End of the line

*Tsuki Shizukana*

The fixing of Niam's broken Katana took longer than expected. The sun had set, and it was dark in the city of Karama.

Many gaslights were lit all around the city, many even used all kinds of Salan abilities to create a source of light. Some could create a fire that burned as long as they fed it their Mana, other would use certain gems and imbue them with Mana to make them shine.

All the colored lights danced throughout the city, a unique sight I would get to see more often.

„Are you satisfied with the blade's quality?" I asked the satisfied Niam.

His look told me that he not only approved of the blacksmith's work, but also with the beautiful sight of the city.

„He did well. Let's go back to our room, we have a long day of travel ahead of us again."

„Way to kill the mood… I have an idea! Can't we get something to eat before we go back? I mean, we spent a lot of money shopping today. Why not spoil ourselves some more with some dinner?" I proposed.

„Doesn't sound so bad." He approved.

The things we purchased were dragged along to a random restaurant. We both knew that leaving our stuff in the hotel room would be like begging to get robbed.

The restaurant looked very ordinary. Old steel tables and chairs were scattered across a well-lit interior, while the kitchen was inside the same space too. Just smelling the food, the chef was preparing, was enough to cause an overproduction of saliva in my mouth.

„Ramen." Niam got the chef's attention while holding up 2 fingers.

‚Thinking about fingers… I never asked if Niam had gotten used to losing 2 fingers.'

„I know you a lot know, so tell me how it is to have 2 fingers less than anybody else."

Niam chuckled lightly, my daring and slightly teasing question must've been amusing to hear for him. He liked it when I acted differently for a change.

„Well, my ten-fingered friend, my left hand's grip strength is almost non-existent. At least I can use it to get a better feeling for my Salan ability. I can still snap with my left, so I tend to snap when using my Salan ability. You should know by now."

I had lost count on how many months I had spent with Niam. And after all this time, our conversation topics had seemed to have run out. From time to time though, Niam would tell me obviously made-up stories to fight boredom. The topic about his fingers was knew, yet, it ended as quick as it began.

When the Ramen arrived, I ate the thing like there was no tomorrow. I „devoured" the Ramen, as Niam said.

„Hooo… that was great."

„A good alternative to wild meat. Let's get some rice in the next few days too." Niam suggested.

Niam didn't really say it, but he slightly admitted that he enjoyed eating „real" food. But his suggestion told me that we would be leaving the next morning, as usual, but we would still be eating street food at another city or town.

„To the hotel now."

When we were on our merry way, a sudden Mana displacement got our attention. The Mana displacement happened between Niam and me.

Whatever it was, Niam seemed to know what it was.

„Prying eyes…" He called it.

„What do you mean?" I asked.

„Way back, when I first awakened my Core, you and the other scouts were spying on me, right?"

„Yes."

„I felt the same thing I felt now, and back then, it turned out to be prying eyes. But this time, it was way different. Mana was involved and it disappeared faster than it appeared."

„It's nothing then?"

„Probably some enemy, but yes, it's nothing."

‚We made a lot of enemies on our journey. The first one was the European Union, then the Nordic Alliance, and the Arabic Empire, if Asem did not excuse our crimes.'

We arrived at the hotel. It was obvious that the hotel, was a hotel, even before the impact. The only difference, technology didn't work anymore, so the owner changed the locks on all doors to normal keys.

„There is a heater in the bath, take a shower if you'd like." Niam suggested.

‚Do I stink? Probably… I'm sick of traveling. I want to finally reach old Japan and live normally. I hope we don't face any misfortune.'

I heated up the water for my bath and went into the tub. I reminisced about our journey. The fact that I recently took multiple people's lives was not bothering my mind anymore. I wondered if I matured so much that I didn't care about human lives anymore. That couldn't have been the case because I really cared about Niam and slightly about Sidika of Siran bridge. 'Why do I remember her all of a sudden?'

My hands had become rough, archery did not treat my feminine body nicely. My muscles became more defined, and fat was stored in the least influencing places. My body had become accustomed to survival.

"The water is still warm if you'd like to take a bath yourself."

Niam had fallen asleep on his bed. Even he was overcome by exhaustion. There was nothing he could've done to prevent it. 'He didn't even make it under the blanket, he just plopped onto the bed and passed out immediately.'

