In the desert the group has been traveling towards the direction of a hidden settlement and were making great pace towards it. Along the way the group met a fierce sandstorm and as to not get implicated by it they formed a circle with the carriages and placed themselves and the horses inside to ensure safety.
Before they made contact with the sandstorm Karisa made sure that everyone placed the food inside the wagons and to be on guard and careful of the Sandstorm. When she said this everyone was confused about what is so bad about a sand storm saying to her.
" Nothing bad will happen after all we're protected by the wagons"
" You worry too much what the heck would be s frightening "
" It's just some sand flying around ain't like it gonna kill you"
Karisa then made a statement to them saying " You might think that but what I'm afraid about isn't the sandstorm but what's in it even Ranr and Seras must understand too"
Ranr and Seras nodded as they reminisced about their time in the forest a day ago. As while everyone slept there were noticeable rustles everywhere and even some howling meaning that there were animals around the area and most likely they were approaching their campsite.
The only reason why they didn't even come to disturb them is because of the Days bloom powder we spread around the camp. This has a pungent order to magic beasts but to us it just smells like nothing so if Lord Niles didn't make this we would have been more worried and possibly attacked frequently.
After thinking this Seras then responded " It's not the storm exactly what we're afraid of it's what's in it, as some you guys may have gone slack since Lord Niles arrival this is a dangerous thing as being cautious is key"
" Haven't even thought that the village before was like the camp we have here now if it weren't for many people being their many magic beasts would attack us"
Ranr then stepped in and said " It's true you can't be complacent or you'll die as this is not our territory it's those beasts that have adapted to it haven't you heard of sand hounds or even Sandstone centipedes these things love these type of events"
" And us we'll basically be their meal during this if we're not careful as we can't even spread the Days Bloom powder around the camp as it will fly away so right now we need to be vigilant and make sure we are prepared"
With that said to the rest of the group they looked down in shame as if they idiots as everything said by the three were true as just because we are serving a god we thought that we can have fun and a normal life but in the end their lives are the same but it's just that the living conditions have improved by a bit.
Karisa then spoke " Since you guys get it now it's better to rub some of the powder on yourselves this is the only thing we can do while in this environment for now"
They all listened and rubbed the powder on their skin and clothes to help them avoid attracting unwanted attention to themselves.
After 2 hours the sandstorm passed without any incidents luckily and they then continued their journey towards the settlement. As they were traveling the further they went the more things they saw that shocked them.
There was a sand hound barking without any reason why which attracted a large moving rock which was a sandstone beetle which went toward the sand hound with intent to make it, it's meal but something happened instead as a large mouth with an arrow of sharp snaggle teeth gulped the beetle which was shown to be a giant mouth of a fish which was revealed from the sand as soon as it ate the beetle and it then took a glance at it surroundings and saw us.
We shivered seeing its glance. Then it went back under the sand and what was seen next frightened them. A human appeared in the Sand Gulpers mouth crying out for help.
If they hadn't seen it for themselves they would definitely have rushed toward to help but
Everyone was shocked at this scene in front of them except Karisa as she was told about the many dangers of traveling to different settlements by her father and others.
As some settlements are in places that are basically uninhabitable while some are ruins from the past, some settlements are placed even farther distances where people haven't ventured which may contain danger or something beyond what they could dream of.
But the settlement where Karisa was heading was an old ruined city that was decimated by Sandstone centipedes as it used to be an oasis but now it's gone luckily because of the incident everyone avoids the incident as they don't want to be devoured by a swarm of these things.
That's why this is the perfect place to form a settlement as my father said many years ago but who would take the chance to find out unless you're desperate for survival like us.
Karisa and the others continued along the journey until in the distance they finally saw some old sandstone structures coming out of the ground and on getting closer could see some toppled buildings, and others which were either damaged or in good enough condition for living in.
Upon them coming to their stop they noticed it was very quiet and the others of the group looked at Karisa wondering if this is the right place that was told by her father as its too quiet and seeing their looks Karisa just said "Don't look at me like that, this is definitely the place"
One of the male in the group then said " Are you sure because it doesn't seem like anyone lives here"
" It's true though isn't it way too quiet at least their needs to be some form of trace of them"
Karisa looked at them again and shook her head and spoke to the group " Obviously they wouldn't just be out here after all you can never know if who arrives are friend or foe so you have to say a password and draw a certain symbol "
Karisa then stepped out of the the carriages along with the group then went into the settlement after entering she shouted out the phrase " Unbounded, Unfound and Unified we will Sprout"
She then used a stick to draw on the ground in the sand a sprouting sapling with broken chains surrounding it. She then told the group to leave and wait at the carriage. They then left with Karisa and waited at the carriages and after a few minutes we saw someone come out of the entrance of the village.
It was a tanned burly youth with black hair and Spear in his and then the Youth spoke " I see you have come here to this settlement but for what reason "
Karisa seeing this smile knowing what her father had told her was true that they would send one person to test us or they won't come out as they are afraid we might be fake and then she spoke " We are here to make a deal that would benefit your settlement and we're wondering if you may accept"
" Okay then but before that we need to test if you truly like us" the youth said and to this Karisa told someone to bring the orb and when the youth saw this he was surprised.
" A talent orb and it's black too, maybe it's a fake " The youth said thinking it was fake until Karisa threw it toward the sand near the youth which he reacted by pointing the spear at her.
This was only for a moment until the orb shifted colors to a white color and seeing this the youth relaxed his guard and went towards and picked it up which it then in turn turned black.
Seeing the orb reacting this way he knew it was real then said "Okay you've proven yourselves but I cannot make this decision by myself so I'll take you to the chief as It has to go through him first"
Karisa and the others were delighted by the fact that they gained the youths' trust to which they were led towards a house in the ruins which looked normal to them but this was only until we went to the back of it and the youth pushed down on the inconspicuous sandstone brick.
This caused a passageway to open up quietly and reveal a path underground the youth told them to follow but were a bit reluctant as it was underground and it was frightening to be in a place like this.
They still followed along and to the outside the passageway's door closed behind them and all they could see was the light in front of them.