Red Storm

Now I wish to start his story.

An outsider.

He was strong and became my teacher.

Book 1 – 1.1 Meeting the Old Man

The boy was the healthiest and quickest of all his peers in the tribe. He was more thoughtful than anyone and his actions were heavy.

The boy, son of the Glow (coined from glowing and burning, describes the light of the tribe or King) of Pareia and the mother of Pareia, received a lot of affection from the members of the tribe due to his actions.

Yulian Provoke. He already had the qualities required of the next generation’s Glow. And even though he lost his mother at an early age, it was kind of sad to see him have such a mature reliability. The boy was riding on a Pirma, a type of animal used for traveling in the desert.

The boy was better than anybody else in the Pareia tribe when it came to riding a Pirma, he was so talented that even the few Pirma Masters in the tribe could not believe it. In fact, all members of the Pareia tribe were good at riding the Pirmas. Not only the Pareia tribe, all of the desert tribes were good at riding Pirmas.

This is because the Pirmas were the best animals to run through the rough and barren desert, and also because they did not consume much water, the most important resource in the desert. Such was the life of the desert people that regardless of boy or girl, as soon as they were of age and could hold on to the reins, they were placed on top of a Pirma.

But of all those desert people, Yulian’s talent could not be matched. In fact, he had such great breathing skills and balance that even if he was riding with a cow horn full of water, he would not spill a single drop.

The Pirma, carrying Yulian, ran quickly on top of the red but slightly yellowish desert sand.

He enjoyed riding the Pirma, especially when there was a lot on his mind. Even if it was a short run like this one, he felt the sensation throughout his body and he could breathe deeply. He could even forget the troublesome things in the speed. Family matters that became even more complicated once his mother passed away, the responsibilities as the Young Glow, he could forget everything while riding a Pirma.

Huh?

Yulian frowned and focused on one spot. He could see something moving in the distance. Staring closely for a while longer, Yulian figured it was a person and started to mutter in amazement.

"The nearest oasis is more than a day’s walk on foot, how is a person here without a Pirma?

Yulian thought it might be someone expelled from another tribe and tried to not pay anymore attention.

All the desert tribes never killed, regardless of how severe the sins were. Instead, they just threw them in the desert, far away from an Oasis. They saw this as God’s judgement, and if they came back alive, they reduced the sentence and accepted them back. If they died in the desert, then that was it.

The weather in the desert was bipolar. Half of the day was super hot, and the other half was so cold your body felt frozen. If you throw someone without anything into that kind of environment, probably nine hundred ninety nine of a thousand would die. And even that was a very favorable odd.

There were no tribes who helped another tribe’s sinners. This was the rule of desert tribes. To be thrown away like this meant they committed a significant felony, so there was no reason to be compassionate. Yulian was planning to just pass by, but turned his head to look once more.

“Huh?”

Yulian made the confused noise as the person’s outfit was not an outfit from a desert tribe. It was one he had never seen before, even in the books describing the artifacts of the continent.

"Is it an outsider from the continent?"

If so, that explained how he got this far. From time to time, there were people who crossed this red desert to get from the southern continent to the northern continent. Most of them were aiming to shorten the travel time, but there were also occasional adventure parties. Most of those people failed. To cross the desert, you need the help of the desert tribes. Even a talented Road Finder (someone who finds roads, a travel guide per se) were useless in the desert; anybody wishing to use the desert roads had no other choice but to rely on the desert tribes.

No matter how low the amount of water, every oasis in the desert was under the control of the desert tribes. In addition, the endlessly blowing sand storms, and the most dangerous flowing sands were capable of swallowing up even the most talented individuals, and the desert was so big that even the people who have lived their whole life in the desert did not know where everything was located.

Yulian turned the Pirma around and headed for the man. As he looked closer, he could verify that he was not from the desert.

He was an outsider.

“Old Man.”

Yulian got off the Pirma and called out loudly to the outsider. The white-haired outsider was sitting down with his eyes closed, as if he was very tired.

“Old Man.”

Yulian continued to call out to the outsider several times, but when there was no answer, he approached and touched the man to see if he had lost consciousness or already passed away.

As Yulian touched the old man’s shoulder, the man’s eyes opened wide. Even Yulian, who was very brave, was very surprised and immediately removed his hands.

“%#@$?”

The outsider spoke in words Yulian had never heard before.

Not only did Yulian know the desert language, he also knew all the languages of the Northern and Southern continent. Ever since he came up with a dream for the future, he made sure to learn all of these languages.

However, the words coming out of the old man were things he had ever heard before.

“Can you speak the language of the continent?”

Yulian said the same thing in both the Northern and Southern dialects but it seemed as if the old man did not understand any of it.

“&^%$#.”

The old man muttered to himself as if he realized that he could not communicate with Yulian.

Although they could not communicate, Yulian knew exactly what the old man would want most in this location.

He approached the Pirma and grabbed the large leather canteen from the saddle and handed it to the old man, making a drinking motion. The old man removed the lid from the canteen and drank the water.

"^%$#@."

The old man returned the canteen to Yulian and said something, but Yulian could not understand it.

He could not leave an old man he met for the first time in the desert; Yulian patted the Pirma’s saddle and motioned for the old man to get on. The old man shook his head and motioned Yulian to go first.

Yulian was bewildered but started to slowly move the Pirma. The old man started to follow behind.

’There’s no way he plans to follow the Pirma by walking, is there?’

Yulian laughed inside and continued to move slowly. The old man, seeming frustrated, tapped Yulian to get his attention and made a faster motion with his hands.

’I think this old man is a little crazy.’

Thinking like that, Yulian started to move a little faster as the old man indicated, but the old man quickly followed behind.

’This man runs pretty quickly. At this speed, even the famous warriors would be having a hard time...’

Curious, Yulian started to increase the Pirma’s speed little by little, but the old man continued to follow behind, walking leisurely without looking tired. Amused and curious, Yulian made the Pirma run at full speed.

“OH MY GOD!”