[Winter - Moonton]

“Next!”

The slim, assertive Eriko pulled at his coat’s collar. He jeered at his labor force, while simultaneously making himself feel good. He shifted his attention back from himself to the business at hand.

“I ain’t got all Sun, who’s next- I got the identification here-,”

Leering at the confiscated government document, he squinted his perspective and scoured for a name to snarl.

“Earle- with an extra E!”

In stumbled an impoverished Earle McFinley. A man who once stood proud as deputy sheriff in nearby Blue City, but after leaving for work one morning, he was ambushed by a private posse hired by none other than the Immortal himself. Visibly meager and missing quite a bit of will, there was enough internal motivation to yearn for a family reunion one day.

Escape was on Earle’s mind, not Eriko.

“That’s it-”

Eriko arose from his grime-riddled chair that looked like it had been salvaged from the back of an old saloon. Layers of dust plumed upward and accompanied him as he slowly shuffled toward Earle. Waving his helper that had retrieved the prisoner close, he leaned in to whisper.

The man exited the room with haste. Earle accidentally made eye-contact with the deadpan Eriko. The Immortal often showed signs of human faults, as he snapped out of his mental indulgence.

“We’re stepping up our product. Our practice needed a re-focus, and you’re just the trusted worker to do it.”

Eriko spoke down to Earle with an optimistic, almost friendly tone. It was as if he was proposing a business plan to open a shop in town. Earle was quickly reawakened when he peered downward, still confined within chains.

“How can we work...like this?”

The plea was earnest, however the man listening was far from it.

“The same way you always do- and will, with good ole’ fashion willpower ma’ boy.”

Eriko began to collect his dispersed belongings found scattered nearby. The erratic fashion showed that his mind was already processing future duties. Paperwork crumbled between stuffed fists and overflowing bag pockets.

“So, so much work ahead of us tonight. You’ll receive a good meal, make sure you don’t let it go to waste. I fully expect another, new, Ageast by tomorrow.”

[Winter - Dead Canyon]

As the mule and horses dragged to a finish, their arrival was announced in the Native language. Jennings, cut his roped cuffs, and stood to his feet, raining sand back to the desert floor where it belonged.

Patting himself ungainly, he rustled the sand out his hair the best he could, gaining vision of the encampment where they’d find Clear Mind. Looking to his left, the tall-stature Wolf had just fallen off his horse and tried to play it cool, Jennings laughed internally, but wouldn’t display it. He was on foreign turf, meaning he was playing by their rules. He wanted information and figured that if Wolf seemed comfortable enough to damn near eat shit, then perhaps these Natives weren’t prepared to scalp him and leave him to dry.

There returned that feeling of trust.

Out emerged the hunched, wrinkled Clear Mind. Shuffling over with one foot noticeably dragging lower than the other, the favored side of the short man’s body seemed to be covered in ritualistic markings. They were indistinguishable as either tattoos, or scars. His short, balding crown looked like a sunburnt dirt field sprouting thin, gray strings. He spoke in a rasp-shadowed, hasty tone, yet in the Native language.

Chuckling to himself while still closing the distance to the arriving party, Clear Mind continued, while Jennings listened intently, trying to make out any similar sounds.

“Ahh,” gasped Clear Mind, noticing Jenning’s focused demeanor.

“Of course- of course, I see. You prefer your natural tongue don’t you not, chosen settler?”

The odd man had already established his inquisitive nature, however J.J. couldn’t expect Clear Mind to extend his neck as far up Jennings’ chest as he could reach and close his eyes.

“I see, I see,” said the cooky man once more while backing away from Jennings.

Wolf remained poised and at a distance, observing the behavior of a man he hadn’t seen in a long while, perhaps even questioning whether it was the same man that left. Clear Mind once more, took initiative.

“Nevermind the grand, I imagine you didn’t get captured to learn about my ways, or those of my people. Perhaps you have a more selfish reason for being here, do tell?”

Taking a comfortable step back from the elder, Jennings responded respectfully and kept his hands stationed at his sides.

“We have a problem of someone taking Agi out of control. He’s giving us Agists a helluva’ bad name, that I reckon.”

“Why?”

J.J. furrowed his brows by the reactive question.

