Akram and the remaining Vulkans stood at the entrance, bidding their final farewells to the survivors who had chosen to leave Vulkania.
Leyla stood behind Akram, her expression empty, her body straight, still inhabited by nothing, abandoned by her own soul.
Akram, on the other hand, remained tight-lipped, displaying only a false impassiveness. The departure of his comrades gnawed at him, and he felt deeply betrayed, even though he understood their decision.
Watching them disappear into the distance, after a long silence, Elliot finally spoke.
"Alright, Akram… What do we do?" he asked.
Akram did not answer right away. He inhaled all the air around him, then slowly exhaled, pushing away every emotion weighing on him at that moment.
"We prepare." he finally replied.
The members of the group raised their eyebrows.
"We prepare?" Baron asked.
"Yes." Akram answered sharply, before turning back toward the base, pulling Leyla along with him by the hand.
The others followed instinctively, closing the outer gate behind them.
Akram headed to the headquarters and gently settled Leyla there.
"Wait—wait, what do you mean by 'we prepare'?" Baron insisted, unsatisfied with Akram's earlier answer.
"The sand bandits will come back." Akram replied, as he began clearing the central table of the main hall.
The others looked at each other, even more confused than before.
"Huh? Why would they come back? We got Kravash, they literally pissed themselves, man!" Baron said, baffled by Akram's behavior.
Akram kept clearing the main table without a word, then walked toward a corner of the room where a bookshelf stood.
Runa felt her blood run cold and lowered her gaze. A return of the sand bandits was the one thing that terrified her more than anything else.
Akram returned to the center of the room with a large parchment in his hands and spread it out on the table.
It was a map of the region, marked with various strategic points.
The Vulkans gathered around the table, staring at the map, which none of them seemed to have seen before.
"Huh? Since when is there a map here? Who made it?" Runa asked.
"I did. I made it during the different expeditions with Barid… I needed to properly map the surroundings for the scouts. It was Barid's request."
The others collectively let out an "Oooooh" of understanding, genuinely impressed by Akram's skilled work.
"However…" Akram said while dusting off the map, "it's incomplete."
"Some relay points I noticed during the last expedition are missing, as well as the Obelisks—or relics, call them what you want—that were spotted by the scouts."
"But most importantly, the sand bandits' headquarters is missing." Akram finished, visibly annoyed.
"No scout managed to find it, despite all the expeditions?" Elliot asked innocently.
"No… It's a secret perfectly kept by that bunch of idiots. We never managed to get anything out of the ones we captured, not a single clue." Baron replied, speaking from experience.
"Until today." Akram said firmly.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Elliot asked, skeptical.
"Four days ago, when they retreated, defeated, I took advantage of the situation and sent Baron to follow them for a while." Akram replied, Baron nodding proudly alongside his words.
"They were so crushed they didn't even try to hide their tracks or take detours." Baron added.
"Because of that…" Akram said, moving his finger across the map, "thanks to Baron, we now know with near certainty that one of their camps—possibly their headquarters—is located here."
Everyone leaned closer to Akram's finger, eager to discover their enemy's location.
Akram's finger pointed southeast of Vulkania, about three kilometers away.
Vulkania had been built in the arid steppes of the new world, in a place called "The Varang," positioned with cliffs at its back, limiting access to a single entrance, making it a small fortified settlement that was difficult to reach without proper preparation.
Because of this, its development and location had made many camps in the region jealous, especially the bandits—most of all, the sand bandits.
"That's all well and good, but how do you know they're coming back?" Runa asked.
"Because we only cut off one of the wolf's legs. Kravash wasn't their only leader." Akram replied.
"We need to prepare for a very bloody vendetta… but I have a way to welcome them."
Everyone looked at him, confused, unable to understand what he meant, or how only four people could effectively defend Vulkania against a horde of dozens of bandits.
"We are going to exterminate them." he said simply.
Silence followed. A silence of confusion, before Akram clearly explained his plan.
Akram's plan was simple: to destroy his enemies psychologically once again and force them to retreat without having to deploy their limited forces on the battlefield.
A few minutes later, when Akram finished explaining his plan, his soldiers looked at each other, then all smiled.
"Holy shit, Akram, you're a genius!" Baron shouted, almost bursting with joy.
"No doubt about it, you're a monster, Akram—but a damn smart one!!" Elliot said, just as excited.
Runa felt her fears vanish instantly. She smiled at Akram, who warmly returned her smile.
"Alright, no time to waste. They'll be here in a few days at most. Get to work."
The Vulkans moved immediately, Akram directing them one by one.
Despite losing a large part of their forces, they found hope once again and were ready to face the sand bandits in one final battle.