Where the Sand and Sky Meet

He took several deep breaths to let all of his frustrations out and calm himself down. Underestimation was something Wellor had experienced a lot with his father. He would never get used to the idea that he didn't need to contribute anything to the family other than staying put to his role as a son who plants and grows the food. Whenever Wellor got discontent by his role, he would go over to his great grandfather's house just to hear his stories of when he used to travel as a young goldsmith and merchant. Young Wellor had aspired so much to be like him. A future generation of merchants in the Hughes Family selling the finest of silver and gold. Wellor looked up to him as the merchant that travelled the seas of the Water Continent and flew up to the floating lands of the Air Continent. His great grandfather did this all whilst hiding his real identity, which was something that sparked excitement and joy during his lifetime. "They were all fools, I tell you!" his great grandfather guffawed and Wellor's heart would skip a beat.

But as Wellor's great grandfather laid on his deathbed, he wished for his own sons and grandsons to not become like him. He told them that the life that he lived was a lie and that he would've never made an earning for his family had he used his own cherished name. It was this contrasting side of him that made Wellor hesitantly give up on his dreams.

Wellor heard voices coming from below. He quickly retracted his head and lowered it to the sill of the window, peaking at the front porch. His mother and father were sitting on the bench talking to each other. He could fully see the figure of his mother whilst half of his father's face was covered by the roof of the porch.

"What do you think the elders will do to the migrants?" Mrs Hughes asked.

"The same as it has always been when we're faced with intruders. Either they let them stay here forever or they let them walk back to the borders with no food, no water, no horse and no clothes," said Mr Hughes.

Mrs Hughes frowned at the thought of it. She recalled from the stories of her husband's grandfather that it would take at least 3 days to get to the borders of the Earth Continent by horse. To get to the Water Continent would take 8 days of travel, and that included crossing the sea by boat. Bringing along water and food is also a must and a means to survive the harsh climate of the desert.

"Even if their methods are cruel, they do it to protect us," said Mrs Hughes. "And what about Wellor? Are you going to tell him the truth?"

"No. Wellor is too smart for his own good."

"But your grandfather revealed it to you when you were about the same age."

"I know. I know. It's just..." Mr Hughes paused and sighed for a moment. "He's the only one in our family who's longing to go outside. And for that, I have a feeling that the kid will do something stupid once he finds out about the secret. So, I'm going to put it off for now."

Mr Hughes placed his head on his wife's lap and expressed the sorrow within him.

"I'm sorry, Martha," he cried.

Mrs Hughes smiled and started to stroke his head.

"What are you always so sorry about? You know I'll still love you no matter what."

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After seven days of travelling in the arid desert, Auri could only feel even more stuffy as he sat in his room waiting for something to happen. Mr Peck had business to attend to with Mr Kerr, and Auri was left all alone in the house. Bored as he was, he grabbed his red scarf and went out to the dunes. Auri covered his face with the scarf whilst the cool wind blew the particles of sand onto his shirt and pants. Stargazing was a hobby of Auri's. He would go out during the nights and lay down on the sand to see the constellations of Cosmia. The constellation of Leo appeared above him. Fifteen stars arranged into 4 legs, a tail, a head and a body. Next to it was the constellation of Scorpio. Auri pointed his finger to the sky and traced the constellations of each zodiac.

He then stared at his hand and took a deep breath. Slowly but surely, he began to push the external energy of his soul. He focused on the energy and aimed its direction towards his palm. He could feel the heat crawl from his heart, to his right shoulder; from his shoulder to his arm; and from his arm to his palm. The heat accumulated in his palm, making his skin colour glow orange to red. As the light on his palm glowed even brighter, a tiny flame sparked on his hand. Even though he could feel the warmth of the fire, it didn't burn his skin. At least not his skin, but the skin of others. The skin of people he saw as an enemy.

Auri could hear footsteps coming from a kilometre away, footsteps that were treading against the sand. He quickly closed his palm to distinguish the fire on his hand. He began tracing the constellations again, hoping that the person approaching him didn't notice the flicker of fire.

All of a sudden, a face appeared above Auri's. A face that looked intimidating and oafish at the same time. His ginger-coloured hair strands tickled Auri's face and Auri started to get annoyed.

"You're quite the strange one, aren't you?" said Rozo.

Auri gave Rozo a straight face.

"What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing really," Rozo sat beside Auri and looked up at the night sky.

"Then why are you here?" Auri asked with a snarky tone in his voice.

"Because your dad told me to accompany you. He said you were alone at home, but I didn't find you there. So, I went to the one place you always go to."

"How do you even know I come here? Do you stalk me or something?"

"No! I went and asked Reefa."

"Oh. I see."

Auri remembered when he and Reefa were still kids, Miss Mirko had introduced them to stargazing. Whenever he went to play at Reefa's house, they would go out to the dunes and stargaze for hours, telling each other stories of every one of the 12 descendants of Cosmia. The first generation of Haara's that were born from the stars and fell down from the sky.

He felt sad that he hadn't talked to Reefa in months. Usually after his expeditions, he would tell her of the sceneries of places he had travelled outside of the Hariq Desert. But his latest expeditions outside of Detra were somethings he felt uncomfortable talking about, things that he felt he should keep to himself

"You've heard about the 12 descendants, haven't you?" He asked Rozo.

