As the Sea Warden gradually veered down toward the endless expanse of sand below us, the hot air blew dryly over my face and through my hair. It was both soothing against the heat and burning at the same time. I could feel the moisture leaving my skin, and my hair was beginning to feel dry to touch already. As we got closer, I became aware of the tiny sand granules being carried in the air, making their way into my eyes and sinuses. Despite this, I couldn't pull away.

Lysandra and Lyrandros were now accelerating the ship downward, while Captain Talaedra steered it in the right direction. The rest of the crew was now present on the deck, awaiting our landing. Closest to me was Ibryn, who held his large yellow jacket, so it didn't fly off. As the world zoomed in a little closer, I could see our destination. A large flat structure made of what looked like a row of long cylinder deep brown stone was before us. On top of it sat multiple large ships, which despite the fact that I was currently on a flying one, it seemed bizarre to see a row of ships in a desert, without a drop of water to be seen for kilometres.

As we dove closer toward it other structures became clearer, before disappearing in the distance: a huge circle building with a portal in the centre of it, a stream of running water and an entirely white rectangle building seemingly made of marble. But these were few and far in between, with most of the space being entirely desert, with the occasional person or unidentifiable animal passing through it.

It wasn't long before Captain Talaedra and the twins were trying to navigate their landing beside the other flying ships. They landed the ship onto the first of the stone cylinders, which, up close, appeared to be some kind of smooth red sandstone. The ship rocked slightly as it landed, the wood creaking from the effort, rolling smoothly from one cylinder to the next like some sort of ship runway. In only seconds, the ships bow made contact with a stack of the sandstone cylinders at the end of the runway, causing the ship to come to a halt. Closer to the ground, and without the wind whipping in my face, the heat suddenly increased drastically, and I suddenly regretted dressing for the cold when preparing for the auction heist. The fluff of my jumper and tracksuits, where they had previously kept me warm against the chilly wind, were suffocating me.

"Okay, let's go over our plan." The captain announced, drawing all our attention to her. "We're not going to be here for long. While Azodu is the safest place for us right now, that fact is well known as the Void Omen and anyone else who might be interested in what we have. We will stay here one night, then risk a journey to another dimension. If we keep moving, it's less likely we risk any trouble." A murmur of agreement and acknowledgment was heard from the crew. "But until then, we have a day to work with. We won't have much luck here at night, so we need to be fast. Each of you will be given a task, and I expect you to complete it with speed, efficiency, and, most importantly, no attention drawn to yourself."

I shuffled from one foot to the other, trying to occupy my mind from the intense heat that overwhelmed me. Some of the members of the Sea Warden seemed to share my discomfort. Axe sweated profusely, although he didn't seem to pay it any mind. Ester hadn't stopped wiping the sweat off her face and neck since we landed. Lennon and Reneta were holding their hair up from the back, so it didn't touch their necks, fanning their faces hastily. Talaos took turns with Dune drinking water but otherwise seemed okay. The rest of the crew: Captain Talaedra, Ibryn, Leitus, Noe, Lysandra, and Lysanros, all seemed unfazed.

"Lysandra and Lysandros," the two stood straighter, "you two can attempt to sell all the booty from our last trip to Eastilas. Find somewhere that will exchange it for ink." I was confused for a moment before Ibryn, who was standing closest to me, leaned in and spoke.

"That's the interdimensional currency. It can be used anywhere along with the local currency."

"Reneta, Lennon and Ester," Captain Talaedra continued, "your task is to restock all our basic supplies, such as food." While Lennon silently nodded, and Reneta grinned and bounced on the balls of her feet, Ester's only reaction was her eye twitching in what I could only assume was suppressed annoyance.

"Ibryn and Leitus, try to find any information about caves across the dimensions - maps, books, anything." No one seemed to question this order. I knew I would have had I not overheard that riddle. 'Within cave's depths, door sealed tight; treasure's map concealed from sight'. Ibryn and Leitus nodded in unison, their curly multicoloured mops of hair bouncing up and down.

"Talaos, Dune and Noe, mingle within the crowds and try to catch any useful information. We want to know the most recent news or gossip. If you find anything useful to the quest, feel free to get it." I found it amusing that the dog, Dune, was named so casually among the list of people. "Kota." The captain said my name like it was an accusation. I nodded my head in question, a drop of sweat running down my nose. "Can I trust you to not blow our cover from your lack of knowledge of the eight dimensions? Your identity as an illegally smuggled Eastilian should be kept a secret at all costs." I nodded quickly, hoping she wasn't trying to suggest she wanted me to stay on the ship if she wasn't convinced. While I was sure it was hotter down there, no right-minded person would travel to another world and choose not to explore it.

