An endless desert stretched into the horizon, the only thing other than sand and dirt were the rocky brown mountains in the distance that covered the distance like a protective wall.
The calm sands were disturbed by the wind that came from a floating metal plate whizzing over the untouched scenery.
No matter how fast or far the floating plate moved, the mountains in the distance looked exactly the same, proving just how incredibly giant and far away they truly were.
The sun was on its way down the sky, yet still shined strong enough to make the air twist like water due to the heat.
“Ugh......Those mountains look the saaaame..are we ever going to get to the next city..”
Yuri lay sprawled out on the metal plate while Hikaru sat at the front, calmly watching the unchanging mountains.
“Eventually. It is a shame that none of the cities around the golden city possessed any relics. At least we managed to get some supplies before the refugees escaping the mana rain bought up everything.”
He nodded at a few sacks of food that were quickly becoming empty.
“Hikaruuuuu, how are we going to get over the mountains..we are starting to run out of food..and I'm sick of dried jerky and dried tomatoes..I want sweets! I want pastries! I want juice! I need sugar! Hikaru my body needs it!!”
She clung to his waist and complained loudly.
“We will make sure to get that in stock once we get to our stop then”
Her rubbed her head while chewing on a piece of rubbery jerky.
“What stop! There's nothing here! It's just sand, and more sand and maybe a cactus and then some more sand!”
Rolling around on the metal plate, she stood up and pointed at Hikaru.
“How do you even know there's a stop here! You don't even have a map! There is no sign that anything has ever lived here other than pointy cactuses that don't even taste sweet!”
She yelled, having tasted the meat of one of the cactuses and cursing her curiosity when they turned out to be more bitter than anything she ever tasted before.
“Calm down Yuri, I can't tell you with certainty where our next stop is, but it should be somewhere in this desert.”
“Hikaruuuu....this desert is huge! We've been driving through it for days now! How the hell are we going to find this stop if we don't even know where it is! Damnit, I'm starting to get a tan because of this sun! I've always prided myself on my pale white skin! I used to be called the metropolis ghost!”
“We won't find it, if you give it some time however, it will find us”
Just as Hikaru said this, they got over a large hill of sand.
Since Yuri was standing up on the plate, she was the first to get a good look over the sands.
Her eyes glittered happily. Whatever she saw, certainly made her excited.
Eventually they managed to fully get the metal plate to the top of the sandy hill, where they floated in silence for a bit.
It was more a mountain that a city, a giant wide mountain on which people had built hundreds of houses and roads.
There was even a large church tower that was made from the rock of the mountain itself and stood high above everything in the desert, except the walls of mountains in the distance.
Everything was made out of some sort of rock or clay, but was coloured with various bright colours to distinguish each house with special markings or house paints.
The city made from a literal mountain even had trees and vegetation growing everywhere on it. It looked just like a paradise oasis in the middle of the hellish emptiness that was the desert.
“That's it, the city of Asur. They should have some pretty good pastries and sweets, since they do a lot of trading”
Hikaru said, despite the sands out of the city looking extremely untouched and pristine, with no one being outside the city. Which made his statement of it being a city that trades a lot fairly strange, since that would usually mean a lot of traders travelling in and out of it and through the desert.
Of course Yuri wouldn't notice such a small detail and her mind filled with potential conquests of thievery and the delicious pastries she would gorge herself on.
Her belly rumbled slightly.
“Hungry? You should eat some jerky, it's going to be a while before we reach it, it looks close, but that's just because of its size”
A piece of grey jerky was waved in front of Yuri's face, making her nose wrinkle.
“No! No way am I eating this crap when there's a buffet of stuff waiting for me over there! Screw this!”
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Kneeling down, she began to draw on the plate. After managing to draw a few runes in the middle of the plate, which was quite difficult since it was made from fairly scratch resistant material.
Yuri activated the runes and grabbed the front of the plate, holding on for dear life.
“I recommend holding on, or else I will leave you behind!”
The runes shone slightly, then the entire metal plate began to glow. It's floating shifted slightly, and it rose a few meters before shooting out like a bullet across the sands.
Hikaru had just barely managed to hold on to the plate at the last second before it flew off.
Their sacks of jerky had fallen off at the top of the hill when they shot out of there like a rocket. Yuri didn't mind however, there was a whole buffet of treasure and sweets waiting for her in the distance.
–
The gates to the city of colourful stone and clay stood high in front of them.
“Hey, open up! We have come for your sweets, and your treats!”
Yuri announced like a weird children's story and stomped her foot on the metal plate that was stuck to the side of the stone gate.
