Chapter 37

They were sipping their piping hot coffee when Flynn woke, crawling out of his tent. He said something as his many amulets and chains clinked. Jeanne responded.

Dane lifted the percolator out of the bed of coals and poured what was left of it into a cup for him. The battle raged fiercely still, making him tremble as he drank his coffee. Flynn nodded at him as he took the cup. He looked as if he wanted to speak with him. Dane linked their minds.

"Jeanne too, this is important," he said. So Dane connected their minds to hers as well. Flynn's tone didn't carry the weight of his words. "I sense that the danger at the surface will lessen a lot. Those Great and Corrupted creatures are going to burrow under the sand soon. I don't know about you. But, when I was brought here, I saw them all come out from under the dunes. When the sun rises, I think they will go back under."

He continued, "At the same time, the Desert itself will become far more dire."

Even without the fire, the chill was bearable now. The night was close to an end, and Dane waited dreadfully, for he knew that however dangerous the cold of a desert was, the heat of its day was worse. His feet fell on the sand rhythmically as he thought.

"What are we going to do? The Sleeper finished with a question.

Jeanne was quick to answer. "When those things go under, we leave. We'll find another place like this one."

"No. We don't know if a haven like this is close enough to reach before nightfall," Flynn objected.

Dane interjected. "How does your Ability work, Flynn?"

"...why?"

"Frankly speaking, your Ability is instrumental in getting the hell out of here," Jeanne said what they all thought. "It saved me tonight, and I know it will again."

Flynn swallowed shyly, scratching the back of his head. "Well, alright. I feel it, I guess? The danger gives me a foreboding feeling that I feel all over, like wading through a thick, dense swamp. Safety is light and comforting. I can feel where they are present or where danger or safety will be. I feel them as 'paths' to the location of danger of safety. Ah, they're too complex to explain."

"The Ability has a range, yes?" Dane asked.

He nodded.

"Yes, a kilometer at the moment."

Dane lifted the Gargantuan Sack, opened it, and turned it over. Hundreds of radiant crystals fell out in a heap. He said, "These would be wasted on Jeanne and I. Regardless of how much strength we garner, those things will kill us in a heartbeat. But your ability, with its range expanded, could be the difference between life and death. Take them all."

Flynn hesitated, holding a soul shard in his hand. "Are you…are you sure?"

Dane nodded. "These paths you mentioned. How sure are you that they lead to a safe place?"

"Not even a shadow of doubt."

"And if the destination isn't inside your range, will there still be a path?" he pushed.

The sleeper nodded.

"Then it is settled. When the sun rises, the three of us will leave. We will use your ability to avoid crossing paths with Nightmare Creatures."

He tried to object, but Dane cut him off. "Staying here is a bad idea. There may be no danger at the moment, but we need to get the hell out of here. I'm willing to risk our lives for that."

Flynn nodded uncertainly, brought the shard in his hand close to his chest, and shattered it.

***

The rumbling above had stopped, and Dane could no longer see the souls of the dead above his head. Inside the shade of the cavern, he felt sweltering hot. He sighed a heavy breath as he wiped the sweat off his head, beckoned the two Sleepers, and made his way up the tunnel, hunching.

What greeted him was an ocean of flawlessly white sand below and a boundlessly deep, azure sky above. There were no clouds he was regretful to see. A merciless disc of blinding light, the region's sun, beat down on the world. To Dane, it seemed as if the world itself was rippling through the heat, and his armor was an oven. 

Sizzle…his skin was sizzling and tearing inside his bascinet as the metal stuck to him. Groaning, he fell to his knees and dismissed the helm. He held his face and breathed heavily as he felt the heat on his soul.

His blood fell on the sand and evaporated.

He heard Flynn and Jeanne's concerned voices and scrambled to his feet. "It's…hot," he heaved. He summoned the Dead Medallion with haste.

The pitch-black amulet appeared in his hand, and coolness washed over him. With relief, he realized that the Dead Medallion wasn't something that resisted heat. It simply drove heat away from his body.

He was glad for it now. With his [Nightwalker] Attribute gone, he had no use for it when it could kill him. But at the moment, there was no Memory better to own. It was still terribly hot, as there was only so much heat a dormant memory could drive away, but he didn't think his skin would stick to his helm anymore. Just to be safe, he did not summon it back.

As he stood, he felt burns on his face and scalp coming from his soul. He had never felt such agony, and it was all he could do to keep himself from scratching at his head. "Let's go," he said, pouring ice-cold water on his face.

Flynn's reflective ringmail was white and blue now, and he walked with sweat covering his face, but not as much as Dane. He was certainly doing better than him. Jeanne, on the other hand, didn't even feel the heat. He felt a pang of jealousy as they trudged through the sandy dunes.

It was foolish to leave the safety of the relatively cool cavern, Dane knew, but something told him that getting too comfortable was a bad idea. Flynn shouted from behind, and Dane snapped his neck back. "What?" he asked through the mental link. "I think we're going in the wrong direction," he replied.

Dane tilted his head. "I thought the closest safe place you felt was in this direction?"

"Yes, but the Desert itself gets dangerous in this direction. Everything gets worse. I feel like I'm walking to my death. We must go west. I know it. The safe places for the night may be farther away, but the Desert is kinder. Trust me."

Flynn's range had grown exponentially to a radius of three kilometers now, and he knew best. A part of Dane was mistrustful…the man did not seem to fear and slept peacefully at night, and even now, his face was calm. On the other hand, he didn't even know why he was mistrustful of the man.

Dane had become the de-facto leader of the cohort, but it wasn't just his life he was responsible for now. If he wanted to get out of here, Flynn was a necessity. Regardless of his mental state, he was not expendable. He looked at Jeane, and she didn't seem mistrustful. He only hoped this wasn't a mistake.

"West," he said, turning.