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Chapter Text

The crest of many waves fills this sea of sand. A crimson robed figure looks out to see the ruins in some of the troughs of the waves along with some long waving banners fixed to closed cages. A breeze blew and his scarf fluttered in the wind. The scarf was as double the hooded figures height, a testament to how many pieces of magical cloth it has collected on their journey.

              The traveler made a musical chime as its gaze then turned to large mountain in the distance. A bright glowing light coming from the peak memorized them. Their mind was set to travel to the top of the mountain. It sang out another tune as it jumped into the air opening its robe and using it like wings to fly over the dunes, the golden highlights and trimming on its robe glowed white as it flew, but the glowing magical runes slowly disappeared on its scarf  and the traveler had to eventually land so the magic could return, but not before it could fly over a large distance. It would have to could find more scarf pieces or large flying clothes to recharge it. However, on this journey the traveler somehow knew it would not take too long to stumble onto more pieces on its way to the mountain.

              Landing on a slope of a dune it slid down to find another small ruin with trapped scarf pieces inside connected to a large worn banner. It called out in song, sending out an aura to light up the worn crimson banner to re-energize the magic and allowing the pieces to flutter around them. The scarf glowed as its runes reappeared and its scarf grew a little bit longer, feeling satisfied it turned back to continue to the mountain. It was about to jump into the air when darkness overshadowed the traveler. It turned to the side and let out a low soft tune, a large mass of dark gray clouds moved over them. A loud boom caused the traveler to jump and loose balance, landing in the sand. It quickly tried to stand up, but a strong blast of wind blew him over again. A high pitch song rang out while the traveler was blown across the sandy surface.

              Trying to escape the storm it opens up its robe to fly, but the wind caught the robed figure and the wind took it up into the air. The traveler screamed out calling for help, hoping that another fellow travelers would hear its plea and help it. Loud booms continue to roar around them as the winds took them up higher, bringing them ever closer to the dark clouds. Debre of sand flew in its dark face making them squint and use its cloak to rub it away, however, in a matter of seconds a small flying rock hit the traveler in face and the world went black.

Wooosh…. Woooosh…. Wooosh…. This steady repeating sound reminded the Traveler of the wind; however the wind was not constant like this sound was. Soft notes came from it as it open its eyes to the same blue sky, but when the Traveler sat up it look out over a vast blue expanse. The blue liquid seem to be constantly moving, the crest and peaks that formed in the water reminding the Traveler of the dunes. The Traveler then shivered feeling the water touch its feet. They look down to see that the liquid gently rolled up and down the sand, causing the sand to change color from a warm tan to a darker brown.

              The Traveler then tried to stand up and shifted back and forth to stay balanced, its muscles tired from trying to fight the storm. Regaining its balance, the Traveler look around, with a soft calling tune. On the Travelers left was vast blue water and its right was miles of familiar golden dunes. However, there was no mountains, no calling bright light to lead their path. The Traveler called out in a longing musical note and waited for a while… no one answered… it tried again, and still no answer… The calls began to become more high pitch and the Traveler called more frequently, even jumping up to see if they could see even the hue of crimson over the large dunes. Yet… no one called back… and no one came…

              The Traveler breathed heavily, resting after calling for hours. Its shoulders slumped and head look down at the water pushing up onto the sand. A single drop of its own liquid fell on the sand leaving a small indent before the liquid rolled up to smooth over the sand.

Sploosh! Sploosh!

The Traveler lifted his head to the new noise. It let out a soft note while it looked around wondering where this noise came from. It jerked its head toward to the water as they caught something black out of the corner of its eyes. It look out at the vast blue expanse and slowly walk forward. It shivered again as it walked into the shallows, not going too far in before the Traveler jump into the air and called out a musical chime. The Traveler landed with a splash while they look around.

Ping!

The musical sound was similar to their own, but the quick chime was in a different pitch. However, that seem like the only thing that was similar to the Traveler. Looking out into the blue a skinny figure broke the surface of the vast blue. The figure was mainly black with what looked to be yellow pads on its shoulders and its head was also protected by yellow padding with two white triangles sticking up on the top of their head, while rounder black triangles stick out on each side of its head. The black triangles turned white and glowed for a second as the figure pinged again.

              The Traveler chimed back happily before a gray triangle broke the surface and swam near the figure. The figure look down and seem to pet it before diving down and disappearing. The Traveler beamed at the water, before following the divide of water and land. The Diver may be gone, but at least the Traveler knew they were not alone.

Chapter Text

Woosh… woosh… woosh… woosh…

The sound was constant and so was the water coming onto the shore, but they weren’t in sync. Some of the water rushed up faster than other parts, while some reach higher on the sand. Of course, the Traveler could just leave toward the desert, but they were also curious about this new companion. However, it also did not help that the storm could have blown them to another desert entirely. The Traveler did not know where they were, so it did help to stick with this new companion rather than go alone. The Diver occasionally coming up to jump into the air and diving into the water, but most of the time they were swimming. The Diver seemed a lot like them, but so different… could they even get of the water? Were they lost like they were?

