HEAT WAVE

"What the hell…:" muttered Sean, painfully standing up from Ariel's punch, groaning in pain.

"Oww…oww…oww," he groaned, staggering over to the rest of the cadets, his sparring gear broken already.

Ariel too is shaking her hand in pain, having punched Sean's sparring gear and his titanium skeleton caused her hands to bleed from the abrasion. The cuts are shockingly deep however, and soon the sand below her are soaked red.

Henceforth, the 2 ended up in the med bay for the rest of the sparring course. Sean tried his best to hide his amusement as seeing Ariel being berated by Phineas for getting injured again.

The bright side is that he finally managed to catch a break, using the valuable opportunity to take a little snooze. He had woken up at 2am in the morning and immediately did a mapping course, afterwards a shooting test, blasted off to space with a centrifuge training, then Mecha piloting course and not to mention the last-minute warding off of the Deep Dweller. Now is 2pm in the afternoon, and he only had 4 hours of sleep the previous day.

Ariel too, took a snooze as Phineas stitched her hand, not caring about the pain as she is simply too tired to give a damn. Phineas observed the wounds on Ariel's limbs which he had patched up over these 3 months, especially after the POW training.

He wiped away a stray tear that had unknowingly fell down from his eyes. He is seriously contemplating giving Franz another slap in the face for all the injuries that had been inflicted on the cadets, especially on Ariel and Sean, though his rationality held him back. After all, he will not get away with just a 1000-word reflection if he assaults his superior a second time.

Upon returning, Sean and Ariel saw that the other cadets had completed the sparring course, and are all shoving flasks of water down their throats.

"You 2 are back, how's the air-conditioning?" jeered Erika.

Vera knocked her shoulder, prompting her to shut up.

With a blow of the whistle the cadets fell in into formation.

Just then, a military truck stopped in front of the cadets, and Sean turned to see to his surprise more cadets stepping off the trucks.

"Who are they?" asked Louis.

"Probably from the other cadet groups," replied Albert.

The new cadets entered formation. Clara could not help but to feel nervous, realising that the 1000 plus cadets that signed up for the Tier 1 selection course only has slightly less than 200 people left now. She feels fortunate to be around.

"Next exercise!" announced Maia. "Collect your gear and trek through the desert! Objective is to remain hidden and evade capture! You will be parachuted into randomised starting positions! If you get caught or taken out, you are eliminated! If you don't reach back here by 9pm, aka 7 hours from now, you are eliminated too! Now you are free to use magic to condense water and form ice, but I wonder if you all will still have energy left to walk…"

As if on cue, the cadets' stomachs grumbled. They all had only eaten one meal in the morning which is meant to last one whole day.

Sean and his group of cadets changed into full light combat gear. Then out of nowhere, the water flasks of the cadets flew into the air, and three-fifths of the contents are emptied out.

Maia calmly used her magic to push the flasks back to them, then gesturing to the airbase.

"If any of you can't take the burning sun of the desert, or the freezing cold at night, feel free to be a pussy and pull the emergency yellow smoke dispenser. UNSSD helicopters and drones are on a 24h standby and will bring you home in no time!" sneered Maia.

"Now, to save UNSSD the maintenance costs, anyone backing out?" asked Maia.

"NEVER QUIT!" roared Clara.

"NEVER QUIT!" followed all of the 197 cadets.

"Good spirit!" commended Nanami. "Move out!"

Soon the cadets are on the plane, parachuting out one by one. It was not long before Sean got his turn.

"Ready comrade?" asked the crew of the plane checking their parachutes, an Arabian human. Sean gave a thumbs up.

"As-salamu alaykum!" greeted the crew member in Arabic, meaning "Peace be upon you."

Sean smiled. "Wa alaykumu s-salam," he returned the greeting, translating to: "May peace be upon you," trying to pronounce it properly. Despite being versed in majority of the world cultures as part of his education growing up in UNSSD, he can only speak 3 languages – Chinese, English and Japanese.

