Safuu stood beside the man she had saved.
They were still in the other half of Odania.
The man remained silent after hearing the truth about the land he had never truly understood.
For generations, people had lived without knowing what had been taken from them.
Now he knew.
Safuu looked at him.
“You never told me your name.”
The man looked at her.
“Jalatta.”
Safuu nodded.
Jalatta.
A name associated with temptation.
Yet strangely, Jalatta had become known for doing the opposite of what his name suggested.
He was known for resisting temptation.
Safuu looked toward the horizon.
Then she saw it.
A flash of green thunder.
Far away.
It crossed the horizon for only a moment before disappearing.
Safuu's expression became serious.
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She turned toward the knight standing nearby.
“It is time.”
The knight understood.
Safuu looked back at Jalatta.
“I need a favor.”
Jalatta waited.
“What do you need?”
“There is a place I need you to find.”
She looked toward the knight.
“He will help you.”
Jalatta looked at the knight.
“Where is this place?”
“You will know when you find it,” Safuu said.
Jalatta studied her face.
He could tell she had already made a decision.
He simply nodded.
Safuu turned away.
She left Jalatta with the knight and began walking toward the mountains.
Toward Tulluu Diimtuu.
The Red Mountain.
Two days later...
Safuu stood before a mirror.
The woman looking back at her no longer looked like the old woman Jalatta had met.
She was wearing the clothing of Odania's ancient royal age.
Long layers of finely woven cloth surrounded her body, arranged in the traditional style once worn by the royal women of old Odania.
A large ceremonial shawl rested over her shoulders.
A traditional woven belt held the layers together around her waist.
Old bracelets covered her wrists, while traditional necklaces rested against her chest.
Her clothing was not extravagant.
It was ancient.
Dignified.
Royal.
It belonged to a time when Odania still remembered what it was.
Safuu looked at herself in the mirror.
She said nothing.
Then she stepped outside.
Odania continued as normal.
People walked through the streets.
Children played.
Cars passed.
Shops opened.
People went to work.
Nobody knew what was coming.
Safuu stood still.
Then she closed her eyes.
Something inside her awakened.
Her Origin.
She activated it.
Dagacho.
The Neglect.
There was no explosion.
No great sound.
No visible wave.
Instead, something spread through Odania.
Something that had already been inside its people for years.
Everything they had neglected began returning to them.
Old anger.
Old fear.
Old regrets.
Dreams they had abandoned.
Words they had swallowed.
Choices they had postponed.
Truths they had refused to face.
Everything they had ignored began rising to the surface.
Across Odania, people stopped what they were doing.
A man stood in the middle of the street, suddenly remembering the life he had once wanted.
A woman looked at her hands and remembered a promise she had made to herself years ago.
A worker stopped moving.
A soldier lowered his weapon.
People began looking at one another differently.
The silence that had protected Odania for generations was beginning to break.
Safuu opened her eyes.
She looked over the city.
She knew exactly what she had done.
She had not started the war.
Not yet.
She had only removed the silence that had been holding everything back.
And once people were forced to face everything they had neglected...
they would begin to choose.
Some would choose truth.
Some would choose fear.
Some would choose anger.
And some would choose violence.
Safuu looked toward the horizon.
The three men were still protected by the systems they had built.
General VAREK.
ZARQEN.
Minister NAREV.
They believed they could remain hidden behind their power.
They believed nobody could force them out.
Safuu knew otherwise.
She had already pulled the first thread.
Now she only had to wait.
And then—
Odania began to tear itself apart.