It was nice for the Traveler to make a chime and hearing the Diver ping back. They had some companions on their way to the mountain, but the companions were either too fast or too slow compared to them. So, the Traveler usually traveled alone, however it felt comfort in the fact that they would eventually find someone. In this situation, or at least up until the Traveler found the Diver, they thought they were totally alone. The Traveler also realized with being so far from their paths it would be highly unlikely that they find anything to recharge their scarf. So for now they would have to use it only if they were in dire need.

AWW! AW! AW!

Looking up the Traveler saw white and gray flapping birds that kept flying or standing near the edge of the water. Their sounds were strange, not as graceful sounding as themselves or short like the diver. It was somewhere in the middle of the way both of them sounded. The birds sounds were almost as constant as the sound of the water. The Traveler did not notice the birds at first when they woke up, but as they continue to follow the water life seem to be everywhere. Not only were there birds in the air, but also on the ground smaller brown ones with long beaks at the waters edge. There were even some small flowers and long green plants. The Traveler knew of the plant life but only had seen it once in his travels. It was a single yellow flower they accidently stumbled upon while trying to cross the dunes. How it got there in the first place, let alone survive was a mystery in itself, but to the Traveler it was symbol of resilience, nothing was impossible in this world.

As the day dragged on the Traveler notice something, the water was slowly receding. Not only that the sand he was walking on was slowly turning into rock. As the water receded pools started to form in between the rocks. It also made the Diver go father and father away from them, which was not a problem in itself, but the slippery rocks was causing them to loose balance often. It was becoming hard to try get closer to the water so the Traveler could be near their new companion.

The Traveler had to constantly be looking down to keep its footing. Trying to avoid the rocks with green on them because they seem to be the most slippery, but also the pools. The pools had lots of creatures inside them, some look like balls of spikes, few looked like stars, and others were sleek and had appendages to swim around in the water. There were other strange looking creatures too, one that look like it was a small moving rock with eyes, using its six skinny legs to move around on the slippery surface. However it did have two strange sharp grabbing appendages that lifted into the air if the Traveler stepped close to it. Though the Travel rather not see what would happen if they got close to those creatures. Most creatures seem harmless and even scared of them. A lot of the creatures swimming in the water seem to hid if their shadow covers the pool, while others like a large red creature hiding in a strange twisting rock continue to slowly move along.

Walking and sometimes hoping if need to across these rocks the Traveler wondered if the civilization they traveled through use to be like this. Not rocky and waterfilled, but with life. Creatures running around in the fields and land before the sand over took the land. They wondered what did they look like? Could they swim through the air like the ribbons or the birds? Or did they walk on land? Or may be they were both. Were the creatures as colorful as some of the ones in the pool? Bright red, yellow, orange, blue, green or where they duller like the brown six-legged creature or the black ball of spikes?

The Traveler kept pondering on these thoughts before not concentrating enough to see that the next rock was a bit too far away. The Traveler let out a shrill sound, slipping on the rock and falling into one of the pools. It continues to wail as the Traveler felt something stinging them. They tried to roll over to stand up, but the crevice was too tight and they became stuck between the rocks.

Ping! Ping, Ping, Ping!

The Traveler’s eyes widen when the Diver appeared above them. Surprised to find out that they could walk on the land. Their body was all black with little yellow pads on their knees, they even had appendages and the Diver used them grab the Traveler and pulled them out of the pool. The Traveler gave a happy chime as they stood beside the Diver. The Diver look happy and pinged back. The Diver then grabbed the Travelers robe and pointed ahead to a sandier part and started pulling them to it. The Traveler was grateful seeing that their companion knew how to navigate the rocks. The Diver even stepped into some of the pool and showed the Traveler where they could step to avoid getting hurt again.

When the two got back onto soft sand the Traveler gave another happy chime before motioning to the Diver to follow it on the sand. The Diver look at the water for a second then look back at the Traveler and nodded its head with a ping. The Traveler jumped up and sang happily before starting to walk again with the Diver by their side.

Chapter Text

The Traveler like this much better, the extensive expanse of darker sand mixed with streaks of black was more comfortable and safer to tread on. However, they notice much larger pieces of sand, or may be small smooth rocks? Well not all of them were smooth, some had grooves… some even had designs… It was just strange to the Traveler. There was so much variety in this new world they landed in, so many colors, so many textures. Not only that similar to the rocky area the lowered water reveal shallow pools of water. The Diver walked through the pools effortlessly, however… The Traveler was wary, they could see the bottom of the pools, but what if these pools were dangerous too? It look like all the pools had sandy bottoms that were shaped like mini sets of hilly dunes, but they did not know anything about this strange world. The Diver look at the Traveler as they walk around the pools instead of through them. Their friend then came over and motioned them to come join them in the pool. The Traveler look at them, then at the pool and sung to them in a low tone.

