Warriors: The New Era.
Chapter Twenty Four: The Wasteland.
In this chapter, Poppyfrost learns where she exactly is. And how to survive.
In other words, prepare for mindfuckery like you wouldn't believe.
Poppyfrost groaned in pain.
She had been walking for hours. The sun was high above her head, and she had been trudging over the rocky clay desert for too long. She stopped sweating two hours ago, she had no fluids left in her. Poppyforst was tired, tried, and feeling terrible.
She clutched her burned hand, tears forming as she walked on.
The Moonstone was useless. It didn't respond to her at all. No matter how long she stared at it, coaxed it, or threatened it, the stupid stone stayed absent with its power. The thing refused to cooperate.
Poppyfrost felt her legs give way, and her face collided hard against the rocky sand, scraping her cheek. She sighed in pain, trying to get back up, as her fear of not being able to took hold of her.
As she stumbled, she accidentally pushed off the ground with her burned hand, causing her to squeal and fall back down on her shoulder.
Poppyfrost hissed, as she sat up, trying to keep moving.
She didn't know where she was going, but when she made way for the rock formations in the distance of her starting point, she expected to be able to see civilization from at least the top.
She was disappointed when she got there. So she took a direction and went it.
Poppyfrost coughed sand out of her mouth, and started trudging away, her shadow being her only companion.
It was sunset, and her companion rose across the dunes to meet her height.
The sun was behind her now, and its heat bored down her neck and back painfully.
She had been walking for so long, she at first had removed her top clothes, in an effort to adapt to the heat, but quickly put them back on to avoid the burning she got not two minutes later.
Poppyfrost's tongue was dry, and she had nothing quench her thirst.
She widened her eyes at a cluster of dead trees in the rocky terrain, almost going into a sprint to get to the shade.
When Poppyfrost made it, she collapsed into the shade, leaning against the tree, letting the shadows overwhelm her.
She gasped for air, as she squinted up at the now orange sky.
"...What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow out of this stony rubbish?..."
Poppyfrost screamed as she felt something crawl over her leg, and saw a giant scorpion resting on her calf.
When the creature penetrated her with it's tail, she writes in pain, slapping the giant arachnid into the sun to dry up.
Then she felt the same arachnids crawling over he shoulder and hair. She never moved so fast in her life, as she bolted back into the sun's warm embrace.
Poppyfrost looked back at the tree, noticing the scorpions littered the trunk, sending a clear message.
They owned the shade.
She mumbled that they could keep the shade, and moved on.
If the daylight was terrible, the night was downright miserable.
The heat was gone, but instead a cold windy surrounding enveloped Poppyfrost, causing her to shiver and rub her arms for warmth.
The wind that was absent during the hot daylight, showed up late to its job, blowing the poor young woman so much cold wind, that she could hardly take it.
Poppyfrost hated this place.
She looked up at the sky, trying to pass the time looking at the constellations, spotting Orion and The Big Dipper. But everything else were just faint lights in the sky.
She fell to her knees, letting the ground encase her as she shriveled into a ball, trying to stay warm.
Poppyfrost turned onto her back, staring up at the sky, becoming hypnotized by the many stars in the sky.
It was the best view she had seen in forever.
That made her smile, as she closed her eyes, letting sleep take her.
She dreamt of water.
Not saltwater, like an ocean, but fresh water. A river, lakes, creeks, a faucet would do.
But none in sight.
It was still morning, but it had been daylight for four hours. So Poppyfrost was still trying to keep her energy up.
She passed another rocky hill, moving past dead bushes and small cactus. Poppyfrost at first started to get excited about Catcus, meaning water was close by. But then she remembered they could for for years without water, so they could just replenish during the rain season.
She hoped now was that season.
When Poppyfrost climbed over the rocky hill, she saw something that made her gasp in joy.
A well.
She started to move faster towards it, and before you knew it, she was looking down a deep well.
Her first impulse was to jump in, and have the water catch her, but if it dried up, she wouldn't be able to get out.
So she pulled the rope out of the well, her tongue dreaming of the replenishment it was about to receive.
Then the dry bucket came up.
Poppyfrost looked at in and started to cry, before furiously slamming the bucket on the rocky ground, slamming it in her swollen and worn boots.
The Queen of Beggars growled before realizing something that made her feel better.
This well at one point meant to give out water to those nearby.
Which meant someone at some point had to have been nearby.
She was getting closer to civilization.
