Marina took in a deep breath to calm her anxious self down as she stopped in front of a pair of iron gates later that day. She had to make up a great excuse earlier to convince her parents regarding where she had been back at the Grand Marketplace. Luckily, Maisy didn't tell Marina's parents anything. If they had known that she was sitting and talking to a Warrior, they would have confined her to her home for eternity. Even though they never stopped her from being friends with anyone, they were a little skeptical about the Warriors' Clan and tried to maintain their distance from them as much as possible. And the same rule was meant to be followed by Marina. And yet, there she stood, at the gates of the West Zone. 

"Mother and Father are going to kill me, aren't they?" she mumbled to herself, gulping loudly. She had told no-one about her encounter or current meetup with Dawn, not even Haline. 

"It's not as if I had deliberately wanted to come in contact with a Warrior. He found me!" she continued to talk to herself as she entered the Zone. Her eyes widened as she took in the simple infrastructure of the Warriors' dwelling place. Cobblestoned streets led to big structured buildings made of a mix of metal and wood. Hues of brown, grey and bright red were seen everywhere. The simplicity of the Zone left Marina in awe and a sudden surge of energy filled her body, as if she could feel the hard work the Warriors were doing to protect Azure Gul. She stopped in front of the first building she saw, placing her hands on her hips. 

"Now, how am I supposed to find Dawn?" she muttered to herself, squinting as she stared ahead. 

"You won't have to," a male voice said from near her.

"Blimey!" she cried out, jumping in fright and placed a hand on her heart. She spun around to find Dawn leaning against a large wooden pillar of the building she had stopped at. He folded his arms as he stared at her with an amused expression. 

"Welcome to the West Zone, Marina," he said. 

"Gee thanks, Dawn," Marina replied, faking an exaggerated bow. Dawn cracked a slight smile.  

"I guessed you probably wouldn't know too much about this place, so I thought of waiting here for you," he added, straightening up from the pillar and walking up to her. 

"How nice of you. You could have stood closer to the gate so I wouldn't have had to look this lost," she replied, rolling her eyes. Dawn just shrugged in reply. Marina wondered if it was too early in their acquaintance for her to hit him hard for trying to act cocky with her. 

"I bet you find our Zone much less appealing than the other Zones," he muttered, looking around his place of dwelling with his hands in his leather vest. Marina looked at him and smacked him hard on the arm. Dawn spun around to face her, eyes wide with shock.

"Dawn, this is your home. Don't talk about it like that," she scolded him. 

"Yeah... Sorry," he replied slowly, rubbing his arm.  

"Anyways, I mostly spend time in the East Zone and I've only ever been to one place in the South Zone, so I don't really know much about the other Zones," Marina added, looking out at the landscape of the West Zone. 

"I've never been to any other Zones either. I rarely go to the Grand Marketplace, too. That's why it was so hard for me to find you," Dawn said, causing Marina to turn to him. 

"We have an important conversation to finish. Where will be sitting for it?" she asked. Dawn ushered towards another building about five minutes away from where they stood. 

"That's one of our mess halls. It's empty right now because lunch is over and most people are in the training arenas or on duty. Let's go," he explained.

"What about you?" Marina asked as they began walking towards the mess hall. 

"What about me?"

"Don't you have training or work or something?" 

"I have volunteer work on alternate days, which was yesterday and will be tomorrow. Today is my free day. And I finished training early today so I could have my afternoon free," Dawn replied, to which Marina nodded. 

"And you?" he asked. 

"All Helpers work mostly from dawn to noon. After that, us youngsters are usually free during the day," she replied. As they walked further, a pair of Warriors greeted Dawn on the way but eyed Marina suspiciously. She looked down, gulping nervously. 

"Are they not used to seeing people from other Zones here? Should I have covered my hair?" she muttered. 

"That would've made you more suspicious. Don't worry, they glare at everyone," Dawn assured her.

Soon, they entered the mess hall, which was a simple building with large windows and wooden tables and benches lined in rows against the concrete floor. Dawn walked up to the table closest to the door and ushered Marina to sit. 

"Would you like something to eat or drink?" he asked politely. Marina smiled and shook her head.  

"I already ate earlier, thanks," she replied. 

"We don't have much to offer, to be honest. Just staples," he muttered, looking down.

"As long as you're not going to bed hungry, I'd consider that a blessing," Marina said, which caused Dawn to look up at her. He seemed to take in the words as he nodded slightly. 

"Do let me know if you'd like anything later," Dawn said, to which Marina nodded. She looked up to observe the interior of the mess hall. 

"I was wondering, if you haven't visited the other Zones, how did you know I was from the East Zone?" Marina asked after a minute.

"We're taught about all other Zones. About the infrastructures, the population, everything because they are the ones we have to protect," Dawn answered as a matter of factly. Marina stared at him. They have to protect us but who will protect them if they're ever in trouble?

"If you could have chosen which Zone you belonged to, if you weren't a Warrior, who would you have been?" she asked abruptly, resting her elbows on the table and resting her face in her hands. Dawn chewed the inside of his cheek as he thought about it. 

