He began to walk, slowly, with his steps sinking into that strange dirt. He felt like he was sleepwalking, like he had been dreaming everything since he woke up. But instead it was all real.
He continues to take a few steps into the storm, until, in a clumsy attempt to proceed with the next step, his foot gets stuck on what at first glance seemed like a root of who knows what plant capable of surviving in that ruckus or a protrusion in the terrain that our young wizard had not noticed. Trying to lean forward to continue walking, but not having noticed that his foot was stuck in something protruding from the ground, it turns out that Colius lost his balance and fell all of a sudden onto the ground from which he had awakened shortly before. He manages to avoid hitting his head, having put his hands forward to break his fall. He lets out a small gasp from the blow, then gets up slowly, looking with his eyes to find what had made him stumble.
a root? in this place?
Yes, it really seemed like a strange root, however the information he had just gathered didn't add up to him, that brainy Colius was a studious, as he was a magician, and he would certainly have been able to recognize a simple root of that type. He then approaches to do a second check and make sure what he had seen.
Notice that it wasn't a root at all, it looked more like a pauldron, a familiar pauldron. He then grabs the ledge and pulls it with a little effort. he closes his eyelids to prevent the dust raised by that gesture from getting into his eyes. As soon as he reopens them, he immediately recognizes what he had found:
my backpack!
He exclaimed in his thoughts with genuine happiness at having found his faithful companion again. It was actually the best thing that had happened to him since he woke up. He rushed to check that all his personal effects were in their place, and they were. But this discovery has raised new doubts for him.
It doesn't make sense... if my backpack is here too, and nothing is missing... then they didn't rob me. That those evildoers didn't find what they were looking for? It still doesn't explain why I'm in such a place. Also... my backpack was covered in dust. How long have I been lying unconscious in this place?
Just at that moment, Colius notices that his throat is extremely dry. He hurries to take the waterskin that he always carried with him in his backpack, and instinctively, he greedily gulps down all its contents, even if it wasn't much.
While he was putting back the waterskin in his backpack, suddenly, a particular sound interrupted the continuous rustling of that infernal wind, it seemed like a screaming voice that was getting closer and closer. Colius is caught off guard. He jumps in fright, quickly looks around and notices a decidedly huge rock, behind which he decides to hide. As already mentioned, our clumsy wizard was not used to adventures and one of the reasons was the ease with which he was scared; despite this he had an insatiable curiosity, so he decides to wait to understand what it was about, hidden safely behind that rock , before finally running away.