Sami looked at Noen, a terrified look in his eyes. For a moment, neither of them moved. Noen turned to him, his voice steady. "Sami... how do I find them? The ones up there?"
Sami began to stammer, his face turning pale, as if the question itself had frightened him. "You... you can't do that! I... I have nothing to do with him!" he cried, scrambling back and hiding behind the nearest wall, his shoulders pressed tight against the stone.
Noen didn't take it personally. —I can't blame him. If people disappear overnight just for taking a sip of water, there must be some kind of surveillance. Even being seen with me right now is a risk for him.—
Noen stepped toward the door but paused in the frame, with one hand resting against the doorway. "Once again... thank you for the hospitality."
He was about to step out into the blinding sun when something small flew through the air from behind him. Noen turned just in time to catch a small clay jug of water before it could hit the floor.
Sami had thrown it. The boy was still peeking out from behind the wall, his eyes welling with tears as he watched Noen leave.
Noen smiled softly, gave a respectful bow, and stepped out into the heat.
Noen wandered back toward the marketplace, the heat radiating off the stones in shimmering waves. The streets around him seemed empty of sound.
—The picture in the temple...— Noen thought, his mind racing, trying to hold onto every detail he had seen. —There was a young woman featured very prominently. She looked important, powerful. That has to be my lead.—
He spotted a man sitting slumped against a wall, his chest barely moving beneath the shadow of the wall. Noen knelt down. "Excuse me, have you by any chance seen a younger woman around here? Maybe mid 20s?
The man forced himself to sit up, taking a slow, deep breath as if every movement were an expensive luxury he couldn't afford. "There are many women here, kid. Do you have a name?"
Noen shook his head.
The man let out a dry, rattling sigh and slumped back down. "Sorry, kid. Can't help you with that." He closed his eyes, drifting back into a forced sleep to conserve what little energy he had left.
Noen sat down right there in the middle of the marketplace, the sun beating down on his neck. He was already parched, and the dryness had begun to scrape at his throat, the air so dry it felt like it was drinking the moisture straight out of his skin. He uncorked the small jug Sami had given him and took the smallest possible sip, letting it sit on his tongue before swallowing.
—I have to ration this.—
Noen takes a deep breath, his chest rising and falling in the heavy, stagnant air of the desert city. —Then I guess I'll start searching.—
He spends the next few hours scouring the marketplace, pacing through the narrow, suffocating alleys, and climbing up to the weather-beaten rooftops to get a better vantage point of the city. He checks every corner, every doorway, and every shadow, but his search yields nothing. Only dust, heat, and silent faces answer him. The woman from the picture is nowhere to be found.
Exhausted, his legs finally giving out, Noen slumps down against the rough stone. The small jug of water Sami gave him is already half empty, far sooner than he wanted it to be, the liquid sloshing quietly as he shifts. He stares blankly at the dusty ground, his fingers twitching as he triggers his interface.
[M?iss?ion: Ki?ll Azhuron, The Last Calamity.]
[Rewards: R?ecove?ring your m?oth?er, ... and ???]
Noen stares intently at the flickering, unstable text. —It still only says 'Kill this Azhuron', no clues about him, nothing.—
He gives up for the night, lying down on the unforgiving ground. He pulls the empty burlap sack that a lady at the marketplace had given him earlier as a headrest. "I'll continue tomorrow." he whispers to the silence. His eyes drift shut, and he finally falls asleep.
In the middle of his sleep, a rough, cold palm slammed down over Noen's mouth, sealing his lips and cutting off his breath before he could even register he was awake. His eyes snapped open, wide and wild with panic.
Before he could even react properbly, two more pairs of hands clamped down on him like iron shackles. One set pinned his shoulders to the hard ground, while the other wrapped around his torso, hoisting him upward and neutralizing his legs.
Noen's heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird. He thrashed violently, his muffled screams dying against the palm of his captor. He tried to drive an elbow back, but they moved with a terrifying, synchronized efficiency.
Just as he managed to twist his body and prepare a desperate strike, a figure emerged from the periphery of his blurred vision. A hand moved with the speed of a striking viper, delivering a sharp, clinical blow to the side of his neck.
Noen fell back to the ground, unconscious, with the last thing he felt being the hands lifting and carrying him away before his senses completely faded.
Suddenly, his body was dropped onto a hard, unforgiving surface with a heavy thud, the impact sending a jolt of dull pain through his spine that forced his eyes to flutter open. Noen took a while before even realising what was going on.
When he finally did, his vision was blurred, swimming in a haze of gray and shadow. He tried to move his hands, but they were already bound by something cold and tight—shackles made of a material that feels like frozen glass, leaving rashes all over his body.
"Finally, somebody to talk to... " a voice echoed, sounding to him as if it's coming from every corner of the room at once.