Genik arrived just as he saw Ramon being taken away by the city guards. He ran after them.

“That idiot is with me!.” Genik yelled at the local law enforcement.

They all turned around to stare at the travel weary man that had tried to grab their attention.

“Oh, hi Genik. It’s alright. Go talk to the director of the Opalis institute. I’ll handle this lot.” Ramon said unconcerned with his situation.

He got shoved by the tall guard lady “Are you two lovebirds done talking? Then keep moving along. I ain’t got all day.”

“yes, m’am.” Ramon winked as they dragged him along.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Genik mumbled. This was not exactly going to plan.

They had agreed to inform the school that one of their students went missing, as well as notify the local authorities what was going on. Genik shook his head at Ramon’s antics. Did he really just amplify this havoc, just so that the hand of law would find him first? Or did he just dance to his own tunes at all times? He honestly couldn’t tell at times.

If there was ever anyone who could turn a situation upside down like that, it was him.

~

Beliss Monsar looked at the back of the man she was bringing in. He was being awfully compliant. Something she didn’t expect from the troublemaker who flew up in the air earlier. He technically didn’t do anything wrong. But she was going to reprimand him for his irresponsible behaviour anyway. Riling those kids up was definitely going to generate complaints if no action was being taken at all. “What a massive waste of time.” She thought, “At least it broke up the boring day.” She had ordered the other stationed guards to keep on patrolling. No need to keep three officers occupied for someone like this.

She ignored all the looks they received when they walked through the city. People would stare at her anyway, the uniform only amplified that effect by a thousandfold.

“I’m so popular.” The man said to no one in particular. He was lazily smiling back at the attention he received.

“I highly doubt that.” She said back on a whim. Why was she attacking his persona like that? She was honestly kind of irked by him. He seemed relaxed yet tense at the same time. Confident, and nervous vibes mixed in an incongruent brew. His skittish eyes betrayed his act.

What was he so worried about? She had sensed his subtle aura when they arrived at the scene. Aura awakened experts were few and far between. They usually hold lofty positions in society. Surely they wouldn’t roam the streets so haphazardly, right? Had she imagined it then? Crap! She started doubting her own judgement, which was bad in her profession. She nudged him forward again. Why was his walking pace so slow? Gaz! She hated slow walkers with an unreasonably passion.

“Do you have any kids?” He randomly asked? She didn’t want to respond, but she did anyway: “No, I don’t.”

“Smart, they are more trouble than they are worth.” He said with an empty voice.

~

Exploration log. hair length 2-3 mm.

I’m sad to inform you all that I didn’t manage to save the tree. I chopped it down in the end. :(

An intersesting property the tree has is that every segment has a natural membrane at each node. Which was easy to cover with a layer of resin. Therefor it is totally possible to turn it into a container of sorts. Unfortunately I couldn’t salvage all the water, and jelly, as It was just way too much to take with me.

And yeah I’m not staying here obviously, the abyss rubs me the wrong way, and the oasis itself is crawling with little creepers. Yikes.

I do have a bucket of Jelly though. It jiggles when I slap the sides, so incredibly satisfying to do. Definitely the highlight of my day , eh time between naps period? Honestly this whole lack of day and night thing sucks! Everything just feels so static. It makes me feel extra stuck for some reason.

My bio-rhythm has really gone haywire because of it. I just take short naps every now and then. I think? Can’t even tell how long I sleep for. It’s so disorienting.

I tried to sleep here, but that was a mistake. I never noticed it when I was busy digging for roots and such. but the sand here is infested with some type of lice. I’m still experiencing phantom itches as I write this. Ugh, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but it’s the second time already that I’m feeling lucky about my hairloss. Alvide knew that It was a blessing in disguise.

~

She struggled hoisting the bucket up to her head. The thing didn’t have any handles to hold onto, and a couple liters of jelly was fairly heavy. Plus she only had one good hand to clasp it with. Her first steps reminded her how awful it was to walk through sand. “Oh boy, here we go again.”

The makeshift container wobbled on her head. Thulla had the foresight to seal off the top to avoid spillage. She directed Frederic to support the cask. A platform formed on her scalp. “Thanks Fred!” She giggled at the image that popped in her mind of herself with a flat head. “I’d be the best waitress in the world with this ability” She praised herself, and Frederic ofcourse.

Her feet sank deeper into the sand than before, with all the added weight from her haul.

She had to direct her mana into the ground to reinforce her steps. It required a lot of attention to balance the bucket and simultaneously control her mana so precisely.

Every step had to be felt. How did the sand shift this time? How deep did she sink? How did that affect her weight distribution? A look of concentration marked her face. Her mind emptied out all the usual nonsense that would float around in there. Only to perform this repetitive task of putting one leg in front of the other.

