Desert (IV)

It was night time. Rather, it was supposed to be night time. However, the freezing wind chilling his body earlier, despite the thick blankets covering him from neck to feet, as well as the tent buffering most of the wind, was now gone.

His blanket, that was still wrapped around his body, was sticking to his skin and making him sweat a lot. Ling moved and kicked around to dislodge the thick cloth off his body. After getting some needed air to his front, he turned over to his stomach to give the same treatment to his back.

It was a surprise when he tasted dirt when his faced touched what was supposed to be another blanket under him. They had borrowed the largest one to accommodate his friend's larger body.

Spitting the sand grains out of his mouth, he scrambled to get up while rubbing his face to get the remaining sand grains off. He became exasperated when he realized that his hands also had sand in them. Therefore, his actions only added more grains on his face. Upon further investigation, other parts of his body, his clothes and even his blankets were full of sand.

Realizing the futility of trying to clean up, Ling sighed and decided to get up fully. He wouldn't be able to get back to sleep again anyway, at this state.

With his frantic movements, the big body next to him also woke up. Its grumbling body shifted a little, but then, situated to sleep again. Its snore continuing as if it never stopped.

Meanwhile, Ling was frozen. His eyes were opened wide, while a hand raised to touch his jaw to keep it from going wide open too. He was frozen, not because he was cold this time, but because of what he was seeing in front of him. Where were they?

Only a short walk away from where the two were lying down was an unfamiliar view. Instead of the camp they had set up, lighted only by the moonlight since they couldn't maintain a fire going through the night, Ling could see lights from that area, brightening even until where he was standing.

There were several balls of light lined up, going around or leading further into that place. All the alleyways were illuminated, unlike the port in Kanan Island, already the biggest town he had seen.

Instead of the tent or the figures of some of his companions sleeping outside too, the only familiar figure was Maga beside him. He could hear that there were sounds of other people talking and laughing in that place in a launguage he couldn't recognize.

Ling remembered that earlier, once the sun went down, the scorching wind coming from the 'haze' turned to freezing. But now, he could really feel that there was a warm breeze touching his exposed skin.

The open area was a big change from the desert they had seen for the past few days. There were trees here, as well as structures all around. There was even a large structure where all the lights lined up lead to. Also, from somewhere Ling couldn't see, there was that familiar humid smell of a large body of water.

Smoke was rising up on several places. Because of the delicious smell coming from nearby, his stomach made a rumbling noise. Of course, he had eaten dinner that night, but it was not satisfying enough. They had the leftover meat from their pack since they had seen no other animals to hunt near the 'haze'.

Needing someone to help him figure out what was happening, Ling patted the figure beside him, whispering, "Maga, Maga, wake up. Where are we?" He was afraid to either dispel the illusion or realize it was not just a dream. Thinking about it, he didn't know what was scarier.

Rankled at being woken up again, Maga grumbled, its body shaking as a warning. However, it stopped suddenly. It smelled something that it had not smelled since the day they left their home.

Raising only its head, the dragon pointed its nose to find that smell. It was about to stand up and walk away, about follow where the smell was leading it with its eyes still closed, as if it was just dreaming. However, it was stopped by another slap on its back.

"Where are you going, Maga? Do you know where we are? We have to find our camp!"

That statement made Maga open its eyes. Hence, it also saw the unfamiliar view, despite the familiar smell of cooking beast meat.

As he was bigger, he had a bigger appetite too, and it's dinner earlier was far from enough. However, during their travel, Maga understood that they had to preserve their food and join the others' suffering. Like when it had to share half of it's food to this young boy beside him when they were thrown off a ship and most of their belongings were left onboard.

The dragon whimpered after that thought. When it finally thought that it could get a satisfying meal, it was disappointed again. Suddenly, another idea popped into its head.Maybe they could go to that place to get food now. Satisfied of this idea, Maga turned to face Ling with a serious face, but its eyes were sparkling.

Ling's concerns were different than Maga's current thoughts. He had been trying to sense Uncle Mayari's 'mist' to no avail. Even their companions with weaker shields were undetected. The only power he was sensing was coming from that bright place.

Maga moving to face him made Ling aware that he finally got the dragon's attention. Before he could open his mouth again to tell it of his speculations, the dragon let out another rumbling sound. This time, it was coming from its stomach.

Ling saw the dragon's sheepish look even when it bowed its head. He only smiled, then said what he was about to say earlier. It wasn't like he could do anything about their hunger now. "I don't remember if something happened after we slept. Do you have an idea?"

As Ling expected, the dragon raised its head to only shake it. It was also clueless of what happened that lead them here without the both of them being aware of it.

"Then, can you sense the others' 'mist'? I was trying to find Uncle Mayari's since earlier but I couldn't find any presence aside from the ones coming from that place." He pointed at the big city as he spoke.

After a pause, Maga shook its head again. However, it still looked at the city where Ling was pointing at. A frown marred its dark face when a presence it had sensed earlier was somewhat familiar.

Ling paused too, to think. He knew he was not in his dream since he could touch Maga and still taste the sand in his mouth. The only thing he could think of was Uncle Mayari's story earlier.

Did that mean they were inside the yellow 'haze' then? However, it was still a mystery how they came to be sleeping here!

Sighing, Ling touched a hand on Maga's back again as he decided. "Then, let's try looking for answers in that place! It wouldn't be helpful if we just walk around with no direction. Before we enter, don't forget to hide yourself too."

Then, Ling had his 'mist' surround his body, turning invisible. After ensuring that the dragon was also invisible, he lead the way as the two walked to the bright city.

Suddenly, the laughter of the people in the city stopped. An ominous feeling made Ling and Maga stop in their tracks too, then the screams started.