Chapter 3: Trapped Between a Rock and a Hard Place
"What where those things?" Lucca asked, tearing a strip of fabric from her orange smock to tie around Magus' injured leg. "Some sort of sand rays. I don't know, it does mean we're trapped." Magus said. Lucca finished tying the bandage around Magus' leg and punched him in the jaw. "Magus, I swear to god, if you ever do anything like you did before you left. I'll take you out and feed you to those things." Lucca hissed. Magus reached into his belt and pulled out a bottle, "Ultra Elixir. I was saving it for emergencies, only take a drop or two, this stuff is potent." Magus said handing the bottle to Lucca, she took his word and put a couple drops on her tongue and swallowed them. Her hand mended immediately, as well as all the bumps and scratches on her. Magus took four drops, as he was worse off. Magus' arm mended and his leg stopped bleeding. "I... I'm sorry Lucca." Magus said flexing his left arm to make sure everything worked fine. "Did... Did you just apologize?" Lucca asked feeling his forehead. Magus smiled slightly, but it was not a devious smile, it was a loving smile. "Wow, you smiled and your face didn't crack." Lucca giggled. Magus rolled his eyes, but the smile didn't disappear from his face.
"Well, this is probably a stupid question, but how will we get food and water?" Lucca asked. They where standing outside now, on the large slab of sandstone, gazing at the nearby oasis. Magus scooped up Lucca in his arms and levitated to the oasis. "Voila." Magus said setting her down. "Well, that's good and all. But we have nothing to carry it in." Lucca said. Magus gave Lucca a confused look and arched his eyebrow out at her, "What?" Lucca asked. "Tell me Lucca. What are pitchers for carrying water made from?" Magus asked. "Glass." Lucca said. "And what is glass made from?" Magus asked. "Sand." Lucca said. "So??" Magus said. "But we don't have any san... oh." Lucca said blushing. "How is it that you can be so smart, but at the same time so stupid?" Magus asked. "There's still the problem of forming it though, we can melt it using my magic, but forming it into shapes will not be easy." Lucca said. "Maybe you could build it one small piece at a time; it would look deformed, but serve its purpose." Magus said. "Wow, you can actually make yourself useful." Lucca said. "You know I could leave you here and go back to the cave." Magus said. "Oh alright." Lucca said. Lucca hopped up in Magus' arms and they floated back to the cave.
They went to bed that night hungry and tired. Lucca slept like a rock, but Magus found it hard to sleep that night, not only because of Lucca's snoring, but because he was worrying how they would ever get out of this place. Magus noticed that Lucca's snoring had stopped, he gazed over at her and she was trembling, Magus concurred, it was freezing, but when you live in a frozen wasteland, you get used to the cold or die. Magus removed his cape and placed it on Lucca's trembling body, Lucca snuggled in it, and in her sleep, her arms latched around Magus' waste. Magus tried to remove her hands, but he just couldn't, finally he just gave up and went to sleep, Lucca nestled her head against his chest.
Lucca was the first to awake the next morning, she looked and saw that not only was she covered up by Magus' cloak, she was holding him in her arms. Lucca blushed a little bit, Magus appeared to be sound asleep, so Lucca decided to creep carefully along the wall of the mountain to reach the oasis, she went in amongst the palm trees, and began to remove her clothing, though she had no soap, she could still take what could be called a bath and remove some of the dried blood from her skin. After Lucca had removed her clothes, she slowly walked in the water, it wasn't too cold, it was really refreshing, she scrubbed the dirt, sweat, and blood from her hair first, then for awhile she mostly just swam around in the warm water and enjoyed it, after Lucca was done, she went and sat on a large rock that was next to the pool, she had the full intention of waiting until she was completely dry. A wolf whistle came from behind her, she turned around expecting to see Magus spying on her, but instead it was a man wearing a large white trench coat, he had reddish purple hair, and obviously armor on under the coat, as his right shoulder was much larger than the left and had metal spikes protruding from it, on his left shoulder was some sort of large metal box, he had a cross shaped scar on his left cheek, and his eyes where a yellow amber. Lucca quickly ran to her clothes and covered herself; she grabbed her gun and pointed it at him. "Who are you?" Lucca asked, pointing the gun at him. The man laughed and said, "Hey, relax honey. I'm not here to hurt you. The name's Drago. I'm a hunter." Drago said, giving a proud smile. Suddenly a large pale muscular arm reached around Drago's neck and pressed the tip of a scythe to it. "What do you want here?" Magus asked. "Whoa, hey don't vampires hate sunlight?" Drago joked; Magus was not in a joking mood. "Hey whoa, I hunt those sand rays. Relax, I didn't know that hottie over there had a husband." Drago said, gazing rather worriedly at the scythe pointed at his trachea. Lucca now blushed redder than she was before, at the thought that Drago thought they where a couple. "Magus, put him down. I'll get dressed and we'll have a talk with him." Lucca said, Magus gave her an "are you stupid?" look, but pulled his scythe away from Drago's neck and flew him over to the cave.