The Arabian UNSSD officer chuckled as Sean's effort to speak Arabian, though appreciative nonetheless.

Sean jumped out of the cabin, opening his parachute once he reached terminal velocity, landing down on a sand dune.

He immediately tidied up his parachute, compressing it into a small 4 by 4 cm square and fastening it onto his assault backpack. This is to ensure that he does not leave behind visible clues to his whereabouts.

Sean checked his coordinates on his smartwatch and the compass, climbing up to a taller sand dune to scout his route. Just then, the sound of a jeep followed by gunshots caught his attention, he immediately went down from the sand dune, hiding behind it while peeking out, turning the LPVO optic on his SCAR-H to 6x magnification, finding to his dismay that 3 cadets are already caught and eliminated by the instructors.

He turned back, cocking both his rifle and pistol, readying himself.

Getting caught by the instructors is the least of his worries though. The 2 most likely things to screw him over are dehydration and heat stroke, and both can come on in a matter of hours.

Even though as a member of Squad Artemis he can take more punishment from nature, that does not make him invincible compared to a human or Sellardraxian.

He planned his route. Travelling in the heat will be painful, hence the seemingly logical step is to do most of the travelling when the sun sets. Though that is impossible, as Sean knows that there is no way he can reach the base at 9pm if he dedicates most of his movements at night.

Knowing that in the heat his head will sizzle and his body will shut down, Sean removed his helmet, wearing a makeshift Arabian headscarf to keep his head cool. He condensed some water to dampen it using magic, allowing it to cool himself down further. Wearing his helmet and putting on the goggles to shield his eyes from the sand, he began his journey.

As he moved on, he somewhat feels fortunate that he is hungry. Eating too much will cause him to lose more water in digestion. In the desert, water is king. He will be lucky to live up to 24h in the desert without water.

Despite strictly rationing his water, after 2 hours of trekking his flask is empty. The instructors have deviously designed the course such that the cadets are almost guaranteed to run out of water soon, forcing them to scourge for water, and if the cadets tried to use magic to condense water, they will run out of energy.

With no choice, Sean began searching for water. To make matters worse, he started to feel a slight headache. He is alarmed. This is an early symptom of heat stroke, if he does not find shelter soon, it's going to worsen as his body stops sweating to conserve fluids, which will then cause him fatigue and dizziness.

"Heck…" cursed Sean. His body can lose up to 1 litre of water in this heat, and he will not even notice it. He needs to find shade, and water fast.

Fortunately for him, a shade consisting of date palms soon appeared. He immediately ran towards it, sitting down and fanning himself, while still staying alert. The other good news is that plants are representative of water sources.

He dug a hole about 46cm deep, lining it with palm leaves, intending to make a dew trap variant to collect moisture. He then put rocks onto the leaves to collect the moisture via condensation from heat contrast between the cool rocks and the harsh sun.

But of course, there is no way that he will wait for night time to cool the rocks down. He is going to use magic to bring away heat from the rocks. Bringing heat away from objects is way less energy consuming as opposed to directly condensing water from the water vapour in the air.

After adding an extra layer of leaves to ensure the precious droplets do not evaporate, Sean extended his hand, cooling down the rocks.

"Smart..." commended Bryan, observing the cadets through the cameras in their helmets.

It did not take long for moisture to form on the rocks, and Sean thirstily sucked off as much as he needs, then carefully collecting the drops into his flask, and then moving off once he no longer feel a headache.

Just as he barely walked for a few minutes, shots ran out, and he immediately took cover and got down, observing his surroundings alertly.

Little did he notice that a cobra had coiled itself around his leg. By the time he noticed, it was already in his face.

Sean looked at the 1.2m long cobra hissing about, staying as still as possible. A cobra can strike up to half of its body length in half a second and inject its lethal venom, a situation Sean wants to avoid.

