AL HAZA

Quite some time had passed, the oasis was a good distance behind them, surrounded by the sand sea, the dunes seemed never-ending. The sky was golden red dying the desert in the same color. There were warm winds swirling from time to time. As Kai and Cyer continued at a somewhat constant pace. Kai's eye caught a glimpse of what seemed like a small puddle of water. Quickly approaching it to confirm whether it was a mirage or not, Kai called out to Cyer.

"Look I found water..." Kai voiced as he dipped one of his empty bottles into the puddle.

"... KAI WAIT, STOP ..." Cyer yelled as soon as he saw Kai, but he was too late, for the shifting ground had begun to shudder, an enormous circle with its center at the puddle began to appear, Kai who was taken aback, tried to quickly step out but before he had the chance, he was in between what appeared to be thousands of teeth, it was a sand worm. Cyer reacting as quickly as he could approached Kai holding him by the arm, he flung him as far as he could. Managing to heave him over the rapidly rising worm.

Now that Kai was out he saw the gigantic creature rising above the sands, Cyer most probably in its belly, without knowing what else to do, Kai took a blade and struck the slithery skin of the worm, the worm unhindered, twisted itself towards the sand again to burrow in. Kai's blade slipped along the length as the worm went subterranean. Frantically he stabbed at it again managing to land a strike that got caught. Kai held on to dear life as the worm continued to tunnel, resurfacing and diving every now and then, the Cut that Kai had landed was oozing out what appeared to be the creature's blood, a yellowish thick liquid, most probably a major artery had been cut. Unable to do anything else Kai held on, it was almost dawn when the creature finally stopped having bled too much and exhausting itself.

It was mere moments after it had stopped that Kai saw a part of it being cut neatly off by a sword making its way out from the inside. Slime, yellow and green, along with mushes of different substances pouring out, along the excretes was Cyer as well, holding his sword straight. Breathing heavily while trying not to ingest any of the gunk. It was a few moments later that he realized that rollercoaster of the ride was over. Kai was staring at him wide eyed as well... fallen on the sand his palms behind his back supporting his stance ...

"What Happened ..." Kai asked in a low voice.

Cyer looked up at him, still in shock apparently but in another moment, he regained composure.

"That was a sand worm ... the puddle you saw was its way of catching prey, ... they stay like that till some creature approaches the puddle, and then well ... you saw what happened..." Cyer finished.

"I am sorry ... I didn't mean to ... I honestly had no intention ..." Kai began feeling the guilt.

"it's okay" Cyer waved him off, accepting what had happened, analyzing the situation.

"Well, we are in a lot of trouble now ... not only do I not know where we are, we have lost our supplies to the creature and what's worse is that I think I am poisoned," Cyer was speaking in a rather low voice, talking more to himself then he was to Kai. "This is really bad; our chances of survival just took a free fall. It's imperative that the demon shows up soon, or we are doomed ..." Cyer finished his voice growing weaker...

Kai at a complete loss only stared at Cyer, feeling extremely guilty. Cyer looked at him, calling him closer.

"Kai... listen to me," He began, "What happened, has happened, right now it doesn't matter how or why. For now, you must take charge, the shape I am in, I can't do much. Think logically and do what you think is best, if abandoning me saves your life then do it. If you can't bring yourself to do it than think of the best course of action and adopt it. It's all you now" Cyer managed to word out.

Kai who was still at a loss, tried to calm himself,

They were in the middle of nowhere.

They had no supplies but the clothes on their back as their backpacks had been lost to the worm along the way.

The day was fast approaching.

He was completely exhausted, and his partner was near death.

Kai analyzed, "Okay first things first.", He spoke aloud as he approached the corpse of the giant worm, rummaging through the excretes he found 3 bottles of water still intact. He cleaned them up with the sand and tried to look for more resources but in vain. It seemed one of the water bottles was leaking.

