The desert is one of the most peculiar sights mother nature has to offer. With an overstretching sheet of sand below, and a never ending blanket of sky above, to an external eye, it might present a picture of a monotonous uniformity. But it takes perspective to understand the true nature of art. And that perspective comes from experience.
If I were to describe a desert like a painted picture, I would describe it to be the part where the painter did not paint with colors, but with emotions. Because when you truly experience a desert, you realize that it might be one of the most unpredictable locations on a planet. What makes a desert even more daring is not only its unpredictable nature; it’s the extremity it adopts behind its each and every unpredictable move, which makes the experience in a desert even more devastating. If we rule out the unfortunate sandstorms - which in the past have actually drowned entire tribes - and take a look at an average day in a desert, we discover, in the morning, the scorching suns above our heads, presenting the traveler with an extended trailer of hell on earth, practically trying its best to melt the traveler like an ice cream. The atmosphere might feel like inside of an oven, but the sand beneath the feet feels like burnt coal. If we move our observation towards the night time, we discover intense waves of freezing cold wind, which makes the world look like an alternate version of Hell, meaning a freezing Hell.
But these are not my main concerns. Things worked differently in this world; one could hardly feel heat, cold or pain as the functioning of the human body’s sensory system worked slightly different here than it does in the outer world. But that didn’t stop the desert side of this world, to prove itself to be a challenge. In the morning, although the heat would hardly matter, there was this problem of stamina. It practically consumed my stamina, just so I could move steps forward. Not the stamina you think; no. It’s the combat stamina, which allows us players to fight in this world. When it goes down, it takes some seconds to regain it, and if in that moment you are attacked, you will hardly land a single light blow - enough to lightly drop enemy’s HP - before you’re down yourself by the enemy’s strike. That is the main concern, while journeying through the desert in the morning. And for us merchant type players, it is an even bigger concern, for we are mostly stockpiled on items and weapons - some of them extremely rare - gathered from around the world. And because of this reason, many merchant players have been looted and killed in the past by those players, who refuse to act like normal players and just pay up the money. In the night time, there is even a bigger threat that lurks around. It could be called more of as a superstition, and hardly anyone would call it a threat. It was known among us as The Eyes. It was a deep fear, which would take residence in the deepest corner of a traveler’s subconscious. During the daytime, it would sleep but soon as the moons would rise, it would slowly start to grow like a wildfire. It was a fear that pair of eyes were always watching a traveler on his journey. No matter how hard he’d try, sleep would hardly come, for this sensation would overcome all of his senses. It wasn’t a concern in the outer world for in the outer world, people could feel heat and cold, and these two sensations would overcome the travelers’ mind, making them beg for an escape so instead of developing superstitious fears, the travel would instead drop to sleep. However, with the absence of these two in this world, a traveller's’ mind was vulnerable to fear and superstitions.
Instantly I lowered the illumination of my light and closed my diary, the moment my ears heard the sound of a step outside my tent. It wasn’t The Eyes, that much I was certain. It was a distinctive, identifiable sound of a footstep. It was small, weak, and far away, but I was certain that it was heading for the direction of my camp. Slowly I peeked outside, being careful as to not move too much of my head outside the tent. From my collection of weapons, I equipped myself with a sword, and the weapon slowly materialized itself in my hand. I had guns too, but I wanted to make it silent. There was no need to attract other bees towards the honey. For another few seconds, I made no move. I stayed in one definite position with my sword in my hand, and my ears set outside, in search of any distinctive sound. Not another footstep appeared for almost a minute. Only the whispers of the wind. That was odd. I questioned myself rather to walk out and face this intruder head on, or continue writing my diary and wait for this person to show his face himself. From the sound of the footstep, I could tell it wasn’t any assassin or knight type player. For all I knew, it could be an NPC. In the end, I decided to lay down my weapon beside me, and continue writing the diary. I turned back inside, and raised the illumination of my torch. Taking a sigh of relief, I was about to put my weapon back in my inventory when all of a sudden, a hand suddenly grasped my shoulder and for a moment, pulled out every inch of my soul from within.
“Uh, can I have some water? I am ready to pay if you want?”
“WHAT THE HELL?!”
The next few seconds went in a blur and soon as my senses returned, I found my hand grabbing the throat of a young boy, pinning him on the ground with my sword just a few inches away from his forehead. Suddenly, realizing how close I was to committing a murder, I immediately threw the sword away, while keeping my hand still on the boy’s throat.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
“Hey! Hey! Calm down. I’m only asking for some water.”
