Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

I didn't need sleep. 

My eyes felt slightly heavy but it was good. 

All I needed was a fresh source of blood. 

And there was plenty of blood here. 

But I had to remain content with just animals.

Now that I'd tasted demon blood though, I wanted more. Maybe things with intelligence had something different in their blood?

Or was it just mana?

Actually, if it was mana, that would explain how I felt supercharged after drinking blood. 

And I kind of wanted more. 

"Unless the next oasis has an abundant source of water, we'll have to dig into our rations and we'd barely make it," the kid came over to me. 

The sun was rising.

Many of the soldiers were sleeping peacefully. The rest were keeping watch. 

I, meanwhile, was just sitting on some rocks. "I have some water stacked but they won't be enough even for half a day." Which reminded me. "How come we're crossing the desert like this? Wasn't there any other route?"

If crossing this desert would take two nights, then we could have just avoided this route for maybe a three-day route that didn't have deserts?

"That's because we were ordered to head to that remote city, my lord. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had to cross this desert."

I didn't get it. Did traveling there meant they had to take a detour or was it that this route was faster?

"So, you're saying, we could have avoided this desert but that would have cost us some time?" I made an educated guess. 

"Basically, yes."

Anyway, the sun kept on rising high and so did the temperature. 

Things were actually pretty comfortable right now. The freezing cold of the night was going away while hell was just waiting to come over. We were just in the middle.

This was the perfect moment. The sunlight kind of stung, but it was good.

Yawn! Neira yawned and woke up. "Still can't sleep past dawn."

Yeah, so said the girl who constantly dozed off during the day while we traveled. 

Of course, I didn't bother saying anything. 

But yeah, the sunrise was really something. Warm, orange, and kind, of course, burning. 

It was going to make our lives hell once it fully rose up but, for the time being, I wanted to enjoy the view. I wanted to feel the warmth. 

And hopefully, not burn. 

***

As the sun kept on climbing up the sky, the temperature kept on rising. It wasn't surprising but it was definitely excruciating. 

And here I thought I was going to be able to deal with this a bit better than before.

Yeah, my body was stronger. 

Yeah, I felt less pain.

Yeah, but the heat of this desert was far worse than the one I'd crossed with Jowy and the geezer. 

And more importantly- I felt thirsty. 'The more I drink, the more I feel the thirst?' Seemed likely. After all, I didn't need to drink blood for the first week or so. And when I did drink blood, I kept getting the urge to drink more. 

And since I was a vampire of sorts, the sunlight was only harming me more and more.

Maybe it was better to rest?

The demons had actually made small tents for them to rest. 

These guys worked efficiently. 

"But they weren't kidding when they said illusions was going to be a major thing in this desert." I was merely speaking out loud, to no one in particular. 

In front of me was a small pond. This was real. But just past the pond, in the distance, I could see a castle, lakes, forests, and definitely even buildings. 

But as a sensible guy who came from that direction just the night before, I could say for a fact, none of those things were real. 

There was nothing there. 

And yet- the castle looked so real…

"They say a goddess was sealed in this desert and then it became like this." A soldier was walking by. A rather tall guy. 

He didn't really wait for my response. He was just walking by. 

Gods and goddesses. This world was packed with them. Some were good, others, I wasn't so sure. I honestly didn't know who to trust or what to believe. 

If I believed Trerortra, then Ashirnae was a villain. If I believed Ashirnae then the world tree was to blame. 

There were various instances when the information I received was either contradicting or maybe even completely opposite. It was possible some of them were lying, or maybe they 'were' speaking the truth. After all, everyone had a different perception of reality. 

But a goddess, huh?

There was a chance, I could meet one in my sleep assuming it was a sealed goddess. 

Ve had mentioned something about there being three sealed goddesses. Two of whom I'd already met. 

The third though, I didn't know about. Then again, she did warn me that the goddesses were sealed for a reason. 

Besides, I could only do stuff like that in dreams thanks to Ve and the others being near me. 

This power didn't work unless I was near demigods. 

'So, it's pointless?'

I let out a small exhale and just stared at the distance. 

Thirsty. 

A large castle with domes, intricate design, and flowing like visionary. The lake below it glistened. 

Very convincing. 

It was almost as though, it was real. 

My eyes felt slightly heavy. Or rather, heavier. 

I hadn't slept in the last week or so. 

I didn't trust anyone around me. 

But they probably couldn't do much harm to me, so sleeping wasn't a bad idea. 

There was a special tent for me, as I was the current leader and stuff. 

This thirst wasn't going away…. 

I went inside and just tried lying down. It was more like, my body led me here. I couldn't think. 

I just wanted to sleep. 

I wanted something to drink. 

My eyes were very heavy now. 

I tried sleeping. 

***

Darkness. 

Light. 

Blinding. 

I tried shielding my eyes but I couldn't move my arms. 

The light slowly dissipated. 

"I'm outside?"

There was sand everywhere. 

But there was also something just in front of me. 

A large oasis, some trees, some buildings but more importantly, a frigging castle. 

The same castle I saw before going to bed. 

I had this weirdly bad feeling about this. 

I wasn't sleepy, so it could mean only one thing. 

I tried moving my arms and legs and all that. But no luck. I was floating but merely as a ball of sorts. I didn't have a form. 

Oh boy.