1 Sand and Fire

I think I died.

I'm not really sure what else it could have been.

The last thing I remember was a semi-truck barreling toward my rear-view mirror.

And now, I'm here.

I looked around again at my surroundings. Sand, sand, and more sand. That's all there was… well that's not entirely true. There was the sky as well. Ice blue, despite the fact that it was scalding hot.

I wasn't built for this kind of climate. I'm from Seattle where it's always raining, I've never been in a desert before, let alone lost in the middle of one by myself.

I took another step forward, then looked back at the tracks I had made in the sand. How far had I gone? How long had I been walking?

When I woke up in the sand with nothing around me, the sun was straight overhead. It had moved since I began walking and judging by the trajectory of it, I was heading east. I wasn't really sure which direction to go, but I had already made too much progress in this particular direction to abandon it now.

I hadn't seen a single tree, or piece of foliage since I woke up. And definitely not any water.

Was I going to die?

Again?

I think my soul must have transferred into this body. I took a step forward and my long tan leg was visible through the slit of a flowing white gown for a brief second. That was definitely not my leg. I never remember looking at my leg before and thinking it was so sexy. Not to mention, my hair was different: it was a deep red color with heavy curls that sat on my shoulders. Before, my hair was short and black, so this added to my certainty that it was not my body.

I still hadn't completely ruled out the possibility of this being a dream. But based on the agony of my skin in the blistering sun and aching of my feet. That was doubtful.

The other option was that I was in hell. And my punishment for my sins was going to be climbing these sand dunes and feeling dehydrated for the rest of eternity.

~Let's hope it's not that.~

A gust of wind blew past me, and the sand flew with it. I pulled my scarf up over my face to protect it from the pelting sand. Luckily, the body I found myself in had come somewhat equipped with things for the desert. By equipped, I meant that I had a bag with two water bottles and a bit of dried food. By somewhat, I meant that the food was nearly gone and the water bottles were empty. Still, I carried them in hope of finding water at some point.

Although, civilization would be better.

I squinted my eyes at the horizon in all directions hoping to see the shape of something. But I only saw more hills of sand and…

Was that a person?

Or an animal?

Or…

Someone on a horse!

"Hey!" I yelled and scrambled to the top of the nearest dune, waving my arms frantically. "Hey! Over here! Help me! Help!"

The silhouette of the man on a horse stopped. And they turned toward me.

~Yes. I'm saved.~

"Help! I don't know how I got here!" I rushed toward the person, skidding down a dune and filling my sandals with sand as I went. I looked down at my feet for a second to pull my dress off the ground, then when I looked up again the horse and rider were gone.

~No.~

I ran toward where I had seen them. Or at least I thought it was the right direction. Everything looked the same. I went until my breath felt painful, as if my lungs were filled with the same sand that hit me in the face each time the wind blew.

It must have been a mirage.

And now the sun would set soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wake up." a calm voice roused me from a sleep that felt as comforting as death. "You're not dead. Wake up." it spoke again.

My eyes slid open.

I was still in the desert.

Still in this new body.

But I wasn't alone anymore.

A fire roared to life beside me so suddenly that I stood in surprise. Then I paused. I hadn't realized it, but my body had been incredibly cold. So much so, that standing in front of the fire caused my skin to prickle with pain.

"Sit." the same voice from earlier demanded.

I sat, although I didn't know to whom I was obeying.

"You're not dead, but you could be soon." I turned and met the fiery eyes of the voice. "Drink." he held up a canteen that looked to be made of animal skin. Similar to the kind I had in my own bag, though mine were empty.

My hand reached forward to grab the canteen, but I hesitated as I stared at his face. "Who are you?" I asked, and my voice was scratchy from the lack of hydration.

The man looked back at me with eyes that seemed to glow a deep amber color, dark eyelashes, and golden skin. His black hair curled at his temples and the bridge of his nose stood starkly high against his soft cheek bones.

"I'm your savior." he spoke and his voice was like a chocolate fountain; smooth and decadent. "You're lucky I found you when I did." he pushed the canteen into my hand. "drink up."

I obeyed this time, and quickly emptied the canteen.

"Can I have more?" I asked when I finished.

He took the canteen and screwed a lid onto the top of it. "I only have one left." He answered, "you and I will have to make that one last until I can get us to the nearest city."

"How far is that?"

"Aren't you a Water Mage?" he asked and ignored my question.

"What?"

"Your eyes." he answered and leaned closer to me, looking deeply into my eyes. "I thought I was mistaken at first." and as he looked in my eyes, I saw his more clearly. At first, I thought they simply looked like they were glowing. But up close, I could tell that they really were glowing. As if behind his eyes, a warm fire was ablaze. "But they are the eyes of a Water Mage, I am certain." he finished.

I shook my head and moved away from him, "I don't think I am that."

"If you are, you can make more water yourself." he answered. "You can find what hydration is deep in the sand or in those clouds up there, and you can pull it down for us."

"I cannot do that." I answered immediately.

What was he talking about? I thought at first that I had perhaps found myself in the body of a person in the Sahara or the Gobi desert. Those were the only deserts I knew of that had endless rolling sand dunes. But by the way this man spoke. And by the way he dressed too. It was almost as if I was in some place I couldn't have imagined.

