The Emerging Part I: Dream
CHAPTER X

Screaming in the distance is heard by a scholar closing his library and study. He slams the locks shut and sprints off in the direction of the screaming. Another scream, blood curdling, reaches out to the night. The scholar runs even faster to discover the source of the ear-piercing screams. A third scream chillingly freezes the night, not even an owl hoots. The scholar also freezes, listening for another. None come. The scholar sprints off down the street again. When he approaches the source of the screaming he almost vomits on the spot. A man, viciously burned across the entirety of his body, lies motionless on the ground. The scholar yells into the night for help. No one emerges from the shadows to aid the scholar in moving the corpse.

Vaiqon, Hawk, Desert, Fox, and Pork gaze into the distance as they travel. The sun just beginning to peak in the sky, the boys rub their eyes to attempt to coerce exhaustion away from their tired eyes. Even Vaiqon rubs his eyes on occasion, the early morning wake up at dawn gnawing on even his strength and patience.

The monotonous tan sand of the desert has since been replaced by a plethora of flora and fauna, a green carpet of the plains stretching in every direction. Shrubs, trees, and animals become commonplace as they near the southernmost city in all of Munda Luna.

Vaiqon observes the boys periodically looking back at them. He sees Hawk and Fox riding next to each other as Desert rides next to Pork. He makes a mental note as he then looks back to the front of the line. He believes he can see the tall buildings that scrape the sky that has made Southern Citis famous.

Desert and Pork riding beside each other directly behind Vaiqon hardly speak to one another, but they glance at one another often, as if some unseen bond is forming between them despite the bad blood that exists in their past.

“That was the first fight I’ve ever been in,” Pork says out of the blue.

Desert glances at Pork through the slits in the scarf over his face, “Oh yeah? Didn’t seem like it.”

Pork looks down, “Well, it was my first real fight. My father is a Soldier in the Karacrrossian Army. People say I could be just like him.”

“Then why did you leave Karacrross?” Desert asks.

Pork shrugs, “I guess I just don’t wanna be just like him. What he has is boring to me.”

Desert chuckles, “I replace that what my parents have boring too. Especially when they were arguing with Vaiqon as you have told me, I’m sure it was over something pointless, like if I would have enough clothes to wear at the Injhihato.”

Desert and Pork chuckle, but the good-humor does not last long as Desert states bluntly, “Your father taught you how to fight.”

Pork nods regardless and says, “Yeah, but only the basics.”

“That was enough to humiliate me,” Desert chides.

Pork shrugs, “I suppose. Though Hawk was the one that really learned after our little fight.”

Desert glares at Pork, “You mean to tell me that Hawky learned how to fight after you both humiliated me in Karacrross?”

Pork looks away, but nods.

Desert scoffs, “Porker, that was not fair then. Had I known that, I wouldn’t have gone easy on him. I’ve been taught by numerous experts in Dzrt.”

Pork glances at Desert again, “Then how’d you lose in Dzrt against Hawk?”

“Porker, don’t make me hurt you,” Desert lightly threatens, but Pork’s eyes widen in mild shock. “I just told you, I underestimated him. I won’t do that again and I won’t go easy. I hated that day in Karacrross though.”

Pork shrugs, “You started it,” he says quietly, just barely audible over the clops of the horses.

Desert glares at Pork through the slits in his scarf with such intensity, Vaiqon turns his head to check on the boys. Desert ignores Vaiqon’s idle observation and says, “Porker, I didn’t start that fight. Hawky was on my family’s property. I had to protect it.”

Pork glares back at Desert, “He was on the street in front of your family’s business. That’s not on the property. You two always had a rivalry anyway.”

“What do ya mean?”

“Ever since Hawk beat you in the agriculture games of harvesting more than you, you’ve always hated Hawk.”

“I’ve not hated Hawk,” Desert says as if appalled at the notion, “I loathe Hawky. And you are not much better. You came in and saved him from quite the beating that day he stepped on my family’s property.”

Pork remembers the day clearly. He remembers not only the lashing he received at Desert’s hands in the fight, but also the tongue lashing he received from his mother when he went home later that day. And then the tongue lashing from his father warning to never engage in a fight with anyone.

