Chapter 2

Water in the Desert

Outside, it was at least a day's travel across the plains. But they did alright. Considering they had already restored the blessing to the area, the few hellions they did run into were few, and they were weak. Defeating them easily, they were never in any real danger.

They all camped out under the stars that night to reserve energy for the upcoming day. But then, after the sun rose, they found their way into the entrance of the Zaphgott Desert.

Stepping in, their shoes and boots landed on sand. And that sand was white, fine, and hot. The sun above blazed down on their heads and shoulders, but the heat from the ground was just as bad. It rose up from beneath them in waves that they could actually see. The landscape was bleak. There were tall, red, rock walls and cliffs all around them in the distance, and huge boulders and columns that looked like they'd been formed thousands of years ago. There were a few plants, but mainly they were cactuses or desert flowers.

And right away as soon as they stepped into the new domain, they all felt the high levels of malevolence around them.

"We'll have to be careful," Lailah said. "This level of malevolence may even be high enough to weaken our artes."

Mikleo, perhaps oddly, completely ignored Lailah and instead turned to Sorey who was currently facing away from him as he took in the new landscape.

"Sorey," Mikleo said. Sorey turned, looking at Mikleo with curious green eyes. He was adorable and inquisitive, as always, and seeing he was still able to see him and hear him put Mikleo back at ease. Knowing he needed to say something, or it'd be strange that he called for his attention, Mikleo immediately pointed toward the red rocks around them.

"These formations are interesting," he said. "They look thousands of years old. And despite being in the desert, there are clear water marks on them. Do you think they were formed by rushing waters, like rivers perhaps?"

"Hmmn," Sorey hummed as he put a hand to his chin, thinking. "That's highly probable. I remember reading in some of the books Gramps got us that climates can change over a period of several thousand years. Who knows? Maybe once upon a time, this place used to be home to some rivers."

Sorey continued to look around in amazement. The red rocks were beautiful to look at, and the sheer size of some of the rocks were impressive.

"If that's the case, then...the river would've started to carve out its path all the way up there," the shepherd said, awe in his voice.

"Can you imagine how long it would take the water to carve out so much of the sediment?"

And then his mind started wandering around all of the possibilities.

"Hey! Maybe there are some fossils and stuff we could find!" And then he turned around and gave Mikleo a cheeky, excited grin, oblivious to how Mikleo had purposefully ignored Lailah's comments on the strength of the malevolence.

"Maybe we can do some fossil hunting later on, once we're a little farther along with our mission," the green-eyed youth suggested. As excited as he was about his surroundings, his dedication towards his shepherdly duties came first. Still, that didn't mean they couldn't have some fun along the way, too.

Mikleo couldn't hide his smile. Sorey's excitement was always infectious and the idea of finding some fossils sounded like a lot of fun. Besides, Sorey was always the most attractive when he was excited and when he smiled like that.

"I bet there are some fossils here," Mikleo confirmed. "A desert like this would be perfect in preserving them. If you take into consideration about the dry, arid, climate then the fossils would be…"

"Enough yakking you two. Or at the very least, yak while we walk. It'll take us the entire day to cross this wasteland and even with my umbrella, I don't want to burn in the sun." Edna interrupted.

"Oh Edna, you're already burning a hole in my heart," Zaveid chimed in. Mikleo rolled his eyes.

"Do you ever think of anything else?"

"Hardly ever," he proudly admitted. And then, Lailah, suddenly excited about something, ran over to the two, a sparkle in her eye.

"You could say that Zaveid has a…burning desire!"

Mikleo groaned. Her puns were as terrible as ever.

"Edna's right…let's get moving."

"Right," Sorey said, unperturbed by anything that happened between Lailah and Zaveid. He was so used to all of his party's antics that it was hard to get him to face palm these days...although it did still happen occasionally. But it took a particularly bad pun to make him do that.

"Everyone, let's stay close together. And Mikleo," Sorey said, turning around to look at his companion.

