As we walked out of Apiru, I turned back one last time.
The village was already fading into the grey. Its broken shapes were dissolving into the dust, and above it, the Octangula remained where it had always been, faint and still.
I kept looking at it.
Kaelum noticed.
"If we make it back, there are people you should meet."
"Who?"
"They search about the Octangula."
"Do they know what it is?"
"No one does. Some worship it, or fear it, others ignore it. They chose to study it."
I looked back at the village one last time, then kept walking.
By the time it was no longer visible behind us, the sky had grown much darker.
We moved in the dark to stay clear of the bandits. According to Kaelum, thieves outside the village walls are daylight hunters. In the open desert, there is nowhere to hide but the distance itself. They rely on sunlight to spot the dust of travelers or track their footprints before the wind erases them. At night, the sand is void.
At some point, Kaelum stopped.
"This is enough, we rest here."
He gathered a few dry pieces from his leather sack and arranged them carefully. After a moment, a small fire ignited.
We settled down. I looked up at the sky, staring at the stars.
We were lucky the clouds had moved since dawn.
Such a pleasant sight.
Kaelum noticed me staring at the sky for a while.
"You've been gazing up ever since the sky went dark."
"I mean... it is beautiful."
"Don't you think so?"
...
"It gets boring after a while."
"The stars never move, and never change. They remain the same for as long as we live."
"It feels suffocating the more I look at them, for a reason I cannot tell."
...
"You have mentioned that there are people who worship the Octangula."
"That made me wonder, is there a dominant belief in Apiru?"
"If you ask five peasants in Apiru, chances are you will hear five different beliefs. Some believe whatever helps them keep living, others just do not care."
I looked ahead toward the direction of the distant mountains.
"And the temple?"
"No one truly knows who built it."
"It was already ancient long before my time."
"No monks. No scriptures. Nothing."
"Just ruins."
We remained quiet for a moment, watching the fire.
Suddenly, Kaelum pulled his foot back and looked around the sand beside him.
"What is it?"
"Thought something crawled over my foot."
He stared at the ground for another second.
"...Must have gone away."
He looks around again.
Then he let out a quiet sigh.
"You make it sound like the dark is the least of our problems."
"Don't get me wrong, young man. I would rather deal with snakes and scorpions than Derameth anytime."
"Derameth?"
He adjusted the cloth around his shoulders.
"One of the three major bands of thieves."
"The scum we saw in the village were the thieves of Nethraim."
"Their rivals on the east are the thieves of Jemorah. They are just as hostile and violent."
"And lastly, the ones we are trying to avoid, Derameth of the south."
"While not as powerful as the other two, they are still dangerous."
"Long ago, Derameth used to be the strongest of the three. They had most of Apiru under their shadow. Villagers and thieves of other bands alike feared crossing lines with them."
"They became so powerful they believed they could ascend into more than thieves. And in an attempt to take over Apiru, they made the grave mistake of assassinating the puppet king."
"That caused the Riverans to act immediately. Their forces arrived soon after, crushed Derameth, killed many of their men, drove whatever remained of them out of the village, and publicly executed their leader."
"They were reduced from the strongest band of thieves in Apiru to the weakest."
"And since then, they have only survived through negotiations and carefully balancing their enemies."
"If one side becomes too aggressive, Derameth aligns itself with the other."
"And neither Nethraim nor Jemorah would risk letting their rival become stronger."
"That is how Derameth survives."
Kaelum stood up and stamped out the fire.
"We should keep moving."
The dark remained complete for a while, then the mountains began to appear ahead of us, first as shapes, then as a wall. They rose from the desert in silence.
As we got closer, I could see a path cut into one side of it. Narrow and steep stone steps climbed upward.
I stared at the distance for a moment.
Then looked at Kaelum.
"I should thank you for guiding me this far."
I looked back toward the stairs.
"If I find anything in the temple, I'll come back and tell you."
Kaelum stared at me for a moment before letting out a quiet scoff.
"Do not think I came all the way here just to sit aside."
"Despite my doubts, I want answers as much as you do."
He adjusted the cloth around his shoulders.
"Besides, you think I am too old for this?"
"That is not what I meant."
Then before I could respond, he stepped onto the stairs.
"I have wandered between Apiru and the deserts long enough."
"Climbing a mountain is nothing to me."
Not much time passed.
"Let's take a rest," Kaelum said, huffing as he sat down on one of the steps.
"This time go ahead, I'll wait here."
I nodded.
I looked upward.
The top was still distant.
It was almost like we were still at the bottom.
I could feel the effort settling into my legs quickly.
I began climbing again.
Without Kaelum beside me, the mountain felt much larger.
The steps tightened. My breathing grew heavier. After some time, I sat down on one of the steps and looked up.
Still far.
I stayed there gazing upward. I'll probably die of thirst before coming back. I wonder if any of this was worth it. The voice had not spoken again since the dream. The long walk had made doubt feel more sensible than belief. Even now, part of me thought I might be climbing toward nothing.
And that part grew as I climbed.
I looked downward.
I had made it this far.
I wonder, if I go down, how long would it take me to meet Kaelum? The ground was probably too far now.
But even then, what fate awaited me down there? Assuming that the voice was not real, then I had indeed lost my mind in the desert. If I went back down there, what would change other than dying of thirst and hunger, getting killed by thieves, or worst of all, sacrificed by the Riverans?
Kaelum must be thinking in the same way, which must be why he wanted to make sure I reached the temple.
I stood up again.
If I stopped now, it would all be for nothing.
So I kept going.
After a while, I stopped looking upward, only forward, clinging to the hope that one time I would suddenly see something other than more steps.
I'm struggling to breathe, and starting to lose balance with every step.
Just moving my legs feels painful.
And just as I started considering laying down there and accepting my fate, the steps gradually began leveling.
...
...
Ground at last.
I could barely recognize what was ahead of me. It looked like the entrance to a cave.
A few steps toward the entrance and I collapsed to the ground.
...
...
I think I'm hearing something...
Steps?
It feels like someone is approaching.
"Greetings." A calm voice.
I looked up.
A tall figure wearing a dark loose robe stood in front of me.
"Who..?"
"I am the monk of this temple."
"A monk...?"
"But— How..?"
"Am I hallucinating?"
He gave a lighthearted smile.
"Let me get you some water."
As he walked away, he looked back at me and said,
"You're lucky it rained here yesterday."
"Or should I say... blessed?"