Creak watched her feet as she walked through the snowless pine forest. She had followed Vern for a week, his promise of a safe place was the only thing that kept her going. She couldn't remember when the temperature had gotten so hot, but by the start of their second week traveling to Vern's home Creak found herself sweating.

'But it's almost the middle of winter!' She thought. Just a few days ago she had been freezing to death and playing in the snow. How could it have changed so fast?

"Not all places are cold in the winter." Gorgos said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'You've forgotten I haven't traveled much. I didn't know the temperature wasn't at least close in most places.' Creak didn't feel like arguing with herself, but she felt like she might have something to learn from Gorgos. She just needed to get the information out of her.

"Well there are these things called climates and different areas have different ranges of temperatures." Creak smiled when she didn't even have to fight to get answers.

'So what kind of climate are we going into that makes it so warm?' She asked the voice inside her.

"People call it a desert. Its know to be really hot in the day and freezing at night. A place so dry few things can survive." Gorges sounded a bit too happy about the last part, but Creak tried not to stress about it. Vern seemed to know where he was going so surely he knew how to survive the journey.

When Creak looked up from her feet she saw a sight she never thought she would see. The end of pine trees. They just abruptly stopped growing like an invisible wall prevented them from going any farther.
The idea of seeing something other than the same trees she had traveled through for two weeks sent Creak stumbling over the needle covered floor.

'Is it the desert?' She bubbled with excitement. 'What does a desert even look like?'

The fatigue of little food and sleep had Creak trip over her own feet. Just as she was about to face plant in a pile of fallen, brown needles, Vern caught her around the waste.

"Geez." He set her back on her feet. "Slow down. You don't want to burn out the last of your strength."

Creak smiled up at him. "Thanks. I just really want to get out of these trees."

Vern grimaced. "You'll be wishing for the trees by tomorrow."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." She looked around the pine forest. Every tree looked the same. Same color, same height. It was a little unsettling. "I think I've seen enough pine trees for my life time."

Vern shook his head with a soft grin. "Too bad we'll have to walk through them again on our way back."

Creak nodded in agreement. She didn't want to stay at Vern's safe place for forever. Her brother wouldn't be there and Creak couldn't imagine a life without her brother. Though it wasn't safe to go back to him, one day she would find a way.

Steadying herself, Creak grabbed Vern's hand and pulled him out of the pine forest and into a whole new world. It was yellow, red, and orange all at the same time. Hills of weird, hot dirt and nothing. The new world was made of hot dirt and sky. Looking out at the air Creak marveled at the way it swayed. She had never seen wavy air or so much nothingness.

"What is this?" She crouched to the ground and let the dirt sift out of her fingers. It was finer than dirt and a whole lot drier.

Vern crouched beside her and scooped up his own handful of the stuff. "It's sand." He tossed some into the air. "You've never seen sand before?"

Creak shook her head. "Not this much... sand." She could remember a little bit of the strange dirt at the base of Carson's Cliff, but she had never really known what it was.

'So this must be a desert.' She wondered to herself. 'A place full of sand and nothingness. Wasn't there more?'

Not feeling one bit safe, Creak took a step out into the desert. "We shouldn't waste any time."

Vern silently took the lead.

As they walked farther out into the vast open space Creak felt like she would suffocate. What if they needed to hide from something? There was nowhere to hide. Vern had promised safety, but all Creak felt was the opposite.

"How far does the sand go?" Creak wondered with a shaky voice. The pine forest had already disappeared behind them.

"This is the shortest part of the Sarrifeen Desert. We're at least half-a-day from the Arkenine Mountains."

Vern looked back with worry as Creak slipped and fell back down the dune they had been climbing. Carefully he trotted back down the slope and pulled Creak up.

"The Arkenine Mountains reach this far to the north?" She asked in wonder. She had know the mountain range was big, but not that big.

Vern nodded and helped her climb the dune. "Yeah, but it curves to the west and stops when it reaches the ocean."

"Have you ever been there?" Creak asked.

"Where? The ocean?" Vern looked off to the west as if he could see the ocean from where they walked. "No. Have you?"

Creak shook her head. "I've never been anywhere other than Riverfall."

Vern smiled down at her. "I guess we'll have to go there then."

Creak found herself smiling into his warm, brown eyes, a shade darker than her own. "I'd love to."

Vern pulled her over the next dune. "Then its official. After all this craziness is over we'll go see the ocean."

Creak like the sound of that. It implied that they would both live through the 'craziness'. It was a nice thought; an impossible thought. But Creak liked to let herself think it was possible. Impossibly possible.

As the hour passed, Creak learned that the desert wasn't as empty of life as she had first thought. There were large stabby plants that Vern called cacti and little lizards that darted across the sand. One time Creak almost stepped on a slithery snake as tan and red as the sand.

Vern had been right when he said she would want the pine trees back. Out in the desert there was no shade and the sun beat them relentlessly. Creak was naturally tan, but was surprised when she started to turn red. The sun was literally cooking her alive and she worried if the red would ever go away.

