Chapter 56

Foreigners like Wil made up only a small part of the massive crowd that entered the desert for the final task. They were a drop of water falling into a bucket, barely enough to cause a ripple. But there were stark contrasts between the locals and those not from Lund, and it was evident as soon as the test began where those differences lay.

The locals were powerful, commanding strong magics and high-ranking mana, but they were those who were handpicked to join the guild, pushed through the first two exams on their families’ names or backgrounds, instead of merit. And it showed.

As Wil took his first step onto the black sand, all around him, others leapt into the air, summoning mounts, or magical items to carry them across the desert. He was shocked by the display of wealth around him.

One young man, wearing fine silk robes and a golden crown on his head threw a small, wooden boat from his pocket. The wooden toy fell onto the black sand, only to expand into a vessel the size of the Drake! With golden engravings, and white silk sails, the ship began to hover above the ground.

Nodding his head, the young man leapt aboard the ship, while several of his companions followed him. In moments, the ship was sailing high in the sky, speeding into the distance as its magical sails caught the wind.

Wil saw another man mount a massive griffin, its lion body and eagle head and wings took off as soon as its rider settled. More griffins, hippogriffs and even a drake carried local adventurers into the sand dunes. Most of the creatures were magical beasts that Wil had only read about, although there were hundreds more that were mundane animals, enhanced by magic.

He saw a horse the size of a two-story building carrying a single rider as it galloped across the salt flats, towering over the dunes below. One young woman rode a house cat the size of a lion, sprinting gracefully across the sands.

The foreigners all eschewed mounts or magical transports, experience telling them to avoid rushing into the desert, where supplies would run out and mana could not be restored. The locals either didn’t know, or didn’t care, as they tried to compete in out doing each other in their excessive displays.

Wil tugged his cloak low over his face, completely covering his pale skin from the sun’s harsh light, before resignedly walking across the white salt that streaked through the black sands. He didn’t know much about deserts, but he knew that walking on solid ground saved energy compared to sand.

The others who went through the second test were gathered close, through necessity rather than banding together. In moments, they were alone as the local adventurers disappeared deep into the Midnight Desert.

Focusing on the ground in front of him, Wil had just fallen into a rhythm of walking when a shadow covered the ground. Looking up, he saw a massive white swan, soaring gracefully above. The rider was a beautiful young woman, wearing thin white robes the flapped in the wind, her long, silver hair flowing behind her.

Watching her for a minute as she disappeared over the horizon, Wil looked ahead again, putting one foot in front of the other.

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The sun overhead was, in a way, both a blessing and a curse. He cursed its heat, its ever-present glare in his eyes and the source of a heat haze that shimmered over the dunes, making it difficult to see anything but the black sand under his feet.

It was a blessing because there wasn’t anything to really see in the Midnight Desert to use as a landmark. It was similar to the Azure Sea, where the Drake navigated by the sun, or the stars at Night. Here, he couldn’t pick out a distant object and march towards it, there was simply nothing here!

Flat, hard packed black sand, streaked with white salt, surrounded by tall dunes was all he could spot, no matter which direction he looked. Once the town had faded into the distance behind him, he would have been completely lost, without the yellow sun to guide him. For the morning, he kept it to his right, in the afternoon, his left.

Turning around, Wil could see his footprints in the sand, the only evidence of his passing. He was alone now and had been for the past few hours. The others that shared this journey had gradually drifted away, as they set their own path across the desert. The last group he had seen were the dwarves, shirtless in the sun, as they dragged a wagon behind them, full of supplies.

He wished them luck, as the trio faded away into the haze and the hours passed. One foot in the front of the other, Wil crossed the desert, conserving his strength for the long trek. To pass the time, he thought of the odd advice Amora had given to them all before they started.

“Look deep beneath the ground for salvation.” Wil whispered through his parched lips. Pulling out a clay jug of water, he popped the cork, drinking deeply, before sealing it again and putting it back in his bag of holding. He once again blessed his brother for the gift. He had stored hundreds of jugs of water in it, along with enough rations to feed an army.

“I wonder.” Wil said, stopping his trek and kneeling against the ground. Placing his hand against the coarse sand, he reached out with his senses, looking for anything.

Further and further, he stretched his awareness, driving it deep beneath the ground, but he found nothing. Sighing, he stood straight again, wiping the sand from his hands as he thought.

“She wouldn’t give a clue like that for no reason. Maybe there’s a cave system beneath the ground? Or hidden water, buried deep below?” Wil mused. Snapping his fingers as he had a thought, he fished out the Elemental Emerald from his bag.

Not giving it much mana, he placed it on the ground, before burying it with a bit of sand. Stepping back, he waited as he felt the gem faintly pulsed with mana.

The elemental emerged from the ground, small from the lack of mana Wil provided and made of black sand with flecks of white salt, it barely reached Wil’s knee as it looked around the desert.

“Master. Desert. Don’t like. No mana.” It rumbled, focusing back on Wil.

“I know, I dislike it as well. Do you feel anything at all? Anything below the ground or nearby?” Wil asked, kneeling to get at the small elemental’s eye level.

“Hmm. Yes. Mana. Deep. Hidden.” It stared at the ground next to Wil, before looking in the distance.

“Water.” It said in clear disgust, shaking its head as it pointed into the distance.

“Water.” Wil repeated, before marking an arrow in the sand so he wouldn’t forget where the Elemental had pointed.

“Thank you.” Wil said, as it sank back beneath the sand, its mana running out. The gem lay on the salt flat, glinting in the sun. Scooping it up, he placed it back in his bag as he followed the line he had drawn.

“Water means life, and possibly, whatever ‘salvation’ Amora was talking about.” Wil said, as he settled his bag of holding on his shoulders, setting out towards the water.

It felt good to have a direction again, like being lost in the dark, before finding a distant light calling him.

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The sun was sinking low, dying the desert sky a deep red, when he stumbled upon something interesting.

It was massive ship, or at least, the remains of one. It was old, and the desert sun had petrified the little that remained until only skeletal ribs of its hull and a bit of its mast left, sticking out of the sand dunes.

Running his hands over the wood, it felt like rough stone, rather than wood. So little remained that it would be impossible to tell where it came from, or what it was doing here in the middle of a desert.

“The town we’re supposed to travel to has a salt mine, and its apparently next to an inland ocean, or saltwater lake. I wonder if it came from there.” Wil wondered aloud, as he took in the mystery. Maybe it had flooded at some point, rains causing the ship to travel over the desert, before settling here?

Shrugging at the mystery, Wil left the wreck behind, using it as a landmark as he trekked towards water.