Durabi threw his head back as he tried to escape the post. In the distance, I could hear men and women screaming. I need to leave, I thought as I fumbled with the ropes on the post. I couldn't focus with all of the screams and when a woman's pleas reached my ears I found myself sliding off of Durabi and heading into the growing shadow of the sandstorm.

A woman was pressed against a wall with one man holding her arms behind her back. Another man was searching her pockets and bags. His smile was crooked and black with rot, while the other one's was polished. The woman's cries were muffled in her head scarves as they left only a sheer piece of fabric to see her eyes. A married woman.

I lunged at the men with my daggers, knowing that they were blunt enough to do so much damage. I jammed the first one into the soft spot between one man's legs before grabbing the head of the man with rotting teeth and bashed his head against the stone wall. His eyes held the same black mist as before. The woman let out a scream and ran from me, rattling a nearby door and begging to be let in. The door opened just enough for her to slide in, but an older woman, one of the merchants I had haggled with, shoved her whole arm in the doorway. I ran to help her get inside, but when I approached she moved to bite my hand as it touched her shoulder.

I fell back and watched as the woman fought her way inside. She wasn't seeking shelter though. She let the door hang open as she attacked the person closest to her. A gust of black sand flew into the house, slamming the door shut behind it. Screeches and growls filled the air. The same woman I had helped earlier pulled a wrapped up baby with her outside into the storm, while a young girl with those smokey black eyes was gnawing on her leg. I pulled the girl off of the woman, and she turned to me. She was no more than ten years, but she came at me like a wild animal. I threw her body to the ground. I hesitated to grab my daggers when more people came screaming from the home.

One smokey eyed person yanked at the head scarf of another, and as it flapped away in the wind, the person hacked on the black sand as it entered their lungs. They fell to their knees, and after a second rose back up, their eyes dark. What in the name of...

The people with black smoke in their eyes began to surround those without, and I noticed that all of them had either loose or no cloth over the lower half of their faces. I grabbed the mother and child and pulled them closer to me. "Keep you and your baby covered. Don't breathe in the sand and don't let anyone remove your scarves!" When she didn't say anything I spun her to face me. "Nod if you understand!"

She nodded and I pushed her in the direction of a doorway that wasn't exposed to the direction most of the wind and sand was blowing in from. A few of the crazed people ran after her and I threw my last dagger into their head. The person's body fell to the ground and I ran over, yanking the dagger out just in time for the other four people to come over me.

I wasn't scared of what they could do to me, as only one of them had a sword. I slashed at that person's arm and tore the weapon from their grasp before turning on the little girl and old woman. I had less sympathy for the woman, and brought my sword down through her neck. When the others saw it, they backed away. The little girl came towards me first, and I kicked her with the heel of my foot in hopes it would knock her out long enough for me to bind her when I was finished with the others.

They seemed to have a strange strength and anger in them, and while the men before had only been searching for money, these two were looking to kill. The previous owner of the sword, I realized, was a guard, while the other seemed to be a simple man. If I wanted to land any solid blow on the guard, I would need to only be focused on him. The regular man bounced on his feet, ready to jump at me when given the opportunity. I rolled to the side to give myself more space from them, and as I did so tucked the sword underneath my armpit so the blade was facing the opposite direction. When I came to stand on my feet, the man that I knew would jump at me impaled himself on the sword and sank to the ground. His blood flowed across the mixture of sand and dirt, coating my shoes and making them uncomfortably warm as I moved into a new stance.

The guard was not as quick or jerky as the others. He circled me for a minute or so, waiting to find my weak point. I couldn't help but smile under my scarves as I feigned pain in my left leg. I shifted the weight of the sword so I could put more weight on my right leg. He took the bait much more easily than I had expected him to, and rammed his fist into my left thigh thinking I would fall to the ground on impact. Instead, I used my left leg as a base as I spun and rammed my right knee into the side of his head. As he stumbled to the side, I jammed the sword into the space just beneath his helmet and just above his chest plate.

Six bodies littered the ground. I looked around to ensure that there was no one else lurking and when I was satisfied that I was alone I ran to the little girl. I undid the yellow ribbon in her hair and tied her small wrists together. I picked her up and carried her over to the door the mother and child had gone to. When I knocked, they opened it up and let out a sob when they saw the little girl.

"Something is wrong with her. Keep her tied up. She's strong, so try to find better bonds than I could. I don't know if this will pass but... I figure it's best to keep an eye on her just in case." I handed the child over to a man and he sobbed as he held her in his arms. A woman rushed over with some rope and a chair, and they began to go to work. I pulled the door shut behind me.

It was time to leave.

