Tale of Kairu

Chapter 3, Moving onwards

When Nova woke up it was already night. She was lying next to a campfire. She wasn't tied up, and none of her belongings seemed to be stolen, but most surprisingly; she was alive! 

As she got up she noticed a man sleeping on the other side of the campsite. Maybe the man had taken her to sell her as a slave, Nova thought. It wouldn't make any sense for her to not be tied up if that were the case. Nova realised this and decided not to meddle with the man. She would ask her questions to him when he would wake up. 

It didn't take long for that to happen. The man woke up 10 minutes after Nova, By a loud noise coming from the south. It sounded like dire wolves howling. He noticed Nova as he got up, and Nova recognised him when he turned towards her. 

It was Kamiron, the man she met in the Drunken Drider. He wasn't wearing his leather jacket, and on his bare chest Nova could see scars, bigger than on his hand. Next to Kamiron's bedroll was a scabbard with a large sword and some light armor. It seemed he didnt get those scars from bar fights, like Nova had thought earlier. 

"What happened when I was asleep? How did I end up here with you?" Nova asked. 

"Asleep? You were completly out cold!I couldn't wake you up no matter what I tried. You ran into me at the edge of town, near the stables. I was there looking after the horses like everyday, but when the skeletons burned the stables I got you on a horse and fled with you, a few hours of travelling later I set up camp and went to sleep."

Nova looked puzzled for a while, then asked him another question. 

"Why does a stable hand have scars like that, and a sword and armor?" 

Kamiron's smile faded into a frown. 

"I wasn't always a stable hand. I fought against Kurime for 2 years after he burned my home. That's when I got the scars and gear."

Nova wanted to ask more, but realised Kamiron wasn't comfortable with this topic. 

"Do you think those wolfs will be a problem?" She asked to change the topic. 

"It should be fine, but we need to leave by the break of dawn. We have a long journey ahead of us."

"Where are we going? 

"The lost library of Sibaria. I'm going to find a way to stop Kurime once and for all, and asking Uireb's help might be the only way." Kamiron explained. 

Uireb was the daughter of M., the incarnation of wisdom. Uireb was better known as the demi-god of knowledge. When the kingdom of Sibaria fell, she dissapeared. Stories say she still lives among the ruins of Sibaria, in Amar's library. Amar the Swift was the first king of Sibaria, almost a thousand years ago, when the world was still fresh. 1045 years ago the world started. Nothing is known about Kairu before then, even by the people that lived then. In the first 27 years people and animals fell from the sky. No-one knows where they came from or why they were there, but they were the first known people to live in Kairu. 

"So you're bringing me along to help find a divine that no-one has seen in over 200 years. To ask that divine how to kill another, stronger, divine..?" 

Nova looked at Kamiron as if he had gone crazy. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced a horse had kicked him in the head. 

"I can drop you off at the nearest town if you want, you'll be saver behind town walls."

Nova was relieved. She wasn't the type to go on an adventure like that. The chances of them dying in the southern deserts was countless times bigger than the chances of them finding the lost library.

"Let's get back to sleep then, we need to get up in a few hours." Kamiron decided. 

Nova woke up at the break of dawn, as planned. Kamiron was already done packing his stuff and waiting for Nova to wake up. Nova quickly gathered her belongings and got on the horse with him.

They travelled for a few hours before taking a lunch break in a small village, no bigger than Ranzi, where Nova grew up. While they were eating Nova noticed a dark spot in Kamiron's jacket; blood. 

"Why didn't you tell me you were wounded. Did you get wounded trying to protect me?" 

Kamiron looked up from his lunch to Nova and sighed. 

"Nothing much to be done about it, the wound has been cleaned and I put a bandage around it."

"Hold still." Nova said to him as she placed her hands a few centimeters away from the wound. 

A soft, green, glow emitted from the palms of Nova's hands. 

"So you're a priest." Kamiron guessed.

"Not quite, I tried becoming one, but never finished my training because I felt more suited towards blades. Nothing big like your sword, but daggers and short swords are more my style. I had to come home to Razni after the priest school in Omin cast me out." Nova explained. 

"Omin? You must be pretty smart to get into a school like the schools on Omin."

Nova nodded. She missed the simple life she had back in Omin and Ranzi. 

Omin was an island in a lake to the west of the Centre. The mountains in the centre of the continent were called the Centre, and in them was a crater, as large as the continent Bor. 

Kamiron and Nova travelled down to the southern deserts, and the nearest town on their path.