423 Misery Loves Company (1/2)
The first day of travelling through the desert had been comfortable for everyone. Bob was happy that he was finally able to assume his human form even though it shocked Jermine badly to know that she was travelling with a dragon, a murderer and a powerful magician who called himself a doctor.
They settled down for the night comfortably with Truen opting for the night watch although Zero insisted that there really was a need seeing as he had portable magic arrays for camping. The archer didn't agree with being overly reliant on magic because he read that some planets didn't support magic due to the environment. Although Zero's magic wasn't reliant on the environment, he still wanted to teach his friend not to rely on magic too much. It was sometimes too convenient and it might make one complacent after some time.
The first few days passed peacefully without events. Zero hunted when whatever poor animal Jermine spotted and made cactus juice whenever he came across cacti. It didn't take long for the bored doctor to decide that he was going to try and make cactus punch non-poisonous and good tasting. Truen didn't stop him and Bob told Jermine that it was easier to pretend not to know what Zero was up to and let him do as he pleased. A bored Zero was a dangerous Zero so Jermine withheld her comments.
Things were progressing smoothly without the worry about supply shortage but their luck ran out when Mii announced that she sensed a change in atmospheric pressure on the fifth day. Bob had just slain a huge desert scorpion that tried to eat the sand walkers when Zero told the dragon to return at once.
”Is there any underground caves or structures nearby that we can hide?” he asked Jermine who scanned the area and shook her head.
Zero contacted Truen at once to inform him of the bad news. According to Mii, the sandstorm will hit them in less than an hour and Zero didn't know how they could anchor themselves and wait for the storm to die out.
”I'm coming back,” Truen told Zero via the party call function. His Area Detection Magic did not sense anything nearby that they could rely on for shelter.
Desert Lily advised him that if they were caught in a sandstorm, they had to immediately find or make a shelter. As there was no shelter in sight, Truen's only option would be to create one.
He returned swiftly and gave out instructions. Zero was thrilled at the opportunity to finally use magic to create a shelter. Bob wasn't as happy with his task of scouting for burnable materials. The desert was very vast and spanned for miles with hardly anything in sight. Where was he going to find combustible materials when the storm was so close?
”Do you think we can still travel in the sandstorm if I cast a magical barrier to protect everyone and the sand walkers?” Zero asked.
Truen shook his head. ”It's not advisable to do that. We might survive the sand and the wind but the sand walkers won't be able to walk. Even if they aren't blown away by the wind, they would be buried underneath the piling sand.”
Zero listened to Truen recite everything he knew about a sandstorm and Zero found himself wondering if there was a way for them to continue travelling despite the sandstorm.
Bob and Jermine returned empty-handed and Truen didn't blame them. He was only glad that the sand walkers had enough danger sense to flee when the sandstorm was closing in. Zero gaped when he saw the looming dark clouds full of dust and sand from miles away. The giant catastrophe looked peaceful from this distance but as the cloud slowly covered the sun, Zero understood the severity.
He could feel the wind and sand grains hitting his face like bullets as the storm came closer. It was also swallowing the scenery at an alarming rate. For the sake of everyone's safety, Zero yelled at them to get inside first. The wind was so loud in his ears that his voice was almost silent despite yelling at the top of his lungs. This was worse than the roaring waters in Trigression Falls and Zero understood why this was a feared phenomenon.