I breathed in deep through my nose, smelling the ocean air. I hadn’t spent much time by the oceanfront in my life so far, so this was a welcome change. The salty air, the gentle rocking of the boat and the calm sea breeze… It made for a rather calming experience, I thought.

The first leg of our journey had seen us pass through the river that separated the Roa and Ergo from Alterian. The aptly named ‘Argo river’ was a heavily monitored body of water that Ergo only allowed Roa to use because of a trade agreement. Without it, Roa would be completely landlocked, and the rulers of Ergo knew it.

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden bout of movement that I noticed in the corner of my eye. A white figure ran by and, upon reaching the railing, leaned over the side of the ship.

“Wueeergh!!” I heard, the belching sound waking me from my musings.

“Are you all right?” I asked Emeri. “This is the third time in just a few minutes that you’ve needed to relieve your stomach into the ocean. Are you going to survive until we reach Aho?” I asked in jest.

She moved to reply, lifting a finger. “Not a… wueergh!!” she began, before stopping midway through her sentence to puke some more. “Not a… hah… hah… word, Arthur.” She finished, heaving from the exertion.

Wisely, I shut up. I had a sneaking suspicion that any more japes would result in her dumping my dead body overboard, along with this morning’s breakfast.

Still, I felt justified in getting on her case. After the realization that we had only a single bed for the entire 8-day’s journey, I had been the one forced to sleep on the wooden floor of the ship, with only a sleeping bag to soften it. I could hardly set up my tent inside of a ship, after all.

Emeri had slept well on the comfy bed the first few nights, yet now that we were hitting rougher waves, she would be hard-pressed to get another night of comfortable sleep.

“I think I should take the bed tonight, since you might just soak the mattress with your sick.” I tried hesitantly, only to be met with a swift fist to the nose, which sent me sprawling on the deck.

Oh well. It was worth a try…

Our ship sailed along the coast for the latter half of the journey. The shallow waters meant fewer waves and less puking from Emeri, which was much appreciated during the night-time. That fourth night had left a trauma I’d rather not recollect and resulted in a stern talking-to from the captain.

Thankfully, Emeri’s mood started to improve once we had returned to the calmer waters, which did wonders for my own physical health as well. At this point, she was starting to tolerate my jokes and teasing again, allowing my nose to figuratively recover from the repeated beatings.

On the seventh day, the tropical forest that had been a continuous sight on the coast started to thin visibly. Tall, looming trees were replaced by smaller, wider trees with thin yet large canopies. Eventually, even those started to recede once the ground turned brown, then yellow. The undergrowth became limited to the occasional desert bush or cactus.

Not long after that, we finally reached our destination. A gap in the dunes revealed a small town made up of yellowish buildings made out of sand. The architecture was very different from what I was used to as well, because the houses were mostly square, with flat roofs. Only a few houses had domes and roofs, and they were usually the larger ones.

The only wooden structure that I could see were the docks, which stuck out into the bay and just enough room for our large trading vessel and a smattering of fishing ships tied to the poles scattered around.

Despite its small size, the town seemed rather busy. Perhaps because of our arrival, the whole town seemed to be present at the edge of the docks, watching us like hawks. Once we made port, workers disembarked from the ship carrying wooden crates and tarps. Within minutes, the small port was turned into a de facto market, with stalls arrayed neatly, displaying various wares that ranged from food to clothes, to magically engineered artifacts.

Only after everything was set up and the captain’s crew was ready to start conducting business were the passengers allowed off the ship.

Other than Emeri and I, a handful of other passengers entered the market, though it was already swamped by the townsfolk. We wandered from stall to stall for a while, until we noticed an interesting arrangement of wares.

A bearded man wearing a turban was looming over a dozen or so bronze artifacts. Random cogs and magical crystals adorned every piece, though each one looked distinctly different from the other.

“Interested?” he eventually grunted disinterestedly.

“Somewhat…” I replied neutrally, before pointing to one of the artifacts. “What does this one do?”

“Draws in heat to power up a fire-affinity skill, don’ it?” he spoke as if he was telling me, rather than asking. I held back a chuckle and pointed to a different piece. “And that one?”

“Steadies the ground you’re walkin’ on. It’ll turn loose sand into solid rock for a few minutes, if you want it to. Only the stuff thas’ nearby, though.” He added as an afterthought.

“Do you have anything that can gather water?” Emeri asked. I turned to her and nodded appreciatively. Without Cerion, such a task would be impossible, and considering we were heading into a desert… We had prepared for the dessert by buying an ungodly amount of concentrated water pellets, but it never hurt to be prepared.

The man grunted in affirmation and pointed to a cube that had a single transparent tube sticking out and a few cocks slowly ticking on the outside of its frame. “This one’ll gather a flask’s worth in about two hours. Longer if yer’ in the desert, though.”

“We’ll take it.” Emeri replied hastily. “If you have more, we’ll buy those, too.”

The man nodded mutely and pulled out a second concentrator, before sliding them over the counter toward us. “24 gold for the two of em’.” I opened my mouth to haggle, but Emeri had already put the gold on the counter before I could say a word. The salesperson had, similarly, scooped up the coins before I could protest.

I scoffed, yet put one of the concentrators in my pouch anyway, before handing Emeri half of what she had paid.

A few minutes later, we found ourselves at the town square, which looked deserted. The entire town had turned up in force to welcome the trading ship, and nothing was open as a result. Even the local adventurer’s guild, which you could always count on being open, had a sign in front of its closed door, saying ‘Away for business. Praise Helios’.

Strangely, every single shop and inn had a similar sign out front, each praising Helios in some form.

“Awfully religious bunch, aren’t they?” I commented idly.

“Alterian is the home of the Helios church. What did you expect?”

I nodded, seeing Emeri’s point. Roa was fairly religious. So much so, in fact, that people of different beliefs were scoffed at sometimes. Alterian, however, seemed to take their faith to a whole new level.

“So, since we’re here to do one of those ‘pilgrimage’ things, why don’t you decide on what to do and where to go? Do you want to rest for a night before taking off, or…?”

Emeri shook her head. “No, I feel fine, thank you.” She said, blushing as she remembered her state on the ship. “The first temple we have to visit at the start of our pilgrimage lies in the center of Caltian’s scorch.” She explained.

“Ah, right! The dessert supposedly made by the firebreath of the dragon Caltian, right?” I remembered.

Emeri nodded. “Indeed, though we won’t be facing any dragons if luck is on our side.” She said half in jest.

“Awww. I was looking forward to the dragon!” I joked back.

“Shut up, silly.” She replied, chuckling, before leading us out of the town. We were at the eastern border of Alterian, which meant that we would need about two weeks to reach the temple on foot. The journey was not only a lengthy one, but also an arduous one. For the sake of ‘proving our faith’ to Helios, we would be sweating during the day and freezing at night.

Something told me Helios had had a sadistic streak when he was mortal, because no benevolent god would force his followers to trek through the desert just to visit a statue.

That, or someone at the church was the one with the mean streak. Either way, I was not looking forward to this. Not at all.