The Town in Ruins

Having escaped from Altravessa, we now found ourselves in the Mahō Desert. This desert was known for dangers, so we would have to be careful where we stepped. This desert had hardly any dunes but massive sandstorms and dust devils.

I honestly couldn't imagine that a forest like the Inazuma Forest could exist in this desert. After all, everything around us was just yellow and covered in dust. ''Aramoto, where did you get that necklace with the Merthyl crystal?", Onaki asked me curiously.

I looked into her eyes in horror and clenched a fist.

''You know, a few months ago, my home was slaughtered in cold blood by the high council. My wife and son died in my arms before my own eyes. My brother gave me this necklace at that time and told me to flee. I didn't believe him and stayed with my family in my homeland, not knowing that something so terrible would happen,'' I told her with a deep sadness in my voice and turned my gaze to the dusty ground. I was still suffering from that incident and traumatized.

The images in my head repeatedly played in a repetitive endless loop as if in a vision. I stopped again and fell to the ground with my knees in pain and grief. These memories tormented me to the tiniest vein. The idea of how my family and the people of my homeland had to die suffering sent a cold shiver down my spine, and I began to tremble. Mood swings from anger to sadness ruled in me.

Onaki looked at me pitifully and showed compassion by grabbing my shoulder and staring into my teary eyes. ''I am sorry for asking about this. I have experienced similar things, and my father and mother are also no longer with us,'' she said in a cold and slightly mournful voice.

She also experienced a massacre and lost her loved ones in a bloodbath.

I felt ashamed that I was only thinking about myself and did not even notice that something terrible had happened to her. Onaki cheered me up and was highly mature with her behavior. She did not take offense and held out her hand for me to stand up, and I said nothing more and stood up silently, just giving her a nod. We continued our journey to Inazuma Forest.

On the way, we occasionally stopped at cactus trunks to supply ourselves with water. After all, the midday sun burned mercilessly down on us and caused slow dehydration. For hours we hiked this path of the south. Fortunately for me, Onaki had a compass to avoid straying from the course. A cold wind suddenly blew past us in this heat.

''A sandstorm is brewing. We must seek shelter!'' shouted Onaki, immediately understanding the situation. We barely took a few steps before the sandstorm surrounded us. The winds were cold and firm. We both covered our mouths and eyes as the grains of sand flying at high speed, causing an abrasive effect that we could feel on every part of our bodies.

We could locate a mountain with a small cave not far from us. Straining through the sandstorm, we charged toward this mountain to entrench ourselves in the cave. ''This storm is no ordinary sandstorm, it lasts for hours,'' she replied to me, coughing and exhausted. She sat down and took off her hood now, along with her mouth covering.

Now I could ultimately see what she looked like. I thought to myself inwardly, a true beauty, forgetting to sit down in the cave as well. At the same time, I noticed that I received this healing potion from the deceased merchant and showed the bottle to Onaki.

''This potion has an immediate healing effect. We should use it sparingly and only use it when one of us is life-threateningly injured,'' I replied to her as she crouched down. The sandstorm was so cold that even the cave we were in was affected.

Without thinking, I snuggled up to her so that neither she nor I would freeze. After all, we had to hold out for hours in this cold, and that would have meant only hypothermia for sure. Yes, that was very strange. It was a sandstorm, which felt like a snowstorm. Such a thing was new to me, but in this world, we are probably not impossible.