Lucca carefully made her way back to the cave and walked in, "So Drago, why are you out here?" Lucca asked. "I told you, I'm a sand ray hunter. I hunt those subterranean monsters." Drago said. "How, you have no weapons." Magus said. "Like hell I don't." Drago said lifting up the metal box, "This is a multi shot, subterranean missile launcher, with titanium tips and a hair trigger. These suckers can follow a sand ray for hours before the power runs out." Drago said, holding up a missile in his hand. "First of all, I would like to correct you, we are not married, nor are we dating, we are not even friends. I once helped her destroy a creature named Lavos, it is a long story how we got stuck here, but it involves a time machine." Magus said. "That was you guys? Oh man, my dad used to tell me the story of how you people destroyed that overgrown porcupine. That must mean that you're Magus, and you must be Lucca. Oh man, this is awesome." Drago said. "He obviously learned to speak from the same person as you did Lucca." Magus said looking at the violet haired girl in front of him. "Drago, what year is this?" Lucca asked. "3020." Drago replied. "Could you take us to a town?" Lucca asked. "No... I can't. There isn't a town on this continent." Drago replied. "Then why are you here?" Lucca asked. "To hunt. The sand rays only live on this continent. I live here, so I can't help you." Drago said. "Alright. Well, we'll see you Drago." Lucca said. "Yep, see ya later." Drago said and waved goodbye. "An odd man." Magus said rubbing his chin. "I agree... Hey, what was the deal with you cuddled up with me this morning? Magus drew his cape over his face to where you could see nothing below his eyes; this did a fair job of hiding the redness in his cheeks. "I put my cape over you because you where shivering in your sleep, then when I did so you put a death grip around my waist and refused to let go, I just decided to give up and go to sleep after several minutes of trying to pry your hands off." Magus replied. "Oh..." was all Lucca said.
"What where those things?" Lucca asked, tearing a strip of fabric from her orange smock to tie around Magus' injured leg. "Some sort of sand rays. I don't know, it does mean we're trapped." Magus said. Lucca finished tying the bandage around Magus' leg and punched him in the jaw. "Magus, I swear to god, if you ever do anything like you did before you left. I'll take you out and feed you to those things." Lucca hissed. Magus reached into his belt and pulled out a bottle, "Ultra Elixir. I was saving it for emergencies, only take a drop or two, this stuff is potent." Magus said handing the bottle to Lucca, she took his word and put a couple drops on her tongue and swallowed them. Her hand mended immediately, as well as all the bumps and scratches on her. Magus took four drops, as he was worse off. Magus' arm mended and his leg stopped bleeding. "I... I'm sorry Lucca." Magus said flexing his left arm to make sure everything worked fine. "Did... Did you just apologize?" Lucca asked feeling his forehead. Magus smiled slightly, but it was not a devious smile, it was a loving smile. "Wow, you smiled and your face didn't crack." Lucca giggled. Magus rolled his eyes, but the smile didn't disappear from his face.
"Well, this is probably a stupid question, but how will we get food and water?" Lucca asked. They where standing outside now, on the large slab of sandstone, gazing at the nearby oasis. Magus scooped up Lucca in his arms and levitated to the oasis. "Voila." Magus said setting her down. "Well, that's good and all. But we have nothing to carry it in." Lucca said. Magus gave Lucca a confused look and arched his eyebrow out at her, "What?" Lucca asked. "Tell me Lucca. What are pitchers for carrying water made from?" Magus asked. "Glass." Lucca said. "And what is glass made from?" Magus asked. "Sand." Lucca said. "So??" Magus said. "But we don't have any san... oh." Lucca said blushing. "How is it that you can be so smart, but at the same time so stupid?" Magus asked. "There's still the problem of forming it though, we can melt it using my magic, but forming it into shapes will not be easy." Lucca said. "Maybe you could build it one small piece at a time; it would look deformed, but serve its purpose." Magus said. "Wow, you can actually make yourself useful." Lucca said. "You know I could leave you here and go back to the cave." Magus said. "Oh alright." Lucca said. Lucca hopped up in Magus' arms and they floated back to the cave.
