The morning sky was still dark. Ink-black, without a single star, as if someone had covered the world with a thick blanket. Only in the east, at the very horizon, was a narrow white strip visible. A harbinger of dawn. Thin as a knife's edge, it cut through the darkness, promising that everything would change soon.
Taking a sitting position, the cloak crumpled beneath him and sand filled the folds of his clothes. Verd ran his palm over his face, wiping away the remnants of sleep, and looked around.
The place where she had sat, leaning against the stone, was empty. Only traces of her feet remained, which the wind had already begun to cover with fine grains of sand.
'Where could she have gone at this hour?'
Even though they had spent so little time together, Verd had already grown used to her morning irritability, so a calm morning was something unusual.
He stood up, brushing off his clothes, and slid down the dune. The camp was quiet, even too quiet considering its members. The lizards lay on the sand, curled into rings, their sides slowly rising and falling. Dark, bronze, almost black scales glistened in the faint light. Near them were two green tents. Small, patched, they looked like little hills under which someone was hiding from the wasteland.
'Probably still asleep. Better not to interact with them at all.'
Verd took a few steps toward the exit of the oasis. In the distance, against the still-dark sky, something shimmered. A bluish, pulsing light, like a heartbeat. It came from somewhere beyond the dunes, from the direction they were supposed to go in the morning. The light was weak but alive, now flaring up, now fading, as if breathing.
'What is that?'
He took another step, when suddenly a voice sounded behind him.
-Stop.
The voice came from the darkness. It was very low and hoarse, with metallic notes, making Verd freeze. Brun emerged from behind a rock. His figure surfaced from the darkness like a part of the wasteland itself. Broad, squat, inseparable from sand and stone.
-Your shift? - Verd asked, crossing his arms.
The dwarf silently shook his head. He continued to look at him without looking away.
'Why is he staring at me like that?' - the guy tilted his head slightly to the side. - 'So Arktia went out for her shift, and he apparently couldn't sleep, so he decided to pick on me.'
Verd felt a chill run down his spine.
As soon as he started to walk forward, Brun opened his mouth.
-Where do you think you're going?
-Just decided to look around. - Verd shrugged, trying to look calm. - My teacher wasn't nearby.
-She left.
-Left?
Brun didn't answer. Just stood there, blocking the exit. Verd felt his gaze, heavy, assessing, distrustful. The dwarf didn't trust him, and it was obvious. If Verd had seen someone like himself, he would have immediately tried to get rid of that person.
-She'll come back. Go to sleep.
-I don't want to sleep.
Brun tilted his head slightly. Slowly. As if weighing his words. Then looked toward the shimmering light.
-Then stand here, - he said. - But don't go toward that light.
-Why? - Verd nodded toward the shimmering blue pillar. - What is that thing anyway?
Brun slowly turned his head.
-I don't know.
-You don't know? - Verd raised an eyebrow. - You've clearly been here more than one day. And you don't know?
-I don't know, - the dwarf repeated.
His voice was even, but something slipped into it. Maybe irritation?
-And I don't want to know. - He spat on the sand.
Verd only smirked at the answer.
'Can't argue with that. No one really wants to deal with something unknown.'
***
After a while, he still managed to convince Brun. Not with words, the dwarf didn't seem to be listening at all. Simply because Verd's presence had become annoying. He looked at the dwarf, and at some point realized that he was tired of arguing. Stubborn as a rock, he still stepped aside, not because he believed him, but because he was tired of it. And that irritated Verd more than if Brun had simply driven him away. As if he were not a threat, not a guest, but an annoying fly that was easier to let through than to chase off.
'Why did I even have to waste my time?! Short bastard, already annoying.'
The climb was steep. Sand crumbled under his feet, and he slipped several times, grabbing at rocks to keep from falling. The wind blew stronger than below. It hit his face, threw grains of sand into his eyes, got under his clothes. Verd climbed, feeling sweat streaming down his back, his leg muscles burning. And all this for curiosity. For something that might kill him.
He reached the top and froze.
In the distance, kilometers away, a huge blue pillar stretched all the way to the sky. From afar it was hard to see, but from time to time it narrowed and then returned to its original size.
'I wonder what isn't in this world...'
Verd stood unable to look away. The blue light was mesmerizing. It was alien, ancient, dangerous. But beautiful. Beautiful the way a blade is beautiful when it's about to kill you.
-Seen enough?
Verd turned around. Arktia stood behind him, holding several red fruits with long thorns on the skin. The thorns were long, sharp, curved at the ends. Verd couldn't imagine how you could eat them, but the girl had found a way, tearing off pieces of the fruit with her fingers.
-Where did you disappear to?
-Felt like having fruit, - she handed one of them to Verd. - Want some?
The guy stared intently at the small fruit and the thorns twice the size of his fingers. Then shifted his gaze to the casual face of the girl, who was calmly eating these fruits.
-I think I'll pass...
-Is that so. Then let's go down.
She turned and walked down. Verd looked at the gorge one more time. The blue light pulsed like a heart. And then it went out. Abruptly, as if someone had blown out a candle.
***
When the sun had already appeared above the horizon, Raine sat by the fire, drinking something hot from a mug. Lira was cleaning her bow, sitting on a stone. Brun was fussing with the lizards, adjusting the saddles. His movements were measured, confident.
