The heat was unbearable. The hot rays of the sun were beating down on his exposed skin. Where the skin was covered, the clothes were soaked in warm sweat and stuck to his skin. Every time his hands involuntarily brushed past some of his metal amour, he immediately jerked, as the metal was heated up by the sun and burned his skin.

The worst was the food and the lack of water.

He had already known that he couldn't eat anymore than strictly necessary and had prepared mentally for that. Which he hadn't thought of was the sand. The sand had seemed to find its way into everything and anything. It had fitted itself into his shoes, made its way into his clothes, eyes and hair, it clung to his arms and neck and, worst of all, had nestled itself into the very few eatable things he had left.

But eatable they were and remained. Although it was not as tasty and fresh as he was used to, they were the greatest meals someone could wish for in the desert.

If only he had water to lessen his thirst with. He was as sparingly as possible with the valuable liquid and collected the dewdrops that gathered onto the metal plates of his amour at sunrise, but there was never enough and it was running out quickly.

He didn't have enough to make his way back to the last water preservation he remembered and therefore he could only travel forward, in hope of finding a place to eat and drink soon.

Sometimes, especially when he couldn't see anything, in the heat of a desert storm, when the sand seemed to hit him like a rain of well aimed, poisoned arrows, fear would creep up his mind. It'd nestle itself into his thoughts and no matter in which small corner of his mind he'd push it into, the ideas would still come.

The possibility of never getting out of the desert, dead or alive, and that he had just been walking in circles and circles the moment he had lost sight of the last oasis, were the worst. Then soon there'd be nothing left of him, except for a few bones, bleached by the sun, along with a few scraps of clothing and metal, which would burn the skin of whoever touched it like the blue flames he was famous for, if the sand hadn't buried him before that.

It was true. Ike, the legendary hero of blue flames, was afraid to die.

It was because of that fear that he reached to his water bottle. It was due to that fear that he almost trembled in excitement when he felt the first few drops on his tongue, trying to lessen his thirst. It was also because of that fear that he felt his heart plummet to the ground and even deeper down when he discovered that those few drops were the last few drops of water that he had on him in this god forsaken place.

Yet the hero still remained calm, or tried to, at least. He had known this day would come and now that the day had actually arrived, all he could do was carry on.

But even a hero has its limits and by night, Ike was focusing his mind on one single task, finding liquid. Not that lowering his standards from water to liquid had helped him thus far. He had to drink. It was all his mind was focusing on. Even if he knew it could only enlarge his thirst, he did it. Since there was no way he could stop thinking about crystal pools. An oasis surrounded by palm trees. Waterfalls...

Ike stopped when he felt he was getting light in the head. He probably needed water soon. But it was also getting cold, and from the little he knew, your body works harder when its cold and that you burn less energy when you sleep. He somewhere in the back of his mind recalled a conversation with Nailah about surviving in the desert. She mentioned that your body temperature drops when you sleep. Ike and her had had a who dispute about what would be smarter if you were low on food; travelling by day, since your body might last longer, according to Ike, or covering greater distances at night and reach your goal before you run out of anything, as was Nailah's line of thought.

At that time, neither had given in to the other, but after only one day of being in the desert, Ike had given in and had started traveling at night. But ever since it had hit him that he had to use his food sparingly, he had started to push through as far and as long as possible without consuming anything.

He felt like he had indeed covered more distance than he had if he hadn't switched to this way of traveling. But, no matter what he would've chosen or could've chosen, he was tried right now.

The hero fell asleep as soon as he laid his head in the cooled down, but still warm, sand and his dreams were filled with images of banquets and fresh meat, shared with all of his friends.


When Ike opened his eyes, he immediately had to close them. He had awoken from the most pleasant dream he had had in all of his life. Only to find out that it had been just a dream. It was a most unpleasant discovery, along with the fact that the sun was already at its highest point in the sky and shone directly into his eyes.

He had slept longer than intended and he still felt dead tired. He sat up nonetheless and rose to his feet so quickly, that the dizziness almost made him fall down. He first looked around himself.

He saw the spores of the path he had walked the day before, although it was barely a line of vague dots in the distance. He had been lucky this time. More than often a sandstorm would whip up during his naptime and would erase all of his footsteps. He had been completely clueless at moments like that and had quickly decided to walk in the direction the sun rose, since that was quite the solid reference. It also eased his mind when it tried to tell him he might be walking in circles.

Ike stretched his limbs and checked if Ragnell was still strapped to his back. He had more than once almost lost it in the desert sand after he had put it down for a second, only to find it covered with sand a moment later. It was his only companion after all and Ike would like to keep it. If not for protection, it would be nice to have a solid thing to talk to when he went insane. Ike didn't feel like drawing a face on his hand and talking to his hand, mostly because he didn't bring anything with him to draw a smiley face on his hand with in the first place.

He scanned the horizon and was overjoyed with what he saw. A lone cactus on the horizon, it stood firm and unmoved by the harsh desert. Ike screamed in joy as his mind repeated something Volug had told him when he had asked how they survived in the desert when they did ran out of water.

They drank cactus juice.

Ike ran towards the small green plant, which was about half his height. His mind seemed to have removed all of his tiredness and also seemed to have cancelled out the small warning Volug had added to his comment.

