The KOE Headquarters in the Arabba District was a plainish building, devoid of luxurious furnishings, boastful architecture, or any of the grandeur sported by other confederacy buildings. All in all, it was just an enormous cube with an oversized dome as its roof. This was a place that exhibited steadfastness, discipline, and valour. 

Apart from the black and crimson flags and banners that proudly flourished the KOE’s emblem —  a single sword thrusting upward — the only embellishment within the central hall was the statue of a lady holding a child in her arms, which Sinovan recognised as Saint Awynyth. 

She was not his deity — he did not have any. He was not opposed to the various religions that Aeroz harboured, as long as they were peaceful and sought to spread harmony.

But now, he felt a need to pray. If not to a deity, then to whoever or whatever was listening to him in the vast cosmos — the yellow-coloured, hazardous chemical box containing the bizarre substance that he was carrying throbbed and vibrated like a living organism. Seated in an empty corridor on the topmost level of the building, he hummed a comforting tune, moving his body back and forth, waiting for the High Knight to summon him.

To his right was an exit heading towards a terrace, at the centre of which was a great windowless dome. This structure was visible from every corner of Aeroz — the symbol of the city’s militarised aegis.  

A blaring siren ululated through the corridor making Sinovan jump up and look around in a frenzy. The ceiling lights that had been yellow and warm, had now turned red and flashed rapidly. 

‘All citizens, officers, and guards are requested to move in an orderly manner towards the emergency exits!’ 

Before Sinovan could decide which way to flee, a tall figure, wearing an impressive red coloured tactical bodysuit, decorated with badges and ribbons and reinforced with a polished steel exoskeleton, walked hurriedly up to Sinovan. Though he looked alarmed, his voice was calm and reassuring, ‘I am High Knight Ashyun Mayir.’ 

‘It’s an honour to meet you…’ Sinovan started but was immediately interrupted. 

‘That’s quite alright, citizen. No need for courtesy,’ Ashyun barked, confiscating the seemingly-perilous box. ‘We’ve picked up strange signatures coming from this thing. I implore you to get as far away from this building as possible, and take anyone with you!’ 

Before Sinovan could protest, the High Knight trotted away hurriedly towards the terrace exit. Sinovan felt his legs shake as he scampered towards the elevator he had come from. To his surprise, the terminal on the wall had a large red sign impeding interaction: ‘Use stairs in case of emergency.’ 

Sinovan noticed the doorway leading towards the emergency farther down the passageway. A quick jog took him past the double doors to a narrow spiral stairway leading down. Feeling nauseous, he took one step at a time.

But then the ground shook and all he could see was dust.  

Zov’ha dodged sideways to avoid bumping into a mother carrying her child who was scurrying away to safety. Picking up her pace, she jogged along the lane, Efiros at her side. The walkway came to an end a few metres ahead; a chain link fence blocked further progress — she would have to go east over the tracks. Eyeing the bridge to her right, she dashed through the oncoming crowd. 

If the cause of the explosion really was the crystalline dust, then Sinovan could be… She didn’t want to think about the consequences. She just had to reach the site as soon as possible.  

Traversing the bridge was the hardest bit — she had to squeeze her way through a bottleneck of fleeing citizens. It took her a good ten minutes to navigate out with Efiros. The exit opened into a trashy neon-lit corridor filled with overturned food stalls, caged up shops, and even an indoor boxing ring. This was absolutely confusing. Where do I go now? 

A broken window caught her gaze. But it looked like she would have to go ahead alone. It was too dangerous for Efiros. 

Kneeling down, she hugged the bear cub, who looked a little shaken, and whispered to him, ‘Go back to Farianvale, Efy. I promise I’ll come.’ When the bear did not move and instead whined with an expression of apprehension, she kissed his forehead and gestured signs that reminded him of the wilderness. The bear then obediently detached himself from her and disappeared into the crowd. He’ll find his way back. 

Zov’ha fit through the window easily, coming out onto the building’s scaffolding that led her to the rooftop. Lithely crawling over rods and wooden planks, she made her way to what appeared to be the edge of the building. 

The sight beyond, towards the plume of clouds, was distressing. Blocks of buildings separated her from her destination. The site of destruction seemed to be a large dome shaped structure, a quarter of which had collapsed. Unlike Sinovan, she had no idea about the routes and roadways. Getting there would take hours!

