D:R:IF:T

Unparalleled darkness, rather than light, blanketed Lyn's vision. Part of her didn't want to wake up, but part of her wanted to rise to the rescue. It was a symptom of the unnatural occurrences, such as the red blood, purveying her unusual body. It was unexplainably difficult to pinpoint the cause of such matter, but it was nonetheless a suppressed memory in the back of her head.

Faint rhythmic clops muffled Lyn's weak hearing as she could sense her body progressing in movement on her own. After she began to regain consciousness, she discovered that her eyes had been blanketed with a type of dirtied old cloth that gave her warmth in the cold breeze. She had the drive to move away from it all, but she allowed for her to be taken by the drifting winds.

She pressed her nose against something even warmer than the cloth that she laid upon; it reeked of poor hygiene, yet sturdiness among its powerful muscles after her nose was forced to slam against it multiple times. Lyn took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and fell asleep once more.

Minutes passed until the clopping came to a complete halt. Although Lyn was asleep, several restrictive straps wrapped around the cloth surrounding her body clipped off. Slow footsteps followed, before an unidentified stranger lifted Lyn off of the creature and set her down on a rocky surface. The stranger lifted the cloth off of Lyn's face, blasting her with the light from the full moon in the desert. Light scratches and bruises appeared around Lyn's left cheek and underneath her chin.

Minutes passed until Lyn finally awoke. Her eyelids gently lifted themselves, finding her sheltered underneath a dilapidated rooftop with several poorly maintained tears from its structure. She stealthily turned her head to avoid attracting attention from the stranger whose back was turned against a small bonfire beside her for warmth. She drew her attention to a horse leashed upon a weak wooden pole supporting the shelter, drinking water and eating small scraps of old hay.

Blade... Lyn thought. It was all she could think of. It was a missing piece of her, without a doubt, and this created a great deal of bitter rage instilled in her robotic heart. It was not the weapon she lacked, but the one behind it.

Lyn attempted to lift the wrapped shawl around her, but she found herself trapped among several buckled straps and buttons that restricted her movement. She rested her hand away as the stranger, whose face was invisible to Lyn, puffed out a large amount of putrid cigarette smoke from where its supposed mouth was.

Another set of footsteps soon followed, forcing Lyn to feign sleep. Another shawled individual arose from the side of the shelter, holding a compass while walking toward the other stranger. They both spoke to each other in an intelligible language that Lyn could not quite decipher because of her weakened hearing.

Lordran... so he lives. The undying hatred for her first betrayal was the only thing that could ravish her heart. But with each second he and his clones filled her mind, the faster both of the hooded strangers approached Lyn and her feigned state.

Yet they disregarded her, moving past to grab big iron mugs filled to the brim with a light brown fizzy liquid. They stood together near the end of the shelter and drank slowly. The horse, who had finished eating its hay, clopped toward the strangers. One of them stroked the soft mane from the animal.

Lyn, who glanced near the end of where the horse stood, found a sheathed curved blade ripe for the taking. Using their drinks as a distract, Lyn lifted her hand and unbuckled two of the straps surrounding her torso.

As one of the strangers began to turn around, Lyn swiftly unbuckled the last one around her knees and sprung into action. She slid out, fully bare and snatched the long curved blade. She sheathed it out and pointed it toward one of the hooded strangers, making them drop their filled mug to stain the sand with its liquid.

"Who are you!?" Lyn asked, gritting her teeth as the image of Lordran continued to settle in her mind.

The hooded stranger, who held both of their hands up, removed their shawl to reveal a young woman with a short brown bob haircut parted across her right cheek. She had a light beauty mark on her left cheek and faint freckles across the bridge of her nose. An innocent, yet quarrelsome energy exuded from her childish facial structure, indicating she was mysterious to read. Too mysterious.

"Quite an entrance," The other stranger voiced out, reluctant to reveal his face. His voice was soothingly deep, indicating a potential suave individual at play. He chuckled. "So the buried one has some energy left in her."

"I can see that," The female's light accented voice came out in fear. "Hey, I'm gonna need you to drop that weapon, or you'll cause a lot of trouble for the both of us."

"No," Lyn forced out of her throat, pointing the blade even closer to the girl. "Tell me. Where is Blade? Where is Lordran?" She asked.

The hooded stranger approached the female and placed his slim hand on her shoulder before revealing his face; a young middle-aged male with slicked back brown hair no less than forty. With a childish smirk across his face filled to the brim with amusement, he took the center stage with grace and firmness.