"Yeah, I have. My mum used to tell me their tales before I went to bed."

"What did you think about them when you first heard that there were 12 instead of 9?"

"Well, I was surprised at first when I heard there were another 3 descendants with a different type of elemental wielding... Wait... What was their element?"

"Fire, Rozo. They wielded fire," Auri rolled his eyes.

"Oh, right! The fire descendants... What were their names again?"

"Aries, Leo and Sagittarius."

"Right! Sagittarius! I always mispronounced his name. To be honest, I forgot that they were even part of the descendants. The first time I heard them, I thought they were kinda cool. You know, controlling fire and moving it out of their body. You could say I admired them more than the other elementals."

Auri smirked to himself as if he were given a compliment on his own fire ability.

"But after I heard that the fire kings used their power to kill people, my opinion of them changed. I thought that they deserved their banishment from the world."

"Ah, yes," Auri said as his smile disappeared, "The Carnage of the 9 Kings."

"That's the one!" Rozo snapped his fingers. "My mum told me that they did it because of envy towards the other kingdoms. King Leo was furious at the wealth and advancement of the Water continent, and since the Air and Earth continents were good allies with them, King Leo saw them the same way."

"Or maybe King Leo did it for another reason."

"Hmm," Rozo took a second to think. "What reason exactly?"

"I mean... it was many, many centuries ago. So, who knows what really happened at that time."

Auri stood up and brushed the sand off of his clothes.

"I think we should get back. Our fathers should be done talking by now," said Auri.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow at my house," Rozo stood up and patted Auri's shoulder.

Auri and Rozo waved goodbye to each other as they parted ways towards the opposite of the village.

As Auri went up the hard clay stairs that led to his house, he looked back to see the lights of Miss Mirko's home still beaming through the window curtains.

They're still awake, Auri thought. Let's pay them a visit.

He went back down the stairs and walked towards the front door. As he was about to knock, he heard Reefa and Miss Mirko arguing from the other side of the door.

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Reefa had washed the olives and spread them in the pot of seasoned couscous that Miss Mirko made for dinner. Miss Mirko grabbed two plates and served the food for each of them. Since they didn't have a dining table, Reefa and Miss Mirko would eat their food in the living room on a large, hand-woven mat that was given to them by the neighbours as a gift.

Reefa sat on the mat with her legs crossed and spooned the couscous into her mouth.

Should I tell her about the premonition I had? she thought to herself.

She took a glimpse at the old lady munching at her food slowly.

I guess now isn't a good time to tell her. I don't want to put off her appetite, or even worse, accidentally make her choke on her food.

After they finished eating, Reefa grabbed the plates and washed them at the back of the house, where a big pail of water and a water well were placed for all things that needed washing: for plates, for clothes and for one's own personal hygiene. She sat on a small stool scrubbing the plates with a wet, ragged towel. After she was done, she put back the plates in the kitchen cabinet and sat next to Miss Mirko, who was now sewing the hole in her nightgown.

"Aunt Mirko," Reefa took a deep breath before continuing her words, "I have something very important to tell you."

"What is it?" Miss Mirko asked as she carefully looped the thread through the garment.

"I heard the voices of the future again."

Miss Mirko paused on her sewing for a moment.

"What did you hear?"

"I heard screaming... and chaos... all throughout the village. People were being attacked."

"And you expect me to inform everyone to evacuate?"

"Yes."

"You know I can't do that."

"But maybe we could spend a few days camping at Gremmet every month and then come back to check-"

"That's ridiculous!" Miss Mirko yelled and stopped her sewing. She looked at Reefa with disappointment in her eyes. "There are around 200 people in this village and you expect me relocate everyone to Gremmet Oasis every month?"

"Just for the time being! We could avoid the attackers as much as possible."

"You don't even know when that future might happen!"

She was right. Reefa knew that the remark Miss Mirko made was right. She just didn't want to believe it to be true. Reefa wouldn't know when her premonitions would happen. It could even happen in a few weeks or even 8 years from now, and she still wouldn't be able to predict the timing. Reefa looked down on her lap with clenched fists, trying to contain her anger.

"And where do you think the people would run to after the attackers find where Gremmet is?" grumbled Miss Mirko. "You think that a large group of 200 people can just walk to the borders without detainment? And can they even survive the desert before that without starving themselves or getting killed?"

Miss Mirko looked back to her garment and began sewing again. She could only feel sorry for her young niece.

"It wouldn't make any difference, Reefa," said Miss Mirko. "You have to understand that we're wanted people. We've been surviving like this for years, and it's about time we bind to our fates. Realize it now that there are some futures you can never avoid."

Reefa's tears fell from her cheeks and stained her nightgown dress. Recalling back the words that Miss Mirko would say in the future, she couldn't hold back her mixed feelings of anger, fright and helplessness.

"I'm not going to let you and anyone else in this village die!"

She hiccupped as the pain in her chest grew stronger. Tears were flowing down her cheeks and mucus had accumulated in her sinuses. She rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown before she stood up and shut herself in her bedroom. As collected as she could be after hearing Reefa's words, Miss Mirko continued sewing her nightgown until she made the last knot of the thread.