A desert. Why was she dreaming of a desert? She had never seen a desert in her life. Well, pictures, yes, but those don't really count. In her opinion. Anyways - she was getting off track. Why was there a desert in front of her?
Actually, that was weird too. She seemed to be floating, looking down at the arid sand, but she couldn't feel herself floating. She couldn't feel anything, really.
She moved her hand forward, to make sure it was still there.
Except she didn't have a hand. She didn't even have a body. Nothing she did would change anything. She would've screamed… but she didn't have a mouth.
In front of Crystal, the desert was rippling with life. Giant cactus plants dotted the landscape, casting shadows across the dunes. Packs of… wolf-like creatures were lounging in the shade or crawling across the desert. A few could be seen pouncing on prey, but what they were catching, Crystal couldn't ever make out. Occasionally, the sand would ripple, but nothing ever happened when it did so.
A few ponds could also be found throughout the desert, surrounded by, thankfully, normal-sized palm trees.
As she observed the desert, she noticed something strange. A long line of ruins. Not really ruins, but some sort of wooden wreck. She couldn't tell, given how thoroughly broken they were. And around the ruins… were bodies. So, so many bodies. Most were wearing glamourous armor, covered with blood stained cloth. Others were beastly creatures. Nothing like what Crystal had ever seen in her life.
One group looked like the wolf packs wandering the desert. Another creature looked like a worm, but with brown chitin armouring its weak skin. Another… she could go on and on. There must have been 10 or 15 different types of creatures. All of them were strange, beastly, and most definitely not from Earth.
'So… am I not on Earth?'
She didn't know what that meant for herself. And that was what scared her. She was so used to knowing everything that was happening. Knowing how to deal with situations, knowing the problem, and knowing the solution.
Crystal didn't even have a body right now. Even if she knew something, she wouldn't be able to really do anything. So… she tried to stay calm. Taking in information would always help her in the long run.
The death lay a trail for what must have been miles, creating a dotted line of sorts. Sometimes, a dot would be a body or two. Other times, there would be a veritable bloodbath, with hundreds of bodies, beastly and human alike.
As she studied the long line of destruction, something strange happened. Somewhere far in the distance, a flurry of activity caught her attention. Some sort of convoy was traveling across the line of destruction. No… were they cleaning it up? That didn't make sense, it was happening way too fast. Somehow, the convoy was erasing any sign of the destruction that littered the desert.
Actually, the convoy was getting longer. So, the ruins were fueling the growth of the convoy. That was… great. Just great. This world either had voodoo magic… or… ah, of course. She was watching something happen in reverse.Everything made so much more sense now. In her defense, reversing time was entirely strange. Especially when it was happening in front of her, with no screen or computer that was obviously the cause.
She watched the column grow. Every time it passed over a ruin, a pack of creatures appeared to be running away from the convoy. However, this simply meant that the pack had attacked the convoy, causing the ruins in the first place.
The column disappeared into the far distance, beyond what she could see. The desert was once again pristine, no marks blemishing its surface.
Crystal felt a weird pulling sensation, the first thing she had felt in a while. Then her vision blacked out.
***
Step. Step. Oh. Her foot sank into the sand, again. She pulled it out, shaking the sand off her boot.
'What… the hell? Where am I? Why is it so damn hot here??'
She looked up, to see a teenage boy walking in front of her. He was fully armored, wearing metal to guard his forearms and lower legs. She couldn't see his chest, but assumed it was also armored. To her right, she saw a large desert stretching on for eternity.
'Ah. Yeah, sure. Why not?'
Of course she was somehow in the desert. Still, why was she here? How had she even gotten here? Was this some sort of divine force that… Wait. Millions of people had fallen ill from the disease. Were they here with her?
No… that wasn't right either. Sure, there were a lot of people in the convoy. But it was in the thousands, not millions. So… these people probably weren't like her? Thinking about it was making her head hurt. She decided to not focus on that, and simply figure out the situation.
She was wearing some sort of armor. Looking at herself, she figured it was the same as the boy in front of her. Likely some sort of standard issue. She also carried a sword and shield, neither of which she had an idea of how to use.
To her left was a wagon, built from wood. Horses in the front of it pulled the wagon, led by more soldiers. As she studied the horses, she suddenly slipped in the shifting sand.
"Gah!" She cried out, throwing her hands forward to catch herself.
"...Are you okay?"
A soft voice spoke from behind her. A girl walked up beside Crystal, and held out a hand.
"Yeah. Just slipped. Nothing big."
Crystal took the girl's hand, who helped her stand. She stayed with Crystal, not moving back behind her. The girl opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, an older man jogged up to them from further up the column.
"You two. Come on."
His voice was gruff, full of authority. Crystal caught a glimpse of some insignia on his armor, but couldn't fully make it out before he turned around. The girls followed him, away from the column. four other soldiers followed, apparently picked up as the man made their way to them.
He stopped about 20 seconds later, holding up a hand. It pointed to a small cloud of dust in the distance, rapidly growing much larger and closer.
"Higher-ups say there are only two Beasts in the pack. Since there's only two, they only sent us."
Five calls of "Yes, Sir!" came back to him. Crystal remained silent.
"No one dies, hear me? I can't be bothered…"