Sandborn - Awakening of the Frozen Sand

[To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own.] — Jack Kornfield

"What can I help you with?" Azar asked after welcoming Kaira into his humble tent.

Kaira looked for a second at Hamsha, who was standing in a corner, seemingly not wanting him to eavesdrop on her conversation. Noticing her discomfort, Azar spoke to Araumir.

"My guest feels unsettled with so many people around. Please, take Hamsha and go out for a walk until we finish our conversation."

Araumir was ready to say something, but Hamsha exploded before he could speak.

"Are you serious? Do I really have to go out because a girl from Mirha feels unsettled by my presence?" Hamsha spoke angrily.

"No, not at all," Azar replied calmly. "You have to go out because I've told you to. Araumir, drag him out and let him bask in the sun until we finish here," he restated.

"As you wish," Araumir said, moving to grab Hamsha by the leg before dragging him out, face down.

"Now, feel free to talk. I might seem severe, but I don't like to be a nuisance to the people serving me," Azar said to Kaira.

"Yes," the girl responded right away. "I know you said you would train me if you decided to stay, but I came here because I have a few questions regarding my practice. Please, Azar Syed, help me understand where I am going astray." She bowed.

"Does asking me something not fall into the same category as training and guidance?" Azar asked.

"Please, Azar Syed, I spent the whole night trying to understand, but it bore no fruit. Now, with the situation of my tribe, I have to improve myself if I want to keep my freedom," Kaira explained. "So please, I beg you, help me."

"Raise your head," Azar said. "It is not good for someone who inherited such beauty from her mother to bow and beg like this."

"Hm! What use is there for my pride if I am forced to serve people who do not respect me?" Kaira asked. "Azar Syed said it back in the cave, I am a woman who will do everything to survive, and you advised me not to sell my soul for a few more years of life. You were totally right. I contemplated your words, and I decided to change myself and do everything in my power to ensure my happiness. A life spent in slavery is worse than dying from a scorpion's sting."

"What has gotten into you?" Azar asked, troubled by her words.

"Azar Syed might not know the ways of our people, but to save the tribe, a chief is expected to create bonds with other tribes or powerful people by marrying his daughters and selling his sons as warriors. With Azar Syed's announcement that you will leave this world again and leave our tribe without your protection, my father is sure to search for ways to ensure the survival of our bloodline," Kaira explained, struggling to hold back her tears.

"The people of your clan do not even believe my words as the truth," Azar said. "Even after I told them about the past and imparted your grandfather with a technique, they still looked at me with scornful eyes."

"But my family believes you, even if they're not showing it. I visited my grandfather in the morning and brought him cold water, but he almost didn't notice me. He was studying your technique. And the people who watched Araumir Syed's fight believe in his strength as well. You might not know, but rumors spread fast in a small settlement like ours," Kaira said.

"With or without our presence, it is your father's duty to ensure the continuity of your tribe's blood, even though I honestly don't know why he would sell his children for that. His children's safety should be the priority for him, not the tribe. Your tribe's blood is no longer pure, so why don't you just live your lives without caring so much about blood and tribe? I am sure that you can find a husband who will love and respect you in the other tribes or one of the kingdoms you mentioned. And maybe all of your people can live if they are no longer part of Mirha," Azar voiced his opinion.

Kaira looked at him in disbelief.

"Are you suggesting that we should abandon our tradition, knowledge, and legacy to survive? Isn't this against what you told me in the cave? Isn't this selling our identity and throwing sand on the efforts of our predecessors who gave their lives for the future generations of our tribe to live? Won't our ancestors curse us from the sky if we do that?" Kaira rebuked, getting up to her feet.

"I am not suggesting that you should abandon your identity. I am suggesting that instead of living in slavery, if necessary, you should abandon your tribe and find another place to live. Mirha can live inside you, but only if you have the freedom to continue your traditions, no matter the place where you're in," Azar responded.

"And you dare to call yourself our ancestor? If all you care about were the riches and people in your time, then why did you bother answering the call of my sister? If the name Mirha is just some dirty water meaning nothing to you, then why choose to help us?" she yelled at Azar.

Because if I don't complete the quest I've accepted, I can't return to the Vestral World, Azar thought. Realizing how pitiful his reason was, he dared not say it out loud. Looking down, he saw Kaira's feet exiting the tent.

Different perspectives about life, Azar comforted himself.

'Araumir, let's go deal with the Calabi; I want to return home as soon as possible,' he sent a telepathic message to his servant.

'Did something happen?' Araumir asked back.

'Nothing worth mentioning. I just realized that I'm no longer attached to these people,' Azar said.

. . .

"Put me down! I can't endure this anymore!" Hamsha screamed.

"If you don't shut up, I'll fill your mouth with sand," Azar admonished.

Both he and Hamsha were carried by Araumir, who was flying through the sky at his maximum speed. However, because Hamsha refused to point the way toward the Calabi tribe, he was carried upside down by the leg. Quite an inconvenient form of travel, one might say.

"Say, where do we go from here?" Azar asked when they took a break to rest.

