The sand hissed and trembled beneath Emily's foot as a Venomtail tried to shake itself free and launch an ambush on their small traveling party. However, Emily was not about to fall for the same trick twice. Her blood speared through the dune and sank into the gaps in its chitin, killing it before it even had a chance to emerge. As the Life force hit, she used that time to search for any more threats, but sadly, there was only one scorpion creature nearby.

Turning back to Tao and Alex, she watched as they continued inspecting the map at hand.

Right now, the sun was still belting down on them like a physical force, and even the Ashvali were sweating.

They had left just as the sun was rising this morning, so this was the first time she was trying to travel during the daylight hours. They were only half a day out from their starting point, and she already wanted to curl up under a tarp and go to sleep.

The only reason they were able to move was because of the sandburrowers. Which turned out to be a beetle with a dull brown exoskeleton. These large, oval creatures were almost as big as Cupcake, but from what Tao said, they were skittish and herbivorous.

When Emily asked what plant life there was in the desert, she was surprised to learn there were a few spots where vegetation managed to grow well enough in this heat.

But in this case, they ate the discarded bark of the city tree.

Interestingly, the heat didn't bother this species of beetle—they could march for days without rest or water. Making them the perfect transportation. What was also curious was their saddles.

Instead of straddling the beast, a flat mat was affixed to the top of their shell, with a narrow tarp stretched over the area. To ride them, one had to lie either on their stomach or back.

As far as Emily was concerned, the design was perfect. You could harness the beetles in a line and have just one person leading their march while the rest conserve energy.

Unfortunately, with only five of them out here, it wasn't safe to do that. They all had to stay alert for dangers roaming this hell.

Which, Emily was convinced, made it feel like some kind of punishment. To have the perfect place for a nap in the heat, and not be able to use it.

Tao rolled up the map again and pointed into the distance.

"We're on track, four more hours in that direction, and we'll start to see signs of our destination," he said.

Emily went over to check on her Rime Wolf again. Outwardly, the beast was panting raggedly, but Emily could feel that she was seemingly enjoying the heat.

Emily wasn't sure how her connection had influenced the wolf's natural resistance to heat, but it had made a huge difference to a beast aligned with the cold.

Cupcake seemed only too happy to nuzzle her before they had to move again.

Emily patted her flank as she remounted the sandburrower. She could ride Cupcake now, but carrying her would only make it harder on the beast, so she decided to ride the mount she was given.

Their journey continued through the desert as a small convoy of beetles trudging on their six legs with a Rime wolf padding after them.

Hours of travel passed like this, and it was only another five later that they came across the first changes.

And what drastic changes they were.

The warm yellow sands stretched as far as the eye could see, but somewhere along the way, Emily began to notice a change. Flecks of black speckled the brilliant dunes, gradually shifting their color to a soft gray. In some places, the trails were faint; in others, they deepened and spread, making the landscape look like two oceans colliding.

One side was bright and brilliant; the other, dark and stormy. Even the sun seemed to dim. The sky remained clear, unchanged, and yet a quiet loneliness crept in as they stepped onto the ash coloured sands.

"Alright, from here, we're in far more dangerous territory. Half a day's travel from here, there is a sanctuary where we will hole up, but keep your eyes on the horizon." Tao said as he took the lead again.

Emily did exactly that as she began to monitor their surroundings once more. The gray sands gave off a rather alien feeling, and Emily wasn't about to let her guard down at this stage.

There was only one problem. The closer they got, the less time she had to perfect her matrices.

She was still stuck on the yellow source. After a bit of tinkering, Emily had found that she needed to create a spiral shade, but she also needed to leave just enough space between the shapes to allow herself to breathe. She needed to make the matrix somewhat permeable. This turned out to be harder than she would have first thought, but still manageable.

The real problem came when she tried to include the third shape.

Emily had noticed that when she merged the previous two matrices, there was an increase in the effective strength of the technique.

Basically, the two shapes strengthened one another, and in exchange, it took a lot more of her concentration to keep active.

Adding a third seemed to have a similar problem. First off, it took almost her full concentration to maintain the three matrices as one, so much so that she barely had the concentration to put one foot in front of the other.

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Secondly, from the looks of things, she actually had to make the strength of the spiral pattern even weaker. The increase in effect strength threw off her calculations, and she was right back to where she started.

Normally, this wouldn't matter; however, when they were just hours away from their destination, she didn't have time to be redoing steps like this.

The frustration must have shown because when Alex, who was directly in front of her, turned back, he frowned and climbed to his feet.

Hopping from the back of his beast onto hers, he sat down cross-legged in front of her.

"You look frustrated, which isn't like you. What's going on?" he asked.

Emily blinked owlishly; she still wasn't used to people genuinely asking how she was doing.

She had to hold back the evasive answer.

"Well… I'm stuck on one of the Shaman's techniques, and it's taking way too long to figure it out."

Alex cocked his head in surprise.

"That's a first," he said wistfully.

Emily furrowed her brow.

"What do you mean? This technique is giving me a headache trying to parse it out. All I have a weird mysticisms to go on," she said, annoyed.

"I know. Apologies, it was not my intention to mock you. It's just that you always figure things out so quickly. If you're struggling, then it means that it's either a really hard task, or you don't care enough about it."

Emily bit the inside of her cheek. Seeing as though this technique was the only thing that would be able to keep her alive, she needed to know it.