“Why? Well- because he’s a mad angry man in a world where people want power. I ain’t his daddy, I don’t know who made him.”

“Ahh, I see, I see.”

Nodding his head feverishly, Clear Mind proceeded to ramble to the surprise of no one in attendance.

“Listen here settler, this is the part that will pique your interest.”

The man flicked a red blanket over his shoulder from his layered attire. He cupped his hands before mustering a warm bellow between them. Continuing to warm them, he whipped his shrively digits in the air in random fashion, almost hitting his own companion in the face behind him.

With a slight distance between his now stationary palms placed carefully in front of Clear Mind himself, he quickly dazzled the onlookers. His fingertips glowed a sharp magma orange-tint before they released pent up Agi energy in the form of a fireball. Just as quickly as the fireball came into existence to the surprise of most in the room, it disappeared into Clear Mind’s alternate, rotating palm without causing any visible damage. The Natives surrounding the scene wooed in excitement.

“This is the way of ReAgi! What is created, must end. What is created- must end.”

The old man persisted with his new montra and began to dance around in a personal circle of enthusiasm.

“Join us! Come.”

Jennings wouldn’t oblige, however Wolf was sympathetic and swayed along, at one point raising a hand in the air. The exiled Clear Mind proceeded.

“It’s a rhythm, with the galaxy. ReAgi is the answer to solve this scourge of Agi. That is why you are here, is it not? So ReAgi is the answer you sought. Solved. Solved. No more worry, have fun Mr. Settler, come learn...two weeks. You- and whoever else needs this knowledge.”

Jennings was taken aback. Leaning backward to exaggerate his uncomfortability with the situation.

“I mean, not like I’m a busy honcho or nothing, but I do feel this rather quick. Dinner first, maybe?”

The man darted with a burst of youthful vigor toward the outlaw. He cracked aged legs into a shorter form beneath Jennings’ perplexed expression.

“Is there a bad time to learn the rules of the game?”

[ Winter - Parso ]

Back at the residence, Penny was the last one awake to fetch some hot coffee from the pot for herself. Olivia had already been in her room for quite a while, and the night grew even quieter when Anette decided to retire for the evening.

The duo of Jennings and Penny inherited the Agi Dojo and worked hard to spread work of its faux-abandoned reputation. Fujeh followers luckily flocked toward the country of his origin, Shushia, in the Eastern Halfland instead of congregating at the site where Jennings and company called home. To help their cause, they had paid-off gamblers, gossips, and even local Agi-speaking mutts, simply so word would not venture far.

Snapping her book shut, Penny watched as Anette waved from the entrance to the hallway.

“Night, see you on the other side.”

Penny smiled back, then dug her face back into the book she was consuming alongside the warm cup of roast. The candlelight could suffice for hours at times, but the book was a bit of let down thus far. Maybe it was time to cut her night short as well, she thought.

As she went to rise up from the seat with the book in hand, she fell directly back down into the chair with vigor. Clutching the novel tighter, tiredness had set in further. Just a couple steps down the hall to rest now impeded the strong-willed, young companion of J.J. Regret wasn’t a taste that she liked to chew on before bed. She learned that from Jennings.

She regretted not informing the ladies she roomed with currently about the previous unknown visitor who failed to knock. What if that person was harmful? What if that person knew Jennings was gone? What if they came back with more confidence?

She was going to have to sleep off the feeling of failure tonight. Jennings would be back soon, and she could only imagine what was going to be the next unforeseen change in plans.

As she exited the common room she blew out the burning wax candles, and just before disappearing into a hallway as dark as an undiscovered cave, a glint caught her peripheral vision. Penny didn’t want to see what she confirmed next.

Just outside what used to be a thriving dojo, arson flames crept past window heights, engulfing the structure before salvation could be considered.

Penny wanted nothing more than to force her legs to move in the direction of safety, but she knew a huge burden just manifested. She had to warn the others. Yet stealing priority and freezing her amid the swirling blaze was a tiny, spry Ageast that resembled the shape of an elemental imp on fire, but taller. The same trouble that stole Jennings’ friend and forced the renegade to reassess their approach fully, had just appeared in front of her at the most inopportune time. If the Ageast full of flames could have a face, it would have locked eyes with Penny.

It waved Penny to follow.