Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

Traveling in the night was nice. 

It was cool; sometimes freezing. 

There were monsters everywhere. 

Sometimes you'd wonder if this was hell on earth or something. Well, it wasn't earth, that was for sure. 

But yeah, very nice. 

"You seem to be troubled," Neira said. 

"Thoughts are a bit jumbled."

My lizard- Todd was actually pretty nice. He was really nice. Sometimes he'd try chewing on my leg, but yeah, very nice. 

"Worried about the battlefield?"

"That too."

"Then, something else?"

"Let's say if you could ally yourself with someone strong, someone really strong. But you didn't know what they were thinking. You didn't know if they could be trusted or not. What would you do?"

I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do. 

I didn't want to trust the gods. Besides, these goddesses were sealed for a reason. 

'But if Ashirnae is to be trusted then-' But I didn't know if he could be or not. After all, all this time I thought he was the bad guy. 

My thoughts really were a mess. 

"Well, I trust you."

"That's-" I sighed. "Well, it's more complicated. If I waste a day or two on the desert, let's say I could get an ally who's very strong, very intelligent. But might eventually betray me for her own good."

"Well, we're all people. Everyone has their own interests. As long as you're careful about not ever stepping your bounds, as long as you make sure you're not hampering their interest, I'd say you won't have to worry about them backstabbing you. At least, that's what I believe."

Her thinking was logical- but, this was a goddess I was talking about. A divine being. Something mortals couldn't comprehend- hence the term Divine. 

I exhaled, my breath condensed, and formed mist in front of me. "I suppose."

I didn't make up my mind yet. I had to rethink a lot of things. 

We kept traveling and at midnight, stopped. There was a massive termite group migrating. Each one was about the size of a dog. They were harmless as long as we didn't attack them. So, we waited for them to pass, meanwhile, getting some rest. 

This world really was something else. Even now, even after all this, I was still amazed from time to time. 

Afterward, we kept on going. 

We walked. 

We killed.

Eventually, the sun started rising and so did the temperature. But we were nowhere near the oasis. 

"I think we might have to camp in the open today," The mama's boy said. 

We all got down from our rides. 

"But without water-" Without water, we'd barely make it till the evening with the current rations. 

And then we'd reach the oasis and refill. 

But what if the oasis was like yesterday?

What if it was already drying up?

Besides, camping out in the open was going to be very bad.

"It's not that bad yet. I think we can go for maybe a few more hours?" I wasn't that tired but I was feeling thirsty. Just drinking iguana blood wasn't going to be enough anymore. 

"I don't think so-" Neira came over. "The illusions would get us lost and we'd end up dead in no time."

"What if we could get rid of the illusions?"

"Then- that'll save us a whole day of travel," The kid wondered. "it's impossible though."

"Well," I grinned. "It certainly is possible."

"I don't like that look on your face." Neira grit her teeth and slightly grimaced. 

Meanwhile, I just stared at the distance. The vague shadow of a castle- a pond, some buildings, and a forest. 

It was all there. 

It was time to make a decision. 

If the goddess didn't betray me, she'd be a great asset. But if she did, it would probably just cost me more time. 

I guess it was a risk I had to take. 

*** 

I headed for the castle. 

Alone. 

Neira and the kid both wanted to tag alone despite knowing that people didn't usually come back. 

Weird people. 

Anyway, it took a bit of convincing but I was glad they understood. 

It was more like they didn't have the guts to stand in my way. I definitely didn't threaten them or anything, okay?

The sun had barely woken up. And yet, I could feel the very sand beneath my feet starting to radiate heat. Almost as though I was in an oven of sorts. Which was kind of true as the desert was technically a place where you could cook food during midday just from the sun. 

'I wish, I'd brought Todd…'

Anyway, the castle!

The castle was still in the distance. And no matter how much I walked it stayed in the distance. 

Apparently, no matter where anyone was in this desert, the castle would show up. 

People tried to get there, and got lost. Some managed to get there, but the rumors went that they never came back. But for those rumors to circulate, someone had to come back, right?

'Got any ideas?'

'None.' An instant reply. The spirit was listening. 

'Oh yeah, I forgot to ask your name…'

'I have no name… not anymore…'

'What about when you were a spirit of light?'

'Sisandra.'

'And I can't call you that because?'

'Because I'm no longer a spirit of light.'

I sighed. 'Well, I can't just call you 'it' forever…'

The spirit went quiet. 

It didn't quite say anything anymore. 

Meanwhile, the large castle in the distance still stayed in the distance. 

It was getting awfully annoying. I was so far away now I couldn't see the oasis behind us anymore. 

So- I took out my scepter from the ring. Conjured up a ball of light and threw it straight. A white light- rather hard to see in daylight.

But it didn't go straight. Rather it just went through a loop of sorts and went towards the east- aka, to my right. 

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my arch-nemesis, the maze!" I couldn't help but crack the joke. 

There wasn't anyone here to laugh though. 

And the sun was only getting hotter. 

I sighed and tried to recall how I crossed the maze back in the forest of Xylax. This maze felt awfully similar to that one. 

Actually, I might have still had those crystal balls. I checked the ring- they were here. 

I brought them out and- well, they were useless to me since I couldn't use them.

"Are those magic balls?" The Spirit manifested and a cloud of darkness surrounded us, not letting sunlight pass. 

Finally, shade!

'Magic balls?' I didn't know why but the name kind of made me almost giggle. Almost. 

It was such a stupid name. Ahem! "Can we use this?"

"I believe so."

With that said, the spirit started doing some stuff and we trudged through the desert with ease. Apparently, the magic balls or whatever they were called, could be used virtually anywhere, as long as someone knew how to use them. I tried to learn- but they weren't for me. 

They were also a sort of national treasure of Xylax but I might or might not have forgotten to give it back. 

Hazy memory syndrome…

We went back. 

We went right.

We went left and maybe sometimes forward. 

It was weird.

Some large desert snakes and scorpions occasionally stood in our way but they mostly just ran away as they caught sight of the spirit. 

Things, were really scared of malicious spirits, huh? 'Is she the reason the undead kept running, too?'

The temperature kept on rising but we were getting close to the castle. 

Closer.

The closer we got, the fewer monsters we saw. 

And then- we'd arrived exactly half an hour later. 

A pond, a city, and a forest. 

No monsters. 

And a massive castle.