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Chapter 10

Tigersight gasped as clean air filled his lungs. He felt a tight dragging feeling against his skin and it hurt to swallow. He stood shakily to his feet every inch of him felt weak, yet very strong at the same time.

He sucked in another deep breath. That's what was different. The air in this room had shifted to an almost useless nature. But everything around him was still the same nothing had changed.

He stepped forward he saw the stone that had been atop the pillar was gone. Suddenly all the images from the last hour rushed back to him, each memory like a sucker punch to the stomach.

That man, the stone, their fight, that place with the fog. Tigersight brought his hands to his head as a familiar pain began; his eyes grew wide and confused. All of his scars were gone he had completely unblemished skin pure and crystalline pale. He continued to look himself over completely baffled by the way he looked, unable to come up with an answer as to why he had changed.

Even his tattoo's had been erased no not erased as if they had never been there. This wasn't real, he just couldn't see well in this place.

Right then and there he decided that He needed to get out of here. He could not bear to stay here. Sandstorm or not he was leaving. He began to run back the way he came twisting through the tunnels at a fast pace avoiding debris and naturally occurring stone obstructions.

It didn't take him very long to reach the entrance, he had also noticed it was easier to get back than it had been to find his way into the circular room.

He immediately began clawing and digging his way through the collapsed entrance, pushing large amounts of sand away from the mound of sand that lay before him. Soon a very thin layer of rock was left and he began to feel desperate he slammed his Hands against the rock in anger and a few of the rocks fell away leaving a tiny crack, he felt the cold air from outside push its way into the cave.

Tigersight began to violently claw at the crack soon pulling chunks of rock away tearing a hole in the wall piece by piece until a large opening began to form barrier. The whole wall came down revealing the outside world in a matter of minutes. But there was no light from the opening.

It had grown dark; a cool nighttime breeze hit his face sending small shivers down his spine he hadn't realized just how long he had truly been in that cave. It had been noon when the sun was high in the sky when the storm picked up. Now he truly realized he could have spent several days even weeks in the cave and he had no idea. With one quick glance back, he began to run away glad to finally be free of that cave.

But what was he running to? It was her he had to get to her. Just knowing how long he could have been gone pushed him to run even faster as his feet began to dig into the ground pushing him faster than he had ever remember running before. But that was still not fast enough; he kept pressing himself to go faster and faster.

Like a map laid itself right in front of him he knew the exact direction to Epharis. Pure adrenaline ran cold through his blood; this was a freedom he hadn't felt in a very long time, and he planned on abusing it. He knew he was about twenty miles from the city, while he continued he began to plan how long he could run before he knew he needed to rest. But he could see the gates in the distance.

That couldn't be correct; he hadn't even begun to feel tired yet. It must be a different town, or the desert was getting to him, he stopped dead in his tracks. Sand kicked up behind him making a small cloud that floated back down to the ground. Tigersight began to walk the rest of the distance. It wasn't too much time later before he realized that he was staring at the gates to Epharis. He recognized Vincent standing at the gates. And the familiar cold texture of the door that had always screamed "Abandon all hope."

Maybe he had been wrong about the distance, he looked back in the direction of the cave, but he saw nothing but the ominous expanse of the desert. Maybe he had been running longer than he thought he had, it wasn't the first time his eyes began to play tricks on him. His eyesight followed back down to his arms, no scars still no tattoo's nothing.

The wind picked up in front of him blowing directly in his face, almost telling him to turn around and keep going towards the city. Tricia was waiting. He spun around and began to run again, Tricia was waiting for him. He couldn't waste another moment; he had to know if she was ok. Nothing else mattered. He could see all the guards at the gate start to leave, they were switching positions and five new guards replaced them at the gate. He stopped short and walked the rest of the way as to not seem suspicious.

"Hey who the hell are you? And what are you doing out here especially at this time of night?"

He had no answer for the guard's standing before him; sure he could easily tell them he was Tigersight a former slave of their leader the pharaoh. But they would only laugh at that comment. If he told them he was a stranger they would drag him off to Pharaoh who would consider him a slave and put him back to work. Neither option was Ideal, because neither would get him close to Tricia fast enough. He remained silent watching their every move.