"I love being a Warrior, don't get me wrong, but if I had to choose, I would've liked to become a Healer," he replied, causing Marina's eyebrows to rise in surprise. 

"Really?" 

"Yeah. We actually lost our father because he got injured during a raid and we were unable to get him medical help in time. If we could have had any Healers around us, or if one of us was a Healer, we could've saved him," he replied, his eyes going distant. Marina went quiet, looking at him empathetically. 

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. 

"It's okay. It was a long time ago," Dawn muttered back and the pair sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. 

"What about you?" Dawn broke the silence, causing Marina to look at him in question. 

"Who would you be if you weren't a Helper?"

"A Teacher," Marina replied immediately, her eyes beaming with admiration. 

"I knew a great Teacher, Abram Adella. What a great man he was," she said, her heart sinking slightly. 

"Oh yeah, I knew him too! He once came to teach us about the stars. He taught us how to read them so that when we were travelling or on the battlefield, they could guide us back home," Dawn exclaimed, a smile making its way onto Dawn's face and Marina smiled along with him. 

"He helped me a lot after I woke up from my blackout on the day the sandstorm hit Azure Gul," Marina said. 

"I wish I had someone to help me out when I blacked out. I was told that it was merely a dream and nothing else and that I needed to forget about it. And truth be told, I did forget about it till a couple of years ago. The visions from that day began invaded my mind again and that was when I started my real search for you. However, since I had no knowledge of the other Zones, I had no idea where to start looking. So, I tried my luck at the Grand Marketplace. And after a long time of searching, one day I was walking around the marketplace when I heard two women talking and one of them mentioned your name," Dawn said. 

"Really? Who?" Marina asked curiously. 

"I don't know. But now that I think of it, she looked exactly like you. So, it could have been your mother," he replied.

"That was when I knew I was in the right place. After that, I kept coming to the same place for months but I didn't see you anywhere," he continued, furrowing his brows. 

"That's because my mother confined me to our home for a long time after the incident," Marina explained, shaking her head. 

"What exactly did you experience during the sandstorm?" Dawn asked curiously, tilted his head slightly. Marina went quiet, contemplating on how much of her story she should tell him. Once again, Abram's voice echoed in her head, to not let anyone know what she saw, and felt furious at herself for betraying him like that. But she knew she had no other choice.

"I was at Abram Sir's stall at the Grand Marketplace with a friend that day and we really wanted to see an ancient artifact but..." Marina trailed off, trying to figure out how to continue without giving away too many details, "The artifact was stored away and we couldn't see it. When we were about return home, we noticed that the sky had turned a weird colour and then, the storm suddenly hit and we ran back into Abram Sir's tent. Due to the winds, many artifacts got damaged and the one that my friend and I had wanted to see, it got unveiled and I made the mistake of looking directly at it. After that, I blacked out as though it had bewitched me and woke up over six hours later," Marina replied carefully. Dawn went quiet. 

"What did the artifact look like?" he asked, his eyes momentarily growing dark, and Marina grew nervous but tried to keep her expression neutral. She didn't reply immediately. 

"It was... Strange," she finally said, causing Dawn to nod slightly. She was relieved that Dawn didn't press on on the topic. 

"What did the blue rose say to you?" Marina asked before he could say anything. He blinked and the darkness in his gaze disappeared. 

"'Find Marina Mae'," he replied. 

"That's it?" Marina asked again, furrowing her brows. 

"It kept repeating the same thing over and over again, even when I tried to ask it something else," Dawn said. 

"And what it did say to you?" he asked in return. 

"'Save me' and 'help me'," Marina replied, zoning out a little. 

"Save me?" Dawn repeated, to which Marina nodded absentmindedly. 

"Save it? How?" he asked.

"I have no idea. And it also told me that if I failed to save it, Azure Gul would be destroyed and everyone who lived in it would be dead," Marina replied, her expression grave. Dawn's eyes widened. 

"Dead?" Marina nodded and let out a sigh. 

"What are we going to do, Marina?" Dawn asked, his voice laced with concern. Marina bit her lip as she shook her head. 

"I wish Abram were still alive. He would've known what to do," she mumbled, burying her head in her hands.  

"Is there anyone else we can ask for help?" Dawn asked, furrowing his brows. Marina thought for a moment before suddenly sitting up straight. Adelia...

"Abram Sir's daughter, Adelia. She could be of some help to us. A start maybe?" Marina said, her hopes rising. 

"Great! Where can we find her?" Dawn asked enthusiastically. Marina racked her brain for a second. 

"From what I've heard, she's not in Azure Gul right now. She's away on a expedition but I think she'll be returning in a few days," she replied eagerly. Dawn looked relieved. 

"We'll have to wait for her," he said, causing Marina to nod. 

"But until then, Dawn, we have to keep a low profile. We can't trust anyone else with what we've experienced. Please don't tell anyone about our conversation from today," she added seriously. Dawn nodded earnestly. 

"I won't tell a soul. You have my word."