his warm smile on the Disciple. "So, you see? Compared to that, you're positively a Throne."
He winked at Kainene, who let out an affronted huff before returning to her mission of informing him of how stupid he was. Their banter was lighthearted, filled with the easy affection of long-time companions.
Somadina couldn't stop grinning, basking in the warmth of their praise and the comfortable dynamic between the three of them. "You guys make me sound amazing," he said, his voice thick with emotion.
"You are amazing."
The reply came in unison, quick and thoughtless. Both Olisa and Kainene still had their heads buried in the map, oblivious to the look that spread across Somadina's face. A surge of heat sprang to life, warming the pit of his belly. It was dangerous, this thing he was allowing to thrive and grow, and it had every chance of ending badly. But at that moment, watching them both, he found it hard to care.
After a few more moments of deliberation, Olisa and Kainene finally came to an agreement about their route. They set off, still bickering good-naturedly, their voices a comforting backdrop to their journey. Somadina trotted along behind them, Rai nestled comfortably on his shoulders, occasionally chirping her own commentary.
Given the intensity of their map-reading debate, Somadina had assumed they were in for at least a full day of walking before they reached their destination. So, it came as a complete surprise when, after only half an hour, they rounded a corner and came to an abrupt stop.
Olisa turned to face them, a wide grin spreading across his face as he gestured grandly to the expanse in front of him. "Here it is," he said, his voice filled with a mix of excitement and pride. "Welcome to Sinikat."
***
Jidenna looked on, a sense of peace in his eyes, as the bodies burned. The pyre was quite a few metres away, but the acrid smoke billowing forth from the pile was nearly overwhelming, carrying with it the unmistakable scent of charred Aberration flesh. The dark sands of the Dry Lands stretched out before him, an endless sea of desolation that seemed to swallow the horizon.
The captain, a grizzled Adalci man with weathered skin and twin swords strapped to his back, came to stand beside Jidenna on the deck and together, they surveyed the stark landscape below, where men and women from the seven ships that made up the caravan scurried about like ants. Some kept watch, their swords and spears held close, eyes scanning the dunes for any sign of movement.
"I never thanked you for warning us," the captain said gruffly, his voice rough from years of shouting orders over howling desert winds. He eyed the smoking heap, a mixture of gratitude and lingering fear in his gaze. "I don't want to imagine what would have happened if we hadn't had an Authority on board. I knew attempting a crossing with just my Windweavers was risky; they'd be too busy running the ships to notice. But an attack by a swarm... who could have predicted that?"
Jidenna felt a flicker of pride at the acknowledgement, but he kept his tone modest. "It was nothing," he replied, flashing his teeth in a disarming smile. "Thank the Direlings instead. They weren't exactly stealthy."
As if on cue, someone yelled, immediately grabbing their attention. The watchers had spotted a straggler, a lone Direling that had somehow escaped the initial culling.
No matter how many times Jidenna saw them, he never ceased to wonder at Aberrations, especially Direlings. This one in particular was a prime example of their nightmarish design. Barely passing the thirty-centimetre mark, it stood on four spindly legs attached to a short trunk. Four extra arms protruded from its body, writhing like tentacles. Its head was eyeless, with only a slit that opened to form a maw filled with sharp, needle-like teeth. The creature's entire form was a stark contrast of pitch black and bleached white, the signature hues of all Aberrations.
Sort of like me, Jidenna observed with a touch of dark humor, running an appreciative hand over the polished wood of the ship's railing. The construct itself was chipped in places, the cracks in the bannister hiding an infestation of termites.
Where did this group even come from? He thought, frowning a little. He was fairly certain he hadn't detected any rifts nearby and the Tower of Plenty was still too far away to be a definite source. But then, very few Aberrations stuck around the sites of their birth. They liked to wander, drawn by an instinct to seek out prey and spread their influence.
The Direling opened its mouth, as if to answer Jidenna's unspoken question, and let out a loud, bone-chilling shriek and he stared, fascinated by its grotesque beauty. It jerked its head towards the ships, let out another shrill scream, and launched itself forward with surprising speed.
A blazing spear, crackling with electricity and expertly thrown, caught it mid-flight. The weapon struck true, knocking the creature squealing to the ground in a shower of sparks. Several members of the crew rushed forward, ululating loudly in a battle cry that echoed across the dunes and finished it off with several vicious blows to the head, their weapons crushing the Direling's skull with sickening efficiency.
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Without hesitation, the body was seized and tossed into the burning pile. Jidenna knew the reasoning behind this swift action. While Aberrations would disintegrate naturally, the process wasn't immediate, and there was a chance the aura their bodies carried would attract more dangerous things. Burning them was an excellent workaround, erasing all traces of their presence.
