The thing about falling through a rip in space is that it gets old fast.

I fell for quite some time. At first, it was the terrifying experience any would imagine it to be, bolts of red lightning exploding through the dark wormhole and images I couldn’t process flashing all around me. Still, even that began to lose its initial shock value as my descent ticked over from seconds to minutes.

You would think being sent through a portal created by ancient Sages would be a little faster.

I crossed my arms. Flailing around as I had been doing was growing exhausting, and it clearly wasn’t doing anything.

Seek out the villages of the sand.

The Sage had told me to find some villages in the sand, but that was about as specific as telling someone to seek out a town in the north by the trees. A good third of the continent was desert; the number of villages in the sand would be like stars in the night sky.

Which brings me to my next question.

Where exactly was I being sent? The Sage had explained they would send me… somewhere that would… somehow lead me to become an adventurer. As I began to understand a pattern among the powerful, they hardly explained their vague intentions, the Sage’s explanation making zero sense. At best, there would be sand from what I’d gathered, but I’d already gone over why that hardly narrowed it down.

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

With the question of where I was being sent impossible to answer, my mind instead turned to the other nugget of information the Sage had told me just before sending me to… well, wherever I was being sent.

“What is there to fix?”

Now, what just did he mean by that?

It was the first piece of conflicting information I’d been given from two different sources. On the one hand, my master had told me that my ability to use magic was ‘broken’ to some degree, but then there was the Sage, who seemed to argue otherwise.

So what is it?

Magic. It always seemed to come down to the fact that I didn’t understand magic nearly enough.

Does anyone really? And does it even matter right now, given my current circumstances?

I was falling through a rip in space, being sent to who knew where, to do who knows what, all by myself. I was utterly alone for the first time in my life. I could call the shots on what I did and who I listened to.

That’s right, I can do whatever I want- what’s that?

I had been so caught up in the internal monologuing that I had failed to notice that the black void I was falling through was no longer unnaturally dark, now only as dark as the night sky.

When you usually want to look at the night sky, you look up to see it, not down. Surprise turned to fear, and I began to thrash about with renewed vigor, waving my arms as if I would suddenly sprout wings. I was plummeting rapidly toward the ground far below, the hard, unforgiving-

Sand?

Dark as it was, I’d struggled to see the ground below, but now, it finally clicked what the Sage had meant.

“Seek out the villages of the sand.”

Right, well, at least that shouldn’t be too hard, considering he’s dropping me in the middle of a damn desert.

The more pressing concern was that I was crashing like a falling star, and even with the fact that I would be landing on the sand, I was sure it was about to be anything but a soft landing.

The ground rapidly expanded before me, and I did the only thing I could think of, fresh out of ideas on how to defy gravity.

I braced myself and prayed.

I hope this doesn’t hurt too bad.

-------------------------------

“Hey. Hey! Are you okay? Hello? You alive?”

I groaned, suddenly roused from my sleep. I’d had a nightmare of falling through an endless night sky, about to smash myself onto the ground.

“Dayvin, does he look okay?”

“What, what else am I supposed to say?”

“Just let me handle this.”

Why do they have to be so loud in the morning?

“Hey, what’s your name?”

My name? Why is someone asking me that early in the-

My eyes flew open as my brain finished rebooting; I sat up with a start.

“What, where, what?” I babbled.

“Hey, hey, relax, easy. You’re okay. You’re okay… I think.”

“Wha-?” I turned to my right, noticing I was lying in the sand at the bottom of a medium-sized crater. To my right stood a group of four, the nearest of the four being a woman in her mid-thirties, with auburn-colored hair covered by a scarf and, more notably, a sword belted to her side.

“Who are you?”

“We should probably be asking you that.” The lady gave me a half-smile before extending a hand toward me. “But to answer the question, I’m Veronika.”

“Veronika,” I repeated, stretching my hand to grasp hers. “I’m Eri- I’m Rook.”

“Rook. Nice to meet you. At least, it would be under normal circumstances.”

“Under normal circumstances?”

“Well, aside from the abnormality of finding a teenage boy in a crater randomly in the desert, yeah.”

After grabbing my hand, the lady yanked me up. If the sword at her hip didn’t make it obvious, the strength in her arms told me immediately that she was accustomed to physical exertion.

“That’s Dayvin.” She jerked a thumb behind her, pointing out another of the four, a large man with a rather painful-looking scar crossing the side of his head and over his mangled ear. “And over there are the twins.”

Behind Veronika and Dayvin stood two twins, one a blonde girl in her late teens to early twenties, the other a guy with similarly blond hair. Their skin was tanned, like the sand beneath our feet.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Zet.” The male twin waved at me before pointing toward his sister. “And that’s Tess, but spelled with a z.”

“Spelled with a z?” The names clicked into place as I thought about them. “Your names are just opposites.”

