Chapter 2 - New Friends

Hours later, darkness settled over the desert.

The heat of the day had finally begun to fade.

The endless dunes stretched beneath a sky filled with stars.

The two found shelter inside the same abandoned cabin that had nearly been turned into Swiss cheese by gunfire earlier that day.

A small fire crackled between them.

Dinner wasn’t exactly impressive.

Axel had scavenged what remained inside the cabin’s dusty cabinets.

A pair of wooden bowls.

Matching wooden utensils.

Metal cups stained by years of use.

A single pot for boiling.

And not much else.

The thugs, on the other hand, had been carrying a little food with them.

Not much.

But enough.

A few potatoes.

Egg noodles.

Questionable seasoning.

And a choice between warm water…

Or green milk.

Surprisingly.

The green milk tasted better warm.

Neither of them understood why.

Inside the pot, a heavy yellowish gravy coated thick ribbons of dried egg noodles and chunks of starchy yellow potatoes.

It wasn’t much.

But it was dinner.

Pure carb-loading.

Pure survival.

A meal created out of desperation rather than skill.

Cairo stared across the fire at Axel.

The blond sat against the wall, casually eating as if the events of the day had been completely normal.

Axel ate without hesitation.

No concern.

As if running from monsters and killing armed men was just another ordinary afternoon.

Cairo finally broke the silence.

“So you’re telling me…”

He pointed at himself.

“That I grew wings, floated into the air and started glowing?”

Axel took another bite.

“Pretty much.”

Cairo blinked.

“And you want me to believe that?”

Axel shrugged.

“I watched it happen.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“It answers it perfectly.”

Cairo rubbed his temples.

“Maybe I hit my head.”

“You were floating.”

“Maybe we both hit our heads.”

“You were floating.”

“Maybe the milk is expired.”

“The milk didn’t give you wings.”

“And these appeared.”

He lifted one of the jitte.

“Those too.”

Cairo looked at the weapon.

Then at Axel.

“…You’re messing with me.”

“We have more important matters to discuss.”

The seriousness in Axel’s voice immediately killed the joke.

Cairo set the jitte down.

“What about?”

The fire crackled.

Axel stared into the flames.

“When you were in… whatever the hell that was…”

His expression darkened.

“You said you were the Chosen Disciple of Keruga.”

Cairo’s smile disappeared.

“…Keruga?”

“The same Keruga blamed for starting the War of the Twelve Gods.”

Axel’s voice grew sharper.

The fire reflected in his blue eyes.

“Truthfully?”

His hand rested on his sword.

“I’ve been deciding whether to kill you since the moment you said it.”

Cairo swallowed.

Yet oddly…

He wasn’t afraid.

Because if Axel truly wanted him dead…

He would’ve already done it.

“If I’m that dangerous,” Cairo said quietly, “why haven’t you?”

Axel didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he looked away.

“When you transformed…”

His voice softened.

“You said something.”

“What?”

“‘Cleanse the darkness from this world.”

For the first time that evening, Axel’s expression changed.

Sadness.

“I’ve only ever heard one other person say something like that.”

Silence filled the room.

“The person with the purest heart I’ve ever known.”

He shook his head.

“I don’t know. Maybe I saw something in you.”

His eyes narrowed again.

“But don’t get the wrong idea.”

The kindness vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

“If you become a problem.”

His hand tightened around his sword.

“I’ll personally put you in the ground.”

Cairo smiled.

“That person must have been important to you.”

“Psh.”

Axel looked away immediately.

“Been the Chosen Disciple of Knowledge for an hour and you already think you know everything, huh, smart guy?”

Cairo’s smile widened.

“You said it like someone talks about family.”

Axel nearly choked.

“I could’ve heard it from a homeless man!”

Cairo laughed.

“So your basis for keeping me alive was the wisdom of a homeless man?”

“AHHHHH!”

The cabin echoed with Axel’s outrage.

For the first time since meeting him, Cairo laughed freely, the tension from their earlier conversation finally easing.