Looking around, she found a ladder — rusted but sturdy. It would have to do. Descending into a cold, dark alley, she realised that the floor had a mantle of old, hardened ice. The alley went on a long way in the opposite direction with no sight of a ladder to climb up to the next building. Stuck and confused in a cramped, strange city — she should have been terrified — but she felt suspiciously relaxed, as if she had been trained to manage situations like these.  

Scaling the wall was the only way to get across faster. Feeling the concrete for crevices, she found a few easy holds. She hauled herself up flat against the wall. Finding her footing she held onto sharp iron rods that poked out, and dug her fingers into holes. Surprisingly, she managed to climb more than she had expected. Curious to see how much, she looked down. Almost ten feet! She felt a bead of sweat trickle down her forehead and her hands began shaking. 

Steadying her nerves, she readied herself for the rest of the climb… but then she lost her footing! Now hanging only by her arms, her fingers felt the excruciating pain of bearing her entire weight. Forearms burning, she held on tight, gritting her teeth as she groaned, struggling to pull herself back up.

She almost found her footing, but then slipped again, and this time she lost her grip too. Sliding down the wall, the abrasive concrete tore the skin on her cheek and forehead.

But she did not feel the fall. 

Opening her eyes, she saw that she was still hanging — a little closer to the ground. Her hands and feet were flat against the wall. Confused, she detached her right hand to inspect it — a layer of ice had formed on the palm of her hand. 

Re-attaching it to the wall, she realised that the ice glued her to the wall. Saved by Frost Ash again! Curious, she unstuck her left hand and right leg and climbed higher. She could scale the wall easily enough now, and faster even. Like a common house lizard, she made it to the roof of the next building in minutes. 

It took Zov’ha less than half an hour to reach the cuboid building with the ruptured dome. Smoke bellowed in great black plumes from within the structure. The fenced courtyard surrounding it was a mess of ashen debris. 

Looking around, she discovered a body lying on the concourse. Heart racing, she raced towards it. The person twitched as she approached, and let out a blood-curdling scream as she turned them over. It wasn’t Sinovan, but a Poban woman, dressed in a bloodied purple gown. 

‘Ha.. hang on,’ Zov’ha fumbled. ‘I’ll get help.’ 

‘No…’ the woman whimpered. ‘Don’t leave me.’ 

Zov’ha inspected her wounds — there was a terrible gash on her shoulder. Unwrapping her handwraps, Zov’ha dressed the Poban’s shoulder with the cloth, making sure to abate the bleeding. ‘What happened here?’ 

‘The dome… it exploded…’ 

‘What is this place?’ The limb wraps from Zov’ha’s other hand had to be used as well.  

‘Head… headquarters of…’ The Poban writhed in pain as another layer of bandages was applied. ‘Knights of… Evalon.’ 

Looking up Zov’ha noticed a symbol carved onto the wall — a single sword thrusting upward. Under it were moss-covered carvings — KOE, Headquarters, Aeroz. Now she was more than sure that it was the crystalline dust that had caused this blast. ‘Don’t make any sudden movements. Help will arrive soon!’ 

It may have been a lie. She had no idea about the emergency services in this city. But she was hopeful. 

Cautiously, she made her way into the building. Some of the walls around her had collapsed, enabling her to traverse through the maze of passageways. A translucent layer of dust lingered in the air, making breathing difficult. Sparks flew out of loose cables and broken plumbing had begun to flood the chambers. 

More bodies lay within, but none of them stirred. With a heavy heart, Zov’ha made her way through passageways and rooms. She couldn’t help but believe that this was all because of her — it wasn’t her crystalline dust, and it wasn’t her farm that had been raided — but somehow, she felt responsible. So much death and destruction! 

Hardening her will, she kept looking. None of the bodies she inspected appeared to be Sinovan. She found a broken flight of stairs heading up to the dome — she would have to search every level. It would take hours! But she couldn’t give up on her newfound friend. 

She had almost finished looking through all the accessible chambers in level two, when she heard the fortuitous sounds of paramedics. Peering below, she could see soldiers and paramedics of the Knights of Evalon digging out corpses from the debris. They had started zoning off anyone who tried to enter the vicinity of the blast. Silently, she continued her search. It would be a while before they got all the way up to her level. 

The setting sun caused the horizon to burn with a fiery streak of red as blue-grey clouds caressed the chin of the sky. Zov’ha stood on the dilapidated roof of the KOE building, tears streaming down her face as she stared at the cityscape. The great dome had shattered, leaving only plinths of the pillars that held it up. A thick layer of dust covered the debris, which Zov’ha could taste and smell in the air. 