If they attacked him, he would attack back; if they even touched him he would beat their thin weak skulls into the earth at his feet. What was he thinking? They hadn't done anything to him yet. Attacking them would only get him killed and he would never see Tricia again.

Tigersight thought he had heard a laugh; more of a chuckle that hovered in the air from behind him to his right side. He checked back, nothing. "What are you looking for boy? Go check him make sure he doesn't have anything on him."

The guard that came to check him for weapons was smaller than he, not only in height but in strength and muscle density. But Tigersight let him push him around as if the guard were a larger brute. The man went from checking for weapons to just checking his skin all over.

"He's got nothing, not a mark on him. Nobody owns this guy." "Perfect, I think Pharaoh is hiring right now."

Tigersight's hand flew immediately to the back of his neck where he knew the mark should be clear as day. He only felt even unmarred flesh not a bump or spot anywhere. His eyes were not playing any tricks; he really wasn't the same as when he entered the cave.

"Well let's go see him shall we?" The guard went to help grab him and drag him over to the pharaoh's court. Tigersight kicked the guard that had been approaching him in the nether region. And then kicked and stepped down on the other guards knee; he heard a violent and sickening snap. Normally he wasn't strong enough to cause that kind of damage; and he wasn't even trying. It wasn't even a good placement for the angle of his foot for the technique.

But he had no room to care, he took off running to the only person he knew could help him right now, Brander.

He skidded to a stop just before Brander's door. "Well time to start a new collection of scars." Tigersight only confirmed what he knew had to be done in his own mind. He would do anything for her. Further proof of this was him brushing past the door and walking straight in.

The man he recognized to be brander's face was illuminated by the fiery red hot blade that he held down while molding it with a hammer. A project that would have normally hurt the man if not for the dark black armor he wore as protection. The man turned around and tossed the red hot blade into a large tub of water, which created instant steam that rolled out of the tub like a liquid cloud.

"Tigersight? I thought I would never see you again. We were told almost a week ago that there was a sand storm just after your group too off no survivors." "A week? I was really gone that long? Wait a minute how did you recognize me? Those guys at the gate acted like they never met me before."

"Well for starters I have known bricks of mud to be smarter than those abominable idiot's, and second I'm one of the few people privileged enough to have met you before you got all the scars. Speaking of which; your all healed brand new not a mark on you what happened to you? Was it magical sand, did it destroy all the evil that it ate; and by that I mean your scars and their souls?" Branders retort was followed by a light chuckle he didn't bother hiding.

Brander walked around Tigersight eyeing him and looking for anything that proved him flawed in some way but he found nothing; just as the guards at the gate had.

"Interesting, it even wiped off your branding. Now I'm real interested in this magical sand storm." All the while Tigersight had been racking his brain trying to remember what had happened to him that had healed him and made him look like a new person. "I don't know what happened to me, I was caught in the sand storm and I... I don't know what happened I guess I passed out and when I woke up it was nighttime and I ran here to find Tricia." Tigersight held back telling him about the cave, even though he trusted brander. He didn't want to seem crazy or off kilter. "Well your damn good at hiding in the dirt cause they couldn't find anything, not a trace of you guys."

"Do you think you could help me out? So long as I'm here I have to be a slave or I'll get dragged off to pharaoh's throne room, and if I remember correctly he also met me before the scars so he would recognize me; and that wouldn't be good for Tricia's sake."

"Tricia, Tricia, Tricia, You can't even pretend you missed me?" "Well I could if you want but it would sound phony and cheap now that you pointed it out..."

"Kid you really got to lighten up, I'm just messing with you; one new branding mark coming right up, just let me get my iron hot." The wait was killer on Tigersights nerve's as he sat waiting for the cold steel shape to glow a bright red color. He looked over at brander as soon as the metal looked red enough.

