Bryce Alone

Over the last couple of days, Bryce has been playing the scene over and over in his head: the way the portal began to unravel, the faces of his friends as they are ripped away by the forces within the portal, and the way he held on to Althea for as long as he could. He had to shake the feelings that came along with thinking about them. He woke up in the middle of a dessert with little to know idea of how to get out. The little amount of rations he had kept in his inventory has dwindled and he had just drank the last of his water. He had used up most of his rations during the Imp's Castle Dungeon raid. Initially, he had planned to restock his stores but after Lunar Light's meeting with the Grand Magical Academy principal, Dragnar; this task fell through the cracks.

The sun was rising and he had to find a place to hide. It was too hot to try and travel by day. He also had to ration his strength and mana. He was completely depleted powering the portal open by himself. This meant that his mana regeneration will be significantly slower until it reaches maximum capacity. It was one of the safeguards of the crystal because depletion is very hard on the body and it needs to mend the mana on a cellular level slowly. However, he is unlikely to reach this point of recovery without much food, rest, or water. Most of his battle scars have also healed which means his body is using up mana instead of storing it. The combination of factors made up for an unfavorable situation. He also had some internal hemorrhaging which is well outside the bounds of his body's ability to self-recover. He will need a healer soon.

Another day passes and he has run out of rations completely. The few lizards he has been able to catch proved to be laced with poison and was unfit for eating. By the fifth day, he gambled on using what was left of his mana to sprint east, a direction which would be heading towards the sea. It was a desperate attempt to find some water in the very least. A full day of traveling at his current top speed led him to find nothing but even more sand. Three days without water. His gambit failed.

His battle training has prepared him for the mental challenge of keeping calm despite barely being able to think straight. His lips cracked from the double barrage of dehydration and blistering heat. Numerous mirages and the constant heat shimmer taught him not to trust what he saw. It was a testament to his mental fortitude that he was able to will his body to take one more stride and then another. But, his body has mutinied against him from the lack of sustenance. His run turned into a brisk walk into a saunter and, eventually, a tumble. Maybe a week has passed, he has lost track. There wasn't enough mana to even power the functions in his crystal. His body betrayed him one last time as he slumped into the warm sand shortly after moon time.

There was no cohesive thought left.

In a not so distance sand dune, a figure looms. It drew closer and realized that the young man has lost consciousness. He approached cautiously to examine him. Without wasting a moment, the figure takes out his dagger and forcefully removes the crystal from the passed-out Bryce. He winced in pain but could offer to resistance.