"I have a feeling you'll be pretty popular with everyone, since you make those great frozen snacks," he said with a smirk, already imagining what concoction the water seraph had up his sleeve.

"Anyway. Let's head out!"

And with that, the group started to head out towards the northwest area. Occasionally they ran into some strange flowering hellions, as well as some sort of huge, trunked hellion that spouted water at them. But even so, the group was making good time.

Sorey was excited over...just about everything they encountered, and he always kept a look out for any special treasures that may be hidden in the desert sand. What Mikleo had said about fossils being preserved due to the dry climate and the heat stuck out in his mind, and although Sorey hoped the others weren't noticing, Sorey constantly checked the area near his feet and any rocks low the ground to see if he could spot anything. They hadn't made a wager or a bet with each other, but the shepherd would love to be the first person to find any type of fossil before Mikleo.

But of course, the shepherd's actions didn't get by a certain observant water seraph. Mikleo could be fairly quiet at times, and for the most part it was because he was watching his surroundings and the actions and words of those around him. He had a keen eye and he was a good listener. Not much of anything got passed him: especially not anything Sorey did. Mikleo watched the dark haired youth almost all the time.

Seeing Sorey's excited face and seeing him look at the ground and search through the sands was spiriting. It brought a smile to the water seraph's face. And of course, he knew exactly what he was doing. The game was on, regardless of whether they verbally set a bet or not. And so, for the first portion of their journey, Mikleo started searching for fossils too.

The group traveled onward and minutes turned to hours. Mikleo found himself refilling his friend's canteens fairly frequently. Having a water seraph in the party meant no one had to conserve water. They had an endless supply of it. And it was a good thing too…the day was becoming brutal.

They set out early in the morning after the sun had just risen. As such, the sun hadn't been as demanding. Although hot, it was nothing like it was now. With the flaming ball of gas just above their heads, it was beating down on them twice as hard. The sand beneath them had heated up as well and it felt as if they were in an oven. Everyone was growing tired and weary, especially being forced to fight out in such heat.

"Meebo…more water," Edna demanded. Lifting a hand, Mikleo wiped at the sweat that was now dripping down his white skin. Or…it used to be white. At the moment, it was starting to turn an alarming shade of pink.

"Can't you ask nicely?" he complained.

"No…I'm too miserable for that."

"At least you have an umbrella…"

The argument could have continued, but Mikleo was too uncomfortable to care. Lifting a hand he waved his wrist and sent out a stream of water into Edna's canteen until it was full once more. Then, once he was done, he created a few small water orbs for himself. Floating them through the air, he popped one into his mouth at a time.

"You need to drink too?" Edna questioned. "That seems…redundant."

"I actually don't," Mikleo explained. "I'm just trying to cool off…"

"You do look a little worse for wear."

Lailah, overhearing the conversation, came over.

"It's because he's a water seraph," she explained. "You'll notice that this heat doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I rather enjoy it. The hotter the better."

"I'll say!" Zaveid cried.

Edna sighed, "Shut up for once…"

"Anyway," Lailah said, "I'm fine, you and Zaveid are probably uncomfortable, but you'll be ok. After all, the wind blows in all areas of the land, and wind can be hot or cold. Same with you Edna. You lived on a volcano all this time after all. But for a water seraph, this must be hard. I know I wouldn't do well in my opposite element. If we were out in a blizzard I'd be weakened. Mikleo is the same."

It sounded like a lot of concern. And of course, Sorey had overheard. When Mikleo looked over to him, he saw worry starting to crease his features. And he never wanted Sorey to worry. So of course, he quickly replied with,

"I'm fine. I'm just a little hot."

"Well that's because you're all buttoned up like a prude," Zaveid said. "Look at what you're wearing! No wonder you're burning up."

"If you're suggesting I walk around practically naked like you, you can forget it."

"Besides, he's already burning," Edna observed. "If he took his shirt off like you, he'd be a lobster in minutes."