"Good, I will be hoping your confidence is well deserved. You will join Noe, Talaos, and Dune." At that, I glanced over at the two men. Talaos gave me a barely noticeable nod, while Noe crinkled his nose in distaste. Great. I opened my mouth to protest, to suggest joining Ibryn and Leitus instead, but the captain continued as if she hadn't noticed. "These groupings are non-negotiable. Axe and I will be organising transport and a hotel." According to Ibryn's whispered explanation, no one was allowed to stay overnight in 'The Docks', even on their own ship, as it posed a risk to the other ships. In the past, ships had been sabotaged or attempted to be stolen.

"Let's go. The marketplace is quite a distance away." With that, the crew began to disembark using a set of wooden stairs that were dropped off the side of the ship. I followed along, looking around at my surroundings as I made my way down the stairs. Another noticeable feature about this new land, besides the enormous mountain in the distance, or the endless expanse of basically deserted desert, was the sky.

I hadn't noticed it before due to the way it blended into the thick orange layer of air over the sky. Looking up now, I could see two enormous planets so close they felt like they might crash into us at any second. My breath was stolen away as I observed the details of each planet in awe; the yellow swirls on one, like the marks of Jupiter, and behind it, the grey fuzziness of the other, resembling Uranus or Neptune. I realised they must have been Anarath's other primary planets- Sappathra and Urither. I remembered Ibryn mentioning their close proximity.

"Look in front of you, Kota, and try not to talk." Ibryn's voice came as a whisper from the stairs above and behind me. I realised I was giving myself away by being intrigued by Azodu's sky. I only had to wonder about the last part of his sentence for a moment before I realised a group of people were approaching us. There were five of them, all in a fully greyish white uniform.

Their clothes were thin and airy, making me wish once again that I wasn't wearing what I was. Their uniform extended into a large hood that was pulled up over their heads, and a loose material mask that reached from inside the collar of their clothes to below their eyes. On top of their uniform was a black vest of armour. Their grey full finger gloved hands held the hilt of their weapon on their chest like the riffle of a soldier. The blade of the weapon rested across their chest and on their opposite shoulder. I had never seen a weapon like it before. It appeared to be a curved sword of sorts, but the blade was made of multiple V shaped blades attached to each other, elegant yet dangerous. The entire weapon was black, with the hilt being wrapped in a smooth greyish white cloth material that matched their uniforms. The only colour on their uniform was a round brass ornament on their right shoulder, hung from two small black braided ropes. On the brass circle, read the letters A.I.M.D.

One of the figures spoke, a thick accent rolling out despite his well-spoken English. "An'ish na melar, state your business." He spoke in an even, clipped way that made him sound unbothered. All that was visible of the man speaking was the slit of tan skin where his dark eyes watched us and a few strands of his black curly hair which poked out from under his deep cowl.

"An'ish na amara. We're here to trade at Valley Marketplace."

As I listened to their exchange, I began to wonder what the status of pirates were in other dimensions. Was I required to hide the fact that they were pirates? I realised then that Ibryn was right, I should try my best to avoid talking while on this planet.

The man's eyes scanned over the crew, who were unusually still, before he grunted and waved us along with a sidewards nod of his head. "Twelve riding stags and one for luggage." He said to one of the other uniformed men with him, who then walked on ahead to prepare the 'stags'. "Rings." He then said to the crew. As if it were a completely normal but undesired request, like handing your teacher your phone at the start of class, each crew member removed their dimension ring from whichever finger they had it on and placed it into the man's gloved hand. When all eleven rings were placed in his hand, he tucked them into a deep pocket in his clothes. He then beckoned us forward with the same hand, the one that didn't rest on his weapon.

It didn't take long before they had prepared these so-called stags. Despite all the odd things I'd witnessed recently, the sight of these animals still came as a surprise to me. I had expected a deer or horse, but instead, what arrived were large black boney looking animals that were an odd mixture of a horse, a spider, and a lizard. While the head resembled that of a horse, the body was flat, wide, and scaled like a lizard, with small bumps along its visible spine. Its legs were also lizard-like, but its four knees were raised up high like a spider. Its feet appeared to be hooved with claws coming out the front, somewhat resembling bear claws. My eyebrows raised in quiet surprise, trying my hardest not to let my awe blow our cover.

I watched as Captain Talaedra pet the nose of one of the stags before swinging onto its back with ease. I waited for more people to mount their stags before attempting myself. I didn't want to he last and draw all the attention to myself if I messed up, but I wanted as many live examples as I could get.

After around half the crew were mounted, I approached what was to he my mount, swallowing as I looked into its dark and intelligent eyes. I tried to follow the exact steps I'd seen the others take with as little hesitation as I could muster. I grabbed the animals' reigns with my right hand, pet its nose with my left, placed my right foot against its side, before launching myself up its huge body, swinging my left leg over its back and holding its body with my left hand for support. As soon as I was atop the creature, I let out an involuntary half laugh half huff of both admiration and relief that I was able to achieve that feat.