“Did I happen to say anything else while I was in that… state?” He gestured toward the twin jitte resting beside him. “Like why these appeared? Or somewhere we need to go?”

Axel raised an eyebrow.

“You already said where our next stop is, genius.”

Cairo blinked.

“What?”

“You told us to go east. To Korokona Forest.”

“What?!”

Axel stared at him.

“You don’t remember?”

Cairo shook his head immediately.

“No. I remember talking to you. Then…” He frowned. “Then I woke up on the ground.”

A brief flash of memory crossed his mind.

The abandoned town.

Axel.

The strange pressure was building inside his chest.

Then nothing.

Just darkness.

“I thought I fainted.”

“Well,” Axel said, poking at the fire with a stick, “apparently you became some glowing winged prophet instead.”

Cairo stared at him.

Axel stared back.

Neither spoke.

Cairo slowly looked down at the jitte.

They reflected the firelight.

Divine.

Solid.

Proof that something had happened.

Proof that Axel wasn’t lying.

A strange feeling settled in his chest.

After a moment he looked back up.

“Well… do you know anything about Korokona Forest?”

Axel shrugged.

“I was kinda hoping you did.”

Cairo leaned back against the wall.

“I’ve read about it.”

“Oh great. A book.”

“It’s more reliable than whatever your plan was.”

“My plan worked.”

“You got chased by snakes.”

“And survived.”

“Fair.”

Axel smirked.

Cairo couldn’t help laughing.

Then he thought for a moment.

“Korokona Forest isn’t really a forest.”

“What?”

“The name is misleading.”

Axel groaned.

“Of course it is.”

“It’s enormous. Some scholars believe it's large enough to stretch across an entire nation.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not.”

Cairo stared into the flames.

“I’ve read stories about villages hidden beneath trees larger than castles. Rivers so clear you can see the bottom no matter how deep they are. Creatures that don’t exist anywhere else in the world.”

Axel listened quietly.

“And everything there worships Axia.”

“The Goddess of Nature?”

Cairo nodded.

“Above all others.”

“Huh.”

The fire crackled between them.

Then Cairo looked over.

“Did I say why we needed to go there?”

Axel shook his head.

“Nope.”

“What did I say?”

He poked the fire again.

“You said it was your duty to restore balance to the world.”

Cairo frowned.

“And?”

“And cleanse it of darkness.”

The words felt heavy.

Like they belonged to someone else.

Maybe they did.

Cairo slowly lowered his gaze.

“Restore balance…”

The phrase sounded important.

Yet completely meaningless.

Balance between what?

Darkness caused by whom?

How was he supposed to fix something he didn’t even understand?

“You know,” Axel said suddenly, “when you changed…”

Cairo looked up.

“…you weren’t really you.”

“What do you mean?”

Axel thought for a moment.

“It was still your voice.”

“But you sounded different.”

“Different how?”

“Confident.”

Cairo laughed.

“That’s definitely not me.”

“I’m serious.”

Axel pointed at him.

“You talked like somebody who had all the answers.”

“Impossible.”

Cairo shook his head.

“I wish I did.”

The fire crackled.

Outside, desert winds howled through the abandoned town.

Eventually, Axel stretched and laid back on the floor.

His hands folded behind his head.

“Before all this happened, I saw something.”

Cairo looked over.

“What?”

“A shrine.”

His eyes remained fixed on the ceiling.

“An old one.”

Cairo sat up straighter.

“A shrine?”

Axel nodded.

“The only abandoned shrines in Sheff belong to Keruga.”

The words immediately caught Cairo’s attention.

“And it happens to be east of here.”

A grin spread across Cairo’s face.

“Sounds like that’s our next destination.”

He immediately pulled out his journal.

Axel groaned.

“You’re actually writing this down?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Because this is important.”

“You met a crazy swordsman, almost got robbed, grew wings, met a god, and now you’re documenting it?”

Cairo looked genuinely confused.

“Why wouldn’t I document it?”

Axel stared.

