They've been walking aimlessly for, what feels like hours, now. Despite so, the sun in the sky hasn't changed its position. Hanging high above their heads. The heat's getting to her, making her taste sand in her mouth, so she has long stopped asking him relentless questions like, what is a Bellator. He kept calling her that. Only with stupid added in front.

It wasn't like he answered her either. He just loops around and said, it's her. So, they were going in circles for the first couple of hours. Before he decides, he's had enough and demanded her to stop following him. To which, she had refused, claiming that she wouldn't know where to go otherwise.

Although, now she thinks it'd have hardly made any difference because they just passed by another cactus. Like the million other cacti half hour ago, an hour ago, five hours ago. Who knows how long they've been here.

The only sense of time she gets is the growl of her stomach hinting her that she's probably skipped both breakfast and lunch considering how empty it feels. He's still striding on with wide steps in front of her. Watching him makes her feel even warmer than it already is. Despite she's long taken off her autumn hoodie to tie around her waist. So now, the sun's beating down on her shoulders and leaving burn marks over anywhere her silk camisole doesn't cover. She can tell he's overheating from the bits of fluff on his knitted scarf sticking to his nape with sweat. It's funny, because she thinks, she's able to feel the itch, and it irritates her to whine again,

"How long does this even carry on for? I'm starving!"

He shoots her a glare over the shoulders as though she's a wayward branch he'd like to prune,

"How am I supposed to know? It's because of you that we're-" and decides to stop his statement there. Probably because he doesn't want to bring up the argument about whose fault it is that they're stuck here.

According to him, they ought to be in the gathering hall after that first test. But she simply points out, she doesn't see a building in sight. Much less, other people anywhere in the thousand kilometers radius. Then he argues, she can't see that far. There's nothing to see when there's only sand, boulders and cacti around them. They've already been past that conversation. It's the heat that stopped them, because the yelling just made them even thirstier.

After passing another boulder, she brings up,

"You're a wind mage, right? Can't you make a breeze?" any longer, her skin's going to peel off from the sun's tenderizing. It makes her remember that one incident she went barbequing with Killian and they somehow managed to set the grill on fire and burnt all the patties they brought. She's beginning to feel like ones of those patties.

Walking into him snaps her out of her reminiscence. She draws back, after bumping the tip of her nose against his neck to realize he's stopped in his tracks.

She's preparing to see another scowl as he's turning around. Only to realize, this is the first-time she's witnessed something resembling a smile on his lips when he comments,

"Oh. That's actually not a bad idea." as he raises an arm to gather his Vita. Picking up a small breeze. It's warm at first, before he tenses his fingers to increase the intensity of the air vacuuming towards him. It's getting strong enough to pull sand forward, then her hair, then tumble weeds, she encourages,

"More! More!" as he closes into a fist to turn the breeze into a ravaging gust. Howling in her ears. Hitting against her skin with a much-needed coolness, that she had to raise her voice to speak above it when she spurs,

"Stronger, stronger!"

He abides. Summoning a windstorm, so violent, it pushes both of them from where they stand. The airborne sand's beginning to feel like needles prickling at her skin now. She says,

"Okay, maybe not that strong." but, he's just looking around again, pressing a hand onto his forehead to stop his fringe from whipping into his eyes as though he's cluelessly searching for something before he admits,

"I'm not doing it anymore." and it confuses her,

"Doing what?"

"The wind. It's not me." then his eyes widen, posture lowering into a combat stance as he exclaims, glancing past her shoulders,

"Watch out!"

It directs her to look behind. A giant sand tornado, stretching to the skies, spinning towards them rapidly. They attempt to leap from its trajectory when it passes by. Instead, the force of it sucks both of them within, tossing them in circles like a carnival ride gone haywire. The sand hitting against her requests of her to use both arms to shield her face. It's making her dizzy when she tries to glance beneath to realize they've been thrown high into the sky. She draws her axe just in time to smash past a boulder that's flung straight at her. Then, the Vulpes boy body slams into her. It's lucky she's noticed him in time to pull her axe away from splitting him in half too. And before she's able to ask, what's going on, the wind abruptly stops.

Now they're suddenly falling past clouds. When the white mist finally clears, she's able to see the sea of gold sand. In the center of it, there's a small black silhouette. As the ground approaches nearer and nearer. The smudge of black dot takes shape into something more massive.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

It's a desert scorpion. The gigantuous kind that she's only heard Killian talk about in his past adventures. There's a giant mouth on its back the same way he's described it. With rows of sharpened teeth like a shark, lining each side, and they're getting closer.

She isn't removing her sight from the creature when she hears the Vulpes shout,

"Brace yourself for landing!" as a violent wind picks up again. It's his Magia this time. Sweeping them mere centimeters away from the pit where they'll become the creature's lunch. Sliding down the hardened black plates of the creatures' exoskeletal sides and tumbling in the sand. So ungraciously, she thinks she's swallowed a whole mouth full. But she doesn't have the luxury to complain before a stinger tail comes piercing down between them. Rolling her away from the Vulpes in opposite directions. She quickly orients herself, flattening her axe overhead to catch the second stinger strike.

