Glenn grimaced as he stepped out of the tunnel into a very, very bright place. The sun wasn't hidden by the Dark Wall on this side, it seemed. It took a few seconds for his eyes to get used to the brightness. He blinked a few times and chuckled in disbelief. The ground his feet were sinking into and the land for as far as he could see, the whole of it was black. Black, ink-like sand that swirled and moved with the occasional gusts of hot wind. He glanced behind him, first finding his teammates similarly bewildered by this sight and the tunnel they came through fading away like an illusion, a mirage.

'Huh. This didn't look like a portal, but I guess it was. They're putting all the stops to make sure you don't get ambushed straight away,' Diamanes remarked discreetly from within Glenn's mind. The latter moistened his lips, his throat already starting to dry, as dry as the air around here.

"...Feels like I'm breathing sand..." Milena muttered before whispering a tiny Aqua to drink from. The spell manifested with difficulty, but it eventually did. Sahro, who had been staring at the black desert for a while now suddenly came out of his trance-like state and shook his head, "The Dunes will work against you if you try to conjure water. I hope you packed actual water."

Milena frowned and pouted, "I did, but still...I didn't want to waste it straight away..."

Glenn squinted as he looked at his Recorder and activated the map function. They had landed at the very edge of a safe zone, indicated by the blue color. The surroundings were all white, undisputed areas, with a few pictograms indicating locations of interest. Ruins, camps, abandoned battlefields, high-level Rifts, and even some that were called "Anomalies". Glenn was most tempted to go check those out, but he had another thing to deal with currently.

"How are you guys doing?" He turned to Sahro and Liara. The two exchanged a glance, before smiling dejectedly.

"It definitely feels weird," admitted Sahro. He glanced at Liara and shook his head, "...But it won't impede us, don't worry. Let's do what we're here for so we can go back to slaughter that noble fucker Howard." He grinned wickedly as sparks of blue energy blazed around his mechanical arm, "I'm impatient to try this thing out."

Milena groaned, "I'd be glad if you could do so on someone else than us, okay?"

Sahro waved his mechanical hand dismissively, grinning as he made the motion. Even this simple thing made him very happy. Even though it wasn't a perfect replacement for his arm, it still was one he could use as one. His thunder arm couldn't really touch or grab things, after all, only shock them. Not that Glenn would risk himself to shake that mechanical hand.

Javier was staring down at his Recorder's map, before abruptly turning to Glenn and showing him a spot on the map two hours of walk away.

Glenn frowned and rubbed his chin, "...A ruin? I mean, it's the closest one, so...why not?"

Javier stepped back silently, his expression unreadable. Glenn glanced at the others, who all either shrugged or nodded at his unspoken question.

"...Alright, then. To the ruin. Maybe we'll find something to fight there, so we can get used to the desert. We're here for three months, after all, might as well speed that process up," He declared as he sent his Mana to his Recorder. The small magical item flew out of his palm to float above the group, capturing them and their surroundings in their entirety. Sahro eyed the Recorder suspiciously, before sighing his own in the air. The rest of the team mimicked their examples as they headed for the ruin.

The way there was relatively peaceful. Glenn had summoned his Mimetic cape to protect himself from the sun, its camouflaging abilities automatically changing its color from grey to ink-black, like the sand he was stepping on. Milena was also donning similar clothing, while the two Black Heirs wore their usual desert-style clothes. Only Javier was wearing his usual hunting clothes, his bow strung on his back alongside his quiver. The lack of sweat or tiredness on his face seemed to indicate he was the least affected by the conditions of the desert.

After two long hours under the burning sun and a not-so-difficult climb onto a tall dune, thanks to Gravity Manipulation, they arrived at their objectives. The ruin, built out of red, ochre stones, was half sunk under the black sand. It looked weird to Glenn as if it did not fit inside the desert. If Glenn had to compare it to something, it would be like those Greek temples he saw on TV back on Earth.

"It does look that way..." Nelg commented, followed by a groan from Diamanes.

"...Any idea what that is?" Glenn asked Sahro and Liara, but they both shrugged with uncertainty. Javier slowly armed his bow, pulling on the string silently, an arrow already waiting to fly out. Glenn and the others suddenly stopped and unsheathed their weapons in a similarly discreet fashion. Javier kept his bow drawn for a dozen seconds until his dark aura ignited and the arrow shot out. The string snapped powerfully, the projectile too fast for Glenn to see, but the Aura tracing a dark line behind him, on the other hand, was easier to follow.