"It was water that you used to splash her face, right?" The man's suave voice asked. "Not anything we've been drinking tonight?"

"Nope."

"Allow me, then."

"Are you sure?" The female asked, putting her hands down.

"Heh, naked sweethearts playing swordsman and threatening to slit my throat? Wouldn't be the first time," He charmingly stated as he approached Lyn with his hands in the air.

Lyn took a small step back, covering more distance with her quivering knees. The same emotion behind holding the stranger's weapon was unsatisfactory for her. It was not Alfaic, nor any resemblance of him remaining. Because of this ill frustration stirring inside her mind, Lyn's movements were more reckless.

Her charged slice proved fruitful, yet useless in the end. The male stranger sheathed a hidden dagger from his pockets, clashing with Lyn's blade to strike it away. The blade landed on the sharp side on the desert sand, and the stranger lunged at Lyn holding the dagger to her throat.

Lyn leaned back, but the stranger caught her bare back, holding her with a gentleman's flirtatious grace. Instead of leaning forward for a kiss, he shoved her back toward the bundle of belts, leaving her alone to retrieve the curved blade from the sand.

Lyn, who tried to scramble catch it beforehand, was not quick enough. Her sluggish movements proved to be uneventful, and she found herself trapped between the strangers with weapons pointed directly at her face.

"I wouldn't try that," The man suggested, aiming a pistol at her forehead. "Everyone knows that the villain never prevails. Not only that, but you shouldn't do that to the ones who saved you from being buried alive. It's common courtesy, which you clearly lack."

The female approached Lyn slowly, holding her hands up to signify no danger to her presence. Lyn touched her back against the shelter's weak foundation, and found herself cold to the winds blowing beside her. She was powerless, and she knew it.

"D, get back," The stranger suggested his comrade. "She'll bite your throat out before you can even speak."

"No, no, I think I got this." The female nicknamed D, approached and kneeled toward Lyn with a gentle carefree smile on her face. She opened her arms wide, instilling a sense of comfort inside Lyn's fogged and weakened head.

She was no Cethe, nor a Damian; she was different.

"Hey," She began whispering in a soft tone, further adding to her innocent presence. "I'm Dorothy, but my friends back home call me 'D.' What's your name?"

"Clearly, it's LYNBG52," The male voiced out sarcastically, setting the pistol beside his hip. He tapped his sandals on the sand, glaring at Lyn's unusual tattoo. "What an odd design."

Lyn, who was mentally fatigued, let out a small blurb in her weak voice. It was as innocent as a cat's affectionate meow. "Lyn." She introduced.

"Oh, how creative." The male chipped in.

"Lyn, huh. That's a pretty name," Dorothy continued. "Well, look at me, Lyn. We found you nearly buried alive in the middle of the desert, and we knew we couldn't leave you alone to die. In fact, we weren't even sure if you were gone or not. Both Ardie and I-"

"Couldn't leave a beautiful woman like yourself out there all alone," The man named Ardie scoffed. "But a woman who's willing to sacrifice their life for an early death all for a sword? That's dedication."

"Early death?" Lyn asked.

"We nearly sacrificed our lives to save you from those rotten folk. You should be thanking us." Ardie said, implying their distinct role.

"Lyn," Dorothy continued, peering into Lyn's empty eyes. "Are you going to hurt us? Because we won't. We don't have any intention to do so." She patiently asked.

Lyn met her eyes with Dorothy, wondering of her true intentions. "You do not know... where my blade is?" She softly questioned.

"No, I'm sorry," Dorothy replied, unknowing of her true meaning. "We're not the type to collect weapons or artifacts, so we wouldn't know. We're..."

Ardie intensely glared at Dorothy.

"We're hunters, from Gietha, just trying to make a living on our own agenda," Dorothy corrected, coughing to clear her throat. "Gietha's one of the six cities in the Wastes."

"Wastes?" Lyn asked.

Ardie shook his head and gestured a waving motion with his hand, hinting of her denial into the city. Lyn and Dorothy looked at him, with the latter conjuring a blank stare.

"I think I've said too much. It's better you don't follow us," Dorothy voiced out, standing up from her kneeled position. Placing the shawl around her bob hair, she wrapped a rifle nestled on a nearly collapsed table around her shoulder. "It's going to hurt a lot more for the both of us. We just wanted to save you. We've left some spare clothes for you-"

Lyn bolted to her feet and firmly stood her ground. "I will go." She stated.

