As night began to fall on the city like a curtain of watered-down ink, a watchtower’s light pierced the darkness, illuminating the front of the city’s military gate.
Iska felt compelled to stare at the night sky, taking in the twinkling stars faintly flickering in the background.
“It’s friggin’ cold.” He shivered as the evening wind trailed over his neck. “…A full year since I last saw the sun. And the stars, too.”
Iska flipped up the collar of his military uniform and let a bitter chuckle sneak past his lips. He’d thought he would never see the sunrise or night sky again.
“Now that I’m free, I’ve got a perilous battle to deal with. Maybe I’ll regret not spending the rest of my life locked up in a cell. It was nice and safe in there… But who knows!”
He dunked his backpack onto the flatbed of the military transport vehicle, where it made an aggressively loud thump. Despite the noise, his luggage was on the light side: His only weapons were the swords he carried. Beyond that, he just had medical supplies and a small communications device. If he’d been a sniper, he would have all that, plus his own gun and a case full of ammunition. If he’d been an information specialist, he would have had even larger equipment that needed lugging around.
“Uhhh, what time is—?”
“We have four minutes and thirty seconds until we need to meet up.”
Iska spun around to find a silver-haired boy coming into view under the streetlamps. It was the sniper, carrying his trunk on his left shoulder.
“Hey, Jhin. You were a lifesaver today. Thanks for getting in contact with Nene and Captain Mismis.”
“I’m used to dealing with your last-minute stuff. Like that time a year ago—when you got carried away with breaking out that witch by yourself.”
“Ack… D-didn’t I apologize for that this morning?”
“You never follow through. The master always said, ‘Whatever you do, make absolutely sure you will succeed. Otherwise, wait until the time is right.’ And yet you still haven’t learned your lesson.” Jhin sighed dramatically and flung his things into the vehicle. “When you were arrested, those two didn’t take it too well. Their reaction was something else.”
“You mean Nene and Captain Mismis?”
“That means they’re just as worked up about your release. Speak of the devil.”
With his eyes, Jhin motioned to the headlights whizzing toward them at a terrifying speed. A dense fog of dust followed the buggy as it peeled forward. The sound of its brakes screeched into the night, shattering the silence. Most of the soldiers were sound asleep.
“Iska, congrats on getting oooooout!” Before the ATV came to a halt, a redheaded girl bounded out of the car. “Congrats, congrats, congraaaaaaaaaaats!” she sang.
“Nene?!” Iska caught Nene as she threw herself into his arms. “I know you’re excited, but… I mean, I feel bad for making you worry.”
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault, Iska. Everything worked out in the end.” She looked up at him with tears welling in her eyes. “Do you know just how worried I was about you?! I couldn’t eat for a month! Like, I lost over six pounds.”
“Yeah, and then you binged on barbecue and gained, like, ten pounds,” Jhin muttered under his breath, thinking back to how she’d gorged herself on meat.
“Jhin, how did you even know about that?!” Nene’s sharp ears picked up on his snide comment, and she whipped around to look him in the eye.
“…Oh, hey. Looks like the captain’s arrived. Hey, over here!” Nene waved toward the direction of the city.
✦ ✦ ✦
