The trip to the Divine Resistance Army’s headquarters was a weird experience. Not only because they had to do so illegally, but also because of the DRA’s secrecy. Their base was located on the Faera Kingdom, directly under the Highlands. Which would make for an easy trip...

If the two countries weren’t at war.

Sure, there's been an ongoing truce for 20 years now, but the border was still heavily guarded and no one could cross without the proper authorization.

The Highlands had, as the name implies, the tallest chain of mountains in the world, with it’s main cities hidden in the between the enormous peaks. After leaving the capital city Taigh, they drove south in an old white van, using the smaller unknown roads instead of the highways.

It took them 7 hours to descend from the heights and reach their destination, a tiny village called Gliddon, which consisted of one street with houses on both sides, a restaurant and a gas station. Surrounding it were 8 acres of fields and farmhouses.

Jingo sat behind the wheel with Albert on the passenger seat, while the others remained on the back. Nobody talked much, except for Jingo, who managed to chatter for pretty much the entire trip.

“And yeah, that’s how I met my friend Lily. She’s been having my back for around 6 years now.” he said enthusiastically, looking straight at Albert instead of the road. You could feel the apprehension in the car whenever he took his hands went off the wheel to gesticulate. “See? Humans and Descendants actually work pretty closely.”

Albert nodded to his head, trying to act mildly surprised about it. But he already knew most of what his new companion was saying. Before they got into the van, Valentina pulled him aside and explained a few things so he wouldn’t be caught in a lie:

“First things first, don’t talk about your ability to anybody. No one. If we get caught lying about this who knows what they’ll do to us” she said quickly as they threw their bags in the trunk “Second, most humans that get involved in our world have really close ties to our society, so just say that a family member has powers. Half of those people you saw at the house, were a Descendant’s sister, or brother or something like that. Everyone will believe you.”

“And finally, don’t talk about the kids and Linus yet. Even if we trust these people, we don’t know who’s behind this whole army. We need to be careful” she concluded.

She has a point… he thought. They seemed really nice, and Albert really wanted to trust them. But trust had to be earned.

It was already night time when the group pulled up onto a dirt road that lead into one of the farms at the far end of the village. It had a big farmhouse with the lights on, and a red cellar. The van stopped in front of the porch and Albert could feel a faint smell of roasted pork coming from it.

“Here we are!” announced Jingo, his fervor still intact, despite the long trip. Everyone else, however, sighed in relief.

They quickly disembarked and were in the middle of picking up their bags when the house door flung open. A curvy elderly woman came out, wearing a red apron around her waist and a green bandanna. Still, her curly blonde hair would escape to the sides matching well with her tanned skin.

She had a stern frown on her face when she descended from the porch and walked up to the group.

“There you are! You’re late! I was starting to get worried.” she scolded Daphne, Yoel and Jingo. “You don’t text, you don’t even call! Honestly...”

“Cellphones are not trustworthy, Daena. The government watches everything, you know that.” answered Daphne.

“Well, you should’ve sent a letter then, a smoke signal, I don’t know.” Daena retorted pouting.

She gave each one of them a hug and then she finally laid eyes on Valentina and Albert.

“Oh, and who might these be?” she said in a surprised tone.

“New blood!” said Jingo, proud.

“I see. And are these new kids hungry by any chance?” she asked with a motherly smile.

“Starving” Albert said, truthfully. After 7 hours in the van, his stomach needed refueling.

Valentina, cautious as always, didn’t answer right away. And she didn’t even need to, because her stomach rumbled loudly at the smell of food. Daena laughed at the sound, although her voice didn’t carry any malice.

“Excelent! We are having a late dinner tonight!” she said while turning around and leading everyone to the farmhouse.

Soon they realized that, by dinner, she meant feast. Mashed potatoes, rice, 3 different types of pasta and a roasted pork were on the table. A huge bowl of salad and a selection of fruit accompanied the dishes.

They all just dove in, eager to satisfy their hunger. The table went silent except for the faint silverware noises, but every once in a while Daena would offer someone seconds.

“Would you like to try the tomato sauce, my dear?” she would say to Daphne.

They would all just nod in agreement while she filled their bellies like a doting grandmother. As people started finishing Daena asked:

“You’ll be sleeping a little before going to the border, right?”

“Oh, absolutely. I need a long nap before hearing anymore of his babble” said Yoel, taking a stab at, Jingo.

“Hey!” his friend exclaimed, rebellious “I prefer the term: pointless chitchat.”

“Very well.” continued Daena “Could any of you bafoons show the boy his room?”

“This bafoon honorably accepts the task” said Jingo with a mocking bow. He pulled Albert by the arm and led him upstairs.

One by one, the group headed up to sleep, except for Valentina, who continued eating throughout the whole discussion. One hour later, she and Daena sat in the living room by the fireplace, drinking tea and digesting. The girl had eaten way too much food.

“Thank you for treating us, Daena.” said Valentina.

“My pleasure. I suspected that you, out of all of them, would be starving.” said Daena.

Valentina frowned at the comment.

“What do you mean?”

“Please, I would be senile if I couldn’t recognize a daughter of the Sun. You got the fire in your soul!” she said with a witty laugh. “And you eat as much as me.”

Valentina’s face went from confused to shock in a split second.

“You too!?” she said, almost yelling. She could barely contain her excitment.