"Here you go." I threw a blanket over Niam. "You didn't tell me if you want to take turns sleeping. What should I do now?"

It was nice to see Niam sleep like we weren't fighting for our lives everyday. His straight face became relaxed when he slept, his long, black hair spread across his pillow, while his hands were locked on top of his stomach. 'He is lucky that technology doesn't work anymore, otherwise, I would've taken a photo of him.'

It looked ridiculous, but I liked that sight of him a lot. Unfortunately, that moment of peace didn't last long. I was reminded of the things he did in Anatolia, in the Inn. 'Sleeping with a princess. I guess that's every man's dream.'

***

"COUGH!" Niam woke up.

I sat beside him the entire time he was asleep.

"What the hell? The sun is already up. Why didn't you wake me up so we could've taken turns?" He asked.

"I felt like you needed a good sleep. I still need you at full capacity. Go take a bath, we'll leave after." I stated.

"Don't baby me! I'll go and take a bath, but not because you said so." He said.

His pride was hurt. He stood up and walked towards the bathroom.

"Acting like I'm a kid..." He complained as he walked.

"Haha!" I was amused, yet again.

After Niam was finished, he thought, making me dry his hair was a form of punishment. But actually, I loved making someone's hair. I always dried and combed Kaito's hair.

"Your hair has gotten really long."

"Hm..."

"Can I tie it for you?"

"I don't care."

My hands had never moved faster. I feared, the longer it took to do Niam's hair, the faster his patience would run out.

I took a small strand of hair and weaved it. Niam's hair was tied back, a few strands of hair occupied his forehead, and the weaved strand hung down on his right side. 'Doesn't look too bad.'

Niam seemed to have fallen asleep again. 'Why is he so exhausted?'

"Hey, Niam. What's wrong?"

"I- I don't know. We need to be careful, I don't feel like I'm at my best."

Niam sounded serious. I had never heard him speak that way. 'I wish I had known. I could've slept too. But now that I was sleep deprived, the risk of making mistakes or misjudgments is higher than ever.'

I felt the weight of our situation, it was time to prove that I was skilled enough to help us advance in or journey. Niam told me several small details. The Tamer of the hotel could speak English, and we had a map of the Asian Empire. He also told me our next route plan. We were to go straight to north-east, to old China's coast that was right next to the old Japan island. When following that road, we would have to eventually travel through Banna forest, the Asian Land's biggest forest.

We left the hotel room after organizing our equipment. Niam looked even worse than before. We walked down the stairs to the receptionist. Luckily, the Tamer was already there.

"Bring us to our horses." I said.

"The young man from yesterday! So this is your friend. I wondered why you had booked a room for two."

"Lead the way." I said.

"All right, no problem. Follow me, please."

Gin and Ganko looked well. They had had enough to eat and drink, and they even seemed to have behaved well. The stable featured other horses from other hotel guests as well.

Gin seemed to realized that Niam wasn't doing well, he even bent down so that Niam could get on him more easily. Ganko noticed too but didn't care.

I noticed that the Tamer was still there.

"Do you expect a tip?" I asked.

"Oh, your kindness has no limit." The Tamer thanked.

I hadn't even given the Tamer a tip, yet, he still thanked me. It was a psychological trick, I started to recognize manipulative behavior after spending so much time with Niam.

We didn't care about money. I gave a small tip. I knew that once we were in need of money, Niam wouldn't shy away from getting money in any way possible.

"Too kind." The Tamer thanked again.

First, we rode through the city, then we left Karama.

***

The next days were the most difficult for me. 'Is this what Niam does all the time?' I wondered about the judgement calls he always made. I needed to make calls that were familiar to his.

'Do we go to this city or not? Do I risk getting into contact with people from a random village? What do I do once we cross paths with other people?'

I decided to base my judgement on Niam's well being. If he looked sicker than usual, I led us to a place where people were. If he looked better, we camped outside.

Niam had become just like me, passive to the situation at hand. But there was something more to it. Niam wouldn't allow himself to become the way he was. He was either sick, or a Salan ability was influencing him badly.

"Niam, how are you feeling?"

"I feel okay."

"Can you still not use Galaxy-Sight?"

"No."

The absence of wide-range observation was dangerous. We weren't able to tell if someone or something was near us.

Niam became worse by the day. The closer we got to Banna city and the forest behind it, the worse his complexion became. It wasn't long until we encountered 2 people. A man in his thirties and a kid around the age of 10.

