As I gazed into the horizon, a seemingly never ending plane of sand, a calmness slowly eased the tension that was gripping my body and mind. It was dark, there were no sounds, and only a very slight breeze was noticeable flowing through my hair. I noticed, now more than ever, how much I depended on the Aether in the air. I was now dependent on Aether that I had inside of my own body and no way to regenerate it. This meant I could not sense other people around me, had to be careful how much magic I would use and most of all, make a plan to get out of the desert as soon as possible. You could compare the lack of Aether in the air to losing your sense of touch. It was confusing, it was disorientating, and it left me almost feeling sick.
Slowly the cold desert air started getting a grip on my skin and I felt my body tremble as I noticed that the lack of Aether also caused my body to cool down more than it usually did.
I need to get out of the desert quickly. If I stay here too long I probably won’t survive. The thoughts causing my body to tense up again.
Suddenly my mind felt a hint of reassurance come from my almost nonexistent connection to Zeph. The connection between us was too far gone to really communicate thoughts and visual queues, but it seemed to be enough for hints of feelings to seep through.
There was the faintest of Zeph’s presence through our connection that helped relieve the building stress. A feeling of thankfulness going through my mind, hoping that it will somehow reach Zeph.
Looking up at the clear and starry sky, I tried to find any indication of where I should be heading. The scene made me reminisce about the early days when I would sit down with my father in front of our house and he would tell me all about the star signs. Sadly he never talked about using the stars as a way of guidance though the memory did strengthen my resolve.
Dad always said “When I am gone and you feel lost, look up to the sky and know we are watching you. You will find your way back.”
As I remembered Dad’s words, it dawned on me that his promise of watching over me was not so much for guidance but more for bringing comfort when feeling alone and or lost. A small comfort, though the vast and dark desert I was currently in made even the smallest things feel significant.
A small gust of wind brought me back to the present and I started to look around and gaze upon the horizon, hoping to spot any landmarks or lights that I could move towards. The darkness however, didn’t make it any easier. There were hardly any hills around me nor was there any floraI could see. This meant there was no shelter from the elements anywhere nearby but it did mean I could see far away into the distance.
While turning around and scanning for anything as far away as I could see, I spotted the deep and endless darkness of the night sky giving room to a very faint and deep red color. It was barely noticeable but it was there.
“That must be where the sun rises. So I guess that if I go that direction, at least there should be something along the way. right?”
Now having a goal and sense of direction, if only slightly, I had a goal to walk towards. I just hope that it will be the right goal.
The wind grew sharper as it started biting the skin on my bare arms and legs. My body yearning for some warmth. Shivering, I tried to tighten the belts in futility. My arms and legs exposed, I realized the only way to keep warm was to start moving towards the upcoming sunset and hope its warmth will come soon.
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With a deep breath I braced myself and started walking. “Keep moving Zephy,” I said with determination. “When the cold gets to bad I can always use some fire magic”
– Some time later
Journeying through the desert ment fighting through every step I took against the sand underneath my boots. The strength it needed gave way to a small reprise from the cold as my body warmed up from the fight against the sand. This however, was short lived as the cold soon got its grip on my bare skin and eventually felt like it ripped through my clothes completely.
The fight against the sand removed any sense of time or progression and I could only hope that I was making distance from where I started. During the traversal of the desert I was constantly on the lookout for towns, villages or even oases, that might help relieve me from these hard conditions, even just for a short while.
The only sense of progression I had in my sight was the ever brightening horizon. The deep red hue at the horizon had been replaced with a now bright red and violet collared hue. It announced the onset of the sun starting to warm the desert and kept the hope for my survival alive.
It was just a matter of time before the cold would get to me. As much as I was hesitant to use my magic, the damage I would do to myself made the decision easy.
Memories of survival videos from back on earth started to flicker in my mind. “Didn’t those guys always dig holes to keep themselves warm?” I could sense my own doubts about its accuracy.
“No use worrying about it now. If I don’t do something now I will freeze to death here.” I whispered to myself as I fell on my knees and started to think about how to make fire.
“Ok Zephy,” I said to myself. “You made fire before so you should be able to do it again”.
As I sat on my knees in the cold sand I held both hands in front of me with the palms angled slightly towards each other, as if to channel energy towards a central point. Closing my eyes, my mind started to focus on the Aether in the air. The scarcity of Aether in the air becomes quickly apparent bringing worry to my mind that I might deplete my internal Aether before the morning comes. My focus had shifted a little and forced it back to the task at hand.
For the first time I had to reach deep within my own Aether pool. I had to pull out small amounts of Aether and make it take the shape of fire. The focus it was taking was intense but I felt the Aether inside me starting to move.
Concentrating my mind inward I started to get a sense and feel for my inner Aether pool. With every shiver my determination and focus grew bigger. With my magical affinity being water, wind and light, this task was a difficult balancing act of manipulating the Aether inside of me into a concentrated location to bring forth the energy to ignite into a flame.
Suddenly, the feeling of warmth enveloped my body and between my palms a flame manifested itself bringing an enormous sense of relief. A relief that nearly broke my focus enough to extinguish the brittle flame that brought hope to survive this cold night.
Settling into the warmth of the bright red and yellow flame in front of me I got pulled back to a moment just before the flame ignited.
“What was that just now?” I wondered as I looked at the flame. “It felt like I was not just creating a flame. It felt like I was manipulating molecules in the air itself.” The way I created this flame felt unreal. It was a feeling I never felt before. “Was this because I normally don’t think about it when I cast magic?” For a few moments I was deep in thought while still balancing my focus to keep the flame alive.
“Wait a second!” I suddenly said out loud with a raised voice. “Could this really be it?”
My mind now in overdrive tried to figure out what I was doing with the flame that's burning in my hands. My eyes grew wider as I finally wrapped my head around what was happening.
“No way!” My enthusiasm was uncontrollable. ”If this is true, then this world is so much more alike to Earth than I previously thought.” The implications of my new found knowledge could be massive though I definitely need to keep this knowledge to myself for now.
As my mind was racing from this new finding I was suddenly blinded by a bright light. The warmth it brought to my face was noticeable even though the flame was still in my hands.
The sun had finally risen above the horizon and a new day with new challenges had arrived.
“Time to find a town or village.”