A cacophony of chattering voices, neighing horses and various animals’ grunts and snorts filled the air. Thousands of people streamed out of the western city gates towards two stone pillars located atop a small hill. Holding tight to Arion’s reins, I did my best to keep my horse calm as we stood in the crowd, waiting for the portal to become active.

To my left Markion stood with his rhino Basher, who’d been left without his heavy metal armor and chariot. The rhino now sported a fancy saddle with a maroon caparison that was embroidered with the guild’s insignia. My horse also wore a similar caparison, as did those being led by the hunting team.

Aside from Darius and Markion, the hunting team led by Roderick was also accompanying us. Noctus would be remaining behind at the guild hall to manage matters there, as I was yet to make the daylight salve for the vampire. To do so, I would need leaves from the Muroosa bush, which we would hopefully find during our trek through the Sarin desert.

“There are so many people.” I murmured, looking around at the crowd pressed around us.

Markion nodded in agreement. “A lot of people want to use the portals, as it is safer than traveling there by horse or foot. If you die on the way, you’ll end up having to start your journey all over again. You should see the crowds for the other cities, they are three times as big. Valonia isn’t a popular city, as it is surrounded by desert and extremely hot.” My brother informed me, gesturing to his loincloth clad body. “Why do you think I’m not wearing any armor? I’ll roast in it the moment we cross over.”

He wasn’t the only one not wearing armor, though my brother was the only one wearing so little clothing. The rest of our group, myself included, wore loose trousers and long-sleeved hooded tunics made of light cotton. The exception was Roderick, who left off his tunic, leaving his red scaled torso bare.

I wonder if he is cold blooded? Thoughtfully, I eyed the gleaming red scales covering the hunting team leader's upper body.

Caw.

The low croaking call of a crow drew my attention away from the Draekin and I tilted my head to the side as Zosimos swooped down to land on my shoulder. Something soft brushed across my cheek and a sharp floral scent filled the air. Reaching up, I took the stem of flowers from the crow’s mouth, admiring the dozens of tiny orange and red bell-shaped blossoms dangling from the stem.

“What is that?” Markion asked, glancing down at me.

“Bells of Dawn, a flower which blooms only as the sun rises.” I murmured appreciatively.

Balancing the stem on Arion’s saddle, I plucked off a single blossom and crumbled it between my fingers, leaving them coated in a wet, sticky paste which I rolled into a tiny ball. Covering the ball formed by the crushed petals and juices with my left hand, I allowed the heat of my inner fire to warm my palms, creating a miniature oven between my clasped hands.

Once I felt the stickiness of the ball dissipate, I removed the hand covering it and pinched the pill between my fingers, holding it up for my brother to see.

“Eating this is the equivalent of drinking five cups of coffee. Bells of Dawn are the main ingredient in my Hype juice. Processing them like this is necessary as they wilt an hour after dawn and lose all medicinal value.”

Dropping the pill into a vial, I repeated the process twenty more times with the remaining blossoms as we waited for the portal to be activated.

“What would happen if I swallowed all of those?” My brother asked, looking over my shoulder as I capped the vial with wax.

“Your heart would explode.” I told him bluntly, slipping the vial into my pouch, and offering the now-stripped stem to Arion who took it happily.

“Is it safe for him to eat that?” Dorian called out worriedly from behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder at the healer.

“It is fine, the stem lacks any of the natural caffeine. The stem tastes very sweet and many animals are drawn to the Bells of Dawn because of its taste. Sadly, this can result in death when animals consume the flowers along with the stem, which has led to the belief among many farmers that Bells of Dawn is a poisonous plant.” I explained, reciting what I’d read in my book on plants and fungi.

Dorian nodded and looked ready to ask another question, but a low humming filled the air, drawing everyone's attention to the two pillars atop the hill.

The air felt thick and for a brief moment I struggled to pull air into my lungs. Everything around us fell silent, no one spoke, no animals cried out, the only sound to be heard was the humming coming from the stone pillars which began to glow brightly in the soft light of dawn.

Peering at the pillars, I could see nothing different about the space between them, but the line of people slowly began moving forwards up the hill.

As our group crested the hill, drawing nearer to the pillars, I was able to see the front of the line as people simply walked through the space between the pillars and down the winding path on the other side of the hill.

Except they weren’t, I realized as we got closer. The people walking through the pillars from our side, weren’t the same ones who walked down the far side of the hill, unless they somehow changed their appearance and clothing in under a second.

“Are those people on the other side from Valonia?” I asked in confusion, as I saw a blond woman walk through and morph into a man with a donkey who walked down the far side of the hill.

“Yeah, it’s a bit surreal, isn’t it? Almost like they are shape-shifting into different people.” Markion joked as we reached the pillars.

Without hesitation, Darius who was leading our group walked through the pillars, followed by Roderick and my brother. Tightening my hold on Arion’s reins, I followed, with Dorian close behind me. Hot air blasted me in the face like a slap, and my steps faltered as I stared at the vastly changed world around me.

Where I’d previously been standing on a grassy hill, I now stood on a raised platform built from smooth, red stone. A gentle hand pushing my shoulder propelled me forwards, and I moved quickly to catch up to my brother who was walking down an inclined ramp. Sweat dripped down my neck as the sun blazed down on me and the air tasted dry, giving me a scratchy throat.

The land around the raised platform was almost completely flat aside from some rocky outcroppings and what appeared to be a high red stone wall in the distance. Pulling up the hood of my tunic for some extra protection against the sun, I grabbed my water flask, taking several large gulps.