"Oh I know!" Lailah cried, "Crisp as a critter!"

"I don't think that counts as a pun," Mikleo said, "More like…word alliteration. In any case, I'm fine. I'll make some ice pops for everyone as soon as we find some shade to take a break in. That'll help cool everyone off."

Everyone fell quiet for a second after that as they continued to walk, but it was clear Zaveid was still itching to say more. Finally, he couldn't help himself and blurted,

"You should at least unzip that suit thing you're wearing. I mean damn! Let some air in!"

"Said the wind seraph," Mikleo retorted. And Lailah simply loved that one. She squealed.

Even if Mikleo had reassured everyone, Sorey wasn't so certain the aquamarine-haired seraph was okay. He stepped closer to his companion, noticing how the water seraph's typically porcelain skin had a rose tint to it. That made him frown, the corners of his eyebrows scrunching up together as his eyes darted across Mikleo's pinkening skin.

"As much as I hate to say it, maybe Zaveid is right," the brunet said, eyeing Mikleo carefully. "I know seraphs are tougher than humans, but...I don't want you to get sunburned or overheated."

Sorey was clearly worried. There was no way he wouldn't be, especially since he'd heard Lailah's logical explanations.

Opposing elements...it makes sense as to why he'd have trouble in the desert. Why hadn't I thought of that earlier?

With that self-chastising thought in mind, Sorey started scanning the immediate area, standing a little taller in his boots as he tried to scout out some shade for the group.

"There's a fairly decent shadowy overhang over there towards the canyon wall," he said. "Let's head over there and have those ice pops you talked about," he offered. For that truly was what it was. It might've sounded like he was being a little pushy, but Sorey knew all too good and well that Mikleo would never go along with it unless he wanted to do so himself. And so, things phrased like that was always an offer, never a demand. The shepherd knew better than that.

Mikleo looked over to Sorey. He knew he was worried, and he would have objected, but…he wondered if Sorey wasn't hot too. After all, he was human and they were in a desert. Surely he was also uncomfortable. And really…Mikleo knew he loved his ice pops. It would be a good thing for everyone. And so, because it wasn't just concern over himself, Mikleo agreed and nodded.

"Ok." The group headed over toward the shaded area Sorey had spotted, and as they did, Mikleo couldn't help but to feel happy. Although he didn't want Sorey to worry about him, he still liked it when he looked out for him like this. They took care of one another. And that was always nice.

Reaching the shaded area, Zaveid collapsed quite dramatically with a long, loud sigh, as he rested his back up against the red wall. Mikleo, although clearly in more duress, much more civilly and stoically sat himself down on the ground. As everyone else started to settle in, he started to get to work on the ice pops. Using his water artes and just a few ingredients he'd brought with him in his pouch, he started formulating the treats. A few minutes later, they were finished. And as always, when he finished making any sweet treat, he immediately looked to Sorey first.

"The snacks are done." After all, seraphs didn't need to eat for survival. The only reason he'd begun learning now to make food at all had been for his human counterpart.

Sorey grinned widely as he scooted over to sit closer to Mikleo, then reached out and took one of the delicious ice pops the seraph had made.

"Thanks! These look great." And they did.

Everyone knew that Mikleo was the best snack maker of the group. Sorey was normally the one that cooked the actual meals for them back in Elysia, but when it came to treats, no one could out-best Mikleo. And there was something really cute about that fact that Sorey really liked.

He quickly went to slurping the ice pop, enjoying the icy coolness in comparison with their blistering surroundings. Sorey wondered what had made Mikleo want to learn how to make snacks in the first place. Was it...for him? Or had the seraph just been curious and wanted to learn a new skill?

Sorey wasn't sure what had spurned the other young man into mastering dozens of different sweet treats, but he definitely appreciated them.

"Whew! I don't know what we'd do without you Mikleo. Your water and your snacks are a life saver out here," the shepherd said, as honestly as usual.

Mikleo's usual sly grin slid onto his face.

