Disclaimer: Characters belong to Komani. Sandworms courtesy of Dune.


"Vik? You still awake?"

No response. Flik turned his attention away from the campfire and glanced over at his companion. In the light of the dancing embers, Flik saw Viktor lying on his back upon the grass with his shaggy head resting in the palm of his hands. His eyes were closed, and a peaceful grin was plastered across his face.

Flik eyes lingered on Viktor's face for a moment, trying to determine if he was really asleep or just faking it so that he wouldn't have to talk to his traveling partner. But before he could settle on a resolution, he suddenly realized that he was watching Viktor sleep, and the very thought disturbed him enough to make him look elsewhere.

A chilly breeze across the open fields made Flik inch closer to the fire and wrap his blue cloak more tightly around himself. It was only the beginning of autumn, but the continental climate of eastern Muse was much harsher than what he was used to in his native country of Toran to the south. Sentry duty was his responsibility for the first half of the night. He was already weary from the long day's trek, and he knew that the rapidly dropping temperature certainly wasn't going to make it any more bearable.

Viktor, a Jowston native, seemed to have no problem lying sprawled out in the open with no coverings and wearing only his worn-out sleeveless tunic. Of course, there hadn't been any alternative. They had to discard their tent during their three-month long trip through the Badlands. It was simply too heavy to carry, and a combination of blistering heat, lack of water, constant monster attacks, daily sandstorms, and inhospitable terrain had drained the two men of strength, eventually forcing them to throw away all of their provisions save for a bit of food, their weapons, and the clothes on their backs.

When they finally came through and arrived in eastern Muse last week, Flik could hardly believe that they'd both somehow managed to emerge alive. "That's the third time I've crossed the Badlands, and it sure as hell never gave me as much trouble before," Viktor had cheerfully told him. "Must be 'cause I had to look after you."

"Ass," Flik had muttered in reply.

As soon as they'd reached the nearest village, Flik had quickly found an inn and refused to do anything but eat, drink, and sleep for three days. He would've stayed longer had Viktor not dragged him back onto the road again after replenishing their food supplies.

Their destination was Muse City. Viktor had told Flik that the new mayor was an old friend of his, and that she'd be able to find something for the two of them to do, some kind of job, if they went to see her. Flik had been all for that idea. After all, Odessa was gone, her dream of overthrowing the Scarlet Moon Empire was realized, and he had no desire whatsoever to return to Warrior's Village. There was little left for him in Toran, and the mere thought of all the things he could see and do in a foreign land as expansive and diverse as the Jowston City-States had reawakened the spirit of wanderlust that had lied dormant within him ever since he first met Odessa.

Not that there was anything wrong with that. Odessa had simply preoccupied him with things far more important than the call of adventure—things like ideologies, revolutions, and, most importantly, herself. For the precious few years he'd spent by her side, he had been certain that it was how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. But things didn't work out that way, and before he could be reunited with her in the world beyond, he knew that he'd have to move on with his life. His personal flaws had become ever more apparent to him after her death, and he would never have the heart to face her again unless he was to improve upon them during his remaining time on earth.

Viktor suddenly gave a loud snore and rolled over on his side, his back towards Flik. His snoring continued, and Flik sighed in annoyance. Well, one good thing about the two of them taking turns sleeping was that at least now Flik wouldn't have to try to fall asleep while being bombarded by all that noise.

A rustle that was too loud to be the wind swished in the grass nearby. Flik immediately turned and sprang to his feet in a crouched position. His fingers wrapped themselves tightly around Odessa's hilt. He picked up a stone with his free hand and hurled it in the direction of the sound. In the darkness, he caught the glimpse of a single cut rabbit scurrying off in a shadowy flash.

Flik relaxed again and sat back down. That was rather lucky. One killer bunny was nothing to be concerned about, as those irritating little buggers rarely attacked travelers when alone. But a whole group of them was another story. He would've probably had to wake up Viktor to help him fight them off.

Then there were those gigantic yellow woodpeckers native to eastern Muse. Though as freakish-looking as one could imagine, they weren't too hard to deal with. But then again, none of this region's wildlife was even remotely a challenge compared to the ones he had faced in the Badlands.

There, he and Viktor had to battle more than their share of rocs, salamanders, and rockadillos. But nothing was worse than the fearsome monstrosity that was the sandworm. As a boy, Flik had heard stories about how these forty feet long, four feet wide creatures with near-impenetrable skin terrorized villages near the desert, and how it took dozens of armed men to kill just a single one. But during the course of their journey across the Badlands, he and Viktor managed to slay six and fight off countless more just between the two of them.

According to Viktor, sandworm leather sold for ridiculously high prices on Jowston markets, especially in South Window. It was quite a shame that the two men had neither the time nor the energy to skin the dead beasts and carry along their hides. But then again, his lightning rune had charred the skins pretty badly, so they probably wouldn't have been worth much anyway.

"Hey, we're really getting to be pretty good at this, eh?" Viktor had said to him after one of their sandworm battles. "Maybe we can even make a living out of escorting people through these lands or something."

At Viktor's words, Flik had felt almost nauseous. "Don't even say that as a joke," he had snarled. "I'm never coming back this way again if the fate of the world depended on it."