Niam tried to look as good as possible, but the man, who carried a straight, double-edged sword, held his hands up to signal that he had no ill intentions. Niam stepped down from Gin and approached the strangers. He coughed and stumbled slightly when he approached them.

„What the hell did he do?!" Niam demanded to know.

While he asked, he pointed at the small kid.

The man looked confused while the kid was scared.

The man didn't seem to understand and assumed a defensive stance. He stretched out his hand, signaling Niam not to step any closer. One of his hands even grabbed the sword on his hip.

[„Yiwa, what's wrong with him? And what is wrong with you?"] The man said to the kid.

‚Is that Korean or what?'

["Just let him go away, he's scarier than all the men that hunt us."] The kid responded.

"Lee." The man pointed at himself.

"Niam Henka." Niam did the same.

The language barrier couldn't be overcome. We couldn't converse with the strangers, but there was no need to. Niam wanted to continue the journey.

I bowed slightly. Lee did the same. The strangers were the first to walk away. We simply continued to ride towards Banna.

This strange event was the only thing that played over and over in my head. My judgement was too poor to tell what had happened. But it became irrelevant after Niam's condition improved.

"The kid was causing this." Niam stated. "I don't know why, but that kid seemed familiar to me in a way."

I was about to talk, but Niam interrupted my attempt.

"It does not matter anymore. What happened, happened. Also, you did good the last weeks. Your judgement could see some improvement, but all in all, we survived."

Niam's approval made me happy. I felt at ease, knowing I was useful enough, and even essential to our survival. Still, there was always doubt. 'Could all of this have been avoided if I had used my ability?'

***

"Here it is. Banna city and the forest behind it."

"You are back to normal, right?" I asked.

"Yes."

The sun was setting. I predicted, Niam would want us to spend the night in a hotel or Inn. This gave us the chance to eat some street food again.

Banna city was the most crowded city we had visited. The streets were packed and the infrastructure had remained completely in tact. It didn't even look like Salan had influenced this city. That's what we thought. Things were a lot different inside the city.

Almost everyone carried a weapon of some kind, and unlike the other cities, Banna didn't have law enforcement. There were a set of rules depicted on signs, but it was all written in a language we couldn't speak or read.

It didn't take long for both of us to realize that we should avoid this city completely. We didn't even speak to agree on that decision, we just left the city from where we came from.

The monstrous Banna forest was in front of us. It was dark and probably not smart to enter the fores at night. We did anyway.

There were hundreds, if not thousand of creatures all around us. Spider, snakes, frogs, you name it. I did not fear insects nor snakes, the only thing that could potentially hurt us Bearers were other Bearers.

My fears became true when Niam was suddenly hit by a small projectile. Niam didn't warn me, he must've not known that somebody was observing us.

*Niam Henka*

'Damn! Half of my Mana reserves vanished immediately after the dart hit me. They aren't inside my 100 meter radius either.'

Tsuki assumed fighting position and aimed her bow everywhere. Our opponents hadn't shown themselves yet, so all we could do was advance while avoiding other darts.

"Don't get hit by that projectile. It will siphon your Mana out of your Core the second it pierces your skin. I already lost half of my Mana. "

We advanced slowly. Other dart-like projectiles flew at us at full speed, but it was nothing we couldn't avoid. The only thing our attackers had, was the element of surprise.

"They entered my sight, 2 people from our 12!"

They approached us rapidly. Tsuki shot a barrage of arrows at them, which they avoided. Two, Asian men in their twenties, stepped into our light. One wielded a straight sword, the other a short stick. Both were dressed in black robes.

Both of them attacked me, and Tsuki couldn't get a clean shot through because of me. I blocked the swordsman's swings and avoided the other guy's grabs.

They were far faster and far stronger than me for some reason. 'How are they so powerful?' I was gradually pushed back. The swordsman managed to cut into my flesh several times, while the other guy managed to hit me with blunt attacks, breaking several bones in my body in the process.

Then, the swordsman grabbed my arm, threw my Katana away, and grabbed my head. Everything became white after that.

I found myself standing on top of the 2 guys' bodies. I had somehow managed to kill them. Tsuki was alright too. She came running at me, and she hugged me.

We continued our journey without problems. We reached old China's coast, paid a guy to get us over to old Japan, and we started to live there. I met my relatives. They were all kind to me and Tsuki.