"What indeed. You'd all burn to a crisp without me. Crispy critters as Lailah said earlier."

After handing out all the ice pops, Mikleo started on his own. It was certainly refreshing and he felt a little better with something cool in his system. But even so, he felt like he was melting, even in the shade.

Maybe Zaveid's right…maybe I am just a little too buttoned up.

He wore a heavy set of clothes compared to the others, after all, he was used to much cooler climates. Even so…he was somehow embarrassed at the idea of taking off his outermost layer. If anything, he could have been considered the exact opposite of Zaveid. Mikleo was modest. But…conditions were making it impossible to stay the way he was.

And so, lifting a hand, he pulled at the zipper near his neck. Taking it down, he stopped just underneath his collar bone, releasing a lot of the heat that had built up underneath. But this was as much skin as he was willing to expose. Lifting his free hand, the one without the ice pop, he wiped at his sweaty face once more. Then he pushed back his sweaty bangs trying to get them out of his face. It revealed the golden circlet he wore on his forehead that was normally not visible beneath his snowy locks. Even in the shade it gleamed in the sun.

As he was adjusting himself and trying to get more comfortable, he glimpsed Sorey's worried expression at his side once more. He frowned.

"I'm fine," he insisted. "Please stop worrying."

Sorey did his best not to stare. As such, he kept a sidelong glance on Mikleo as he...unzipped the top layer of his shirt. And as usual, the glint of his circlet caught the shepherd's eye when the seraph started playing with his hair - hair that Sorey wasn't allowed to try and cut anymore. Not since the famous 'incident' from when they were kids.

The tiniest of smiles crept on his lips, before he focused again on his own ice pop.

And of course as happy as he was that Mikleo was at least following his advice and had allowed his skin to breathe some, Sorey was now worried that the water seraph would get a sunburn on his collarbone area, too.

This made him frown again, right in time for Mikleo to catch him staring.

"Okay...as long as you're okay," Sorey said in response, before tucking the ice pop back in his mouth for a moment, before pulling it back out and facing his companion once more.

"At least you've unzipped yourself a little. There's no need to be so modest," the brunet stated. "I know you're not like Zaveid, but I'm glad you're at least exposing a little bit of yourself, to cool down."

It was important he included that last part. Otherwise, he might sound a little bit like Zaveid himself.

Mikleo was afraid he couldn't hide the heat that suddenly came to his face, but then again, with his skin already pink he hoped no one would notice. There was something…really energizing about Sorey saying such things to him.

"Well i-it's just for practical reasons." Focusing once more on his treat, he quickly looked away and off to the side, too embarrassed to catch Sorey's eyes.

A few minutes later the group agreed that they should get going once more. Brushing themselves off, they stepped out of the shade and back into the blinding white sun. Almost as soon as they did, Mikleo winced. If it was at all possible, the sun somehow seemed even brighter and hotter than before. And the sand beneath them was just as white and hot as they sky above. It felt almost as if they were on the surface of the sun itself.

Ugh…

They traipsed onward. At first, Mikleo walked up front at the head of the group, just alongside Sorey. After all, the pair of them almost always led. But after only twenty minutes or so, Mikleo started to fall behind. He then walked alongside Zaveid and Lailah as they bantered back and forth. But soon he could no longer keep up with them either. Another twenty minutes later and he was at the tail end of the group alongside Edna, who usually liked to be watchful in her solitude as she brought up the rear. But even this didn't last, and it was when Mikleo started to fall behind even their slowest member of the group that Edna stopped in order to face him.

Mikleo didn't look good. His skin was pink and covered in sweat. His usually pristine white hair was disheveled. And he wasn't holding himself in his usual upright way. Instead, his shoulder's were slumped and he was dragging his feet through the sand as if it was just too much effort to lift them properly. But the worst thing about him was his expression. He appeared simply exhausted and there was a wince on his face. His eyes were squinted shut as if it was just too bright to gaze out at the world around him. Edna frowned.

