By the time we left the temple, the desert had vanished behind a wall of grey dust. The wind carried sand across the rocks, hiding everything beyond a few dozen steps.
Kaelum looked toward the storm.
"Good. We'll make it before it clears."
None of us spoke again.
We walked through the storm without stopping to rest.
The outline of Apiru slowly emerged as the wind began to settle. One building after another surfaced through the haze until the city stood before us once more.
Kaelum stopped for a moment and looked back toward the desert.
"Just our luck..."
Sarel glanced at him.
"Come with us. At the very least, we all need to rest."
"I don't want to."
"However... the storm has passed."
Kaelum let out a quiet sigh.
"I'll have to wait until dark."
...
"It shouldn't be long."
We proceeded to the city.
The familiar streets stretched before us.
Low mudbrick houses lined both sides of the road, their walls chipped and cracked by time. Some had partially collapsed, leaving piles of broken brick and stone where rooms once stood. Sand had drifted across the streets and gathered against the buildings, burying the edges of the worn paths.
The beggar with the crazed eyes who had followed us before still stood in the middle of the entrance street.
This time, his clothes were almost completely torn away, leaving only a few ragged pieces hanging around his hips. His exposed upper body seemed even more stained with blood than before. I didn't remember his neck and flanks bearing those wounds.
Far ahead, two hooded figures leaned against the wall of a weathered building.
Observing.
As we drew closer, the beggar's eyes settled on Kaelum and his cloth.
He shuffled toward us with his hands outstretched.
Kaelum caught him by the shoulder and pushed him aside.
"Away."
The beggar stumbled, steadied himself, then slowly backed off to the middle of the street.
Staring at us in silence.
An idea came to mind.
"Kaelum."
He looked at me.
"I want to give him my share."
Kaelum frowned.
"Have you gone mad?"
"You will need every bit of it. Don't starve yourself later because of some worthless beggar."
"Please."
He looked at Sarel for a moment, wanting to know what he thought.
He kept a calm tone.
"I think what Eidos is trying to do is noble. It goes along with the plan and what we are trying to do."
"However, he should remain careful."
Kaelum shook his head in disapproval before untying the cloth bundle hanging from his shoulder.
"No point in talking sense into you two."
He pulled out a small pouch of beans and handed it to me.
"Do whatever you want."
I stepped toward the beggar and untied the pouch.
"Take these."
I poured some of the beans into his outstretched hands.
"Do not forget to share them with your fellows in need."
"Just as I shared them with you."
The beggar's eyes widened.
Without a word, he closed his fingers around the beans and disappeared into the alleys between the buildings.
Sarel smiled.
"You did the right thing."
...
The hooded figures murmured to each other as we passed close.
The shadows beneath their hoods covered the upper halves of their faces.
One of them was shorter than the other and appeared to be a woman.
The hooded man spoke to us.
"So that was your way of dealing with him."
"You lot are crueler than you look."
Kaelum glanced toward them and frowned.
"What?"
The hooded woman was gazing toward us in silence.
"That beggar."
"You gave him food. You even told him to share it."
The woman looked aside.
"I don't think I've seen them before."
"The old man looks a bit familiar, but the other two are definitely not."
"Especially the one with the strange clothes."
She pointed toward Sarel.
The two kept gazing at us.
Sarel ignored her comments and asked,
"Please elaborate."
"What is cruel about helping out the beggar?"
The hooded figures looked at each other again for a moment.
The man responded.
"We go in and out of the city. We see that beggar many times."
"We have never seen anyone give him food."
The woman kept her eyes on the street.
He continued.
"Twice I have seen him with food."
"Once, he took it from a corpse."
"Another time, he found food left on the ground."
"Both times, he returned covered in new wounds."
"So if your intention was to have him gone forever, you chose well."
The woman added,
"Whenever he gets food, he gets wounded. Somehow he is still alive."
She looked back toward us.
"But I am sure he will die this time."
...
The three of us stood in silence.
I looked toward Sarel.
His expression was troubled.
"You are right. They're not from here."
"But where did they possibly come from?"
The man looked at us.
"This is interesting."
He cleared his throat.
"How about we introduce ourselves?"
"We can help you find your way around the city."
...
"I am Yanus."
"And this is Thalea."
"We are Searchers."
"Figures."
Kaelum looked at the Octangula for a moment.
...
"I am Kaelum."
"My friend here, Eidos, and I came from the eastern desert."
"However, I have wandered to Apiru many times, so I guessed that you were Searchers once you mentioned going in and out of the city."
"And this is Sarel. He is from the temple."
"The temple?.. You mean the ancient temple?"
"Yes. It is complicated."
"Thalea... we must introduce them to the others! They are a strange bunch!"
"Agreed, but..."
She turned to Kaelum.
"Your companions don't seem to like us."
"What do you mean?"
"They seem uncomfortable."
Kaelum turned to us for a moment.
"I think it is because of what you told us about the beggar."
The two looked at each other.
Yanus' eyes widened beneath the shadow of his hood.
"Hahahahaha... strange bunch indeed!"
"Please, follow us!"
Kaelum took a step back.
"I beg your pardon."
"I appreciate your offer. But I do not intend to stay here for long."
"Our gathering will not take long."
"We simply wish to hear your story."
