[Winter – Parso - One Sun before]

“I've seen that look. . . it never leads to a good deed.” stated Ollie.

He gazed out the window pane from the bedside of Jennings. He stepped back from his view of Anette storming off into the surrounding desert and fading into the landscape. Swiping his head back across the room, he motioned toward Penny to keep talking.

Penny obliged and proceeded.

“. . . I check his pulse before every trip out of the room. I want it to get better, I want him to get better, he will. Right?”

The concern was obvious to read on her face, even for a half-observant toddler, the same emotional level as Ollie. Her fingers ran down the side of the bed sheet, activating her sense of touch, internally confirming that she could still feel for the time being.

“Good,” she thought to herself.

The trusted friend of Jennings didn't know what to expect. Ollie had seen him in bad shape, good shape and every state in between yet never an immobile and non-responsive one.

[Winter – Outskirts of Parso]

Wandering behind senseless, Anette was barely beginning to regret her rash decision. Overnight with no sleep to account for had led her growing increasingly tired of her circumstances, even with a useful companion like Wolf. Using her forearms only amounted to a sub-par shield against the raging wind of the parched valley.

Exhaustion and perhaps dehydration played into effect as Anette's legs began to go lame at every other step in the scorching sand. Each exhale, which usually followed with a relaxing inhale, instead became a task rather than a refreshing bodily function.

The next thing Anette experienced was the weight of her heavy eyelids shutting again as weakness proved unwavering.

A few hours passed as no one but the desert creatures noticed the unconscious girl, face-up in the sand. Wolf once again had displayed immense concern for her well-being. In her time of need, she admitted that she could remain better aware of her body if there was a future.

“The sand tastes good.” she sarcastically wined.

Wolf grasped the sand below in a confused gesture. In an even more dazed follow-up, Anette watched the Native man pour sand down his own face. A sand-waterfall of curiosity that endeared her toward him.

“I don’t see the appeal of your thinking.” said Wolf.

A simple glance was enough for Anette to come to closest them to return to a common goal. At times, a minimal act of inquiry is enough to bypass an answer. The duo returned to their route.

As Wolf wrestled his rag back into his hide-woven pants pocket, he muttered in a lazy tone at Anette's direction.

“If your vision is blind, why use it at all, why risk your safety in these climates?”

Peeping through a tired, clenched face, Anette struggled to force out a response and eventually gave in to the quiet.

“Fear not young miss, I have no intention to further your struggle. Here, take another sip if you wish. I'm Wolf, if you can even recall.”

Holding up Anette's limp chin as he shoveled water from his waterskin into her dry mouth. Her eyes sparkled as she sat upward to retrieve some more hydration. He proceeded.

“I'm from a local tribe called the Spiri. It is dangerous in the wild, especially for unprepared Settlers. Come to our camp. Seek shelter with us until your spirit tells you otherwise.”

She felt overcome with the notion of gratitude coming from this stranger in this rumored harsh landscape. Evidently, emotionally removed from her comfort zone in the last few weeks leading up to what had unfolded. It was no wonder that she leaped into Wolf's extended arms of assistance.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The Sun drifted across the sky as Wolf carried Anette on his back the remainder of the trip shortly after. The sunset spread its orange spectrum across the soon-to-be night sky.

As Wolf placed Anette lightly on his ground-level sleeping pillow, he became intrigued by what could possibly lead a young woman to recklessly venture into the elements as she had. Wolf leaned forward, asking intimately.

“Was it the foolish fiend Dopno that sent you out into certain death?”

Anette was already beginning to feel the relief that shade brought to those stationed in the outlying lands. The name didn't ring a bell, but he didn't seem to be jesting with his inquiry, prompting an earnest reply..

“Dipno? No, no. I'm here because of a. . .s-sick man. His soul is only growing darker, I can feel it. First he targeted my friend, then there was this giant creature showing up, only few miles from where Pavo was captured and wreaking havoc on unsuspecting farmers. . .killing people. People who only were in harm's way because of what?”

