Merlovak left me alone after the burn incident with the sakonians. He told me to get some rest, so I returned to my bed to think things through.

After all that happened, I wanted to find the sakonians. Whatever happened with the old dragon, I didn’t really care anymore. I didn’t want to care. I just wanted to know why the sakonians came to visit. Then I could get away from this place.

I decided that I would first visit the death site of the sakonians who were killed in the flames. I wasn’t in the mood to enjoy such a gruesome sight, but I needed to figure out how they were traversing through the waters. Either they used technology or they were somehow biologically evolved to breathe underwater. If they were evolved, getting down to where they lived wouldn’t be the biggest issue; it would be the fact that I couldn’t naturally breathe underwater.

It was a long trek down to the shore. I didn’t really prepare anything because I wasn’t planning to leave now anyways, but I realized that I should’ve at least brought some kind of cane to hike with. Maybe I could’ve used the giant fish bones lying around.

As I got closer to the crime scene, I could smell the burnt air surrounding the place. Thankfully, I couldn’t see it yet, but the smell alone was enough to make me rethink if it was really worth all the trouble.

Past the low sand dunes to my left, a small glint caught my eye. Wondering what could have shined so brightly, I cautiously quickened my pace. When I got to the top of the dune, I peered down to see a large circular area that was noticeably different from the rest.

I crouched down to get a closer look. The place was a weird mixture of grey particles and shiny, glass-like substances. I picked up a piece of the clear substance. It was smooth to the touch. Inside, there were small specks of sand. This is glass, I realized.

This was the burn site. The grey stuff was probably human ash, and the glass was probably sand that melted from the flames. I got up quickly, trying to distance myself from any corpses. I couldn’t stand the thought of accidentally inhaling someone’s dead ashes.

Looking from afar, I didn’t notice anything that resembled a human body. There were just a few patches of ash here and there around the large perimeter of glass shards. There were no signs of any large remains. Not even bones were in sight.

There should be way more body parts or some kind of byproduct from the burned bodies… This doesn’t make any sense. I couldn’t quite figure out what had happened. There just wasn’t enough of anything to suggest that about a dozen sakonians died here.

Maybe some of them survived the fire? I looked around the outer areas trying to find any footprints on the sand. Except for my own, there wasn't much going on here either. Just a bunch of sand everywhere. I tried climbing back up the small sand dune to get a better look at my surroundings.

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“Who are you?” A young voice startled me from behind.

I quickly readied my arms for a potential attack, but when I turned around, I saw a human. Black hair. A girl around my age? “Wait… you’re sakonian, right?”

She scrunched her brows together. Quizzically, she replied, “Yes, I believe so?”

Jackpot. I had found the missing link. This was my ticket out of here. I needed to sway the situation in my favor, and for that, I needed information. I didn’t have enough time to think, so I just decided to act like I was lost.

“Sorry, I’m lost.” Wow, that was so bad. I need to put more emotion into my voice.

She paused for a moment. “Where’s your suit?”

“Suit?” I focused in on her clothing. She was wearing a skin-tight wetsuit. Oh, geez. “Um, why are you wearing that?” I pointed at her wetsuit.

She frowned. “This is normal wear… who are you?”

“Um, first of all, who are you?”

“I believe I asked you first.” She crossed her arms. “You don’t seem like you’re with my crew… I haven’t seen your face before.”

Crew? Nice, I can use that. “Crew? I kind of remember being in a crew. I must’ve hit my head pretty hard somewhere. I don’t remember much.”

She gazed up at the sky. “Already that late…” It seemed like she was gauging the time. “We can discuss this later. Come.” She turned around. “We need to get back now before the dragon returns.”

Oh, nice. Is this supposed to be my free ride? “So, what happened to the dead bodies that were here?”

She stopped in her tracks. “They’re not just dead bodies. They were soldiers who died for the greater good. Show some respect.”

“Sorry,” I replied, “I didn’t mean… could I ask where those soldiers are now?”

“They’ve been taken to the sakoar.”

“The sakoar?” What is that? Sakoar? Some kind of sakonian city? A base maybe? “So, you took the bod-soldiers with you to this… sakoar?”

“Yes! For saka’s sake!” She turned around again and glared at me. “Listen closely. I have no reason to believe your words, but this place is unsafe. I’m doing you a favor and letting you onboard. And if it so happens that you get in my way, I will not hesitate to leave you behind.”

“Sorry. My bad.” Sheesh.

She stared at me with her icy, blue eyes. She was about to turn around, but spun back with her finger pointed. “And don’t disrespect the soldiers! Is that clear?”

“Yep, crystal.” Frightening. “So where are we going?”

“To the damn sakoar, you numbskull! How stupid are you?!” She marched off towards the direction of the sea without giving me a chance to react. I heard her mutter “idiot” under her breath before stomping away.

Geez. Why so uptight? I got that dragons were their enemy, but they really did seem barbaric as Merlovak put it.