Dorothy and Ardie froze, exchanging glances at each other. The former turned to face Lyn, eyebrows and ears perked up like an attentive squirrel. "Are you... from here, Lyn? I mean... are you aware of the Wastes?"

"I don't care," Lyn voiced out. "I want to find my Blade. I... I cannot do it alone."

"Just what exactly is this "blade" to you?" Ardie asked, leaning back into the post of where the curved sword nested. "You're talking as if your life depends on this thing."

"Blade is..." Lyn was reluctant to speak. There were no other words to describe Alfaic beside the general keywords of "flying" and "sword." But that alone would not have been a sufficient way to describe such a-

There was a moment of turmoil stirring inside Lyn's mind. Alfaic was just a sword, an easily replaceable weapon. It was not the fact that he was a simple object, but Lyn realized she could have easily completed her journey with a standard blade. Despite being additionally powerful than other blades, Lyn could not pinpoint the exact reason why she wanted to rescue Alfaic. But there was one thing she knew she wanted to say to it.

And she summoned her strength to say it, regardless of the truth.

"Humanity is dying, and Blade makes me feel human," Lyn said. "Blade is the only one for me, and I am the only one for it. Without Blade... I am lost."

Ardie placed his hand on his chin, wrapped in an amalgamation of strange thoughts. "The way you describe your 'blade' makes it seem like this thing isn't a weapon, but a person," He mentioned. "Perhaps you're trying to reunite with a man named Blade, your lover?"

"I do not know what that is." Lyn voiced out without hesitation.

"A silent book, are you?" Ardie asked, chuckling at Lyn's immediate response. "Well, it certainly is none of my business, anyway. Regardless of who it is you're looking for, unfortunately, we'll have to turn you down. Trust me. It's for your own good."

Lyn rushed toward the wooden table in the shelter, attempting to snatch a dysfunctional and dull weapon from a pile of scrap. Ardie swept forward and snatched her left arm to draw her back, while Dorothy stepped in front of the table to block her misguided behavior. The horse, who was sound alert, neighed loudly and stepped forward to assault Lyn to protect their owners.

Ardie grasped both of Lyn's wrists and pinned her to the wall, attaching a pair of bindings to her to prevent her from lashing out. Dorothy kneeled down to Lyn with a somber expression while Ardie dusted off the sands from his plated coat.

"I may be kind, but I'm not stupid," Ardie scolded. "I told you, it's for your own-"

"Oh, wow!" Dorothy gasped.

The three of them were interrupted by the sudden brimming appearance of the morning sunrise. The shafts of light reflected upon the dunes and sand hills in the distance, creating a picturesque vista not even an artist could replicate. Dorothy and Ardie moved forward, eyes gleaming until they were transformed into pools of orange beauty.

It was only temporary beauty.

Off into the far distance of where the sand hills rested, the sunset illuminated a row of figures dramatically lit into shadows collapsing toward the shelter. Some rode on horses, while others treaded through the deep sand. The number of unknown individuals treading through outnumbered the three by a massive long shot.

Ardie and Dorothy's still bodies were interrupted by swift movements throughout the shelter, packing every item into several pouches and large chests, leveling them on their horse. Dorothy kicked sand into the bonfire while Ardie grabbed the rest of the weapons.

Lyn, who watched it all unfold, attempted to free herself from the bindings, but failed to do so.

"Damn, we're not going to make it out on time!" Ardie exclaimed.

"We can, if we go the opposite way!"

From the corner of Lyn's eyes, came a heavily dressed bandit covered in a hooded shawl with an ornamental mask beneath it, aiming a flintlock rifle at the two hunters. Two more came from behind the shelter, collapsing on them with a stealthy ambush. Dorothy and Ardie put their hands in the air, surrendering their treasure as they held their horse captive beside them.

"Shit..." Ardie muttered.

The shadowed figures from the distance closed in on the shelter. Members of their bandit squadron approached them on horses armed with firearms and spears, and the ones on foot held something that Lyn found quite troublesome and disturbing.

Some of the bandits held steel linked leashes that wrapped around many of the acidic infected creatures, pulling them back with their bare strength to prevent them from running loose. The infected's eager cries and squeals, choking on their blood and saliva, indicated that they were more than hungry. They were treated almost like trained pets to the cause, despite their need to devour all flesh and life in its wake.

"Well, well," The center bandit, assumed by Lyn to be the leader of the squadron, descended his horse and removed his mask to unveil a heavily scarred man underneath. He approached the hunters with a smirking grin on his face while crossing his arms. "If it ain't Dorothy ni Viatal and Ardine sol Buchasa."

