8 Road Through Deserts

Everything was slowly and inexorably passing away.

Night and day merged into one for an ethereal adolescent wandering alone in a desert whose landscape seemed to him a repetitive and endless sea of sand.

The high temperatures prevailing here during the day made he had the impression that they were burning his body, and the low temperatures so diametrically different from the daily ones made him feel as if he was freezing, turning into a block of ice.

But despite all this unpleasantness, the beautiful long-haired young man kept walking on ahead, knowing that he had nothing else not left.

With each next step, his body wobbling more and more.

Unaccustomed to the conditions here, despite having water and a nutritional substance also known under the name conditioners, Mivio was losing more and more strength.

His vision slowly blurred, and his thoughts became more and more incoherent and confused.

Finally, as the next day turned to a cold night, and the last rays of the sun illuminated his frail figure with their brilliance, he collapsed, and his eyes closed involuntarily.

After a while, the sunlight was completely gone, absorbed by the darkness and the moon slowly emerging in the night sky.

The gently rising chest of this androgenic youth was the only testimony to this that he was still alive... That he was still fighting...

Just before he was completely out of consciousness, one conscious thought flashed into Mivio's mind, after which his consciousness completely drained away.

That thought was the question of whether it was here and now that he would die again, and whether his strange journey into this new world would really end so soon when he had not yet had the chance to know and experience anything...

Will he really be just another stranger engulfed by a merciless desert? Just another meaningless being who has yet to find his happiness, pretending he doesn't want it at all, forever deceiving himself?

… If he's going to die here, does it all was supposed some sense? …

The incoherent thoughts and strange desires that usually remained dormant in him, completely disregarded by him as if they didn't exist, now raised their heads like bloodthirsty beasts that sensed the blood and moment of weakness of their victim.

Feeling a strange relief, in escape from these thoughts and feelings, Mivio let himself be absorbed by nothingness, losing consciousness and not knowing if he would still wake up.

A soft and non-existent murmur, as if the slow hum of the sea and the sound of sea waves crashing on the shore echoed in the mind of the youth, accompanying him on his lonely journey through his own darkness, as he lay there among the sand, like a defenseless creature abandoned and forgotten by all.

Slow seconds, minutes, and hours passed until finally the soft sound of moving beings resounded among the desert sands.

The delicate light illuminated their path, and only blind chance made their journey ran a short distance from the lying body of the unconscious adolescent.

Desert People, lovers of discovering its history, out of sheer curiosity that almost every self-respecting scientist, explorer or archaeologist had, decided to stop and take a closer look at their find, which in this case was the unconscious Mivio.

Looking at their unexpected find, they began to slowly discuss and exchange various speculations and observations among themselves.

After a while, they picked up a long-haired youth, whose extraordinary beauty, even despite the harsh prevailing conditions in the desert, was still breathtaking, and placed him on one of their traveling animals, which were called Peri.

These animals were domesticated centuries ago and were an indispensable companion for anyone who decided to wander the desert without the use of modern vehicles.

They were large and slender, and their bodies were covered with long fur in the colors of the desert, making them seem to blend in with their surroundings, and at the same time, appear larger and more massive.

The sharp claws hidden in their powerful paws and the fangs cleverly hidden in their mouths were for Peri the perfect defense and the possibility to attack, making few predators dare to mess with them, which also made the travelers who accompanied them ensured themselves more security.

And so, unconscious Mivio without the participation of his own will and remaining unaware of that arose situation, set off on a further journey, the destiny of which was unknown to him.