“…Fair enough.”

The scratching of a pen filled the cabin.

Page after page.

Why me?

What was darkness?

What was balance?

The list seemed endless.

Eventually, Axel rolled onto his side.

“We leave at dawn.”

Cairo continued writing.

“The potatoes those idiots had should last us a few days.”

“We’ll need food.”

“A map.”

More writing.

“And preferably fewer life-threatening experiences.”

Still writing.

Axel sighed.

“Are you even listening?”

“Mm.”

“That wasn’t a yes.”

“It wasn’t a no either.”

“You’re impossible.”

Cairo smiled faintly.

A few moments later Axel’s breathing slowed.

Then deepened.

Asleep.

The cabin fell quiet.

Only the fire remained awake.

Cairo looked down at the unfinished page before him.

Then at the twin jitte resting nearby.

Why me?

The question refused to leave his mind.

Of all people…

He wasn’t a warrior.

Wasn’t special.

At least he hadn’t thought so.

Yet somehow a god had chosen him.

The weight of that realization settled heavily onto his shoulders.

Slowly, Cairo closed the journal.

His gaze drifted toward the eastern horizon.

Hidden beyond everything he knew.

Korokona Forest.

Hopefully…

The answers were waiting there.

The fire flickered.

The night deepened.

And for the first time since his village burned, Cairo felt as though he was finally moving toward something instead of simply running away.

“Why me…?”

The words sat unfinished on the page.

Cairo looked toward the twin jitte resting beside his pack.

Even now they felt foreign.

As if they belonged to another person.

Slowly, he reached toward one of them.

The polished divine metal reflected the firelight.

Carefully, he wrapped his hand around the grip.

The weapon felt surprisingly natural.

Almost familiar.

A strange sensation ran up his arm.

Like touching something he had forgotten long ago.

He sighed and set it back down.

Then returned to his journal.

Questions filled the page.

Soon there was hardly any room left on the paper.

Eventually, Cairo lowered the pen.

A yawn escaped him.

The exhaustion of the day finally caught up to him.

Nearly being robbed.

Meeting Axel.

The transformation.

Learning he was chosen by the most hated god in history.

It had all happened within a single day.

His life had changed so quickly that it barely felt real.

Slowly, Cairo closed the journal.

He slid it into his satchel.

Then laid down near the dying fire.

The ceiling above him was riddled with bullet holes left behind by the thugs.

Moonlight poured through them.

Tiny stars scattered across the floor.

For a moment, Cairo watched them.

Then his eyelids grew heavy.

Until eventually.

Darkness.

The dream returned.

Just as it always had.

Flames.

Screams.

Cairo’s home consumed by fire.

He stood frozen among the chaos.

Just as he always did.

But this time was different.

This time he saw them.

His family.

Lost amidst the destruction.

His father pointed directly at him.

“This is all your fault!”

His mother’s face twisted with disgust.

“I should’ve thrown you from a bridge when I had the chance!”

His brothers and sisters stood behind them.

Their eyes filled with hatred.

“We hate you.”

The words cut deeper than any blade.

A giant hand stretched across the sky.

Made entirely of magma.

It poured from its fingertips.

And Cairo watched helplessly as the fire swallowed his family.

One by one.

Until nothing remained.

Buildings collapsed.

People fled.

And no matter how many times he saw it.

He could never move.

Could never save anyone.

The dream always ended the same way.

With him kneeling in the ash.

Alone.

Then.

A voice.

One he had heard before.

“We have a greater goal that we need to achieve.”

The voice echoed through the wasteland.

This time, Cairo turned.

For the first time.

He saw someone standing behind him.

A silhouette.

Tall.

Twin Jitte hanging from its waist.

Its face was hidden behind blinding white light.

Cairo’s heart pounded.

“Keruga…?”

The figure did not answer.

Instead, it slowly raised a hand.

Pointing east.

Toward a distant forest hidden beyond the flames.

Korokona.

Then the dream shattered.

Cairo’s eyes snapped open.