Onward through the winding sands the four trudged. Sand upon sand all around them, for hours on end it was nothing but. Their shaking steps outlined only to be quickly covered away by incoming waves of sand from the wind. While the sharpness had declined, the breeze remained as the suns began to fall from the sky.
An endless array of nothingness, not much except for the four themselves and the shifting waves of sand. A change occurred as one of them dropped to their knees, falling forward to just barely be caught by the hand of another.
“Easy Enzo,” Mifune laughed.
“Ugh, easy for you to say. Where the heck is this dang oasis? We’ve been out here for hours!”
“I don’t know man, gotta be here somewhere,” Silas coughed.
“Enzo,” Christa barked.
“What is it?”
“What do you think is the deal with these mummies then?”
“Ugh, how should I know? Curses are a strange thing. If there is such a curse, there should be a sort of core that houses it that we can destroy to undo it.”
“Curse Core?”
“Typically with things like this there’s a sort of origin point, like a casket or a left over relic. Although I haven’t heard of any time delay curses like this.”
“So we just smash it and the mummies drop? That’s lame, I want to fight them!” Mifune yelled aloud.
“Mifune, shut it. We’re here,” Christa muttered.
Over the next dune it became quite visible, a giant patch of green with water beneath many palm trees. Significantly smaller than the oasis that was Crakhowl, yet far more natural. No wild life, just sand, plants, water, and more sand.
“Oh finally! Come on Silas!” Mifune laughed launching himself forward dropping Enzo into the sand.
“Wait up!” Silas yelled back taking charge right after.
“Pftf, guys, help?” Enzo gagged.
The suns continued to vanish beyond the horizon as Christa moved forward dragging Enzo who laid upon his back. Right at the grass’s edge, Christa released him to continue onward. As he flopped the sound of splashing could be heard. Mifune had begun swimming and Silas was simply laying under the trees with his arms behind his head, breathing in and out peacefully.
“Come on guys, sheesh,” Christa muttered, hands on her hips.
“Heyyyyy sorry hea- Christa,” Mifune chuckled swimming backwards, “I’m just investigating the water is all.”
“Uh huh. Well get to looking, this is where the mummies were first spotted supposedly. If we find a trace of them, we could potentially find a trace back to the cursed relic calling them out.”
“Ah come on though Christa, can’t we just relax for a little bit? I mean really, we’ve been walking for like, ever.”
Christa’s head shook, her feet on the move. Through the grass, around the trees, she moved slow with her head turning, “Well just saying it would sure be helpful if you guys could lend a hand either way.”
“Christa, let it go, that’s just your healer crap talking again,” Mifune laughed.
Her movement stopped, her image still for seconds until, “Mifune-”
“Oh cra-”
“You’re dead bro!” she spat turning around with a sharp stomp blasting herself forward over the water.
Mifune’s eyes flew wide open as all at once he let out a yell, turning round paddling immediately away from Christa as she dove into the water. Quickly she began to paddle right after him as he continued to scream, “You’re dead Mifune you jackass!”
Silas simply chuckled from the shore, standing now leaning against a palm tree. His head turned as did his body, looking down with a sigh, “Right then, Christa did have the right idea I suppose. Enzo, have you found anything?”
Slowly Enzo was picking himself up off the ground with a cough, “Does it look like it?!”
“Sorry sorry, just was wondering. You’re the smart observant one out of the four of us, that much I know.”
“Use your damn sensory ability!”
“What, the Pesquisa? Out here in the open?”
“Yeah, open it!”
“Pft, fine. Just make sure nothing comes at me while I do that,” Silas grumbled pulling out a tome.
Looking down at the pages, the tome slammed shut with his eyes closing.471Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmCTK0onbM
471Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6yw3pgE01d
471Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2NxZURwXU
His eyes opened again, though in this case everything was full of color. Individuals stood black and white with faint outlines representing them until the color reached them. A lot of green and a lot of blue, plenty of swirling white and vapor of red. His head moved around, “Alright then, Celestial Realm. Should be able to see stuff I want to in here… and uh, nothing looks abnormal.”
His steps echoed like dripping water, despite walking upon sand. With the tome not present, he moved his hands to his pockets and proceeded forward with his head turning. All was still, Enzo’s outline as well as the outlines of Christa attempting to drown Mifune. To the right, then to the left, looking at the ground and then the sky.
“This’ll take me like, a bajillion hours to walk through. Might as well get to it.”471Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfuIIytmhf
471Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa457S6aoUb
471Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNbTSXdTYF
“Hey, what’s up with Silas?!” came the bark of Christa, the splashing of water heard backing her voice.
Enzo stood alongside Silas, his eyes closed with the book still in hand. His head turned, looking to Christa as she let Mifune up to breathe. Following, he gave but a slight shrug, “He used his Pesquisa technique. Right now he’s walking through the Celestial River’s reflection of this space to try and find disturbances. And if there are any, he’s going to track them. So for now until he exits the mode, we need to keep an eye on his body.”
“Like, I thought meditating into the River happened instantaneously?” Mifune mumbled before coughing up water.
“First of all, it isn’t the actual Celestial River he has meditated into, rather the Celestial Realm which is the River’s copy of reality. Energy users make it instantaneously to draw in energy. The Pesquisa is a technique that lets him project an astral form into the realm to search for disturbances. There is a slight time difference between the real world and Celestial Realm when done like this. So in short, he’s defenseless.”
“How does that work? Time flows quicker there doesn’t it?”
“Yes Christa, it does, though he won’t be paying attention to his actual body. If he finds the trail his form might wander after it to pinpoint the source of the curse.”
“But wouldn’t it take just a few hours in there otherwise which is, what, a second out here?”
“Hey, I’m not the mage here. I don’t know everything about it.”
“Ha! Ol’ brainiac doesn’t know everything. Knew it!”
“Shut up Mifune!” Christa barked, dunking him back under quickly.
“Ugh. Do hurry back quickly Silas. I can’t take this abuse much longer,” Enzo mumbled.471Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVO6Xsfg6Cm
