Running out of water again would do him more harm than good. It was arguably more important than food in this situation.
Kael looked towards the mountains once more. There wasn't much longer to go before he arrived at the base of the range.
But then what?
"I'm not guaranteed to find any water there either. But, if I remember correctly from my geography class, mountains tend to have water sources. I can estimate fifty to seventy miles of walking, and I have two waterskinsbarely enough for two days."
He reached into his bag and took out the waterskins, shaking the pair, "One is already half empty." Sigh, "Gotta make it count."
It was daytime, so without wasting any more precious time, he made his way towards his goal for the nth time.
With each passing moment, the mountains grew nearer. Now that he was closer, he could see the charred mountainside.
"Wow, this makes me even more curious. What kind of weapon could cause this much damage to the landscape?"
Of course, as usual, the desert's relentless heat and the physical exertion took their toll. After a few days, the waterskin ran dry, and the familiar pangs of thirst returned.
Despite this setback, the mountains were now within reach, their towering forms barely a day's walk away.
But, on that same day, his last waterskin ran dry, "Great, just great. Oh well, it's not the worst thing to happen to me, let's go."
And so Kael pressed on.
The stars look especially beautiful tonight. Strange, how even in hell, beauty found a way to linger still.
...
Kael stood at the crest of a dune. After running out of water, walking in the heat only became more unbearable, so he found himself taking more breaks, which is what he was doing now.
Of course, now that he was clothed, things were much easier for him now, the heat wasn't as unbearable.
The sun had just begun its Ascent, casting long shadows across the sands.
Suddenly, a cacophony of sounds shattered the desert's silence.
"Hmm, what is it now?" The last thing Kael wanted was to be dragged into another landscape-defining and world-ending battle.
And so, he got up to identify the cause of the commotion in this otherwise silent desert area. To delight, he saw something he thought he would never see again.
"Oh, that's a relief, I've finally run into people after weeks of loneliness in the desert. maybe years if I include the time I was trapped."
That's right, he had found a group of bipedal lifeforms. He had found fellow humans. Below, a group of five individuals was standing face to face with a horned, horse-like beast.
His first thought at the sight of people in armour and full-body suits and armour was,
"What the... are they going to fight that abomination? How does one even fight such a thing?"
So he didn't move. "Let's wait and watch how this goes. Worst case scenario, the first people I encounter die to a beast, and I am left alone once again. That is, if that thing doesn't come for me after finishing those five off."
The people were all equipped with some form of weapon or the other.
The creature roared and charged, its massive hooves pounding the earth. Kael expected to see a one-sided slaughter show.
The crunch, blood, and gore he expected never came. But the group met its assault with uncanny fluidity.
A burly man in heavy gear put himself between the beast and his four companions, lunging a metallic shield in front of him and bracing for impact.
At the same time, it seemed like he was making callouts to his teammates, who moved into different positions in response.
BOOM!
The man and the beast collided
"Ungh!" The burly man held his ground and comfortably absorbed the impact with his shield.
"What? How?" He could not understand what he had just seen. He could definitely tell the beast was no pushover.
Its size and muscles told him that. A single stomp of those hooves was making cracks in the solid, hard ground, and a human had just easily blocked one of that thing's attacks head-on.
But it seemed Kael was in for a much bigger surprise. A redhead lady made her move as soon as the beast recoiled from clashing with the shield.
She was dressed in a black full-body suit that covered her frame from her neck downwards, combining with footwear of the same color to create a seamless, complete outfit.
What surprised Kael was her speed!
Kael blinked, and she was gone.
An afterimage hung in the air where she'd been.
She reappeared in front of the beast, daggers flashing in her hands.
"Hukh!"
Clink! Clink!
"What the..?"
She carved a clean slash across the beast's jaw, in a beautiful arc, taking a chunk of flesh with her as she vanished again.
"Roarrrrr!!!" The beast paced back, wary of its prey turned predators. The redhead was fast, but it seemed her attacks were too weak to deal any fatal damage.
And so, before the beast could create any real distance between them, a young man holding the sword circled it, raising his sword, ready to strike it down.
Another unexpected thing happened: the young man's sword became engulfed with roaring flames, from the hilt up.
When the attack landed, the beast screeched in agony, clearly fatally wounded.
"What am I watching?"
Kael watched in disbelief as the combatants moved with superhuman speed, their strikes precise and devastating.
The fight went on. And the surprises never stopped.
His jaw hung lower and lower, until it was literally on the floor, well, on the dune. He could not believe his eyes. Each of the five fighters moved with supernatural agility and strength.
