Elemental Dissonance.

'Oh for god's sake, too damn close' Bilal tried calming his heartbeat when he recalled the experience he just had.

His heart shuddered in terror the moment when the Old man asked him whether he really was from the tribe, luckily he didn't let his thoughts go astray into chaos when he was told to put his hand on the Crystal Sphere, because his instincts were screaming 'Whatever it was it definitely wasn't good'.

And they were proven right too as he felt the suction force crawling under his arm, quite fortunately relief arrived within a moment of a flash, the inconspicuous Owl tattoo at the back of his hand salvaged his poor a.s.s and saved him from possible torture and persecution.

Deciding to not stay there longer, he returned back to his spot within no time.

Ruffling the Kid's hair, he sat beside him and engaged in talking, while he waited for the food with his stomach which growled audibly.

As they waited, before long, a muscular worker arrived from the front having two pieces of black bread, a flat wooden bowl and a leather water flask in hand.

Handing then all over, he greeted Bilal and left promptly, as he surely had a huge workload on the line.

Within that bowl, a thick brew with the consistency of porridge was present, it eluded a somewhat pungent odor, it's color was a dark shade of green but couldn't confirm it due to low light. The quality of food during travels was often this bad, hence no one complained and ate with civility.

Suddenly he was reminded of the pouch he received from Dayes and took it out hurriedly.

Loosening the tightened thread, he opened the pouch up and within it a white coarse powder

"Fatigue powder!!" Trake gasped in a low voice which startled Bilal for a moment.

"You recognize this?" Bilal asked almost immediately.

"Yes, it's a valuable medicine procured from White Poison fruits' extracts, I remember my Mom mentioning it once, it gets rid of all the tiredness and fatigue once ingested" Trake with a small smile said, "But, the White Poison Fruits don't grow near Saint Equina Region, Big brother, where did you get that from?"

"The Old man gave it to me" Bilal slid out two portions worth of powder and mixed it readily in the weird brew "Let's dig in, then we'll talk later"

---------------------------------------------

Nux plains

"The Night ahead is too dangerous, Flanks would be guarded even more intensely, Tuek and Befer are assigned as the Flank Leaders, and they would be directly responsible for their ends of the formation"

" 3 Torchbearers are added to the Vanguard to illuminate the path ahead, the remaining 7 are to spread evenly within the formation itself"

"The Rearguards are demanded to be extra cautious, and look for bulges in tall grass, oftentimes ambushes are set up like that"

"No one strays off the path, reconnaissance team wouldn't be sent out to search you, no matter who you might be"

"Everyone be reminded that we won't stop until dawn and there won't be any breaks in between whatsoever"

"Caravan commences once again in 15 Minutes "

The Old man instructed the whole crowd with his ferocious and deafeningly loud voice, apart from the random clutters and the chirping of the insects, nothing else could be heard.

As he stepped aside, everyone haphazardly returned doing their final stuff, their temporary settlement was a chaotic mess at the moment but was eventually patched up in order, as the workers responsible for cooking and miscellaneous briefly cleaned it all up.

"How's your leg?" Bilal asked caringly.

"It's been effective big brother, there's no pain now" Trake explained "Should I stay with you?"

"No, it's incredibly dangerous here in the back instead the formation's center is the safest, be with the workers and do not mess with others" Bilal instructed sternly with no room for negotiations.

"Well, OK" The Kid said and left woefully.

As they talked, Bilal slowly realized that the Kid now trusted him even more, he had anticipated he might require at least a dozen days to be this trustful of him. But he was proven wrong, yet he didn't complain, who wouldn't want a trusted friend anyways?

Calling Scarface over for a moment, Bilal told him to gather the whole Rearguard, since he had to do a small meeting with them to discuss their positions, as per directed by Adrogen himself.

Within the remaining time, he discussed what to do and what not to do.

Before long, the Caravan recommenced their journey once again with new and restored vigor, their travel resumed towards the end of the plains.

The Night was exceptionally dark that day, the moon shone brightly yet was hidden behind the dense clouds hovering over the Firmament, the blue skies were infested with hundreds and hundreds of twinkling stars, some dim ones appeared within cl.u.s.ters and the bright ones shone solitarily.

Yet, no one had the opportunity to appreciate it, as they were too occupied in their endeavor.

Caravan's pace was somewhat slow, as even 10 torchbearers weren't enough to lighten up the path sufficiently for proper conveyance.

Everyone's movements were hindered and unsteady, except a few which included Bilal since he didn't have much to worry as he was supported by the System's Night vision, but he still had to keep up the act and hence reacted accordingly.

From time to time heavy gusts of winds would hit their caravan, flickering their torches and forcing them to go even slower.

Venturing in the Wilderness especially at Night was a troublesome and dangerous business, but with a sword of Damocles hanging by their necks, no one ideated to stop, the news of upcoming Dissonance had spread like Wildfire, everyone here had grown up listening to the stories of previous Dissonances, and of the brave guardians who fought and protected this Realm from Foreign races.

The fear of Dissonance was embedded deep in their psyche as they had heard of the kind of destruction followed in Dissonances. Only the notion of quickly reaching the Cities of Humankind ran through their minds, as they were the only place in the foreseeable future where hopes of survival could be seen.

With the Night vision, Bilal saw the Gigantic outlines of a far distant mountain range stretching across half the horizon of his sight, it was their destination, the entrance of Redrock Fire Mountains was behind it, following which they would cross the Hilly Meazon region and reach its City-state, into the Domain of HumanKind.

The distance was astronomical when seen in real, it was easier said than done since they neither had any horses nor any sustainable source of food and water, they had to dip into their stored resources especially the water supply.

The only thing favorable on their side was the familiarity of this route, it was the common trade route of the Tribals of Saint Equina Region, they often crossed these plains and were aware of the local hazards and potential pitfalls in the route.

The Soldiers of the Federation had arrived prepared with a Regional Map on their hands, and according to it, it might take them 5 days or more only to cross the Plains at their speed and over two weeks to scale the Redrock Fire Mountains.

Luckily for them though, the plains and the mountains weren't completely B.a.r.e of sentient Life and HumanKind.

Bandits, Robbers and Vagabond Plunderers, often rove these lands, with their not so good intentions, but the Soldiers weren't in any fright since Adrogen was a powerful Captain with a high Attainment, high enough to exterminate anything that crossed their paths, at least in this region.

The only thing worth fearing was wandering Monsters tribes.

Bandits could be reasoned with, Robbers could be fooled by avarice, Plunderers could be threatened and scared away. But there was nothing that could be done when encountering a Monster, it's either Fight or Flight.

Like Sentient Life forms of Yreka, the semi-sentient and non-sentient life was also mighty, due to millenias of continuous exposure to various energies of Yreka, a path of Attainment was achieved by them in their bodies, it allowed them to break through their Natural Limits and become Extraordinarily powerful.

A Wild Beast upon crossing a certain threshold of power, can either become an Elemental Creature following the Magic Path or become a Monster following the Body Path.

Due to natural limitations, not many Wild Beasts are capable to evolve into an Elemental Creature and hence had to settle for becoming a Monster, an Elemental Creature is rumored to be insanely powerful but they were Fully-Sentient Life forms and are not prone to cause wide-scale destructions.

While at the same time Monsters were Semi-sentient Life forms that are driven by their instinctual feelings of hunger and bloodthirst. They are nothing powerful in general, but they are capable of forming and joining social structures called Tribes with Wild Beasts and other Monsters, becoming multitudes times more dangerous, since it is guaranteed to have at least one Mortal Adept Monster in a big tribe.