2. A Boy & A Journey (part 2)

"D-Dad!? What should we do!?" Airen panickingly shouted as he shook his father's shoulders, and Uncle Darren nearly broke the steering wheel when he spun the wheel to do a complete one eighty turn.

"We run!" Uncle Darren then stepped on the pedal, and the automatic carriage started moving away from the sandworm at high speed.

As the carriage moves through the sandy ground of the desert, the yellow sandworm is following us closely from behind. Across where I sat, Uncle Darren's wife, Aunt Priscilla, had awakened. She quickly noticed how dangerous our state was, and she woke up little Arlene too.

While they conversed about what to do in this situation, I only kept an eye on the sandworm chasing us. From the way it moves, it definitely is a damn centipede. It wiggles around as it moves through the ground like a snake, but it uses however many legs to stab the sands so that it can propel itself forward.

As a result, its movement will always be so much faster than anything this old wooden automated carriage can offer. We won't survive if we just keep running.

"Uncle Darren, just let me fight that thing." I tried suggesting him one more time, but it seems like the old man doesn't want me to endanger my life.

"Are you crazy!? It will take a whole platoon of elite knights to take down that thing!! I can't just leave you to die when you have such a bright future ahead--"

"Then, I'll just jump off."

"Wait, Nathan--!!!"

I didn't even wait for Uncle Darren to finish his sentence because he is already so firm on rejecting my offer. I ended up jumping down from the carriage since the back was pretty much open, and my feet were immediately deepened by the hot sand of the desert.

"Ah… I hate sand." I mumbled as I pulled my feet from the sand, and the ground in front of me exploded massively.

The sandworm has come out of the ground and is now looming over me with its massive body. Its standing height is easily over five times my body height, and who knows just how long his body was when it was crawling mode.

Either way, one thing is for sure. I hated bugs.

"Bye." I muttered a single word, and I pointed one finger at it.

BOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!

The ground around me shook powerfully when the shockwave was released. Dust and sand was thrown everywhere, completely removing the vision from the area around me.

From a distance, Uncle Darren had parked the carriage at a safe location away from where I was. Everyone inside kept an eye on the cloud of dust, praying that I was okay. But, there was truly nothing for them to worry about.

"Bhahakk!!!... I hate sand… For real!!" I angrily declared as I stepped out of the cloud of smoke, and everyone noticed that I was pretty much fine.

My long black robe may have gotten covered by sand all over, but overall I look fine. I only got dirtier, but there was a world where an even worse scenario happened. To them, at least, because there was never such a world in my mind.

"So… can we ride that fast again to Ellen? I noticed we were driving pretty slow before." I jokingly said to Uncle Darren as I walked back, and he only let out an annoyed sigh.

Beforelong, the trip continued with the same speed as before. Uncle Darren warned me about the engine overheating if they drive too fast, and considering the heat of the desert, overheating the engine is very much likely even if we drive slowly. Other than that, everyone seemed to be praising me for my capabilities as a fighter.

Last night, we came across multiple bandits that were halting the path. Before we made it to the desert, I had to fight off five bandits all by myself to protect Uncle Darren and his family. Against five completely amateur bandits, my abilities didn't really stand out. But, against a powerful sandworm that might take a group of elite knights to deal with, what I did was truly remarkable.

That became the topic of the conversation as we continued our trip to Ellen city. Airen and his sister who woke up just now, Arlene, were very curious about how I became this strong. They kept on asking questions about it, and I had to make sure that I didn't spill any important parts about me that might be dangerous to tell others.

But thanks to them, the rest of the trip did not get boring. Two hours felt like it passed by in a flash, and we finally arrived.

"There it is!" Uncle Darren shouted from the driver's seat, and we all turned our eyes towards the far distance in front of us.

From afar, I can see walls made of concrete that seemed very tall. From the looks of it, I guessed that it was made very tall to stop any sandworms from climbing. But, I also realized that there is an aesthetic feel to it that might've been the main reasoning.

The walls looked massive and tall. It's colored gray, and it had multiple watchtowers on top of it. We're still a few kilometers away from it, and we can already tell just how big and tall those walls really are.

The carriage then arrives at a separation between the desert and the forest. The drive was previously rather smooth since sand is basically sand. But once the ground turns into dirt, that's when the ride gets a little bumpy.

Not even thirty minutes later, we finally arrived at the bottom of the massive walls. Uncle Darren parked the carriage just outside the big entrance gate that is heavily guarded by multiple knights in modern mechanical armor, and I knew immediately that their technology is more advanced than anywhere else in the world.

Uncle Darren made sure the carriage was turned off, and he turned around to face us in the back. "I'll register our entry to the guards. Nathan, do you need me to register--"

"Oh, can I come with you? I want to register the entry myself." I said to Uncle Darren, and he whipped his hand as if telling me to come with him.

Uncle Darren stepped out of the driver's seat and jumped down the carriage from the door next to him. Meanwhile, I jumped down from the door in the back, and I immediately lifted my gaze to the wall in front of us.

This wall is definitely over fifty meters high. It's very-very tall, so tall that I can't even see what is up there. I do wonder how thick it is, too. Hopefully it is thick enough to protect the city from outside attacks.

"Hey, Nathan! Come on!" Uncle Darren called for me by the guards, and I hurriedly went to him.

In front of Uncle Darren is a single guard with a massive screen pad in his hands. The guard was taking notes of the entry of Uncle Darren's family, and he turned his gaze to me.

"This is the passenger you're talking about?" The guard asked sternly, and Uncle Darren nodded before turning back to me.

"Name?" The guard asked, and I quickly started searching my pockets.

I took out my identification card from my kingdom and handed it to him. Uncle Darren wondered as to why I'm handing the guard such a card, but it looks like it's good enough. No, it was so much better.

The guard immediately became shocked after seeing the name, and he turned to me really surprised. I quickly lifted my finger to my mouth, as if asking him to not say a word about me.

"I… I see. All right, then. You all may pass." The guard then stood to the side to allow the carriage to continue, and Uncle Darren bowed slightly at the guard to thank him.

As Uncle Darren ran back to the carriage, I was about to follow behind him and got on the carriage as well. However, I was stopped by the same guard.

"One… moment, Young Lord." The guard quickly stopped me and made me turn around, wondering why he suddenly stopped me. "Are you perhaps planning to enter the academy?"

Hearing his question, I realized his intention right away. I simply grinned at him and answered honestly. "Yes, I am."

The guard turned smiling from that answer, and I knew he was going to be happy hearing that. I turned away and started walking to the carriage, where I was immediately questioned by Uncle Darren as to what the guard asked.

I didn't really answer anything close to the truth, and we just went on with entering the city. Beforelong, the carriage started moving again, and the massive double door gate was opened in a grandiose manner.

The double door was opened inwards very-very slowly, and we had to wait for it to fully open before we could enter. Once it was fully opened, Uncle Darren drove the carriage inside, and we finally arrived inside this massive city.

"We're finally here!" Uncle Darren announced right after we entered the city, and my eyes were immediately welcomed by the sight of hundreds of super tall buildings in the distance.

Seeing the skyscrapers reaching the skies in front of us, I can only turn really amazed and glad that I'm finally here.

"I made it here… Finally!"