Dev woke up to a very different world than he went to sleep in. The previously cool sand was now replaced with hot, burning particles, reflecting a blinding amount of sunlight. Dev quickly rose off the ground and looked around to orient himself, looking to the sun to see that it was a couple of hours above the horizon.
What to do… Dev mused, looking around. While he had succeeded in getting rid of Axel, he hadn’t planned what he would do when he succeeded.
He climbed back to the top of the dune and sat down, watching the glistening blue water fly by beneath him.
I could wait until the mountains come back, try to regroup with the others. But that will still be three more days, and they probably didn’t stay at the temple.
That was out, so he moved on to the next option. I could go into the desert, and hopefully find a group I can work with?
That was a distinct possibility, but he didn’t know anything about desert survival, and it didn’t seem likely that he’d just stumble across a good anima inheritance a second time.
The third option is to watch the other islands, and hope that I can spot something promising in time to make the crossing.
Dev hemmed and hawed, going back and forth on deciding his course of action.
Eventually, as land became visible on the horizon, he came to a decision, I’ll try my luck here, but if I strike out, I can try another island.
Dev got up and dusted himself off, turning inland.
------
Several hours later, struggling up the side of yet another sand dune, Dev was cursing that decision. Why? I should have just waited! I could be on another island by now.
He crested the dune and nearly cried out in relief as he saw an oasis ahead, surrounded by tents. He quickened his pace, and after a not so long walk, he approached the camp
“Hello—” his voice came out as a hiss, so he got a drink of water and started again.
“Hello, the camp!” he called out. He waited a moment, but no one responded.
“Hello!” he tried again, and when he once again got no response, he carefully approached. There were easily a dozen tents set up around a fire pit with a spit, but no people. He quickly peeked inside each of the tents, but still, nobody.
He came to the firepit and, holding his hand over it, found that it still seemed warmer than the sands around it.
So either something attacked them since this morning and then disappeared without a trace… or they left for the day and will be back soon.
Fairly confident that the second option was correct, Dev found a seat under a tree to snooze and wait for their return.
After a few more hours, Dev was woken by the sounds of people talking and got up as they approached camp. As he came out, he saw the group come to a stop.
A tall, blonde boy stepped forward and called out, saying “Who are you, and why are you in our camp?”
Well, not the best start, but Dev could work with this.
“My name’s Dev. I’m new to the desert. I found your camp and decided to wait around.”
At this, the group relaxed and approached his position. There were nearly twenty of them, and Dev tried not to feel nervous as he was surrounded.
“So, what do you know?” the guy asked him. “I’m Will, by the way.”
“It’s a desert, it has sand, and it has heavy attunements towards earth, light, and fire,” Dev rattled off.
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Will laughed.
“Sounds like you got it,” he said as they walked into camp and sat down. “But there’s also a cold attunement present at night.”
Dev’s stomach growled.
“What have y’all been eating out here? In the forest, we could just forage for herbs. That doesn’t seem feasible out here.”
“We’ve been snaring animals. We have traps placed around the oasis, and we also have a few dates from the trees. Did you say you had herbs?”
“Yeah,” Dev answered, startled by the sudden intensity of the guy’s gaze.
“Do you still have any? Can we have some?”
Dev hesitantly agreed, causing Will to stand up, and go over to a black haired girl. He spoke to her really quickly and then came back to sit down while she grabbed a pair of other people and left camp.
“What was that about?”
“I just asked them to go and check the traps. If we have actual seasoning, we’ll be eating early tonight. You said you were in the forest?”
“Mountains, actually. But the lower areas were forested.”
“Sounds nice. Why did you come here?”
“Was looking for new opportunities,” Dev lied shamelessly. He had the feeling that his story of pushing another guy to the brink of exhaustion would not be well received. “Do you know of any anima related inheritances? What inheritance were y’all at when I arrived?”
“Unfortunately, no anima inheritances that I’ve heard of. We were at the Sun God trials. They’re a set of trials that were apparently created personally by Apollo and have techniques he created.”
“Hmm, maybe I’ll join you tomorrow. I have a low fire affinity, so it might be worth checking out.”
“Dude, if you can give us food that doesn’t taste like rubber, you’re welcome whenever.”
Just then, the girl from earlier came back with a crushed looking snake and a desert hare. The boy that had gone with her had his arms full of what looked like deadfall and bramble, while the girl was holding another hare.
“You ready to cook?” she asked sharply.
“Yeah,” Dev jumped up and followed her over to the fire pit.
“You know how to skin an animal?”
“I can skin a rabbit. Wouldn’t know where to start with a snake.”
She tossed him the hare. “It’s pretty much the same thing. Don’t ruin it, or I’m telling everyone that you’re the reason they’re going hungry tonight.”
Dev gulped, and nodded, pulling out his knife and getting to work. As soon as he had the skin off, she took the rabbit from him and threaded it onto the spit.
“You're welcome. I’m Dev, by the way.”
“June. Where are the herbs?”
He got them out, presenting to her two onions, three garlic bulbs, and a carrot.
“Hmm. Could be better, but it will do.”
She quickly chopped them up and rubbed them into the hares and snake.
“Where did you say you got these again?”
“Mountain island, it passed around twenty hours ago.”
“Hmm.” She quickly put the stake back over the fire pit before throwing in some of the branches her helper had brought. She gestured with her hand and, with a flare of fire essence, the wood immediately ignited.
“Woah. You get that from the inheritance?”
“Yes. You going tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Good luck.”
She turned away from him, instead focusing on the roasting meat. When it was finished, she announced loudly, “Dinner is ready!”
As people lined up, Dev asked her, “Why are you doing everything by yourself? It would make more sense to have others help you.”
She glanced at the others derisively, then said, “They aren’t good cooks. I enjoy cooking, so instead, I cook for everyone, and everyone gets food that doesn’t taste like charcoal. Plus, I have you helping me today, and I can always borrow somebody else if I need to.”
He grabbed a portion for himself, placing it in the bowl that he’d stolen from Axel.
After giving it a minute to cool off, he dug in, relishing in the protein that had been missing from his diet for a few days.
At the end of the meal, Will stood up to make an announcement.
“Everyone, this is Dev,” Will said, pointing him out. “He’ll be going with us tomorrow. He’s the one you have to thank for the food tasting so much better tonight. Now, let's get to sleep. We want to be out of here before the sun rises. Nobody likes walking during the day.”
Several of them grumbled, but to Dev’s surprise, nobody protested.
“Is there anything you need?” Will asked him after they had dispersed.
“Do y’all have a spare tent? I may have lost mine.”
Dev blushed as Will looked at him oddly before nodding. “Yeah, that can be arranged. We have a few that nobody is using.”
Will retrieved a rolled up tent from the inside of another tent after a quick, whispered conversation with its occupants.
“Thank you.”
“No problem. Anything else?”
“Nope, I’m fine.”
Dev quickly found an empty spot on the ground and, after smoothing it out, set up his tent, crawled in, and went to sleep as soon as his head hit the ground.