This is my project for the bigbang this year. But since the dates are changing constantly and my artist is not answering me, I will post 1-2 chapters a week and hope that before I finish she manages to post her art. I know I'm breaking the rules and I'm sorry. In any case thanks for casting the event, and for caring so much.
About this fic, it's based on several things, first of all Petra, one of the wonders of the world, and main inspiration of this fic. I also researched Muslim mitology about Djinns (don't expect me to be very precise) and a few more things, hope you guys like it. As always the characters are not mine and any resemblance with real people is pure coincidence. If you want musci to read this you can go to ambient mixer and pick the desert song u like the most.
Law covered his pale grey eyes with his hand to protect them from the piercing sun and carefully observed the vast horizon that stretched before him. He couldn't see anything yet between the dunes of sand, Alastaire remained a black little spot on a map, something in the distance, a faraway city riddled with legends which, however, was going to decide his future and fate.
Law had hated that city and its name since the day he had discovered the holy gift that God had given him and what having it meant for his life.
Alastaire was a city of prophets and oracles, a city where the few people that were "touched by God" went to train and master their gift. It was a city where only a few could enter and where Law would spend the next ten years of his life learning and controlling his magic to then serve kings and emperors as was the tradition. It was a life that many dreamed of, full of luxury and prestige, living alongside those who invented history and attracted fame, with all extravagance and power anyone could desire.
But it was a life that Law didn't want to live, one he hadn't chose freely, and accepting it, would mean to abandon everything, his family, his friends and his own city, everything, for that empty fame and riches. Becoming one of the Sanieri meant becoming someone who Law had always detested, who left everything he had in search of wealth and prestige.
But he had no choice, his power has been growing madly since he discovered it, and even the own Saniei from his own city, the ones who had made the decision for him, had created great prophecies for him "Law would become the greatest of them all", "Law needed to go to the holy city in the middle of the desert and train to become what everyone expected of him". False word from greedy people, people that despite it all, were more powerful than Law and had more influence. The decision had been made quickly, and no one had wanted nor being able to oppose it.
Sanieries were something everyone wanted in their cities after all. The powerful ones were even more prized, and the nobles of the city had wanted a new pet.
So here Law was despite his protest and outbursts, surrounded by huge solid soldiers carrying heavy weapons and curved sabers, and a few of the elder Sanieri of the city porting bedecked and extravagant turbans to cast their prized status. Escorting him on the journey through the deadly desert, towards the driest area of the world where the sacred city was settled. Law had left his family and old friends behind weeks ago, the departure had been difficult, but Law had also seen the pride in the eyes of his parents and brothers. Giving birth to one of the Sanieri was a pride for any family, Law had given them prestige and power with his birth, although he would not see them again, Law knew they would be happy and live a comfortable life without him.
The saddest part of all this was that Law had no regrets. The dark haired man had grown up knowing that one day he would leave everything behind because he was 'too different' to stay, too powerful not to be controlled. He had known he would have no home to return to, nor a family to guide him in life or friends to share his troubles and happiness. Since he was six and the gift has shone in him, Law had learned to not get attached to anything.
At first it had been difficult, when they had taken him to the sacred temple he had cried for his mom in the dark nights, but after some long and confusing weeks Law had just accepted it. He has always been an outsider since then. His parents had smiled at him when they came visiting him in the temple, but it was a polite smile, not a smile parents showed their child, people had treated him with respect, but also with a subtle fear and respect. The city had decided Law's life when he was six, his classes at the temples, his visits to the richest families to entertain them with his tricks...but they hadn't really known Law or ever asked for his real wishes.
Through his live Law had been an observer, an interesting thing to show on parties. He had never been a participant.
Even now the soldiers escorting him were to protect him on the road, technically to guarantee his safety, but Law also knew that they were his guards and jailers who would watch him and prevent him from escaping. Law was someone too valuable to lose him so stupidly, a brute diamond waiting to shine, he meant too much for the city, they had paid too much for his new education.
The young man sighed as the sun began its slow descent in the sky and the camel caravan kept going through the desert advancing inexorably. It was hot, too hot in this part of the world, even the wild wind blowing around them chapped his lips and made him suffocate. The thin and dark clothes protected him from the burns of the powerful sun, but they began to stick to his sweated skin, making the protective drawings that had been placed on his skin before leaving the city began to blur after so many days. The turban felt heavy, the clothe hiding his lower face from the oppressive heat asphyxiative.
They seemed to be crossing the end of the world at a slow pace, to where the maps ended, to the legendary Alastaire.
