Mason trudged up the crest of the dune and cracked his neck. He started to dislike walking more and more, especially across loose sand that kept sliding away and trying to trip you up.

A bit further, looking into the distance, stood Baudron. Ever since he got to eat and sleep freely, he seemed in high spirits, moving forward as if he had a clear goal. Many of his scales were regrowing, and although he scratched always, he never complained.

He was staring in the distance at a thick black line that covered the horizon from left to right. They had been walking towards it for a day now, and it barely seemed to come closer. Mason had so far resisted just flying forward. He knew that if he did, coming back and walking the distance would be even more challenging.

Not that he had to walk all of it, he thought as he stared at the small rudimentary wings growing on Baudron's back. The other had said he always healed fast, but this was mutant level fast. At this pace, his wings would grow back in a week or less.

"Mason, look, I think the mountain ridge is at least twice as high as yesterday! We are getting closer!"

"Yes, just one more year!" Mason shot back, glaring at the sand that led down to a sandy valley and up to another sandy dune. Stupid sand!

Baudron looked at him for a second before his eyes widened. "Ah, you're joking! Almost got me. Such weird humor you must have had on your world! I wish I could have seen it; little scaleless kobolds flying around in cars!"

"Planes, not cars! Planes!"

Baudron ran off and skipped down the dune. Halfway, he lost his balance and rolled down, laughing loudly as he did.

Mason stared after him for a second before sniffing and spreading out his wings. He grinned and jumped forward. As the wind pressed against his wings, he glided down, picking up speed and passing the other.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Baudron yelled and started running after him. The heavyset brown dragon couldn't keep up, and when Mason landed on the ground in front of the next dune, he was nothing but a small spec behind him.

I am glad he is feeling better, but does he have to be this cheery all the time? Mason shook his head and climbed up the next dune, ignoring the soft yelling from behind. Baudron would catch up. He seemed to have inexhaustible energy.

Before he reached the top of the next dune, Baudron stepped inline with him, the nails on his motley scaled claws digging deep in the sand.

"Can you tell me more stories about your world?"

Mason grinned and nodded. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Tell me about the north pole!"

Here we go again… Mason thought with a grin, as his mind drifted away.

They walked for days, Mason regaling stories about Earth that sometimes made him laugh as he told them. At other times he almost cried, having to fall silent for a while to get his emotions under control.

As they crested another dune, Mason started out a daydream about Christmas with his family when Baudron yelled in surprise.

"Taznir stone!" The now entirely brown scaled dragon said before running forward.

Following the other, Mason just saw another dune. Covered in white sand, with a wave-like tipped crest, it didn't stand out from the others. Jumping forward, Mason gilded after Baudron. At the bottom of the dune, Baudron grinned his long and broken yellow teeth at Mason.

"I can't wait to see your reaction when I give you one." Baudron turned to the dune and started digging into the sand, his thick wide paws shoveling large amounts of sand behind him.

Mason grinned at the other's exuberance before moving next to him and digging down. "How far do we go?"

"Pretty deep. They are in the middle of the dune, and the rock around them is just melted and hardened sand. Don't worry, it won't take longer than a day, and it's worth it!" Baudron said.

A few moments later, Mason backed off. He had only dug a slight hole in the sand, but Baudron was already invisible, sand shooting out of a huge hole. Part of it kept falling back, and the entrance started collapsing.

"Baudron, careful!" Mason jumped forward and began digging away the sand like crazy.

Baudron's voice echoed dully from the tunnel. "Don't worry! Just wait there. I'll dig my way back after I find them!"

Sitting back and staring at the glistening white sand that fell down, covering the tunnel exit, Mason shivered. The prospect of getting stuck below the ground, in the dark, triggered a primal fear that he had never had before. After a minute, when all the sound muted to the point that he barely heard it, he couldn't hold it anymore. Flames licked along his lips. A thin stream of almost pure white fire with little orange streaks licking around the edges roared forward. It struck the side of the hole, and the sand instantly turned red hot. Within moments the sand melted, turning into a glass-like structure. Softly orange glowing droplets fell down, creating hissing smoldering puddles on the caved-in tunnel entrance.

"Mason?" Baudron's scared yell came from deep inside.

"Don't worry, just trying something with the entrance!" Mason roared back before inspecting the effect of his fire. A small part of the side of the entrance had changed, and the glass dripped away faster than the sand did. He frowned, and the beam became the size of a large flamethrower. Its color changed to yellow and orange. The sand turned into an odd dark orange glowing mud as he torched the entire top and sides of the tunnel. As soon as the fire left a spot, it darkened and hardened, blocking the sand that had been trickling down.

As he continued to turn the entire entrance into a hardened, slightly shiny glass tunnel, Mason barely noticed his stomach start to rumble. Only when a sharp pang of hunger came did he stop. His stomach rumbled while he stared at the dull, still softly glowing entrance. He didn't go inside, so only a meter or two inside were hardened, and he knew it was a mostly useless act. Still, he felt pretty good about himself, and he contently stared at the odd entrance in the otherwise white dune.

He waited for what felt like hours when finally something moved inside the entrance. It started weak, a digging, scraping sound when something clanked.

"Wut da whell if this stubb?" Baudron's oddly muffled voice echoed out of the tunnel, sounding disgruntled. A scraping like nails on a school board followed.

Mason grinned, and when Baudron dug out of the partially filled entrance, staring at the sides, he laughed. "Like my little handy work?"

Baudron just looked at him for a second before grinning and spitting a large mouth full of beautiful orange crystals on the ground. Angular, but not sharp, they reminded Mason of jewelry his mom used to wear. Natural, barely worked gems.

Staring at them, he picked one up, ignoring the spit and drool. They were warm and smooth, and a trickle of energy flowed from them.

"There is a good vein behind us, not the best but more than we could carry," Baudron said with a grin, looking at the stone in Mason's hand.

"Why don't you try drawing in some of those mana particles around us?"

Baudron pointed at something beside him, and Mason blinked. There were plenty of white and red fiery specs, but none at the spot Baudron was pointing. Probably earth mana or something, he thought before focusing on a big group of white specs. The stone in his hand heated up immensely, and the specs streaked towards it and inside. A rush of energy surged from the stone and into his body. It raged through his veins like fire, and reflexively he opened his mouth. A torrent of fire larger than his gaping maw roared out, enveloping his snout as his protective eyelids snapped shut. Sounding like a freight train passing by, the fire struck the side of the dune behind them. With a small explosion, it blasted the glistening sand away and created a quickly glowing indent in the dune that grew larger by the second.

"Stop, stop," Baudron screamed.

Mason shivered, pushing the energy down and trying to reign it in. It felt like holding a bucking horse down, and he quickly dropped the stone. I thudded on the ground and sizzled and melted a puddle in the sand.

A soft groan broke the silence, and Mason watched as Baudron scrambled up, sand pouring off of him.

Mason looked in disbelief at the large hole he had created. As he swallowed, his throat sore, he examined the glowing amber rock on the ground. It still gleamed and glistened, but a small crack ran along the top portion.

"So, I guess those rocks boost our power?" He said lamely.