"2 bottles and one leak... we need to relocate too, I am sure the stench of this thing is inviting all sorts of predators and scavengers." Kai said to himself. Having Cyer drink the bottle that was leaking he picked him up and started moving relative to the dawning sun. the experience of forcing himself to keep walking wasn't new to him, having done the same in Hubok.

After walking for a few hours, he arrived at a lone rock formation, just before noon. Cyer's breathing had become slow.

Kai waited there till evening examining Cyer's body and finding an infected wound. Kai cleaned it as much as he could, which was barely enough, not knowing if Cyer would be alive or not when he woke up Kai slipped into sleep, it was the cool of night when he opened his eyes... there was something approaching them, drawing his sword Kai stood up quickly, Cyer was still breathing ... as the thing came nearer it turned out to be an old man.

Pleasantly surprised Kai lowered his blade.

"Child... I have been tra...veling w... ithout water for the past 2 days, I will... die here if I do not drink ... if you have some water... please, allow me to drink some of it." The old man requested in the driest of voices Kai had heard so far, analyzing the situation. Kai thought.

There is only one bottle of water remaining, giving it to this man would lessen their chances of survival.

"Death is eminent for all three and right now I can go without water for some time, why not save his life for."

"What is an old man doing in the middle of the dessert anyway?" Thinking fast, Kai gave his last water bottle to the old man who drank like no tomorrow letting go of the bottle only when it had no more to offer.

"Thank you, young man." The old guy began, "by chance was this your last bottle of water?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, yes. But I am glad you had it." Kai answered.

"You are a kind soul, I shall return the favor... a night's journey from here is my village, although outsiders are not welcomed ... but I will have them make an exception."

"There is a village in this dessert." Kai asked surprised.

"Yes, my dear, yes there is... we better start now, I believe your friend does not have very long to live."

"Of course, Kai answered as he mustered himself and began walking behind the old man.

As the old man had said, they found themselves at the village by dawn of the next day, out of water and on the verge of dehydration. The village was small apparently, with very few structures, although there were many people gathered. The old man separated from Kai and went ahead, who in turn was surrounded by masked spear wielding men, but before they said a word, a voice sounded behind them.

"Brothers, we have guests, the two you see, saved my grandfather." The owner of the voice was a tall man sitting on what seemed like a throne. "We are in their debt ... tend to them as if they were your own. Outsiders you are welcome to our humble village of Al-Haza" the man finished.

The men who had surrounded them changed their stances and quickly relieved Kai who was carrying Cyer, taking him into one of the buildings. While leading Kai to a banquet hall.

Having no energy to question, Kai ate and drank to his fill. It was after he was done that a dark toned woman came to him asking him to follow her. She led Kai to the room where Cyer was. There were people surrounding him. Two old men. Including the old man Kai had saved.

"How is my friend ..." Kai asked eyeing the men,

"He is alive ... for now, but we can't be sure if he will remain so for long, for he has been infected by the poison of a ruby sand worm." The village chief said in a strong voice.

"What do you mean, is he going to die?"

"Unfortunately, there is no known cure for the poison of the ruby worm." The chief replied looking down

"NO... no ... there has to be a way... please ..." Kai was in shock...

"Well, there is one...", The old man answered, "but it's as good as impossible ..."

"tell me please ... I want to try"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

"If you insist," the old man began immediately, "a few miles north of here there is a cave, deep inside the cave is supposedly an entrance to an ancient temple, a Jewel is said to reside in there, the Jewel should have enough magic power to heal any kind of poison, including the ruby one."

"I will bring it back... I swear, until then, please keep my friend alive," Kai said as he quickly got out

"Equip the boy for his journey," the village chief ordered, and within half an hour of getting his direction adjusted and all, Kai left.

...

"Now then ... the double pure has left deal with the assassin quickly ... the effects of the worm blood should be wearing off soon, quickly poison him for real. We can't have him die immediately can't risk any connections... oh and be sure to preserve the head, we need it as proof to collect the bounty." The village chief ordered, as the men started smirking all around.

Cyer was shifted into an underground location.