Levien walked through the night, his ragged clothes barely holding to his body, but he just continued, no though of stopping even crossed his mind, just like his father taught him.
He didn't have anything to do other than count his steps, then his biggest enemy crept up behind him. It was like a lion jumping a small rabbit. Always unexpected, that's what he hated the most about this arch rival of his. His intrusive thoughts. Levien hated them, he hated thinking about his past in general not because it was horrific, not because it was unspeakable horror, but because he didn't remember any details about his childhood. The only thing he could always remember was that his father was important and that sometimes he would see his mother, which always made him more curious as why he couldn't remember anything. Actually he felt like he had forgotten something really important, like a piece of him had been taken out, but as always Levien just shook his head as hard as he could and pulled out the paper that he just remembered about.
His father probably told him to memorise what was written some time before his death, but the words written on the paper just didn't mean anything to Levien, they seemed like some gibberish a drunk man wrote. But it was better then thinking.
"Dad called this tiers right, but what are these names, was someone on some azalia or grass while writing these?" He accidently said out loud, before realizing it, shutting his mouth instantly as to not attract any night predictors and just focused back to the paper. There in a rectangle the were written 3 words (armon, damon and trimon). Right next to them there were written 3 more words in a diffrent rectangle (Noram, Basic, Peak). An arrow going from left to right connected the 2 rectangles.
----------------------------------------
Armon
Doman Damon
Trimon
----------------------------------------
Noram
Basic
Peak
----------------------------------------
Then Leviens eyes glazed upon the left bottom corner where to only 4 words were written. These words were more understandable to him, but it just seemed like an insult thrown at him.
----------------------------------------
YOU ARE
NON TIER
----------------------------------------
He looked at the words with doubt in his eyes, before ripping that part on the paper off and letting go of it. The paper gracefully flew away before landing on the sand a bit behind where he was walking, but Levien didn't look at that. He was already focused on the 2 rectangles and the words in them. He though for a moment before starting to recite them while walking. First he started with the left rectangles words, which were pretty easy to say.
"Armon, Armon, armon armon armon.........."
"Damon, Damon....................."
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
"Trimon..........."
After he felt that he knew the words well enough, he overlooked the right rectangles words, he couldn't fully read the words that were written because of the lack of light, but he felt confident to remember them. So much so that he hid the note away in his pocket before trying to remember what was written.
"Narom, wait no it's Noram right? Then after that it goes basic and then P... Pa.... no wait maybe Pe..... What is it" Levien hit his head before shouting as he remembered the word.
"Peak, yeah, peak." He felt a tad bit proud, but then realised that it took him way to long just to memorise 6 words, which made his smile quickly fade away.
Levien continued to walk and constantly repeat the 6 words for what it seemed hours, because it was the most entertaining thing he could think of while walking. His axe was on his back and pulling it out to play around with it would be such a pain in the ass. He wondered why did he strap it to his back so hard, but then just continued saying the 6 words like it was the most entertaining thing in the world. As he got bored Levien started to say the words with different intonations which let hit be entertained for a while longer.
As he got fully bored he felt the air pick up speed, which usually wasn't a great sign. The winds usually wouldn't be that fast even in some high hills or plains.
As Levien wondered a sudden wave of realization washed over him. He instantly looked from where the wind was coming from. His feard proved right as in the distance he saw something, like a massive wave coming right at him at high speeds, presumably a sandstorm or something even worse. He didn't waste much time before looking for a spot to hide
His eyes quickly darted around. To his right nothing. In front of him, nowhere to hide. Behind him there were some tall hills, but they were fairly far from him. Lastly to his left, his only hope. At first he also didn't see anything until his eyes saw a small small hill. The perfect place to hide. Levien started to run to the sand hill as quickly as he could, but a person can't outrun nature easily, and he was no exception.
The sandstorm slammed into Levien like a truck into an isekai protagonist. The boy continued to run as fast as he could where the hill should be. Sand was hitting every part of him. His body screamed like it was being pierced with countless knifes constantly. As he neared the cliff his legs got swept by the wind and he plummeted to the ground. The pain was sharp, but he didn't give up as that would mean death.
Levien started to get up, but the pressure of the wind was too much. He couldn't stand, so he started to crawl. Tiny inch each time. the sand made his face look like a canvas atop which someone threw red paint and left it. The blood started to seep into his left eye, but he persisted. Until finally he made it. He managed to reach the tiny hill. the wind was a bit weaker here, and much less sand was barraging him. Levien then put his back to the hill and then covered his torso with his arms and legs.
As the sandstorm continued to rage Levien started to repeat the 6 words constantly to make his mind go away from the pain. Which helped him not pass out from it.
"Armon armon. Noram armon, basic armon, peak armon"
"Noram damon, Basic damon, peak damon"
"Noram trimon, basic t-trimon, peak trimon"
as Levien continued to say the words through his clenched teeth from the pain he saw something though the tiny gap between his arms flying at him at high speeds. It didn't look like a sand cluster, nor a beast or person. And it was quite big. As he realized what it was, there was too little time to dodge it.
The rock collided with him, leaving Levien unconscious. His body limp, but instead of falling to the side onto the ground, his body didn't change the pose, purely because Levien was always taught to sit in a way that if he was knocked out he would still be in the same position, not moving an inch.
Many hours later Levien awoke. His ears were full of sand, his body ached and his head hurt really badly. He tried to wipe the sand from his eyes but couldn't as his arms seemed stuck. He shook his head around to let the sand fall off and opened his eyes. Levien found that it was already day and that his whole body apart his head were fully in sand, that was peculiar, but he just started slowly wigging out of his sand coffin until he was fully out.
Levien then started to wipe the sand that was stuck to his clothes away, as well as the blood clots that were still on him. His arms were especially blooded up and sandy, but after some diligent wiping of the hand his clothes looked much better. From sandman to a travelling hobo. But Levien was proud of such a clean up.
He sett off again on his journey, in the scorching sun.