“Don’t drink it all at once,” Dorian warned from behind me. “Even with a water mage with us, water isn’t an easy resource to attain in the desert. Conrad needs to pull water from a source, and if there are no rivers or lakes nearby, he pulls it from the air. As I’m sure you can feel, the air here is rather dry.”

Even with the cooling enchantments on my clothes this heat is unbearable, ugh, is it too late to go back? With a sigh, I reluctantly capped my flask.

As we reached the bottom of the ramp, I saw that the platform was actually the roof of a large, square building that reminded me of the temples built by ancient civilizations.

Tents were set up along the sides of the building and groups of people were lining up in front of each tent. Following Darius, our group headed towards one of the tents and gathered off to the side whilst the guild leader joined the line. Unable to bear the sun blazing down on me, I pulled my wagasa from where it was strapped to Arion’s saddle and popped up the canopy.

“I wonder if I can create a balm with a cooling effect if I dilute the snow flower oil? The snow flower oil undiluted is cold enough that it can cause frostbite when coming into contact with the skin, but perhaps if I mix it down the effect will be less dangerous. Maybe add in some mint as well?” I suggested, looking at the crow who’d perched himself on Arion’s back.

Caw.

“Hmm, we’re going to be looking for the Muroosa bush to create a balm from the oil produced by the leaves. It has sun blocking properties, so perhaps that would work well as an additional additive.”

Caw.

“Lass, ya do know tha yer talking to a bird, right?” Bastian called from where he stood beside his own horse.

“I do know- and Zosimos is a better conversationalist than most.”

“Ay, and why is that?”

“Because he knows better than to state the obvious.” I informed the dwarf, getting a round of chuckles from the group.

From there the conversation moved on to complaints about the heat and the sand which was already creeping into boots. As the men joked around, I returned my attention to Zosimos, murmuring to him softly. We’d worked out a system of one caw for yes and two for no, it worked well for us with Zosimos being able to get his point across through other means if the yes or no answers weren’t enough.

“Hey, boss man, is everything good?” Looking up at the sound of Roderick’s booming voice, I saw Darius approaching the group with a scowl etched onto his face.

“Mount up, we’ll ride out and find somewhere to camp until dusk.” He ordered, taking the reins to his horse from Markion and mounting in a smooth motion.

“Camping? Aren’t we going to the city to—” I started, but the guild leader cut me off.

“We’ve been denied entry into the city as a group, they’ll allow one of us to enter to purchase supplies under escort for an hour only.” Darius informed us as we mounted our horses- or in Markion’s case- rhino. “We were already prepared not to purchase supplies from Valonia, however, I’d hoped to have a chance to collect some bounties and such from the guards to improve our reputation with the city lord.”

The guild leader glanced around the group, his eyes looking wary as he took us in.“They’ve offered us a single bounty, and it isn’t a good one.”

Roderick scowled, his arms crossed over his chest. “What’s the bounty?”

Darius sighed, his lips pressed into a thin line. “There’s a seven-headed Sand Hydra in the canyons south of the Tomb of Ra. It’s the same four-headed Hydra they were handing out a bounty on when our guild was kicked out of Valonia.”

“Seven? That thing’s got seven bloody heads now?” Bastian spluttered, looking aghast.

“That damned Hydra wiped three hunting teams in under ten minutes last we went at it.” Killian added.

“Right, and that was when it only had three heads. The fourth was thanks to Markion’s axe.” Roderick chimed in, giving my brother a scowl.

“How the fuck was I meant to know?” The Minotaur argued. “We didn’t know it was a Hydra back then, they called it a three-headed sand cobra.”

Wide eyed, I sat on my horse trying to build a mental image of the creature.

After another few minutes of arguing back and forth, it was decided we would bypass the city for now, with Roderick suggesting we return after hunting in the desert. Perhaps if we brought back some of the creatures that bounties were commonly issued for, the guards would be more willing to allow entry to our group.

As we rode, the hunting team complained about the unfairness of being barred from the city. I agreed with them in that regard, as I’d been looking forward to exploring the city which Markion claimed felt like walking through an ancient Egyptian city.

“I thought you said the guild was regaining reputation with the city,” I asked Darius as we continued slowly riding away from the portal and city.

“We have been, and I thought we were on better terms. The last hunting team to pass through said they were permitted entry under escort and I expected we would receive the same treatment. I do not know why they insisted on restricting us to one person, as Corvus’s team reported they’d encountered no issues during their visit to the city and parted with the guards on good terms.” The guild leader explained, looking up from the map he held.

“We should reach the outpost in an hour,” he called towards the group, receiving a few grunts in reply.

“What is at the outpost?”

“A small village made up of a few buildings occupied by members of the Kemet tribes who act as guides through the desert. The Kemet are a human race, whose culture resembles that of the ancient Egyptians. Their race specializes in necromantic and shamanistic magic.”

I shook my head, before correcting his misinformation. “Actually, Kemet is what the ancient Egyptians were called; well, Kemet is referring to Egypt. They called themselves ‘People of Kemet’.”

Darius nodded, looking amused. “Markion said the same thing when we first encountered the Kemet tribes.”

He did? Looking over my shoulder, I saw my brother looking at me with a big grin.

“It was right after you made me go with you to that Pharaohs exhibit at the museum. You were talking about it for days and it kind of stuck with me. Just wait until we reach the pyramids, they are better than the virtual tour we took of the actual pyramids! Though, you need to be careful of the mummified creatures trying to kill you.” Markion said.

I don’t know if I should be horrified or excited by that news. Do I want to visit historically accurate pyramids? Yes. Do I want to see mummified creatures that are moving around trying to kill people? No. Is the chance to explore a pharaoh's tomb worth facing mummies? Maybe.