A woman's voice huh, if she is asking for my tribe, she is probably a Chinen then.
"So tribe." Flieday said in a low voice. "Why did you bring me… here?"
Usually such deserts are devoid of any Chinen settlements. No tribe can survive in the harsh, cold sandstorms and vegetation devoid areas. Most tribes reside in patches of bedrock jungles because of protection from winds and a roof of trees, and in Sprik jungles.
"There was a curser in the horde." Her voice was low and dangerous. Flieday heard her walking somewhere and then sitting? The sound of her slurping something followed the sound of her sitting or slamming something to. "Do not look back. Ryn will kill your ape with your movement."
Her voice was unusually calm and easy but still had a dangerous glint in it. "So what will you do next?" Flieday asked with concern. She still could not answer what she wanted to do, thus she instinctively sought to complete the mission the voice had given her.
What should I do? I cannot kill her, then I need to find someone else
"Multiple tribes were destroyed by the cursers." The sense of wariness hid the questioning and curious part of her voice. However, because of Flieday sticking with the tribe leader in her childhood she easily caught the hints.
"Mine too," she said, asking if the girl's tribe was destroyed or not.
"We are going hunting." Flieday interpreted it as a threat.
"Golden cannot use its abilities right now."
"...so?" Her voice was indifferent, without a hint of fear. "We won't hunt any graded beasts."
That did not mean anything. It is true that finding graded beasts in the wild was, while not common, there was still a risk while exploring the woods.
"I won't do that." Flieday refused sternly. Can I move now?
The woman had trapped her golden ape, thus had authority over Flieday… for now.
"Only if we go hunting together." This meant 'disobey me and i kill you'
…
A girl wearing a weirdly fitting covering was walking calmly as her golden hair flew with the wind. Alongside her was a middle aged woman wearing multiple layers of animal skin with deep black eyes.
The blond girl was quietly following the woman as they continuously changed sides. The wind was lacking in any humidity, and the sand was bone chilling. They had been walking around for an hour as Flieday asked, "Where are we going?"
"We are going to the Sprik jungles, of course. We need to be vigilant of the beasts living under the sand; however, Inky will be helping us with it."
Flieday quietly nodded, still pondering over what she wants to do after she kills someone and takes out their heart."
The girl stayed quiet for a bit and asked. "He can sense any movement around here… and it is sensing a lot of it towards the east."
…
So Flieday finally reached the source of the movement, and surprisingly it was not a horde of beasts running from something nor was it someone herding animals.
On the ocean of sand, small dots were moving. The dots were small and insignificant; if they were not in a group, one might not even notice them. Like ants, these dots were easily identifiable because of their herd-like movement. Perhaps that was what everything was like to Flieday at this moment.
Standing beside the woman whose name she had not bothered to ask, she looked at the ant like dots and then herself. "What do you think separates us, Chinen, from ants?" She asked.
Flieday was struggling to find a reason for her to do anything; right now, all she wished to do was to live another day, look at the sky, touch the snow and… she honestly did not know what else she wanted.
"Ants only have one phase of life."
Intrigued, she looked at her, asking her to continue.
"From the place I grew up, it was said that life has two phases."
The ants suddenly started moving erratically; Flieday looked at them before shaking her head.
"The first phase is discovery, and the second phase is journey… only Chinen live through both of the phases."
"What are those, anyways?" Flieday asked as she pointed to the ants.
"People whose tribes were destroyed, of course."
"... I have a plan."
"One wrong word, one wrong move, and you are dead."
Quite rude.
Flieday was walking on a tightrope the moment she met the black-eyed girl. With a time bomb attached to her chest and a killer on her back, she had to be extremely careful.
But she wasn't. If the time runs out and she dies, so what? Did she even want to do something while living to fear her death? Even if the black-eyed girl ends her life, so what?
"What is your name?" Flieday asked; this time her voice was filled to the brim with wariness.
"Dusk."
…
Two women were running down a slope. The slope was formed by a massive sand dune with bone-chilling sand.
They were running towards a vast group of ants… no; they were running towards a group of people. They were whose tribes had been eradicated by the cursers.
"What are those phases?" Flieday asked as she pondered over her future.
"Discovery… is the phase in which Chinen is finding its purpose."
A purpose?
…
A long serpent was curled in a ball like a small cat. Only that the serpent was neither small nor cute — rather it was quite huge, around 50 feet. Flieday would have felt powerless against it if not for Dawn generously giving her the ape back.
Sadly, everything has a price, and she had to pay by drinking poison. As long as she does not offend Dawn, she would get the antidote back.
Or… she would find it herself.
Nevertheless, her great ape was pushing the round serpent. She remembered the sleeping bowl serpents who — once they had eaten their fill, would curl into a ball and sleep for years.
While they were sleeping, they were nearly indestructible but not immovable.
Thus she had her ape push the serpent out of the way; well, it was easier said than done. It had defensive methods which forced Flieday to keep track of any movement in it.
While sitting on her ape's head, she noticed that the serpent's flesh rippled.
"Jump!"
The ape complied instantly. It jumped high as the serpent's scales rippled and fire engulfed a metre around it.
A few hours later she found herself standing on top of the ape in front of about five hundred people.
Since they had no more than a single tamer and were waiting for the militarists, she became their leader.
Dawn did not want to have any responsibility; she only stood aside Flieday and stared at her.
"What will you do with these people?" Dawn mumbles; they were going to give a speech of some sorts just moments later
"Well… I'll have them go to the nearest tribe safely, and we'll see," Flieday whispered.
"How many will you sacrifice?"
"..."
Flieday remained silent, the words echoing in her mind…
"How does it matter?"
"Sacrifice?"
"Even if we Chinen have one more phase than other beasts… how can it make us superior?"
She… is a demon. A young one who can be dealt with, but a young demon, nonetheless.
This was not what So Flieday was thinking; rather, this was Dawn's thought