However Law strangely prefered the arid and dead place they were traveling now over the fanciful city. Here, the nature was different, harder, wilder, truer, Law had read about it in the books of the temple but now he felt the veins of his power burning with the accumulated energy of the place. There was so much power. Everything was so different and dangerous here, a little step out of place and you were dead within seconds. The scorpions and snakes crossing their path between the soft harmless dunes were the most poisonous ones in the whole world. Unable to afford second chances, all animals had become the deadliest predators in this difficult environment. Even the few plants that grew here, were covered with spines and thick skin that looked unbreakable.
The desert protected itself, annihilating anyone who wasn't prepared to enter it and face the consequences. It was almost a deadly test, miles and miles of sun-scorched sand, dune after dune after dune. Threatening to make them go slowly crazy as the legends said. They have yet to see a cloud or well of water, but thankfully they haven't found themselves immersed in one of the famous sandstorms either.
The desert seemed to be rejecting them in all possible ways, making the travel harder, not giving them any peace or any breathe.
Law liked it all, because strangely the desert reminded him of his own life, needing to protect himself from everything around him trying to conquer and use him, needing to escape the cage in which he was trapped, and needing to do something for himself that others had not previously decided for him. The desert represented a wild untamed freedom, one Law searched for desperately.
When the sun started to hide, the caravan stopped as it did every night, between two high dunes of hot sand. Panting camels stopped, men, exhausted for the heat and the trip, set up the small tents to protect themselves from the cold night, and lit a small fire in the center of it all to prepare the dried and spicy meat and one of the aromatic teas with mint that didn't taste right.
Law frowned as he studied the distant horizon again between the high dunes of sand that looked like gatekeepers preventing any escape. Only two more weeks, two weeks and he will arrive to his new prison and leave this raw nature behind. This was his last trip, his last freedom, as a wild untamed beast himself.
...oOo...
The night in the desert wasn't as dark as people thought it was, even as the three moons disappeared in the sky at once, hidden behind the huge dunes, the thousands of stars plaguing the sky would light up the night, providing light to all who ventured into the hostile desert in the most dangerous hours. The desert's night wasn't dark, and it wasn't loud either, there were no murmurs of taverns from the city, no birds singing to the night and no tree branches moving in the breeze. Not even the wind blowing through the dunes made the slightest noise while crashing into the soft sand.
All that silence and luminosity made Law's escape completely impossible and the task of the camp guards quite easy. He had already tried once and didn't come exactly as planned. However, besides his frustration, it made also impossible for anyone to attack them at night, bandits or enemies from other cities it didn't mattered. It was impossible for anyone to approach noiselessly without him being seen as a small shadow between the soft and elegant dunes. Nobody could assault them, and no one would be able to flee in time, the dessert might be a deadly place, but it also made it easier to detect intruders.
That night Law saw the guards relax with routine, exhaustion, and overconfidence. That night they were attacked with no one hearing or seeing anything.
Twenty men surrounded the campament in silence while most people were slept. Dressed in brown clothes, the color of the dunes and the desert, they seemed to come out nowhere with greedy looks and sharp weapons. Quickly, the camp became a battleground, the elders woke Law between screams, sleepy soldier's unholstered swords amid cries of war, but no matter what they did, it didn't seem to be enough to stop the sudden attack. The confusion and darkness were clearly the enemies best weapons and they knew how to use it. The soldiers fell under much stronger opponents that had been trained for years in this type of treacherous assault. They couldn't even plead for their lives before the attackers just stole it without a second thought.
In the darkest hour of the night, in the most remote place in the world, Law met, for the first time of his life, the famous desert bandits. Those who attacked the caravans, pillaged, and stole everything they could leaving no survivors. This was another defense of the desert, another protection against strangers, another deadly predator tanned after years of hunting.
The fight was fast and easy.
Law was quickly surrounded by the twenty strangers now covered with the soldiers' and other people's blood. His whole escort had died trying to protect him and now he was the last enemy to abate before the strangers could get their prize. Law had no escape in the plain environment, no friend, no weapon. Law could almost see the look of satisfaction in his attackers faces, they thought that victory was already theirs, after all, twenty man against one unarmed boy was a big advantage.
A man who appeared to be the leader gave a low and precise order, ten of the bandits advanced closing a circle around Law, stepping over the bodies of Law's old dead captors, preparing to give Law the final blow so they could go get the treasures of the huge caravan.
Law closed his eyes and took a deep breathe. He knew how to fight, but they were just too many and he didn't have any weapon to use in his situation. The guards hadn't allowed him even that.