The floating metal plate, wasn't floating so well any more, since it crashed into the gate like an arrow, becoming stuck in the stone like a diving board.
Yuri kept jumping up and down on the end of the plate like a diving board.
“Hey! Open! The! Damn! Gate!”
Hikaru stood below her, the sands surrounding him up to his knees.
“Who dares attack the great city of Asur. Scoundrels begone, this city is only for those of the noble tradesmen. No other outsiders are allowed!”
Came a loud voice from above the gate. A row of bare chested men who wielded long bronze spears stood at the top of the gates.
“Uh. We're traders! But you see, our...magic wagon broke down and we couldn't stop it. So we ended up colliding with your very stony gate, losing all our merchandise. It was delicate metals that evaporate when moved too quickly so!”
She made up a convenient lie to gain entry since it was the easiest way she could think of.
“Very well. These metals must have been truly valuable for you to travel at this season. You may enter and attempt to contact your contractors. We dislike leaving people out to dry in the desert.”
The gates slowly began to open, pushed open by several of the same bare chested guards, while the rest stood still atop the gate as it moved.
The sands were pushed to the sides of the entrance by the stone gate doors and Hikaru gratefully walked out of the sand sea, while Yuri jumped down from the plate still stuck to the gate.
Inside was like an alien world compared to the dead sandy sea outside. Greenery filled a lot of houses and many of the roads.
Men, women and children walked around on their way to their various destinations. There was even a fountain in the middle of the plaza ahead. A turtle that was shooting out water from its shell and showering the children that played with a pleasant, cooling drizzle.
“This place is just as I remember it, the heart of life in a place where no life is allowed...humans truly are brilliant..”
Hikaru stood for a few moments, admiring the calming pleasant sight in front of him.
Something about the scene changed as he blinked away a stray drop of water from his eyes.
Now among the children who were mostly six years old, was now a slightly older girl, that was running around happily with a sweet looking bun in her mouth and her arms full of various colourful buns.
“....Yuri” Hikaru smiled awkwardly at the girl who munched on pastries while frolicking around in the soft water drizzle.
“DISH SHTUF ISH GUUD!”
Noticing his gaze, Yuri happily spoke with cheeks full of cream and dough.
The other children chased after the weird girl while trying to get the sweets from her.
“NUU DIS ISH MINE!”
She kept running around in circles away from the children while quickly munching on her treats.
Everyone in the plaza looked upon the slightly awkward scene, but couldn't help but smile at the girl who was so whole heartedly enjoying herself.
Hikaru suddenly snapped back to reality.
“Yuri.”
He grabbed her out of the drizzle of the fountain, making her drop some of her pastries.
She pouted at him as the children instantly reach for them.
“Awh, my sweets! What Hikaru.”
“Your clothes.”
Looking down she found her white dress was quickly becoming transparent because of the water.
“Wha. Where are you looking!”
She instinctively kicked him in the groin, but having forgotten he wore armoured clothes, crouched down in pain while holding her foot.
She was blushing with an angry face. But it wasn't due to people around them seeing her as much as just him.
She wondered why she felt so embarrassed when it was Hikaru that pointed that out. She held her hands protectively around her body while glaring at him.
Wanting to calm the glaring pouting girl in front of him, Hikaru took off his armoured jacket and put it over her shoulders.
The sudden weight on her shoulders almost made her fall, but she gratefully wrapped it around herself. Although despite finally being covered up, she blushed even harder for an unknown reason.
“I suppose it is good most men around here walk around bare chested”
Hikaru commented while glancing at most of the men around them, true to his words, they were mostly bare chested, like it was a popular fashion choice in this city.
Yuri kept blushing while glancing at Hikaru. His body was not as large as many of the men around here, but his muscles were tight and efficient and she was sure that each small part of his muscles was as effective if not more than some of the other men's largest muscles. She thought the water drops landing on his chest were kind of interesting to look at, how they so smoothly travelled down and-
(W-what am I thinking!? What! No I have no interest in that! I just thought he was impressive! Yeah! Just like..admiring a really powerful warrior! I definitely wasn't thinking that he looked good! Or enticing..or...)
She ended up unwillingly glancing at his bare chest again.
“NO!NONONO!”
Kneeling down, she hit her head against the ground until a small stream of blood began to travel down face.
“Yuri! What are you doing! Are you okay!?!”
Hikaru stopped her and lifted her up to her feet while checking over her small wound.
“I'm..completely...normal!”
She gave him a thumbs up before fainting, the last image in her mind was his bare chest awfully close to her face.
“Damn...this...stupid..body...”