This chapter will probably seem pretty random, as I'm using it to set up my OC a little more and the only thing about it related to the game are cockatrices and the outpost along the Nebra in the Dalmasca Estersand. This will get worked into the actual game story line later though.

Again, thank you for reviews, and know that all comments and critiques are most gladly accepted and taken into consideration.

And no, the OC isn't me. More on her later.

Oh, and I own nothing.

The first thing she became aware of upon waking was the blindingly hot light that wouldn't allowher to open her eyes more than a mere fraction. The next was that every inch of her body ached, an ache that stretched down to her very core, and she felt a tremendous weight pressing down upon her, as though a Slaven wilder had decided to use her as a pillow. Finally, she became aware that it was unmercifully hot, and every breath only brought in more burning air and hard, choking particles of …

Sand.

She was lying face down in the sand. For all she had heard about various afterlives, none of them had sand. Deciding that she was in fact alive she lifted her head, blinking rapidly and trying to make shapes out of the white hot light. All around her there was naught but sand. Great shifting dunes rising and falling away, small grains running in rivulets and scattered by the wind. Her vision slowly swam into focus, bringing in distant shapes beyond the sand, what looked like tall rocks and perhaps a plant or two. She wondered at how plants managed to be so green in this burning wasteland.

She slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, gritty sand running down her arms and scratching at her eyes. She moved each finger, arms and legs, each toe, feeling for injury and finding none but the slowly dulling ache and a sickening dizziness. Water. She needed water. The skin at her side was empty, and nothing about her current sandy hell seemed to promise that there would be any water nearby. Unsure about her ability to stand she crawled to the shade of the nearest plant-tree thing, hoping at least that being out of the sun might regain her a little energy and prolong the seemingly inevitable death of being lost in a desert.

For it was becoming more and more clear to her that she was indeed terribly lost. Not only did she have absolutely no idea where she was, she did not even know where she was supposed to be. She could not remember the last place she had been, the last thing she did, nothing that would explain why she had awakened face-down in the desert. She could not remember anything, nothing, not a trace of life or person before awakening just a bare few moments before. Panic slowly started to swell in her chest, smarting in eyes that were too dry for tears. She searched her head vainly, trying to create an image of some other place, of a person, of anything that wasn't the desert or a rock. She could remember things, objects she had held, like books and teacups, and she knew what sand was, and trees and water, and she knew about the history of something called Ivalice. She could picture airships and she knew how they worked, and she knew how to ride a chocobo and how to solve complicated mathematical theorems. But none of this mattered just now, what mattered was who she was and why she was here. And those things completely escaped her. Perhaps, further back in the recesses of her mind, somewhere …

She was snapped out of her revere by a strange chortling sound not far to her right, followed by several answering chortles. There were several strange creatures, cockatrices, her mind whispered, waddling off down the sandy dune she had previously been lying on. She cautiously stood, holding the tree for support, and watched them. If they could survive here, so could she, and perhaps they might be headed to-the beautiful shining river that was plainly only a few yards in front of her now that she looked properly.

Deciding now was not the time to berate herself she half ran half stumbled to the water, sat down in it, filled the skin full, and drank. A wonderful lightness filled her head, and the cool river slipped across her skin like silk, washing away the sand and the pain, making her feel whole again. She looked into the river, noting the terrified blue-violet eyes that stared back and the straggly wet blonde hair that clung to her shoulders; even her reflection did not know who she was.

Once she felt alive again she stood and began following the river downstream, hoping that some small fishing village or other would stationed along the way. She noted the gun in the holster on her side, and dully noted that she knew how to use it. Hopefully she wouldn't have to.

Not far into her journey she came upon a tiny outpost, and cautiously approached the curious stares of several small children who sat on a run-down dock, keeping one eye on her and the other at something across the river she couldn't see. She stopped, ankle-deep in the river and extraordinarily nervous, waiting. After what felt an eternity a small blonde boy slid off of the dock and came towards her, extending his hand.

"I'm Tchigiri, what's your name?"

Oddly enough, she realized she knew the answer to that. Or at least she thought she knew the answer to that.

"Zoe."