Sand. Bright fine grains of rock.

The idea was to go to Bhishon because I wanted to see what it was like to own Neban's most powerful oils, having knowledge of its background and worth. According to Crypta, Bhishon was supposed to be on either side of the house. He just didn't tell me with one.

I kicked a rock and sighed. I was in Asterion, judging by the endless sand area and no human life.

My legs didn't seem like giving away any minute though. I had the assurance of a powerful potion in my pocket. All I had to do was spray -and boom!- I could be anywhere. I had been using it throughout to shorten the journey.

The sand was fine, nothing as crystalline as I'd ever seen before.

I jogged casually, turning left and right and observing. Not like there was much to see, anyway. Sometimes I came across a plank or some old piece of what was left of Asterion.

What exactly happened to this district? How did they all just. . .disappear?

The whole scenario reminded me of Nora. She was not so far from us, even though it would take a car's journey to get to Dad's other house. But she wasn't there.

We may not see Nora again, not as much as we'd want to. Or perhaps, they'd bring her when she wouldn't remember us as siblings, just like Rowan had guessed. Probably, Rowan would be getting married at that time.

Maybe. Nora may still not forget us. Maybe she wasn't as young as Rowan had assumed. Maybe Nora and Mum I have had such amazing experiences that just cannot be easily erased.

I kicked another rock. I slapped my forehead.

There's always a survivor in every battle. There had to be.

A cat meowed. I shook my head, trying to brush off that image. But it meowed, again and again, a piercing, crying 'meow!'

I turned my head and tried to sense the direction. The cat could be a pet, a person's pet. There could be someone out there, just not known because Crypta had given up on trying to find his lost people.

I ran towards the sound. The cat sounded like it was in pain. There was an animal ahead of me, lying helpless on the floor and meowing. It was larger than a normal dog, brown with orange marks around its entire body. Its stomach was dirty, a white-stained-with-experience-and-pain shade of brown.

The cat sensed my slow movement toward it and got on its feet defensively. It tried to maintain an equipoise with three feet; its left hind leg had been hurt. Then it took slow steps backward.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. Let me look at your injury." I kept my voice low. I didn't want to put fear in the bigger-than-normal cat.

"Meow!" It snapped, somehow, and took one step forward, raised its right forelimb, and scratched the air as a warning. Unfortunately, two legs for balance weren't enough as I watched it fall to the floor.

"Look what you're doing. I know a guy who knows carinian oil." I took slow steps toward the cat. "Except, of course, they don't work on you. But you're a Neban, right? Don't you have an owner?" I was only a step away from it when it got up and ran in the opposite direction, really fast.

"For an animal with three legs, you are fast!" I chased after it. I wanted to know its destination, where it lived, and who it lived with. There had to be someone. Even an old lover-of-pet man was something.

The cat ran super fast and my legs began to wobble. But I wasn't giving up anytime soon. We were approaching what I assumed to be the end of the road. There was a large fence made with bricks and it extended so far I couldn't see where it ended. Piles of planks made a shed at an edge and there were berry-like little red spherical objects scattered around on the sand.

The cat ran into the shed, meowing aggressively. "So this is your home, hunh?" I ambled towards the shed but stopped when I saw a large shadow coming out of it. Soon, I was facing a gigantic version of that cat. It growled, revealing its teeth, big teeth. The smaller cat limped out and stood beside it, relaxed.

"Is that your mummy?" I whimpered.

The giant took one step toward me with another growl. I noticed red stains on the crown of its canines. "What the—!" I stepped back.

I and the giant screamed and growled simultaneously and I began to run in the opposite direction, it chased after me. And it took long strides.

My limbs wobbled more and my speed decreased. I could hear the aggressive growl of the mother-or-father cat behind me and it sounded close. "I was only trying to help!"

The can in my pocket crossed my mind. I reached for the stud, but my nervous hand wouldn't calm enough to get it open. "No. . . No please." I got it out but hit something that felt like a stone and I fell. I lost hold of the can and it rolled to a distance outside my reach.

I cursed, turning to see this humongous thingamabob staring at me in satisfaction. I sat up on my butt, using my hands as support as I moved back as fast as my arse agreed with. Which was apparently slow.

I am so dead.

It raised its forelimb and waved it somewhere. At first, I thought it scratched the air until I felt a sharp sting on the skin of my lower leg. "Ow!" I hissed.

No, I couldn't just die like this.

I stood and limped away but that didn't get me far. I felt the animal's leg hit my back, pushing me to the floor. I fell. My limbs gave up completely. "Please," I whimpered, the reality of death hit me.

It walked painfully slowly to me, enjoying its torture. It growled again, revealing its beautiful canines.

Seriously, this was how I would die? In a land, no human knew of? By a mythical creature who growled while its child meowed?

Was that even believable?

