United Against Hate: Chapter 2

“Don’t say it Sefirin,” Silva said as she took a hard step into a pile of sand. It had long since filled her boots and the heat that assaulted her was beyond suffocating. There was no heat like this in Agrentum. The closest that she had seen in her life was when she visited her cousin in Jigour. And at least that had been humid. This was just dry.

Her brother trudged past her, his shirt off and wrapped around his waist. His hair was down like a wilted plant and he walked through a dune of sand like it wasn’t there. Just blowing it aside he stumbled and flipped forward barely catching himself in time.

“I wasn’t gonna say anything about the fact that this is the third time we’ve seen that patch of sand. It is the fourth time we’ve seen that dead tree though.”

Silva growled her eyes turning amber and thrust her hand forward. A gust of wind flew out and blasted Sefirin in the back. He didn’t stumble over but he turned around and glared at her. “Hey don’t get pissy with me cause you got us lost.”

“I didn’t get us lost! We’re going the right way.”

“What way is that?!”

He threw his hands out and spun around staring at the expanse of pale brown all around them. The flat dunes didn’t answer back to them. Didn’t offer up sustenance or some type of acknowledgment that they were out here. There wasn’t even a breeze of wind on the air.

Silva pulled out a map from the pouch at her hip and unrolled it. She cast a quick spell and it floated around her as she tried to figure out where they were. The map rotated quickly and then went flat and she stared at it. Sefirin glared at his sister and raised his hands. “Well? You know where we’re going Silva?”

“Shut up,” she glowered and rolled the map up. “We’re going to keep going in this direction and we’re going to get out of this desert. We’re just looking for a city called Luthagen. Once we get there, we can find the Free City, then enter the Sanctum and beeline to Nerodala.”

“Right and get us more lost.”

The trio of sibling spellcasters had been in the country of Arkoria for only two weeks. They flew south of their home in Agrentum and watched the territory change from a grassy forested area to thinning out more and more. It had been an adventure at first, flying across the country and enjoying one another’s presence.

They had stopped to resupply once along the way before they realized they had left the borders of not just Agrentum but of Reditus behind. It was the furthest that any of them had ever gone before in their lives and the weight of it slowly came down upon them as they went further and further.

Eventually the grass disappeared replaced by hard ground. The clouds and friendly winds that they knew in their lives disappeared and the only company they had became the harsh sun in the air. And that was when they noticed just how broken up and cracked the ground had become. They could barely remember when the grass disappeared and when the sand began. They just looked up and realized they were surrounded by desert and deep within it.

Between the burning hot mornings and the ice cold nights the desert had worn them down one by one. From the reserves of food and water to their mental patience and stamina. Simple spells like creating a breeze or water were suddenly much harder and infinitely more taxing. 

“Where’s Sofia,” Silva growled brushing back her silver hair as she trudged along. She had abandoned the clothes she wore, wearing makeshift shorts and a shirt with the sleeves ripped off. Her hair was tied back in the tightest ponytail she could to keep it away from her skin and her faerie eyes had been entirely absorbed by her draconic blood.

Sefirin looked toward the sky, his silver dusted purple curls glinting in the sun. It was a clear blue up there starring the yellow disk of the sun but he couldn’t see anything else to suggest his sister was anywhere near them.

“I don’t know. You’d think finding a damn dragon would be easy,” he said wiping his brow again. “Then again she’s been gone for like an hour now. Do you think she needs help?”

Their younger sister had volunteered to do recon for them across the desert. Normally that would be impossible but, with the massive Jade dragon that she called her partner at her side, it would be a simple enough task for the most part. The last time they’d seen their sister had been hours ago.

They looked at one another and thought of their younger sister in trouble in a foreign desert.  Immediately both reached into their pockets fishing out the watches that their professor had entrusted them with. Once to know the time, twice to know where the others were, and three times to call for help.

They had only ever used the second option just to make sure it worked and now they were tempted to track down their sister now. But Silva shook her head putting the watch away. She looked over her shoulder next narrowing her eyes and her brother didn’t miss it. “What is it?”

Shaking her head she sighed, “Nothing. Let’s keep going.”

“Don’t make this another one of your personal grudge things,” Sefirin said glaring at her.

“It’s not. Sofia can handle herself,” she glared back at him. “She’s stronger than she thinks and I trust her to get back in one piece. Now come on.”