Not a single day in the wilderness had been as lonely as she was feeling right at that moment. She hadn’t known Sinovan long, but the loss of a known someone was unbearable. 

The wind had turned unnaturally cold — she could almost feel her tears begin to freeze. The intense bliss that came with summoning Frost Ash bubbled up; her blood was responding to the frigidity. 

The scene just below the building was a commotion of rescue vehicles, drones, and curious citizens. Careful not to be seen, she backed away. The only way out was back through the emergency escape she had come through. 

She was greeted by a soft sprinkle of water on her cheeks as she entered the collapsed doorway — a broken pipe. She had already gotten half her cloak drenched previously when she had grazed past a furious pipe burst, narrowly escaping being thrown away by the force of the water, so she carefully side-stepped this one and headed into the narrow stairway.  

In meagre light, however, she realised something strange — the thick metal pipe did not snake along the wall of the stairway, rather it went straight into the wall opposite her. Strange! Internal piping rarely went through walls to the exterior — on a cold night that would just freeze up all the water. 

Stepping lithely over the debris, she tried to trace the pipe beyond the wall. Neither the pipe nor the wall were cold enough to indicate that the water within had turned to ice, and she did not feel any reaction from her blood either. This only meant there was a small chamber or a cavity beyond this wall.

She squinted to peer down the stairs, and sure enough,there was a chute door in the wall that she had missed earlier. Carefully making her way towards it, she came to a broken ledge — the stairs just below the chute had crumbled and there was no way to reach it. 

Sighing, she turned around. Welling up again, she sniffed and swallowed, the sound of which echoed in this hollow pit of the building.  

She was about to begin her descent when she thought she heard a moan from within the chute. It’s just my mind playing tricks. But it was there again. 

‘S… Sin?’ She whispered, and then the moan was louder. 

Looking around for anything that could reach the door of the chute, she found a pebble. Carefully aiming, she threw the stone, hitting the metal door with a clang. The pebble bounced off and fell through the gap in the stairs to several floors below. 

To her surprise the door flung open and someone peeped out. 

‘Sinovan!’ she shrieked with joy as she noticed his familiar spiked head and straight lank hair. ‘Wait! Don’t come out yet! Look! There’s a hole below you…’

‘Zovhara…?’ he coughed dust and spittle. ‘You… you came!’ 

‘Of course, I did!’ Zov’ha’s voice took on a higher pitch with a confusion of alarm and excitement. ‘Stay there I’ll get… no, wait. Just take my hand and you can make it.’ 

‘I’m not sure this is safe,’ Sinovan said, staring timidly at her outstretched hand. 

‘Trust me!’ Zov’ha knew she sounded desperate, but she was sure he could make it to her. ‘It’s either the lip of the cliff or the maw of the abyss!’

‘What?’ Sinovan looked at her confused. 

Zov’ha was as astonished as he was. She was inclined to ponder upon the phrase — where had she heard it before? But she shook her head, keeping it aside for later. ‘Just reach for my hand, I won’t let go!’ 

When Sinovan stretched his hand out, Zov’ha immediately reached out and pulled him towards her. He was lighter than she had expected, and she yanked him out of the hole with ease. 

‘Are you alright?’ she whispered, as she locked him in an embrace 

‘The crystals…’ he said, hungrily breathing in fresher air. ‘The High Knight… he didn’t tell me what they were… but he took the box and ran towards the dome… away from us all! The High Knight saved everyone by sacrificing himself.’ 

‘Not everyone,’ Zov’ha stepped back, ushering Sinovan to step away from the edge. ‘Many lives have been lost… it’s just terrible.’ Sinovan’s eyes drooped in melancholy as he imbibed the sight of devastation around him. Speechless, he stood leaning against Zov’ha arm, shaking like a frightened animal. ‘Come,’ Zov’ha said at last. ‘Let’s head back to the inn.’   

‘No,’ Sinovan was partly responsible for this, and he was not one to turn and run. ‘I have to own up! I have to tell the Merchants of Ro of what transpired here.’ 

‘Not today,’ Zov’ha pressed, tugging his arm. There was sweat all over her face now, and the stuffiness of the stairway made her feel as if the walls were closing in. ‘You need to rest. Let’s head back to Farianvale.’ 

Sinovan considered her advice and acquiesced. The two of them then made their way cautiously downward.