Winds howled and whistled against loose sand and between scattered pillars of sand. The sun was starting to set, casting eerie light against the desert scape.
In one direction, a sea of sand, painted red by the setting sun, spread out as far as the eye could see. In the other direction, mountains rose from the ground into the sky, cutting off the desert from the rest of the world.
In between the contrasting landscapes were arches, boulders and free-formed rocks made of wind worn stone that varied in placement and size.
Two figures walked at even paces, hiding in the shadows cast by the mountains not far from where they were.
"We've been at this five days, Reed." the man in the back complained.
Reed sighed and looked over his shoulder, "I know that, but with all the earthquakes lately we need to map the area. I seem to be the only one concerned about it…"
His friend snorted, "It's Damcyan, what did you expect? If it doesn't have to do with music, poetry or flowers, no one cares."
Reed frowned and paused to squint at some ledges above them. He commented distractedly, "Don't you think that's just a little racist?"
"It's not racist if I live there," the other man replied, shrugging.
They continued along, picking their way carefully over the more uneven terrain as sand gave way to rocks.
"So far everything looks about the same, but up ahead there appears to be a shift in the mountain range." Reed said, pointing.
His assistant made a face, "How in the world can you tell? It's not like we have great topographical maps or anything…"
"I know, because I made the map," he said, grinning. "I brought it with me from Kaipo."
"At least you know what the hell you're doing," the other man grumbled. "Still, I think I must have done something to tick off Harley since I got stuck out here with you."
Reed rolled his eyes, "But we're having so much fun…"
"Or maybe Harley just thinks these earthquakes are serious," the other man continued, ignoring the previous comment.
Reed started walking again after checking his map once more. "From what I've heard," he said, running his hand along a series of rock faces, "Harley sounds like a smart woman."
"Not smart enough to move somewhere else," the assistant complained.
Reed frowned at him, "A lot of that going around."
The sun continued to set, plunging the area into further darkness. It crawled over rocks and into crevices first, but was almost done tainting the sands further away when a series of caves came into view.
"Ah! I knew it! Look here!" Reed exclaimed, "Caves!"
His partner gave him a look, "Do caves warrant that sort of reaction?"
Reed ignored him, "These shouldn't be here. The shifts in the tectonic plates must have opened them up."
He climbed up a set of uneven stairs to peer inside one of the large caverns. "To think, no one would have known these existed without those quakes."
He squinted into the darkness before lighting a torch and stepping inside. The cave was massive, spanning a network of honeycomb like structures. Only a handful of areas were visible, but it appeared to go on forever from his vantage point.
Taking a few steps more, he was halted by the other man hissing a warning from the entrance. "Hey! Are you mad? We have no idea what's inside of there!"
Reed rolled his eyes, "Like what, fiends? I'm not worried."
"You'd think after all that trouble you got into in Kaipo you would be," the man retorted, stepping cautiously after him.
Reed glared at him, "Where did you hear about that?"
"I wanted to know who I was traveling with. I asked around. You nearly died with that whole second moon thing, right?"
"Yes, so?"
"So, you'd think you'd be more careful. There could be anything in here. Especially since these are new caves." he explained, looking around into the shadows.
Reed kept walking, "You don't have to come."
With a sigh, the other man followed, though he muttered under his breath the whole time.
The caves continued for a little with the wider network of chambers, but soon most of the sections were blocked off by debris or solid walls.
It left but one path, and with only a brief hesitation, Reed continued into the long, dark corridor.
"This is such a bad idea," his assistant said, voice loud in the silence.
Reed rolled his eyes again, but didn't feel up to commenting back. He had to admit that something in the air felt off. It wasn't like he didn't know what shifts in temperature felt like, but this was more ethereal, more like a spell gone awry.
Just another thing he knew the feeling of.
The hallway of stone continued, and at the end, something strange caught his eye.
"What is…that?" he whispered, squinting at it.
Instead of a wall of rock, it was metallic and solid, patterned with texture and eerily out of place in the scenery around them.
Carefully he brushed aside some of the dust coating the metal and he spotted some symbols written on it. Most were hidden by more rocks encroaching on the discovery, but some of them were readily visible.
Swallowing, he backed up a few paces, "We should leave,"
"What happened to that adventurous attitude of yours?" the other man asked.
Reed glanced at him, "Even I'm not stupid enough to tamper with something Lunarian."
They both looked back to the metal piece.
"Let's get back. I think we've just found something worth reporting."
Hey everyone! Look whose back? Well, actually, not...quite.
I'm actually really mean to upload this, because really it's just like a teaser of a story I'm heaving a hard time writing. I'm not sure when I'll post an actual chapter; I'm inspired to write it, I just feel like everything I write isn't good enough...
But honestly, there's a few things that I feel like I owe all my loyal readers and followers...including a certain pairing...hehe
Even though I'm not sure when an upload is coming, here's a little teaser of the story, and I'll post some other information for it:
I recommend reading Lost and Found and My Brother's Keeper before this, as otherwise you will have no idea what's going on, since it's the next fic in that 'verse.
Cover Image is in the works. If Kieran would stop by so obnoxious a subject, the image would be done already...
This story, like all of mine, will be a little different. This one will have a sci-fi feel to it (Hence the tagging of categories.) If I had another option to tag, I would have put romance because there's a lot of that in this one too. (So stop complaining...;) )
The story will feature four different POV (It's to push myself...*sigh*)
As with all my chaptered stories, this one will have a slow start, but it's going to be long, too. Possibly even longer then Lost and Found.
For now, that's all you get. I'll be working on it so we'll just have to see where it takes us...
As always, thank you to my readers and followers. I'm going to finish this because I feel like I owe it to you.
~Moonclaw~