desert awakening

Ru looked at Arroe. "Got any plans? I'd rather not have to fight them all...."

He looked around for something, anything...... and saw a precariously perched rock at one of the corners of the hole. Ru nudged Arroe.

"Think of we can dislodge that, it'll create a big enough distraction?"

arroe nodded smirking, holding his hand up to show he was going to use his hadn that had the seal on it to dislodge the rock. " this should do the trick to get their attention...."

arroe bent down pulling his sword out to make a little cut to unleash the seal to create an explosion which in turn made a shockwave with enough force dislodging the rock , and making it fly into another wall.

" looks like we got their attention now..."arroe smirked again, as the large termites made screetching noises that were god awful." he pulled himself with the use of his sword, and pulled into a combat -ready stance. " you know what to do now...!" he pointed Ru the direction.

Ru nodded with a determined grin and charged forward. The bugs swarmed around him, but mostly seemed intent on the wall. The pit of the chasm was bumpy, but still he hurried through, only one thing on his mind: Xyn-lea.

Soon enough, with the bugs momentarily scattered and distracted, he had reached the pile of dead and decaying bodies. He saw Xyn-lea at the top, not moving, but breathing and obviously alive. Scrambling up, he shook her.

"Xyn-lea! Answer me...!"

He didn't get the response he wanted, and not from the intended responder.

Behind him, Ru heard a large howling screech of the queen. Large pincers dove for them, but Ru pulled Xyn-lea out of the way in time and stood ready with his sword to attack the large queen termite.

Quickly, he glanced to see how Arroe was doing.

arroe was standing waiting for the large queen's rampaging attack, with his blade ready, he jumped up pulling the blade up to drive it into the back of the beast to control it. " I'll drive this thing outside where we can deal with it out side and more room to have much more fun..."he said smirking and yelling donw to Ru, who was attending to Xyn-lea.

"It wouldn't hurt to help though... after your done there...." arroe waved his free arm that was slightly bloody from performing the disturbance to draw attention earlier.arroe drove the large behemoth like termite outside into the beaming sunlight, but as he came into contact with the heat he felt a sharp pain in his mind in an instant, with pain he hadnt felt before, he was slightly loosing his grip on the sword, making him slip off the beast and send him falling into the sand.

Ru made sure Xyn-lea, who wasn't responding, was safe in a corner where she wouldn't be hurt in the fight and then turned around to see Arroe fall to the sand.

Guarding his quirky new friend, he spoke to him without taking eyes off the large termite.

"You okay?"

Arroe slowly rose up from the sand "nghh ... what the hell happened.....I'm fine..." arroe said stumbling as he pushed Ru out of the way . arroe picked up speed as he went after the beast to retrieve his sword. " come back here you worthless beast... no one makes a mockery of me and gets away with it...." he said while running behind chasing the creature.

Seeing Arroe charge for the beast to retrieve his sword, Ru decided to attack it from the other side, hoping that'd make it easier for Arroe. He swung his blade at it, blood and pus-like slime flying from the tear in its body, as it shied away from the sunlight.

So, it hates sunlight.... let's see how it fancies fire. he thought, casting a fire spell through his sword and into the strike. The blow exploded and flames danced around the large queen termite momentarily.

It let out a high pitched wail, so loud that it must have rung through the desert sky for miles, and Ru dropped to one kneel on the ground, his sword falling from his hands as he tried to cover his ears from the painful sound.

arroe finally caught up with it just in time to draw out the blade from its body , but was unable to move form hearing the ear shattering scream.

Damn this beast just doesn't know when to give up.... he thought while grimacing through pain of the sound. arroe stood up against the noise fed up with having to deal with it. " alright thats it... this thing is really pissing me off now..." he said showing off a fang, and cracking his knuckles.

he drove the blade into the ground, stil holding onto the handle he pulled it up with great force horizontally making a large sandgust head straight for the giant termite queen. " you better not fail me now..." arroe spoke looking at the sandgust take off into the direction of the termite.

Ru forced himself to stand up through the shriek as it ended, echoing and carrying on long after the termite queen stopped making the noise itself.

He saw Arroe's attack, and added his own magic to it, an extra, sharp windy push.

The termite squealed as the powerful sandgust smashed into it, ripping at it with tiny grains of sand and throwing it directly into a ray of sunlight. Unable to move, as it was on its back, the termite queen was in a very vulnerable positon.

"Let's finish it off!" said Ru, charging in.

arroe nodded " right..!" he followed by Ru's side charging towards the termite with his blade drawn ready for impact. " here goes nothing !" he drove the blade forward into the termite with force creating a explosion of the termites body and ooz falling everywhere down on them.

" euck...this is the last time i am ever dealing with bugs again...."arroe said shaking his arms to get rid of the disgusting ooze.

" how's your..... Girlfriend doing...?" he said making a cheeky notion at Ru. then turned heading back towards the cave.

Ru slashed at the termite's other side, and both of their strikes finished off the large termite.

With their queen taken out, the others instead of attacking, scurried off crazily.

Ru nodded in agreement with Arroe, then headed over to Xyn-lea. She still seemed to be unresponsive, so he picked her up and carried her after Arroe.

"Well, I don't think she's injured, but she's still out cold...." he said as he entered the cave. He then paused.

"Wait a minute..... Do you see that?" he asked, gesturing off into the distance of the desert to what looked like a small town. "Or is that a mirage...? If it's not, then we might as well cross the surface instead of these caves...."

