"What did you just say?" Marina asked incredulously, almost dropping the plank. The young man sighed and slowly straightened from the wall, gently and slowly lowering the plank with one hand and raising the other up in surrender.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I promise," he said. Marina dropped her head for a second, unable to believe what she had just heard. 

"How do you know my name? What do you mean you've found me?" she asked, her mind going numb.

"Look, I know this may seem like a lot but---" 

"Answer me!"  Marina yelled, causing a few pedestrians to glance their way suspiciously as they crossed the alleyway. The young man glanced at the passersby and mentally facepalmed, annoyed that they had been seen. 

"Okay, I will but first, you need to calm down and let me talk," he said loudly, looking Marina straight in the eyes. Marina was taken aback by his tone and the man seized that moment to take a step forward. Marina immediately became alert again and held the plank between them, creating some distance. He glanced at the plank and sighed. He yanked off his hood in frustration, revealing his hair. It was cut short and dark in colour, expect for the bright crimson red strand. Marina's eyes widened. A Warrior...

"Judging from your look, I'm guessing you now know which Zone I'm from. You might also know that I could snatch this plank from you and break it into pieces before you could even comprehend what's going on. But like I said, I'm not here to hurt you," he said. Marina, sensing the honesty in his voice, finally decided to lower the plank.  

"Who even are you? And how do you know who I am?" she asked, furrowing her brows. 

"My name is Dawn Delos and I'm a Warrior. But before I continue with the rest of the story, can we please step out of this cramped alleyway before more people get the wrong idea?" Dawn replied, nodding towards the entrance of the alleyway. Marina turned her head to find random passersby glancing their way and whispering amoungst themselves. Embarrassed, Marina cleared her throat and ushered towards the entrance. 

"Lead the way," she muttered, dropping her head. 

"Thank you," Dawn replied, relief clear in his voice. He walked out of the alleyway, glancing in both directions before walking up to a Helpers' stall that was selling food and drinks. They had set up tables on the pathway and Dawn ushered Marina to take a seat at the one furthest away from the stall. 

"You seem very conscious and cautious," Marina observed as she sat down. Dawn looked at her and didn't reply immediately. Looking around, he made sure there weren't a lot of people around before he answered. 

"You never know who's listening in. Even if they say Azure Gul is a safe city, we can never be too sure," he replied, keeping his voice low. Marina raised her eyebrows slightly, Abram's words echoing in her mind. 

Regardless of how safe Azure Gul seems to be, we don't know what kind of people are roaming around us.

"And what makes you think that I can trust you?" Marina asked, looking Dawn straight in the eye.

"You can't. And you shouldn't. We as Warriors have been trained since day one to never fully let our guard down with anyone, even if we have known them our entire lives. Especially when we've known them our entire lives. We don't even put our entire trust in our families because those who are closest to you are the ones who betray you before anyone else," he replied, his eyes going distant for a second. He blinked and noticed Marina staring at him. 

"Hence, I suggest you keep holding onto that plank," he added, nodding to the plank of wood Marina had placed on the table. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Marina ended up smiling ever so slightly. 

"Well, Dawn Delos, I'll choose to trust you for now. But if you betray me later, I'll have knock you out with this plank," she replied, causing Dawn to smile slightly in return.

"I'll take your word for it." 

"So what's your story?" Marina asked after a few minutes. Dawn looked down, pursing his lips, trying to find the right words to begin the story. 

"I'm not exactly sure why but I was told to come find you but it all had to do with that sandstorm that hit Azure Gul ten years ago," he finally said, his eyes squinted slightly in confusion. 

"Who told you to come and find me?" Marina asked, dreading and looking forward to the answer at the same time. Dawn looked up at her. 

"That's the weird bit. You probably won't believe me if I told you," he replied hesitantly. 

"Try me. I've experienced my share of weird things," Marina urged. Dawn was about to answer when a group of people stopped by the stall. He immediately went silent, pretending to look around at the other stalls near them. Marina caught the hint and quiet down as well. As the group bought what they needed and left, Dawn watched them go and then leaned forward on the table between him and Marina. Marina became attentive, leaning forward as well. 

"So, here's what happened..."

"Dawn, round two. Let's go!" thirteen-year-old Dawn heard his older brother, Damian, call out to him as he bent down to tie up his shoelaces.