"You wimp," Viktor had laughed. Flik normally would've given him a good punch in the guts for that, but every ounce of strength needed to be conserved right then. He'd just have to get back at Viktor at a better time, when the threat of some horrible death wasn't looming on every horizon.

At the thought, Flik smiled a bit to himself as his eyes turned again to the dark form of his sleeping companion. This was as opportune an occasion as any for payback, but he'd just have to let it go. As much as he hated to admit it, there was simply no way he could have survived the Badlands without Viktor. Of course, Viktor was the reason that they had to go through the ordeal in the first place, as he had insisted that they would save a lot of money by traveling to Jowston on foot instead of taking a ship. But still, he and Viktor had to depend on each other for their lives over the past three months, and it certainly was nice knowing that you'd have someone at your back through the worst of hell.

Flik tilted his head to the side, suddenly curious as to exactly when he first started thinking of Viktor as a friend rather than some vulgar lout who had to be tolerated for Odessa's sake. Viktor had been one of the late-comers to the Liberation Army, and due to his roguish tendencies, wasn't well-trusted among the other rebels. Flik was no exception in that regard, and he was surprised that Odessa had put as much faith in Viktor as she did. But then again, Odessa was a very trusting person, maybe too much of one.

Now that he thought about it, Viktor's friendly, if unrefined, nature had been presented to him when they first met, as it had been to everybody else. It was only after Flik made it perfectly clear to the older man that he wanted as little to do with him as possible that Viktor stopped being quite so amicable. Therefore, Flik was the only one to blame for the remoteness between himself and Viktor in those days.

It must have happened sometime between that world-shattering evening in Kaku, when Viktor came to talk some sense into a very distraught Flik, and the fall of Gregminster, when the two fought off wave after wave of Imperial soldiers together and narrowly escaped with their lives. Flik's view of Viktor started to change when they were forced to repeatedly fight side by side under McDohl. Whether Flik had wanted it or not, a bond of camaraderie started to develop between the two, which was firmly solidified by their recent hardships and exploits after the Liberation War.

Flik smiled a bit to himself. Odessa had told him once that he and Viktor would get along if only he would stop being so judgmental. It looked like she had been right, but was that so surprising? She was rarely wrong about anything.

He sighed as his thoughts again turned to his dear Odessa, as they did almost every night on which he wasn't too tired to think. That was another reason he had ignored Viktor back then. She had held so much of his attention and concern that practically everything else was slighted in his eyes.

He fell back onto the grass himself, his hands clasped behind his head against his blue headband. He gazed into the inky night sky sparkling with the lights of a thousand stars. He vividly remembered a clear autumn night a few years ago just like this, albeit a slightly warmer one, when he and Odessa had been traveling alone together upon the plains of northern Toran. After they set up camp for the night, he had lied beneath the stars with his head cradled in her lap, her slender fingers running through his tousled brown hair.

As they watched the darkening heavens, she had explained to him about how military tacticians often took into account the appearance of the stars and the cycles of the moon when planning their strategies, things that her uncle Leon had taught her and Mathiu. Even while alone with him on such a beautiful night, it was clear that the only thing on her mind had been her Liberation Army.

It was times like that when Flik was reminded of just how far he was from being her top priority, as she had been his. Though she had staunchly denounced the importance of a person's breeding, she was still a Silverberg. And even those with minimum knowledge of the past were well aware that individuals of that particular lineage had always stepped forth to change the world and direct the flow of history. Their accomplishments would be remembered for centuries to come, but their personal lives were shoved into the background and forgotten.

Odessa had been no different. Her passion and fire had been directed towards her goals. She had loved him—he was certain of this and never wanted to question it. But he knew perfectly well that there were other things far dearer to her heart than himself, and because of that, she would never have sacrificed anything major for him. Not that he would ever fault her for it. After all, he loved her for the scope of her ambitions, the firmness of her convictions, the strength of her resolve. Those were the very qualities that he looked up to in her, so how could his love for her possibly be lessened by the fact that it wasn't equally reciprocated?

Flik closed his eyes for a moment. Because she wasn't there to share it, the victory of the Liberation Army over the empire had felt so incomplete to him. His only consolation was the fact that wherever she was now, she could at least rest knowing that her dreams were successfully achieved.

Flik hoisted himself back up to a sitting position. He forced himself to clear his mind, as he needed to get Odessa out of his head before the nature of his thoughts and memories turned from reflection to grief.

After feeding the campfire with some dried branches they had gathered earlier, Flik looked over at Viktor again and saw that night chill had started to affect his sleeping companion as well. Viktor was slightly shivering as he lied snoring, and his hands were unconsciously fumbling around for a non-existent blanket. Flik grinned to himself and watched him a bit longer in amusement before reaching into one of their packs, pulling out a long hooded cloak, and tossing it over him. Viktor immediately snatched it and pulled it over his face and body.

With a few more hours of his sentry shift left, Flik yawned and relaxed. Knowing that the worst was now behind him, his mind began to wonder what awaited him in Muse City. He stroked the blue gem at the end of Odessa's hilt, knowing that as long as she and Viktor were by his side, he would be ready for anything the world could throw at him.