The cobra did not notice that Sean is a living being, and then coiled itself onto his gun, gradually going blocking the barrel. Sean's finger is already on the trigger, contemplating whether to shoot the cobra at the risk of exposing his position, as he does not have a suppressor.

Just then, the cobra is forcefully elevated into the air and beheaded by a quick burst of air. Sean turned, surprised to see Vera behind him, with Louis and Ariel.

"What, did your brain get fried by the heatwaves?' joked Vera, "say something!"

"What a pleasant surprise," said Sean. "I suggest you all get down, there were gunshots around here just now."

"And that was us," said Louis.

Sean is surprised, "why did you shoot?"

Ariel gave a sheepish grin. "Well, you see, just after the 3 of us rendezvoused the instructors found us and we got into a brief firefight."

"And did you win?" asked Sean.

She looked at him awkwardly.

A sense of dread crept onto Sean. "You won, right?"

Before Ariel can give a reply, the loud engines of a jeep answered Sean's question for him. He stared at his friends incredulously, realising that they had just drawn the instructors over to him as well.

"F***, run!" exclaimed Sean, and the 4 immediately bolted, hiding behind a few rocks. Louis yelped at the heat when he accidentally touched a rock.

"Now what?" he asked, only to almost vomit out when he saw that Vera is eating the cobra, minus its head and venom glands of course, raw, disgusting him.

"Seriously?" he snapped.

"Sorry," apologised Vera, "I am starving."

Ariel too, is disgusted. "You Chrysos really can eat almost everything huh."

"Focus," said Sean.

The jeep stopped. 3 instructors stepped out, checking the footprints in the sand.

"Hide, or shoot?" asked Vera.

Ariel bit her lips. "They are going to find us sooner or later, I suggest we take a shot."

"Agreed," smiled Sean. "See that tank of water on the jeep?"

"And please take the food too, if any, so that we don't have to eat snakes raw," added Louis.

Vera grinned, and the cadets timed their shots.

Soon the 3 instructors have yellow smoke coming out of them, the 4 cadets dashed down, filling up their water flasks, not taking any more. Unfortunately there is no food on them.

The 4 continued on their way, Sean feels better now to have a group instead of being alone.

At 5pm, they heard a cry for help, immediately rushing over, finding Clara, who is trapped in quicksand, little bubbles of desert springs, which can swallow vehicles whole.

Clara struggled, trying to break free, only for her to be pulled in deeper. The most lethal way quicksand kills people is not by swallowing them however, but rather by trapping them in the sun and letting the heat be the executioner using dehydration or heat stroke.

The clay and water continued to pull Clara in. Internally, Sean commended Clara for her determination, not pulling her smoke dispenser even in such a life-threatening situation.

Sean and Ariel went to help her, while asking Vera and Louis to keep guard.

Sean extended his hand, grabbing her rifle sling, asking her to hold on tight and keep her body flat and pull her legs up towards the surface. Clara did so, he and Ariel then pulled her out of the quicksand.

Clara's clothes and gear are all muddy, she stood up, heavy.

"Thanks..." she muttered.

Louis came over. "You need to clean the mud and clay off your clothes, if you try to move it is going to rub against your skin and discomfort you with infections, not to mention the heat rashes."

Clara nodded, removing her gear with Ariel's help.

"Ahem?" she coughed at Sean and Louis. Understanding her cue, the 2 turned around, backs facing her. Sean also ensured that the Clara's helmet camera is not facing her. Ariel and Vera did the same to their helmet cameras.

Clara then took off her clothes, wearing only her underwear, scraping and wringing off the grit with Ariel's help, doing it quickly to limit exposing so much skin under the blazing sun to prevent sunburn.

"Damn," joked Vera as Clara dressed. "Your abs are very well developed."

A flustered Clara threw sand at her while Ariel giggled. "The boys are still here!" she snapped.

Sean and Louis tried their best to hold their laughs, though it was unsuccessful, and the 2 burst out laughing, much to Clara's embarrassment.