"Oh, keep your pants on; a few more seconds won't kill you. But uh now that you've waited this long are you sure you don't want to reconsider? Because I happen to know that is going to hurt like..." Brander whistled. "Besides you could just go find her while its dark."

"I wouldn't know where to start looking; Pharaoh isn't known for empty threats so He probably has her on lock and key until I return with those slaves that I had to bring back."

"Yea your right, I heard she became a perma-guest in his throne room. But that's just "here-say-gossip-aye."" Brander picked up the hot metal rod. "You're really sure you want me to do this?"

"Please brand me." He confirmed what hadn't really been said since he got here. "You never cease to amaze me kid. Alright this is going to sting kind of a lot so you may want to brace yourself."

Brander winced as he put the metal down on Tigersights neck, he didn't enjoy hurting his friends but he wanted to help and if this helped that's what he was going to do. Except he couldn't hear Tigersight scream, Brander looked over at Tigersight the metal plate was touching his skin; yet there was no sizzle, no screaming, and none of the usual effects of the red hot metal touching skin.

"Well I don't believe in miracles but that is definitely a first." He smiled and laughed a little, it made him feel a little better that he didn't have to hurt his friend. Tigersight seemed a little rushed from worrying about Tricia's health. He began to act impatient by drumming his fingers on the post he was leaning on so brander could see his neck.

"How long does it take for you to put a mark on my neck?" Tigersight seemed confused by what he had just said but somehow it seemed like the appropriate thing to say since he couldn't feel brander doing anything. "You want to try branding yourself?"

Tigersight hadn't realized brander had been asking a real question instead of being rhetorical.

"No, that's why I asked you to help me. I felt you put your hand on my neck, but I need to have a mark on my neck not a hand."

"Hmm, so you can feel when something is touching you, it just doesn't leave a mark."

"What??" Tigersights hand whipped to the back of his neck for the second time of the night, still unmarred skin no mark, no bumps. "That wasn't your hand was it?" Brander shook his head, "Nope It wasn't it was red hot steel, and It didn't even make your skin feel hot."

He gasped for a word to describe the indescribable. He couldn't get a brand mark because the metal wasn't hot enough. At least that was what he told himself. "Maybe the iron wasn't hot enough..."

"This thing is plenty hot, I can feel it through my gloves, and these are some pretty thick gloves boy." Just to prove a point brander grabbed the end of the metal plate for a few seconds and then touched his hand on Tigersight's arm. He could feel the heat on his glove, but It didn't sting or hurt in any way.

Tigersight reached out and grabbed the metal plate without a glove on. "Are you crazy boy?!" Brander dropped the handle of the metal plate.

The object was fully in his grip he could even swing it around like a sword, he could barely feel the heat coming off of it but it didn't hurt him in the slightest. He walked over and dropped it in the same tub of water that brander had thrown the sword into, steam rolled off the tub the same way it had when brander tossed the sword in.

"Hey kid, Grab that sword in that water trough. I got an idea." Tigersight picked up the sword it wasn't heavy and it looked very well crafted, Tigersight wiped the water droplets off of the sword with his tunic. "Ok, now try to slice your palm with it."

"Say what now? Tigersight stared at him Why would I purposefully hurt myself?"

"I just watched you grab a plate of red hot metal and play with it like an ice cold sword." Brander stated

"You're point! Tigersight said So maybe I can't be hurt by hot metal that doesn't mean to go cut myself up."

"It's another way I can mark you as a slave, I made that plate be bending metal, I can certainly cut that shape in your neck if I have to." Brander didn't really believe that sentence, but he let his curiosity get the better of him, and he continued to urge Tigersight on.

Tigersight ran the blade across his palm lightly, no damage. Maybe he didn't press down hard enough. He ran the blade across his hand again harder and rougher this time, still no mark. Nothing was working and he became enraged, He took the sword and tried to stab himself.

The blade shattered like a piece of glass in fragments that littered the floor of brander's home. Both Brander and Tigersight's mouths fell agape as they stared at the broken metal shards that covered the floor.

Brander was the first to gain control of his mouth. "I stand corrected. Now I will never cease to be amazed by your talents."