Kaelum remained hesitant.
Thalea added,
"If you still wish to leave afterward, no one will stop you."
If those Searchers are as genuinely curious as they appear to be, it might be our chance to promote our teachings.
So I intervened.
"Kaelum. Let us go."
He sighed and turned to the two.
"After you."
So we followed them.
The streets gradually narrowed as they led us away from the entrance. The houses stood closer together here, their weathered mudbrick walls rising on either side like worn cliffs. Some alleyways were barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
Gray sand had settled into every corner. Broken jars, loose stones, and crumbling bricks lay scattered along the edges of the passages. Above us, worn wooden beams stretched between neighboring buildings, casting long shadows across the alleys.
The Searchers walked with quiet familiarity, turning from one narrow passage into another without hesitation. I quickly lost any sense of direction.
Yanus came to a stop before a plain building, no different from the others surrounding it.
Thalea pushed the wooden door open and stepped inside.
The room was larger than I expected. Woven mats covered much of the floor, with cushions and low stools arranged in loose circles around the walls. Shelves carved into the mudbrick held clay jars, rolled parchments, and a handful of weathered tools. The place bore the signs of frequent use rather than comfort.
A man dressed in the same hooded garments sat near the center of the room, quietly reading from a scroll. He looked up as we entered but said nothing.
The two lowered their hoods.
Yanus appeared to be a man of middle age. His face bore the marks of time spent beneath the sun.
Thalea looked considerably younger. Her dark hair fell over her lowered hood. She carried herself with quiet composure.
She turned toward us and gestured to the cushions arranged along the walls as Yanus approached the sitting Searcher.
We sat down.
"Where are the rest?!"
Yanus said in an upset tone.
His fellow Searcher sighed as he slowly rolled up the scroll.
"They went scouting."
"Already? There is still plenty of time before dark!"
"I don't know... probably something that has to do with the sun's parallel."
"It is that kid's idea, isn't it? I know it! His obsession with that Octangula is getting absurd!"
"I know he can be reckless at times, but his curiosity and dedication must be respected. Those are traits we all should wish to have as Searchers."
Yanus scoffed.
"The same traits that got our companions lost while scouting... and for what? We still know almost nothing."
"Watch your mouth, Yanus! I understand that you are frustrated, but you are crossing the line! All knowledge is valuable!"
Thalea couldn't hide her embarrassment as her companions kept arguing in front of us.
"Quit it, you two!"
She turned toward us.
"This is Lamech, one of us."
"Lamech, those are travelers. They just arrived in Apiru."
Lamech picked up the scroll again.
"I am in no mood to answer their questions. One of you help them out, or tell them to come back later."
He unrolled the scroll and resumed reading it.
"They are not here for questions."
"Kaelum, Eidos, and Sarel."
"Two travelers from the eastern desert, accompanied by a monk."
He took a quick glance at Sarel.
"Is that right? Where is your mask?"
Sarel looked confused.
"Mask?.."
Yanus spoke.
"He is not a Redemptionist, you fool!"
"Well, all occultists are the same to me."
"They come here asking us to promote their legends and add them to our search scrolls."
Thalea sighed and turned to Sarel.
"Tell him where you came from."
"The ancient temple."
Lamech's eyes lifted from the scroll at last to look at Sarel.
"Describe it."
"Columns on the wall, a circular stone structure in the middle."
Lamech put down the scroll, his intrigued eyes fixed on Sarel.
He got up, picked a jar from one of the shelves, took out a handful of scrolls, and began quickly reading them one by one.
"Here it is! 'The Ancient Temple.'"
Yanus and Thalea stepped closer to read along.
...
...
"What in the..?!"
Yanus nudged Lamech.
"See? There are other things still worth discovering. Maybe it is time to move on."
Lamech turned to his fellow Searchers in disbelief and gestured for them to come closer.
He began whispering, though we could still hear him.
"You said they're not from here, correct?"
...
"They fed that beggar for no reason?"
"Where did they possibly come from?"
...
"Well, even the old man's face is unfamiliar to me."
"We never speak details. We only tell people the knowledge they ask for, which was that there were no monks nor manuscripts."
"So even if someone leaked such details, which is unlikely by itself, how did they get to them?"
...
"Read the scroll. It says the Searchers tried to get there many times. It took them advanced preparation to climb the mountain and reach the temple at last."
...
The three turned to Sarel suspiciously.
Then they sat down on the cushions along the opposing wall.
"We would like to hear your story."
...
Sarel recited everything beginning from my arrival at the temple, avoiding details about himself and the temple, with the exception of revealing that there were no other monks. He also avoided speaking of anything prior to serving at the temple. Despite Lamech's persistent questions, he labeled those details not permissible and therefore forbidden.
"What do you think?"
"We can only add to our records a monk who claims to come from the ancient temple. The rest sounds like legends."
"We will discuss this further later."
He gestured for the Searchers to escort us.
Yanus led us outside.
Darkness had settled over Apiru.
Kaelum slowed to a stop.
"This is where we part ways."
I nodded.
"Take care of yourselves."
"You too."
Sarel gave a faint smile.
"May your path remain clear."
"If either of you ever changes your mind, my door is always open."
Kaelum adjusted the cloth around his shoulders one last time as he walked away.
"Farewell."