Dawn- An age of Darkness

"Water…" A voice echoed. Something dripped. I didn't have feet but there was nothing beneath me: it was like I was floating. Almost as though I was deep in water where there was so bottom.

The darkness wasn't so dark and I could vaguely make out a shape deep down. The shape was black in color and the area around it was blue. It was probably chained.

"Water…" The voice called out again….

"What is this?" Again my voice didn't reach. This place was different from that place with darkness. That place felt sad and lonely.

This place felt lonely and desperate.

"Water!" The voice called out again. "I hate it!"

My consciousness faded.

***

Woke up in the morning: lately, I had a lot of weird dreams, but it wasn't time to be concerned about those things. The temperature was comfortable. The sun hadn't risen yet. But there was a problem. I couldn't focus. I needed caffeine. I used to pull all-nighters back on earth all the time. So it didn't feel as horrible as it should have but even so, it felt like I could fall any moment. Besides, I always had coffee to accompany me during those days.

The old man caught my swaying body. "Whoa, hang in there, boy."

"Got any tea or coffee?"

"Nada."

Was tea or coffee even a thing in this world? I did come across something that resembled tea in a shop before at Moiré, but ever since then, nothing.

Perfect. This is gonna be a great day.

The day started with the most wonderful of things. I couldn't focus, and breathing was hard. Alisa was still sleeping and sometimes mumbling stuff like, "Stop, I can't eat anymore." She was cute but I was jealous.

Later Jowy woke her and we had breakfast. I felt a little better after eating, but keeping my eyes open was somewhat a dread. I couldn't fall back asleep and I couldn't stay awake either. It was the greatest predicament of my life.

"I feel like I'm about to turn into an undead soon." And my voice sure felt that way too.

"Be sure to take notes Jowy. We might finally solve the mystery of how one can become an undead."

"Very funny old man…" I stuttered in more than one way.

"I know right. Ha ha ha." The old man's usual sarcastic laughter was back on track. Actually, it was worse than before.

The sun rose, and our misery began: mine intensified. With every passing minute, my blood boiled more and more. I couldn't feel my own body anymore. It was too hot. I leaked liters of sweat from all the pores of my body. I was rocking a white shirt and that was it. I wasn't even in my armor. The weather was just too hot.

"Look sharp boys. We've got a party up ahead." The old man's chuckles made me focused a bit.

"Huh?" I was barely clinging to my consciousness. Maybe the monsters knew that. That's why they came to attack us now.

Moving cactuses! Yesterday and last night we didn't come across them. Maybe they only came out in extremely hot weather.

There weren't any other monsters around. Just cactuses.

These looked a little different from the ones I fought back on the mountain path to Moire. Those had little slender needles. These had big thick needles. I could imagine what kind of fate lay ahead of me.

Luckily, I didn't have to suffer. Jowy shot them down before they could even come close. Maybe his skills with the crossbow were even better than Lianne's. But that was probably because Lianne was versatile and she could fight on the front as well. The same couldn't be said about Jowy: He was always behind us.

The old man took some needles out and they were really big, almost as big as my arm and thick as my fingers. I most certainly didn't want to get stung by those things.

The geezer even took a cactus monster after clearing up all the needles.

How would people use those damn things?

At precisely mid-day we took shelter by some date trees. It was too hot even in the shade. Our water was almost drained. We were on the verge of collapse.

Jowy used a hunting knife to slice open the cactus and draw out some water. He was also crafting arrows from the needles and dried wood. His dedication almost made me want to learn how to use a bow too.

But that's when it started. I started seeing water in the distance. There was so much water. I knew they had to mirages but my body wouldn't listen to my mind. If it was a dried lake, then there was a chance, water was here- I thought that and that was only the fuel for the burning flames in my heart.

The old man and Jowy had to hold me down or I might have run in the middle of the desert. Things weren't looking good.

Being seriously injured and dehydrated at the same time wasn't fun. It nearly made me go insane. But perhaps I was already on the verge of going insane. When they sat me down for a minute it felt like my behind would burn but it didn't and I fell asleep within minutes.

***

"Sir I'm telling you. This is dangerous. Think about the consequence. What will happen if we fail?"

"Shut up and do what you're told! Do you have any idea how long I've waited for this?"

"But sir!"

"Don't but me and get your ass working."

I saw two unfamiliar men talking. They were wearing strange clothes even by Destoa's standards. We were in some kind of facility. I couldn't move or do anything. It was like as though I was watching a movie of some sort while being tied to a chair.

Not this again!

The man who seemed like the boss had a wicked smile on his face and somehow that didn't sit well with me. But one thing was strange. They had pointy ears like Elves. But they didn't look like elves. Elves had white porcelain skin, but these guys have black skins. Were they dark Elves or something? But come to think of it, dark elves weren't part of the 13 races. So how come? Or more importantly, what were they?

There were a lot of large tubes and pods. The pods were the size of a typical man. There were people in there and they were submerged.

What is this place? Where am I?

It was almost like those things you see in sci-fi movies. Come to think of it, this scene did seem like it was out of this world.

But one thing drew my attention. It was a very large pod. There was something in there. Something very big: and I didn't like that face. Its face was almost like… almost like that thing from the island.

Was this that island?

The boss guy went closer to the large pod and rubbed it. "Just you wait, Lord Jamsau, I'll fulfill my task and you'll have to acknowledge me. Ah ha ha ha!"

***

My sleep broke when someone shook my shoulder. "What happened boy. Did you get enough rest?"

My world was going up and down. Are we moving? "You're asking me that, after waking me up?"

It was evening and the scenery had changed. "We've arrived at the entrance of the forest." The old man was behind me and the moment he said it, the camel stopped.

"Wait, huh?"

"We didn't wake you up cause you were a little dull and very unconscious. Anyway, this is the entrance, we'll camp here tonight. Hopefully, you'll get enough rest to heal at least something." The old man burst into laughter again.

Apparently, they'd carried me all the way here without even waking me up. I was glad for that. But then I learned all three of them, even Alisa were perfectly fine with the heat. They weren't even fazed. Just how much of a weakling was I?

It was afternoon, so Jowy insisted we head inside. With the geezer's smirk and all that, I couldn't really say no either. The forest was rather clean though and the smell wasn't rotten. But then again, I couldn't let my guard down.. Forests were scary.

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