Another droplet of sweat trickled down the side of Jesse's face, dripping onto the blue fabric of her T-shirt. She reached up, wiping her face off on her hand and raking her fingers through her sweaty hair a few times.

"I'm melting like an ice-cream cone." Jesse muttered as she took the reins of her horse again. "Seriously, it's a miracle that neither of us has gotten heatstroke yet-"

"Oh, Jesse, stop complaining!" Petra moaned from her horse, glancing over her shoulder at Jesse.

"Don't you dare say it 'isn't that hot' out here, it's boiling." Jesse said, using her sleeve to wipe a fresh layer of sweat from her face.

"It wouldn't be that crazily hot for you, if you just came to the Nether with me more often." Petra said, fishing a water bottle out of her saddle bag and tossing it to Jesse. "Then you wouldn't have any problem adapting to the heat."

"Whatever, whatever." Jesse mumbled as she pulled up her horse.

She screwed the cap off the water bottle, thirstily drinking from it. When she finished, she promptly dribbled some of the cool liquid over her sweaty face. Petra just rolled her eyes, holding her hand out for the bottle once Jesse was done.

"If we were just passing through, it'd be fine." Jesse said as they began riding again. "But just the mere thought of staying for a while is making it even harder to deal with this heat."

"Look, I didn't complain when you wanted to bunker down at the creek last month, because you 'liked watching the sunset from there'. So you can shut up and stop complaining about having to follow me into a desert." Petra replied matter-of-factly.

Jesse sighed grumpily, although she knew arguing with Petra was just going to wear her out more. She glanced around, wondering if taking in her surroundings a bit would take her mind off the fact that she was sweating like a racehorse. If anything, seeing the dry, open sanddunes with nothing but a cactus here and there, was making Jesse feel even hotter.

On the bright sight, the sun was beginning to drift down towards the horizon. She couldn't wait for things to cool down a bit.

Jesse glanced over at Petra, who was riding slightly ahead of her. Despite her own clothes being damp with sweat, Petra's eyes were twinkling with excitement. This was a trip that she's been waiting for, for so long. Jesse knew she couldn't just take that away from Petra, not over a little heat.

"It's beginning to get late." Petra said, pulling Jesse from her train of thought. "It'll be dark soon."

"I can't wait!" Jesse said, urging her horse on slightly until she was riding beside Petra. "The temperature is bound to go down a little. Even just a few degrees lower would feel so much better."

"Of course that's all you're excited for." Petra said with a chuckle. "I wish we still had a few hours of daylight on our side. If we want to be ready for the temple tomorrow, we can't waste our energy on fighting a ton of mobs."

"Point taken." Jesse replied. "Where will we stop for the night? The light's fading fast."

"Let's be real, the landscape isn't going to change for at least a few more miles." Petra said. "We'll ride until it's dark, then set up a small wood hut wherever we came to a stop."

"Sounds like.. well somewhat of a plan." Jesse responded with a vague chuckle, earning a grin from Petra as well.

As Jesse had hoped, the air did begin to cool down a bit as the sun began to set. A gentle breeze even began to blow, which was both nice and terrible. Nice because it cooled them down even more, terrible because they were being dusted with a fine coat of desert sand.

"Let's call it a day." Petra finally said, pulling on her horse's reins. "If I taste sand in my mouth one more time, I'm going to loose it."

Jesse nodded in response, throwing her leg over the saddle and landing on the soft, warm sand. Placing down a fence post, Petra unsaddled the horses and tied them up for the night, while Jesse began constructing a tiny wood hut. After feeding their horses and giving them water for the night, the two girls sealed themselves into the dirt hut for the night, while listening to the mobs spawning outside.

"I can't wait to finally sleep." Jesse said as she slumped back against the one wall, taking a bite of the carrot. "Today was one hell of a long day."

"One thing I'm inclined to agree on." Petra said with a chuckle, flopping down against a wall as well with a carrot of her own. "And tomorrow we have a prize that's waiting for us!"

"Do you know how much further this temple is?" Jesse asked her.

Petra held her carrot with her teeth, using her hands to fish a map out of their bag. Jesse shuffled closer to her as Petra lay the map out on the ground.

"We came in here." Petra said, pointing to a part at the edge of the desert with her carrot. "If I had to give a rough guess of how far we rode in today, I'd say about..." She pointed the carrot at the middle of the desert. "-here."

"So what means we're about two thirds of the way there." Jesse said thoughtfully, her eyes roughly comparing the distance they have ridden, to the distance between their current location and the marked spot.

"Sounds about right." Petra responded, taking another bite of her carrot as she leaned back against the wall.

"What do you think the temple will have?" Jesse asked curiously. "Diamonds and gold? Valuable artifacts?"

"I don't know." Petra admitted. "But it's got to be good! Considering we had to go through an entire dungeon filled with monsters and traps to get to this map alone? It has to be worth it!"

"It better be." Jesse said with a chuckle, leaning back against the wall and stifling a yawn. "But hey, I guess we'll find out in the morning?"

-------------------------

"Hey, sleepyhead! Wake up!"

"Huh?" Jesse mumbled sleepily, forcing her tired eyes to open. She was greeted by Petra, practically on top of her.

