The grass over time had begun to fade, the dirt on the road more and more unkempt. The towns we stopped at to gain supplies seemed to be further and further apart before we finally reached our destination the infamous "Dredge Lands".
There were shifting sands for miles ahead of us and as we dismounted the carriage the feeling of walking into an oven was felt on our skin threatening to burn us.
Since we had built some form of friendship with the guards they were sad to see us leave. They left us with some breezy clothes before marking my hand with a magic symbol. Apparently, it was a nasty spell that would track how far away I was from Tama.
Should I step too close before my time was up it would alert the Tama secret assassins and if they were anything like Nathan made them out to be we would be in for quite a lot of trouble!. In the end, it didn't really bother me. The only things on my mind were the cancelled engagement, finding my family and hearing any news from Ren.
Nathan, Loki, Heyu, Sora and myself were all given clothes suited to the environment. They were breezy cooling us down from all the hot leather and amour we had been wearing. One of the soldiers had eagerly told us the clothing was called a "Daffah Thobe".
I had tried to pronounce it only to be laughed at by Loki who showed us all how to wear our new outfits. Finally, we topped off our new gear with some head scarfs. I had watched a show once which stated that it helped you keep your water levels up. Whether it was right or not I decided not to test fate and to get everyone to put them on.
" Hey look Yuki! I am in a dress!" Sora said as he twirled around.
" It's not a dress!" Nathan said with a slightly uncomfortable look on his face.
" Dress or not I feel one hundred times cooler," Heyu said preening himself.
I laughed as I listened to their conversation and finished fixing a little headscarf made from some cloth on Kibble's head. Luckily since Kibbles was a fire element spirit beast the heat didn't affect him however he still felt jealous that we had all been given new clothing and he did not.
So I had scrapped some cloth together so we could all match. It wasn't long until we were all ready to go. We said our goodbyes to the guards and prayed for a safe journey back to Tama. They all felt the need to salute me before leaving us behind.
The first thing Heyu did was grab Kibbles before he could run behind me for cover. They had been playing the same hide and seek game for weeks. Heyu would try and pick Kibbles up and Kibbles would run away at breakneck speed.
" What do we do now?" Loki said looking over at the sand and breaking up the commotion happening around me.
" We should probably find some shelter" Nathan suggested.
" And some water" I added.
" Some food would also be nice," Sora said while he shrugged.
Although we all knew it was coming we couldn't really plan ahead because none of us had been here before. The whole Dredge Lands area looked seriously uninviting not one of us wanted to take the first step forward.
" Shall we?" Loki said as he looked at me.
" Yeah let's go better than standing around here for four years," I said before laughing dejectedly.
Heyu who had finally caught Kibbled looked over at me before Nathan, Sora and Loki all began to stare.
It looks like the excitement had died down and we all finally realised that this hellhole would be our home.
" Are you sure you all want to come with me?" I said for the last time.
" Let's go." Loki was the first to reply before he started to walk towards a sand dune.
" Wait for me!" Nathan replied.
" Nu uh! I am going to go first!" Sora said before charging off ahead.
" Are you coming Yuki? Looks like we will get left behind if we don't hurry!" Heyu said with Kibbles on his head before marching forward.
" Mm Let's go," I said before matching his pace.
[ I don't think many people would literally walk into hell for another person back on Earth ]
" Hey everyone," I said loudly.
They all stopped in their tracks and turned around to face me.
" You are all crazy, truly and utterly crazy for that I am grateful… Thank you!!" I said as I bowed.
" If you have time to be grateful you have time to walk. We have about four hours of daylight left, let us make use of it" Loki said before marching forward.
I went a darker shade of pink as everyone around laughed lightening the mood.
I lifted myself up and laughed along too.
The day was long and hot. We hadn't really picked a direction but Nathan being a water mage had felt a body of water not too far away so we decided it would be our first stop.
It wasn't long before we all got to talking.
The topic spanned from how awful this place was, the sand in our boots and then finally to more diverse topics like herbs and spirit beasts. They had all been pleasant topic until Sora decided to ruin it by opening his mouth.
" So what kinda girls do you all like?" Sora said energetically.
" We are in the middle of the desert do we have to?" I said complaining.
" Of course!" Sora replied.
Sora looked around and when he didn't get a response he pouting before saying " I like girls with big boobs!"
[ Could you sound any crasser? ]
" Although there was this pretty girl I met only once. She wasn't gifted in the chest department but she was really amazing!" Sora said as he held his hands up to cup his chest.
" Do tell" Loki replied smirking.
" Well she had long red hair and she was wearing a vail! I saved her life actually!" Sora said with a proud voice.
" Oh?" I replied deciding to pass time by teasing Sora.
" So now you are interested!" Sora said beaming before he went on about he had "saved" a girl from a spirit beast and how " she" was so grateful "she" practically fell into his arms.
I couldn't take it anymore as I began to laugh, tears streamed from my eyes before instantly drying up due to the heat.
" What's so funny?!" Sora said defensively.
" Are you in love with this girl?" I replied through my chuckles. Everyone else had realised something was wrong at this point and furrowed their brows.
" I don't know her well enough to love her but I would sure like to meet her again!" Sora said as he ignored me.
" I am pretty sure you know her rather well" I replied.
" What do you mean?!" Sora said as he stopped walking.
[ Oh I have to let him out of his misery.]
" Sora.. that was me." I said bluntly as I began to explain how we had avoided Sora and his team when they had tried to attack us.
His face had contorted as all sorts of colours ran across his face.
Everyone else's faces had cracked mid-story and they began to laugh. Sora pointed at me shouting " You.. You.. You!!! You tricked me!!!" Before charging towards me angrily and embarrassed.
" No need to be ashamed, Yuki is pretty cute. I wouldn't say girly though!" Loki said as Sora chased me around.
" Serves you right for trying to kill me!" I said in a teasing tone as I ran from my pursuer.
" So that is why you came back a failure," Heyu said nodding with his usual magnetic voice.
" Shut up!" Sora said to Heyu as he finally tackled me.
We were on the top of a dune at that point so both Sora and I tumbled down together.
Thump
Thump
Thump!
As we reached the bottom Sora landed on top of me and looked me in the eyes.
"You are not playing around, are you?! Was that really you?" He said with a serious face.
" mm, it was" I replied blinking.
" Dumbarse!" Sora said as he cheeks went red and threw sand at me before walking off.
[ Looks like I have embarrassed him. ]
I flicked the sand off my face as I stood up and waited for everyone to catch up.
" Well Sora, Yuki is no longer engaged, you may have a chance," Loki said absentmindedly.
" What?!" Sora said as he clenched his fists.
[ You better not out me Loki! ]
" Nothing," Loki said smiling cheekily.