The cave became colder as Leonardo regained consciousness. The temperate was just low enough for everyone's sweat to dry. The three sat in a circle in silence, regaining their energy after the adrenaline inducing incident with Leonardo.

  After examining the empty pages, Leonardo closed the book. He then swirled his fingertips around the small spiral indentions of the book cover. He quickly realized that the spirals become sentient to wherever he guideed his fingers. Leonardo looked towards his two companions as they stood aghast at the newfound confidence in Leonardo’s statement. Even more profound was the fact that this random artifact immediately synched with him.

  “Are you sure?” Ari asked, stretching his exposed arm.

  Leonardo looked back assuredly, “I mean, that’s what I heard, not only that, but I saw the cave and what was inside of it, before we even got there. It looks like I have more than just Divinity.” Leonardo said, continuing to play with the swirls on the book.

  “What does that moment have to do with the book? I’m lost.” Clementine asked crossing her arms.

  Leonardo hesitated before selecting his response, “Well…nothing, it’s just, how is it that we find this mere hours after we left the Holy Trident West? We also interacted with two very strange-looking Borns right before this who said they were looking for a boy.”

  “And you’re sure you didn’t see anything just now touching that book? You scared us. You were in such pain.” Clementine remains the same stature.

  “...Yes. I'm sure” Leonardo said as he maintained in eye contact with Clementine.

  “It’s weird that you’re suddenly feeling better now. I don’t get it.” Ari stepped in.

  “I have some theories.” Leonardo responded.

  “Well, we should get moving first. We have to find Red..." Clementine stated, "...Here put that in my bag…”

  As Clementine removed the strap from her left shoulder, she opens the pouch of her bag. Leonardo proceeded to put the book inside, but much to everyone’s surprise. It completely disappears in the bag before their eyes. Leonardo tries to move her stuff around to try to find it, during this he finds a heart-shaped locket with a picture of her with two other girls.

  Clementine glanced behind her, rolling her eyes, “What did I say about a lady's privacy!” She moved her bag away from him.

  Ari began laughing, until the book suddenly appeared in Leonardo’s right hand in the blink of an eye. Ari gasped, followed by a silence silence that loomed over the cave.

  “Okay…looks like I have to hold it then. Let’s keep going.” Leonardo lowered his guard as he advances.

  “Creepy… but if what you say is true, maybe you were meant to be outside of the Holy Trident.” Ari said as they finally walk toward the light shining from the hole in front of them.

  “Yeah, maybe.” Leonardo said, looking down and holding his black book under his right armpit.

  Much to their disarray from Leonardo’s moment, the three press forward in the overwhelming heat that is reflected over the glass and sand sanctuary that hosted the three.

  After 30 minutes, There were crushed gems as far as the eye could see. This captivate the three and put them more at ease than the gravel and bones in Rockylia. Further on, there were rock pillars that stood 30 or more feet high. Some have wedges that are climbable with pointed marks at the top that could be used as a vantage point. Clementine takes note of this and the ends of her eyebrows lowered. Leonardo unwrapped his uniform top from his head to put it back on.

  “So what are your theories? About the book?” Ari asked, turning back with his sleeve/bandana flopping in the harsh and hot wind.

  Leonardo looks forward at him, “We know Divinity is given to the Sacred One, who blesses it to Clergies, Bishops, the rest of the Holy Trident in general, and so forth. But Divinity comes from Essence. Everyone has Essence: even Borns and non-blessed Humans. I once heard from Vauntess and now I know it to be tru--”

  “Wait, what’s Essence?” Ari asked, scratching his head.

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  “Did you not read the books? We learned this so early in our education.” Leonardo said condescendingly.

  “Even I had to read those.” Clementine, who was taking the helm of the journey snapped her head around.

  “Okay guys. Well, I did read but, mainly the comics about the Guardians that they had. There's not many texts about that in my sector.” Ari said in embarrassment.

  “Okay to sum it up, essence resides in anybody, Born or Human. I've been told it's essentially the 'engine' of our body. When we release it, like in the form of Divinity, it's like an exhaust. Does that make sense?”

  “What's an engine and exhaust?” Ari asked, his face scrunched.

  "It's some machinery from centuries ago. I'm not too familiar with the subject." Leonardo answered.

  “You're missing something crucial!” Clementine is looking forward but her eyes are closed.

  "What do you mean?" Leonardo asked.

  "You don't know, do you?" Clementine said, her eyes widened as she turned to face the two boys, walking backward.

  "No? What else is there" Ari asked.