"Yeah, let's do this!" Dawn replied, standing up and taking hold of his lance again. His brother and he stood in the middle of the main training arena in the Warriors' Zone, located at the heart of the Zone. Damian lifted his lance as well and both brothers took their fighting positions. After an intense second of silence, Dawn attacked first, swinging his lance wide to hit his brother's shoulder. Damian, being three years older, was quick to block the hit. As they continued to spar, the air around them started to turn a dirty yellow hue. 

"What's happening to the sky?" they heard a Warrior call out and the brothers stopped sparring, panting, and looked around. Dawn furrowed his brows. 

"What is going o--" he began but before he could complete his sentence, they were suddenly hit with winds of sand, which crashed brutally against the infrastructure of the arena. The wooden structures creaked and groaned as the brothers flattened themselves against the ground where they were and covered their faces with their tunics to protect themselves from the storm. 

"How are we getting hit by a bloody sandstorm in the middle of the monsoon season?" Damian cried out, his voice muffled. 

"We need to get off this training ring, Damian! We're too exposed to the winds!" Dawn cried back and tried to stand but a strong gush of wind knocked him to the ground. Before he hit the floor, his brother grabbed onto him to break his fall. 

"Careful! Don't move around too much, you idiot!" he shouted. 

"We can't stay here. We'll get blown away by the storm!" Dawn shouted back and as the storm died down the slightest bit, the brothers took their chance to jump off the ring. Since the ring was in the middle of the training grounds, they had to sprint to make their way to the nearest shelter. The winds picked up again and they were forced to shield their faces with their arms. A new ring was being built in the training grounds and the wood and metal frame of the ring was not re-inforced properly. As the sandstorm hit everything in its wake with full force, the nails and bolts holding the frame together started loosening, causing the frame to get ripped apart and pieces of it flew away with the deadly winds. 

"LOOK OUT!" Damian yelled, causing Dawn to look over to his right. Before he could react, a large piece of metal from the frame flew towards him with great speed and knocked him out.

"Did it hurt?" Marina asked, wincing slightly. 

"Well, other than the fact that I could barely open my right eye for about a month, and had a bruise the size of a melon on my face, no it didn't hurt that much," Dawn replied sarcastically, unconsciously touching his face. 

"What happened then?" Dawn went quiet, trying to formulate the right words to continue. 

"I'm not sure. I saw something... A dream? A vision? I don't know but it was so... Vivid, as if I was actually there," he answered after a little while. Even though Marina kept her expression neutral, her heart had begun to beat really fast.  

"What did you see? In your... Dream?" Marina asked, unable to believe that such an event was actually unfolding in front of her after all these years. 

"I was in this... Weird place. Some sort of an abandoned battle field maybe? I could sense so much death around me. And this... Smoke like substance was floating around everywhere," Dawn began, frowning every now and then. Marina nodded for him to keep going. 

"Then I heard this... I don't know! It's all so stupid when I say it out loud," he added, throwing his hands in the air. 

Marina contemplated whether or not to tell him, as Abram's words rang through her head. As much as Abram had warned her, she felt like she could trust Dawn. If he was trusting her with his side of the story, she was certain that she could do the same. I'm sorry Abram Sir, but I need to tell him my story. 

"Did you, by any chance, hear a... Woman's voice in your head?" Marina asked hesitantly. Dawn immediately sat up in his seat, his eyes widening. 

"How did you know?" 

"Did you also happen to see a... Flower in your vision?" she continued, looking Dawn straight in the eye. Dawn's mouth hung open as he nodded. 

"A rose. A blue rose," he replied, causing Marina's mouth to hang open in shock as well. As the pair stared at each other in disbelief, Marina felt like she couldn't breathe.  

"Marina!" the pair jumped as a five-year-old girl from the Healers' clan came running towards them. Marina turned in her chair and immediately neutralised her expression as she recognised the little girl.

"What is it, Maisy?" she asked, smiling. 

"Your parents are looking for you," Maisy replied, causing Marina's eyes to widen. She had completely forgotten why she was in the Grand Marketplace in the first place.  

"Oh right..." she mumbled, glancing at Dawn. 

"Thanks, Maisy. I'll get back to them." The little girl nodded and smiled widely before running off into the crowd. Marina watched her go before she turned back to companion.  

"Since we can't talk anymore, can you... Come by the West Wing later today? Or... Should I come to the East Wing?" Dawn stumbled on his words. He felt his ears heating up slightly, as he had never had such a long conversation with a female before in his life. 

"How did you know I was from the East Wing?" Marina asked in confusion.  

"Hair," Dawn replied, pointing towards Marina's head. 

"Oh... Right, sorry," she replied sheepishly. 

"So?" he asked again. 

"I'll come to you."