His journey could not end here, he would not let it end here. He looked at the heavens, filled with nimble clouds like the brush strokes of an artist. His hopes and dreams, to be a divine artist all lay here, on the bank of a river that spouted fire.

His father had disappeared when he was but five. But his father had a conversation with him the night before, taking Oyzal out to see the stars. "*Which one shines for us today son?"* and little Oyzal had pointed at the brightest star, thinking of his mother. "*Wouldn't it be nice if they all shone for us?"* And Oyzal only could nod, his imagination took over and then he asked *how?* *"The arts, son, pursue it with all your heart and soul and all the stars will shine for you. Mine is gone"* and a sense of sadness had gripped his father's voice with those last words.

And then, Oyzals thoughts drifted to Giller, who had left to join a conflict. Who, Oyzal was not strong enough to join. The sense that strength ruled the Barren Lands of the Southern States slowly stitched itself into the mind of Oyzal as people left him alone due to his association with Giller. Thus, the pursuit of divine arts.

"The trees…", Izars voice pierced the memories playing through Oyzals' mind.

Oyzal opened his fists, his nails had been biting into his palms, drawing out blood. He looked around, not understanding what she meant.

Seeing his confusion, Izar pointed towards the roots. "Look at the roots, they are not burned."

Hope started replacing the desperation he had felt. He looked more closely and saw that the bank had no marks of fire. But he needed further confirmation. Oyzal sliced a piece of wood from the tree closest to him and flung it towards the river. It landed with a thump and drifted away under the mighty guidance of the river. They looked at each other and grinned, worry and memories forgotten in the presence of what appeared to be hope.

Oyzal pulled a hefty coil of brown rope from his holding chip while Izar added her collection, which was stronger and more elegant: blue fibre with golden lines.

"Know how to tie a knot?", Oyzal asked.

Izar nodded and was handed the ends of both the ropes which she combined with a simple knot. Oyzal looked around and started marking trees with thinner trunks by taking slices off with his sword.

"I can help", said Izar from beside him.

"Push the trees when I tell you, need them to land towards the river."

"Four will do, no?" she asked. Oyzal nodded.

The girls' skin bore no signs of days spent in a forest, she appeared pale and vibrant with only her clothes being soiled. Bits of stubble had appeared on Oyzals' tanned face.

They stood behind a tree Oyzal had marked. Izar had her hands by her side while the sword was ready in Oyzals.

"Ready?", Oyzal asked and Izar nodded.

Madra circulated to his hands now. One slash and half the bark was gone, the tree started falling and Izar gently gave it a nudge. A few moments later, three other trees found themselves near the river, the sound muffled by the river. Izar had the four trunks tied together to form a raft.

"Wait," Izar had her hands on her hips and gave Oyzal a narrow-eyed look, "how are we going to get this thing down?"

Oyzals mouth hung open for a moment, he had dispensed no thoughts for the steep bank of the river.

"We build a ramp?", he asked meekly.

Izar sighed. "More trees."

They decided on four more trees with Izar pointing that they could be split in half. They had enough rope to attach all eight planks separated from the trees. They now had a ramp, two paddles, and a raft. The edge of the ramp barely touched the surface of the water. Oyzal attached an extra stretch of rope to the edge of the raft and then sunk a stump into the bank of the river, it would allow them to step onto the raft without worrying about it floating off.

Oyzal and Izar grabbed a side of the raft and then carefully stepped foot onto the ramp. At first, it creaked, the sound causing their hearts to flutter. But it held and soon the raft appeared almost seamlessly at the end of the ramp, buffeting against it. The rope was taut as it restricted the raft against the flow of the river. The sun had a few hours to give.

"We need to step on it at the same time", Oyzal shouted at Izar. She nodded as the wind kept forcing her hair into her face.

"Give me your hand", Oyzal shouted and their hands met halfway. " At the count of three…one…two…three."

With almost a half-leap, they stepped foot on the raft. The force of the river and their sudden weight on it forced it to swerve to Oyzal's side. He quickly spread his feet, helping the raft regain a semblance of balance before both of them sat down on the floor. Their sighs of relief were audible as the raft held, swerving less violently now.

But as soon as Oyzal released the rope tying them to the bank of the river, the raft spun according to the forces of the river.

"Row", Oyzal yelled.

"Trying", Izar yelled back. The raft violently spinning out of control. Curiously, the water did not spray around as it collided with the boat, keeping them dry despite the head-spinning circling being caused by the forces of the river.

Madra circulated through Oyzal, as he tried to fight against the current of the river. He pushed his paddle against the onrushing torrent of water. His muscles were strained but it yielded results, the raft was slowing down. And a few moments later, it slowed to a gentle spin. Or maybe they had been forced away from the violent stretch of the river, Oyzal thought.

Izar turned towards him, breathing heavily. "The mountain looks further away, no?"

Oyzal could only nod, gasping, the water that should've covered him was being obliged by sweat. He had no madra left and the river had none to offer. Soon enough, the raft came to a standstill. The river itself had taken on a gentler approach.

