THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 314: 314. NIGHT

The wind blew on Sagiri’s cloak. He had spent the third day in the fortress, daring not to go anywhere. He currently sat at the edge of the wall of the fifth wing, blending into the darkness that was starting to blanket the horizon. He was feeling even more restless, no matter how much he tried to calm himself. He had not been able to sleep a wink. Instead, he spent his night listening to Lira snore softly, who had come to sleep in his room again. She was kind enough to come with her beddings and sprawl on the floor. Sagiri did not have the strength to chastise her and just let her do whatever she wanted.

He was far from being when dawn came. He spent the whole day sitting in his room in the fifth wing with his eyes closed and his breathing steady. He let the noise of the fortress fade and entered meditation the way he had done countless times before. Inhale, exhale. Slowly, then normally, that was enough. His thoughts would settle, and whatever remained from battle would sink to the bottom.

But today it didn’t. There was a feeling sitting deep inside him that refused to leave. Restless and heavy. It was not sharp enough to be feared and not loud enough to be a danger. He tried breathing more slowly. Cleared his mind again. Focused on the flow of the Archive. Nothing. The feeling stayed.

His chest felt tight in a way he did not understand. He had reached the South. He had not been rejected. He had entered Thazir. Yet his mind refused to become quiet. The more he tried to calm himself, the more obvious it became that meditation was not touching it. He had asked his squad not to disturb him.

Perhaps changing environments could help. Sagiri walked to the roof of the fortress. Yet again, things did not work. Sagiri opened his eyes and stared ahead. After a while, trying so hard without succeeding.

Two hours later, Sagiri was still sitting on the roof of the fifth wing. The position had not changed. His breathing had not changed. The city had shifted ahead of him as the day moved forward, and still the feeling remained. The looming Supreme Chief’s house remained an eyesore in his eyes, yet its looming huge structure couldn’t be ignored. Further out, the council house still sat.

Perhaps it was his hate for inner cities and schemes that made him restless. He only knew he needed to be somewhere else.

He stayed still for a moment longer before exhaling once and giving up. Meditation wasn’t helping. Sitting wasn’t helping. Thinking wasn’t helping. So he did what he always did when stillness became unbearable. He could go take a stroll in the outer city and perhaps sleep on a random family roof and come back to the inner city at dawn.

He pushed the already humming archive out.

It spread outward from where he sat without sound, black space unfolding across rooftops and over the edge of the War Fortress. It stretched far past the inner city and reached toward the quieter parts of Thazir, flowing through space until it settled somewhere beyond the inner city walls. Sagiri paused for a second.

Sorry, General, I can stay in this place one more second.

Then he moved.

His body disappeared. One moment, he sat on the roof. The next thing, he was standing perched on a roof outside the inner city. Far away from the War Fortress, on a distant rooftop overlooking another section of the city. He landed lightly and remained crouched for a second before straightening.

The roof belonged to one of the taller stone buildings outside the inner city. From here, the fortress and the military district around it looked farther away and somehow smaller. The sounds were different, too. Just distant city noise, moving air, and life continuing below.

Sagiri stood quietly with his cloak shifting in the breeze. The restlessness he was feeling faded away instantly, and he was able to breathe and feel calm after a long time. It was still the early hours of the night, and the streets were flooded with families buying their meals. The smell of home-cooked meals filled this part of town, making him feel nostalgic. He always came back home to Rusha’s cooking after a day of hunting small beasts. Then a bath would also be waiting for him.

Without realising it, Sagiri was jumping from roof to roof, keeping to the darkness, before he finally found a rather tall roof, and he perched on it. From there, he could see many homes and families going back and forth. It was peaceful indeed. There was a lot of love in the air. A Mother scolding their kid and young lovers walking the night and buying a trinket for each other. Drunk friends walking home after a day of working and drinking. The normal rassle tassel he had not realised he had missed.

Sagiri leaned his back against the long chimney, which was warm. His eyes felt heavy just watching the people below. Their peaceful aura was contagious. A few miles away from the uptight and rigid ones in the inner city. He sighed, and his eyes dropped. He must have been so tired because he could not resist the call of sleep that crept up to him. Before he knew it, he was passed out cold just like Zaira, who had stirred ever since that day at the gate.

The sleep was one of the most peaceful sagiri had ever had since he came into Thazir capital. Soon, however, he sprang awake. This time, his awakening was loud, as if the place’s silence had suddenly pulled him awake. He was not the only one who was awake. Zaira was awake too, looking in the opposite direction. The city was silent now. If sagiri could guess it was midnight or past.

”What are you looking at?” Sagiri asked, getting some feeling of urgency from Zaira.

Sagiri stood up immediately and faced the direction the little beauty was facing, but there was only darkness and houses. Sagiri, however, had a feeling he should go look in that direction.

”What has finally caught your interest? I am curious to see.” Sagiri said, starting to move in the direction the eyes of Zaira had yet to turn from.