-Good morning, - Raine said, raising his mug.
-Morning, - Arktia replied.
She sat by the fire, took bread and roasted meat from her ring. Silently accepting the bread, Verd sat nearby and stared into the dying fire.
'What was that light?'
The thought wouldn't leave and sat in his head like a splinter.
When everyone had gathered, the five of them stood near the lizards. Verd approached one and touched it. The scales were warm, smooth, like polished stone. The lizard slightly opened its eyes, looked at him with a yellow, indifferent gaze.
-You'll ride with me, - Raine said, addressing Brun.
The dwarf nodded. Climbed into the saddle, settling in more comfortably. Lira was already sitting on her lizard, her bow hanging on her shoulder, arrows quietly clinking.
-And you two on the third, - Raine said, nodding toward Arktia and Verd.
Arktia walked over to the lizard, stroked its side. It froze, then slightly tilted its head, as if listening.
-Get on, - she told Verd.
He put his foot in the stirrup, pulled himself up, and settled into the saddle. The spear had to be held horizontally so it wouldn't get in the way. Arktia climbed up after him, sitting behind him. Her hands were in gloves, and her right hand rested on his stomach. At first weightlessly, then more confidently, when she took the reins.
-Do you always wear gloves?
-Sit up straight, - she said. - For the future, you need to learn to control the beast.
-Got it.
The lizard snorted slightly when it heard Arktia's tone, but still moved when she pulled the reins. Verd swayed and almost fell, but Arktia held him firmly.
-Relax. If you fall, I won't stop.
***
They rode in silence. Raine and Brun ahead, Lira slightly to the side, Arktia and Verd bringing up the rear. The sun rose higher, and the heat became heavier. The air trembled over the dunes, turning the horizon into a blurred, wavering line. Verd felt sweat streaming down his back, clothes sticking to his body.
'Damn... I hate this desert...'
Quite unconsciously, Verd's head tilted to the side and practically urged his body to fall.
-Don't look down, keep your head straight, - Arktia said. - If you fall, you'll drag me with you.
Verd looked ahead. At Raine's back, straight, broad, covered in white armor that seemed almost blinding in this light. At his lizard, dark, bronze, swaying measuredly.
'Damn... He definitely must sweat more than me. Why is everything fine with him?!'
The sand stretched endlessly, and it seemed to him that they would ride forever. That this day would never end. That the sun would just hang overhead, sucking the strength out of him.
-I'm just controlling so she doesn't make a mistake.
-She won't make a mistake. She's definitely older than your pathetic human body. And certainly, when it comes to travel, better than you.
Verd couldn't find what to answer. Just smirked and shook his head.
Arktia didn't see his smirk, but felt some kind of change.
-You're somehow different today, - she said, grabbing his hair.
Verd's head tilted back sharply, but from exhaustion, he only made a muffled sound.
-Different how? - he muttered displeased.
-Tense.
-Just didn't sleep well.
She didn't answer. The lizard walked evenly, moving its paws, leaving deep tracks behind.
-Is it because of that pillar? - Arktia suddenly asked, releasing his head.
'Why does she always know everything...'
-You know what that was?
She was silent, and Verd felt her breath on his neck.
-When a creature makes a mistake in its development. It gradually begins to unconsciously absorb surrounding energy, even in larger amounts than it can withstand. As a result, it explodes.
-Explodes?
-Exactly. - The girl carefully handed the reins to Verd. - Try it too.
When her hands became free, she first took out the fruits she hadn't finished from her ring. Arktia held them so low that Verd felt the small thorns touching his back.
-Usually this is a rare phenomenon and happens with creatures of the Fiend rank and above. For the rest of its life, the creature is forced to expel spiritual energy, so after a week it gives up and lets its core tear itself apart.
-Fiend? Sounds really rare.
Though he seemed calm, in reality Verd was panicking because all this time, such a strong creature had been not far from them.
-So you can consider yourself lucky, - Arktia said with a fruit in her mouth.
After that, their conversation smoothly shifted to discussing monsters, and Arktia told one secret. According to her, such a thing almost never happened. However, the chance still existed. If a monster had even a shred of intelligence, it could combine absorbed cores into stronger ones.
Verd listened, and with each of her words, the wasteland around him became more and more alien. Not just sand and stones. A place where monsters could become stronger by devouring the cores of others like him. Where even a dead warrior became a weapon for the enemy.
-Combine cores? - he repeated. - How?
-Imagine you have five pieces of clay, - Arktia bit off a piece of fruit, juice running down her fingers. - Separately, they're just lumps. But if you mold them into one, you get something more.
Verd gripped the reins. The lizard quickened its pace slightly, as if sensing his tension.
-And how many such have there been?
-In all of history, two... - Arktia frowned slightly. - Seems like two, but it's all just legends.
She took back the reins, and the lizard quickened its pace. Verd swayed but held on.
-If that Fiend were alive and you fought. Would you win?
At that moment, Arktia laid her head on his back, as she had placed a soft pillow on him.
-Are you joking? He would have smeared me. - Arktia made a small pause. - Say anything else that hints at my death, and I'll make sure you never become Awakened.