Armad sat, leaning against a tree trunk, his head staring at a seventeen-night sky. The cold night air gently blew his shirt and headband. He heard the cries of birds and wild animals in the distance. But that couldn't stop him from thinking.
He remained in that state for a long time before the sound of dry leaves being stepped on woke him up, and he turned to see who was approaching him.
It was Nusi. She too had come out of the tent, her eyes reddish and she seemed to have been asleep only a moment before.
When their eyes met, she smiled, then cleared her voice. "Armad Djinn my little brother," she said. And for the first time since he met her, a little bit of laughter overwhelmed her, before she went on, "You know, even if you stop here and go home, your mother will be happy with your bravery." Her voice softened and it sounded like begging. "You don't have to push yourself when we reach the city there," she raised a finger and pointed to a place in the far north where there was a pillar of light. "I have money and I'll have more from passing this test. It will be enough for you to enter the Eycigan gate and go back to the third world. You shouldn't worry about paying me back, it's a gift from me for calling you my brother."
Armad smiled. "I have decided. First, I want to go home to my family, to my grandfather. I feel bad for being gone for a long time. But even if I go back now, I don't think I can help much with anything. I may even just be an obstacle to be protected. I still haven't finished learning the first level of the Wilberforce Sword Dance and I end up throwing myself through the fabric of time and space. So for that alone, I don't think I should be going back now. Besides, I'm starting to understand why my family is hiding our name. I think it has to do with this Triple Factor. That is probably why all the great Troika commanders chose my mother, a Wilberforce, to lead them in the search to find him.
"So if there is a chance, no matter how small, to fulfill my mother's wish to find this man, then I will not back down until I find him. You helped me twice and I appreciate it. I hope to repay you for this kindness in the future..."
Something dry and hard hit his face. He looked at the nut, which looked edible and fleshy, and then raised his head to look at Nusi who was fuming with what looked like anger.
''Don't ever say you will pay me. Lesson one: there is no such thing as gratitude between a brother and a sister."
Armad smiled, wondering about how fast this woman was. He couldn't even see the nut until it hit me, despite his enhanced sense.
Without further ado, Núsi entered the tent and packed their belongings. She handed him a bag, and she hung another on her back. "We'd better get into the town at night."
Armad stood up and followed her. They ran toward the pillar of light, which was where the town was.
"The town we are going to is called Khan," said Nusi. "It has over a hundred thousand people. But it is still the smallest of the four cities in this country. More than 90 percent of the town's population is foreign, meaning they aren't from Mikironomada, just like me. Everyone is protected by the King. You'll understand what I mean when we reach the city gate. Just remember that the purpose of you being there is to develop your pol, so that you may gradually awaken and help your mother.
"If you get so powerful then even your identity as the Heir won't be a problem. Even if it's revealed, you can take the necessary steps to protect yourself. Depending on how much pol you get during your awakening, few would dare to confront you."
She looked him up and down as if she were surprised he was still alive. But Armad didn't care, he just looked at her and smiled, because he realized she was trying to make him try harder and not to feel that his pol was enough to protect him.
"I will do my best to make sure you have everything you need and the rest is up to you. While you slept last night, I sent a message to my people in town, and they have already booked your entry into the Non-Touch dungeon. So be prepared."
"What's this Non Touch dungeon?" Armad asked. Although this wasn't the first time he heard about it, he was directly involved now, so he was quick to ask.
She looked at him with a surprised look on her face. "I don't know what is going in the third world and how you don't know about the most famous dungeon in the world, but this is strange... Any Bender using miyura needs the Non-Touch dungeon. But don't worry, for now just know that the dungeon is a way to help you control your pol and Negrinki, and you'll understand the rest of it when seeing it."
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At that moment, they saw the walls of the city sitting in the distance, and when they saw the two great gates of the city looking at them like immovable mountains. One gate was black, and the other was yellow.
Even from a distance, one could see six giant statues at the entrance of the yellow gate, and one at the entrance to the black gate.