With a now newfound determination, she set out back into the wasteland.
It was midday.
She was miserable, rambling to herself on all the foods she'd like at the moment.
She could feel the sun baking her brain like a potato. She was slowly loosing her mind, with voices and whispers filling her ears. Some of the voices were hers.
Most weren't.
Poppyfrost jumped at the sudden and suprise sound of thunder. Her looked back up at the dunes to see the sky erupt suddenly into a storm.
She noticed a giant post sticking out over the clay and rocky hill, with a giant black flag above it.
She started to run closer to the flag, closer to the rain, and when she began to see the flag coming towards her, she stopped in awe.
Over the hill, a GIANT Viking Ship flew over it, with an ocean of water beneath it, mo ing across the sand with a mind of it's own. Where the ship went the water followed.
Poppyfrost stood in awe as the viking ship went past her, and when the sound of thunder caught her attention, she looked back at the rocky dunes to see her doom, slowly edging forward.
A giant tsunami wave was coming at her.
Panicking, Poppyfrost looked around for cover, and when not finding it, began to bawl her eyes out with dry tears.
The wave was yards away.
With no other option, Poppyfrost gave way into the ground, whimpering and muttering as she prepared for the wave to crash down on her.
"...Son of man, You cannot say, or guess, for you know only a heap of broken images, where the sun beats, and the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief..."
When she opened her eyes again, the waves were gone, with their being no evidence they were ever there.
Laying down on her back, she let out an uncontrollable laugh.
She was going insane.
Poppyfrost found the civilization that used the well.
Or what was left of it.
A small abandoned community of long since burned down teepees and dreamcatcher, with no sign if recent activity. The shade was all gone, and what little remained was claimed by the scorpions.
Wisely, she moved on, broken hearted and miserable.
She had been padding until sundown when she found it...
A giant rock shaped like a gun, sticking out from the ground, creating a roof above the sand, with no Scorpions in sight.
She stumbled closer to the giant rock.
"...And the dry stone no sound of water. Only There is shadow under this red rock, (Come in under the shadow of this red rock)..."
Poppyfrost laid under the rock, dozing into a dreamless sleep.
Despite the cold, it was a good sleep for her.
"Wake up Pumpkin."
Poppyfrost fluttered her eyes open, and slowly reached for her gun.
"Wake up Pumpkin. You aren't dying 'ere," Scourge held his hand out to lift her up "I ain't the one who killed ya. Now on your feet!"
Poppyfrost, with her one good arm, took the hand and pulled herself up, and leaned against the rock, rubbing her eyes.
"How did you get here?" She asked aloud to Scourge.
He was never there, as Poppyfrost looked around wildly for the man.
"...She turns and looks a moment in the glass, Hardly aware of her departed lover; Her brain allows one half-formed thought to pass: 'Well now that's done: and I'm glad it's over.'..."
But it wasn't over.
Not yet.
She broke into another fit of giggles.
Poppyfrost continued on, bow walking because she had nothing to do. She walked because at this point, it was second nature.
She growled and snarled, kicking the dirt when she could, but her swollen and blistered feet were the only ones that suffered.
There was nothing.
Nothing.
This was hell, where she would walk alone, with mo help, forever for all eternity.
Hopeless.
Merciless.
"...And I will show you something different, from either your shadow at morning striding behind you, Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you..."
Poppyfrost couldn't take anymore. She couldn't. One more step, and she would die. She fell to the ground, rolling down the rocky hill painfully, but she had given up. There was no one coming to save her.
When she reached the bottom, she was sitting against the hill, looking out into the wasteland.
"...I will show you fear in a handful of dust..."
The Wasteland.
Before she collapsed, she could have sworn she heard the sound of hoofs getting closer and closer.
Perhaps it was the angel of death, riding on a black mount, with red eyes, coming to finally collect her soul.
Maybe it was her savior, in his white stallion, coming to bring her up to the kingdom of heaven.
It probably wasn't even real.
At this point, she didn't know what was.
Well, hope you enjoyed that one way trip down the insane asylum. It was messed up, even for me.
Poor Poppyfrost, I clearly cannot give her a break now can I? First she becomes a rape victim to The Most Evilest man I could ever have written, then gets pregnant soon afterwards, becomes their to a throne of thieves and cutthroats, then is sent to one of the most vicious and unforgiving hells on earth.
But hey, I'll let ya in on a little secret. I'm about to give her a break.
Adios.