Injuries that once would've put the tortoise out commission for weeks were now only a minor inconvenience. Shriveled and loose skin filled out and it stood up. Not without consequence as it was very weak. A demon was an existence that rejected and was rejected itself. Whenever it tried to destroy, something would counter it. For if there was no opposite reaction, everything would have been long destroyed.

A whole new world had appeared before the demon's new eyes. One far more hostile than the previous. It could see but it wished it could be blind, wiping all that is new away. Everything old as well.

Right now, things were perfect. For miles all around, there was nothing. No plants, no animals, no life in general. Even the land itself was dry and infertile while the heat was intense. If only everywhere was the same as here. A noble goal for a demon and a lofty one.

To accomplish such a task, it could not stay as welcoming as these lands were. The wastes were where demons lived while they went to greener pastures to play. This demon was no different as it resumed its journey towards nothing. As long as it moved forward, it would eventually find something, no matter how long it took. With a goal to set fire to its soul, the demon traveled full speed ahead. Which was painfully slow as it was still a tortoise.

The next day, the sunstroke again at noon. A wave of energy lit the skies aflame and scorched the demon. Back when it was a tortoise, it only faced high heats in the afternoon, not solar flares. Or had it and it hadn't even noticed? That was the thing, the world was different yet the same.

Another day, the tortoise was prepared. Around an hour before, it dug a hole. Its claws parted the land and a burrow was created with ease. An hour wasn't used. Within five minutes a hole was formed. If only it had this kind of skill when it was normal, it would've had nothing to fear of the climate nor unruly neighbors.

Alas, now this skill, as fast as it was, was being used to escape from an event that took only five seconds to happen. Even now, it had almost an hour until the event came about. Yet, it refused to leave the hole for fear that it would happen as soon as it left. The hole being built so fast was a miscalculation and the hole itself was an anchor, hampering progress. Once it was built, it had to stay near it for it to be effective.

And effective it was. Only a small amount of yellow found its way into the burrow with a sizzle. And then it was over. The demon had built itself a miniature underworld to protect itself from the heavens. It was not isolated from above world nor could it escape the full punishment, but it worked and that was all that counts.

The next day was different. Remembering how long it waited and how much time was wasted, the demon kept pushing off on building a hole. It still planned as such; it simply procrastinated the actual construction in favor of moving ahead for five more minutes. Five became ten and ten became a full hour. Eventually, the demon found itself lacking a burrow right as noon was about to strike.

Too late, it would face the full brunt of the heaven's wrath that day. Not that it didn't try to build one at the last second. When the second scoop of land flew into the air, it struck and the hole became pointless. The sun was the one to mete out the flare yet the fault lied all upon the tortoise for waiting. The demon felt angry at both itself and the sun.

Of course as a demon, it would seek to extinguish the celestials eventually but the demon made a pact within its soul that the last thing it'd destroy was itself. A fitting end to celebrate success.

However, another day passed without any signs. That afternoon it conservatively built its shelter a half hour before the flare. Still, way too much time spent waiting but far better than overshooting. After all, how was a tortoise supposed to keep track of time properly?

Unlike other days which composed of monotonous traveling, the tortoise found something marring the land. Trials in the sand, a meter deep and two meters wide. Three in total and unnaturally straight. It looked like a pack of large beast went through this area directly in front of where the tortoise was heading at an angle.

Since it was not alive, the demon chose to ignore it and the tortoise decided to cross it. Except, it was too steep to go straight across. Getting inside was easy as the sand rolled down with the tortoise in tow as it approached the edge. Leaving was hard as the sand crumbled easily and the walls were steep and rounded.

The easiest way to progress was to just change direction and follow this trench. So it did. One direction headed somewhat towards where the tortoise came from so it chose the opposite direction. A smooth, straight path that was impossible to get lost or turned around on. In this trench, the tortoise's progress sped up considerably. A pointless journey towards nowhere to get somewhere was accelerated.