They went to bed that night hungry and tired. Lucca slept like a rock, but Magus found it hard to sleep that night, not only because of Lucca's snoring, but because he was worrying how they would ever get out of this place. Magus noticed that Lucca's snoring had stopped, he gazed over at her and she was trembling, Magus concurred, it was freezing, but when you live in a frozen wasteland, you get used to the cold or die. Magus removed his cape and placed it on Lucca's trembling body, Lucca snuggled in it, and in her sleep, her arms latched around Magus' waste. Magus tried to remove her hands, but he just couldn't, finally he just gave up and went to sleep, Lucca nestled her head against his chest.
Lucca was the first to awake the next morning, she looked and saw that not only was she covered up by Magus' cloak, she was holding him in her arms. Lucca blushed a little bit, Magus appeared to be sound asleep, so Lucca decided to creep carefully along the wall of the mountain to reach the oasis, she went in amongst the palm trees, and began to remove her clothing, though she had no soap, she could still take what could be called a bath and remove some of the dried blood from her skin. After Lucca had removed her clothes, she slowly walked in the water, it wasn't too cold, it was really refreshing, she scrubbed the dirt, sweat, and blood from her hair first, then for awhile she mostly just swam around in the warm water and enjoyed it, after Lucca was done, she went and sat on a large rock that was next to the pool, she had the full intention of waiting until she was completely dry. A wolf whistle came from behind her, she turned around expecting to see Magus spying on her, but instead it was a man wearing a large white trench coat, he had reddish purple hair, and obviously armor on under the coat, as his right shoulder was much larger than the left and had metal spikes protruding from it, on his left shoulder was some sort of large metal box, he had a cross shaped scar on his left cheek, and his eyes where a yellow amber. Lucca quickly ran to her clothes and covered herself; she grabbed her gun and pointed it at him. "Who are you?" Lucca asked, pointing the gun at him. The man laughed and said, "Hey, relax honey. I'm not here to hurt you. The name's Drago. I'm a hunter." Drago said, giving a proud smile. Suddenly a large pale muscular arm reached around Drago's neck and pressed the tip of a scythe to it. "What do you want here?" Magus asked. "Whoa, hey don't vampires hate sunlight?" Drago joked; Magus was not in a joking mood. "Hey whoa, I hunt those sand rays. Relax, I didn't know that hottie over there had a husband." Drago said, gazing rather worriedly at the scythe pointed at his trachea. Lucca now blushed redder than she was before, at the thought that Drago thought they where a couple. "Magus, put him down. I'll get dressed and we'll have a talk with him." Lucca said, Magus gave her an "are you stupid?" look, but pulled his scythe away from Drago's neck and flew him over to the cave.
Lucca carefully made her way back to the cave and walked in, "So Drago, why are you out here?" Lucca asked. "I told you, I'm a sand ray hunter. I hunt those subterranean monsters." Drago said. "How, you have no weapons." Magus said. "Like hell I don't." Drago said lifting up the metal box, "This is a multi shot, subterranean missile launcher, with titanium tips and a hair trigger. These suckers can follow a sand ray for hours before the power runs out." Drago said, holding up a missile in his hand. "First of all, I would like to correct you, we are not married, nor are we dating, we are not even friends. I once helped her destroy a creature named Lavos, it is a long story how we got stuck here, but it involves a time machine." Magus said. "That was you guys? Oh man, my dad used to tell me the story of how you people destroyed that overgrown porcupine. That must mean that you're Magus, and you must be Lucca. Oh man, this is awesome." Drago said. "He obviously learned to speak from the same person as you did Lucca." Magus said looking at the violet haired girl in front of him. "Drago, what year is this?" Lucca asked. "3020." Drago replied. "Could you take us to a town?" Lucca asked. "No... I can't. There isn't a town on this continent." Drago replied. "Then why are you here?" Lucca asked. "To hunt. The sand rays only live on this continent. I live here, so I can't help you." Drago said. "Alright. Well, we'll see you Drago." Lucca said. "Yep, see ya later." Drago said and waved goodbye. "An odd man." Magus said rubbing his chin. "I agree... Hey, what was the deal with you cuddled up with me this morning? Magus drew his cape over his face to where you could see nothing below his eyes; this did a fair job of hiding the redness in his cheeks. "I put my cape over you because you where shivering in your sleep, then when I did so you put a death grip around my waist and refused to let go, I just decided to give up and go to sleep after several minutes of trying to pry your hands off." Magus replied. "Oh..." was all Lucca said.