"You look like hell," she said with her usual attitude.

"Ugh…as crass as ever…" Mikleo responded, but even his words didn't have their usual crisp bite. Instead, he sounded as if he just didn't have it in him to fight back.

Edna, although rude and seemingly uncaring, immediately turned and faced forward in order to start marching her way to the front of the group. She moved purposefully and urgently past Zaveid and Lailah who were still bickering about something and straight up to Sorey.

Sorey, at the moment, was distracted by the map in his hands. His gaze on it, he hadn't noticed that Mikleo had fallen so far behind. And at the start of it Sorey could hardly have been blamed, for Mikleo had told him he was going off to look for fossils a little farther away from the group in order to seal their bet. It had been an excuse of course, to hide the fact that he hadn't felt well. But now, the gig was up.

Reaching their shepherd's side, Edna, while still twirling her umbrella overhead, reached out an elbow and quickly jabbed it into Sorey's side.

"OW!" Sorey cried, but before he could ask what her problem was, Edna explained herself rather quickly.

"Meebo is wilting." Turning, she lifted a hand and pointed. And when Sorey looked up, he would find Mikleo much farther behind that anyone had noticed or anticipated, and worse still, he looked like he was barely on his feet.

Sorey's green eyes widened at the sight of the struggling water seraph all the way in the back of the group.

"Mikleo!" he shouted, alarmed. He paused long enough to look at Edna, his expression serious. He appreciated her alerting him.

"Thanks Edna," and with that, Sorey was off. Ignoring his own discomfort, Sorey took off at a quick jog to be at his companion's side, shoving the map back into one of the leather pouches attached to his belt as he moved.

"Hey," he said much softer once he was at the seraph's side, reaching out and placing a concerned hand on the back of his arm.

"You okay there? You need to take another rest?" he asked, immensely concerned with Mikleo's appearance and obvious lack of energy.

It was true that Mikleo was a little prideful, and he never liked to worry Sorey if he didn't have to, but when things were important, he didn't hide them and he never lied. Reaching out a hand, he grabbed onto Sorey for support. He nodded.

"I'm not feeling too well…" he admitted. "And the sun's so bright…I can barely see…"

The others in the group, now also alerted to there being some sort of problem, turned and regarded the water seraph as well. Their eyes widened when they saw what condition he was in.

"Lowgrin is only a mile or so away," Lailah said. "We're almost there."

"But maybe we shouldn't try to cross the desert in one day." Zaveid suggested. "We could set up camp early. Get out of the sun."

Mikleo looked to the group, gratitude on his face.

"Thank you everyone. And…I'm sorry for the inconvenience…"

"It's no trouble," Lailah said. "I expect you'd all do the same for me if we were in a snowy region."

Mikleo offered Lailah a smile, recognizing that she was trying to save his pride. And he was more than happy to now accept Sorey's help as the Shepherd started to look around for another area of shade to help the group get to. But before he had a chance, a low, rumbling type of growl was heard rising up from their left.

"What was that?"

Turning to look, the group was not happy to see yet another group of hellions heading their way. Their dark forms rose upward from over the crest of a dune, and a pack of huge, wolf-like creatures emerged. There were many of them, and they'd clearly spotted the group of travelers.

"Oh no…"

"Not now!"

"How annoying."

Everyone took up offensive or defensive stances with their weapons, and although they hadn't worried too much about the hellions they'd run across in the area so far, things were different now that they had a weakened teammate. But even so, it was clear Mikleo was going to fight too. Standing rigid and tall with the rest of them, and pushing himself away from Sorey's support, he threw a hand out in front of him, calling his staff out of the air. With it in both hands, he gripped it and planted his feet. It hardly mattered how much sweat was pouring off of him.

Sorey couldn't believe it. Mikleo was going to fight?

"Mikleo!" he shouted, raising his sword in front of him to block a blow from one of the hellions.

