Days passed as the dessert heat continued to torment them. Yet the pair continued to push forward. Of course Ragna and Layla had much to talk about at their time together. Ragna told her about some of his secrets and so did Layla.
He found out that Layla didn't have a True Name nor a divine Aspect. But that was no reason to underestimate her. She still had a supreme Aspect and it was a really good one, especially against humans. There was one thing she was really secretive about tho. Her Flaw.
She did not want to tell him anything about it so he respected it since it was pretty normal to keep them secret, especially if they could be used against oneself .
Of course they also fought some creatures in the dessert, mostly weak Sand Moles tho. Yet Layla saw how Ragna always killed them with one slice so she got curious about his sword.
"Hey Ragna, what Rank is your sword ?"
"Uhh, its Ascended and tier three."
"Ascended ? How did you get that ? No front but you don't seem like the spoiled type that gets that from his parents and I've never seen you using it in the Academy"
"That's because I actually got it here in the Dream Realm. Killed a corrupted Tyrant and got it."
Layla rarely showed physical emotion but this time she froze
"A .. A c-corrupted Tyrant ? H-how ?"
"Uhh .. that creature wasn't really a creature that fought me directly. I didn't even see it. I basically fell through quicksand and appeared in a really long glass tunnel, I don't even know if it had an ending. Well, I basically killed reflections till I got enough "puzzle pieces" and then two mirrors appeared in front of me. They both showed possible futures of mine but I didn't like them so I turned around and ran into the void or what that was. After I did that I got the notification that I killed a Corrupted Tyrant and obtained the Memory ... so yeah, it wasn't thaaaat hard because I didn't fight the tyrant directly."
"Yeeaaah, suuuuure. Killing a Corrupted Tyrant as a sleeper is easy. Imagine dying in a situation like that, couldn't be me", said Layla sarcastically.
Ragna raised an eyebrow.
"Since when were you so "funny", saying something sarcastic ?"
"Since the moment you said killing a Corrupted Tyrant as a sleeper wasn't that hard."
Ragna rolled his eyes and just continued walking forward as the heat continued making their life a living hell.
***
After many more days something finally happened and it was defenitely not what they hoped for. Ragna and Layla don't know when they appeared but there were footprints that weren't theirs in the sand. They were really weird. The footprints sometimes were in reverse, sometimes only one footprint and sometimes multiple and lately those footprints were also intfront of them, like something was playing with them. But there wasn't a creature. It was not invisible nor really near them. It was like the sand itself was playing tricks on them.
Ragna looked up and saw that the sun was directly over them, shining down completly vertically.
Both of them really didn't know what to do in a situation like this so they just moved on while being a little more cautious. Whatever made those footprints didn't seem hostile yet anyways.
They continued moving and every time they decided to slightly change directions, the footprints started to stomp on the ground and walk into different direction, like it wanted Ragna and Layla to follow it.
Layla turned to Ragna and then asked
"Do you think it's actually trying to lead us somewhere ? And should we follow it ?"
"I think so ? And it's not like the only other option, walking aimlessly through the dessert, is any better. So I guess we should just follow it for now."
The footsteps circled around excitedly before leading the way. Now having a "guide", it actually didn't take long for them to reach civilization. It was a small village, houses built out of sandstone and dreamers, just like them, living inside them. As they arrived a tall man with broad chests and a full beard approached them while some people gathered a few meters around us.
"Hey, are you sleepers from this years winter solstice ? By the way, I'm Mario."
Ragna decided to speak up since Layla often was pretty introverted when meeting completly new people
"Yeah we are. Did you lead us here ? And why are you all here ? Layla and Ragna, by the way"
"I indeed did. Those footprints have something to do with my Aspect. And everyone here is someone who came from older solstices. Sadly we haven't gotten to reaching a Gateway yet. Its really far in the south and some really strong bastard is stopping us from reaching it.
Well, nice to have you with us here. Im sure you want to stay, right ? We really need more manpower right now."
Ragna turned to Layla and both shrugged before he turned back to Mario.
"Guess we'll be in your care than."
***
The small village wasn't that big nor that advanced but it had everything important for survival. The people also seemed very kind. Mario and Ragna continued talking for a while and he found out that there were more human groups like this which were spreading right now to actually find the sleepers that came from this winter solstice , like Layla and Ragna did.
Ragna and Layla have been given a shared room to live in and they were given daily tasks so the village could work without a currency. So overall it was pretty nice.
Right now Layla and Ragna were in their room, both laying on their respective bed.
"Hey, Ragna. Do you think we'll come out alive ? I've never heard of a place like this in the Dream Realm so it means that no one has ever escaped this place to tell of it."
"Of course we will, in someway at least. Well either escape or land in heaven ... or hell, I guess."
"Way to give me hope, Ragna ! ... well, anything you wanna do now ? It's pretty boring right now."
"Uhhh.. we could spar or just socialize with some people of the village, I guess."
"Ehh... we can spar later. Let's just go out and maybe find out something interesting."
——-Author's Notes——-
Words: 1068
Short chapter today, sry 🙏
But I didn't feel so good today and it was hard writing this daily chapter. I'll try to get better tomorrow again.
Peace