I had done the best I could for these people, and if I stayed much longer, I wouldn't be able to protect the people I truly wanted to protect. I ran to Durabi, using my elbow to cover my face for more protection. As I came to him, I saw just how wild-eyed he was. He hissed at me as I came into view, but when I held out my hand for him to sniff, he calmed down and leaned towards the ground for me to climb atop. I moved to saddle him, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw I could see a girrab thrash in fear as it was tied to the post nearby. I dug around in my bag before my fingers graced Fal's horn. I placed it in front of Durabi's nose and once I saw his eyes turn a milky color, I cut him loose and let him run off in Fal's direction. I rushed over to the girrab and climbed atop its saddle. Its thrashing nearly made me fall off, so I gripped to its reins and loosened its tie. The creature wasted no time in bounding off in the opposite direction of the storm, and I steered it in the direction Durabi had taken off in.

We were already running out of time.

The girrab trailed behind Durabi quite a bit, but I managed to follow the lines that the lizard's body had created in the sand. The girrab would toss its neck one way or the other if I tried to correct it too much, but with every crack of lightning and thunder behind us, it would fall back into place and allow me to ride without issues. Part of me wasn't sure if Durabi was truly following Fal's scent so I had to hope that Fal and Durabi's bond was as strong as it appeared. Saladassi were notorious for their tracking capabilities, but with a storm scaring him I couldn't be certain that he wasn't just running from danger.

When the boneyard appeared in the distance, a breath escaped my chest. The scarves on my face and nose were the only thing protecting me from the wind that grew steady and strong, and I wanted to tear them from my face. Something told me not to. The man who had attacked me had no scarf on, and he had been just exposed to the storm as I was. If there was one reason I escaped it, it was the scarf that protected my lungs from the black sand.

The others were gathered outside of the skull, looking over Durabi and searching for me. I saw one of them point in my direction as I came into their own view. I turned to see where the storm was. It still loomed in the distance, but was much further West than any of us were. That meant we still had some time left.

"Aumee--" Sidra started.

"We can't waste any time. Pack light and load Durabi up. Deorcae's world is starting and the storm is..." I slid off of the girrab but held its reins so tightly in my grasp that I could feel my nails digging into the leather. "It's storm clouds and lightning. I saw it in my dreams, except this one is joined by a black sandstorm." I pointed to the horizon quickly before looking through the bags of the girrab to see if it had anything useful. There wasn't much aside from some dried portions of meat and a canteen.

"Slow down, we don't know what you're--"

"I was at a Waystation when I was attacked. Cover your faces. Tightly. Fal, take this," I began unraveling some cloth from my arm and moved towards Fal to wrap his face up. His face was turning a dark shade of red as he grabbed onto my wrists and shoved me away from him.

"You need to explain yourself. You can't just run back here and expect us to follow your lead. Not after what you pulled." He crossed his arms and stepped back once more. The twins didn't make a move to argue with him, and only looked to me for answers.

I gestured towards the storm, my arms shaking with anger as I did. "That? That's the storm in my nightmares. The ones that showed me what Deorcae's rule over the Wayst would be like. I was in a station when it first appeared and everyone thought it would bring rain. Rolling in with it is a black sandstorm." I reached up to pet the girrab's neck as it began twitching from nerves. "I think the black sand poisons the minds of whoever breathes it in. People who were caught in the storm with nothing on their face attacked me. So I sent Durabi to you all and took this girrab so we can reach Arden." No one moved, but I watched as their jaws fell slack and their eyes shifted to the storm. "We need to leave. As soon as possible. We can't be out here when it hits."

Ambrose shook his head and rubbed his temples. "Why go there? When there's so many people? Wouldn't the smart move be to stay out here where it's just us four?"

I glanced at Fal, but his eyes darted away from mine. "I think we stand a better chance in Arden. But you'll have to hear me out. And, you'll have to do it quickly. If you don't think it will work then you can stay here." I took a deep breath, pulling my hand over my face. I told them about the nightmare. I told them everything Deorcae told me. From the violence to their fates. They needed to know what was at stake. They had only gone off of lore the first time, but I hoped that what I had seen with my own eyes would convince them that it was worth another try. We had all been lucky enough to escape from Deorcae. I couldn't say whether that was by mercy or by luck, but I knew that if we wanted to escape unscathed once more we would have to have a better plan.

"So we were all dead?" Sidra asked it first. I nodded and she copied my motions, seemingly unphased. "Pleasant."

"That's one word for it." Ambrose scoffed and took a bite out of his food. "So what's this plan of yours?"

"The sawl ripa. One cut, one nick, and a body's soul is taken away. Correct?" Fal gave a curt nod. "Deorcae must have a soul. Otherwise how would he have been able to be brought back? How would he have survived being killed the first time? He wanted the transformation spell because he needed his body back, so what we saw, the Baurpei, it must have been his soul. Or, at least, a version of it. So if we can find a way to just cut him, we can take him out of his body back and he would be back to having less power." I tried to convince them, but all of them looked skeptical. Fal rose an eyebrow at me, as if asking if I were being serious. "You're telling me you truly don't think that would work?"

