The Final Moment

Time stopped for me. No, time died. In that moment I could hear the heartbeats of everyone present. I couldn't accept what had happened before my eyes. I had lost my sister—unacceptable. No thought remained, no plan. 

Arash had to do something, Arash had to act. Anything... because without his sister, there was no Arash.

One of the soldiers guarding the market's order shouted loudly: "Hey boy! Using power stones in the city is forbidden! The punishment is death!"

But I no longer thought about death. I didn't think about life either. I only thought about Azar. About the smile she had given me years ago. About the hands that would rest on my forehead during my fevers. About the voice that told me stories at night.

I pulled out the gray stone of my innate essence from my pocket—and poured all my power and energy into it. I filled that entire section of the market with gray dust, dust that covered everything like thick fog.

"I can't see! I can't see anything!" a man screamed and put his hands in front of his eyes.

"This damned kid has gone crazy!" another shouted and tried to escape through the dust.

A cry rose from the depths of my being—a cry that was a mixture of pain, anger, love, and hope—and like a madman who had broken his chains, I jumped toward the slave platform.

Azar was there, bound hand and foot and chained. My hands trembled from a mixture of anger and fear. I tried to unlock the chains but couldn't. The metal was hot, as if it had been melted in fire.

"Arash!" Azar's voice reached my ears like heavenly music. It was the first time I had heard her voice after these five days, and in that voice my entire world was summarized.

"I'm coming, Azar! I swear by the souls of our father and mother, I won't let them take you!"

Soldiers with drawn swords came toward me. I could hear the sound of their footsteps getting closer and closer. But suddenly I felt an intense and familiar warmth beside me. It was Master Hirbad, who used a special power stone and took the chains in his hand.

"Hurry, boy! We have little time! You must escape, if they catch you, you have no chance!"

I took my sister's hand. It was hot from the chains, but familiar and hopeful. The hand of family. The hand of the last thing I had in this world.

Escape from Hell

We fled. We ran like those fleeing from death. The sound of soldiers came from behind us, but we didn't stop.

"There they are! Catch them! There's a reward for each one!"

We passed through the narrow, winding alleys of the city. People screamed and moved aside, as if they were seeing two disturbed spirits who had escaped from the world of the dead.

"Arash, I can't run anymore," Azar said breathlessly. Her face had turned white and cold sweat gleamed on her forehead.

"You must run! If you can't, I'll carry you on my shoulders! But I won't let you go back there!"

We turned into a narrower alley, but suddenly faced a high wall. The way was blocked.

"Arash, this is a dead end!" Azar said with fear.

"Then we must go over the wall! Hurry!"

We tried to climb the wall, but Azar, who had no strength from weakness and exhaustion, slipped and fell to the ground. She cried out in pain that tore my heart.

"Ah! My leg... my leg hurts so much!" Azar's leg was broken.

The sound of soldiers grew closer. The sound of their boots on stone was like the tune of death.

I lifted Azar: "Lean on me. As long as there's breath in my body, I won't leave you."

He lifted Azar. I, with anger rising from the depths of my soul, attacked him, ready to kill and be killed.

But he grabbed my neck with one hand, not to strangle me. To calm me.

"Calm down, warrior boy! I work with Master Hirbad. He thought the work might come to this. Control yourself and come with me. There are too many eyes here, we must hide."

Beginning the Journey in Darkness

Master Hirbad told us: "Leave this city. You must pass through two other cities to reach the first wall. Enter the territory of the House of Verethragna."

Arash's eyes widened. "But we cannot go to the House of Verethragna, they have cast us out."

"Son, beyond the first wall lies the greatest power of the House of Verethragna. Even Lord Arwin, the master of the House of Verethragna, doesn't know you directly. Go east, where the bloody sun rises. When you exit the wall, continue until you reach the land of the House of Mithra."

Azar asked with a trembling voice that held childish fear: "What if they don't accept us there either? Will we become slaves again?"

"Say that bandits killed your parents and you have no one. Give your own names. No one can recognize you. Tell the truth, because lies have a special smell in those lands."

He looked at me, and in his eyes was a mixture of hope and worry: "Arash, they are people who don't care much about whether fire chose you or not. Rather, they look at what you have inside. If they see your inner power, perhaps you can not only live there, but grow. You must prove yourself, but not with blood, but with deeds."

His voice became more serious and fear gave way to resolve: "Go. Every moment you stay longer, the danger increases. They won't follow you anymore because it's not worth searching for an unchosen one and a runaway ash-born, but you just need to be able to reach that family. Goodbye and... take care of each other. Much hardship lies ahead, you just need to move forward. You are only children, be careful. I cannot help you more than this."

He returned all the gold coins that Arash had taken so they could sustain themselves for a while on the journey.

I held my sister's hand firmly. Her hand was cold, but life flowed within it. We had a long and dangerous road ahead, but now we were together. In this dark world, this was the only thing that mattered.

"Azar," I said softly, "from now on, no one can separate us. Not even death."

She nodded, and for the first time after this cursed week, a smile appeared on her lips—a smile that summarized all the pain of the world, but hope was also in it.