Village of the Sandy Dunes (5)

"I'm so sorry!"

The next day, Lynch was greeted with a fine, scorching morning. Sweat stuck to the rags that made up the bed, and Lynch felt like he slept in a damn oven.

Good news, however, Lynch didn't feel like dying of asthma or whatever disease was connected to his lungs.

'Fuck that potion, though.' He shivered. Never in his life had he tasted something so horrid, enough for him to contemplate just keeling over on the spot.

Which led to his current situation right now, with Hasana seemingly asking for forgiveness along with another young girl about his age.

Looking around, Lynch noticed that Hissa was nowhere to be seen, though judging by the two young intruders, Hissa probably let them in and asked the two to keep an eye on him.

"Sorry? For what?" Lynch tilted his head. As far as he knew, nothing the girl did, to him or otherwise, warranted an apology.

"For not asking your name!" Upon hearing her reply, Lynch had half the mind to pat the young girl's head, right after scratching his blond hair.

"Uh, shouldn't I be the one to say sorry? I was the one who did not give my name." Lynch reached for her hair and gave it a good, gentle pat.

"… That's right!" Hasana had a metaphorical lightbulb light up on her head, a huge grin splitting her face. "Apologize!"

"…" Lynch became speechless. Glancing towards the other girl, who was standing around like a spectator, all she gave Lynch was a shrug and a deadpan smile.

"… Sorry?" Lynch's questionable apology had Hasana rush over to the boy and give him a big hug.

The bear kind of hug.

"Oomph!?" Lynch groaned, feeling something nearly snap within his body.

"Apology accepted!" Hasana let go of the struggling boy and then rushed over to the spectating girl. "This is Wadha."

"Hi." Wadha waved her hand, a curious expression plastered over her face.

"Hello." Lynch waved back, an anxious smile slowly rising.

"Let's play!"

It all happened so fast. One moment, he was sitting on the bed, amusingly staring at the hyperactive girl, and the next moment, he was all but dragged off his bed and did his best impression of a bed sheet flowing through the wind.

The next thing he knew, he was underneath a giant tree right next to the lake, with Hasana jumping around like she was on a sugar high. Oh, he also noticed Wadha silently sitting down on the ground, back facing towards the trunk of the giant tree, her eyes never leaving Lynch, who was a bit perturbed at the continuous staring.

On the bright side, the tree was big enough to block the sun, which Lynch was sure would cause him sunburn for an extended amount of time due to his new body. If the arid desert was enough to give him a murderous cough, then he didn't want to know what the scorching sun would do to him.

"So… What are we playing?" Deciding to go with the flow, Lynch asked the excited girl, who was bouncing in place for some odd reason, with a slight tone of hesitance in his voice.

"A race!" Hasana grinned at him with an unhinged smile, causing Lynch to flinch back at the eerie sight. She pointed her hand at the top of the tree, where the giant leaves were all but blocking the rays of the sun. "Up there!"

"… You want…" Lynch stuttered, eyes wide with concern and trepidation. "Us to climb… that thing?"

Lynch looked up. Just the sight of the trunk was enough to dwarf him a hundred times over. Hell, he couldn't even see the damn top of the entire thing.

He looked back at Hasana, who was grinning like a damn lunatic, and then at Wadha, who was chilling.

"I'll pass." Lynch walked away from the clearly unhinged girl and sat right next to Wadha, who didn't do anything to shoo him away. "I'll just… stay with Wadha here and… sleep. Yes, sleep like a rock."

At his statement, Wadha raised her eyebrow at Lynch, which caused a pit to form in his gut. Seemingly getting up out of nowhere, Wadha creaked her neck back and forth.

And then she jumped.

Lynch had his jaw drop to the ground. In just a single jump, Wadha scaled about one-fourth of the trunk, and then she continued climbing with speed that an expert rock climber would be jealous of.

'What the fuck am I seeing?' Lynch couldn't peel his gaze off the young girl, her form seemingly a blur as she scaled the tree. 'How the fuck is that even possible?'

"See! Wadha can do it!" Hasana giggled once more, her lunatic laugh somewhat growing on Lynch, before she did the same as Wadha. "Race you to the top!"

Now left alone on the base of the trunk, Lynch had to pick up his jaw off the ground as he saw the two seemingly normal, but shown otherwise, girls scale the tree like it was a kid's playground.

'Can I do it?' Lynch's thoughts took a different turn toward the impossibility he was currently seeing. 'I mean, this is a different world, right? Maybe I have some secret power hidden deep beneath?'

Lynch tensed his legs and hoped... Wished... With every fiber of his being, he prayed that he would be able to accomplish what the two girls had achieved.

And then he jumped.

Only to hit his face smack dab right on the trunk, not even jumping more than his current body's height.

"Ow…" Lynch fell back on the ground, his face sporting a slight bruise from the sudden impact. "Note to self: I am normal. The two girls are monsters."

Lynch rubbed his face, and instead of continuing to climb the tree, he decided to lean on the trunk and close his eyes.

'I'll just get some shut-eye. God knows I need it after witnessing… Whatever the hell I just witnessed.' Lynch had a depreciating smile on his lips.

It was a few minutes later when the two girls finished their climb and saw Lynch silently napping next to the tree.