They walked together in an angry silence that they tried not to inflict on one another. Trudging through the sand and going over the map more than once, changing their route by a few degrees each time was like being stuck in time. Walking on a wheel and going in circles.

As they walked Silva paused suddenly, Sefirin walking right into her back. He stumbled and then glared down at his sister, “What is it now?”

She held up a hand her eyes narrowed. Sefirin stared at her like she’d finally cracked and turned away when he felt something beneath his feet. A subtle tremor that was more than just the shifting sand. He’d felt something like this before whenever horses ran by. But they were in the sand. That didn’t make sense, they were the only things out here for miles.

When he looked back up at his sister, she was looking at him her draconic eyes gone replaced by green faerie eyes. Never a great sign to see that from his sister. Before either of them could communicate what was going the sand exploded around them in a huge geyser.

Sefirin rolled forward and whirled around staring up at the creature that had burst through the sand. It was a large tan colored creature, segmented and covered in oily spines. Its maw turned around slowly and flexed back and forth. It didn’t have a face, just a gaping mouth. A soft green light emanated from it highlighting the fleshy material within it.

It writhed letting out a hissing noise before diving back beneath the sand. Sefirin dove out of the way just barely avoiding getting consumed by the thing in the process. It took a long time before it came back down and it showed just how long it was.

The ground rumbled this time much stronger than before and he looked below his feet. Instincts kicked in and he jumped backward as the wurm exploded out of the desert. He slid backward going through the sands and stumbled looking at the wurm as it rotated around slowly. And then it shot forward like a rocket and he had to jump again to avoid crashing into it.

But this time when he came down the ground was already rumbling. When he looked down his feet had barely touched the ground when it was starting to explode. Before the wurm could get him, he was dragged into the sky by a force and he let out a cry of surprise. Looking over his shoulder he saw the shape hovering above his back. It was like a knight in armor except the armor and body were made of shifting air. There was a solid outline like a heat mirage, a glowing orb in its chest, and two glowing orbs where its eyes would have been.

“What the hell is this thing?” he mumbled.

“Hold on Seffy. You’re safe for now,” Silva shouted from across the desert. Sefirin looked at his sister who was floating on the air using a tornado like their mother did effortlessly. She was finding now that it wasn’t as easy as she made it seem while fighting.

It flew him away from wurm keeping him high above the ground. From here he could see it for all its size and it was absolutely massive. As big as Emeralda and that was a huge animal. So, whatever this thing was, it was something to respect.

Sefirin narrowed his eyes and was dragged back to Silva’s side. The thing that was holding him up dropped him down and he caught himself on the sand. “Okay. What the heck is that thing sis?”

“I don’t know,” she shook her head. “We definitely don’t have those in Agrentum. Maybe Jigour?”

“Well it doesn’t like us,” Sefirin said as the wurm dove back into the sand as if it were made of water. Sefirin looked up and saw the shape that had rescued him fly back to them and stand in front of Silva.

Sefirin could feel the rumble strongly under his feet. This time he was ready for it as the scales crawled over his body. The scales were smooth, the natural change that he’d made since he was a kid. Jumping forward he spread his wings and caught on the air as his sister and the elemental flew as well.

The wurm emerged under the ground where the pair had been. It swerved around quickly looking toward the sky and huffed. Flapping his wings Sefirin smirked, “Not so tough when we’re up here are you?” he asked in the gravelly voice of his draconic form.

“Be careful Seffy,” Silva said. “We don’t know all of what it can do.”

As if to respond to her the wurm shook back and forth and let out a warbling noise. The glow in its mouth got brighter until it shined like a torch. It reared back and then spat a glob of something at them. Both dragon blooded children swerved away from it while the elemental created a barrier of wind.

The green liquid splashed in every direction a drop hitting the elemental’s foot. It sizzled and the elemental let out a screech like a gale force wind. The elemental disappeared and the substance fell as well. Sefirin’s wide eyes met his sisters and then turned back to the wurm as it started to ready another glob of spit.

“Can’t let it do that anymore. Need to show it that we mean business. Follow my lead sis,” Sefirin flapped his wings and then dove down at the creature.

It spat up at him and he spun to the side flipping around it and brought back a hand claw first. Swinging he dug it deep into the flesh of the wurm. At least that’s what he would have liked to do but his claws bounced off the tough oily hide of the creature. Spinning aside he turned, kicking off the back of the wurm and bounced away.