  "Well, all Borns are humans." Clementine said casually before turning around to face the path.

  This revelation sent another shade of silence over everyone. The only thing heard was the harsh wind blowing grains of sand through the ground. Even though they felt the sand graze across their legs, their emotional processing clouded every other sense. While Leonardo began thinking even deeper about this, Ari felt nothing but anger and betrayal. Regardless, they both gained an even deeper sense of disillusionment for their home.

  Leonardo spoke first, "This makes sense, Vauntess once alluded to that, before I joined the Stealth sector, I wasn't sure what she meant at the time. But I think I get it now. It would appear the Borns are more accustomed to living as a Born. But then there's the case of the Borns that attacked our home...”

  They all stopped in the center of all these pillars and turned to face Leonardo as he continued to explain, “..I think, even with what Clementine just said, there's way more that meets the eye than just writing those two off as a Born. Of course, they were abnormally tall and had perfect articulation. But maybe, just maybe it was being resurrected as a human and that’s how it ended up in the process. This is just a theory of course.”

  “I mean I know a lot of people who can use Born abilities, but I don’t know how to. Back home, they are very much a 'figure it out on your own' kind of people.” Clementine added.

  “Well I for one already hated how the Holy Trident treated Borns, but now I really despise it! Why wouldn't they tell us this? I can't help but think of how my sisters would react.” Ari mentioned, looked down.

  “You have sisters? Makes sense.” Clementine looked at Ari who has his head down still. She then patted him on the shoulder, “I’m sorry, I’m just messing around. I can only imagine how much you probably miss them. We won’t be gone too long. I promised you guys.”

  "Well I'm not even sure if I can stomach going back." Ari quickly stated.

  As they kept walking toward the pillars, some life came up in the form of a flock of big-shelled Borns who have a stone-like appearance. They were all huddled together, chewing on the shattered gems that erected out of the sand. These were registered as Turtle Golems. Ari immediately recognizes this species as a Nature-Born. He used his extensive Born Sector taming knowledge as he takes the appropriate precautions when approaching it. This involved walking up casually and making conversation as if you were already talking with it.

  Ari's combat scores at the Holy Trident were not at the standard required for the combat sector he so desired to be in with his older brother. His older brother, Chi had been somewhere in his mind lingering, but along the way Ari went into the Born-Handling Sector, denouncing his brotherhood to Chi. Thanks to not only his interest but talent in Born handling, it earned him a well-deserved spot. In fact, it was the only spot, as the sector was only filled by one person before him, decades ago.

  Clementine looked in wonder as Ari started talking in complete sentences with this Born.

  “There’s food nearby? Show me!” Ari asked, his mouth open with a grin, regardless of the gravel grazing his teeth. The NatureBorn rubs its head on Ari, making Ari fall to his knees before using his arms to embrace it fully. The Turtle Golem kept rubbing its head on Ari's as snot starts flying on his exposed arms.

  Leonardo and Clementine grow disgusted as the NatureBorn finally gets up and very human-like, pointing east to where they are. This was unusual because North of them are 3 buildings, wide in structure. One building resembled a Dojo.

  Instead of taking the Born’s advice, they go to an area that seems empty. It is a bit ahead of the pillars which they found the flock of Borns, someone had to be taking care of them, was the lingering thought in all of their minds. As they continued walking, they drank more water.

  “Ari, can you actually talk to Borns?” Leonardo said as he started wiping the snot from his glasses.

  “I found out I could ever since I were young. King Titan told me. Prime Clergy Cavus then noticed it and It went from there. They made me work with all kinds of Borns.” Ari said as stood back up, the 5 Turtle Golems follow him, but he diverted them away. Afterwards, the herd continued striding aimlessly throughout the rough terrain. Their biology was made for it, as they crush the broken gems to even further bits in their footsteps.

  “King Titan? You met The King Titan of the OTF? You should have led with that. Looks like I have two special cases with me finding Red.” Clementine looks at Ari as he smiles at the compliment.

  “I mean, I figured we were going to fight more often than talking to Borns.” Ari mentioned.

  As they stopped in front of the dojo, which is painted white, the letters ‘SR’ is hung in the middle of the giant entryway. In the entryway, is a fan door that can slide open. They attempt to go in, but immediately halt as they hear the words “Conceal!” coming from 8 different directions. Clementine grabbed her hilt, simultaneous to Leonardo summoning his staff. Ari’s eyebrows lower.

  “I knew it. Stay on your guard. Be ready for anything.” Clementine whispered to them.