Morning sunshine poured in through the skylight, waking Huay. She sat up with a groan and slid out of bed before rising to her feet. It had been a poor night’s sleep—owing mostly to the impossible heat of the desert—and she found herself wishing for a cup of coffee to shake off the grogginess. Do they even have that in this world? Zell was still fast asleep on his side of the room and, upon seeing this, she decided to go outside.
A blue sky and scalding-hot air greeted her as she stepped out the door. Gigantic dunes surrounded the encampment on all sides, and steady winds left the area dusty and uncomfortable. Huay was getting used to it though, and the rough air hardly registered. She went behind the house to shade herself a bit more from the sun and leaned against the back wall.
This is the calmest things have been since I got here. She let out a big sigh. It hadn’t been long since her arrival and yet so much had happened. Even her body itself was irreversibly changed. A missing arm was a visual reminder that things would never be the same, but it was only one aspect of the ‘transformation’ she felt as though she could do nothing to stop. Magical powers and a previously unimaginable level of fitness were hers. Huay shook her head. None of those things mattered.
She just wanted her old life back. Her uneventful, unfulfilling life as a lonely college student on the verge of failing her classes. Maybe Misrafal will be a return to the same-old. Huay chuckled at the idea. She knew almost nothing about her destination, but she understood that the world as she knew it was gone.
Her stomach growled. All my meals so far have been meat. Some variety would be nice. She found herself craving fast food. Even a salad would work. Anything familiar. It seemed reasonable to think that they’d have stuff like that in Misrafal. Huay reminded herself that she would soon have a lot of money on her hands. I’ll treat myself to something nice when I get there…
The squeals of an unknown creature made Huay flinch. The high-pitched noise seemed to come from the stables. The camels! She picked herself up off the wall and ran to the source.
She stumbled into a gory scene. The camels stood over a shrieking creature at level 10, about the size of a wolf. It was on the ground, flailing helplessly as the two much larger beasts looked on. They took turns stomping on the hairless animal whose eight legs were already broken, lying helplessly on its back. Blood sprayed forth from the vaguely feline monster.
The camels, having crushed the still-alive creature beyond the point of fighting back, stopped their assault and craned their necks to bite into the animal’s torso. Huay took a step back in horror as the camels proceeded to feast upon their prey. The animal kept screaming all the while until, at last, it went silent.
“+325 XP.”
As soon as the voice spoke, both camels looked up. Their eyes darted around the surroundings, as though in search of something, before locking their suddenly disgusted gazes on each other. There were a few seconds of stillness, with both camels sizing up the other, until Ram charged at Zell’s camel and slammed into it. Are they fighting over the XP?
Zell’s camel, almost 10 levels stronger than its aggressor, shrugged off the hit and retaliated with a kick that sent flames through the air. What the hell?! Is that its ability? The attack missed, but upon seeing how outmatched she was, Ram backed off.
“What are you guys doing?!” Huay placed herself between the angry animals, ready to use Golden Glow if the need arose. “If this is about the XP, that’s my fault! It’s my title!”
The camels stared at her with intense disdain. She tried to apologize, but the camels just shook their heads and went back to eating. They gorged themselves until only the bones remained.
“Is something wrong?” Zell, already dressed for travel, popped out of the house as things calmed down.
“They just… What the hell is wrong with these camels?”
“What do you mean?” He walked over to his camel and started loading it up with his cargo. “They had good reason to fight. You did steal their XP, after all. Lamprey is an unfortunate Title to have.”
“Oh… I didn’t realize you were listening,” Huay said. Whatever. It doesn’t really matter if one person knows. “But I meant, like, why did they kill that thing?”
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“The pothma cat? Well, they need to eat. There’s not much grass around here.” Zell’s matter-of-fact answer made Huay feel like she wasn’t cut out for this world.
“Jeez…”
“That, and the fact that killing other animals gives more XP than grass ever could. Got to level up somehow.”
“The camels care that much about leveling up?”
“Sure. Especially yours. She doesn’t look very strong as things stand.” He finished readying his camel for the journey. “But nevermind that. We leave in 5 minutes. Get your stuff, we can eat on the way. We’re already off to a late start. No time to waste.” You were the one sleeping in.