"I don't think it would work for a few reasons. The main one being that we couldn't get close enough to him even if we tried. We couldn't guarantee that it would work. And, finally, we would have the raw soul of the dark god in our hands. What would we do with that?" Sidra laughed incredulously. "He made that dagger. You think we could end him with it?"

"Fal, please, help me on this. You said you could... imbue the soul into some other object, right?"

"Yes."

"So, technically speaking, we could do the same with Deorcae's soul. Imbue it."

"Technically speaking."

"See?" I pointed to Fal as if he had offered up evidence that the twins couldn't deny, but Fal tsked. "What is it then?" I rolled my eyes and looked to where Fal stood, scratching at his incoming beard. "It's not exactly as if we have all the time in the world to think it over? Our cutoff is right there." I nodded my head to the dark horizon.

"From what I read, the blade only holds onto the soul for so long. We would have to have the set up for the second step ready where he stands. Do you understand? We would have to cut him in nearly the exact same place that we plan on imbuing another object with his soul. And, we would have to have something."

"If you think about it," Ambrose cut in, "we could turn him into a stick. You know, if it did all happen to somehow run smoothly. Which it wouldn't."

"Thank you for your contribution, Ambrose."

"Anything you need."

Fal motioned for everyone to follow him, and I pressed my lips together. I understand being hesitant, but it's not as if they have many other options. A small fire was in the middle of their campsite, some prickly pear and goat roasting overtop. Fal moved closer to the fire and brandished the stick that they had used for their goat kebabs. "Consider this the sawl ripa. The fire is Deorcae." He plunged the tip of the stick into the flames of the fire, and we all watched as the wood turned a scorching red color. He pulled it back out of the fire. "Perhaps the sawl ripa can handle the heat." The red mark on the stick was steady, but gave way to a flame that began inching its way down the length of the stick. "Or, perhaps, the soul of Deorcae-- who is a dark god, might I add--- perhaps his soul consumes the dagger because of the sheer power he possesses. The dagger would fail." We watch as the stick is eaten up by the hungry flames, which Fal let burn in his rock-studded hand. When it began to disintegrate, he let it fall back down into the fire. "Those are the possibilities, Aumee. Are you really willing to try that?"

"It's the same as before, everyone." I dragged my hands over my face and hair, trying to stay awake. "We are all bound to die either way."

"What if the future you saw, where we are all dead, is only our future if we go up against Deorcae?" Ambrose wrung his hands over one another as he spoke. His eyes were trained on the fire before they looked up to mine. "Have you thought of that?"

I hadn't. "It..." I shrugged it off. "No, that just wouldn't make sense. He showed me that future when he was trying to get me to..." I wiped at my arm as if it were nothing, but knew what I was about to say would change their views of me. "He was trying to convince me to kill myself, and he used you all to do that. He wants me dead. I think this is why. I know what's in store for everyone here, and I don't want that to happen. Whether you would believe it or not." I couldn't stand to look at them, so I moved back to Durabi and the girrab. "You're either with me or you aren't. Either way, I'm heading to Arden now. It's further from the storm. They're both fast, so whichever one you take will get you where you need to go."

Ambrose heaved a heavy sigh. "We'll need a layout of the area we plan on doing this in. We'll need the spell for imbuing, or whatever it is, his soul. We'll need a very, very detailed plan."

"We'll need an inside person," Sidra spoke up. "We can't do this on our own. Deorcae will see us coming before we even step foot in Arden. We need someone who can help us catch him by surprise. That's the only way this will work."

"There seems to be a growing list of conditions," Fal grumbled.

"We have a few options." I looked to Fal. "Starting with your brother, Fal."

"Why Sander? He does nothing but sit and look pretty." He made a face as he rose to his feet and began pacing the area.

"I'm not sure yet. It's a start, though. And a start is more than we really have at the moment." I rubbed my hands together. "Arden will be tricky to get into. Daya and Deorcae will have their eyes and ears everywhere. It will be full alert."

"Will it, though?" Ambrose picked at something in his teeth. "Think about it. They currently both think you're out of the fight. They think you're dealing with nightmares and considering... you know, death by your own hand. And I don't think the three of us are nearly as big of a threat as you are."

"But," Sidra stopped him, "if Deorcae wants her dead as badly as he seems to, then he's likely keeping an eye on her."

"You're both right," Fal said with a kick of some dust. "Aumee is the one who's really being watched. That means the three of us have to do most of the work until it's time to make our move. Which we should all note is as soon as possible." Fal stopped pacing and looked at me. "Wait, you said we had a few options for people on the inside. Who else were you talking about?"

All eyes turned to me.

"Daya."