It spun around looking in the direction of his wingbeats but he was faster than it and it realized that. So it turned and dove back into the ground before Sefirin could get another attack going. When the last of its tail disappeared into the sand his eyes darted around back and forth looking for the wurm.

The ground ruptured behind him as the wurm jumped out at him again but somehow it was much faster than it had been beforehand. Sefirin spun around to face it when a sheet of wind appeared in front of him. It buffeted the wurm deflecting its maw back toward the ground, to which it quickly devoured diving into the sand.

Silva’s elemental manifested at his back floating confidently. It swept its arms forward unleashing blades of wind at the wurm. Most bounced off but one managed to cut at its mouth and get a meaty sound of anger from the creature as it disappeared. He looked around quickly and watched as the wurm dug out of the sand aiming at the two of them.

Sefirin spread his wings and darted upward with an additional uplift from the elemental. This time though Sefirin crossed his arms in front of his face then roared unleashing a torrent of hot fire. The flames latched onto the wurm but this time it ignited along the oil on its body and it screeched.

The sound was loud and hurt Sefirin’s enhanced hearing. He recoiled, floating backwards as the wurm dove into the ground deeply the light of the flames licking and covering the hole it created. What’s more he saw it send ripples through the sand far away from them.

He roared taunting it, “Yeah didn’t like that did you!”

“Sefirin get out of there!” He looked up as Silva floated over him.

The ground exploded behind Sefirin and the elemental as a wurm shot up with its mouth glowing bright green. The elemental spun around and spread itself into another wall of wind to redirect the wurm but that didn’t stop another wurm from emerging and trying to attack them again.

He flapped his wings and darted into the air to avoid it and right into the waiting jaws of another one. And this time he wasn’t fast enough to avoid it. Turning around the shadow started to cover him entirely as if the sun had finally been blacked out. He covered his face bracing for impact and the creature was blown to the side and collapsed into the sand.

As the sun came back into view Sefirin looked up and stared at the huge solid, scaled dragon that appeared in front of him. Her wings were wide, head huge, scales thick and eyes angry. But on her back was his little sister who had her bright green and panicked eyes focused on him.

“Am I glad to see you Sofie,” Sefirin shouted and flew over to the dragon’s back. Floating around quickly he landed on Emeralda’s back.

Sofie turned to face him for a second and then looked back toward the ground, “What did you guys get into?”

“Oh you know. Wandering the desert. Pretending we’re not lost. Finding giant wurms. The fun stuff.”

Sefirin looked over his shoulder at the roiling mass of flesh and sand beneath them. There were at least three wurms down there now and the sand had been stained with whatever acid that they vomited up. With several more wing flaps Emeralda got far out of reach of their yawning jaws and even the wurms were thinking twice about attacking something quite that big.

“Now that you’re here let’s get down there and show them who’s boss,” Sefirin said standing carefully and spreading his wings again.

“What? No.” Sofie shook her head quickly as Emeralda started to circle around. “They’re just animals Sefirin. They don’t know better.”

Sefirin glanced back at her shaking his head, “Seriously? Tell that to the amount of times it tried to eat me.”

“They only attacked you because we’re in their territory,” she said sternly. “How would you feel if strangers showed up at the castle and caused trouble.”

A gust of wind blasted behind them and Silva landed on Emeralda’s back behind her brother. The elemental appeared at her side for a moment and she nodded toward it, “Thank you for your assistance, Aero. You are dismissed.” The elemental nodded once and then disappeared. Turning back to her siblings she glanced at her sister first. “Sofia’s right. This is their home and we’re the trespassers.”

“So what do we do then?”

“We leave hatchling,” Emeralda said gliding forward.

Sofie nodded quickly, “Em and I were able to get an idea of where we are to continue. Though it wasn’t easy to see I think there’s a village in this direction. Leave these guys to their home and their lives. We keep going.”

Sefirin looked down at the wurms and watched the last of them disappear beneath the sands. Nodding slowly his scales and extra appendages disappeared. As he got comfortable, he couldn’t help but smile, “You know you sounded a lot like dad just now.”

That made her blush hard and look away, “Really?”

“Totally. Also Silva take note. We’re going in the opposite direction we were before.”

Silva’s eyes widened and she checked the map quickly then glared at her brother, “Shut it. Or I’ll knock you off and you can walk there.” She ignored his laughter and stared behind them, down at the sand. The shifting dunes that seemed to hold secrets but she shook her head focusing on the journey ahead.