"Or Somewhere Out There"
Ellen said this while staring at the tall rock wall.
"In that case, regrouping will be harder," Leona replied as Ellen nodded in agreement.
"Yes... but if you got lost somewhere in this desert and were separated from the others... what would you do to meet up with them again?" Ellen asked, while Leona thought for a moment before answering.
"I would go to the nearest distinct landmark and wait for them there, or send some kind of signal."
Ellen nodded. "You’re right... the others must have thought of this."
"And whether they’re on this side or behind those rocky mountains, I don’t think everyone can see this place."
Leona looked to the right and left. "You’re right, but it also stretches for hundreds of kilometers in both directions, so even if they saw it, they might head somewhere far from us."
The princess nodded, her black hair swaying with the cold breeze. "Yes, unless we do something to guide them here."
"Do you want us to send them a signal?"
"Yes... maybe everyone thought of this, but no one did it because it might attract many things in that open space, especially since it’s night."
Leona and Ellen looked into each other’s eyes.
"But we can hide after sending the signal."
Leona turned her head and looked toward the top of the rocks. "So do we do it now? I think launching it from above would be better."
"I think so too... and more than twenty hours have passed while we’ve been here, so this would be the right time."
With those words, Ellen stood up from the rock she had been sitting on and turned toward the massive wall.
"Speaking of time, it seems the night here is very long... or maybe there is no day," Leona said.
The princess shrugged. "That’s not important now, and we’ll find out later."
"And now let’s start climbing," she said, pointing to the highest point.
With those words, the two girls moved and headed toward the base of the enormous rocky cliff.
But before they began climbing, Leona looked at Ellen. "Can’t you carry us up directly using your blades?"
The latter hesitated. "No... not now at least. Even if it’s just the two of us, lifting us to that height is still too much for me."
Leona sighed. "Then we have to climb all of this."
She raised her head and looked upward. "That’s at least three hundred meters of climbing."
Ellen didn’t comment. Instead, she stepped forward, placed her hand on the first rocky protrusion, and began climbing, and Leona did the same.
Slowly, the two girls climbed the rocky wall.
Sometimes the stones they clung to would slip and fall downward, but neither of them fell.
Well, I don’t think there’s any Awakened who would fall just because their hand or foot slipped.
Slowly, they approached the summit.
"So Ellen, what do you think we should do after we regroup?" Leona asked to pass the time, while the princess kept her focus on the peak as she replied,
"Well, first we need to know where we are to think of a way to return." Though she said that, doubt was growing inside her with every moment here.
’Will we really be able to return?’ That thought kept circling in her mind again and again.
She tightened her grip on the crack as she pulled herself upward before shifting her footing.
With every passing moment, the summit became closer... until they finally reached it.
Ellen pulled herself up and stood on top of the cliff, then Leona followed.
The two girls stood there, staring at the stretch of surface they were standing on, but it was soon replaced by a void dozens of meters wide, after which the rocks rose upward again.
Leona stared at it for a few moments before looking right and left to find the same thing.
"So this is a stone maze or something like that."
Ellen nodded. "It seems so."
But she soon turned to look at the expanse of the desert. "Let’s send the signal now, then see what we can do."
With those words, Ellen raised her hand toward the sky, and essence condensed on her palm, forming into a small sphere.
Maintaining it was difficult, but Ellen didn’t need to, as she quickly launched it toward the sky.
The glowing sphere of essence rose into the air, moving away from the cliff until it could be seen from vast distances in the darkness of the night.
Ellen didn’t stop and sent two more.
"I hope they see this... if they’re anywhere near here."
...
Somewhere between the sand dunes, Kyle raised his head and looked at the three lights soaring into the sky like small stars.
He paused for a moment before changing his course and heading toward them.
...
Elliot, who had just started moving, raised his head as he stared at the light signal on the horizon.
He muttered while staring at the horizon.
"Now I know where to go."
...
Caius’ Point of View
I was still sitting atop the large bone. After seeing that nothing was approaching this place, I canceled my ability to allow myself to recover faster and replenish my essence reserves.
But suddenly my eyes caught something on the horizon... no, three.
Three lights rose toward the sky, one after the other.
I didn’t need much thought to know what they were.
It was a signal for us.
From whom... I don’t know.
But what matters is that now I know the location of at least one of them.
I stood while staring at the lights until they faded, a smile forming on my lips as I turned to jump down from the bone.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, I looked at Izel sitting near the hollow bone.
"I think we should move now. The others have already sent a signal... they’re in that direction," I said, pointing toward the direction where I had seen the light moments ago.
Izel raised her head and looked at me. "Really? Was it far or close?"
I ran my hand through my hair. "I think it was far, maybe a hundred kilometers or more."
All I saw was the light high in the sky, so I think the source is distant.
Izel pushed herself up and stood. She was unusually quiet.
Well, it’s not like she’s going to argue with me while we’re in this situation.
Izel stared at me. "So are we going, or are you going to keep staring at me like an idiot?"
I sighed as I turned away... who am I kidding?
...
We walked between the massive bones, and with every step toward the top of the sandy hill, the sand shifted and pushed me slightly backward.
It seemed Izel had grown tired of this. "Why don’t we just run and get past this annoyance?"
"We won’t," I answered simply.
There were many reasons not to rush, especially since we didn’t know what these sands might be hiding.
My sense was sweeping the area around me as we moved in anticipation of anything that might happen.
After two hours of continuous movement, we finally left the bone graveyard.
Now all that lay before us was a sea of sand stretching to the horizon.
So far, we hadn’t encountered anything... but that didn’t last forever.
Because in the next moment, I felt something enter the range of my sense.
Something several meters in size, moving toward us quickly.
Immediately, I pulled my swords from the ring, then looked at Izel. "Stop moving and get ready. Something’s coming."
With every moment, it grew closer to us, and slowly the sand began to tremble around us.
Izel and I tried to remain as quiet as possible so that this thing wouldn’t notice us.
The trembling of the sand intensified, while the body of this beast was drawn in my mind, and I could estimate its strength.
Lesser beast... Rank 3.
We can still handle it.
The beast drew closer, and the sand dunes began to collapse. That was when I realized something; this thing knew of our presence... and it was coming straight toward us.
The moment I realized that, I looked beneath our feet as essence surged through my body.
"It’s under us, Izel!"
As soon as the words left my mouth, the sand beneath our feet began to disappear and cave in.
Izel didn’t hesitate and leaped away from where she stood, and I did the same, only for the lesser beast to reveal itself in the next moment, shattering the silence of the desert.
Where we had been standing, the sand vanished and was replaced by something like a meat grinder of gleaming white teeth before the beast’s body rose, revealing its long form like a massive worm, but with shining scales covering its body.
And a circular jaw like the mouth of a grinding machine.
This thing had no eyes or any obvious sensory organs.
But in the next moment, as if it knew my location and could see me clearly, it turned and aimed its massive jaw toward me.
Without a scream or warning, the lesser beast lunged at me at high speed.