"You thought wrong." Nalrond cut him short. "I've almost lost the woman I love because of you. The least you can do is shut up and answer my questions."
Salman opened his mouth but imdiately closed it without saying anything. Then, he lowered his gaze and waited.
"How did you survive Dawn's attack?" Nalrond asked.
"Please, don't make relive that nightmare." Salman went pale at the mory, his body beca covered in sweat.
"How did you survive?" A violet aura burst out of Nalrond's body, replacing Salman's fear of the past with a more imdiate concern.
"Your fiancée, Ishil, took charge of us weaklings and had us helping those too young or old to fight to evacuate the village." Salman's voice beca hoarse and his eyes watery as if he was back in the Rezar's village on the day Dawn escaped.
The smoke and blinding light conjured by his mory were no less real than Faluel's lair to him, assaulting his senses through his trauma.
"Your father, Nakaro, I saw him only for a mont. He charged at Dawn with the rest of the veteran warriors. He wasn't like . He didn't hesitate one second, he just yelled Ishil to hurry up and bring everyone to safety."
Salman stared at his hands as they shapeshifted nonstop from human to Rezar. No matter their form, he was disgusted by his own helplessness.
"Then, Dawn attacked." The Rezar swallowed hard, his whole body curled up in a ball of scales in fear. "I don't know what it was. I've never seen a spell like that, and I hope never to see it again.
"She beca a goddess of light, and the sun seed to have descended from the sky to do her bidding. She wrapped the veterans in limbs of light and fire. She consud our elite guards in her darkness.
"All while laughing. She never stopped laughing. I can still hear her." Nalrond recognized the Daybreak spell from the description but remained silent, nodding for Salman to continue.
"Then, she saw us weaklings Warping toward the borders of the Fringe. I swear it to the gods, Nalrond, I stayed behind. I let the won, the elders, and the children go first, but it didn't matter.
"Dawn just extended her hand, like this, and the sun was upon us. We burned, Nalrond. No matter what side of the Warp Steps we were, we all burned the sa."
"Then how the fuck are you still alive?" Nalrond asked through clenched teeth, his voice a low snarl.
"Because of this." Salman took his shirt off and turned around, revealing an old burn scar that covered most of his back. "We first burned as Rezars, and when our bodies couldn't take it anymore, we shapeshifted back into humans."
Rezars had two different and almost separate life forces. The wounds inflicted upon one weren't passed onto the other, giving them a thin lifeline in case of ergency.
"I'm a weak mage, Nalrond, but my body is strong. While old, small, and thin human bodies burned, I endured by turning around like a coward at the last second. I was burned to a crips, but life fusion kept alive.
"Dawn slled the burnt flesh, saw the charred bodies in the distance, and didn't bother with a second shot. I hid under the corpses and refused to heal my wounds, using darkness fusion to dull the pain.
"I lay there until she was gone, Nalrond. I had to listen to the people I knew all my life fighting and dying, knowing that I was too cowardly to help them. Once the noise stopped, I Warped to the edges of the village and left.
"I then Warped toward the nearest oasis, but the strain from the wounds on my beast half drained my vitality and made lose my senses. When I woke up, it was already night and I was half buried in the sand."
"The oasis? Not the safe house?" Nalrond questioned the choice, yet it explained why he and Salman had never t.
"The safe house was underground." Salman replied with a tinge of anger at Nalrond's stubborn hostility. "I was badly wounded and my beast half was almost dead. If I shapeshifted before healing myself, I would have died of shock."
"You're right, I'm sorry." Nalrond took a deep breath and sat on the nearest pile of gold. "Please, continue."
"I reached the oasis and needed days to recover." Salman sighed. "I treated my human half until the burns didn't endanger my life anymore, and then I focused on my beast half. I've never drank, eaten, and slept so much.
"Once I managed to shapeshift without fainting out of pain, I went to the safe house but found no survivor or ssage. Then, I returned to the village, hoping to find soone who, like , had managed to escape Dawn's detection, but found only ashes.
"After searching the Fringe far and wide for survivors, I went back to the oasis and stayed there until I was fully recovered before going to Gabash."
"It's okay." Nalrond raised his hand. "You can stop now. I know the rest. Did you see my mother while you were running with the others?"
"No. I have no idea what happened to Zelita. I'm sorry." Salman replied. "All I can tell you is that she never ca to the oasis and left no note in the village. At least none that I could find."
"She must be dead." Nalrond's tone was deadpan. "I didn't see her when I returned to the village either, and she didn't co to Gabash."
"How did you survive?" Salman dared ask.
"I was heavily wounded during Dawn's first wave of spells." Nalrond replied. "I Blinked away to heal myself back to combat-ready condition, and when I returned, the village was already in ruins."
"That's impossible!" Salman shook in outrage. "The assault lasted hours!"
"Two minutes tops." Nalrond shook his head. "Once Dawn got herself a host, we were ants compared to her. You said it yourself. A single blast killed everyone in your group."
"But the elite warriors-"
"A single heat ray was enough to kill one of us." Nalrond cut Salman short and completed the phrase for him. "Why do you think I Blinked away? I blocked Dawn's spell with a construct, but it burned half my body anyway.
"I was a liability and didn't want to drag the others down with .
"I don't understand." Salman stuttered every word. "I'm sure I remained under the corpses of my friends for a long ti. I rember the heat of their charred bodies, the agonizing screams of our people as Dawn hunted them down one after another.
"The attack can't have lasted just two minutes. It can't!"
He started to shapeshift from one form to another. His human body beca covered in sweat while the Rezar form had its scales convulsing as if each one of them had a mind of its own.
"It felt long because your conscience gnawed at you the whole ti." Nalrond felt little affection for his clansman, but he turned into his Agni form and grabbed Salman's shoulders to calm him down. "I know because the sa happened to ."
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