Spirit of the Desert

The desert sands melt under the hot sun as heatwaves billow from the ground. A small oasis lays in the middle of nowhere, some grass and a single palm tree being its only inhabitants. A woman with long wavy orange hair steps into the shade of the tree as she lets out a tired sigh.

Sitting down and laying her lance down, Seraph pulls out a small glass bottle from her bag and takes a drink, the water refreshing her dried body as its cool touch does all it can to battle the scorching heat. Taking off her bag she walks over to the body of water and dips the bottle into it. Refilled she takes another drink. Filling it one last time she seals it back up and heads back to the shelter of the shade.

She lays down, closing her eyes to get some much needed rest. The hot breeze becomes cooled as it goes over the water, the ripples playing a gentle melody along with the leaves of the tree. As she's about to fall asleep she hears the sound of a vulture. Sitting up she looks up at the sky to see where the sound came from.

Not too far away she sees a vulture flying around in circles. Grabbing her bag and lance she gets up and hurries in the vulture's direction. It doesn't take long for her to find what the vulture is circling. Two young men, both wearing similar clothes but one has leather armor. They look as if they're about to pass out at any second.

As she approaches them she can hear them talking.

"I-Is that a person?"

"Ignore it, it's just a hallucination,"

"But she looks so real,"

"She's not-wait...what does she look like to you?"

"Um, a little shorter than us, orange hair, odd clothing that's white and blue,"

"Fret not, I'm no hallucination, and I'm no threat," Seraph says as the distance between them closes. The two guys looks at her with surprise, "I'm sure you both think the oasis is fake as well, but it's just as real as me, come on, you two look like you need more rest than me,"

As they head back to the oasis, the vulture gives up and starts to fly away. Seraph puts a hand to her mouth and whistles, catching the bird's attention. As it circles back, she pulls out a peach from her bag, holding it up. The two men watch in awe as the vulture comes over and grabs it from her with its talon, Seraph not flinching in the slightest.

She smiles a bit as she watches the vulture fly off with its meal that will probably be it's only one for quite some time. They make it to the oasis where one of the men takes out a bottle from their bag, takes a drink and dips it into the lake. The other one with the armor is looking through their bag a bit frantically.

"I could have sworn I made sure to pick it back up," They say.

"You probably didn't, here," The other one says as they hold out the bottle. The man hesitantly takes it, dipping it into the water and taking a drink. Seraph looks at their clothing carefully as she watches from the shade, realizing what they're wearing.

"It's odd to see royal soldier this far south in Sahir. What brings you to these, unwelcoming, deserts?" She asks with a slight chuckle.

"We're on an important mission," The man in armor answers, "King's orders,"

"King's orders? How is he, it's been awhile since I last spoke to him," The two men look at her with confused looks.

"You know the King?"

"Yes, him and I go way back. I've known him since he was baby," She answers with a warm smile as she recalls happy memories.

"But, you look so young,"

"Roke!" The other guy exclaims as he hits the man with armor on the side of his arm.

"What?" He asks full of confusion.

"You don't say that to a woman!"

Seraph chuckles at their banter.

"It's alright, I get that a lot," She gets up and walks over to them, holding out a hand, "The name's Seraph,"

"Stro," The man replies as he shakes her hand, Roke looking at her with slight shock.

"Seraph? Like, the spirit of the desert Seraph? I thought you were only a legend," Roke says with utter bafflement.

"What?" Stro asks as he looks at Roke and Seraph.

"Spirit of the desert? That's a new one," She replies nonchalantly, "But I guess I am that Seraph, though I don't how one would think of me as a spirit of anything,"

"Wait, I'm lost, why is he saying you're some spirit person?"

"From all the stories about me, though I'm not a spirit,"

"Why would people think you are?"

"Well, I am quite old despite my appearance. I've been alive before this war started,"

"Is it true than, that you knew the original kings?" Roke asks.

"Oh yes. Charming men they were, it hurt to see such close friends become so corrupted...it's a shame that the people who helped brought peace to this world would end up being the ones to break that very same peace they fought for…"

"What are you talking about? Rhen only acted in self defense when the others started attacking each other and him," Serapth looks at Roke with a some concern.

"I guess it's been so long that the truth has slipped through the generations. Both of you, listen to me, and listen carefully. No kingdom is in the right, they are all in the wrong. This war that ravages our world, it's not one of justs beginnings, and it won't be of justs ends. The three kings all broke the peace, out of pure hatred and sadness,"