              Gently the Diver grabbed their robe and began to lead the Traveler into the pool. Slowly and reluctantly the Traveler followed their companion, they did trust them. The liquid in the pool was warm compared to the larger body crashing onto the sand. The sand almost seem harder too, but not as hard as the rocks, yet hard enough that it seem like they were on a firm surface. There were also creatures in these pools, however not as many as the ones in the rock pools. This… was not scary at all, the Traveler did not feel like they were going to slip like the last time and the water was warm and inviting. The Traveler sang happily to the Diver and the Diver ping happily back.

While the two of them walked through the many pools the Traveler stopped to examine one of the rocks sticking out of sand. The Diver watch as the Traveler gently use its needle like leg to try to dig out a smooth flat white rock that was partially buried into the sand. However, the Traveler made a low sound of frustration as its legs just kept pushing it into the sand more or missing the stone entirely as the sand started cloud the water.

              The Diver seeing their friend frustrated use its appendage to pick up the stone and brush off some of the sand. The Diver laid the stone for the Traveler to inspect. The Traveler had to admit they were a bit jealous of their companion being able to pick up objects so easily. All they could do was fly, and even then their power was limited to how long was their scarf, but on top of all that the Traveler could not even fly because there were no other scarf pieces to recharge his magic.

              Ping?

The Diver tilted its head confused as the Traveler realized it zoned out. They chirped a, apology focusing back on the smooth stone. It looks like to have small organic fibers on the outside edge while there was a distinct flower like pattern etched into the rock. Was this rock made a small relic or even building block from a lost civilization? Lost by time, but just found by the two of them? The Diver ping again in happiness as they flip the rock over to reveal… it was not a rock! It was a creature! The organic fibers were a part of it! The little fibers spread out and contract, they covered the entire underside of the presumed rock. The Traveler oooed in wonder and the Diver pinged happily. Then putting the rock down and quickly looking around. The Diver dashed over to pick up something and brought it over to them. It looks like a smooth round rock, yet it seemed like it was carved as it one end swirled to a point. Then the Traveler jumped as suddenly a creature popped out! The creature was just as alarmed as them as it went back into its rock.

              Multiple pings rang out as the Diver laughed at their surprise. However, after a couple moments of silence from the both of them the small creature came out. Its limbs were slender yet compact, though it had to be so they could fit in this smooth small rock. Its small eyes stuck up and swiveled, it almost seemed that the eyes were on smaller limbs. They were even able to look at both of them at the same time. It tried to crawl away, but unable to see how high up it was the Diver kept picking it up to move it out of danger. The creature partial hid while the Diver pick it up, but then came back out when it was set down. This pattern continued for a while, both watching the movements of the creature. The Traveler like this creature, it had slender legs just like they did and it like its unique rock it made its home in. So many strange rocks, so many stranger creatures, the Traveler could not wait to see more.

              The Diver eventually put down the creature and continue on. The Traveler started looking more attentively in the pools wanting to see more creatures. They then notice small holes in the pools and in the sand outside the pools, that look like footsteps from someone like him. It even had to look back behind them at first to make sure they were the same. The Traveler chirped as it stopped and pointed out the small holes happily. Was this not the first time the Diver seen someone like him? Had one of them recently wandered these weird sands? Or were they not even too far from the mountain at all?! May be if they just continue this direction, they would see the mountain!

The Diver seem confused, but the Traveler then lifted up its legs to show them it, then use them to point at the hole. Trying to convey to them that they were footsteps of their kind. The Diver look at their leg, then at the hole, then look at them. The Diver shook its head as the Diver sat down and invited to Traveler to do the same. The Diver look at the hole in the sand and pinged. A second later a small creature peek out of the hole then quickly went back in. It was the same color of the sand and look like a small brown pebble. Its legs tucked into the body and the eyes were sticking up like the creature before, however, they were very thin. As quickly as the creature came out, it quickly dug backwards returning back into the hole.

Ping?

              The sand turned dark brown as a droplet of liquid hit. The Diver look at the Traveler just staring at the small hole. The Diver gently reach and place a hand on the Traveler. The Traveler look at the Diver another drop forming in its eyes. Then the Diver did something peculiar… It scooted closer to them and wrap an arm around the Traveler. The Diver gently squeezed them and rested their head on the Traveler. What was this… the Traveler thought, it certainly was not hostile with the Divers grip being light. However, this feeling inside them… it was longing, yet the Divers presence… their simple touch… it was so comforting... It was similar to the way the Traveler felt about seeing the Mountain in the distant. Its constant presence made them feel warm, feel confident, they knew what they had to do and where to go. The Traveler had companions before, but none of them made them feel this way. It felt wrong… but how could something so warm feel, be bad? The Diver look at them and gently wipe the water from their eyes and help them to their feet. No, the Traveler thought. They would not dwell on this any longer. They had to keep going, have to keep moving, with the Divers help they knew they could find the Mountain.