The two men watched all this with nary a reaction, their faces masks of stoic acceptance in the face of such otherworldly horrors.
After a moment of contemplative silence, the captain spoke again, his tone curious. "Very rare, finding someone headed to Sinikat at this time of year. I wager you're hoping to try your luck with the Tower, yes?" He cast a sideways glance at Jidenna. "It's nearly late now; it's almost open. I'm thinking you should have left earlier. Why wait?"
Jidenna weighed the question, considering how much to reveal. "I was waiting for confirmation," he finally said, his voice measured. "There are people I am hoping to meet, and I wanted to be sure of their location before committing to the journey." He shrugged, the gesture casual but his eyes sharp. "The Dry Lands isn't exactly something one crosses on a whim."
The captain grunted his agreement and scratched his beard in thought. The sound of his calloused fingers rasping against coarse hair was audible even over the wind. Finally, he nodded to Jidenna, who helpfully tapped the man's throat. A black Seal flared to life, its intricate patterns glowing briefly before fading into the captain's skin.
"All right people. Pack it up," the captain announced, his voice channelled directly into everyone's ears in a whisper, courtesy of Jidenna's Seal. "Let's get going before something worse comes looking."
Nodding once again, the captain walked back to his post, leaving Jidenna alone with his thoughts. He watched the crew below scramble to obey, noting the wary and sometimes frightened looks cast his way. He understood their trepidation. People with his affinity were quite rare, and their abilities were often subject to mistrust and superstition.
It certainly doesn't help when you look the way I do, Jidenna mused. While albinos weren't openly discriminated against, it was still odd to be the only white face in a sea of black and brown. It would have been terribly sad if Jidenna didn't immensely enjoy the attention.
The sandship shuddered, interrupting his thoughts—which was rude and uncalled for–and he smiled softly and held onto the bannister as the Windweavers set to work. Their massive eagle-like wings ruffled with motion, stirring up small whirlwinds of sand as they prepared to propel the ships across the desolate landscape.
As the fleet began to move, Jidenna's dreads slipped free from their bonds but he didn't bother retying them, instead letting them flutter around in the wind like a black halo. He looked out over the endless dark sand and felt a sense of anticipation building within him. Things were starting to look up, and with a bit of luck – and perhaps a touch of his unique abilities – they would stay that way.
***
When Somadina had first imagined Sinikat, he had thought of it as barely a city; perhaps a bigger, more expansive version of Omata. There would be a large, central market around which houses of fired clay and thatch roofing would radiate outwards, like spokes on a wheel.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Sinikat was a forest, unlike anything he had ever seen before. In place of trees were giant stalks of mushrooms in every colour imaginable. Ranging from clusters as small as his thumb to great monstrosities that towered above him, blotting out the sun, each specimen was a marvel unto itself. Shanty houses of wood and earth and metal sprouted haphazardly from the larger mushrooms; some of them big enough to contain multiple tiers of the buildings. A steady stream of humanity poured forth from them onto the long, tiled path that snaked in and out of the stalks, into the distance. Somadina stood there with Kainene and Olisa at the very borders of the city and tried and failed to close his mouth.
The two Ordained chuckled at the expression on his face.
“Sinikat does leave quite the impression, doesn’t it?” said Olisa, still smiling. “Try not to drool too much. And don’t worry. Once you’ve seen it multiple times you get used to it.”
Somadina wasn’t so sure about that. He was opening his mouth to say something to that effect when he staggered, a stabbing pain lancing into his head. The sudden motion awakened Rai who squawked indignantly and two strong arms shot out to steady him.
“Easy,” Kainene said, concern furrowing her brow. “Deep breaths. Give your body time to adjust.”
Somadina obeyed, taking shallow gulps of air and slowly, the pounding in his head began to fade.
“Now I understand why you insisted I reach Disciple before we got here.” He exhaled sharply. “That was… intense. Why is the anwansi here so dense?”
Their expressions were sombre. “No one’s ever managed to find a definitive answer. The scripts that run the Tower help explain it somewhat but—” Kainene took a deep breath. “The most widely accepted theory is that a Firstborn died here long ago.”
“Oh.” The look on Somadina’s face mirrored theirs. He stared at the brightly coloured stalks with fresh eyes. “I imagine those don’t shrivel up and die.”
Olisa shook his head. “No. A consequence of all the anwansi floating around. If the theory is true it also helps that they’re growing on the corpse of a greater spirit. Ironic really, that life anwansi would be the thing most abundant here.”
They stood there for a few moments, waiting until he had adjusted to the pressure on his soul before they continued onwards. As they walked, Somadina paid very little attention to his surroundings, his mind still on what Kainene had told him. He couldn’t get it out of his head. Firstborn were immortal and incredibly powerful spirits. They didn’t just die of natural causes. Which of course begged the question. Who or what was strong enough to kill a Firstborn?