Emily paused almost as soon as she had that thought. Did she care? The Shaman's techniques were interesting, and Emily did want to learn them, but was she treating them like the lifeline they were? She'd asked Ashe to make her something and even borrowed the relic from Svent to have other options. She didn't regret this, but were they making her complacent?

If she didn't work this technique out, could she afford to rely on one of the other methods?

The earthen dome Ashe had translated for her was probably fairly strong, but there was no guarantee it would work.

The same could be said for the relic. If it could indeed project a ward to keep her safe, could she fuel it with the refined source she had on hand?

Emily had found nine additional tiles slipped inside the pages of the book, but would they be enough?

All the while, Emily thought, and Alex sat patiently.

"You know, I'm aware this isn't fair to you, and the fact that you've been willing to go along with this till now is a surprise. I want you to know I'm grateful, and that one day, when we get home, I'll repay this."

Emily started from her thoughts. That had come from nowhere. She wanted to tell him not to be grateful. That everything she'd done was because she had wanted to, because it was the truth. But the sincerity in Alex's voice caught her off guard.

Emily frowned. She tried looking away from him, but he was sitting right in front of her field of view, so she just turned her eyes towards the sky.

The faintest clouds were beginning to stir up there, but as of yet, nothing to worry about.

Alex seemed to be waiting for something, but when she could handle the silence any longer, she sighed.

"Alexander…Our deal is simple. Get me to the winter festival in time so that I can carry out her last wish. I'm not Eva, and that place isn't my home. I won't be staying for long; however…I appreciate the thought."

Emily needed him to know that she wouldn't be around forever. If he was confusing her with the deceased woman, then it was better to disabuse him of that notion now. She thought that the reminder would cause Alex to retreat, but to her surprise, he seemed to expect that answer.

"I understand that. I'm not going to confuse you with Eva anytime soon. That statement was just for you."

Emily recoiled like she'd been burned. But she recovered quickly.

"If you going to talk shit go back to your own ride and stop mooching here."

Alex didn't say anything to defend himself; instead, he just smiled mischievously.

"I will, but you'll get it. I know you by now," he said as he stood and turned to hop back to his own ride.

Emily squinted at his back as he jumped over and contemplated swatting him out of the air, but finally decided it was more trouble than it was worth.

As frustrating as he was, what he'd said had helped more than she was willing to admit. She'd get it; she just needed to turn her full focus on the problem.

After that, Emily began to practice in earnest. She continued to test out the matrix until she found the correct ratio. After that, Emily focused entirely on weaving the three pieces of her technique into one seamless whole. It still demanded most of her concentration, but it was becoming second nature, like remembering how to breathe. The matrix no longer fought her. She could move with it now, and in theory, it would shield her from the storm's wild energy.

She poured everything into refining it, spending each moment of this leg of the journey deep in mental rehearsal. Mo and Ra took over watching their surroundings, a silent agreement forming without a word. That was their role, after all. Hers was to survive what came next.

So focused was she that she didn't notice the gradual thickening of the clouds above. At some point, the sky shifted from glassy blue to a charcoal gray so dense it looked painted on. Strangely, the heat didn't drop, not even slightly. It clung to the air like wet fabric, unmoved by the lack of sunlight.

The wind had started to scream between the dunes, though Emily only felt it when she dropped the matrix to adjust it. Sharp gusts bit at her skin, then vanished again as her barrier snapped back into place.

Night had long since fallen, but it was the kind of night that didn't cool the land. The kind that clung to your skin and made you feel as though you'd never be clean again. Somewhere beyond the mountains, dawn stirred—but it brought no comfort. They were all running on fumes when the outpost finally came into view, carved directly into the rock like a scar.

The timing could not have been more critical.

Tao's voice shattered her concentration like glass.

"Everyone run! A storm is coming!"

Emily snapped her head up, blinking against the sudden sensory overload. At first, she didn't understand, then she turned toward the horizon.

What she saw was nothing she could compare to Earth. No storm she'd ever known moved like this.

A wall of black loomed in the distance, taller than the mountains and thick with rage. Lightning cracked and forked inside it like a god's broken nerves, illuminating brief glimpses of writhing clouds and twisted, unnatural movement. Winds tore at the dunes, ripping up golden sands and hurling them into the air—only for them to melt mid-flight and fall back as molten glass, hissing and hardening on contact.

The world turned red, not with sunrise, but with fire.

It looked like the gates of hell had opened just a few kilometers away.

Emily let out a sharp whistle. Cupcake responded instantly, surging forward as they all sprinted toward the rocky sanctuary. Her lungs burned, her limbs ached, but the storm was faster.

The entrance came into view: a mouth carved into the stone, sloped like an awning to catch the worst of the glass rain. They reached it with only minutes to spare.

Already, the temperature had risen past tolerable—sweat didn't drip, it evaporated. Tao yanked the door open, and one by one they vanished into the narrow stairwell, descending into the darkness below.

Then it hit.

The sound was deafening.

It was like a thousand iron nails falling on a steel roof, only this wasn't rain. If even one drop breached the rock overhead, it wouldn't just wet them—it would pour molten death over them all.

Emily stood frozen for a heartbeat, listening to the world above turn into a forge. The ceiling glowed faintly red. No one had to say it—but they all knew: if they'd been even a minute slower, they wouldn't have made it.

Blood points: 638

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