The arrow pierced straight through the black sand, making it erupt vertically. A creature jumped out with a vicious shriek, bleeding with blue blood, the arrow stabbing it through its upper body. It looked like some sort of insect, a chimera of a scorpion and a snake, covered in black chitin and dark scales. The monster was easily the size of a car, but it didn't seem too intelligent as it continued to cry while bobbing its massive head around and clicking a pair of mandibles. Glenn and Sahro grinned as they readied their attacks to finish off the creature, but Javier stepped in front of them and held them back. Glenn and Sahro frowned, but the silent hunter simply lay down in the sand, dissimulating his presence. Liara and Milena seemed to understand directly what Javier was aiming for and copied him promptly.

Glenn and Sahro exchanged a silent, questioning gaze, but ultimately also hid themselves while watching down the wounded creature.

'Listen to the creepy hunter, Glenn. He probably knows what he's doing,' Diamanes mocked. Glenn's eyebrow twitched but he remained silent, adjusting his Mimetic cape so that it covered him completely, leaving only his eyes to see what was going on.

"Let's call that thing a Snakion," Nelg suddenly said, "Snake, scorpion, that gives us Snakion!"

Diamanes groaned and was about to complain but Glenn cut him off, 'Perfect. Let's just call that thing a Snakion.'

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

'...I feel like I'm getting bullied...' Diamanes muttered in disappointment. The corner of Glenn's lips curved upward but he remained silent, watching silently on top of his dune.

Eventually, the Snakion stopped shrieking and simply ripped the arrow away with its mandibles. It surveyed the area with its eight, sharp eyes and clicked its mandibles. A dozen other Snakions dug their way out of the black sand, clicking their mandibles dejectedly. Glenn's eyes widened in understanding.

'...Javier knew that this was a trap! Damn, that guy is good!'

Diamanes snorted, 'He is a hunter, after all. He has to know a little about beasts' behaviors.'

Glenn disregarded the entity's comments and kept on watching the Snakions herd. They crawled around the wounded Snakion, before shrieking softly and burying back into the sand, disappearing completely under the black grains. A dozen small waves indicated their movements under the sand, and they left for another area, probably in search of the one who shot at their kin. Too bad, they headed in the wrong direction.

Javier stood up and jumped down the dune, unperturbed. Glenn restrained a whistle and instead nudged Sahro, "He's putting you to shame, you know that, right?"

Sahro looked back at his friend with a dismayed look, "...I was a kid back when I was living here. Do you really think I remember how to deal with desert beasts, even though I was still busy playing in the sand?"

Glenn moistened his lips and shrugged, "I mean, you're the Black Heir, not me," He raised his voice slightly and turned to Liara, "That also counts for you too, you know?" The Black Heiress glanced at him and shook her head, diving down the dune with Milena, following Javier. Sahro scoffed and jumped down too, closely followed by Glenn. The team approached the ruin with subdued steps, their feet sinking into the black sand. Glenn quickly pulled out his Exan-Egg and checked the time.

"Eleven-thirty..." He muttered, before putting the item back in his dimensional pouch, "...Let's do this and find somewhere safe to eat then."

Javier suddenly froze in his steps, before sinking into the ruin's shadows and disappearing. Glenn raised an eyebrow and activated his Mana Sight, just in case, but he couldn't see anything relevant besides his comrades. It seemed like the material making the structure was blocking his sight too, because he couldn't even see a speck of Mana beyond it. Maybe it was some sort of Blumar variant, but he doubted it.

"We will know once we're inside anyway," Nelg said softly. Glenn nodded and took the lead, resuming the way where Javier left them. They soon found a crack into the ruin's wall, letting them enter one by one into the structure. The wind whistled past them, bringing a musty scent of dust with it. Glenn kept his Mana Sight on, trying to find some sort of hint on what that place was. The black sand had invaded every part of the ruin, and yet it still failed to cover completely old, broken statues, standing proudly without their heads.

Milena coughed in her sleeve, whispering worriedly, "...why does it feel like there's nothing at all here?"

Glenn shrugged and replied aloud, "Maybe someone came before us. We have no way to tell if the enemy hasn't also organized adventuring teams to gather ancient artifacts, and already went through the place."

Liara stopped in front of a wall covered in enigmatic scriptures and pressed on one of the bricks. The wall sank into the floor, making the ground tremble and the sand flow into the new opening. She turned back and smiled widely at her teammates who were staring in disbelief.