"Can you paddle?", Oyzal asked.

"I can try", replied Izar before adding, " after a few minutes."

What they had not noticed was the position of the sun, soon enough darkness would arrive. The shadows of trees almost reach their boat, the quivering outlines played on the water's edge. Izar started paddling, but not with much success as the waves countered her strained muscle. She gave Oyzal a shrug that conveyed her helplessness.

"No madra", Oyzal said. His voice was strained.

"We could throw a rope to the other side", suggested Izar.

Oyzal squinted, a dozen feet at least was the distance to the other bank. " What if it burns."

"Not much else we can try, no?", Izar said.

"We rest now", said Oyzal.

"It will be dark soon", Izar pointed out.

"Nothing quite like a boat ride at night", said Oyzal with a quick smile.

"Have you ever been on a boat ride at night before?", doubt coating her question.

Oyzal cleared his throat.

"Actually, have you ever been on a boat before?", Izar asked.

This time, Oyzal had a raised eyebrow. " What do you think we're on now?"

An annoyed look passed over her face for a moment. " You know what I mean, only the Barren Lands has a river, ironic though it is."

Oyzal gave her a pointed look, the look nudging her towards a conclusion.

"Oh…oh…", she said. Understanding filtered through her and Oyzal could see curiosity trying to bubble to the surface, she had her lower lips covered. Oyzal had no intentions of talking to a stranger about his past, no matter how short-lived.

She took a deep breath as if readying herself. " How?", she asked, eyes burning with curiosity.

Oyzal closed his eyes, feigning circulation. "We have the Opening to complete."

"Not much else to do, no?", she replied.

This was the first time in two days that Oyzal had seen her express interest. She had been distant, but not cold and at times Oyzal had wondered if she had emotions. The river's bank had her on edge but she was composed on the raft. Too bad she was curious about something personal to him.

"Why do you want to know?", Oyzal asked.

"Who doesn't want to know about the Barren Lands?", Izar answered.

"Children at night," Oyzal grinned.

Izar scoffed. "I found them fascinating."

"Did you now?", Oyzal asked as he pulled the piece of rope that had tied the raft to the riverbank earlier. He untied the rope from the stump. Izar had not replied instead focusing on what he was doing.

There was barely enough light now to see as the raft of brown wood was gently buffeted by the river, two banks with dense trees on either side. He looked at the rope and then at the far bank, barely visible under the diminishing light. He shook his head.

"I can't throw it", he said.

"You have to get up, no?", said Izar.

Oyzal nodded. " Too risky."

"Back to paddles", he added.

"Notice how we haven't the boat hasn't moved at all", Izar said with a bit of wonder mixed in her voice.

"We have to assume it's flooded with constructs", Oyzal grinned.

Izars eyes twinkled for a moment before thoughts clouded her features. " Where's that orb of yours?"

And Oyzal placed his orb of light at a point just ahead of where their knees almost touched. It only covered a radius of a few meters, they couldn't see much beyond the blueish water. The Dusk Orb failed to show itself. So they paddled in a forward direction but noticed that despite their efforts, the movement was minimal. It felt like the boat was rooted to the spot. Oyzal wiped the sweat off his brow and could only shrug to Izar. His thumbnail-sized core was almost transparent now.

And then, something strange started to happen. Motes of orange light slowly started to appear all along the depths of the river. Oyzal and Izar looked at each other, desperation and fear playing in their heads. They rowed with all the strength they could muster and yet the raft just would not budge against whatever invisible force in their path. The motes of light slowly joined to the size of candle flames, thousands of candle flames drifted below them and they could stare with awe. All the sound had died, leaving only the two of them amid the river and whatever its intention.

"What is happening," asked Izar, hints of panic in her voice. Their knees touched as they huddled closer away from the edge.

"I don't know…", whispered Oyzal.

And before he could utter any words of reassurance, the notes of flames started drifting towards the surface, engulfing the whole area in an ethereal glow of orange. It was not like the sun which illuminated all, this was as if the whole river had been tinted in an orange glow that was now slowly appearing to take the form of orange fog.

"Well, at least it doesn't burn," said Oyzal as a surge of relief flooded his heart. Izar nodded, quickly wiping away the two drops of tears that had started flowing down her cheeks. And surprisingly, their raft started moving as if whatever force that had been holding it had released it.

"Quick", whispered Oyzal, mindful that the surrounding somehow did not deserve a loud noise.

And soon the soft sound of their oars pushing against the river could be heard. They flowed through this orange fog and soon reached the bank of the forest. This side of the bank had more a favourable curve to it, that deemed it unnecessary for them to touch the water. Oyzal pushed the end of the rope into Izars hand, beckoning her to be off. She refused at first but then climbed off the raft. Oyzal quickly followed.

" My orb…", he whispered into the river as the raft suddenly started to float away from the river. The light of the orb itself is covered by the density of the fog.

"It is something else, no?", whispered Izar, as she now sat on the river's edge, legs dangling.

Oyzal sighed and followed suit."Beautiful."