The closer they got to the city, the more the statues appeared bigger. Armad spotted people at the entrance to the black door standing in a line. There were no guards, but the people following the line were quiet, and not a single person showed any sign of rioting, turmoil, or noise. Even in the middle of the night, when the city was calm, you couldn't pick any noise from them.
As they ran toward the gates, two men dressed in white appeared in front of them. One was fair and mature looking, resembling the Dalcis of the far east in the seventh world, and the other was a burly young man that looked very young. Unlike the Dalci-looking, the burly young man had dark skin like Armad and Nusi. Their faces were bowed, but Armad could still see the laughter on the face of the burly.
"Welcome, elder sister Núsi, I hope you have been well," the Dalci-looking one said politely.
Her face full of smiles she replied, "brother Spoon, brother Ilias, you don't have to bow your head at me."
But they didn't raise their heads.
She just shook her head and smiled. "Well, I have been well, and I hope you have been well too."
Suddenly, something told Armad that Nusi was a figure in the city. Who was she to warrant such treatment??
The two men turned around. "We're done preparing, let's enter the city," they said, and headed for the city gates.
Ever since they appeared, the people standing at the black gate had been turning around to look at them. One look and they would just look away.
As they moved closer to the entrance, one of the six statues in front of the yellow gate opened its eyes and a light shone from inside. Seeing this happened, the quiet place turned chaotic and noisy. They started pointing at them with wide eyes. All the people that were looking away from them now turned their heads in their direction.
The light coming from the statue hit Nusi directly on the face. Her face seemed to absorb it and it slowly disappeared. Nusi winced. But there was no apparent change in her face or body.
The two young men leading the way and Nusi made their way to the yellow gate, whereupon Armad tried to stop them because he could see there was no way to cross. After all, the statues were blocking the way, but then he saw them pass through the statues as if they weren't there.
So he too just followed behind them.
But the next thing he saw was blood dripping from his forehead, and then he was sitting on the floor, fainting.
He had collided with one of the six statues, hitting his head and cutting his forehead.
One of the wonders of the tribe Mikironomada was the huge statues at every entrance gate. The number differed between each of the entrances to the four cities. In Khan, for example, the yellow gate had six statues, and the black gate had one.
And even though the statues looked very much like humans, especially when you looked at them from a distance, everyone knew they weren't real. They were just like a picture of a projector that you could pass through without getting hurt or anything.
It was common knowledge that these statues weren't there when the gates were created. No, they came to be as the years came to pass. In a simple way that almost every native Mikironomada knew, and aspired to try as well. Even guests in Khan aspired to be able to create one of these statues one day, fully knowing it was close to impossible, but they never stopped dreaming until the day they died.
The last person to create his statue in Khan was a foreigner, a non-tribal man, which had greatly increased the status of the whole town to this day. He was called Bihanzin and was the one who added the one statue at the black gate, having first entered the town through that gate.
These statues were similar to the one Armad saw in the practice ground where he met Nusi, and we're called Daikirin. But any person who managed to create a Daikirin had proven to be formidable, a star that shone in the kingdom, so the people named them Al-yaya, meaning a glorious hero in Aldurish dialect.
Just as Armad fell to the ground, a terrifyingly bright light flashed up and illuminated the sky. Then, as if to reassure everyone in the town, the light formed into a straight line and entered the town, illuminating every nook and cranny of the town. It seemed to suddenly awaken everyone in town, causing a sudden commotion despite the night.
Nusi quickly turned to Armad who was sitting on the floor, blood dripping through the red scarf tied around his forehead.
Without asking for permission, they covered his face, as already a small group of people that were standing in front of the other gate had started advancing toward them.
***
Meanwhile, in one small palace in the city, three men appeared with angry faces. They wore black and yellow cloaks that resembled the city gates.
One of them said, "this tribe..." He gritted his teeth even harder and shouted like a mad dog. "Djinn!!"
"It was not enough for her to come back, but she came with someone else, someone like Bihanzin!"
The other said, "Now what do we do? If we don't take care of it soon, what happened with Bihanzin will happen again with this girl Núsí Djinn."
They nodded in agreement.