The last piece of kit he packed was a large white fabric that served as a desert tent. Unlike an A-frame or a lean-to, this fabric was rectangular, and was reinforced at the corners, where posts could be lashed to suspend the material horizontally, a couple of paces in the air. Vir and Maiya would then rest under it on the bare sand, using their rucksacks as makeshift pillows. Riyan insisted they take it with them whenever they went out on their own.
They still had a few hours to kill before sunset, and with everything packed and Neel’s sustenance seen to, there was little else to prepare. So, Vir did what he always did with his free time these days—cloistered himself in the training dome, cross-legged on the sand, and closed his eyes to meditate.
The inky black prana inside him moved in a mesmerizing way, rapidly circulating throughout his body. Unfortunately, the quantity was so tiny that he needed Prana Vision at its strongest to even see it. In fear of smearing his makeup, he left the ability dormant for this session.
If prana was bound to blood as he’d suspected, then what he was seeing was actually his blood pumping through his body. He’d never known how intricate its path was, nor how quickly it flowed. It took less than a minute to make a full circuit around his body.
Vir had been focusing on understanding his Prana Vision lately, since he’d run into a brick wall trying to unlock new abilities with his prana. The biggest issue with Prana Vision was that it was functionally useless unless he exerted himself physically. The harder his heart pumped, the more vivid his eyesight became. Which tended to work out in high-stress situations but made it an absolute pain to train with.
It’d be a lot more convenient if I could activate it on demand.
With that thought, he focused on the ability and the vivid colors he saw when Prana Vision was operating at full capacity. He willed those colors to appear.
And of course, nothing happened. If it was that easy, he’d have unlocked its secrets long ago. He didn’t even know if what he was trying to do was possible, which made things even harder.
Vir envied Maiya. At least she would soon have a mejai who could train her. Even if Vir somehow got her instructor to teach him, he doubted she’d be able to help. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Vir’s magic functioned differently from orb-based magic, even if they both leveraged the same underlying concepts.
With a sigh, Vir got up and dusted the sand off of him. The beautiful orange glow filtering through the training dome’s skylights signaled sunset.
As if on cue, Maiya walked in, carrying her rucksack. “You ready?”
Vir cracked his neck. “Let’s do this.”
After having been cooped up for so long, he itched for adventure.
“So, the little birds have flown the nest,” a figure in a white robe said as he lay prone atop a sand dune, his spyglass extended. “How do we want to take advantage of this opportunity?”
His partner—also dressed in white and lying prone beside him—said, “Her highness is intrigued by the boy and the girl. She wishes for us to test the waters, to see what these children mean to him.”
“Tis odd for a man like General Savar to take anyone under his wing, let alone a couple of runts. How shall we do this, then?”
His partner stood, retracting his spyglass. “I’ll go. You stay here and continue monitoring the general’s estate. I’ll tail these two and see if I can’t rustle things up a bit.”
“Very well. I needn’t say this, but do not compromise your cover.”
“Just who do you think I am? Messing with two children is, well, it’s child’s play,” he said with a sinister smile.
28A ‘BUMPY’ RIDE
Starlight reflected off the crashing waves to Vir and Maiya’s left as they traveled north on Bumpy’s back. With only the dim stars for illumination, nighttime travel was usually treacherous, but Vir’s excellent night vision offset some of that risk. And thanks to Prana Vision—which was always active to some degree, even while dormant—his eyesight had become even better.
None of that helped with his current predicament.
Adventure’s overrated, he thought for the hundredth time as his bones creaked and his skull rattled.
The trip had started out well enough. They’d traveled west from Riyan’s abode to the coastline that ran north-south, bordering the Hansa Sea. Vir sat in front, handling Bumpy’s reins while Maiya sat behind him, her arms wrapped around his stomach for support. They’d even caught the last rays of the setting sun as they’d crested the final grassy hill that led down to the rocky coast.
From there they’d traveled north, keeping the coast visible, but that was when Vir’s plans started going awry. He’d initially thought they could ride Bumpy on the sandy shore, but that proved too much of a burden for the beast.
Even with two D Grade Lighten Load orbs, Bumpy struggled to plod along the soft sand. At one point, he’d come to a complete stop, refusing to travel any farther.
Neither carrots nor hay convinced the beast, so Vir finally relented, coaxing the stubborn Ash’va over to the harder ground of the hills that bordered the coast.
The problem was that these were not simply rolling hills. Rocks, boulders, and pebbles covered them, making the going both slow and arduous. Bumpy was never the smoothest-riding Ash’va, and coupled with the terrain they were currently on, the ride was downright torturous.
Vir wasn’t the only one being battered by the ungainly beast.
“I don’t understand how anyone goes on long journeys,” Maiya complained, her teeth rattling both from the jostling and the cold. “I thought the added cushions would help. I honestly did.”
“I think most people take the highways. And most people don’t have Bumpy,” Vir said, wishing for his old Ash’vas back at Brij, though he sympathized with Bumpy’s plight.
After examining the beast, he’d found that one of his hind legs had terrible scars on it. Likely the result of some fierce engagement, long ago. The wound had not healed well, making that leg slightly shorter than the others. It was the reason behind the animal’s ungainly gait.
Vir patted the hardworking animal. “It must hurt you too,” he murmured.
The only silver lining was that the constant jostling took their minds off the biting nighttime chill. Traveling on a night schedule made life easier for Bumpy, but as riders, Vir and Maiya weren’t exerting themselves. Which meant the offshore breeze nipped at their faces continuously, and while their clothes did an adequate job of protecting them, the going was still arduous.
With nothing else to do, Vir’s thoughts drifted to the black prana within his body. Even now, it steadily trickled out of him, which irked him for some reason. His body was generating the prana somehow. He suspected this was the case for Maiya and Riyan as well.
It brought up the question of what exactly prana was, and how it was made. Life was strengthened by it, but even inanimate objects had it. Did they generate prana as well? Or was that restricted only to lifeforms? Why was there such a vast ocean of earth prana in the ground? Where did it all come from?
Many questions, few answers. For now. Vir couldn’t wait to unravel its mysteries, and that all started with finding a way to activate Prana Vision at will. He felt like a pioneer, delving into arcane secrets.
The long hours passed with neither talking much, though that wouldn’t last long. Maiya tired of unfamiliar sights far faster than he did, and when she was bored, she talked.