Desert Company: Retrospective

A gust blew the white curtains to the side. Kwazhak untied his hair bun, allowing his long hair to fly freely. He was sitting up in the hospital bed, his shoulder wrapped and bandages on his wrists and face. L sat in the guest chair across from him, firmly monitoring Kwazhak. The dents on the floor were fresh from Suruj’s leap out the window. Explosions sounded throughout Wakoku.

“Kiyomiya. There is something I have to tell you.”

“And what is that?”

“Let the fighters develop their own way of fighting, not a rigorous strict set of rules. Thiệu will fight using abnormal tactics with ingenuity. And that plan of yours, L. One has not let anyone question oneself because you were afraid they were going to actually listen to one’s plan. That plan, is the most obvious scheme one has made since the first time we tried to start a rebellion.”

“...”

“There are people who support you, L. Whether it be I, Saya, or Mr. Zundui. This is the first time that the fighters listened to us.”

“I never expected to make it this far,” L finally replied, “Every single time, we’ve lost groups bigger than them. It’s been an endless cycle for three years. Even more since the tournament has lasted for over a thousand. “

“This year, 1978, we will succeed. There are protests in the three nations that are against the Dineh Kazaàd. The media has failed to conceal the horrors, as the barrel is leaking blood. However war between the nations is imminent. My country is threatening the world’s ports with our navy. The Khoitan are being labeled as terrorists for every incident that Al-Wa covers up.”

“That sounds like a bad year. Do you have any suggestions then?”

“I do, in fact. But it may prove to be a gamble,” Kwazhak raised his right hand. “Lus yog lub ntiaj teb no. If I take the risk of using my mother’s language to conjure a sahar spell… That may turn the tides, even if we don’t know what will happen.”

It was a risk. Since it was considered a Khoit language, it could turn out to be the weakest, since the Khoit proved to have the least effective spells compared to the other languages. Kwazhak questioned the possibility of a Khoitan spell syntax, since there were only Alam, Mahou, and Dihu for the three nations. The nomadic tribes always used the syntax of the nation geographically close to them, but never did they use their own. Why wasn’t there a Khoitan syntax?

 

Tav 13th. One week away from the final evaluation. L had summoned everyone in the courtyard. Some came down to the ground level, while others stayed in the verandas. Kwazhak joined L’s side as the rest slowly trickled in.

“Mahou Tokiyagari.”

Everything around them became still, as reality became distorted. No living creature in the area except for them was moving.

“The final eval is a week away from now. But I have something to confer. My plan to attack Thiệu was set before anyone could discuss it. Now that you all have become stronger fighters, possibly stronger than myself, we should change the actual time we should assassinate him,” said L, with a loud voice. Whispers and wisps sounded at the news.

“Changing the plan a week before the deadline, Ain’t that a bit rash,” Hyun-woo shouted from the floor above.

“He’s right. Our lives are at stake! D’you realize that?”

“Don’t speak to him in that way,” Saya stepped forward. “L, you want to discuss a new plan, right?”

“If everyone isn’t aware, you aren’t the first batch of fighters that I’ve tried to convince. There were people that did not believe a word I said. They received their training and went to the Dineh Kazaàd. Those fighters never returned. We have a lot of blood on our hands, but I want you to trust me and Kwazhak.”

“The tournament must be a forced fight to the death then.”

“Not absolutely. All the competitors are enlisted by Kazaàd companies all over the world,” Kwazhak explained, “Usually people must voluntarily sign up to these companies to participate, however, Al-Wa abducts specific candidates that they observed beforehand. In the tournament, all fighters are placed in a random seed with others fighters representing their company. These duels will only end when one of them is dead. Soon enough, the winning candidate of a company will challenge the defending champion, and if they defeat them, they shall become the new champion.”

“The news typically broadcasts the event with a biased explanation of the rules, which encourages the willing into signing a contract for a company endorsement.”

In the corner of his eye, Kwazhak noticed Saya agape at the revelation. She was captivated by the holograms, as she told him back when they first met. By seeing how much she wanted to fight, Kwazhak couldn’t predict reasons on how she would still be enthusiastic about the tournament, coming this far. She wanted to amend the Dineh Kazaàd. A noble goal indeed, he thought. Even a child such as her carried hatred against the CEO, whom Kwazhak believed Saya would be the prime person that Thiệu could manipulate. He scoffed at himself. This Saya was more than it met to the eye.

In order to take down Thiệu, everyone’s motivation must be aligned.

Most of these children have been stripped of their freedom and taken from their daily lives, serving as the market of the company. The endless cycle of death caused by Al-Wa was undefined, Kwazhak was not aware of how the company secured its fighters until L had told him.

L banged his fist against a pillar, “We need to find the correct time and date, a time where Thiệu is present and security is low. I already have a few ideas, but we don’t have much time left so let’s plan this out. Together.”