“Blame our parents.” The girl, Tez, rolled her eyes before looking over her shoulder. “We can exchange stories later, but Veronika is right. We need to get a move on, like, now.”

“Why, what’s going on?” I questioned, dusting the sand off my clothes.

“Well, a pissed-off super pack of desert crawlers.”

“Desert crawlers?”

“Big nasty ants.”

My mind conjured images of the ants I was familiar with. A bite might sting, but it could be crushed between two fingers.

“How big is big?”

“Big,” Veronika said before pointing over the crater’s ridge we were in. “We are only a short bit out from the edge of their territory than maybe a day’s travel out from Enudtstrif. You can tag along with us. Figure probably better than being food for some oversized ants.”

“Uhm, sure?” I nodded, finding nothing wrong with her statement. “I think I’d prefer not being bug food.”

“Great, happy to have you with us. Time to go.” Veronika grabbed me by the wrist, tugging me up the side of the crater.”

“By the way, exactly how far away are these ants?”

“About five minutes if we just stay here,” Tez answered as soon we made it over the side of the sand crater. “One or two or even a small pack we would be okay dealing with, but an entire super pack….”

“Again, just how big are these things?” I questioned as we began to march off toward where Veronika had pointed. “And also, why are you guys traveling by foot?”

“We originally weren’t. Had some horses.” Zet shook his head. “Then the super pack happened.”

“Oh. Ohhhh.” I uttered, the fate of the horses dawning upon me. “Ant food.”

“Yeah.”

“So, how long can we keep ahead of them?” I questioned as we began to jog at a fast pace.

“Well, we were about ten minutes ahead of them until we stumbled upon you.” Dayvin shook his head as if still debating whether fetching an unknown kid from a crater while being hunted by ants was wise. “We had been holding that lead for the better part of the last day.”

“So we’re fine, right?” I questioned.

“We were still outside their kill range at the time,” Dayvin informed me.

“And what exactly is a kill range?”

“Desert crawlers will follow along sluggishly until whatever they are following shows signs of slowing down. Such as, oh, I don’t know, stopping to investigate a random crater in the sand.” He was looking pointedly toward Veronika, but she merely shrugged.

“I’m sure it will work out.” The woman seemed unbothered, save for the nervous glance backward every other minute. “Worst case scenario, we fight our way out.”

“Fight our way out.” Tez scoffed. “Of a super pack?”

“Well, do you suggest we take them to tea?” Veronika snapped, though I could tell her voice had little malice. “Don’t put this on me. I told you guys we shouldn’t have brought the horses.”

“Oh, who said they didn’t want to deal with being late again?”

“I was just saying that because last time we arrived a week later and missed the job entirely!”

“Oh, and who was the one that accepted that request in the first place? Even though you knew we were unlikely to make it in time!”

“Uh-” Before the group could continue their verbal barrage against one another, I took my chance to interject. “-do you normally argue like this?’

“You get used to it.” Dayvin sighed. He was the only one out of the four who hadn’t been slinging excessive accusations around. “Besides the twins being obviously related, Veronika is their god-aunt.”

“God… aunt?” I questioned, looking back toward the horizon, part of me imagining I could see the sand turned up more than usual.

“Like a godmother, except an aunt.” Veronika nodded as if it made complete sense. “They were entrusted to their aunt, who then entrusted them to me as their god-aunt.”

“Right. Right.” I nodded more for conversational sake than any understanding of the group dynamics. “If I may, how exactly does that all lead to… this?” I waved vaguely around us as if that was enough explanation.

“Dayvin and I were adventurers for hire, a duo. After these two joined us, we formed our own party.”

“Wait-” I nearly stopped in my tracks until I remembered we were in the process of running from man-eating ants. “-you guys are adventurers?”

Rather than respond, Veronika stuck her left arm out, jangling it. The sleeve of her billowy shirt fell back, revealing a metal band around her forearm, a strange mix of green and burnt orange.

Copper, and by the looks of it, it has only been the case for a handful of years.

“Those two are still at tin.” Veronika let her sleeve fall back down, covering her band up. “They’ve only been at this for about a year now?” She turned to look at the twins running in sync with one another.

“Thirteen months as of next week,” Tez confirmed.

“Dayvin and I have been at this for about eight years ourselves. Six years ago, we were promoted to the copper rank.”

Eight years and they’re only copper?

“I know what you’re thinking.” Veronika sighed. “Sorry to inform you, but most adventurers aren’t what the stories make us out to be. For the average adventurer, the highest they’ll ever see is copper or maybe even bronze rank.”

And to think mom was a gold rank in all but official rank alone.

“Anyway, we were returning to Enudtstrif after our last commission. But what about you? How exactly does a kid like you end up alone in a crater as if you fell from the sky?”