"Well, I'm honored to see you remember our names so well," Ardine sol Buchasa joked, rolling his eyes while holding in his laughter. "And who do we have the pleasure of meeting with today? Your imperial majesty Iron Fist?"

The bandit leader approached Ardine with a dagger to his throat, resting its cold and shivering touch through his neck. "You will address his name as Lord Kaiden, worthless pirate," The leader revealed. "The balls on both of you to be stealing from his Lord's treasury, is punishable by death."

Lord...?

"Is his imperial majesty that surprised? We're civilians, just minding our own business and doing our-"

The bandit leader elbowed Ardine in the gut, sending him falling to the ground. He then approached Dorothy ni Viatal, whose innocent expression suddenly regressed into a dull, cold, and bitter one, revealing something dark underneath the pleasant childish eyes of hers. "And you, Miss Viatal. Aware of the fact that both of you are wanted in the Wastes, yet you decide to stand here to waste your time dwelling in Gietha. Do you want Lord Kaiden to use the Sand Sinker so badly, pirate?"

Pirate? Lyn thought, observing the action from a distance.

"Do it," Dorothy ni Viatal's soft and tender voice seemed to be a ruse after how guttural her initial threat was, and by the sarcastically evil tone in her throat. "I dare you. Sink all the cities and we still won't tell you where any of his treasure is. Prideful bastard's already a murderer-"

The bandit leader slapped Dorothy and dragged her back up from the sand. The leader spat into her eyes and sneered at her, revealing his stained row of teeth. "You know, I don't care if I snap your neck in half now before I take you back to Lord Kaiden," He threatened. "Tell me where your hideout is, and we'll let you live. God knows Lord Kaiden won't let that happen for long. You'll just buy yourself some time."

"Ha, and let you take all of what Gietha represented?" Ardine's voice was weak after being jabbed in the gut. "You traitors have forgotten what it's like to live freely-"

The bandit leader kicked Ardine in the chest. "Live freely?!" He shouted, pointing at the leashed infected and their virulent presence. "How can we live freely in a world inhabited by those creatures? Thousands of our kind have passed!"

The bandits snatched Dorothy and Ardine to the center of the sands, placing them closer to the infected creatures and their lust for appetite.

"You fail to realize that Lord Kaiden and his followers have adapted to these new lifestyle conditions, while you pirates teeter on the edge of nostalgia," The leader voiced out. "We have evolved. You haven't."

"Because we're loyal to our home, unlike you backstabbing traitorous dogs!" Dorothy cried.

"Well, if this very well may be our end, then I'd say, I seldom deserved it," Ardine calmly stated. "At least I got to meet such an enchanting woman before it all went down. Dorothy, you can drop that innocent ruse now."

"Ha, even at a time like this, you're still insufferable," Dorothy chuckled. "You really haven't changed since we left Buchasa."

"How could I? Although, in my life as a pirate, I never thought I'd throw it all away under the hands of some traitorous folk we used to call friends. Quite poetic, actually."

"ENOUGH!" The bandit leader shouted, pointing at the other bandits holding the leashed infected. "Release them! Now!"

"Sir?!" One of the bandits from behind the pack cried, pointing where Dorothy and Ardine's horse remained captive.

All eyes were set toward the horse's figure and its calmly manners. One of the two bandits guarding the horse were slain with a piercing stab through his chest, leaving a trail of blood pouring in the sands below. The other remained standing, eyes rolled in the back of his head, and limp like a corpse. Lyn, whose regenerated hands wrapped around the neck of the bandit, peered from the side to release the deceased bandit. The sword's edge plunged through the bandit's chest, spewing a fountain-like amount of blood, which splattered across Lyn's face, bare chests, and shoulders.

The rest were baffled how a naked slender woman managed to escape the steel bindings and murder two of the most skilled bandits from beneath their noses. Lyn, holding Ardine's curved blade firmly in her right hand, glared at the bandit leader with murderous intent. The desert winds blew her elongated black ponytail as she coldly paced herself toward the group of bandits holding the pirates captive.

"Well, now that's something you don't see every day," Ardine charmingly stated. "Breathtaking and almighty, I must say."

"How... how did she escape?" Dorothy's bewildered attitude voiced her thoughts at Lyn's wrists; not a trace of injury or impairment was seen. "You put the-"

"I put the bindings on her." Ardine finished her sentence.