"West, we go west from here," Hamsha said, resting on his back under the long shadow cast by the enormous rocks. "I'll guide you honestly from now on, so please tell Araumir Syed to carry me properly. I feel my head bursting."

"Of course, I've told you from the beginning, if you do what I tell you to, I won't treat you badly," Azar replied.

After they drank some water and rested their bodies for a little while, the group resumed their journey under the scorching heat of the unforgiving sun. With Araumir's speed, the journey that was supposed to take four and a half days by horse and five and a half by camel was completed in one. Of course, this was because they didn't encounter a sandstorm and avoided most of the beasts crawling on the dunes, waiting in ambush for their prey.

All three of them could feel the beasts' presence when they flew close enough to them, and Azar once again found himself unable to recognize some of their species.

"The Calabi tribe is right beyond the dunes at the front," Hamsha said, and Araumir ascended further into the sky to avoid being discovered.

Nestled amidst towering sand dunes and encircled by a more than three-meter tall, sturdy wooden wall, the settlement of the Calabi tribe seemed a bastion of warmth and safety in the vast, desolate expanse.

"Let's find shelter and wait for nightfall," Azar instructed, and Araumir moved right away. "Hamsha, I forbid you from doing anything that can compromise or harden our mission," he said to ensure the man's total cooperation.

"Yes, yes," Hamsha replied. "I can't wait for you to leave me alone," he muttered.

"You already brought us here; do you want Araumir to drop you?" Azar asked.

"No, I can wait a little longer, no worries," Hamsha replied, tightening his grip on Araumir's hand.

When night covered the dunes and the campfires and torches of the settlement were lit, that was when the trio infiltrated the Calabi. Walking undetected in the shadow world under Araumir's control, Azar searched the area for Surumadur, the Calabi chief's flux signature. Just as Hamsha described, Surumadur's earthy aura emanated from his home. However, through the eyes of the shadows, Araumir clearly saw much tighter security inside and outside the house.

"It's highly possible that the people who contracted the Calabi to get rid of Mirha are currently here," Araumir said as two distinctly dressed types of guards surrounded the house. "How should we proceed?"

"With my current strength, I am unable to clearly determine the cultivation base of people above the first tier, Mit'chalel. However, judging by what I sense, I don't believe there's anyone inside with a higher class than a Bellator. In any case, to play it safe, seal them in your stomach and we'll adapt from there," Azar said.

"Stomach?" Hamsha asked. "How to seal them in the stomach?"

No one bothered to answer.

Closing his eyes, Araumir focused all his attention and mental power to control his flux in a slow and as much as possible untraceable manner. Even though he was inside the shadow world, a parallel world with the physical, Araumir managed to surround the house with his mental power and flux.

Watching from the shadow of a guard the one who seemed to be Surumadur, judging by his earthy aura, having a heated discussion with another seated man, Araumir finished the space enclosure even though the two people were protected by the deployed barrier of the device in the middle of the room.

"Should I swallow them all, or just the main targets?" Araumir asked.

"All of them. However, I want you to separate our targets from the guards and bind them properly," Azar instructed.

Without making a single sound, Hamsha watched Araumir draw the runic seals quickly before the room where the tribe chief resided turned completely black, extending without margins. The space distorted, and Hamsha's eyes reflected the two groups of people, guards, and main targets separated, even though no one moved. The furniture disappeared, and the only source of light brightening the people's faces came from what seemed to be a white glowing centipede.

Hamsha stimulated his flux to see where to step to arrive at his tribe chief, but as soon as the flame was created in his palm, it disappeared. He tried again, infusing more flux into it, but the same thing happened. His energy seemed to consume without creating anything. Unbeknownst to him, Araumir licked his lips in the total darkness.

"Hamsha, don't bother," Azar's voice echoed suddenly. "No created light or flux technique can resist here," he explained.

"Where are you, syed? Where are we?" Hamsha asked.

"In my stomach," Araumir replied.

"Just walk toward the white light," Azar's voice sounded in the distance.

"But I don't see where to step," Hamsha shouted. Then, he heard something crawling behind him, and even though redundant, he started running towards the light emitted by the giant centipede.

"It's better if you don't see some things, trust me," Azar said.

Araumir stepped through the pellicle isolating Surumadur and the other man from the rest, producing ripples on its watery surface. Azar followed behind him and observed with delight how the two were restrained by the centipede's legs.

With a pale face, half from the fear inflicted by the sudden change in environment and the other half probably from the white light emitted by the centipede's body, Surumadur almost shouted at the sight of the strangers.

"Who are you people? What do you want from me?"

"Rajul al-sahraa, don't worry. You are here just to answer our questions and seal a contract. After that, you and your people will be free to go. Nobody will be hurt, if you cooperate. If not, I'll have to establish myself by torturing you. Have I made myself clear?" Azar asked.

"Syed, I'm not sure what business you have with this man, but can you let me go? I -"

"A, a, a," Azar interrupted, motioning with his finger for the man to stop talking. "Let's not beg for mercy like little children; you're both grown men, for fuck's sake. I ask, you answer. I don't ask, you keep your mouths shut."