Would they believe me if I told them that was exactly what happened?

“I, uhh, was on my way to Dunehold. I was going to register to become an adventurer myself.”

“Oh, were you now?” I saw Veronika’s eyebrows creep up her face in surprise. “What are the chances? I think I can understand what happened now.”

“Uh, you can?” I momentarily eyed her, wondering if she was trying to trick me.

“Sure. You’re a runaway looking for a life of adventure. Decided to set out for Dunehold where the main branch is, and on the way got lost.”

“I... Yeah, yeah, that’s what happened.” I nodded, the story conveniently landing in my lap.

“Still, what was with the crater?”

“I, uh… I fell.” I answered with what I hoped was a convincing shrug.

Technically it wasn’t a lie. I did fall.

Just not as they probably imagined.

“What, did you take a dive off a nearby dune?”

“Y-yeah. I didn’t realize how much the sun was wearing down on me, so I passed out and fell from a dune. So, in a sense, I guess I did.”

Another lie, this one less of a white lie and more of a bald-faced lie.

Hey, what do you expect from me? I’d lived my entire life sheltered in a tiny village. Being sly was not my forte.

“Well, it’s a good thing we found you then. If there is one thing the Red Foxes are good at, it’s returning items and escorting people.” Veronika announced proudly.

“Yeah, because it’s basically all we do,” Zet grumbled.

“Oh, for the last time, would you-” Tez, ready to berate her brother, went silent as Veronika held up her hand.

“What is it?” Dayvin questioned.

“They’re here.”

“What? What do you mean they’re here?” Zet looked around, as did I, but nothing was unusual.

Meaning…

I threw myself to the side just in time as the ground exploded from beneath us, the sand like a smokescreen that obscured the fate of the Red Foxes.

Oh, please don’t be dead.

I scrambled back to my feet, reaching into my cloak for my sword, my head on a swivel as I searched for recently met travel companions.

The sand settling, I let out a sigh of relief. All four were okay from what it looked like, though being alright wasn’t precisely the same as being safe. Veronika and Dayvin had backed up and were currently busy holding off several-

What in the gods above is that!

They’d told me they were being followed by man-eating ants, but in my mind, I thought that would perhaps mean ants the size of your ant that would swarm you.

Not ants nearly the size of a damn horse.

Each one was as tall and long as Dayvin, the largest of the group. Several more were still crawling their way free from the hole in the ground, mandibles clicking in what wasn’t the stuff of nightmares, I swear.

“How did they get here so fast?” Dayvin shouted as he swung an oversized hammer like it weighed nothing more than a meat tenderizer.

“It’s a scouting group!” Veronika yelled back, her sword sweeping a leg from one of the attacking ants. “Just focus!”

Zet and Tez were back-to-back, Tez holding a staff tipped with a flat blade that had appeared from nowhere. In contrast, Zet was swinging a chain with a circular-looking blade on either end, each rotation through the air causing the circular blades to spin faster and faster.

What are they, circus acts?

I’d never seen weapons like those, but I’d only seen the standard swords and spears for most of my life; I wasn’t a weapons expert.

“Watch out!”

I had been so distracted checking up on how the group was faring that I had forgotten about myself and, more importantly, my surroundings.

“Tez, help him!”

Even with the warning, there was no way for the girl to reach me in time as four ants lunged out at me from the hole, giant mandibles poised to snap me in half.

Breath.

They were big and fast, but they were still only ants.

This isn’t the same as with master.

I could do something.

I could help.

A cold breeze swept through me, the world slowing as my senses heightened, heat building in every one of my muscle fibers.

And… release!

In one swift motion, I struck out, slashing the legs out from underneath the four ants, which fell helplessly. Moving past their maimed bodies, my eyes darted about, searching for the next immediate threat.

Except there was none. The ants that had erupted from the underground tunnel had been swiftly dealt with. The only thing remaining was the looks of disbelief from the Red Foxes, who watched me as if I were some strange beast.

“Uh.” I slid my sword back inside my cloak awkwardly, coughing into my fist. “I had a good teacher.”

“I’ll say.” Veronika whistled, looking between the four ants that had been rendered immobile. “What was that? One moment you were there, the next you shot forward like an arrow from a bow.”

“That was-” I winced mid-sentence as the beginning of the backlash hit me. It wasn’t enough to immobilize me, but I was sure I would ache like I’d been beaten the next day. “-just something I’ve been practicing.”

“Well, I guess you aren’t just some kid who thought traveling the desert alone was a good idea.” Veronika looked between the ants and me once more before cracking a half-smile.

“Ought to get a move on, I guess. With the scouting party dealt with, the main super pack may decide not to bother, but I’d rather not hang around and find out.”

I nodded, rubbing a hand on my neck, the sun beginning to do a number on my skin.

“Onwards to Enudtstrif.”