Were these how all the Asterions disappeared? This animal survived on it?

"Kulni!" I heard someone say. "Tisq!"

The animal glared at me once more then breathed in, turning to the owner of the voice. Its body relaxed.

She was a tall girl in a white simple gown that looked like a dress. Her hair was black and straight and her eyes were... clear? Her iris were as crystal clear as a diamond and her pupils were light grey. Too faint to be recognized as brown. Her lips were the rose-coloured, extremely and naturally red.

"Tunik-a-thurhen?" Her eyes showed that she was throwing a question at me. The animal stood at her side, eyeing the basket she had in her right hand. "Tun tart'un yani'in." She smiled. [You're a human? You annoyed it.]

"Uh, sorry. I can't understand you. Thank you though." I stood up but as my right leg made contact with the ground, the pain stung me. "Ow." I put my weight on my left leg, my right leg only touching the floor slightly.

"Did you say thank you? As in thank you for helping you?"

"Yes?" I squinted. "Was I not supposed to?"

She noticed the animals staring at her basket and opened it. Those tiny fruits I'd seen before filled the basket and she got out a handful and showed her palm to the animal. He took it hungrily, licking her palm too.

"What are those?"

"Pegrazh. Cirile seedless cherries."

"That monstrous thing eats. . .Cherries?"

She laughed, and her sparkling teeth shone. "His name is Kulni. He's not supposed to be here unless he's been running."

"Yeah. I was just wandering. I mean I was going to leave but then I heard this sound and. . .Are you an Asterion survivor?"

Her eyes shot up immediately. She seemed taken aback. But she smiled at me. "You talk a lot."

"Uh. . ." I scratched the side of my packed hair, the end of the ponytail grazing my arm.

"I like that."

"Thank you? You speak English? How?"

Her eyebrows narrowed. "You don't know much about Neba, do you?"

"Not exactly."

She eyed my right leg and dropped her basket to the floor. The angel motioned to me. "He did that to you?" I nodded. She faced the animal, "Kaw, Kulni." Kulni hissed, stared at me then walked back to wherever he came from. She ran her fingers along the affected area of my skin. "If you come with me, my family could rub a mixture on it."

"I. . ." I glanced around, my eyes searching for the aerosol can. My leg did need a good cleanup. "Where did you come from?"

"Follow me." She picked up her basket, and walked to the bricked fence, straight to it. Did she not know where she was going? She turned her head to me. "Aren't you coming?"

"You mean to those bricks?" I pointed it out, in case she couldn't see it.

"Give me your hand." I accepted her extended hands reluctantly, more because I needed her as a support while walking with one good leg.

We walked through the brick. Literally. It didn't feel like there was anything there.

Once through, I was on the stairs. She took her time walking down the stairs. The walls were grey and at the end of the stairs, she took a left turn and we were standing at another bricked wall. She rested her hand on a brick, and it glowed for a moment, before pulling back. The brick sort of split and slid open and she passed it, facing another metal door.

The reality of walking downstairs hit me. We were under the sand now. She transferred the basket to her left hand and put her wrist at the handle of the door. There was a bracelet around that right wrist and the engraving on the pendant matched the carve on the lock on the door. A key!

The door unlatched and she pushed it open and there we were in a room filled with portraits on a taupe wall. Armchairs formed a large semicircle, encircling a high rectangular table. A vase stood on that table, with purple flowers sticking out of it. A rocking chair stood in a corner. The room was well-illuminated and cold. I noticed a man at the far end of the room.

That end was almost dark, getting its light from the living room. It was separated from the living room by an archway, but I could make out a dining room. The man sat on a wooden chair, sipping something from a mug.

"Bihak," this girl called. "Ami kra pegrazh-ni." [Bihak, I have the pegrajs.]

"Aminkaw'reh." A bright voice spoke, just as a little boy came out through a curtain. His hair was black and spiky, his eyes a bright red colour. He looked somewhere around twelve years old. His eyes scanned me before he stared at the lady beside me who smiled at him.

"Theik athurhen... nadik dwu." She pointed at my wounded skill. "Elnu mama nad rika." [I'm coming. She's a human... and is hurt. Call mother and father.]

"Zhun." He took the basket and shuffled to the curtains, pushing it aside and walking in. [Yes.]

"Hey, I don't know your name."

"Neither do I."

Part of my mind thought about my can, worried if I'd be able to find it and go home. The other part of me, however, wanted to know every single thing about this family that lived under the forgotten sands of Asterion.

"I'm Emery."

She smiled at me. "Tujan."

.

A/N

Hola! Yes, you can thank me for being fifty minutes early. :)

I was going to wait till ten but the sudden boost in my reads and votes motivated me so so much. Mwah!

So, what about this chapter? Do you like it? How do you see this mysterious land? Suggestions, please!

If you love it, then don't forget to VOTE!