The harsh sun rays would have been a nightmare to deal with but thankfully, one of the dyed brotherhood members had a boon related to light and was able to deflect the rays away, acting as a glorified umbrella for the team.
It was rather similar to the tundra environment he had just been in, with an expansive, somewhat flat desert, stretching out as far as the eye could see.
There weren’t any dunes around, just very tall and thin mountains and soon Thomel found out why.
A sudden sandstorm erupted out of nowhere and began to terraform the surrounding environment, flinging sand and small plants everywhere.
He hadn’t spent much time researching this world, just enough to learn about the local predators and how best to deal with them, so for a few seconds all he could do was gape at the swirling tornado of death as it encroached ever closer.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Green asked, looking at the whirlwind of death with a smile on his face.
The absurdity of that statement made Thomel take a double take of that sandstorm and now that he looked at it more closely, he could see what the short man meant.
The sunlight bounced off the grains of sand, shining bright rays of golden light everywhere, sometimes creating short-lived patterns as it reflected from particle to particle.
It was kind of like the rift, only the way it moved was far too normal and straightforward, the rift moved within and outside of reality, whereas this sandstorm was confined to only one point in time.
Still, it was a magnificent sight, made significantly less impressive because it was coming straight for them.
“So uh, how do you deal with this?”
“Yellow has a Gravity boon, he’ll make us all weigh about a ton each and then we just stand still and endure it.”
“And what about our clothes?” Thomel asked tentatively, they were all wearing heavy trenchcoats but he’d seen what looked like a giant cactus or its equivalent over there being torn to shreds and scattered in every direction.
Green looked at him in a manner that conveyed complete confusion.“We have buffs to deal with that. We’ve done this about seven times now, the only reason we’ve ever lost anybody was because of sandworm attacks.”
“If you say so…”Thomel replied, considering just what he’d gotten himself into for the first time.
Survivors didn't get paid extra. If you brought back one million credits worth of goods but had agreed to split it fifty-fifty and your partner was dead, you only got the half.
It’s what’d made Thomel so agreeable, yet with the storm bearing down on him he regretted his early choice.
“Right, we’re going to lay down now so that way we don’t sink. Just relax, this'll happen a few more times today.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Nodding his head, Thomel carefully laid down on the sand and spread his arms wide, like he was making an angel.
He thought he heard Green say something but the shrieking winds of the sandstorm were so deafening now that he could hardly hear himself think.
Gazing up at the bright yellow sun, which looked down on him like an eldritch god, he felt a sudden sense of déjà vu.
How many times was he going to do this? How much longer until the monetary chains that bound him were broken?
And would they truly be broken or merely replaced by harder-to-see shackles?
These profound emotions washed over him out of nowhere, almost overwhelming him with how strong and unyielding they were.
He just couldn’t push them down.
What was he striving for? What was he going to do with his life? Was there anything he could really do?
No matter how hard he tried the odds were stacked against him, sure, maybe there was a life waiting for him once his debt was absolved and he was high-level enough to matter.
But he found that line of thinking naive, there was no way the Lonel corporation would just let people go like that.
There had to be some catch, some more well-hidden web to ensnare those that prevailed.
The Lonel corporation was run by people who’d willingly cast away their souls in return for power. At least, that was how the rumour went .
And all things considered, it probably wasn’t far from the truth.
Then his vision became subsumed by the whirlwind of sand and his sentiments died with the sunlight.
Everything became dark and an unsettling, rustling sound grated all around him, it felt like he was in the centre of a swarm of millions of locusts.
The sand under him was gradually being pulled out and dispersed into the sky, making him sink further and further into the ground.
He struggled to maintain his calm, breathing in and out deeply. Fortunately, He had enough oxygen strapped to his back to last him half a day.
So long as someone remained unburied they could dig him out, he could also probably manage to grab one of the discs he had and activate it.
He was very grateful when the sandstorm passed by after lingering for a modest minute.
Contrary to what he expected, once he could see again, he found that he was on an elevated patch of sand, his body having blocked a great deal of it from being moved.
He’d never been in any real danger of getting buried, he’d been needlessly afraid.
Moving up closer so he could be better heard, Green asked if he was all right.
“Yeah, I’m okay, thanks.” Thomel replied, staggering to his feet with Green’s help.
“Is there some sort of side effect to that boon that got used? I felt rather emotional afterwards, like I’d just drunk two bottles of Newba cider.” After a pause, Thomel continued;. “Not the factory-made but the proper, homemade cider.”
“Oh, that was just the fish, Blue dropped the shield since he couldn’t focus, it ain’t pleasant but nothing to worry about.” Green said, patting him on the back.
“Fish?”
“You took a look over the creatures didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I did, and I never read anything about a fish.”
“Oh, they must have moved it to features then, that thing up there isn’t the sun, it’s actually nighttime.” Green said, pointing upwards at the harsh “sun”.
“That’s not the sun? You know what, I’ll just take your word for it. lets catch up with the others.” Thomel said, ignoring the monstrosity in what he figured must be this planet's low orbit, as he strode to catch up with the rest of the cohort.