Descent and Heat

It took almost half of an hour of frantic signing and unreliable interpretations by Wanderer before Emio seemed to grasp what the Golem wished to do, and another half of an hour for the Vessel to actually convince the stubborn verdestry to do what they wanted.

But in the end, Wanderer was successful, managing to get Emio to offer a tendril with which the Golem could repel down the cliff.

Hurriedly taking the rope-like limb before the verdestry could change their mind, Wanderer made sure to consolidate their grip while the lighter creature anchored themself to the rock.

Seeing that the herbal monster was ready, they grasped their lifeline tight and began to repel down the rock face, being careful to not trip on the bird nests.

A shot of dread raced through Wanderer as they went over the edge, freezing them for a moment and giving rise to an instant feeling of regret.

Yet it was too late for them to give up now, and eventually, they restarted their descent.

Even still, they did not look down, overcome by fear that doing so would cause the reality of their precarious situation to be realised.

Emio continued to lower the Golem, unknowing or perhaps uncaring of their friend's sudden terror, and with little other choice, the Vessel descended, one step at a time.

Every moment felt like an eternity of regret and fear, even the Spirit in their head telling them that they could probably survive the fall doing little to ease their fears.

It was when, only after a few, slow steps, Wanderer’s hoof landed in one of the many hole-in-the-wall nests and almost threw them off the cliff, the Golem resigned to force themself to look toward the ground, if for nothing more than their own safety.

Yet it was as Wanderer took in the perilous drop below them, they found that they were not hit with the spike of fear they expected, but a sudden rush of liberation.

As they looked over the daytime desert, nothing had truly changed, the birds and the lizards were still locked in their struggle, and the sun still glinted off the dark sands all the same, yet something about hanging over the edge with nothing below them, able to get a full, unobstructed view of both the above and below delighted Wanderer.

Now, while before the Golem believed Emio to be letting them down too slowly, now they were going much too fast, Wanderer's time to experience the feeling quickly coming to an end.

“Is this what it's like to fly?”, they thought.

Suddenly, Wanderer envied the birds and vultures, even the great whale that cruised above, what wonder they must feel, being free to survey the earth below.

In what felt like moments, Wanderer had their hooves back on the canyon floor once again, already wishing they could experience the descent once again.

They didn't need their Spirit to tell them that that was unlikely to happen.

For one, they would have to risk the climb back up again, then the descent down.

And perhaps most damming of all, they would have to convince the already disgruntled Emio to let them do it again, a unlikely event, if judging by the irritated movements of the small creature's body as they climbed down the cliff.

Thinking it prudent to move on and avoid the consequences of forcing their friend into becoming a living belay device, Wanderer quickly climbed the other side of the canyon back out.

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In the time it had taken for Wanderer to scale the short cliff, Emio had already caught up, clearly irritated yet they took no action against the Vessel, the memories of their previous mistake still fresh in their primitive mind.

The verdestry coiled themself on Wanderer's shoulders, quickly making themself at home on the clay surface.

After taking a short moment to orient themselves, the Golem set off in the direction of the boneyard, not truly following the best route but slowly meandering across the sands.

Gradually, the sun heated the dark sand below them, the ambient temperature increasing to an uncomfortable level as the air in the distance began to ripple.

Step by step, the Golem became more and more uncomfortable under the heat of the sun, its cruel radiance caring little for their burning feet.

They had thought that the heat that they felt back on the long road was terrible, yet they were only just coming to the dreadful realisation that temperature was but a shadow of what the pitch black sands below them could accrue.

The distorting air cruelly created illusions of pools of water and Wanderer longed for their cooling embrace, despite knowing full well that they were but tricks of the heat.

After trekking for what felt like hours in the Vessel’s tortured mind, the Golem looked back and realised that the mesa they had left behind what felt like hours ago, was still standing strong behind them, less than a quarter of the distance of what Wanderer expected.

It was then the Vessel realised that they could not go on in the heat any longer, it was robbing them of any pleasure they usually found during travelling, the pain it caused too distracting for Wanderer to find the wonder of the world.

The next tower of rock that formed the ring of mesas surrounding the volcano was still a great way away, more than five times the distance from the one they had just left.

Desperately, Wanderer began to search the world around them, hoping to find a saving grace from the sweltering heat.

Yet there was nothing around but colourful cacti and lizards.

Just as Wanderer was about to turn back, hoping to get out of the sun even in sacrifice of their progress, their Spirit, who had previously been silent, spoke up.

They informed the Golem that they had found a potential solution to their problem, but they would have to be both fast and stealthy to act upon it.

The Vessel didn't even question their Spirit, immediately setting off in the direction of the shelter their Spirit had seen with their strange perception.

As fast as Wanderer could manage in the extreme heat, they began to sprint to the north, toward the volcano, cresting dunes as the dark sand crunched beneath them.

As the Golem crested the final rise, their Spirit urged them to slow down and proceed with stealth, a difficult prospect for the heat-exhausted Golem but one they complied with all the same.

There in front of them, just thirty or so steps away, lay a low, sandy road, so unmaintained and destitute that from their perch atop the mesa, they did not even realise it was there.

It stretched on to one of the smaller cities in the distance, almost standing in the way of them and the graveyard.

To their right, a small caravan of two carriages, a fraction of the size of the one they saw in the tent, rolled across the road, the transports catching their sturdy wheels on every bump and trough the road offered.

Two humans piloted the front carriage, its wares securely fastened and protected, steering the two stocky zebra at the front onwards.

The back transport, much like the first was pulled by two stocky horses, but unlike the front runner, had no human piloting it from above.

Instead, a small and moderately dressed man rode alongside them, occasionally pulling on their reigns with a long hooked pole.

This fact, however, was hardly noticeable compared to the fact that he was seemingly riding on nothing.

He rode upon a saddle, which was clearly visible, but this saddle seemingly drifted through the air, as if there was nothing below it.

Wanderer puzzled was on this, curious as to how this was possible.

“Is it some form of magic?”, they contemplated.

They soon found their answer as, seemingly out of thin air, a long, pink tongue appeared and curled toward the rider.

This tongue stopped for a moment then licked a massive, yellow eyeball that appeared in a similar manner.

For a fraction of a second, the creature's camouflage fell, Wanderer was only able to see a silhouette of a large, lizard-like animal before the tongue flicked back to where it came from and the illusion was restored.

Part of Wanderer wished to stay and contemplate the peculiar creature, or better yet, go up and inspect it, but they knew that would elicit no good reactions from the merchants, and so, under the relentless heat of the sun.

The Golem came up with a plan.