“Who are you?!”
“I’m just a traveler. My name’s Ryan. I saw your tent from a few meters away. I thought you could help me a little bit.”
Hearing his explanation did not make me loosen my grip for another few seconds. I kept him pinned down, while I made my own observations to look for any signs of hostility. He was a small boy - age ranging from 10 to 15. From his attire, it was easy to guess that he wasn’t from any combat type class. However his primary weapon was that of a bounty hunter, which he made no effort to pull out in order to defend himself. From even a single look, it was pretty obvious that the dude was not a pro, and had been either receiving help from someone, or has been cheating to obtain the items he had.
“Help you? How?” I asked, my voice getting less and less hysterical, and my breathing becoming more normal as time passed. From a singular glance, I could tell that this kid was more of a liability than a danger. In fact, judging by his age and his reactions, it was a huge surprise that he made it this much out in the desert on his own.
“How about we start by you getting off me.”
“What?”
It took another few seconds for me to realize that I still hadn’t left his throat.
“Oh.”
I immediately stood up and picked up my sword from the ground, which I had thrown earlier. I kept it in my right hand, but lowered the weapon as to keep it only for defence, and turned back in the direction of Ryan.
“So..” I began, as he stood up and slowly turned in my direction. “Mind telling me why you pulled that trick to scare the bejeezus out of me.”
“Sorry..” He began, with a genuine apologetic tone. “I was just confused and… wait. Bejeezus?” Ryan’s head was swollen after that.
“Cut the crap and answer my question!” I shouted back, holding my swollen hand. The kid’s head was hard as a rock.
“Ow!” He shouted, rubbing his head with both his hands. “Stop being so scary. I just needed a little bit of help, alright? Besides, you’re a merchant, aren’t you?”
“Yes…” I replied, unsure as to what he meant. Everyone knew travelling merchants mostly had rare and expensive items. It was more affordable to visit a city shop, than a travelling merchant if you were looking for normal gear. How could this little kid with no experience be ready to pay for rare items? There was a look of reproach upon the boy’s features. Confusion, and carefulness in choosing his next words. He might have realized some important advice which he may have forgotten earlier, because for a moment, not only did he refuse to speak, but he refused to maintain eye contact as well; looking at his feet as if his further dialogue laid there, or as if he was waiting for some form of guidance to tell him how to further act. For a moment, this continued, until all of a sudden, rays of sunlight began entering my tent; first as dim light beams, then suddenly in the form of burning heat the desert was famous for.
“Ah!” I exclaimed, shielding my eyes with my hands. “It’s morning already.” This was another unexpected characteristic of this world. Shifts between day and night were so drastic, that one could hardly keep up. One second, it would be all sunshine and soon as daytime hours were passed, the Suns would suddenly vanish, leaving the world behind in darkness. Sometimes, we also get to experience sunset and sunshine, meaning the view of a gradual descent of the Suns and rising of the moons, but not in desert.
“Hey.” The boy said, in order to gain my attention, but I ignored him, and began walking outside the tent. Using both my hands, I began tying my long blonde hair in a ponytail. It was sort of like a ritual for me. The ribbon was a memento. A memory of someone special. Someone who has disappeared from this world. The early morning sunshine hit my face like an adrenaline injection, waking up my senses in an instant. I stretched my arms and legs for a while, continuously ignoring Ryan as he stood by, watching me with nervousness. I mean, I couldn’t get it. All of a sudden, he appeared out of nowhere in my tent, asking me for help. And when I offered a hand, he couldn’t take it.
“Hey.” He shouted again. “Why are you ignoring me.”
“Because I don’t have time for riddles.” I replied straightforward, giving him a blank stare. “Unlike you travelers, I am a busy merchant. I have a business to run, and people to meet. If you want anything, be quick and leave.”
For another moment he kept silent while I packed my tent. With a click of my finger, it disappeared and went back inside of my inventory.
“Uh.” Ryan continued, trying to speak out his actual words. However because of some reason, he couldn’t. I could feel it. He wasn’t actually in need of items - though if he could afford them or not was an entirely different question - he was actually in need of a companion.
“I wanna buy some weapons.” He finally said. Slowly, I turned around, giving him a skeptical stare. “Yes. I wanna buy a weapon.”
I swear to God kids are a nuisance.