Across the great desert you may find few things away from the magnificent cities of the Alin, such is the barren landscape that many would take a look at it and take their leave, it is a foreboding place. Yet it is here that the greatest kingdom known yet has arisen, the mighty Alin, and they are both the soldiers of war and the keepers of peace. Keepers of peace, that is the part we are fulfilling now, dutifully as any lord of any kingdom, we are protecting our people and our land.

Currently I am travelling through the western dunes, on the very borders of our territories and borders of the desert, just over the horizon I can even see the grass and mud of the Vinci, nothing compared to the oasis found in our lands of course. We travel in groups always, always patrolling, always scanning the horizon, and always keeping alert, right now I am with two other Walkers, one is a close friend, we’ve known each other since our acceptance into the ranks of the Walkers and we both got our first scimitar on the same day even. It is tradition that dictates each and every Walker should be given a scimitar made by a veteran craftsman, and once they have gotten the feel of a blade in their hand they must then craft a second scimitar themselves. This second sword symbolises the Desert Walker’s final test and act in joining the legions, once this oath has been taken it cannot be broken easily, joining the ranks of the Walkers is no small step, it is deciding on the path of your life, just as the mystics initiate each other through complex incantations and rituals, we do so by the sword.

The other amongst us is a new recruit, fresh blood, young and inexperienced, and though he is constantly asking me of how to use techniques with the scimitar, he has still not realised that we are no longer at war, there is nothing left to fight that we need or want, we are merely an old tough manta who has lain on the ground, happy with its surroundings. My friend calls to me from the next dune, it’s almost impossible to tell from his face - hidden in cloth – what he wants, but his eyes tell me it’s not something on our schedule for this particular march. As I climb up the dune using my arms for some extra push, the rookie immediately pulls out a crossbow and checks around him for anything moving. Jerking through the many chains and leather straps holding my shoulder pads, belt, scabbards and other things on me, I stumble up to the top and look to where he is pointing.

I had to pull the cloth away from my face to make sure I wasn’t seeing something.

There, across the gentle blue sky of the desert a great tear was forming in the sky, as if some great being was ripping it apart. The rookie finally climbed up and stood shock still, dropping his loaded crossbow in bewilderment.

There was the sky, then a hole in it, it was cloudless yet there was a hole in the blue sky, and from that hole a great billowing black line was forming, at its end was a long object, fire was erupting from its sides as it spiralled towards Aio, it was far enough for me to know it would not fall near us, but not close enough for me to know where, and I prided myself on knowing our land. There was a silent explosion of white light as the intruder blew off part of its side. A smaller black line formed, taking a slightly more curved route than its origin, then more explosions sent lines everywhere, and from the fiery balls at the end of these lines more and more came, till it looked as though some dark tree was quickly taking root on our world. My friend nudged me and spoke in Alin, he said we should do our duty and pulled out a small vial that glowed orangey red, I got as high as I could on the dune and looked around for the other patrol that was due to cross us at some point. The recruit was still dumbstruck, but it was okay, just over seven dunes away I spotted four Walkers marching innocently towards us. My friend had opened the vial and poured its fiery contents into a flat piece of sand, then closing his eyes and muttering a short incantation he enveloped the fire in sand, and with another incantation the sand that had enveloped the fire turned a dark green colour and then into a piece of crude glass.

Taking out my scimitar I let him hold out the glass plate, with the flat side facing the oncoming patrol. Then I placed my scimitar behind it and, catching the suns glare I reflected it towards the glass, which magnified the reflection into a green haze. The patrol immediately realised we were there and one of them, wearing the red shoulder plates of an elite walker vanished into the sands in an instant, a few seconds later he reappeared by us claiming greetings. We ushered his words short by simply pointing to the sky. By now shards of the great black vessel were falling everywhere, he gasped and said he would take it from here. With that he flung himself back into the sand and went to warn the high mystic of such a happening.