Sand and Fire

Kaos was standing in sand. There was nothing around him, no rocks, no sticks, nothing except a bright red spot miles in the distance. It was all just sand. Looking at his feet, he realized they had begun sinking into the sand.

He wiggled one leg free, but in doing so sunk his other leg much deeper. He dropped to a knee, and attempted to wrench his first leg free as well. Instead, he found himself sunk up to his waist. 

He stopped struggling for a moment to look around again. This time the red spot in the distance had gotten closer.

Although it was far away, Kaos began to smell smoke and instinctively knew that it was some sort of fire.

He scrapped his arms against the sandy surface, trying to find a grip, but only managing to wiggle his way farther into the sand.

He began choking on the sand, and had been fully consumed by the desert. Just when he felt like he couldn't hold his breath any longer, he awoke.

To be frightened by a dream is something that seems foolish to admit, but in this situation, as with many, the fear had been real. Kaos wiped the beads of sweat off his face, and slid out of bed taking a few deep breaths.

It felt better to have some physical distance between him and the bed that had just given him such terrible nightmares.

He put on some comfortable clothes and began walking through the hallways. He didn't have anywhere he was going specifically, but the arena game was tomorrow and he needed to walk off the stress.

There weren't many other students in the hallways and he made it all the way outside without having to talk to anyone. Without realizing it, he had begun walking around outside the arena.

"Sand" he grumbled looking at the arena and remembering his dream. Something about the empty arena intrigued him, so he walked to the entrance.

He thought for a moment that there would be guards of some sort, but then realized that there wouldn't be anything to particularly guard in the arena.

He strolled through the sandy entrance and looked around at the empty stands in the arena. It all felt strange now that it was just him here. He made his way to the middle of the arena when he heard a voice behind him.

"It's weird right?"

He turned to see Sepra walking through the entrance, looking around at the empty stands.

"I didn't really think about how it looks outside of an arena game until now." she continued.

"Yeah," Kaos nodded, "I don't know if it's peaceful or creepy. I guess it might be a bit of both."

"Worried about tomorrow?" she asked, hitting the nail on the head.

"Yep." Kaos reapplied, stoping his observation of the arena and finally directing his gaze at her, "This game is the only one that doesn't have other Dek students, so there's a good chance I won't get any points from the next one.

"Right." she nodded, for a moment she looked like she was going to say something but then stopped herself. She wanted to be able to help him, but she knew there wasn't a way.

"You think that stuff Mallyjax was talking about was legit?" he asked

"I mean I don't know him," she paused and then nodded before continuing, "but it makes a lot of things make sense if it's true. Even some of those fourth years. They don't move like normal people. I'd bet money that they got whatever power he was talking about."

"Do you think it's worth talking to Dren'Dek about it?" he asked

"You know I don't know enough about it to give you a good answer." She paused again and shrugged, "I guess it's worth a shot."

They talked for a while longer and Sepra got Kaos caught up on all the happenings at the Dek class. Some of it elicited pangs of envy from him, but mostly it was just good to get to talk to Sepra again.

After Sepra left for lunch, Kaos wandered around the sand for a little while, still mulling over the stage of his impending victory or loss. This was going to be a team fight, and he needed to support his teammates well.

There was that word again… "Support."

It still left a bad taste in his mouth and he shook his head again to think back to the upcoming arena game. He needed to fight better than he ever had before.

If he made a good impression in the upcoming game, there was a higher chance that Dren'Dek would help him.

Suddenly he noticed a gentle yellow glow around where he was standing. The golden sand had come up to the surface and began writing words.

[NOT LIKE ME]

Kaos remembered his other strange encounters with the arena, and suddenly felt that it wasn't very safe to be in the arena alone. 

"What do you mean 'not like me?'" he whispered, taking a few steps backwards towards the exit.

[SAND BUT NOT SAND]

The ground began to shift slightly, causing him to stumble. He was curious about the messages, but not curious enough to give the arena the benefit of the doubt. He took off running towards the entrance as the sand became more wave-like.

He tumbled to the ground once, but managed to roll back onto is feet and continue his sprint. As his shoes clacked against the hard stone of the entryway, he knew he was safe. He looked back at the arena which had completely returned to its normal flat shape.

"I hope the enemy team is all I have to fight tomorrow." Kaos grumbled at the arena. "I don't know what your deal is, but one of these days I'm gonna figure it out."