Journey Chapter 34

Forest got up and looked at Nightfall. “How are we lost? Just go to the top of a dune and see if you can find the mountains.” Forest said confused about what the trouble was.

“I tried, the haze though from the sunset light reflecting from the sand and the sand that’s in the air is blocking out anything you can see that isn’t a mile away. All I can see is ” Nightfall said.

Forest went and looked for himself, Nightfall was right. He couldn’t see anything over the haze and sand up higher in the sky. Forest tried to quickly think of another way they could find Methuselah. He immediately thought of following his tracks back but couldn’t find any. The wind had blown sand over any tracks he made. He had no other idea of how to find Methuselah or where he wanted them to go called the oasis.

“So is Nightfall’s right?” Crimson asked.

“Yeah, he’s right. We’re lost.” Forest answered.

“Great. This is your fault Nightfall!!!” Crimson snapped.

“My fault!? Why is it my fault!” Nightfall asked.

“It’s your fault for using me as a tool to get Forest out of there and getting us lost in an unknown place with unknown creatures to us in the process!!” Crimson growled.

“First, I saved you!! And still haven’t got a thank you for that!! Second, you have a bit of a fair point but lastly, it is your fault too!! You started chasing me so hard I didn’t think where we needed to head.”

“That’s still your fault Leechstick!! You should’ve thought of that before executing your plan!!” Crimson answered.

“How could I when we were in a life-threatening situation!!” Nightfall screeched,

Forest began to ignore the fight Crimson and Nightfall were starting. Forest’s night vision started working as he searched for a sign of where to go. Even with that, he couldn’t see where they were, he was trying to stay calm as possible. Night was slowly falling and didn’t know what to expect in this strange desert. He began to feel the sand beneath him heat up and look down. He couldn’t see anything different nor could he feel anything that could be a warning to a threat. He looked in the air and saw the faint glow of hot ash flying through the air. Forest turned to Nightfall to see if he could stop the fight long enough to ask him what this was.

“Guys.” Forest said, but they didn’t hear him over their fight. He decided to wait until they calmed down or until Nightfall was talking.

“You know, you are worse than Rust was!” Crimson growled.

“Well I’ve met nicer Gigas tha-”

“Nightfall!!” Forest said, interrupting Nightfall loudly.

“What is it Forest?” Nightfall said griping.

“What’s happening right now?” Forest asked.

“I’m having an argument with this grumpy croc an-” “No not your fight. What’s going on with the weather? It’s raining ash.” Forest said. Nightfall’s eyes went wide as he realized what was going on around him. He walked slowly ahead of Crimson and Forest. Crimson walked up to Forest and gave him a look.

“Is it too late to eat him, Forest? If we find Methuselah, we can just say he got buried in the dunes and no one would know the better besides us. And I have heard Troodon meat is good.” Crimson said, Forest gave her an irritated look.

“I don’t believe it. It’s a superheat.” Nightfall exclaimed.

“What’s a superheat?” Forest asked.

“Well, it is an extreme heatwave. If it was in the day, we’d all be burning up to death. But it’s rare to have one start at night.” Nightfall explained. Crimson huffed

“Well, this place is-… What’s that in the sky?” Crimson said.

Forest and Nightfall both looked up to the sky and saw something glowing in the sky. Forest thought he could see wings coming from the glowing star. Nightfall began making dodo noises and was jumping up and down.

“Okay, we need to follow that!!” Nightfall exclaimed, Crimson looked at Nightfall.

“Why? So we can get lost even more.” Crimson said.

“Very funny, but no. Because it will lead us out of the dunes or to the mountains! Maybe even an oasis like we’re are supposed to go to!!”

Forest and Crimson didn’t even question it after that and ran after the strange light. Forest could hear Nightfall behind him trying to catch up. Forest noticed that the strange light was coming down lower to the ground than when they first spotted it.

As they were moving, Forest could feel his mouth drying out. It was hot and dry with this superheat. Forest stopped to grab his canteen out of his bag…

His bag wasn’t there. He went flush and panicked as he looked around to see if he dropped his bag behind himself somewhere. But it was nowhere in sight. He didn’t even remember having it with him while searching for Nightfall and Crimson. Did he grab it off of Methuselah’s back? He forgot his bag on Methuselah’s back before they jumped off!! He started to panic thinking about what could’ve happened to the rune and all his other belongings that were in his bag. Forest could see Nightfall stopping and turning towards him.

“Forest! Why did you stop!? We need to keep moving!!” Nightfall yelled.

Forest quickly started moving again. He could only hope that the Rune and his bag would still be on Methuselah when they meet back up with him. He started running and quickly passed Nightfall.

They ran in the dark for a long while with only the light of ash in the air and the bright, starlike creature they were following. The creature began to descend ahead of them and seemingly landed. The light of the creature was being blocked out by something, Forest could see it as some trees and shrubs. But he could smell one thing that made his eyes water with desperation. Water… and he wasn’t the only one who could smell it. Crimson and Nightfall could smell it too.

“Last one to the Water Vein is a rotten fish!!” Crimson shouted as she sprinted towards the smell.

Nightfall bolted ahead of Forest almost immediately. Forest was shocked and was desperate for some water. But he was curious about what they had been following for the last couple of hours. He could see the light from behind a couple of boulders on the edge of this oasis.

Forest quickly moved and got some water, he never felt so much emotion for drinking water. It was hard for him to leave the water vein to go see this creature. As Forest walked up, his night vision began to fade and the light from the creature was beginning to blind him. The heat from the creature’s light was so bright and hot, it was beginning to sting Forest to stand by. He stepped several steps back to get away from the heat and to let his eyes adjust. As they did, he saw something so beautiful and strange. Something he had never seen before.

In the center of the light and what he could see now as fire was a bird. A bird with glossy and fluttering feathers that shined from the fire that it was emitting. Forest sat there for a moment admiring the reddish orange bird as it ate some sort of rock. He had to keep looking away periodically to make sure he wasn’t going to blind himself.

“Thank you for saving us.” Forest said turning back to the bird. The bird jumped and looked right at Forest. It stared at him for a moment, confused. It didn’t seem to understand what Forest said, but Forest was happy that he had said it. It stood there looking at Forest for a moment longer before it flew into the air and went off in a direction away from the oasis.

Forest watched as it flew away, he was in awe of this magical creature. But Forest noticed something strange about it. Flakes of ash started falling from it. Forest watched as the flames of the bird faded and the bird began to turn to ash as the air around Forest began to cool down around him.

“Hey, Forest! What are you looking at?” Nightfall said as he walked up. Forest softly sighed.

“Just admiring the beauty of this incredible place.” Forest said, Forest looked at Nightfall and sighed

“I’m sorry for acting so stupid earlier, I really shouldn’t have. Thank you for helping us get out of there.” Forest said, Nightfall looked at him and smiled at Forest.

“Look, I am sorry too. I probably shouldn’t have said those things about you being stupid. You're just, unique. You can be smart and you can be dumb. I’d just say you're in the middle. But you have a big heart, and you are the first genuine friend I’ve ever had.” Nightfall said, Forest smiled wide before looking back out to the desert. Nightfall sat there for a moment doing the same thing.

“I should go apologize again to Crimson.” Nightfall said as he went back to the water vein. Forest though was too preoccupied with what was happening, watching the ashes of the strange creature fall slowly and gracefully to the ground.