When Grace finished speaking about the various benefits and negatives of using a dagger as a secondary weapon with minimal training the desert came into view for Kat's unenhanced eyes. Grace hadn't noticed yet as she was too focused on explaining the necessities of keeping your dagger sharp.
And it was a good thing too, for Kat could feel the fatigue rapidly approaching her. It was a strange feeling, it wasn't affecting her just yet, and it was more akin to a small voice of warning.
"Hey Grace" said Kat just before Grace could finish taking one of her few breaks for air "The deserts right here"
Grace got a shocked look on her face and turned in the direction of travel to see Kat was right. As they approached the desert the bright red sand stood out even more than usual against the clean white line of snow next to it.
Though the strange part was that the red didn't seem bright at all, almost like it was sucking in the light around it despite its rather vibrant colours. "Oh no" said Grace
*What seems to be the problem?* Kat gave Grace a look of confusion who instantly picked up on it and explained "I guess you wouldn't know, but those are the Red Sands"
This only intensified Kat's confusion though. *Yeah? It's red sand what is so impressive about that?*
Grace saw Kat's face lacked comprehension and sighed. "Well, ok, the Red Sands are a rather infamous section of the Great Desert. It absorbs sunlight and retains heat extremely well. This means that it's like walking on hot coals night and day with no reprieve"
"Oh… just that?" asked Kat
"What do you mean just that? How are we supposed to get across" asked Grace
"I mean, same way we got across the ice surely? I just carry you" said Kat
Grace thought about it for a moment and recalled the time Kat hugged that orb capable of melting through solid stone and treating it like a hand warmer. "Well… ok then"
However just as Kat reached the edge, the little warning in her mind started to intensify. Kat quickly killed her moment sliding across the snow like a skier until she came to a stop just before the ground transitioned over to sand.
"What?" asked Grace
"I'm feeling my energy use catch up to me. I won't require much to walk but running will still use a bit. Nothing like what I've used up going over the ice, but I think I'd need to rest before we got too far"
Grace nodded in understanding "Well, that gives us time to think of alternatives. I know you said you can run across this, but surely nobody else could. I don't know how long it will take us to cross this section"
Grace took a quick glance at the sun to gauge the time and instantly regretted her decision. Covering her eyes with one hand she continued "It's still morning… approaching lunch probably, so I doubt the answer is to wait till night. The grounds will hardly cool at all with the red sands"
"Hey, speaking of lunch" said Kat "Don't you need to eat? I'm not hungry, and I can go a while without food"
"Well, I'm fine, it hasn't even been 24 hours since we've been stranded here, and I've gone, much longer without food" said Grace
"I sense a story" said Kat as she took a seat in the snow. After realising what she'd done Kat was about to jump up again, but found her kimono wasn't actually letting any snow or water slip through and so settled back down "Care to tell?"
"Well… I guess I can while your resting. So me and the team were investigating a place called the Plague Woods. They aren't actually that deadly, and if you make the appropriate preparations the disease and poison can be resisted" Grace spoke slowly, unlike when speaking of weapons, it was a more human er- elvish pace, and she even breathed between sentences
"It's been really well studied so antidotes aren't that hard to come by. It's most common use is actually training poison resistance for people who really go for that. Never seemed worth it to me but I digress.
"Something had been causing problems in the woods, not the poison or disease, but a monster. It was disrupting the ecosystem in a major way, or so I was told, and we were contracted to find out what it was, and if possible, get rid of it
"Well… we prepared plenty of antidotes, got some updated maps of the area, stocked up on food and headed out. About two days in, we realised that our food was starting to go a little funny
"Well… let's just say we didn't make the brightest decision. We'd heard that your sense of taste could be majorly affected by the antidotes we were taking so thought nothing of it and continued for another two days before realising something was clearly wrong
"So, with no clean food, major stomach problems and in the middle of a forest where basically everything has poison or a disease of some kind, we had to struggle back to civilisation without eating a single thing.
"Well, we all got out and survived, but it was not something I care to repeat" sighed Grace.
Kat rested up a bit more after Grace finished her story, until she felt completely recovered, though if Kat really focused she could tell that wasn't the case, and she was still missing around one third of her energy. How she could get such a precise amount was also a question, but she dismissed it for the moment in favour of figuring out what to do about the desert.
"So should we get going?" asked Kat
"Well…" said Grace "I think there has to be sand gliders or something to get across. There is no way anyone should be able to just walk across them"
Kat raised an eyebrow at Grace who responded "Yes, ok, I know that you can, and heck Thyme probably could if she wanted to as well, but once you get to that level of power nothing is really an issue"
"So… do we car about these sand gliders? I mean I can walk, but that doesn't mean it would be best" said Kat
"Well… are you faster when you fly?" asked Grace
"Yes, but I can't carry you so that won't work" said Kat
"Are you sure?" asked Grace
Kat went to answer but stopped. *Am I sure? I haven't tried to carry anyone since Minor, and I think everything of mine improved after I reached rank 1. So it isn't completely out of the question.* "No I guess not. I'm stronger than I was last time I tried to carry someone so we can give it a go."
Kat stood up and grabbed Grace without warning. The elf didn't even looked shock this time as Kat prepared her wings. Hopping slightly then flapping her wings, Kat ended up straight back on the ground.
Taking a firm stance Kat tried to take off with just her wings. As she stood there beating her wings Kat could feel that if she let more energy into them she might be able to carry Grace. *I don't think I can waste that much energy though. Carrying Grace is still a question, and even if the answers is yes it seems like it would be too costly.*
Stopping her wings and lower Grace down Kat said "I think the answer is no. At least not efficiently. I might be able to throw demonic energy at the problem and hope it gets solved, but even if that works it's simply too much to burn through to cross any sizeable chunk of space"
"Hmm" murmured Grace "Can you perhaps fly up by yourself and see if there is a better way to cross"
Kat nodded and took to the sky. Looking out over the desert Kat found she could see the edge with just a bit of energy in her eyes. Of course 'the end' was a bit misleading because what she could actually see was a massive wall of fog blocking her from seeing further. *Must be real fog as well, otherwise I'd be able to see through it.*
Kat was about to take a look around the edge of the desert for something of note when in the corner of her eye she detected movement. Pushing more energy into her eyes to clearly make out the shape, Kat was surprised to find a bird rushing towards her…
Straight towards her, and from the look in its eyes, she wasn't the only one who could see for kilometres. The bird itself was enormous. Kat still couldn't see the fine details, but it was a bright yellow possibly to hide against the sun, with a sharp beak and sharper talons.
Quickly descending back to Grace, Kat shouted a warning "Giant bird incoming"