When I realised I'd made a sound, I quickly looked around and was glad to see no one was looking at me. The crew was all mounted now, with Lysandra and Lysandros having just finished loading the bounty onto the 'luggage stag's' back.

"Keep heading east, and you will find the station." The black-haired man stated to Captain Talaedra, who nodded and thanked him. "Vi'ash na melar." He stated before standing back to give us room.

"Vi'ash na amara." The captain responded before giving her reigns a quick flick. One by one, the crew rode off on their stags. I flicked the reigns in my hands and was glad to feel the animal accelerate forward. At least we were moving, next I can find out how to steer and stop.

~

Around an hour passed since we'd mounted our stags, when finally, something besides barren desert came into view. I was impressed by how enjoyable the ride on this strange creature was. Maybe it was the formation of its legs, but it travelled with smoothness I didn't expect; its clawed hooves barely lifted off ground. This didn't make it slow however, in fact, it was extremely fast. I wasn't sure how fast it was capable of going, but I estimated its current speed was easily fifty kilometres an hour. The building that we approached was rectangle, and appeared to be made entirely of white marble. Surrounding it were a few scattered stags and people who glanced at us as we approached. I noticed, standing still against one wall was another uniformed man.

I learned that day that you could travel on stags 'off road' as we just did, but more commonly they followed a track. This track was one enormous stone path that looked around into an uneven circle, passing through all six countries of Azodu. This was supposedly the fastest and most convenient transport as it was very difficult to get lost and the stone allowed the stags to reach even higher speeds.

We entered the marble building, which Ibryn explained was called a 'station'. Here stags were prepared, returned and replenished for the ride, and workers for available to assist travellers. The captain told the workers of where we got our stags and where we were headed, then we were off, out of the station and along the tracks. I kept urging my stags to go faster to keep up with the quickening speed of the captain ahead. It appeared these animals could indeed go faster. I convinced the animal had reached up to one hundred kilometres an hour. The hot air whipping my fast as we sped across the relatively straight track ahead.

When we stopped at the next station, which was much larger, to replenish ourselves and our mounts with fruit and water, I approached Ibryn. "So, does this dimension not have transport like Earth? Cars, planes? Is Earth more advanced in technology?" I asked.

"Yes and no," he responded. "Anarath is known for their deep connections with their environments and animals. Your transport has effects on your world that Anarath would never allow. Additionally, stags and men have a close bond that wouldn't be replaced simply for convenience." I nodded in response, thinking about how different their attitude was to people back home.

As we re-energised ourselves in the station, where others were doing the same, I noticed more uniformed men standing against one wall. "And them?" I asked Ibryn. The corners of Ibryn's lips pricked up slightly before he responded.

"You done a good job containing your curiosity until now." He said.

A smile creeped onto my face as I responded, "You have no idea."

"Well," Ibryn started, "they're the international military of Azodu. I suppose they do the work that both your military and police would do."

"So Azodu is run by a military dictatorship?" I questioned.

Ibryn shrugged, saying "Yes and no. The military definitely run things around here, but they simply carry out the orders agreed upon by all the planets rulers. They keep order and ensure the planet doesn't collapse due to the criminal attempts, mostly by outsiders."

"I hope you'll keep all those questions to yourself once we get into the market." Noe mumbled as he walked by. I held back a deep sigh while Ibryn looked at me sympathetically.

"You'll grow on him eventually."

~

Hours after landing on Azodu we arrived at the Valley Marketplace. It was inside a deep pit-like dip in the earth. People and stags alike climbed in and out of it via the wide stairs on every side. I couldn't help but be amazed at how similar, yet different everything was- from the materials to the people, to the clothes they wore. As we approached the closest set of stairs, I could hear the buzz of chatter from the crowd. Voices spoke out words I could understand, and words that I couldn't; with sounds that I could only try to relate to letters that I knew. As we climbed down the steep stairs into the marketplace, I noticed more white uniformed men positioned at the bottom of every staircase. I tried not to think of their presence as intimidating, but it was difficult, considering I was one wrong move away from being a fugitive of another world, with my only escape being a group of pirates that I was far from trusting with my freedom. As we reached the bottom of the staircase they exchanged nods with the crew, but I kept my eyes ahead of me, pretending I didn't notice. Don't screw up, don't screw up. I willed myself to act normal, without knowing what normal was. If I could manage to remain as a fugitive on Earth alone, I'd die a happy man.

-Interdimensional Pirates
-April Bluebird/@BlueWhiskers1
-12/Nov/2025
-Chapter 17: Fugitive
-3085 words
-1.09K🎉 👁‍🗨, 242 🌟, 314 💭