"What a rotten luck do we have," Mark muttered.
But what he said was loud enough for all of us to hear. I didn't know how our whole expedition was turned into this.
'It looks like the leader has been watching us.'
I was sure everyone had come to that conclusion from the earlier claim of Serk.
"Prediction," I said quietly.
That word seemed unreal. How could a person predict our location without the use of technology but just intent? It really seems unbelievable. Talent like that would have sold for more than billions of dollars — if buyable. But such talent has an extent, a limit at least.
The sandstorm didn't stop us. She did. And she did it without lifting a finger.
"She could predict our location but not the time. I am sure she used the gnomes to know the time at that particular location. Luring us to kill them and retrieve our supplies, which were then bugged with a tracker, and capture us when we least expected it. Such a wonderful plan, if I say so myself," I thought intently.
Such a plan would have required months or years of planning. Not only planning, but surveying countless areas to know our exact location when we arrived. Such a devious plan.
'I got to hand it to the leader, she really is a cunning person.'
The van continued to move down the desert in an unhurried pace. Views of the desert changed as we moved past them.
The noise from the van was a steady reminder that this wasn't a dream, but reality. The engine hummed like a countdown. To what, I didn't know yet. And how do we escape from our confinement? The beast named Timeless definitely had the solution.
I hurriedly looked at Timeless, and as I looked I noticed something was wrong about the beast. I just couldn't put my finger on it.
Maybe it was his composure, his silence, or his gaze. I just couldn't place it. The feeling I got from looking at him was that of looking at someone who had a distant look. The look the beast had was one whose mind wasn't presently here. His hands were clenched so tight the fur around his knuckles had gone white.
'Is it thinking?'
'Beast, beast, Timeless!' I called, hoping he would snap out of it.
Unlucky for me, no matter how I tried he didn't show any sign of responding.
Since the revelation of his history, he has been like this.
'A runaway bastard who betrayed his clan.'
None of us thought that when we met him, maybe because of the way we praised him. A devious and untrustworthy person.
'Well, the opposite can happen.'
I didn't dwell on it as I had something more demanding to think about. The others noticed the earlier call.
"What's wrong with him?" Edward pointed at the beast.
There was silence with no answer, and with no one answering he turned his attention to Quinn.
"What can we do?" he asked again.
"Nothing. We just sit here and await the judgement they want to give us," Quinn gave his answer, not even bothering to look at Edward.
"What do you mean? You led us here, so you must have a solution to get us out of here," Edward's anger began to grow with Quinn's answer.
He gripped Quinn's cloth, ready to attack if he had any wrong answer. And Quinn did nothing. He didn't even blink. Like he was already somewhere else. Somewhere being judged.
This was the first time I have seen Edward standing against Quinn. This definitely would result in a fight.
'Shit, out of all places.'
I glanced at our surroundings, noticing the focused gazes from the cloaked men as they studied us. They didn't try to stop us. In fact, they looked amused, curious even — as if this was the first time they have seen such.
"Terek, look. It seems the humans are going to fight," one of the men said with interest.
"Should we really be permitting such stuff?" another one asked.
"No, but Lord Darok never said we couldn't do such," the first man grinned. He tapped his firearm twice against the van wall. A signal. To who?
From their conversation, they were looking forward to the fight. In order for this not to escalate, I had to step in.
"You guys, look at your surroundings. Is this the first thing you should do?" I asked.
With what I said, Edward reevaluated what he was about to do.
"Right, we shouldn't fight," he dropped Quinn and moved to his original position.
Quinn was unfazed by this, shifting his focus from Edward to the cloaked men.
The cloak made it difficult for us to see the men underneath it. The van kept moving as it approached a distant city.
The city was not anything I have seen in this realm. It was quite the opposite from the desert.
The level of technology was truly outstanding. There were tall skyscrapers everywhere and the vehicles for transportation were beyond this world. They were literally floating in the air. And every single one of them stopped to watch our van pass. Like a parade. Like we were exhibits.
There was simply one word that came out of everyone's mouth.
"Amazing!"
That was what we could see at a distance, and if we moved closer, we might actually die of shock.
'How is this possible in a desert?'
I have heard that it was possible to convert small areas of desert into habitable area, but it would require a lot of resources and funds which made it non-feasible for most desert countries. But this was impossible.
Converting a large area of desert into habitable area where plants can grow and water is available would have required a ton of resources. But where would they find them?
The desert is known to have limited resources, but for one to gather a ton of resources to make the construction of this city possible would have required thousands of years, which would still not be enough. Maybe also gathering from other areas and then it might have been at least sixty percent possible.
There was no need to marvel at the city because we didn't come as tourists, but as prisoners.
The vans approached the entrance of the city where it briefly paused, confirming the identity of the people in each van, and we began to move into the city.
The city was really active. There were beasts of different types moving and communicating with one another. A child with scaled arms pointed at us and whispered to its mother. The mother covered the child's mouth and turned away. I stared at each section of the city and noticed something.
"No wonder, no fight broke out because there are guards watching them," I said quietly.
'The key,' I thought.
They most likely needed us because of the key. Relatively speaking, we are the key. So, what Timeless said when we first met was actually true.
'It looks like he was honest after all, maybe not completely honest.'
The vans moved through the city until it got to the far side of the city. At the far side was a majestic eastern palace that was beautiful and was surrounded by forests, and the forests were surrounded by layers of fences. Each fence had guards that stood still protecting it. Not one of them looked at us. They only looked at Timeless. And they looked like they were waiting for him to run again.
"It looks like we are meeting the leader," Mark warily said.
We didn't know whether to be happy or sad or maybe both at the same time, but time will tell.
We passed several checkpoints until we finally made it to the leader.
At the end of the room stood a majestic throne. The throne was made of gold with several intricate patterns decorating it. The patterns moved. They weren't carved — they were flowing, like liquid, like sand. There was a silhouette who sat on the throne. No one could see the person, but she could see.
With a sickening commanding aura, she finally spoke.
"Welcome, we have been expecting you."