Epilogue - Part 2

The roar of the air is deafening me as I fly at incredible speeds after those that took my beautiful Mira, but it's not nearly enough. The vehicles that aunty Rim'in spoke of must be similar to the cargo freight I rode in. I could not even see their trail of energy on the road, but luckily for me I knew where they headed. I rush as fast as I could and as powerful as I am it took me almost two entire days of riding non-stop to arrive in Mah'ator, the sky city, as it is aptly called by its denizens.

The great shadow of the city loomed over the Eternal Valley, flanked by two giants Am'on and Am'an, sister mountains named after the first awakened Abu'll'gah after the Great Father. I look at their mighty peaks and my gaze washes over the valley from high afar. I use my power to enhance my vision and zoom in on a naked patch right below the city. From a large clearing a beam of dim light pours down. People gather at the base of the light column and after moments of waiting they float gently along with their heavy belongings up towards the entrance of the floating city of Mah'ator. The base of the city is pure metal inlaid with levitating crystals the size of hills the opalescens of which competes even with the sun.

The ones going to the city are trusted merchants, the only type of lowblood that are allowed to enter the cities of the highbloods. Of course, they are carefully selected, one defining character is their pale skin. To highbloods, tanned skin is a sin, a curse, a disease brought upon us by the Great Father for going against his love, but I called it adaptation. While some of us are still born with pale skin, like myself, Mira, and Volo, most of us lowbloods are tanned right from birth or their skin turns tan during their first puberty at just fifty cycles. Very few lowbloods remain pale skinned. Were it not for the shade of my skin I would not have been able to compete in the trials and earn the favor of .... I can't even bring myself to say his name I once worshiped.

I look at the paper in my hand and crumple it into a ball in anger, then sanity quickly washes over me. I use my power to smooth out the paper and tuck it neatly in an under pocket.

The rashes across my body had spread and began to flake away in disgusting thin sheets of skin, revealing a raw purple layer behind. I pick my scabs from anxiety until they are sore but I pay no attention to the self inflicted pain. There is only one thing on mind and that is Mira.

I am sure that the worst is yet to come. Only the Great Father knows what horrible torturous things she will be subject to once she arrives to the Great Command, that betraying fatherless offspring of a maggot. I tighten my jaw as I blame myself for trusting him.

I pull materials from the surrounding plants and trees that surround me, taking the thin fibers and weaving them together into a muddy gray cloak. I wrap it around myself to cover my rashes so I don't look like a pubescent lowblood.

I make my way through the thick green forest until I arrive at a paved road where merchants lazily push their wooden carts with their blessing. The sun's heavy rays reflected heavily off the paved road making the air suffocating.

With my hasty stride I outwalk past the merchants whose faces were not joyful. They know how humiliating it was to be a lowblood in a highblood city, but they have no choice. When envoys enter a lowblood settlement the beautiful of their kind are taken for the honor of Yeva'Ahs and those that lack certain features deemed beautiful by them are either sponsored as champions of the Trials or merchants, this later subdivision depending solely on the amount of power one had.

When the first envoy came to Al'mh'al they chose me as a Champion and Volo as a merchant, Mira at that time was too young, just that year reaching her fourtififth brith celebration. We thought ourselves lucky, a settlement only receives an envoy every hundred of cycles or so, we thought we had enough time to raise an offspring of our own and, even if she remained a pale skin, she would have been tarnished in the eyes of highbloods, or at least get ourselves away from a settlement.

I was too late, that bastard must've had set his eyes on Mira from the first envoy. I quash my anger and calm myself as I approach the column of light. I can't afford the guards to sense my hostility.

I wait patiently in the queue, waiting to speak with the one who could grant me entrance in Mah'ator.

"Papers'n'ame." The pale man says with a bored tone. I immediately recognize the accent, it's from two settlements away from my village, we traded with his people regularly. This man must have been a champion once, taken into the bosom of the highbloods as reward for his strength and skin.

I sigh and overplay my exhaustion and extend my papers. "'Been long road, eh. Making me'way to city of Gah and I need to retire for the day." I bring back my own thick accent that I had quickly lost in my five years in the Trials.

The man looks unimpressed at the piece of paper and gives me a once over. "'Sorry'man. Can't'elp ya. Not Mah'ator on them papers, no entry. Next!" He looks over my shoulder at the next person and grabs their papers with his other arms.

"C'mon, can'tye just make an exception for a fellow champion?" I beg.

"No can do. It'll be both'our heads. I rather like mine, you know?"

I snatch my paper away from him in annoyance and scoff at the man. I make my way down the road and once I get out of eyeshot and make a sharp right into the thick tree line. I run as fast as I could, weaving and dodging trees and branches. My muscles begin to ache as I make my ascent on one of the two sister mountains.

I don't want to waste time and sneak in during night time, I have to hurry and save Mira. I reach the very peak of the mountain slower than I had hoped for.

Before I exit the cover of the treeline I carefully calculate the distance from where I was to the cliff just ahead, committing to mind every piece of relief on the ground. Then I measure the distance from the cliff to the underside of the flying city.

Satisfied with my estimates, which will land me next to one of the opalescent crystals, I warp the light around me in a bubble of complete darkness. I can't see anything, but I have a perfect picture of my movement and surroundings, thanks to my observations from before.