I started to train and live in old Japan. And as years passed, my relationship with Tsuki grew deeper. And eventually, we married, had kids, and grew old together. I lived a life that everyone wished for. I was happy.

„You underestimate me, illusionist." I yelled.

Everything had been a dream, but it felt too real. I had lived for decades inside the dream that the Bearer created for me.

„Marrying? Having kids? Don't make me laugh!" I yelled again.

The illusionist's face dropped in confusion. He did not expect me to remain mentally stable after losing a perfect, imaginary life.

The guy with the blunt weapon, used the time in which I was incapacitated, and attacked Tsuki. She was able to hold her ground against her opponent.

I dashed towards Tsuki's attacker, and kicked him several meters far. I did no damage, my Mana reserves were even lower than before. Our attacker assumed attacking position again.

„What is your name, and how did you manage to maintain your sanity?" The swordsman asked.

„Do you really think that a perfect life would've been enough for me?!"

„I asked for your name, fucker!"

„Niam Henka. And I'll be the one to kill you. Feel honored and pray your life turns out to be a lie too.

Tsuki had used the time where I talked, to position herself away from me and the attackers. She developed good archery instincts.

"I am Kosa, the Nightfall. I depleted your Mana." The guy with the blunt weapon said.

"And I am Jeun, the Nightmare. I see you have only one Mana-Core. How do you hope to defeat us?" The swordsman said.

"One Core? What do you mean by that? Is there a way to have more than one?" I asked.

"It's simple. You haven't found familiarity with your ability yet. You do not like to change, do you?" Kosa answered.

It was just like what Tsuki had first told me, back when I was tortured at the hospital. She also said that I should find a similarity between myself and my Salan ability. 'How far can someone's power grow? Do they obtain another Mana-Core, or what?'

"Why are you attacking us?"

"Because you have a pair of beautiful horses. Your gear is just the side dish. Also, your woman, she will become our toy. You seem to have trained her a lot, we are thankful." Jeun answered.

"Oh, shut up. Let's fight with honor. I'll kill one, and torture the other for information. Spill now, or one of your fates will be worse than death." I threatened.

Kosa and Jeun attacked. It was obvious that they had become used to each other's fighting style and behavior.

Kosa shot his darts at me - with his blunt weapon that turned out to be a blowpipe. Jeun imbued his straight sword with his Mana, and each swing that narrowly missed, showed me a glimpse of a slightly altered and more power hungry imaginary life. Each second I was absentminded, another hit had already reached my body.

Tsuki's arrow began to fly again. Having kept count, I knew that Tsuki only had less than half of her arrows left. Each arrow that flew, grew in speed and power. Smaller plants that stood in her arrows' way, were obliterated.

*Tsuki Shizukana*

I took too long to position myself. I saw Niam get cut and hit multiple times while I prepared to shoot.

My mind was blank, the only thing I did was shoot my arrows at my attackers. This crisis pushed my body to new heights. Each arrow I shot became faster, sharper and more explosive.

I had a quarter of my arrows left, I waited for Niam to finish one of them off. I couldn't afford to run out of arrows, or hit Niam by accident.

Niam countered the far superior attackers with pure sword skill. His slashes, his parries, his dodges were on another realm.

"Agh!" One of the attackers yelled.

It was the guy with the stick who yelled. I didn't know why, but he fell to the ground.

One attacker was down, only one remained. I ran towards Niam. His Mana supply was about to run out for sure. While I ran, I saw Niam lose his grip. His expression changed each time the swordsman would swing his sword.

"Tsuki! Shoot!" Niam ordered.

He dodged the swordsman's slash, stepped behind him with the help of his Salan ability, and held both arms of the attacker up. Niam was behind the swordsman, fixating his hands and holding his head. There was no way the swordsman would be able to escape Niam's gravitational pull.

Mana swirled around again. It was the same feeling of being watched. 'What is it now?!' I questioned.

"I said, shoot!" Niam ordered again.

I realized, if I were to shoot the swordsman too lightly, he wouldn't die, but if I were to shoot him with my full strength, the arrow would cut right through him and hit Niam too.

"Please, I don't want to!" I screamed.

"SHOOT!"

I feared, I would kill Niam in the crossfire.

"SHOOT OR DIE!"

-Volume 01: Impact

The end.