He just didn't know what else to do.
Carefully he focused his mind on the power running through the veins of his spiritual body, more powerful than ever, increased by the desert around him so filled with heat and the magic of thousand years. And then he pulled at it. He pulled at the desert's vastness, at its heart, its wilderness, it's huge power. And he kept pulling and pulling until the desert's power spilled from Law's body, who was unable to contain such power, to the real world.
The place exploded around him.
Fire, flames, wind, sand, everything seemed to envelope him in a small whirlwind, protecting him from the attackers and the whole world. Law heard cries, screams of pain, pleadings for mercy, howls of terror, but he refused to open his eyes.
It had been long since he had used his power, the last time had been a disaster, and he had been containing it until he reached Alastaire where he could learn to use and understand it without causing troubles. But now, as he felt the immense power accumulated in the place, flowing through his body, Law felt strangely calmed, in peace, in harmony with everything around him, as if using what had been given to him was the right thing to do and repressing it for years had only hurt him further.
The tension of the desert, that strange magic that had been accumulating tension since Law had set foot in the place, finally unleashed. All that power was finally liberated through Law. As if he was the channeler, as if the desert had been waiting just for him.
Law almost felt in his body how that immense place seemed to finally accept and welcome him as one of its own.
But suddenly the torrent stopped. As if it no longer could channel more, as if there was no more power to release. Law fell to the ground as the storm that he had summoned faded into nothingness covering everything with fine sand. The camp was in chaos, the tents were on fire, the camels had fled or died, and the corpses of his men, along with fourteen of the attackers, lay on the ground covered with the fine sand and completely motionless.
Law felt his mind clouding. He didn't know what had just happened. He had never used or felt so much power in his city. He didn't know what he had released. But after the storm faded he felt immensely tired. As if while releasing so much power, he had also released his own strength. He was breathing hard and he didn't even know if he could even stand. There were still six bandits, including the leader who now glared at him and clenched his teeth as his men lay dead on the ground before him.
Law was going to die.
He felt his mind approaching unconsciousness while the world lost sharpness. The bandits advanced, now that Law couldn't move and his companions had died, the end of all this was clear. Law however was not afraid, he just didn't have time for it, his body simply reacted to the attack rising his arms and instinctively protecting himself. Silently he waited for the blow that would end his useless life, that would end it all and free his soul.
But it never came.
When he opened his eyes, the bandits were on the ground before him, dead or unconscious. Law didn't know if it was one or the other, but it was clear they weren't moving anymore. The world was beginning to turn black as the night and the leader had murder in his eyes.
It was then, at the verge of fainting when a new person appeared beside him, a tall man who argued with the leader of the bandits the only one still alive in the camp apart from Law. He couldn't understand them with his clouded mind but Law thought it would be another bandit, a new enemy, a new man to fight against, but when he focused he realised his clothing was not quite like the others.
The new stranger was not wearing the brown camouflage suit as the rest, but black, long pants and a pair of black scaring boots with a twisted tip. His chest was bare to the cold night air, no shirt or coat protecting him from the cold, but still, his chest was covered with gold jewelry and powerful muscles. A sword inlaid with precious stones decorated his waist dangerously, and his bright red hair seemed to float in the air without a turban to hide it.
Law had never seen anyone like him, he looked powerful just by standing there doing nothing. Law didn't know where he had came from, he had not been with his camp men or with the attackers, he had just appeared out of thin air.
Suddenly, the argument between the two strangers seemed to end and the last bandit screamed in front of Law while his body twisted itself in an impossible position. When he fell to the ground, broken in a strange way, the boss didn't get up again. He never would.
Law numbly realized he was dead. So, so dead.
The man of black clothes then turned to Law with a look on his face that Law didn't understand. Joy, hatred, malice, sorrow and a deep gratitude. It was such a big mix of things in those golden eyes, that Law couldn't understand it with his mind falling into darkness.
However Law did felt afraid then, almost panicked. He had not feared the bandits, or the time of his own death, as if deep down he knew that they would not happen, but somehow he was afraid of this man. An old and indescribable fear that didn't really come from him, but from the desert now chained forever to Law's existence.
The stranger leaned over him, clearly about to say something, his eyes shone as he smirked wryly, as if not used to his own face. Something in his eyes was incredibly dark. Law realized then that this man could be the deadliest predator of the place, even more than the desert itself. But Law could take no more, he had never done this, he had never fought, nor had he killed anyone.
He had never opened a door like the one he had just opened.
When darkness took his mind, Law received it with open arms even though his life was in more danger than ever.