"What are you waiting for? Kill her!" The bandit leader, who pointed at Lyn, redirected the other horse riding bandits toward Lyn's figure. The self-made phalanx charged forward with their vicious spears hoping to succeed.

Yet what they received was nothing more than death incarnate. As Lyn walked slowly down the sandy path with her bare feet, she exploited one of the horse riding bandits fully charged intent to murder by slicing a pebble on the ground and swiping it toward their left eye like a slingshot. The pebble entered the bandit's eye socket, pouring blood and screams out of him like a lonely child.

Lyn clashed blades with the other two spear wielders at once, dragging them both down from their horses. She injected Ardine's blade into the bandit's neck and swiping the other's head off, decapitating him swiftly. As she continued to push the infected wielders away, one of the bandits released the chains on one of them, allowing it to charge toward Lyn and her blood-splattered body.

Curving her neck to the side, Lyn dashed forward to perform a swift spin before the infected had a chance to bite her. The infected parasite's neck detached itself and bounced on the sounds before its cries signaled its death.

"My, she's quite skilled with the blade," Ardine chuckled. "Could even give our wanderer friend a run for his money."

"She's..." Dorothy's dumbfounded sight of Lyn's abilities rendered her unable to speak.

The bandit leader, desperate to see Lyn dead, rushed toward the last two infected bandit holders and forcefully pulled them back to release their leashes. As the two infected charged at Lyn, he pushed the other bandits toward her. The four assailants nearly trampled Dorothy and Ardine as they headed toward Lyn.

Lyn clashed blades with the leeching parasite jabbing toward her neck. She slid the curved blade to the side to knock the infected away from her before delivering a powerful kick to the gut of a charging bandit. Flipping back toward the infected with grace, she delivered a side-swiping slice toward its nape, wounding it dramatically. She then pushed the infected toward one of the charging bandits, letting it spill its acidic saliva on his face.

The bandit screamed in agonizing terror as he collapsed on the ground, convulsing and tearing the shawl-mixed skin off of his body. Lyn pierced her blade through the infected's root, silencing it immediately. She approached the final infected and witnessed it lunging toward her to shove her down. As it viciously attempted to bite Lyn's face, Lyn kicked it off and plunged her blade toward the infected's steel-link leash to pin it down on the sand. As much as it tried to engage Lyn, the leash prevented it from moving any further than a short fixed distance.

"Die!" The final bandit rushed toward Lyn with a loaded flintlock rifle. After firing the only bullet he had, his breath was taken amok Lyn's reaction time to dodging it with a speedy jolt of her head tilting to the side. He dropped the rifle and froze in place, rooted in time by the fear of the warrior.

Lyn delivered a kick to the bandit's knee, sending him to the ground. She glared at the bandit leader with an even bigger drive to murder while her eyes dilated. While her eyes locked upon him, she swiftly snapped the bandit's neck and left his corpse for the burrowed ants underneath the sands.

As she approached the bandit leader with a blank stare, the leader cowered on the ground, fearful for his life. "That's..." He whimpered, afraid of Lyn's thousand-eyed and immortal presence. "L-LORD KAIDEN! LORD KAIDEN!" He cried, ejecting himself from the scene and stumbling through his first footsteps in escape.

Lyn inhaled a deep breath before lifting the neck snapped bandit's flintlock rifle, loading it with one of the pelts of ammunition in the bandit's pocket pouch. With a single hand, Lyn pointed the rifle toward the bandit leader and fired, accurately striking the cowering traitor through their heel. The leader collapsed to the sand as blood spewed out of his heel. He crawled toward the sand hill, but was unsuccessful in his attempt, as Lyn managed to catch up with him in less than five seconds.

Instead of executing him on the spot, Lyn dragged the back of his leather collar and pulled him toward Dorothy, Ardine, and the infected chained to the sand. After hauling him toward the end of the infected, she tortured him mentally by letting the creature lunge toward him, but not enough for a deadly execution.

Dorothy and Ardine watched as Lyn pin the bandit leader to the ground by sitting on top of him, bare and naked. Holding the butt of the flintlock rifle against his face, she slammed it down against his nose, breaking it into tiny shards of bone.

"Where is my BLADE?" Lyn shouted, clenching her teeth in spite.

"B-Blade... I don't know-" The bandit leader uttered.

Lyn slammed the butt of the rifle against the leader's jaw and teeth, shattering pieces of them down his throat, to which he swallowed. "Where is my BLADE!?" She repeated, seeking no mercy.

"I... don't..."