"The sun hurts." She said showing the burnt skin the Vern.

He laughed showing her his own red arm. "Looks like the sun loves us so much it gave us a kiss for good luck."

Creak winced. "I don't feel very lucky."

Within two hours of stumbling through the hot sand Creak spotted a shadow in the near distance. The Arkenine Mountains rose into the clouds, so high Creak couldn't see the top through a layer of fog that rested there.

With the new encouragement, Creak took Vern's hand again and picked up their pace. She wanted to get out of the burning sun and blistering sand, that left her bare feet burnt.

'We're so close, now.' Creak thought with relief. 'Only a few more hours.'

A low buzz started in her head and Creak feared the sun was getting to her. 'Is it possible to get sick from too much sunlight?' She wonder with horror. 'Can it kill me?'

Gorgos laughed. "Death by desert sun insanity. Not the most heroic death is it?"

Creak wanted to laugh, but the thought sickened her. She was finally living her life. She finally had a reason to live. Sure she had always had her brother, but Creak had constantly believed her brother would be better off without her. But now she had a best friend and a promise to see the ocean.

'I don't want to die now.' She thought in desperation.

"Do you hear that?" Vern asked. The buzzing had gotten louder as if it were getting closer to them.

Creak looked at him in relief. "I thought it was just in my head."

"No that's definitely not in your head." The alarm in his voice made Creak choke with panic.

"What is it?" She managed to whisper.

The buzzing seemed to absorb the desert air and convert the silence into a powerful noise. A noise that made Creak want to bang her head against a rock just to get it out.

She turned around with Vern just as a mass of flying wasps the size of her hand flew over the dune behind them. They were full of anger; the hatred rolling off of them in waves.

"Run!" Vern yelled above the noise and grabbed her hand, rocketing them through the sand and towards the distant mountains.

"What are those!" Creak struggled to keep her footing on the shifting sand.

Vern glanced behind them and picked up their pace. "I don't know, but they sure don't look friendly!"

The ground went out beneath her and Creak felt herself fall with horror. She refused to take Vern out with her, so she let her hand slip out of his.
Vern's momentum sent him skidding as he tried to turn around.

"Run!" Creak screamed as she struggled to get back onto her feet.

Vern crawled on his hands and knees toward her. Fear shone in his eyes as he looked at something behind her, but he kept coming closer.

Creak slipped through the sand towards him, the wasps an angry cymphony at her back. She made the mistake of looking back; a mistake that cost her seconds that could have saved them.

The swarm was right on top of her just as Vern used himself as a human shield to protect her. Creak couldn't see anything as she was pressed into the sand, but a wasp still found its way to her. It bit her arms and face, the pain of one seemed unbearable. But Vern was on top of her taking the bites for the both of them. He was so tense, but didn't cry out.

'Maybe he passed out!' Creak thought in horror and tried to get out from under him. One of his arms wrapped around her to keep her from struggling.

'He's still awake!' Creak thought in amazement. But he must be dying. The pain from her few bites traveled through her body like a raging fire. If she was in pain then he was a pain thirty times worse.

"Stop!" Creak spat sand out of her mouth. "Vern, we have to run!"

Either he wasn't going to listen to her or he couldn't move, but Creak struggled harder. If she didn't help him, Vern would die. She couldn't let the only friend she had ever had die!

Pushing through the sand Creak got her upper half out from under Vern, but she didn't get much farther. With a new target, the swarm rounded on her. Creak screamed and swatted at them, trying to cover her face the best she could.

She thought the wasps would never leave.

'Wind Wasps.' She thought through the pain that left her paralyzed. 'I'll called them Wind Wasps.'

The pain tore through her sending spasms thought her whole body. Just when Creak felt the end coming they stopped.

Looking up, Creak couldn't see anything. Her face was covered in bites, both her eyes swollen shut. The sound was gone and silence surrounded her.

"Vern!" She cried, but no tears came out of her eyes. "Vern!"

Creak felt around the sand until she found Vern's unmoving body. His arms and back felt completely swollen and Creak worry if he was even still breathing.

He didn't make a sound as she grabbed his arms and began tugging him across the sand.

The struggle had disoriented her and she wasn't even sure if she was going in the right direct. All Creak knew was that she had to get to the mountains and hope that Vern's people would be there to help her.

Vern was twice her weight and Creak wasn't sure where her new strength had come from. Blind and tiring, she pulled Vern up and over dunes having to stop frequently.

'I don't want to die.' She thought every time her body refused to move. 'I can't let Vern die.'

Pushing herself harder, Creak's breathing became labored. The sand felt never ending, but soon it became shallower. She didn't have to crawl over any more dunes and her descent was gradually turning the sand hard and cool.

'The mountains!' Creak thought, scrapping her hands over the rocks.

She had made it! But that was as far as she was going to get. With the last of her strength, Creak screamed for help until the pain caused her to finally pass out.