It was a very cool morning, but what was not very cooling was the heavy downpour. Echo looked out the window depressingly, with her balisong flinging around her hand. As she sighed, Omni was by the side, toying with chemistry. As she watched him turn water into cursed flames, she asked,
"Can't you like, lift the rain?"
"...Nah,"
"Why? I just wanna go out there and do something, not to be stuck indoors."
"Like?"
Echo shut her mouth angrily. Looking out again, the rain has not fully subsidised, but the drizzle was better than nothing. Getting up, she took her stuff and left. As she got into town, there was unsettling atmosphere. Omni appeared right beside Echo, asking for her agenda today.
"Seems like there's... something?" Echo answered, puzzled
"Desert?"
"Yes, the desert sands have been stirring lately. Nobody dares to find that answer." One of the townsfolk answered. Omni nodded his head, looking at Echo who was still very confused.
"Here we are, one of the larger deserts in this world," Omni announced as the duo reached the end of a dirt path to see a dry ocean. True enough, there were sand was not just acting like quicksand, but were literally creating sand whirlpools.
"How is there not a sandstorm yet?" Echo mumbled her question that Omni promptly ignored.
"This route is needed for travelling merchants and, well, travellers from other worlds. The city is quite resource hungry, but it is mostly used as a transit." Omni explained, handing a scaly medallion and a shiny platinum bow with odd looking arrows in a quiver.
"You mean... you want me to fight whatever thats here? Echo questioned with a look. Omni stared back. Reluctantly, she took the items and stepped forward.
"Ill be here, if you need any help, well, you know what to do." Omni said, standing behind her.
As Echo raised the Desert Medalion, a wave of fear overcame her. Hands trembling, she gripped the platinum bow tightly. Her muscles were tense and stiff. As a dark blue scaly worm rose from the sand whirlpool, anotger fresh wave of fear came, before sprinting towards the Desert Scourge.
As she ran, the worm roared and chased after Echo. Narrowly avoiding its charge, she shot the jester arrows in quick succession. As it pierced through the long beast, itcried in pain before charging fast than before. Echo's heart skipped a beat after dodging its charge again. Turning around, she the other direction shooting the arrows again. Having discovered a strategy to defeat the Scourge, she continued, until suddenly, the Scourge dove into the sand. Echo looked behind, not knowing what to expect. As the ground below her trembled, sand began to collapse into a newly formed sand pit as the Desert Scourge charged from there. Echo was flung back quite a distance, before getting thrashed by the Scourge again. As it was about to charge at her, someone stood in front of her.
Omni blocked an entire charge from the scourge with an odd sword. However by standing still, the Desert Scourge crushed itself, and all that remains was hollow dry husks on the now still sand.
Echo looked at herself, blood and gore from head to toe. As she laid on the sand, she felt her eyelids, heavy once more...
~
She wakes up startled. What the hell happened? Echo gets off the soft, cloudy skyware bed and finds herself in 4 familiar walls.
"Congrats," Omni said from behind.
"What the hell..."
"You defeated the Desert Scourge, innit an achievement?"
"No! I f-... ok... but death wasn't a pleasant experience."
"Lucky you," Omni replied and handed her a bag. It had a design of the desert worm she fought, but seeing gives her a shiver down the spine. Opening the treasure bag gave several items. Expressing her disgust in the seashells and what not, Echo ignores the rest of the treasure bag and merely replied,"I have no use for these..."
But a thought raced through her mind
"How long was I out for?"
"It's been at least 3 hours,"
Echo slowly nodded, before swinging the door open and jumping off the cloud. Smiling at herself, finally, some freedom.
Upon reaching town, the commotion of stirring sands died out. Instead, it was something entirely different. Echo hid around corners as she eavesdrop on the buzz of news
"Did you hear? The desert seems to have calmed down,"
"Yeah, but what I heard, it was a facade..."
Echo stopped. Was this the truth? Was she led to a trap? Suddenly, feeling ill at ease, she stuck to the darkness in the corners of the street. Everything was fine, but all she could hear was her heartbeat. Anytime something stood out to her, it didn't feel right... the sound had been bugging her... wait, was someone following her all along?
Leaning to the sides of the walls, she subconsciously walked stealthy before finding that there was nothing behind her. Falling backwards, her heart skipped a beat before painfully landing back first.
"Ow..." Echo mumbled, getting up rubbing her back. Looking around, the entrance she fell through seemed to have sealed shut, but there wasn't any controls, leaving her to wonder how it opened. The room was dimly lit, corners were occupied with boxes and crates, some were destroyed, others had rotting contents. Despite the factors, there wasn't a stench. Echo explored further, only to find more crates and boxes.
Before turning around, there was an odd noise. By pushing away the rotting inventory, was a portal.
"Bang
Bang
Bang"
A thumping came from one of the walls. Unsure of everything, Echo tried to quickly go back to the hidden entrance-now-exit l. The thumping continued. It was close, but it definitely wasn't the door. Out of panic, she tripped on one of the boxes' contents, and fell into the portal. Shutting her eyes, Echo didn't not knowing what to anticipate next.
.
.
.
.
.
.
There was something in front of her...
wait, she's on the ground. Echo got up, and looked around. It was a peaceful grassland with forest and a tundra by her sides. Looking at the horizon, it was the same. All the different biomes... a beautiful sight, but Echo was definitely not amazed. Instead, a feeling of exasperation overwhelmed her as she realised what happened.
"Oh fuck..."