I looked closer to his clothing; they weren't any traditional clothing I had ever seen before. He wore a dark red tunic over black riding pants. And a vest over his tunic that was black and embroidered delicately and intricately with golden thread.

"I'm sorry." the man said, "I must have been mistaken."

"No, it's-" I bit my lip, and it was so dry that I thought I could hear it crack beneath my teeth, "It's alright, I just don't think I can do that… to be honest I woke up in this desert but I don't seem to have any memories of who I am or how I got here."

The man blinked, "Are you certain?" it was as if he'd never heard of amnesia before. "You don't remember anything?" again he drew closer to my face and felt my cheeks get hot. Did this man not understand personal space?

"No, I don't."

"Not even your name?"

I shook my head, "No."

He paused looking at me then a small smile grazed his lips, "Well for now, I'll name you."

"What-?"

"Azul" he spoke before I could protest, "Because of your blue eyes."

~Blue eyes? I have blue eyes?~

In my past body my eyes were a very boring color of brown and I always wished for blue eyes. At one point, I even purchased blue contact lenses and nearly scared myself with how terrible it looked. To think all I had to do was die to have pretty eyes.

"And you may call me Altan." He finally stopped looking at me and turned his attention to the fire that burned in front of us.

"Altan." I repeated his name. "Can you tell me where we are?"

He pointed over the fire across the desert and I wondered at how he could tell what direction anything was. "We are only 20 li from Kiziljer."

~How long is a 'li'? is that like a mile?~

"What country are we in?"

Altan's eyes widened as he looked back at me, "you don't even know that?"

I shook my head.

He sighed as if concerned "We are in Ot Ulut." he answered, "I don't know how you got here, judging by your features and clothing you're from Pani Rastra." he looked me over again and his eyes showed something like worry, "You're a long way from home."

I nodded my head. I most definitely was a long way from home. Because based on these place-names that I had never heard of, I was relatively certain that wherever I was. It wasn't earth.

~Could I be on a different planet or a different dimension?~

"We should get going." Altan stood and extended his arm to me. I took his hand in mine, it was rough, and large, and so extremely hot.

He helped me to my feet and continued to hold my hand after I stood. With his free hand, he waved over the fire in front of us. It went out in a second and left nothing behind. There weren't even the leftover pieces of wood that had been burning. It was then that I realized that he had made the fire. He had made the fire as if from thin air.

~Yeah... I'm definitely not on earth... The people here can... Manipulate the elements.~

"Come," he held my hand tightly and led me to a long-legged black horse. Everything seemed irregularly dark with fire gone. I could barely make out the shape of the horse at all. In fact, the only thing that was truly visible was the mass amount of stars that shone overhead. I had never seen so many in my entire life. And to my dread, I didn't recognize a single constellation there.

~How the heck did I end up in another world?~

"Do you know how to ride?" Altan asked me. He probably didn't have any trouble seeing in the dark with his odd glowing eyes.

I shook my head.

He sighed, "Well I guess it's time to learn." then without warning he grabbed my waist and hauled me off the ground. Before I even had time to protest, I was flailing onto the saddle and the horse was dancing on nervous feet beneath me. "Hold here." Altan instructed me and guided my hands to a sturdy part of the saddle. Then suddenly the saddle swayed as his weight joined me on the horse. The horse danced giddily, and I held to the front of the saddle with knuckles that were likely turning white.

All of Altan was behind me. His chest was to my back and his feet found the stirrups as he fit his legs into the bends of my knees. His arms reached around me and grabbed the reins, and he leaned his mouth to my ear and spoke in the same chocolate voice. "You're doing great."

My breath hitched at the nearness of him. And I attempted to nod my head as he kicked at the horse's sides and we were running.

The horse made great strides through the sand and shot up pebbles behind itself as it went. With each stride I momentarily flew in the air, then came flying back down to the saddle.

We ran until the horse seemed incapable of it anymore. And when the horse began to walk, I felt the intense chill that the wind had left behind on my skin. I began rubbing my hands together until Altan noticed.

"You're cold," he deduced. And his hand caught both of mine in a single grab. "Here." His hand glowed as he wrapped mine in it, and then suddenly my skin was warm. Suddenly, everywhere he touched me I was warm and comforted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We reached Kiziljer at dawn and I could barely keep my eyes open as we came upon enormous walls built from sandstone.

"Your Grace!" voices yelled as we approached.

"His Grace has returned!"

"Open the gates!"

I attempted to wake myself up as the large gates were pulled open, and we entered a village.

"Your Grace, who is this woman?" a man came to stand behind the horse.

~Are they talking about Altan?~

Suddenly, Altan was off the horse and without his strong presence behind me I was immediately losing my balance. Not to mention, the horse seemed extremely tired of its inexperienced passenger.

Altan noticed my hopelessness, grabbed at my waist again, and pulled me from the horse. Suddenly I was standing beside him. My legs felt weird, like they had been stretched out by a laffy-taffy machine and then I was asked to stand on them normally.

I looked up to Altan beside me.

~I don't remember him being this tall.~

He smiled down at me and a dimple presented itself on his tan cheek.

~I don't remember him being this good-looking either.~

"I have returned from my journey." Altan announced, and I looked out before me to find a small crowd of people surrounding us. "And I have brought back with me a fiancé!"

The crowd cheered.

Altan grabbed my hand and held it proudly in the air.

And my mouth dropped as I realized I was the fiancé.