The thought brought with it a sense of foreboding and despite the afternoon sun, Somadina had to suppress a shiver.
But he was not allowed to dwell on that. A deluge of sound snapped him from his thoughts and he looked up to find himself in the middle of a market large enough to put Omata’s to shame. It occupied a clearing in the forest, stalls and booths of all shapes and sizes sprouting every which way like tumours. A kiosk selling weapons sat next to an open booth belonging to a Karfi tradeswoman displaying baskets full of kuli-kuli and tigernuts and soya milk, the bottles kept cold by a liberal application of frostweeds. A woman preparing fura da nono had set up shop nearby, her quick hands expertly mixing the milk and millet gruel and dispensing them into the bowls of her customers.
Another sold Enchanted footwear, the animated shoes and sandals bound to the shop by long, metal chains, preventing their many attempts at escape. And weaving deftly through the mass of people were lines of hawkers calling out wares ranging from iced water to spiced meat. A merchant from the faraway continent of Ni Ren carefully wiped down display cases containing what Somadina recognized from his books as guns and there was even a wagon filled with steel armour and swords that was manned by three Pale-Skins from beyond the Trade Sea. He goggled at them, unable to stop staring, and was only kept moving by the hands the giggling Kainene and Olisa kept firmly planted on his shoulders.
“If you think this is impressive, wait until you see Adalci,” she said, fending off the jewellery one persistent girl kept thrusting in her face. “They get visitors from Xipica and even the Kalan-Jani Isles. As port cities go, Sinikat isn’t all that impressive.”
Somadina shook his head in disbelief. How could anything surpass this?
The jewellery girl refused to be denied. Having failed with Kainene, she promptly changed targets and, in a heartbeat, Somadina’s coin purse was stolen and the protesting Kainene dragged off to view her wares. Rai was also intrigued, leaping onto the grinning Olisa’s shoulders and peering carefully at the egg-sized rubies and sapphires the girl was selling.
Smiling at the disapproving look on Kainene’s face, Somadina continued on, drawn to a shop selling tall specimens of blue-green thunder-orchids. A merchant stumbled past and dropped a crate of potions, his curses mingling liberally with the sound of breaking glass. A ratbat, startled by the noise, leapt out from the underbrush and took flight. Distracted, Somadina turned to watch and promptly bumped into two dibias.
"Sorry," Somadina muttered, rubbing his arm where it had struck one of the dibias. The impact had been surprisingly painful, as if he'd run into a wall rather than a person.
But the dibias were not inclined to let the incident pass. They turned as one, fixing Somadina with scowls that made his blood run cold. After a moment of careful scrutiny, their expressions morphed into sneers of recognition and disdain.
"A Disciple here? And left unsupervised as well." The taller of the two dibias reached out, his hand descending onto Somadina's shoulder with a grip like iron. "You should watch where you're going, boy."
A sliver of ice seemed to work its way down Somadina's spine as he sensed the palpable malice emanating from the two men. He tried to back away, but the dibia's grip was unyielding. Panic began to set in as Somadina realised he was trapped.
"You nearly injured us," said the second dibia, his voice dripping with false concern. A crocodile's smile spread across his face, revealing teeth that seemed just a bit too sharp. "You must pay for that."
Somadina never did find out exactly how the dibias intended for him to "pay." His mind, operating on instinct, had already begun visualising a Seal – a complex one that, when activated, would make his opponents feel as though insects were crawling beneath their skin. But before he could complete the visualisation, he felt a familiar presence settle over him like a protective cloak.
The two dibias started violently, their eyes growing wide as if they had seen a ghost materialise before them. In the next instant, Olisa was there, his hand casually but firmly removing the dibia's grip from Somadina's shoulder.
"Is anything the problem?" Olisa asked. His tone was light but there was a subtle undercurrent of barely restrained violence.
"No... not at all," the second dibia managed to stutter, wilting under the force of Kainene's withering glare. Rai, still perched on Olisa's shoulders, let out a menacing snarl that revealed rows of needle-sharp fangs. The first dibia swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing painfully. "Just a misunderstanding. We will be going."
Somadina, Kainene, and Olisa watched as the two Practitioners nearly tripped over themselves in their haste to retreat, quickly disappearing into the crowd. As one, they turned to face Somadina, who offered them a sheepish look.
"Father who made me," Kainene exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Can't we leave you alone for five minutes without someone or something trying to kill you?" Despite her words, a disbelieving smile played at the corners of her mouth, taking any real sting out of the rebuke.