Sir Miplo had picked up her tail once again. He was following her from a short distance.

His pips and squeaks were like happy cheers to her ears. She slogged endlessly like this. Her body protesting under the strain, She felt her sweat slick underneath her armor. Adjustments were made to let it breathe a little, Her feet stung, and her legs were burning up. Her willpower was refusing to stop. Only the landmark that she was walking towards was in her unfocused eyes. “Must keep going.” She repeated to herself.

With each step she pulsed her mana into the sand. It suspended the grains together, just enough to hold her weight. Unnoticeably she was getting better at it. The trance of her journey helped her finetune the skill to an almost natural gait.

Miplo had run ahead of her, skittishly scanning the environment for threats. Thulla hadn’t been paying much attention to the sand hare. The squeaks were cute, but after a while they faded to the back of her mind. Until miplo started screeching in loud short cries. Something was up. Thulla was a sitting duck with this thing on her head. She dropped it into the soft sands. where it rolled off the sloped dune she was walking on. Quickly she looked around her not immediately finding something dangerous, until she looked in the air. A bird was circling above them.

Miplo dove into the sand; he clearly didn’t want to get eaten. Thulla looked up at the winged predator. “Another feathery friend, Great.” The sarcasm dripped off her words. “Don’t you steal my bucket! That’s my bucket you hear!.” She yelled at the animal.

It was flying by a lot lower now, to get a better scope of the weird upright being that was squawking in strange tones. What was it doing with that chopped off tree? Questions perhaps better left unanswered. Could It be taken down? It was a lot bigger than the usual prey. This situation required a careful approach. In the end it decided to test the waters first.

Thulla saw it rise in height after a long turn, then it started picking up speed when it came diving down towards her. “It’s coming, stay calm, you've got impenetrable skin remember, you’ll be fine.” She was taking quick deep breaths. Adrenalin was already pumping in her veins. Her mind was sharp, and her fatigue pushed to the background.

The bird opened its beak. A shrill sound came out. A concussive wave blasted out. The sand grains in its area of effect were vibrating so hard they jumped into the air. The wall of dancing sand sped across the dunes where it rattled through Thulla. Her ears popped, her organs mourned under the tingling strain. The taste of blood seeped into her mouth. She spit out her saliva, it was stained dark red with blood. “Oh fuck.” She muttered, surprised by the damage she had taken.

The bird was circling around for round two already. “I’ve got to come up with something…” Thulla racked her brain for solutions. She had brought some of the resin bulbs with her to be used as glue bombs or other forms of utility. However the chances of her hitting that flying monster would be next to impossible. “What to do?” She felt like her only option was using her explosive bubbles. The last time she used it, the spell had blipped out of existence in an instant when she had thrown it into the abyss. She wasn’t feeling confident in that at all. On top of that she was quite low on mana from her way of walking through the desert.

“I don’t have anything else.” She concluded. The next attack was heading her way. The rush of sand showing the velocity, and power of the incoming sound wave. In a last ditch effort she formed a bubble in her hands, that she pushed up into the flight path of the bird. She lost control over the spell structure when the vibrations ravaged through her body again. It unraveled, and the mana spilled out in a severely weakened effect.

Thulla fell to her knees dizzy and disoriented. She slapped herself in the face in an attempt to wake herself up. “just a tad too late.” Her mana bubbled out again. She could feel her tank emptying with every bit of energy she drew out. She tried to brace herself as best as possible for the third barrage that was already on its way.

The bird had flown up high this time to dive down hard. Magic surged along its long feathered tail. It wanted to finish off the stubborn prey that had kept resisting after taking the brunt of two if its sound blasts. It announced its attack with another ear bleeding screech.

Thulla launched her bubble into the air. She detonated it just before the sound wave hit her. An explosion of bright white light lit up the sky. The shockwave pushed her backwards. She held her left arm in front of her face while she supported her body with her right. Her eyes squinted from the overexposure to light. The explosive surge was split in two by a wickedly fast blade of air. That slammed into her, slicing through Frederic’s armor, biting deep into her skin. Blood spilled from a gash on the top of her head all the way through her collarbone.

If she hadn’t held up her arm in front of her eyes, then she would have likely lost her left eye.

A thump resounded in front of her. The bird had crashed into the sand at full speed.

Feathers were falling from the sky. Thulla blinked a couple times. Did she just? Did that work? She worked herself up to her feet. Trembling like an old decrepit lady. She stumbled over to where the bird had planted itself. Blood seeped into her left eye. She couldn’t see very well with the burned out specks still dancing on her retina. She reformed her bladed arm in preparation. With crazed determination she dove at her attacker. Impaling it on her arm extension. It stopped struggling within seconds, and then it was nothing but a limb dead body.