The Desert

Rough sand washed over Keni's face, filling his mouth, nose, and ears as he sank beneath the asphalt.

After a few seconds, his body stopped sinking. It felt like he was being crushed by the weight of the sand around him. It was no joke. Panicking, he started digging, but his movements were restricted by fatigue.

Keni tasted the grains entering his lips as he tried to claw his way out from the sands. The load still pressed down on him heavily.

'Shoot! Why is this happening to me? First, I wake up in an alley, theeeen get mixed up with ugly monsters and demons. And now this?! I never asked for this!'

It was disorienting to guess which direction led to the surface. And after half a minute of digging, the sand around Keni began to constrict, squeezing his body.

"I'm screwed..." Keni groaned, fear creeping over him as he felt the suffocating weight of being buried alive. Suddenly, what happened next defied his imagination.

As the sand nearly crushed his head, his body was instantly ejected from the ground, hurtling him upwards at incredible speed toward the surface. Luckily, his skin remained unscathed by the friction. A thin layer of yellowish film was covering his body.

'Should have had this before the sand choked me!' He glared, a mixture of relief and frustration washing over him before surrendering to the sight before him.

"Where the fudge is this?!" Keni complained. "A desert?" His velocity stopped mid-air.

Keni's eyes darted around, taking in the vast orange expanse with the horizon painted in a purplish hue. And everywhere he looked, there was nothing but sand.

"Fudge..." Then, he fell. It was practically a free fall. His body was finally spent from using too much magna, rendering him utterly powerless. Worse yet, he plummeted headfirst—crashing onto the sand like a ragdoll.

***

"Oy! Look, Pico... It's another Tripper."

"Ey... You sure this one's too? He looks just like a nobody, Keke."

"Now, now... Do you think these clothes belong in the desert? Nobody wears printed clothing ever since 'The Rift,' you know?"

Keni noticed the flickering light from his eyelids. Two people were speaking in a foreign language, but unusually, he understood them. He wanted to move his body when their voices sounded gruff, but he finally decided against it.

No matter what, he was still suffering from intense fatigue, and reckless movement told him it would snap his body painfully. So, Keni only opened his eyes slowly and carefully, pretending to be unconscious.

"Oy! This guy's awake." Something kicked his legs after attempting to open his eyes, then crunching footsteps approached him. "Think he can understand us, Pico?"

"He flinched, Keke. Can't believe there are still Trippers to find in this desert." The man snickered. "This is easy, then..."

Suddenly, a single kick sent Keni reeling on the sand. He groaned from the pain coursing from his stomach before another snicker joined in.

"Oy! That hurt. Didn't it? Just get up, else we will kick your balls."

Keni glanced at the two figures surrounding him. They wore dirty khaki thermal shirts beneath shoulder pads and crude tactical vests. When he looked down, greenish stains covered their long boots and leather trousers, permeating an unfamiliar odor.

"Ey! This one smells like a fourth-grade, Keke." A man wearing motorcycle goggles crouched in front of him. The goggles barely concealed the diagonal scar above his right eye that extended down his cheek. The man's sandy complexion and light stubble made him appear mid-twenties.

'These guys are dangerous.' Keni thought. 'How did I even end up here? Last time I checked, I was still in Tagum City..." Keni wondered.

"Bet you're wondering why you're here, ey?" The man said.

Keni paused, realizing it was already dark after glancing at the sky. Meanwhile, the other guy took a drag from a cigar behind them. Smoke was dancing along the distant car light above the sand dune.

"Well, Imma just say..." The guy smiled, revealing three golden teeth. "Welcome to the New Emirates."

***

The men carried Keni on the back of their sand car. It was a crude and lightweight vehicle, effortlessly crossing the sands that would have bogged down any other vehicle. Although it only had two seats, Keni was strapped behind, where he occasionally felt his bottom getting wrecked.

'...Six months, huh.' Keni wondered. "Ouch!"

The men carrying Keni were apparently survivors, specifically hunters in the sandy wasteland. Despite appearing unarmed and unconventional, they exuded an aura that made Keni doubt his chances. Particularly scar-faced Pico, the man's smile was enough to send Keni shivering from fear.

They said six months had passed since the world started changing. The unnatural color of the sky was among the many changes, which included the appearance of strange creatures on the planet. And most significantly—the Pangeia and magna occurrences.