"...How are you finding those every time, Liara?" Glenn asked as he approached the secret passage, creating a soft magical light with Lux. The Black Heiress' smile grew even wider as she shrugged, still as mute as ever. Sahro sighed and went past them into the secret passage. Milena glanced down and raised a dubious eyebrow.

"Are you sure going into the dark, mysterious secret passage of an old, abandoned temple is a good—Hey!" She stuttered as both Glenn and Liara jumped down. She bit down on her lips before jumping down too.

Glenn landed on a small pile of black sand, the Recorder floating above his head. The ball of light conjured by Lux was illuminating their surroundings, revealing faded murals of incomprehensible, destroyed drawings. There wasn't much in the room, in reality, aside from a stone coffin. It was human-sized, which might not come off as a surprise, but at this point, Glenn wouldn't be taken aback if they accidentally discovered some dead race's lost temple. Hence why he kind of expected that.

But no, this time, it was human-sized. It was a very, very simple coffin, made of the same ochre stone that the temple was built out of, with no engravings or anything.

"...Sahro, give me a hand," Glenn asked as he positioned himself on one side of the coffin. Sahro grunted and clenched the coffin's lid, his mechanical arm glistening with blue energy. The two lifted the lid quite easily, revealing a shriveled mummy dressed in a white toga and with a dark, thin stone circlet around its head. Its hands were resting on top of a metal tablet covered in mysterious engravings.

Glenn looked at his teammates and clacked his tongue, "...Anyone who's against grave robbing...?" Milena opened her mouth, but Glenn wasn't done, "...is free to look away. I'm taking everything."

Milena closed her mouth with a wry expression. Glenn made an apologetic smile as he pried the tablet from the mummy's hand, as well as the circlet. He stuffed the whole into his dimensional pouch, before suddenly pausing. He glanced at the corpse, then at Sahro, and finally at the rest of his teammates.

"...Do you guys think the Cleaner's Workshop might be interested in the corpse?"

Milena scoffed while Sahro and Liara shrugged, unsure. Glenn passed his tongue over his teeth and also shrugged. He awkwardly picked the mummy up by the throat and shoved it into the dimensional pouch, doing his best to ignore the appalled gasps from Milena and the chuckle of the others.

"I said I'm taking everything, I'm not going back on my word," He joked as he finally managed to push the last part of the corpse into the pouch. He dusted his hands off, frowned, and used Mundare to make sure nothing was left on his hands. A nice Cleaning Touch was never a waste of Mana.

"So...are we already done here, then?" Milena asked with a tinge of annoyance. Glenn gave one last glance at the murals and made sure the Recorder got a good look out of them, before nodding.

"Yeah, I suppose we are. I'm sure Javier is already waiting outside with the corpse of whatever made him want to disappear in the shadows."

The exit of the temple was similarly uneventful. They just came in, took what they could, and left. Glenn did give a thought to digging into the black sand to try and uncover what was beneath it, but it would probably be useless and a waste of Mana, so in the end he decided against it. Javier was indeed waiting outside of the temple, standing with his bow ready to shoot, a large fabric bag lying at his feet.

Glenn approached him with a grin, glaring at the bag, "What did you find, Javier?"

The Pale Son nudged his foot and revealed the bag's contents.

Eggs. Black, disgusting-looking eggs. Glenn blinked and thought back to the Snakion herd of earlier.

Did Javier steal their eggs? Why?

Milena gasped and slammed her fist in her opened palm, "Javier, you're a genius!" She hurriedly went and grabbed the bag for herself, shoving it in her own dimensional pouch. Glenn picked his ear with a lost look.

"What are you going to do with that?" He asked curiously. Before Milena could answer, though, Javier showed his map to Glenn again, now pointing at an enemy strategic location. A campsite protecting an oasis, is paramount to their logistical routes. Or so it appeared on the map. Glenn was no tactician, after all.

"An enemy camp? That's—"

"YEAH! Let's fucking do that!" Sahro exclaimed excitedly, grinning wickedly as his mechanical arm sparkled with blue electricity, "I want to fight and try my arm out!"

Glenn sighed while Liara patted him on the back compassionately. Of course, no one was taking this seriously. Well, it was hard to believe they were in the middle of a massive battlefield, with how peaceful this whole thing appeared. The only enemies they saw were these Snakions earlier, and they didn't even need to fight them.

But somehow, despite that, something was tugging at him, telling him that this peacefulness was going to be short-lived.

Because it always ended up like this in this damned world.

Nothing was ever peaceful for long.