"You can't be serious!" he shouted, thrusting his blade outward and doing a quick combo of spins and thrusts, dispatching one of the wolfish creatures before hurrying over towards the water seraph's side. "You - you can hardly walk! Let us take care of these," Sorey exclaimed, all the while knowing there was a high chance Mikleo wouldn't ever agree to Sorey's suggestion.

He was proud like that and while that pride was oftentimes endearing to the young shepherd, it could also be aggravating. Like right at this moment.

Let me protect you! Sorey thought. The same way you always protect me!

"Not a chance!" Mikleo hollered. "What would you have me do? Sit here and watch you fight without me? I'll stay in the back and cast artes, but there's no way I'm sitting out entirely. Besides, the hellions would hardly allow that anyway!"

Sorey didn't have to agree. It was the hellion that lunged right at Mikleo that let him know what the water seraph said was true. Even if he had tried to sit out…he would have only become a sitting duck.

Quick as lightning, Sorey's sword came down, cutting the creature just in front of Mikleo before it had a chance to land a nasty bite. And in seeing it, Mikleo saw the truth and understanding come to Sorey's worried green eyes.

"Lead them away from me," he ordered. "They'll go after you and the others. I'll cast from here." It was the best plan he could come up with to account for his weakened condition. But at least Sorey seemed to agree. Quickly, he ran off and ahead, taking Mikleo's advice and falling back on an old strategy that they'd always used well before in the past. With Mikleo being so strong in magic, it was only natural for him to sometimes stay back at the sidelines while Sorey charged ahead for the more physical combat.

Lifting his staff, Mikleo called forth a rush of holy energy. Blue aura and wind swirled around him, ruffling his white hair and the two long blue tendrils of his cloak behind him. Preparing for his spell, he cast with a watchful eye, as always, on Sorey and the rest of his team. But mostly on Sorey. The young shepherd had a terrible habit of seeing only the enemy before him and none of the others at his side or back. More often than not, it was Mikleo's magic that saved him from heavy blows.

Mikleo kept his violet eyes on the person he held most dear. As always, Sorey was impressive in battle. He swirled and pivoted, parried and spun with his sword in hand like he was dancing. His white cloak flowed around him like water, and he moved more quickly than anyone else on the field. He was always handsome while fighting.

Mikleo, seeing a hellion just at his side, and also seeing that Sorey had no clue it was there, released all the energy he'd been calling up.

"Frigid Sever!" Ice shot out from him, in long, jagged spikes. Hitting the target like bullets, the hellion howled and fell before it ever had a chance to touch the person he cherished. But of course, when it fell, it was only then that Sorey turned and noticed he'd almost been nailed.

"I'll watch your back!" Mikleo called.

Sorey flashed him a grin; the cutest grin he ever did see, then turned and faced another opponent. Mikleo observed everything carefully from a distance, then started to cast again.

The battle was going well. The strategy seemed to be working. The team of seraphs and shepherd were making quick work of the wolf hellions around them. They were easy to defeat, the only issue was that there were a lot of them. Zaveid took down two or three, but as soon as he did there were more in their place.

"These guys breed like rabbits or what?"

Edna, busy thrusting jagged spires of rock up from the ground like lances, agreed in a lazy voice, "Very annoying." She impaled two more.

Lailah, preferring to concentrate on the battle, didn't comment. But that was only until they started to near the end. There were only a few left now, an easy number to handle, and the hellion before her fell after it was suddenly blasted with a powerful crash of water from off to the side. Grateful, Lailah turned to thank her water counterpart, but when she did, she let out a gasp of alarm. For as soon as she turned to look Mikleo's way, he stumbled, tottered, and then she saw his eyes roll up into the back of his skull.

"So…rey…" he mumbled weakly, and then he simply collapsed, his knees crumbling beneath him. Falling to his side amongst the sand, his staff fell from his hands. And then, he didn't get up again.

((I love hooking you guys with cliff hangers! Forgive me! Next chapter will be up tomorrow!))