Somadina merely shrugged in response, his expression a mix of embarrassment and resignation. Rather than dwell on the incident, he peered curiously into the satchels his companions carried, far more interested in examining their purchases than rehashing his close call.
As they continued through the market, the ratbat from earlier glided past once more on its leathery wings. The creature's erratic flight path attracted Rai's interest, the owlcat's head swivelling to track its movement. But the ratbat soon vanished behind a cluster of houses, and Rai, apparently deciding that pursuit wasn't worth the effort, transferred herself from Olisa's shoulders to Somadina's with a languid yawn.
As they moved beyond the heart of the marketplace, Somadina noticed a shift in their surroundings. The forest canopy had grown thick once more, creating a living roof high above their heads. Sunlight filtered through great caps of mushrooms that sprouted from the massive tree trunks, staining the air with hues of blue, orange, and purple. The effect was ethereal, lending an almost dreamlike quality to the bustling city streets.
The houses and buildings in this part of Sinikat stood independently of the colossal tree stalks, their wooden forms squatting on the ground like oversized toads. Despite leaving the market proper behind, this area was no less busy. People packed the streets just as tightly, though Somadina noticed a marked change in how the crowd reacted to their presence. Kainene and Olisa had stopped bothering with their makeshift veils, and most of the passersby gave their little group a noticeably wide and respectful berth.
As they navigated the crowded thoroughfare, two elderly dibias hobbled past, each clutching a staff nearly as tall as themselves. Their animated conversation carried clearly over the general din of the street.
"Three thousand manillas? For what?" demanded the taller of the pair, his lime-green braids swirling around his head as if animated by his indignation. The tiny serpents woven into his hair seemed to share his agitation, their golden eyes glinting as they twisted and coiled. "Where is that done? For just one lodge! And it's per night!"
Olisa and Kainene exchanged amused glances before breaking into soft chuckles. They shook their heads at Somadina's questioning look, clearly privy to some inside joke.
"Typical Ije," Kainene said, her voice thick with fond amusement. "Trust that one to never miss an opportunity."
"Who?" Somadina asked, his curiosity piqued.
"You'll see. She's great," Olisa replied, his attention momentarily captured by a nearby shop displaying bales of vibrantly dyed cloth. The reds were particularly striking, seeming to glow with an inner fire even in the dappled shade of the forest canopy.
Kainene noticed Olisa's wandering gaze and, letting out an exasperated sigh, seized the collar of his shirt and unceremoniously yanked the yelping Ordained away from temptation. As she dragged him along, Somadina caught fragments of her muttered complaints about "foolish dibias" who "wanted to waste all of their money."
"Ije is a very old friend of ours," Kainene explained to Somadina, still maintaining her grip on the squirming Olisa. "She and her mother were the ones we were on our way to see when we found you. Their family basically owns all of Sinikat."
Somadina was fascinated. He leaned forward eagerly, ready to pepper Kainene with inquiries about Ije and her evidently influential family. But before he could voice a single question, the dense forest came to an abrupt end, and his words died in his throat as he beheld the vista before him.
"Mother protect me," he whispered, his mouth falling open in awe.
A veritable armada of ships lay docked at a sprawling sand port nearby, their white hulls stark against the dark, sun-baked sands of the Dry Lands. A small army of crewmen and late arrivals scurried to and fro, loading cargo and making last-minute preparations. They seemed oblivious to the ominous grey mist that clung to their feet, writhing and curling like something alive.
But it wasn't the impressive fleet that had stolen Somadina's breath. His attention was captured entirely by something far more magnificent.
Emerging from the swirling fog like a behemoth out of legend, the Tower rose up and away, stretching higher and higher until it seemed to pierce the very firmament. Its base was easily wide enough to comfortably contain half a dozen houses, yet it tapered as it ascended, creating an illusion of even greater height. Every inch of its vast surface was covered in intricate scripts – millions upon millions of tiny, precisely etched symbols that seemed to shimmer and dance in the light.
A dark cloud of birds and winged soul beasts circled the tower's summit, their myriad calls creating an otherworldly chorus. The Tower's body rippled like the surface of a pond disturbed by a stone, its countless interlocking bricks shimmering with power.
In the face of this gargantuan edifice, Somadina felt impossibly small. The Tower stood proudly against the sky, reminiscent of the great spear wielded by the Father Himself in the old tales.
"There it is," Kainene said softly, their earlier struggle forgotten in the face of such majesty. Rai purred contentedly, her wings fluttering gently. The owlcat's feathers caught and reflected some of the Tower's radiant light, creating a halo of iridescence around her.
"We're finally here," Olisa added, his voice filled with a mixture of relief and reverence. "Sinikat’s Tower of Plenty."