Chapter 10 — The First Steps
The sun broke over the horizon like it was ashamed — slow, pale, and thin. It cast a dull orange over the wasteland, the kind of light that revealed every crack in the earth but none of its warmth.
Kanan stood at the edge of the village.
Behind him, the crooked huts stood in silence, their shadows long and tired. He didn't look back. Not once. His hand gripped the pouch tight against his chest — the Vilakku-stone inside pulsed faintly, like a second heartbeat.
Nilo arrived moments later, dragging a small sack behind him.
"I packed a beetle," he said proudly. "Dried him myself. Name's Udu."
Kanan gave him a flat stare.
"What? We might get hungry. He could be a friend. Or a snack."
The two boys stood at the edge for a while, just breathing. The silence of the village behind them stretched like a final word that had already been said.
"You sure about this?" Nilo asked, eyes squinting toward the distant hills.
"No," Kanan said.
"Cool. Let's go anyway."
They didn't get far before Nilo started narrating their journey out loud.
"And so, the brave warrior Beetle Knight and the mysterious Ash Boy set out on their quest to find food, glory, and… probably food again."
Kanan said nothing, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
The land just outside the village didn't look all that different. Cracked soil. Wind-burnt rocks. A rusted skeleton of what may have once been a cart, now half-swallowed by dust. But the air felt different — less stale. As if the world beyond had been holding its breath, waiting.
Nilo marched with dramatic effort, using his "adventure stick" to tap at pebbles and bugs. He picked one up, studied it, and whispered, "Too crunchy," before letting it go.
"You ever think about turning back?" he asked suddenly.
Kanan shook his head.
"Me neither," Nilo said. "But if we find any spiders bigger than my face, I am throwing you at them first."
By midday, they hadn't found anything. No villages. No trees. Just land — empty and endless. The sun pressed down hard. Kanan's legs felt like they were made of stone. The Vilakku-stone in his pouch gave off the faintest heat, like it was quietly aware of something approaching.
"You think this world gets better the further out you go?" Nilo asked.
"I don't know."
"I bet it does," Nilo said. "Has to."
They stopped to rest in the shade of a rock outcropping. Nilo pulled out Udu the beetle and held him up to the light.
"You've done good, Udu," he said. "You made it further than half the village ever did."
Kanan lay back, staring up at the sky. His chest rose and fell slowly. The wind carried dust but also something more — a tone almost unnoticeable, like a faint vibration beneath thought.
Oorja.
It was faint. But it was there.
He sat up, feeling the pouch at his side.
The Vilakku-stone pulsed once — a faint light blooming beneath the fabric. Just for a second.
And in that second, the wind shifted.
They weren't just walking into wilderness.
They were walking into something awake.
Something that had been waiting for them.