The momentI push away from the cliff with my feet, I levitate myself. With my lower arms I push behind to propel myself onwards and with my upper arms I gain altitude. I feel the friction around my dome of darkness as I move fast through air. I should be practically imperceptible to anyone who is not looking specifically for traces of energy.

I finally am high enough for me to grab a hold with my power on the metal underside of the city and tract myself right where I had planned. The opalescent crystal will mask my presence perfectly.

My hands, enforced with energy, break through the metal plating allowing my to hold on without wasting too much energy. I drop my dome that bent light, revealing the amazing sight of the Eternal Valley. I wish Mira could see it. I commit the view to my mind as I did earlier to share with my beloved after the safety of my arms embrace her.

I begin to make my way upwards, to the outer edges of the levitating platform to one of the four canals that disposed of the higbloods waste. I need to enter the city as stealthily as I could, that also means that I can't use my power without risking getting caught.

The water is a disgusting shade of deep brown, it washes over me and my clothes as I hoist myself up in the pipe. I try to hold my breath as much as I can, taking small breaths through my mouth but that is just as bad as I feel the taste of sewage. I gag a few times until I reach the few first manholes. I look carefully through each one to make sure I I climb up in an empty area. I find the perfect manhole, one where it opened behind a tall black glass tower.

I stretch my limbs and use a minute amount of energy to clean my clothing and rid myself of the smell. My heart begins to race as I walk around the tall skyscraper and see the expansive crowd of the highbloods walking on the sidewalks lazily minding their business dressed in sleek clothing, very different from the flowing robes of those of the settlements. Some are walking on their own two feet while others ride powerful awakened creatures. A particular serpentine creature caught my eyes. Its majestic blue mane flowed like fire in the air as it rode beside colorful vehicles that levitated above the paved streets, zipping around and above each other.

"This isn't time to gawk." I tell myself. "I need to find Volo."

I wandered the streets of the city Mah'ator, observing the people around me. I needed to understand the extent with which they used their blessing within the flying city before I do anything else. Without my powers I would be useless.

As I walked different areas through the tall towers of black glass, sensing energy coming from the blue stones that glow a soft light, their energy is connected to the massive barrier that encompasses the whole city. It isn't an ordinary barrier, it also filters the UV rays of the sun.

This doesn't surprise me, they are obsessed with pale skin. I want to say that it takes away from the beauty of the world, as the sky had a dim shadow over it from the barrier, but I don't know the second I stepped into the protected city my skin began to cool off just like during night time, when my kind feels most at ease. There are many proponents that preach that we are in fact nocturn not diurn because of it, going against Great Father's wishes. They all have been burned by the fire of zealots.

I move as close as I could towards the blue crystals, to try to mask my energy as I slowly release my consciousness outwards. I become aware of the entire city as I set my intention on one person alone. Volo. I call within myself and wait while on I try to mirror my thoughts and pretend I'm waiting for someone. I don't want anyone to feel any sort of off feeling from me. I'm already dressed like an outsider.

Volo takes his time but answers nonetheless. I feel the tug consciousness.

"Brother?" Volo says in my mind. I feel his concern and surprise.

"Volo. I don't have time. We need to meet. It's about Mira." I say, making sure he feels my urgency.

"Meet me here," he sends a picture of a busy foodplace and I imprint it on my mind. "Go straight ahead, until you barely see the central pyramid. Take a sharp left and you'll find it."

The connection severed. Volo must be running through the crowd of people right now, worried about his sister. I try to calm my rage, but it's almost impossible.

I make my way just as Volo instructed. I see the pyramid where only the most important of highbloods reside, along with the Great Commander. My stomach churns as intrusive thoughts reappear and I feel my rash worsen. It has become extremely irritating and I takes all my will not to scratch like a lunatic. I take a sharp left and immediately I spot the sign of the foodplace that stood above a green area where a few younglings played around.

I spot Volo sitting at one of the more private tables. He jumped as I joined him, his face was serious and third eye watched me closely.

"What happened to my sister, Scry?" Volo grabbed the table with his lower hands while the upper ones held clenched fists.

I took a deep breath to prepare myself to relieve the the pain I was holding back. "Mira was taken by the envoy of the Great Commander." I whisper as I leaned in.

"No. No! It's too early. They shouldn't have..." Volo was shocked. I felt his breath escape him fully as if someone had knocked the air out of his lungs.

"I'm sorry, Volo. If only I was there to protect her." I lower my head to hide the streams that flow freely.

Volo cleared his throat. "Get a hold of yourself, Brother." He looked around to make sure no one saw me. I wiped away my tears with my muddy gray cloak. "Are you sure it was the Great Commander?"

"Yes, aunty Rim'in tried to stop them."

"Is she..."

"She is alive, barely." I say and reach a hand out to squeeze his fists. The woman had raised the two siblings ever since their mother was taken.

"I heard word through the vines that the Commander's Envoy had entered the city. Everyone was shocked and started gossiping. They say the the Great Commander Isay'ah Lo'tur has gone completely insane and killed all of his Yeva'Ah and he sent for more."

"That worthless maggot, the Great Father bescumber his bloodline!" I say rage filling my heart. "Volo... we have to rescue Mira."

"Tonight. We strike together and take her. Now, come. I need to get a few things from my place."