“Maybe they went further in search of food or water,” I said.

“The ground is flat, we can see far away,” said Noel. “They aren’t here.”

“We might have missed them along the way,” I said.

“No, we didn’t. The wasteland was empty. How could we have missed a crowd of elves walking through it while carrying supplies?” said Noel.

“Maybe they took the path up,” I said.

Noel considered it. She wordlessly got to her feet and ran to the left. I called after her but she didn’t respond so I had to run behind her. I was breathless by the time Noel was kicking the dirt in anger in front of a small path leading up to the highlands. We ran for what felt like an hour to get here.

I tried to comfort Noel, but she didn’t respond. I shook her shoulders, called out her name, even lit a fire in front of her face, but she didn’t respond. I threw my hands up in defeat and went searching around the area.

The highlands were even worse than the plains. At least the plains had rocky outcrops and dried riverbeds. The surface of the highlands was smooth and sandy, like arid savanna that had recently turned into desert. We could see far into the distance. Yet, there was nothing to see. I had a feeling it would be even harder to find food in this place.

I went back to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the wasteland that had been the plains of serenity. Looking at the way the cliffs curved into the distance, I had a feeling the highlands weren’t actually highlands, the plains were actually lowlands. Almost like a river valley made by a long since dried up ancient river.

Searching the surroundings, I found nothing to eat. I laid out a few traps just in case animals popped out at night, but I had been worried about nutrition for a while. The kind of food we’d been eating for the past few days wasn’t varied nor balanced. I had no idea how elfin bodies worked so maybe we’d be okay, but if the highlands were going to be more of the same, we might have to start digging for roots or mushrooms.

It was getting late. We’d spent the entire day doing little more than climbing the cliff. Since Noel refused to move, I set up camp around her. Thunder rumbled in the distance. I looked up to see storm clouds rolling across the sky.

I hurried to prepare a proper shelter. Using earth elemental magic, I carved out a hole in the ground. It was tiring, laborious work, and I was panting by early evening. When the hole was big enough for two people, I slunk to the ground to catch my breath. Maybe it would’ve been easier to just dig with my hands?

I looked over to Noel, she was looking far into the distance, her mouth hung open but silent. I picked myself back up and ran over to a fresh patch of earth. I swept aside the sand and gravel on top and dug down to the rock below. I knew how deep I had to go because of the other hole I’d dug. I cleaned up the top of the rock and took a deep breath.

Since elemental magic was based on a bunch of rational but ultimately incorrect assumptions, it wasn’t very energy efficient. And since it considered earth to be an element rather than a combination of different substances and elements, it was hard to break it down further. Earth elemental magic was great for extracting ‘earth’ from the ground or for manipulating it, but it sucked for breaking up large rocks like this one.

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Instead, I traced a rough shape over the rock with water. I then used earth elemental magic around the outside of the shape to extract the ‘earth’ from the rock. Since rock was not pure ‘earth’ according to the elemental system, I was able to extract some amount of brown substance from the rock. I assumed my image of ‘earth’ was more soil and ground than rocks and boulders, which was why there was still some sort of porous substance left around the sides of the shape.

I poured water into the outline and let it drip into the now porous rock. I then used fire magic to heat up the water, before adding more water to the rock, and then heating it up again. Soon, the edges of the outline were weak and brittle, and I was able to whack at it with the bottom of the Dragon’s Tooth.

After carving out the piece of rock from the sides, I had to carve it out from the bottom. This was tougher to do but followed the same process. Use earth elemental magic to weaken the rock, then cycle between water and fire magic to rapidly erode the rock away. It was almost dusk by the time I was done and the storm was getting closer.

I grunted as I heaved the piece of rock up onto the surface. I had to use my magic hands to help lift it up, because although the rock was pretty small, it was incredibly heavy. I brought it over to the first hole I’d dug and used it to cover most of the entrance to the hole. I fixed it in place with some dried mud, but wasn’t sure if that would help it weather the storm. And so I went a little further along the edge of the cliff to a spot that looked like it could have held a waterfall. I searched around the site and found a small deposit of clay. I brought back the clay and used it to hold the piece of rock in place and to strengthen the entrance to the shelter.

I grabbed Noel and dragged her to the hole. She didn’t say anything in her melancholy. I peeked over my shoulder. The storm was almost here and the sun was almost done. I managed to get Noel into the shelter just in time. Thunder rumbled and fierce winds blew. Rain cascaded against the entrance to our shelter, pitter-pattering against the stone. The small part of the hole that I had left uncovered didn’t let in too much water, but I was forced to dig another hole beneath it so the water didn’t turn the ground all soggy.

Eventually, I made a small makeshift awning over the uncovered part of the hole. I wasn’t sure if the clay would hold for long, but I prayed it would hold long enough for the storm to run out. I wanted to light a fire but there was nothing to burn. Either way, the shelter was too small and would keep in too much smoke. We still had some dried meat left over from the plains, so the fire wasn’t necessary.

I tried to get Noel to eat something but she refused. I dripped some water onto her lips, which were already dried and patched from dehydration.

“Noel,” I said, “you have to listen to me, okay?”

She didn’t respond.

“Everything is going to be okay,” I said. I moved my face so I would be right in front of her eyes. “We will find your, no, our family. I promise you.”

Noel refused to meet my gaze.

I sighed. Empty promises weren’t going to work. Not finding any trace of the tribesmen up on the highlands had confirmed our worst fears. It was time to face them.

“I know we’ve both been thinking about it,” I said, slowly. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened. When I came to find you at the Immortal of Desire’s tree, I told you it had been two days, even though you felt like it had only been a few hours.”

Noel finally reacted. She bit her lips.

“The Immortal of Madness messed with your time,” I said. “And this time, he’s messed with both of us. Somehow, what felt like a few minutes to us was actually a much longer time out here. We don’t know if all of this once beautiful, fertile land was destroyed immediately or if it’s just been so long that everything has become wasteland.”

Thunder rumbled. The rain relentlessly pounded on the rock above our heads. Noel took a deep, quivering breath, and looked at me. “How long do you think it’s been?”

I opened my mouth, hesitantly. “I’m sorry.” The storm raged on overhead. “I don’t know.”