Goyin did come back as Xichen had said in her letter, but only once every week or two. She came frequently enough that Alex couldn't ask for more from the young girl, but infrequently enough that no one would complain about her coming here.
Alex got to know the young girl better, understood what it was she wanted to do. Just like her father, she too wanted to become an Extolite. She had the same drive that Alex had seen in her mother.
Alex got her to talk about things he had grown curious about in the past 25 years, trying to get to understand more about this part of the world.
Xichen had been older and more skeptical about everything, so she rarely spoke about things she did not want to, but this younger girl had a looser tongue and answered just about every question Alex asked.
And his questions weren't even so serious that the guards had to stop her from answering.
From the girl, Alex knew something he hadn't yet heard about from anyone else.
There was a giant mountain of sand that stretched all around the edges of the inner region, which separated the inner region from the outer region. These mountains had darker sand and were known as the Sand Wall.
No one had yet been able to go beyond this place, for the beasts that lay there were far too strong for anyone else.
Just below the mountain the beasts could be easily handled, and yet above the Sand Wall, they were impossible.
No one truly understood the reason for this disparity, except that there was one.
Alex couldn't imagine why the beasts would be that different just side by side, but it turned out he had wrongly imagined the Sand Wall.
It wasn't a tall mountain that stood like a wall. Instead, it was a sand dune that went on a slope for seemingly forever. The distance between the top and the bottom, despite not being so incredibly high, was around 10 kilometers.
Alex couldn't wait to see that place.
Goyin returned a few more times, and they talked about different things each time around.
Alex could see her growing. In a few years, she went from a girl of only 13 to a young woman around 17 years old. She was older than Momo when Alex had first met her.
If Alex had been outside of the prison, he might have taught her about pastes and cultivation, but separated as he was, he couldn't do much except talk.
Alex had at some point started telling her his own stories as well. Stories of when he had nearly died in a world of ice. Stories of when he had fought in an alchemy competition. Stories of when he had led tens of thousands of people to war.
Goyin couldn't even fathom that many people fighting each other. There weren't so many people in her tribe to even make such a war happen.
"You've been to the Prison Wall?" she asked. "That's not possible. How can one even go there?"
"I already told you, I can fly."
"I can fly too, but I can barely lift myself half my height off the ground. Can you really go that far up?"
"As your cultivation improves, you'll find your ability to fly higher improving as well. It won't be long before you can comfortably fly around."
Goyin shook her head. "I've barely seen anyone fly. Most prefer to walk, actually."
"That is only because you are in danger of being caught off guard by some flying beast. At least you can feel the vibrations on the ground. You can't even tell if it's the wind or the wings of a flying beast."
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login