Daena nodded. With a snap of her finger, her entire hand was engulfed with a blazing flame.

“I take it, by your reaction, that you never met another one.”

“There’s not a lot of us” answered Valentina, with sorrow.

“True. I can count on one hand the number of times I met one of our ‘brothers’ or ‘sisters’. But the food is our biggest tell. Our bodies burn calories just keeping our energy in, so we all eat enough for a dozen men.” Daena said with a smile.

Huh, so that’s why... thought Valentina, remembering all the immense lunches director Amelia used to prepare for her.

“How old are you, dear?” asked Daena.

“17. Why?”

“I take it you were an Emissary already, with our power… it’s a piece of cake to pass the test.” she continued.

“Yeah, I passed it. But I only did menial jobs, like escorting people or item transports. Things like that.”

Daena raised an eyebrow at her comment.

“Really? That’s rare. You really lucked out. Or maybe someone really important was having your back. Usually, someone like you would be an elite. Deployed to deal with the biggest issues in the country.”

“What do you mean ‘lucked out’? Isn’t that a good thing?”

With a saddened sigh she leaned in closer to the fire.

“Being the bridge between men and Gods, it sounds so grandiose… calling us peacekeepers, diplomats. That’s the job title. But it’s all for nothing when your bosses are rotten to the core. All governments are the same, be it Highlands, Faera, Kyrie... they just want more power, more land, more riches.”

For the first time, Valentina saw a glimpse of anger in that sweet grandma’s face. Daena looked her dead in the eye, the flames, reflected in her stare. “The things I’ve been ordered to do by those people… to destroy deities for the sake of their progress, to wipe out villages in the name of my country. And I followed them like a fool, believing their sugar-coated words. Doing my duty to the country.”

With every word Daena spat out, the fireplace would respond with a burst. Valentina listened with wide eyes and sweaty palms. She had never heard of Descendants being ordered to kill before. Sensing the young girl’s discomfort, Daena sat back again on her chair.

“I’m sorry, honey. I don’t mean to frighten you. The Divine Army has good intentions and Daphne is a good person, that’s why I work with them. But I don’t trust them, I don’t trust anyone. Because when you’re blessed by the Sun, everyone wants your power. Everyone wants to use you. At our peak, we are the most powerful beings in this world.”

With a mixed look of sadness and shame she said:

“You seem like a good kid, Valentina. If you were my daughter, I would never send you to where you are going.”

That night, Valentina laid awake in bed, reliving the conversation in her mind. The old lady’s last words kept pounding on her head as she journeyed into her dreams.

Hear my warning. Think wisely about what you do. Because, once you become a master, you’ll be a one-woman-army.

Valentina woke up with someone shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes to a hooded figure looming over her. The darkness in the room told her that it was not yet morning, still Daphne’s soft voice announced:

“Time to go, meet us outside in 5 minutes.”

Valentina woke herself up by washing her face and then changed her clothes before getting out of the house. Most of the group was already assembled on the porch, seating in wooden chairs and stools. Their tired faces told her that they were as excited as she was to be up at that hour. Even Jingo, the most upbeat person in the world, had left his enthusiasm at the bed.

The last two, Albert and Daena, showed up shortly after. The old woman had four black bags under her arm.

“Alright, seems like everyone is here” said Daena, throwing one sack to each member of the group except herself and Daphne. “Boys. You know the drill.”

“Ugh, this is annoying” complained Jingo. Yoel, simply grunted. Both of them put the bags over their heads and closed them.

Albert and Valentina looked at Daena with bewildered faces.

“Sorry guys. It’s protocol.” she said with a shrug.

“You guys are weird” said Albert.

“Point taken” said Jingo, his voice muffled by the bag.

Without much of a choice, they obliged.

With most of the group blind, the two women led them all to a vehicle. Valentina tried feeling it out, but all cars are the same from the inside. She also tried paying attention to the speed and the amount of turns they made, but after 30 minutes, she realized it was futile. They had just come out of a farm in the middle of nowhere, there was no way to estimate their location.

And so, she let herself relax and pay attention to her other senses. The smell was still pretty grassy and humid, therefore, she assumed they had not yet left the Highland fields. Then, a few minutes later, the sound of the wind hitting the car changed, and they seemed to have transitioned from the open to a closed space.

Another 30 minutes passed and the car made it out to the open again. The smell was definetly different, although Valentina could not recognize it. They made a stop to stretch their legs and switch cars. This time, the seats were in the open.

“Okay, last stretch! Have a good trip, guys!” they heard Daena say. It seems that this was as far as she would take them.

“Daena!” screamed Valentina.

“Yes?”

Valentina signaled for her to come closer. Daena approached her, and Valentina put her arms around her. She felt the faint smell of firewood and pasta.

“I’ll do you proud, ‘sister’” whispered Valentina in her ear.

And at that moment, she thought she could feel Daena smiling.

“I’ll be watching” she whispered back, before breaking the embrace and leaving her reach.

After another half an hour of driving, Daphne finally signaled for them to remove the bags.

They were riding in the back of a red pickup truck, the fields, now, had very few patches of grass, and the air felt dry. The sky was starting to turn blue, announcing the approach of the sunrise and allowing them to see ahead.

On the distance, there were massive dunes defining the horizon.

They had finally reached the Sea of Sand.