It's bulky size, just wide enough to completely block the sky from her vision with the venom bulb of its tail. And its immense weight is forcing her down. As if attempting to bury her like a mummy. Before it releases a green liquid, cascading off the flat of her axe blades and trickling into the sand around her. Bubbling in sizzles.

It's acid.

In her peripheral, she sees the Vulpes unleashing his Magia with a swish of his arm. Giant crescent wind blades tumble forward at his behest. Crashing into the creature's side. The force causes it to rile back, as though in pain, and lifts it tail from her to instead, aim at him. He back leaps just in time as the stinger anchors in the sand. Crossing his arms before his face to shield himself from the sandstorm that's been stirred by the impact.

He hollers, midair,

"I can't cut past his exoskeleton!" and gluing his eyes on the creature's tail. Watching it lift up, as though he's anticipating where to dodge. And that's when she notices the bulb at the end pulsing, green acid dripping from the point.

It's going to spray him. Channeling Vita on her legs,

"Look out!" she screams, leaping in his trajectory. Slamming him out of the area where its acid spits in a fan. As though a high-pressure washer, so narrowly escaping, the tiniest droplet catches onto her ankle as they roll into the sand. It feels as though someone's stuck a drill right to her bone. It burns. But they don't have time to dwindle as the creature winds up to strike at them again, blasting them in opposite directions.

Upon its stingers landing, the Vulpes conjures another barrage of wind blades towards the narrowest part of its tail. It's deflecting the creature, making some surficial scratches, but isn't cutting past.

That's enough for her to catch the hint that that's where they should aim for to disarm it.

As the creature's still staggered, focusing Vita onto her legs, she bends, coiling, and with all her might, she kicks herself into the air, high as she could over the scorpion. Before winding her axe over her head, gripping at the handle with both hands as she dives downwards. Smiting the sharp edge between the narrow joint and landing on the bulb of its tail to let gravity and weight bring her down. Pinning the tail into the sand, beside the creature. The resistance she feels beneath her axe tells her it isn't enough to sever it, so she beckons,

"Use your wind blades at it! At point blank!" to send the Vulpes sprinting towards her. But the creature's struggling against her force. Almost flinging her up. She forces it down with all her Vita she could muster in both arms, adding in a leg too for good measure, as the Vulpes catches up.

Magia, gathered up within his palm, compressed into a spiral of sharp wind, swirling haphazardly as though a saw blade. She relinquishes and back leaps just milliseconds before the scorpion's able to overpower her. In time for him to launch his attacks forward with a violent swing of his arm. Unleashing a single massive wind blade, right for the tail.

The force of it is so immense; it cuts a giant fissure in the sand. Deep like a canyon, slicing the creature's tail clean off. Uphauling a sandstorm in the process. Clouding their eyes, but they're able to hear its pained screeches through it. Then a violent wind picks up, sucking the sandstorm in that makes the Vulpes realize,

"It's doing that sand tornado thing again!" all too late as they're once again, swept into the skies.

Falling through the air. Behind her, the Vulpes launches more wind blades in its gaping mouth. But the scorpion closes it in time to deflect his attacks off its hardened exoskeleton.

It strikes her, that's the weak point. The innards!

Still falling, she screams through the ravaging winds,

"I know how to kill it. But you'll need to trust me!" fast as she can as they're rapidly encroaching its razor-sharp fangs that's pried open. He's just as panicked when he replies,

"We don't have time to talk about trust! Just tell me what to do!"

"Channel that big wind attack again, don't release it until I tell you!"

The wind picking up behind her denounces he's agreed. When the teeth approaches, she turns her axe horizontally and lets herself descend, past the first row, second row, third row. Sticking it like a wedge between the fourth row on the both sides to catch her. Dangling off it, as the creature forces against her to close its mouth. Glancing upwards, she knew the Vulpes understood her plan, screaming vulgarities at her as he is,

"You're a fucking dumbass!" and accelerating headfirst towards her. Holding his wrist of the highly unstable Magia he's conjured at her behest.

She stretches out an arm to catch him on the neck of his sweater, stopping him with a violent jerk and she shouts,

"Now!"

He unleashes the attack.

A massive wind saw slices directly into the bubbling gut of the scorpion beneath them. Slashing past it, spilling even the liquid, into two tides, before cutting through the bottom cleanly. It takes a moment for her to not feel the compression in her axe. The creature's stopped struggling, then it peels back. Splitting like a log struck dead center and causing her to lose leverage. Dropping them down into the wet sand beneath.

Bracing the impact on the creature's piled guts. Blue blood splashing up her camisole but she's too busy hyperventilating to bring herself up on her feet. Instead, she stares into the sky, lying flat on her back and watches the clouds drift by.

Then she laughs when the Vulpes wheezes beside her,

"You're the craziest-" pausing to catch his breath,

"Stupidest Bellator I've ever had the displeasure of meeting." the sound of his voice tells her he hasn't gotten up either. This time, she decides against arguing with him to enjoy the moment of their victory, so instead, she replies,

"It's Lilith. Call me by my name at least, stupid Vulpes."

"I already know that. You're stupid enough to wear that name tag on your hoodie." he snaps, before taking a few moments as though pondering. Then very softly, he adds, for the very first time, without sounding hostile,

"Cyan Blight." she turns on a side to watch him mutter to the skies, like it's something difficult to admit,

"You can call me by my name too." and she laughs again.