MIDAS

Graf sighed, rubbing his closed eyes as he looked over the group. Iyana and Haya watched gravely confused, unable to understand why a motionless Midas was lying right in front of them. The young girl glanced over his roughed-up body. Haya worriedly watched Iyana, her closed hand pressed against her chest as she lowered her gaze down to the sleeping boy. 

"A creature attacked you...? When was it, and why is he hurt as well...? Her voice seemed uncertain, yet more alert than confused, her masked face abruptly turning to face the driver. "When did he even leave...?" I'd honestly thought he would've been sleeping like a rock with how drained he seemed after the attack at the Sabahr'Kifar..." Shifting her sight towards Midas's closed lids, she sunk her hands to rest on her lap.

"Well... A bit of money would help us out greatly. Even though we have enough to buy cheap bread and water, I thought, Why not risk a glance into the ruins? The possible treasures it might hold..." The driver raised his shoulders, opening his eyes to take a look at the boy, sinking his arms again as he continued to speak. "After... this creature overwhelmed me somehow, I found myself stuck in some... cocoon, I suppose. Midas then found me; somehow he ended up there with me... That fool just ran into that place without a second thought—I was too late to warn him before that thing attacked us." 

Scratching the back of his bald head, he reported back to the rest. His eyes wandered down to his necklace, holding the attached silver frame, which held onto the sun shard inside of it, his fingers raising it up to his face as his expression grew more thoughtful. "Somehow he was able to use the sunshard—even though his attack was loosely thrown at the enemy—still, somewhat remarkable to what it led to."

"Was the rumbling we woke up to... his work?" Haya asked cautiously, feeling uneasy to speak about the same person who lay completely absent right before him, resting on the same hay he and Iyana were sitting on. "To think he can control a sun shard to that capability..." Hayas's lips parted in awe, his gaze locked onto the motionless face of Midas. 

"I'm not that sure about... controlling." Graf remarked briefly, his stone lighting up as the sledge began to glide across the sand grains. "His attempt to stop the creature could've easily crushed the both of us... I find it hard to believe his attack really was focused on anything, given that the whole room was dark." His eyes closed again as his head sunk lightly, resting his hands on his knees to find a sturdy position. 

"We have other problems right now. We lack any food or water; if we don't find any in the next town... Were in trouble. I will have to change routes; we will head east for a while..." Iyana's hood flapped around, the winds blowing against the fabric, as she held her hand on Midas' forehead. "The chance of finding water and food there is much higher... Something that concerns me, though, is the northern troops. Graf mumbled to himself, mapping out a secondary route in his head. "Heading through the many outposts might get annoying." He added, murmuring into him.

"Why not head through the mainland...?" A voice similar to Midas's sounded from behind him, startling Inaya slightly. As she pulled her hand away, Haya and the young girl grinned at the sudden awakening of the boy, watching him as he got up, raising his upper body as he began to instinctively lay his left hand over the right one. "Is it because of the dry season we head to the coast...?" He followed his initial question, his voice seemingly less raspier.

"The dry season forces many rivers to dry up; with that, many of the regional ponds of water that get filled up during the rainy seasons shrink... until they completely dry up." Inaya explains in a light tone. Her instruction disrupted by a distant roar, originating from far away, out of the dunes their carriage passed. "This... sudden retrieval of water forces many of the regional species to migrate to the coasts. Including animals we call Zilaj... that sound you just heard was most likely one of these." Inaya turned her face out to face the dunes surrounding them, the sunlight shining brightly off her mask.

"Quite the pain to deal with, honestly; those gluttonous beasts mistake sledges like mine for their kind... Some of the salesmen ended up stranded or pummeled by them, as their sledge was destroyed by one of these things..." Graf grumbled as he began to steer in the other direction. Midas raised his brows lightly as he heard the driver, his gaze lowering at the thought of having to fight another beast. His eyes instantly glancing at his right arm, Midas wondered how long it would take for him to finally be able to use his right arm again, slowly growing his interest as to how the slate looked.

After its insertion, Midas's eyes were swollen by tears, the pain barely allowing him to keep his head upright. Alma had been quick to bandage it up after he had glanced at the stone, after which Iyana must've been the only person to actually see what was engraved in it besides the slot that held onto the sun shard the boy stole from Alma's dead body. Stopping himself from asking, as a lump formed in his throat. Midas remembered the hate he felt towards Alma for not letting him know about the stone rune, a hatred that grew out of unanswered questions the boy longed for answers to. The boy felt slightly ashamed, hiding his closed eyes behind his left hand as he held his head inside of his palm.

"Alright then. I was planning on making that left turn much later, but... risking my ride here might just get us killed. There should be a small dock around here—a place I haven't visited in a long while—I used to rest here after visiting the northern fort... even though I'd rather reach the port by today..." His voice lowered by the stress he felt with a Zilaj possibly in his neck, he bit softly onto his fingernail as the group headed to the eastern coast. 

Midas used his state to backtrack the events of the past night, the wind howling against his neck, the intricate forms and patterns edged into the walls of the ruin, the stark shadows that amplified their shapes, the sudden attack from above. All of which led to him using his sun shard, unable to even perform any null ability, not even able to fully train his mana, he somehow managed to use the shard's abilities; he felt the strange stone somehow pulling at the energy flowing through his limbs. "Without any proper training or cultivation of my mana... I somehow was able to use the rock... Why...?" He talked in a lowered tone.

Haya came closer, his look slightly stern, as he focused to find an answer. "Right...! I was told stones like the sun shards help their user to gather more mana. Not only amplifying the rate at which mana gets consumed but also multiplying the output of one's mana..." Haya lit up for a moment, dumping his knowledge onto Midas in an excited tone. He smiled eagerly, "Even someone without any sophisticated knowledge about mana usage would—in theory—be able to bend stone...!" Midas's eyes widened lightly at his words, looking down to his hand again. "I guess that's why everyone wants them..." Haya added.

"The prophet gave them to the people to aid them in their use of mana... He knew about our weakness... We are truly blessed to have him aid us in even that regard." Iyana spoke, fixing her hood with slow motions, "Yet... don't let your own power—aided by the shard inside of you—grow stronger than you... Many have suffered injuries, unable to control the stream of mana leaving their bodies." She grasped the boy's left hand, voicing light concern.

"Now that you mention it, that might just be why I lost my consciousness..." Perhaps I completely unloaded all of the mana my body had stored up—even though it probably wasn't much—the sudden lack of it must've stirred up my mind somehow..." With a lowered head, he turned to Inaya, "Now it also makes sense as to why these Northerners use stones just like this one..." He concluded, mumbling his words as his gaze wandered over to the horizon.

Out from the ever-stretching sand, a band of blue stretched out from the distance, unlike the dunes, much flatter, reflecting the shine of the sun, which stood up high above them. Midas awed, unable to speak, as Haya jumped up in utter excitement, "The coast...! We're heading to the coast... Water—in every direction you can see...!" His stance was loose as he completely stood on the hay, Inaya slightly overwhelmed, moving from her seat to calm him. Midas watched, looking up to Haya as he stretched out his arms, his poncho covering him, flattered as the wind blew against its fibers.

"Didn't I tell you we were heading to the coast...?" Graf grumbled, trying to focus on steering the sledge.