68 Will-os-the-Wisp II (1/2)

Will this happen to them every time they entered a desert? And they were not even asleep this time!

Ling opened his eyes to see Maga rubbing its eyes, whimpering as it laid on the ground on its stomach. Unfortunately for the dragon, while they were running earlier, it turned its head behind them to see how far were the will-o'-the-wisps at that time. It had never thought that a bright light would suddenly flash like that.

Ling patted the dragon's head as he kneeled beside it. That got the dragon's attention, and they finally looked at their surroundings. It was not a surprise anymore to see a different view from the swamp they were at earlier.

The scene was actually familiar. There were dilapidated houses with rubbles on the side, and dried up trees with people leaning on the trunks to get even a little shade.

However, wherein the destroyed city had its dried up oasis, this area had swamps and muddy ground. It was obvious that the people left here were starving. There was no food to be found and their water was undrinkable.

Based on Ling and Maga's previous experience, they just waited for the illusion to finish. As they watchef, the people started stealing whatever another managed to find, then the killings came, and when one finally committed suicide, the others soon followed.

The events happened faster this time. Ling was exhausted as he opened his eyes again to a dark, foggy swamp. They were still sitting on a muddy ground but the will-o'-the-wisps were gone.

After the two had a second of rest, theu heard a squishy footsteps coming to them. The panting sound was soon followed by a shout, ”Ling! Maga!”

Standing up, the two stayed vigilant but they saw that it was only Mayari running to them. When the older man reached the two, he checked their bodies but never found any injuries from that explosion. Worrying that their minds were affected, he asked them what happened. ”The will-o'-the-wisps were gone, but let's move in the lighter areas as you tell.”

As the three walked, Ling told a summary of the scenes they had seen, with Maga occasionally uttering a hum as if it was recounting its share too. Ling then realized that they had to share their experience in the desert too.

The group already reached the area with the lighter fog when Mayari suddenly stopped. With a confused expression, he asked, ”Do you mean that in that split second, you've seen all that?”

”Split second?!”

”Yes. The light flashed and when I opened my eyes, you two were already sitting instead of standing as you were earlier. I thought the wisps attacked you, that was why I checked for injuries.”

”Oh!” Ling never thought that all that happened in such a short time. He thought that Mayari was waiting and looking for them for long, but then he realized that the area where they regained consciousness was not different from where they had seen the bright light.

”Tell me everything later.” Mayari said distractedly as he continued walking again. ”The things that happened in the yellow 'haze' too. I think I have an idea.”

Soon, their surroundings changed. The fog was all gone, until they were in a sparse and dry land again. There was a town in view that they would reach after a few miles of walking.

The group left some of their belongings in that town, renting a barn used as a storehouse of an inn so that they didn't have to spend the night outside this time. Most of the townspeople were returning to their homes when Mayari and the two with him arrived in town. As it was already late in the night, Mayari just ordered a meal for them to eat in their rooms while they talk.

Due to their experience in the swamp, they didn't spend more time outside to hunt or concern themselves with collecting stones. That was why they weren't carrying anything. Collecting all these stones was really difficult and it was only useful for people like Mayari who owns a theater troupe. If finding and collecting gems were this easy, wouldn't one be really rich by now.

”So, what happened in the yellow 'haze'? I'm sure you didn't realized, but you were gone for only a day.” Mayari started once they were all seated around the boxes they used as a table.

”I see.” Ling nodded. ”We were in a city until it was thoroughly destroyed by a sandstorm for more than fortnight, but only around three days in the swamp.”