Huay spent the next few minutes preparing and climbed up on her camel once she was ready. Seeing that his companion was ready to go, Zell snapped his fingers. She covered her ears to shield against the deafening roar of their shelter and the stables collapsing in on themselves until there was no trace of them ever having been there. With that, they started on their way.
They walked for a few hours without saying much to each other. Huay found it near-impossible to eat and stabilize herself at the same time—mostly due to the missing arm—but Ram was a strikingly intelligent creature who made softer movements after noticing Huay’s struggle. The voice spoke some time after she had finished breakfast:
“Certification upgraded. Basic Heat Resistance improved to Skilled Heat Resistance.”
Finally the heat seemed survivable. The desert was less like being trapped in a sauna and more like going outside on an unusually hot summer day. It was still awful, and the discomfort remained immense, but she felt as though she could make it through a full day of travel without passing out. Huay also hoped that she would sweat a little less going forward. She knew how awful she smelled.
The journey continued for another hour or so without incident. Zell, all the while, would sometimes look back as if checking for pursuers, but he never seemed to react, so Huay decided not to worry.
“So, Huay, do you feel like telling me your ability now?” Zell broke the silence. There was a hint of amusement in his tone. “You really ought to say.”
“Salein told me to keep it a secret.” Though she said the same about Lamprey, and I’ve already let that one slip…
“Who?”
“One of the people I was in the dungeon with.”
“It makes sense to keep that Title of yours a secret.” He chuckled. “You must be an awful person to have received something like that… But I don’t see what could be so special about your ability. What, is it Necromancy? Plaguemaking? Miasma? Something uncatalogued?”
“I really don’t know… But Salein told me not to tell anyone about it.”
“Suit yourself.” He shook his head. “But I don’t want to protect someone I can’t trust. Especially not when that person holds a Title like Lamprey.”
Huay said nothing in response. They continued walking in silence for a while longer. Zell looked back with increasing frequency as the journey continued. He was very obviously looking for something—though Huay was unsure as to what that might be.
Eventually, after the turnarounds became near-constant, Huay finally decided to look back and see what was bothering Zell so much. She didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Is he just paranoid? The camels didn’t seem to have detected anything either.
“What’s wrong?” She spoke after a few more minutes of silence.
“Say. Being a foreigner and whatnot, you probably haven’t heard of Shaam rays. Or am I wrong?”
“Um, no… What are they?”
“They’re an iconic part of Shaam Wildlife. Hmm… How would I describe them? They’re these flat monsters with massive fins and long tails.” Like a manta ray? “Each is about 40 feet across and weighs about 30,000 pounds—and they live under the sand in packs of up to 30.”
“What the fuck? Is there a pack coming after us now? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”
“No, it’s just one. I’ve been gauging its strength. It’s merely an injured child, probably got separated from the pack.”
“But this thing is coming after us?!”
“Yeah. I’ve been watching its vibrations under the sand for a few hours now. This thing is definitely out for blood.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“Relax. It’s only 15 feet across—so, given its shape, that would put it at about the weight of a camel. I bet mine could kill it without much trouble.”
“Still! What if it had been more serious?” Huay shuddered to imagine being chased on land by manta rays the size of houses. “You should have told me when you noticed it!”
“Well, too late now.” Zell grinned. “Also, it’s about a minute away. It’s moving slow now, but they’re fast when attacking. So get ready.”
Huay hurried to look back, but still couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Where is this thing? Is he messing with me?
She kept staring back. It took a while to notice the very slight rustling of sand behind her. It easily could’ve been the wind, but it seemed to be getting closer.
Huay directed her camel as close as she could get to Zell. It would be a bad idea to fight so cramped together, but Huay wanted to make sure Zell would shield her from the ray’s attacks.
Suddenly, a huge column of sand exploded out from the ground beneath Zell and his camel. The two were lifted a few stories off the ground until they stood atop a mighty pillar—leaving Huay and Ram stranded on the dangerous ground far beneath.