"Finally!" Petra said, throwing her hands into the air. "I've already packed all our stuff and saddled up the horses! Seriously, how long were you planning to sleep?"

"Ugh." Jesse just grunted in response, fighting the urge to close her eyes again. "What time is it even?"

"Don't know, don't care. The sun's up, let's move it." Petra said, tugging on Jesse's arm.

Jesse let out another groan in response, before giving into Petra's wishes and getting up. She was still trying to rub life back into her eyes, when Petra shoved what looked like an apple into her hands saying something about eating breakfast on the road.

"I hope this place has some good loot to make it worth it." Jesse said with a yawn as she mounted her horse, while simultaneously taking a bite from the apple.

"That makes two of us!" Petra said excitedly. "I've been waiting for this for long enough."

Jesse just let out a tired mumble in response, continuing to eat her apple while steering her horse with one hand. One advantage of Petra's early departure, was that it wasn't too hot yet. Jesse had gotten rid of all grogginess and was fully awake by the time the heat actually began bothering her again.

"When we're done with all of this, I want to camp out right next to a lake." Jesse said as she felt the first droplet of sweat making it's way down her back. "Actually, I'd prefer to be in the lake."

"Good luck with that." Petra said with a snort. "I'll make you a raft."

Both of them laughed.

The ride after that didn't go on for too much longer. Jesse was about to make the suggestion that they stop and eat something for lunch, when Petra all of a sudden made a noise that sounded like it was a mixture between a gasp and an excited squeal.

"Did you just think or something really excitedly, or did you choke?" Jesse asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"What? No!" Petra stood up in her stirrups, pointing. "Look!"

Jesse's turned her head, following Petra's gaze. She raised her eyebrows, her mouth slowly opening. It was barely visible in the distance, a spot of colour in the bleak, sandy desert. But even from that distance, she could tell it was trees. Large jungle trees, bent over an orangey structure.

If Petra hadn't seen it first, Jesse would have thought the heat was starting to play a number on her mind.

"Let's go!" Petra said, digging her heels into her horse's sides.

"Wai-" Jesse began with no success as Petra's horse broke into a gallop, leaving her and her horse in a cloud of dust.

Urging her own horse on, Jesse was quick to catch up with her friend. The horses themselves seemed to eager to get to the tiny oasis, stretching out their necks as they galloped alongside each other.

"Woah." Jesse breathed as they pulled up on the lush grass. "How is all this even growing here? As far as I know, there's no underground water source in these parts."

"That is a great question that I do not have an answer to." Petra responded, flinging her leg over the saddle. Jesse followed her friend's example, both of them leading the horses up to he building and tying them up beside it. Immediately the two animals began to graze.

Taking their armour and weapons out of the supply bags, Jesse and Petra quickly suited up before even thinking about entering the building. Another complaint was on the tip of Jesse's tongue as she felt herself boil beneath the steel of the Swordbreaker.

"Are you ready?" Petra asked excitedly, holding Miss Butter up.

"Ready!" Jesse responded, raising her own diamond sword and letting the blade's tip touch with Miss Butter.

Both of them turned to the building, looking up at the large, golden doors in front of them. There was no visible right way to open the doors, no lock, no engraved text, nothing. Petra jabbed Miss Butter into the slid between the doors, unsuccessfully trying to push them apart.

Jesse frowned, running her gloved fingers along the patterns in the golden surface. Ignoring Petra's frustrated swears and complaints, as she traced the outlining of a large square. At first she had seen it as a part of the design, but now she was noticing that it wasn't symmetrical on both doors.

"Found something?" She heard Petra asked.

"Something about the form and size of this square is familiar." She said softly. "And the position is out of place."

Petra nodded thoughtfully, although she didn't say anything in response. Jesse frowned, trying to pinpoint exactly what was getting her attention.

"Petra, hand me the map." She suddenly gasped.

Petra's frown deepened, before she took the map out and gave it to Jesse. She took it, holding the map up in front of the square. It fitted perfectly.

"Do you think this is the key to getting in?" Petra asked hopefully.

"Only one way to find out." Jesse replied, pressing the map up against the square.

Instantly it was like the gold sucked the paper closer to it, the map fusing into the door. There was rumble within the temple and the doors slowly slid open.

"We did it!" Jesse exclaimed excitedly, while Petra bellowed in victory. They exchanged eager glances.

"You ready?" Petra asked her.

"One hundred percent." Jesse responded. "Let's see what awaits us behind these doors.

With that, the two of the stepped into the shadows, walking into the darkness. There was another low rumble behind them as the doors slid open again, sealing them in for their newest adventure to begin.

___

Warding off writer's block before it can get to me, by writing about Jesse and Petra's adventures again-

Are you guys sick of me writing about these two by now? Because if I'm being honest here... I've been having a blast doing so xD

So this was another kind of make-it-up-as-I-go-along one shot. I do really like how it came out, and I'm debating on making a sequel for it. I have a rough idea, but I'm stumped on how to flesh out the one shot and make it more than 500 words, lol. We'll see if inspiration does its thing!
Sorry this isn't the most action packed one shot tho - again.

Anyway, let's not start rambling. I don't think I have anything else I want to say, so I'll leave it off here!
I hope you all enjoyed this one shot and I'll see you tomorrow with whichever prompt I draw next!