Wolf looked back with his stone-like gaze.

“Giant creature you say? An Ageast?”

“What's that?” she inquired.

The feeling of curiosity filled the girl while pushing her frayed bangs behind her grimy, sand-crusted ear.

“Welcome elder Moondawn, he'll answer questions you haven't even yet pondered.”

Without hesitation, they had arrived. The scene was lackluster, yet unbelievably welcoming. Unlike the stories of Settlers’ tales, colorful adornments and strikingly designed huts brought a sense of nostalgia to Anette. She’d grown in a pretty fair surrounding, with not much incidence. A life often void of a challenge led her to appreciate the uncomplicated nature of things such as color and vibrancy. So the sight of sun-soaked Spiri hustling between societal tasks and intermingling with ease, only peaked her insatiable intrigue.

Wolf paused, approaching the nearest triangular-shaped tent hut. He dropped Anette off his back and to the floor in the most careful way possible. Without orders, he proceeded to reach out his hand and swiped the crimson piece of fabric being used as the door, to the side. With no word, simple body impressions, Anette felt like he swayed her inside.

“Who lives here?”

“I'll bring him, you remain rested.” said the man in a consistently comforting tone, with a jagged smile.

Although there were unfamiliar characters painted on the inside lining, beautifully-stroked foreign art, it fulfilled a sense of warmth anyways. After what seemed like an anxious eternity, Wolf returned as promised with a gray-haired man dressed in layer after layer of fur-skinned attire, as if he was immune to the constant scorching desert rays. The pelt stared back during the entire conversation menacingly, as the high-ranking Spiri member positioned himself, very, slowly.

“So you are the lost girl?” he said, “I am elder Coyote Paw, elder Moondawn wasn’t free at the moment. I can already sense your wariness. Please do not fear.”

An arm extended out as if to offer condolences, but quickly shot back to his own personal space.

Anette paused at the introduction and squinted upward.

“I'm not as lost as I may seem. I'm seeking some help for someone that helped me.” she finished with a sincere undertone.

“Yet you know not how and where to accomplish those means, correct?”

His face molded into a sharply judgemental scowl, knowing that the question was rhetorical.

“I sense a gentle soul coming, no, radiating from your Agi field young Settler woman.”

“A-Agi field? But I don't even- know the first thing about Agi. I don't have that kind of ability.”

She responded in a befuddled state with a blank stare past the quant space before her. The spry elder beside her coughed to his side, then continued.

“The Agi potential resides within every soul, some to a much greater extent. However to show shame for not tapping into it, it is but naivety. For many, there are too many variables to solve their Agi puzzle.”

He wiped his scaly forehead and detached from the nice demeanor.

“This threat you speak of is a key statement for us Spiri. You speak of an Ageast, a beast that if corrupted, can ruin far past intentions.”

The attentiveness within the room could only be compared to that of a public execution where the most heinous of murderers was being put down. Wolf gazed onward from the teepee entrance, seemingly as invested as Anette herself, who was hearing this type of information for the first time. The respected elder continued to explain, holding up his hand to reveal a scar that could have very easily ended his life upon his right wrist.

“These Ageast are not creatures of good unless taught to be good. Just as every living being has the potential to make something great with Agi ability, equality almost always appears as if to reflect an unpolished duality. People have the ability to manifest their most vivid, horrid nightmares and project them as creatures of the Agi with a cursed soul at its core. I personally have not seen a manifestation since my youth. I know they can arrive at any time and inflict generations of struggle.”

“What do you mean exactly? These creatures just cause havoc for always and more?” asked the young woman without a clue of what the elder was opening up about.

The elder rose slowly from his seated posture with very little aid of the rushing-over Wolf, standing to his feet and directing some parting words to Anette before exiting. As each syllable was stated by the Coyote Paw, a smirk resiliently grew upon his wrinkly face.

“I'm saying...that you are going to need our help if you want to defeat this Ageast. I accept your plea, on behalf of all the Spiri.”