He grabbed his sword and ignored the heat that waved off of the metal and quickly thanked himself for wrapping the handle in leather straps, so that his hands didn't burn when he would wield it, before he cut of the top of the cactus.

He thanked the goddess for the fact that he was wearing gloves, even if his fingers were still cut at some places by the needles. All his mid was focused on was taking a bite and that sucking out as much liquid as possible before he swallowed whatever was left.

It Ike quite a while before he noticed that his hand was staring to hurt. There were indeed quite some mean and even deep cuts in his fingers. He instantly wrapped his cape around his hand, which was not really the best option, but he had no better options to begin with.

He had not really brought any supplies with him. Ike tried to squeeze out some of the cactus juice above his flask, it was only half full by the time Ike gave up. The cactus was only a third of the height it had when Ike spotted it. Ike stopped only because he knew that one day it might safe another guy's life.

Ike started to walk again, feeling refreshed. It took him quite a while before he realised that he was still feeling quite lightheaded. It was in that same state of mind that his memory recalled what Volug had warned him for. Cactus juices can have serious effects on the brain.

Ike shook his head, got dizzy as a result, but continued walking as best as he could. He wouldn't just sit down in despair, he would go down trying to get out of the desert.

And except for a little lightheadedness, Ike felt great.

That was until a sandstorm started raging. At first it was just sand tickling Ike's sunburnt skin. Then it was sand that got into Ike's eyes and mouth when he opened them and soon all he could see, if anything at all, was sand.

Ike knew that it'd be better to sit down and wait until the storm started to calm down, but the discovery of a cactus had encouraged him to such levels, that all he wanted and all he could think about was continuing.

It was in the midst of that sandstorm that Ike encountered his second rare sighting of that day.

At first it seemed like just a small dark spot when Ike would look ahead. At first Ike thought it was another cactus and smiled since he knew that the chances of him surviving in the desert were getting larger. Ike almost screamed in joy once more when he saw that the small spot was actually a blur shaped like a crouching person. Whoever it was must've decided to sit down and wait for the storm to be over, just like Ike had decided not to. He knew that civilisation was getting closer and closer.

But when Ike could actually see what the form was, he didn't know what to think. It soon became apparent to him that the person was actually hunched over another being. Only a few steps closer and Ike noticed that it was some kind of large reptile. The person hunched over the creature was dressed in light clothing so far Ike could see, with as most noticeable feature a light, sand coloured cape slung across one shoulder and fasted on the other, which almost completely covered the underneath clothing.

Ike was delighted when he noticed the clothing, it probably was an experienced desert traveller and he sped up his pace. He was only a few feet away from the person when he held still.

The person was not tending to the creature or trying to bury it with sand or anything like that. The creature was actually staring at him with watery eyes. It was still alive and begging Ike to end its suffering. Ike wanted to grab his sword and threaten the person into killing the creature, but then he realised what the person was doing.

The person would reach out for the reptile and then rip out who pieces of its abdomen and rip off long shreds of scrubby skin, before he would consume the raw meat.

It was quite a disgusting sight, but Ike couldn't move. He watched as the guy ripped out another piece of meat and saw the blood flow out and mix in with the sand. He saw a large pool of dark read in the sand under his feet. The blood had also stained the clothing of the person and his long brown hair. Something, perhaps the small voice in his head, told Ike that he needed to get out of here. He was next.

The hunched person suddenly reached out for the neck or the reptile, which screeched miserably, as if it was fully aware of the fact that his life would be ended in mere seconds. It struggled but the grip onto his neck was too strong. The hands, wrapped in metal like gloves, which looked more like robotic claws, brought the creature closer and closer to the predators face.

Ike still couldn't move, not even when he noticed that the animalistic like person opened his mouth and snapped the poor creatures neck in two.

Ike felt how he let Ragnell drop from his grip but he still didn't move away. He saw how the person was still unsatisfied with the meat and actually started to drink the blood of the reptile.

In all that time, the predator still hadn't noticed Ike's presence. Or that was what Ike thought.

The predator quickly threw away the reptile, having grown bored of its taste. And he looked at Ike, with the calm and yet crazy look in his eyes, where only animals and demons know the secret of.

The first thing Ike thought of when it looked into his eyes, was Soren. The guy had the same small build, the same cold expressions and the same aloof air about him. His hair was long too and his clothes were also more practical than fashionable, and yet carried a strange air about them. They really fitted the person.

The blood stained sand and the blood stained clothing had the exact same colour. The cape was used to hide the body and possible other weapons, while the scarf around the neck was probably used to cover the only one that was really necessary. Around the head were bandages wrapped, which covered one eye.

It told Ike that the predator was not invincible. But that didn't take away the fact that it was still stronger and more animalistic than anything Ike had ever seen. He was sure that even the laguz would not want to face the demon with the metal claws.

The demon slowly rose up. It was not really displaying any hostile or aggressive behaviour right now, but that could change in seconds. It was almost as if he was curious. That was at least what the glimmering red eye told him. But that same eye also seemed cold and filled with dark emotions Ike could not phantom.

Ike's thoughts were racing and were mostly things like how to beat him, how to run from him, how fast he would be, how much stronger than Ike would it be, would it torture him like the creature or would his suffering be unnoticeably quick? But who could know, for all Ike knew the Soren like person would capture him alive and keep him as a pet until it bored him.

But before Ike could settle on any of those thoughts, his body ordered a completely shutdown. And he passed out.