101 A Bath In The Burning Bloodlands

The piercing rays of the scorching sun overhead rained down mercilessly upon him, while the sandpaper like searing winds flayed his dry skin raw. Raising his right hand like a visor, he shielded his eyes from the blinding luminosity of his surroundings. Yet finding it still too bright, Salvatore squinted his eyes as he gazed out at the endless desolate land before him, comprised of only reddish sand, rocks, and endless death.

Only a few minutes had passed since he left the Valley, yet he had never expected to arrive in such a desolate place. According to Jace's memories this was the Burning Bloodlands, a barren wasteland which was comprised of mostly reddish sand. This endless desert, which had supposedly once been filled with the purest white sand imaginable, had turned red from the ocean of blood spilled across its endless crimson expanse.

Apparently The Burning Bloodlands was the most dangerous place on the entire Ursa Minor continent, having a death rate of 99.9%. Yet despite almost assured death, this place was periodically visited by countless adventures, seeking the hidden wealth buried beneath the blood red sands. This desert held many secrets, for over the countless ages many miraculous and mighty empire, that's domain spanned the entire Bloodlands had risen and fell.

Now remnants of these countless once great empires, could be found throughout the Bloodlands, emerging from the blood red sands. Occasionally a treasure of immense value would emerge from the blood red sands, uncovered by the roaming sand laden reddish winds which constantly scoured the entire Bloodlands of any and all life. Such powerful treasures upon emerging would release a powerful sign which would shake the heavens luring many would be adventures and treasure seekers both amateur and veteran to their doom.

It was noon right now, the hottest point in the day in the Burning Bloodlands and the absolute worst time to be outside in the open, especially without any clothes on yet despite the lack of clothes Salvatore was indifferent to the scorching temperature, his skin remaining smooth and unblemished without even the slightest speck of sweat anywhere on his pearlescent silky smooth skin.

After a few minutes of standing still while he took in his barren desert surroundings with his eyes still squinted e discover a decidedly lack of any wildlife whatsoever around him quickly proceeded to dawn the spoils of his pitiless pillaging of Jace body. With a wave of his hand he opened his [Spatial Storage] and quickly withdrew his newly acquired spatial bracelet and quickly equipped it on his left wrist. He then proceeded to withdraw all of the pieces of Jace's Specter epic grade armor set then continues to rummage around for several minutes until he finally withdrew a long shimmering tan hooded cloak which had a oily sheen and seemed to be made from some type of reptilian skin.

After he withdrew the cloak he accessed another compartment on the spatial bracelet and quickly withdrew two room temperature 1 foot cubes with a string on the side, one shiny white the other glossy blue. Dropping the one that was blue with the rest of the items he had withdrew, he held aloft the other white one with his right hand and with his left quickly reached out and pulled the string. Immediately the white cube room temperature cubes exterior shattered revealing a inner translucent 10 inch ice cube which remained inert momentarily before quickly melting revealing a squarish shiny white earthen jug covered in a snowflake motif and filed with perfectly shaped cubes of ice made from purified crystal clear water.

Reaching into his spatial bracelet yet again he quickly pulled out a large wooden tub big enough to accommodate 4 people easily enough and that looked like a giant barrel sawn in half with a smooth sanded railing on top. Tipping the shiny white squarish jug over with his right hand the pitter patter sound of blocks falling soon filled the area as hundreds of ice cubes poured out into the waiting empty tube. After filling the tube half-way he stopped pouring and placed the ice cube jug back in his spatial bracelet. Bending over he reached down and picked up the blue cube then holding it in his right hand he pulled its string with his left. As the blue cubes exterior shattered it revealed a roundish glossy blue earthen jug covered in a sparkling water drop motif and filled with gleaming translucent cold water.

Both the shiny white cube and the glossy blue cube were luxury disposable items known respectively as [Ice Cubes] and [Water Cubes] and had been design to preserve their refreshing cargo for a very long time with a 100 year expiration date making them ideal for stockpiling. The number one Merchant's Guild in the world Everlast had devoted all of the research departments Mage's and Enchanters who were skilled in water magic, ice magic and sealing magic had collaborated to create these luxury portable disposable items originally to market to wealthy individuals who were headed to the Burning Bloodlands to provide a refreshing icy reprieve from the harshness of the dry desert which they could carry with them.

Despite either the 10 inch shiny white jugs or the 10 inch glossy blue jugs simplistic appearances they were in fact both rare grade enchanted items that each respectively housed 100 gallons of the finest water and frozen ice cube formed from the purest refreshing water money could buy this side of the world with a retail price of 20,000 stars per [Ice Cube] and 10,000 stars per [Water Cube] yet despite these cutthroat prices for something a basic as water albeit nice packaged and preserved water the absolute moment someone put Ice Cubes up for sale they would instantly be snatched up for they were a must have for anyone who wished to venture out into the dry Burning Bloodlands.

Upturning the glossy blue jug a seemingly endless torrent of water began to pour out into the half-filled wooden tub causing the crystal-like terrain of towering dazzling mountainous range's and deep glittering valleys formed entirely from perfectly symmetrical ice cube to begin to shriek as they began to quickly melt from the water which although cold was still a higher temperature than them.

As the wooden tub quickly filled with water the ice cubes began to rise with the ascending water line until seeing the tub had reached a suitable height, roughly eight inches from the tub smooth railing Salvatore stopped pouring and put away the glossy blue water cube jug in the same compartment that he had placed the shiny white ice cube jug in previously.

As he observed the now perfectly filled wood tub filled with ice cubes floating atop the surface of a picturesque arctic sea of crystal clear water he nodded approvingly at the exceedingly refreshing sight then with a hop and a skip followed by a well placed left hand on the wooden tubs smooth wooden railing and the sound of a gentle splash Salvatore entered the icy waters and finally began to bathe for the first time since he had arrived in this strange new magical world.