Author's note: A quick chapter just to soothe you all over. I promise I'll get to writing chapter 29 soon. Just gotta get some exposition and story notes finished.
Her mind was weak and faded, her arms felt like spaghetti noodles that would snap at the slightest movement. Not to mention the fact that her face was covered in sand. She pushed herself up onto her feet and spit out whatever sand particles that dared touch her tongue.
Gross! Inma thought as she wiped off the remaining sand from herself. She hated being covered in weird substances like that. That was when her mind raced!
"Little Man?" Inma looked down in her satchel to see Jack still sleeping. Thankfully, the cold winds of the desert hadn't got to him while she was asleep. With her hand covering her face to grant her any kind of shade, Inma gathered her things and moved on. If the heat didn't get to her first, then her exhaustion would. She could risk being in her for too much longer for fear of both of them meeting their end. Thankfully, it was still early in the morning so the sun hadn't risen to it's peak point.
Inma had to keep moving. There was no stopping it. She had already made it this far. What would another hundred or so steps be to her? The sun was bright and burning. It was a scorching flame that felt targetted at precisely her. Her bare soles began to burn hotter and hotter to the point where she had to pick out the place to plant her feet. It was just like stepping on hot coals that seared her feet.
Her legs began to feel like fire a few hours in. There appeared to be nothing by sandy land for miles. Just how big was the Desert of Desire? Was it just an endless labryinth of sand that would dehydrate one into delusions or did it actually lead somewhere. Inma reached down into her satchel and pulled out her book. The powerful gusts of wind blew against her and sent sand pebbles towards her way, but she used her sleeve as protection for her eyes.
She looked into her book for any guidance. She focused primarily on the map but struggled to keep it visible due to the gusts of wind battling against her. The desert of desire didn't have any particular notes with it other than to stay hydrated. Inma's eyes did go back to the previous note of "Keep walking and don't look back". That's what she'd do then.
She walked and walked and walked with Jack still sound asleep in the satchel. Inma didn't know what was wrong with him. He'd be up by this time of the day but no matter. If him sleeping in the satchel was the way to keep him safe, then that was a risk she was willing to take. There was no way Inma would risk Jack walking out here with her. Anyone of these winds would take Jack away into somewhere unknown or even worse, bury him alive deep within the sands.
"Darn hot sands, Darn pebbles, darn tumbleweeds" Inma muttered angrily under her breath but kept going even with the harsher winds. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that the winds were doing this as a warning. To protect her from something as she kept moving forward. Inma wasn't a coward. Stormgiants aren't cowards!
Stormgiants are brave! Inma had this mantra stuck in her head. She was in too deep to give up! It was too soon to give up? How would she face her mother if she gave up at the slightest hint of danger? It would be a disgrace to all stormgiant kinds!
But with all things, time wins in the end. It didn't matter how determined Inma was to get past this horrid wasteland. Her bones and muscles screamed out in pain. The gusts of wind were too strong as they began to lift her up into the air piece by peace. She had to keep her footing! She had to or else it'd send her away.
Her eyes stung with sand in them. She screamed out and tried to brush it away but kept on walking. She was now in immense pain, her legs about to fall off her body, and half blind but she kept moving. With her head spinning and her eyesight momentarily gone; she walked and walked using only her bare feet to tell where she was. Her mind could only repeat a few thoughts
"Hot…"
"Burning Hot…."
"Can't breathe…."
"Feet….hurt"
Inma's voice was now horse and weak. She wanted to talk a sip of her water but needed to conserve it. Who knew when she would need her last drink! She continued to walk.
"So hot…"
"So tired…"
"Little….man?"
Her feet stung and blistered up. Inma was beginning to be on her last legs. She had to make it there. She had too.
"Sleepy…"
"So...Exhausted…"
"Gotta...keep….him….safe"
It was at that moment. That tiny touch of her toes and the soles of her feet that she felt something. Something cold. Inma didn't believe it. She couldn't see it. It was probably her mind playing tricks on her.
She stood there and waited just for a second before taking another step and felt the slipping feeling of ice and snow beneath her feet. A cold, freezing, wind pushed against her and Inma felt a smile come to her face before she fell to her knees and buried her face in the snowy terrain. She had finally made it to her third destination. It was the most dangerous place for them yet.
The frozen lands of the fallen