Lyn slammed the rifle against his nose again three times, disfiguring what human features were left in his face. She tossed the rifle against the sand and reached for the bandit's tongue with her slender hands, digging through his mouth to locate it. She yanked her arm back, pulling the bandit leader's tongue out and giving it to the infected for food.

"WHERE IS LORDRAN!?" Lyn's ear-shattering yells stunned even Dorothy and Ardine, who watched with bindings behind their wrists.

The bandit leader could not speak without his tongue, and instead, sobbed to beg for his life. But Lyn could make out slightly what he was attempting to say. "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know! Please, I don't know! I don't... know..." She made out.

Lyn, whose nature showed no empathy, released the blade from the infected's leash, allowing it to lunge toward the bandit leader to violently dismantle and devour what remained of his face. The infected pierced the leader's face with its suction-cup parasite and dug its claws through the leader's chest to feed off of it.

But before it could, Lyn sliced the parasite in half, effectively killing the infected. She wrapped her legs around the bandit leader again and grabbed the rifle's butt from the sand, smashing the head in until there was nothing but mush.

Soiled blood mixed from all sources of infected and human spilled across her naked body. It covered her hands, breasts, and stained her elongated black ponytail. She leaned back against the bandit leader's hips and exhaled a deep frosty breath of denied anguish. Cocking her head toward Dorothy and Ardine like a wooden nutcracker doll forcing itself to turn under a poltergeist's influence, she stared at them blankly with droopy eyelids and the intent to murder them as well.

"Perhaps... that was a little too far," Ardine voiced out. "Impressive, but violent."

"Those were our friends," Dorothy's voice went from amazement to pure fear. "And..."

"Now, now, Lyn had no choice but to make the right decision," Ardine replied to comfort his ally. "Hence the word, 'were', D. We would have been food for the rotten if she hadn't stepped in."

"Is she... on our side?" Dorothy asked.

"You act as if we hadn't bound her with the same thing those fiends did."

Lyn stood up from the leader's deceased corpse and walked toward the bound pirates. She glared at both of them with Ardine's curved sword in hand before uttering a single word.

"Pirates." She said.

Ardine chuckled. "Now, now, you should know that pirates never reveal their identity. I hope you can forgive us for lying to you, Lyn. It was our intention to keep you safe from-"

"Lord Kaiden," Lyn interrupted, standing directly beneath them until her bare vagina was visible to both of their eyes. She identified him as a potential candidate for being a Lord of SIGMA. "Take me to him."

Dorothy eyed Ardine with malicious fear. "We... we can't..." She muttered.

"Well, if she wishes to meet Mr. Imperial Majesty, then we're going to have to play along," Ardine voiced out with his suave voice. "I'd prefer not to get my eyes gouged out nor my nose caved in, would you?"

Dorothy ignored his jokes and stared back at Lyn. "Okay. But it will take some time. He's... not exactly the nicest person with new visitors..."

"Where is my Blade? Pirates?" She mocked Dorothy and Ardine's lies, refusing to release their bindings.

Ardine sighed. "If we even had a trace of a sword or a person like that, it doesn't help to be as vague as humanly possible, does it?" He asked. "You're going to be have to be more specific."

"A flying blade," Lyn specified. "Where is it?"

"Now you're just being ridiculous..." Ardine replied.

Lyn bent down toward one of the bandits that were swiftly dispatched without overcomplicating their body or facial features. She stripped and snagged the coat and leather pants from the bandit and approached the two pirates. In half a second, the blood stains from Lyn's body were wiped away from her evolution technique, and she adorned herself with the bandit's outfit.

"What... was..." Dorothy voiced out.

"Some things are better off dreamt of rather than explained," Ardine said, shrugging his shoulders. "All I can say is that she's definitely a symbol of something I'd rather not dive too deep into. Yet, at least."

Lyn used Ardine's curved sword and sliced the bindings off of the pirates' wrists before departing off toward the sand hill without a second thought. The winds and the smoldering heat did nothing to her system, nor prevent her from finding her goal. Dorothy and Ardine stood up from the sands and whisked away the pebbles from their outfits.

"That's my-" Ardine shouted, before holding back the sight of Lyn departing. He crossed his arms together and swept his thin beard with his fingers. "Actually, I daresay, it looks quite rather fascinating when she holds it."

Dorothy rolled her eyes. "You're a joke, Buchasa," she said before rushing toward their horse.

"Ouch, Viatal." Ardine shrugged, heading to the horse before her.