"Oy! Look ahead, Pico!" Keke, an eccentric lad and a little younger looking than Pico, yelled while driving. "Sand wolves up ahead. And oy! I think three of 'em are three-horned!"

"You sure about that, Keke?" Something glowed in Pico's hands when his partner mentioned 'three-horned.' "We still got a tripper on the back, you know?"

Keni peeked towards the front; but couldn't see anything except the limited car light casting a bright glow on the sands. Whatever these men meant by 'wolf,' it scared him.

'And how the heck was I able to understand them?' Keni realized. The men were clearly speaking two different languages. Despite that, they also conversed with Keni when he spoke using his native dialect.

"Let's just grab 'em horns, you know?" Keke replied. Suddenly, the terrain lit brightly under the dark sky, revealing nearby land features that Keni couldn't see earlier in the dark. The vehicle suddenly stopped after Keni realized a single flare burned above them.

"Aight, just gimme a minute, then. Also... keep the engine warm while looking at that Tripper, ey." Keke nodded before lighting his cigar. The wolves then started to growl after a few moments.

'Why do they call me a tripper anyway?'

Behind the car, Keni leaned over to the side to take a clear look. Everything looked like a scene from an action movie, a stand-off between a hunter and mother nature. Up ahead, giant wolves with horns on their head locked their eyes on Pico. Their sand-colored fur made them barely noticeable on the terrain. Slowly, their shadows transitioned downwards as the flare hovered towards the surface. Then, the wolves opened their jaws, only to reveal toothless mouths.

"What the fudge?" Keni cursed in surprise. He was imagining sharp fangs baring on their mouth.

"Oy! Language," Keke admonished, then giggled after seeing Keni's reaction.

"I remembered the first time I saw 'em. And lemme tell you, those jaws are acidic!" The driver took a drag, blowing the smoke through his nose. "But you see..."

Pico lightly bent his body before the wolves, preparing to warm up. Although the wolves were clearly too far away, Keni believed he wouldn't be confident to move or exercise if he were in Pico's position.

However, the sands suddenly floated within those instances.

"This one might blow your mind..."

In less than a second, Pico suddenly appeared nearby the wolves, holding a glowing dagger that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. A wolf was instantly decapitated, its two horns neatly sliced from its head and spraying liquid sand.

'What the fudge just happened?' Keni dropped his jaw in shock.

["Answer: Human."]

["Answer: Monster."]

["Answer: Magna detected. Type: Reinforcement."]

After the corpses hit the ground, two more beasts lost their heads and horns. Three more followed suit, then a few more, until their numbers dwindled. In fact, no other sound, except the wolves' whimpers and the car engine, filled Keni's ears.

"What a blood—Ah, in this case—sandbath! Am I right?" Keke leaned in, smiling.

'Geez... It really did just take a minute for him to slaughter those wolves. I couldn't even see him move... And did that guy only use a knife?'

The glowing knife vanished from Pico's hand, and the entire scene halted into an eerie silence.

'Or maybe those wolves are just weak... They didn't even have teeth.'

Suddenly, three figures lunged at Pico from above. These wolves bore three horns, different from the other creatures, and moved as fast as invisible bullets. Keni couldn't follow their attacks, of course. Not until Pico caught one with his bare hands—choking the wolf before throwing it toward the other two.

<BANG!>

They crash onto the ground, whimpering and pitifully covered in sand clouds. Keni quickly noticed one wolf had lost all its horns, now lifelessly unmoving beside its friends.

'Fudge! I take back wolves being weak.'

What happened next was another sandbath that made the driver giggle unceasingly.

***

"That's 84 horns, {third-grade}. And nine horns, from three {second-grade} sandwolves." Keke counted, placing the horns inside a duffle bag.

'That's a lot of horns,' Keni listened. 'But what are they gonna do with those anyway? Some kinda substitute for ivory? And what exactly do they mean about grades?'

Maybe Pico noticed Keni's confused expression; he clicked his tongue before saying, "You'll find out soon."

After another four hours of traveling in the desert, Keni could see gigantic walls standing out on the horizon. Despite driving for hours inside a vehicle, the night never ceased, and this helped Keni notice the shimmering faint glow surrounding the walls.

["Answer: Magna detected. Type: Reinforcement."]

"Oy! What do you think, Keni?" Keke asked, revving the engine.

"Well... It's—w-what?" Keni stuttered. He was spacing out after realizing hearing his name. 'How the fudge does he know me...?'

"HAHAHAHAHA!"