Aside from the redhead, the burly shield-bearer, and the swordsman, there was a woman wielding a spear and a man in his thirties providing ranged support with a bow.
His arrows rang true, every single one of them hitting its mark. The team worked like a well-oiled machine. And soon, the inevitable happened.
The beast roared in defiance, but the group's coordinated efforts soon brought it to its knees.
The swordsman landed one last attack, driving his sword into its side, and it went silent, dropping down, dead.
"Well, damn! What is this? Am I even on earth anymore?" It was a valid question. No one on The Earth he remembered could move or fight like that. Not even the most famous athletes were so quick and strong.
Not to mention the flames, and he had seen the redhead floating as well! Clearly defying gravity!
His head was spinning!
He couldn't help but wonder if he was still on Earth or if he had been transported to an entirely different realm.
He took a breath. "Now, how do I approach this?"
Kael was not sure how the group would react to his appearance, but he decided to be positive about it.
"Meh, what's the worst that could happen? I mean, anything beats travelling alone in this hellhole, and I need answers. Let's go say hello."
As the dust settled, Kael approached, his hands raised in a gesture of peace. The team of five turned at once. Weapons snapping into defensive positions.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's calm down," Kael called out, his voice hoarse from dehydration.
"An actual person...alone, in the badlands?" The redhead asked, eyes narrowed.
The tension eased slightly, and the big guy, who from what Kael had just seen would be described as a tank, stepped forward. "Kid, who are you, and what the hell are you doing trekking the outskirts alone?"
To Kael, it looked like the burly man was the leader of the group, though he could be wrong.
Kael hesitated, then replied, "I'm... not sure. I woke up in the desert with no memory of how I got there. I've been heading towards the mountains, hoping to run into people, which I just did."
The group exchanged glances, their expressions a mix of suspicion and clear skepticism. They looked towards the tank, silently, as if waiting for him to say something.
This, of course, made Kael a bit nervous. 'Did I make a mistake assuming these are good guys? Oh, I sure hope not.'
"Chill out, Draven. If he were a walker, the scanners would have picked it up as soon as he got up close." The redhead gave her input.
Kael did not know what a walker was, but from the sound of it, it was not a good thing.
"He's right, he is probably just another survivor with nowhere to go, the poor kid looks like a corpse, save the interrogation for later, or he might die on us." The swordsman shared his thoughts.
The leader, Draven, nodded slowly and approached Kael, giving him a light pat on the shoulder.
"You're fortunate to have survived this long. The desert is unforgiving, especially for regulars."
"Regulars?"
"He is a regular? Are you sure about that, Draven?" The range fighter asked Draven, who slowly nodded his head.
"Yes, I ran a check on him when I touched him just now. He has not awakened a dream core. It's quite a pity."
Adrien sensed the change in the air immediately. They all gave him pitying looks, as if lacking what they just called a dream core was the end of the rope for him.
Well, the only one among the five who didn't have a look of pity on her face was the lady holding a spear. But her expression made Kael even more confused.
Her face was filled with nothing but unfiltered disgust, contempt, and distaste.
"What's her problem?" Kael asked, visibly irritated. "And what is a regular, and what is the problem with being one, surely nothing world-ending?"
The leader extended a hand. "You are quite uninformed, it seems. Well,l no matter, we'll explain while we walk back to the city, it's a long walk. You can come with us, we need to make it back before sunset."
"I would appreciate that."
The swordsman led the way, and they began walking back towards the mountains, which at this distance looked much bigger to Kael.
The Smallest was roughly four hundred metres high, and the highest mountain was well over three kilometres by his estimation.
"So, what is this city like? Is this still Earth? Is it so different? What were those abilities you guys were using? I have never seen anything like that?"
They all looked back at Kael, very surprised at his questions.
"What, where were you living under a rock or something, and I don't mean to be rude, but what are you wearing? And yes, this is Earth." The redhead asked the question on everyone's minds.
"Oh, this, I made it from the skin of an abomination. Those things almost killed me."
"What, did you kill it yourself?" They all turned to look at Kael, clearly curious.
"No, it was fighting a huge sandworm, and they killed each other off."
"Damn, you survived that, how close were you?"
"Close enough to see."
"Are you sure he is just a regular Draven? We would not survive an encounter with beasts like that, and he somehow did. Surely there's much more to him than meets the eye." The swordsman spoke out.
"Yeah, I'm sure, kid must be very lucky or something to survive a battle between titans. But if he IS more than just a regular, only time will tell."