A lone man sighed as he stopped to stand still and looked around. He had been walking for hours, wandering with no real direction. But he couldn't stop. Not yet.
However, he knew he couldn't stay here for long. Trying to catch his breath, he decided to sit down on a rock for a little rest. He wiped the sweat, falling down to his eyes, off his forehead and his hand came with some wet sand. The 'haze' was even more scorching, getting too hot even though the sun was not at its peak yet.
What was even more alarming was that the 'haze' was also affecting his mind. Earlier, he would have been bitten by a scorpion if the noise of its movement didn't manage to distract him from the oasis he had glimpsed. That oasis disappeared when he looked again after killing the scorpion.
Later, he would lose the presence of his companions outside this 'haze' too. That meant he had to start returning now. Or maybe in another few minutes.
Sighing, he stood up, deciding on which direction he should go next from their speculations of the tracks. However, if the two were dragged away by some beast, they couldn't depend on those tracks outside the 'haze'. He sighed again.
___
Meanwhile, outside the yellow 'haze', several people were arguing.
"How long does your boss plan to continue looking? Do you all think an hour will even make a difference? We were supposed to be going back to the shore now!"
Despite him having the same thoughts, Kisig still wanted to follow Mayari's plan. He would want to think that, if it was him missing, the group would try to find him. That was being in the troupe, in the family, signified. "That doesn't mean we couldn't even try looking. We already paid you to accompany us. It's not like we were asking you to go inside yourselves." The young men beside him nodded to support his claim.
"You! As if the payment of your troupe was enough for all these you had us do!"
"Oh really? Then, how about the 'payment' you got from Ling?"
Kana was speechless. Without deeming that with an answer, he clicked his tongue then walked back to the tent.
The young men left behind all sighed with relief. However, they knew that after another hour of waiting, those men would come back here again.
"Kisig," Ayuk, who had been quiet for some time, spoke softly, "I don't think I could maintain my 'mist' out for another hour. What do we do if Mayari isn't back yet?"
Kisig was unable to answer immediately. When he turned to the other man, he saw the sand behind him moving, so he jumped to that position hastily to stab the animal as it dug out of the ground.
It was another one of those sand worms. These animals could sense that a weakening prey had its 'mist' out, so they were moving about until they could attack. To defend from these animals was the role of Kisig, Ta and Wa'al while Ayuk, the one who could hold out his 'mist' the longest, was letting out his presence as Mayari's signal of where to return.
After dealing with more worms, Kisig was finally able to answer. "Then, we have to switch." That would be difficult since the others were also running out of energy. He was desperately hoping that Mayari had already returned by then.
For the next few minutes, the area was quiet except for their harsh breathing and the piercing sounds of the fights. Each young men were deep in their thought if they were not busy with the worms.
Kisig was remembering what started it this morning. Usually, their resident dragon was the first to wake up in the mornings, being woken up by its own rumbling stomach. Then, it would roar and move around, waking all the others up.
That was why it was a surprise when the first to wake up were the men when the sun shone in their eyes. Later, they realized that both Ling and Maga were missing, and so, the search for them started.
At first, they called out for Ling and Maga outside the 'haze'. Who would have thought at that time that the two could have entered the 'haze' without informing anybody. It wasn't like they would go there unaware or unconscious themselves.
Soon, someone saw traces of rolling or being dragged on the sand, from their rest area leading to the yellow 'haze'. The position was where the group sleeping outside was situated. That was when Mayari started to search inside the 'haze', which had gone on for hours.
The others still tried to search outside, but evidence showed that the two missing were inside the 'haze', hence, the other men decided it was futile and stopped looking. Staying here with no activity or satisfying meal, those same people started arguing with the young men of the Sikat Troupe.
Thinking of the argument starting again later, Kisig sighed as he cut a worm that had its whole body jump out of the sand. He had to concentrate in case another worm managed to jump out farther and bite his friend.
Fortunately, a few minutes before Ayuk's hour was up, a silhouette came out of the 'haze'. Soon, the group could see the man's scatter of white hair and dark skin, and Ayuk finally stopped exuding his 'mist'. Exhausted, he sat down on the ground but still managed to ask, "How was it?"
"Nothing."
Of course they were not hopeful, especially when it was only Mayari who came out of the yellow 'haze'. However, hearing it personally was more disappointing.
Kisig helped Ayuk stand up and walk as he explained to Mayari about Kana and his group's attitude. Now that he returned, Kana might not voice out their complaints anymore, but he thought Mayari shouldknow their attitude earlier.
"What do you plan to do next?" Kisig asked the older man when it didn't say anything aside from that one word reply to Ayuk.
Without stopping his steps, Mayari glanced back at the 'haze', then turned to face the boy. "I'll talk to Kana. We'll still wait here for a few days. I'll go again inside once you all regained your strength."
The young men with him just nodded.