Pork shivers at the memory and states, “Well, maybe your rivalry with each other will spur you both to greatness.”

Desert merely nods as he glances behind him to see Hawk and Fox in deep conversation. He looks back toward the front where he sees the very tops of the sky scarping buildings that have made Southern Citis famous.

“How’d you get away with that?” Fox asks astounded.

Hawk chuckles, “I don’t really know, I’m just glad that the giant merchant never found me and Pork hiding in the alleyway next to his stall that just rolled downhill from us. That prank put an end to our hi-jinks for about a week. Then Vaiqon showed up and now we are here.”

Fox chuckles at the tale yet again of Hawk and Pork pulling the safety pin of a giant merchant’s stall. Hawk chuckles as well after glancing at Pork who remains transfixed on the road in front of them.

Hawk looks ahead to see the sky scarping buildings of Southern reaching ever further into the sky. He smiles, “We’re nearly there,” he says to Fox.

Fox looks ahead to see the buildings and smiles, “My family always wanted to visit Southern. I’ve heard the harbor here is second to only Coas.”

Hawk glances at Fox and feels Fox’s sadness in his own heart.

“Er, Fox,” Hawk begins, “if you don’t mind me asking, um, what, um, well, what happened to your family? You’ve said you’ve lived on the streets for months now.”

Fox glances at Hawk with sad eyes, “It’s a long story.”

Hawk shrugs, “I understand. I mean, we have time, but I understand.”

“It’s not that, Hawk, it’s just, I’ve not told anyone what happened to my family since the day it happened,” Fox states.

Hawk just nods as he looks down at his horse’s hooves leaving imprints int the road.

Silence builds between the two until Fox sighs, “Do you really wanna know?”

Hawk glances over at Fox, “Only if you wish to share. I’ve told you about my past.”

Fox inhales deeply before saying, “Okay, my family was killed in a fire that destroyed my home as well.”

Hawk gapes, “I’m, I’m so sorry, Fox. I can’t imagine having my entire family and home destroyed in one day.”

“Don’t try,” Fox moderately jokes. When Hawk does not chuckle, Fox shrugs and continues, “Okay, I was at the market the day of the fire. I was sent by my father to purchase some food for our dinner that night.

“I knew that my task could actually be done within an hour, but dinner was not for another three, so I slumped around the market gazing at all the various stuff for sale. It wasn’t until the sun began to creep down into the horizon that I heard a strange murmur rummage through the market.

“I kept overhearing people talking about smelling smoke. I didn’t think anything of it, Coas is on the Lunan Sea, we haven’t had a terrible fire in decades, or so I’ve heard. But, as the sun continued to shrink into the horizon, smoke began to filter from the west, climbing high into the sky.

“Instantly, I began running as people began talking loudly to one another about the source, that a house was on fire. I ran from the market all the way to my house where I saw my home engulfed in flames.

“I fell to my knees while those from the city worked around me to put the fire out. They couldn’t do anything. It wasn’t till it started raining did the fire finally die. I looked around like I was dreaming, looking for my mother, father, brother, or sister.

“When I didn’t recognize anyone around me, I began screaming. I remember a couple trying to comfort me, but I screamed far too much for them to help me. I screamed until everyone around me left and I searched through the ashes of my home.

“I wasn’t even crying yet, I still believed that my family made it out somehow. But, I found my family’s blackened golden fox necklace that never left the top of the front door frame. Then, I found my sister’s doll with black scorch marks on the doll’s dress.

“That’s when I started crying. Rain soaking my body, tears soaking my face, I just wanted everything to end. But, strangely, I actually felt strong, like the rain was washing away the guilt that I felt at not being with my family.

“From that day forward, I lived on the streets. Then you followed me after I stole some fruit from that merchant and beat the obstacle course, and now we are here on the outskirts of Southern Citis.”

Hawk stares at Fox in absolute astonishment, “Fox, you are without a doubt, going to be a very strong Rniti.”

Fox shrugs, “I just want a family.”

Hawk looks down, sadness overwhelming his heart and mind.