~Chapter 2~
As they sailed across the desert, Corri ran her fingers through the sand flowing past them. A massive ship sailed alongside them, waving to them as they passed.
When their ship began to drop in speed, Temp dived into the sands again and swam ahead of it, and it quickly regained its lost velocity. When the speed dropped down again, Aero had an idea. Rather than having Temp jump into sands, Aero, Jirro, Corri and Nout all lined up at the stern. They punched the air and light burst from each of their hands in red, blue, yellow and green. The Focus Bursts emitted from their hands propelled the boat forward.
Using Focus left them breathing a little harder, most of all Corri. Unlike the boys, she hadn't used Focus very frequently and it took a greater toll on her than it did on them.
Rojo got some wind under its wings and soared into the sky above the ship. It circled around, landed directly on the boat, and stared at Corri.
She smiled, "Rojo wants to go for a flight."
Corri gripped the saddle of the bird and pulled herself on. Rojo took to the air and flew, flying right alongside the small boat before angling themselves vertically and flying higher into the sky. They kept pace with the boat from above, surveying the landscape.
As she went, she felt a sort of resonance from deep within the desert. As if she was being called out to. She felt something to the south, but all she saw was a vast and empty desert in that direction. Maybe Temp would know what lies that way?
Rojo and Corri dived down towards the boat, landed at it's bow, and she dismounted, "Did any of you hear anything from that way?" She pointed southward.
She was met with several shaking heads and she pouted her lip. Corri moved across the boat alongside Temp, "Can we go that way really quick?"
Temp raised his brow at the little girl, "You do realize that we want to go North right? That'd be out of the way. Besides there's nothing that way for a couple kilometers."
Corri gripped his arm, "Can we just look really quick?"
Temp glanced down at her and looked around, "Jirro. Aero. You're the ones paying me. What do you think?"
Aero had been staring blankly off the side of the boat in boredom and nonchalantly, said, "We can go."
Jirro was leaning back in his seat, enjoying the view, "I don't mind either. We'll check it out and turn right back."
"Will do boss!" Temp swept the wheel to the side and the boat turned, creating a wake of sand on the starboard side. He allowed the wheel to return to its neutral position as they began heading south.
Corri felt the same resonance grow even stronger. It was difficult to describe. As if there was something magnetically drawing her that way, she had a similar feeling when she traveled to the sky lands.
Temp impatiently looked at Corri, wondering when she would be satisfied and have him turn around. But she wanted to keep going further. There was something out there, she knew it.
A burst of light rocketed from the ground as the sand-ship sailed over a flat stretch of sand. A magnificent and radiant light that shot kilometers into the sky for all to see. Temp's look of shock showed he had never seen anything like it.
The sands around them began to sink around the light. Everyone gripped the sides of the boat. Aero and Jirro rushed to the stern and fired several Focus Bursts behind them in an attempt to propel the boat away from the light, but it wasn't enough. The boat slid back across the sands towards the light until they were at its center, completely engulfed by it. Corri closed her eyes.
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Corri opened her eyes and saw light from torches affixed on stone walls. She looked around, she was in some sort of underground temple laid with bricks, with torches lining the walls. Everyone was there with her, slowly gathering their bearings as well. Almost everyone, her bird Rojo wasn't among them.
They were in a long hallway; she couldn't see either of end of it. Bits of sand covered the floor. Where were they?
"I knew this would happen!" Ruben shouted, "You said we wouldn't sink into the sands and we did!"
Temp looked around incredulously, "I've traveled this part of the desert dozens of times and nothing like this has ever happened!"
Corri and the other look about their surrounding. Nout asked, "How did we get in here? There's a roof above us."
Corri and the others looked above them, the temple did have a stone roof. If they sunk into the sands to this temple, how did they get past the roof?
Aero kick flipped to his feet, "Maybe the roof is the way out," He prepared to smash through the ceiling.
Corri grabbed her brother before he could do anything stupid, "Don't do that! For all we know we're under the sand right now. If you break through that it could come flooding in."
Aero winced, and stopped himself. Jirro dusted himself off, gathered his bags. He looked in both directions of the hallway they found themselves in, they couldn't tell what lied in either direction.
"Okay. I don't how we got in here but we need to find a way out fast," Jirro began, "Besides Ruben, we'll only be able to survive a few days without water before we dehydrate. I still have a few of the potions we got from Koka if things get bad.
"Dehydrate!?" Corri asked astounded.
"I'm just considering the worst case scenario," Jirro responded with a shrug, "Hopefully we can find a way out well before we have to worry about that."
The group began walking down the corridors of the strange temple. As they went, the torches lining the walls were lit aflame as they drew near to them, in reaction to their presence. Corri felt the same resonance she did before, only now it was stronger than ever.
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