" my eyes don"t usually decieve me... so i imagine its a town.. and we shoudl head there as soon as possible." arroe said waiting on RU to follow.

as he was waiting he remebered the about the sharp pain he felt before he fell off the the large termite.
had it been something causing me to think of "Her" again.... but it shouldnt have affected me that strongly...arroe thought as he wandered ahead of Ru,carrying Xyn-lea.

as arroe reached the town his stomach was growling viciously, indicating that he was about due for some sustanance. " ngh... i guess we"ll have to stop and aquire something edible... so i don"t keel over in the next while..."arroe said backward to Ru.

he quickly spotted a few what looked to be food vendors just beyond the gate of the town.
"Hey Ru.. you go on without me im going to stop for some food , i'll find you guys later..."


arroe left ahead of Ru and xyn-lea, walking off in the direction of the vendors to look at the choices of food selection to settle his stomach from not eating for awhile.

he first came to a booth that was selling weird fried animals which had been covered with a delicous smelling sauce that was an orangey colour." I'll take some of this ..." he asked the vendor , then handing a small amount of coins to the man. he got his first selection, then walked off to the next one to see what was there.

arroe came to the second vendor looking at the odd food . it had seemed to disturb him alittle, he was feeling like the first choice would be all he would need and decided to head off to once again find Ru, and xyn-lea, but as he was walking away he saw a red cloak that somehow was very familar to him. he looked at the figure which was in the shape of a woman, but could'nt see the face, thinking nothing of it he started to continue on.

when he looked back he saaw the womanly cloaked figure had vanished , he then saw her again walking with the crowd.It couldn't possibly be "Her" could it?..... i'll only find out if i directly approach her...... he thought trying to keep up with the figure, but lost her in the crowd. " damn I'll never find out like this ...theres got to be another way."arroe sadi to himself.


he then saw her break off from the crowd and run into an allyway, he followed chasing after her." stop where you are!...... Who are you?" he yelled in her direction, the cloaked woman ran faster turning a sharp corner and hiding in a small cavity that hard to see into.

"heyy! wait!!!" arroe stopped to catch his breath." Damn I lost her...How could I be so foolish..." he sadi slamming his fist against the stone walls of the alleyway.

Ru nodded. "All right. Xyn-lea's got some contacts who live here, so just go around asking and we'll be with one of them, most likely."

He turned to walk down a street not lined with shops. As he stepped away, Xyn-lea moved, her hand coming up to rub her head sleepily. Eyelids slipping open, she seemed quite disoriented.

"....Ru, where are we....?

He stopped walking. "In the town," he said. "You feeling all right?"

She nodded. "Put me down," she said, and he obliged. She held on to him, unsteady. "I think there was some sort of gas in that cavern or something..."

Starting to recover more, she looked around. "Where's the other guy?"

Ru shrugged. "Went off somewhere to get food," he said. "I figured we could find one of your contacts to stay with here, at least for a bit to recover."

"Good idea," said Xyn-lea. "I'll find.... Sheilla should be near here...."

Ru followed Xyn-lea to a small shop, where Xyn-lea, upon entering, spoke with the woman behind the counter for a while and then the woman lead Xyn-lea up the stairs. Ru decided that he was going to walk around where Xyn-lea rested and recovered a bit more.

He then went outside, wondering where Arroe had gotten to.

arroe was to tired to be chasing the seemingly familar person to find out anything ,so he just sat down alittle out of the way and ate his meal he had chosen. " Damn i'm never gonna find out if it was "her...."arroe spoke to himself.
when he finished he stood up dusting off his pants.

" well I should be off trying get back to xyn-lea and Ru... their probably wondering where i went...." arroe paced himself walking through the alleyway making his way to an open road leading to a an area with a few small shops.

" i guess i just wait here and see if they can find me.."arroe said talking to himself again.

Ru yawned and stretched his arms out as he entered one of the larger streets, reminded that he hadn't had that good of a sleep the night previous.

"Ah well," he said under his breath to himself, "all that's left to do's find Arroe."

He looked around.... Arroe would probably be near where there were food vendors, or at least, that's what Ru's plan was. He walked down a street and caught a flash of silver and black hair, along with blue clothes.

....probably him, Ru thought, heading towards him.

arroe stopped walking as he heard footsteps behind him."stop following me, look i probably just mistook you for someone i knew along time ago..." arroe waited for an answer.
i don't have all day you know i have places to be people to find... more or less than what you have to do.arroe thouht as he waited, arms crossed.

Ru blinked. "What?" he asked. "You're acting odd again," he added. "I just came to wander and let you know where Xyn-lea and I are."

He paused, thinking. "Who did you run in to?"

" hmmm.. wait your NOt... "arroe paused. " well i ran into someone who was wearing a cloak from the same place i grew up.... but it wouldnt be possible for "her" to be all the way out here....i mean ...."arroe stopped talking since he figured Ru was probably waiting to go and didnt want to hear rambling.

Ru shrugged. "Y'never know," he said. "Life can be crazy like that sometimes."

He gestured back towards the place Xyn-lea was staying. "If you want, I can show you where we're staying to rest up. Or if you want, we can keep an eye out for said cloaked person," he added, winking.

" well no sense looking for her tonight since it is getting late....would youtwo mind showing me around tomorrow ..?"arroe asked with tiredness added to his voice, and following Ru.

Ru nodded," sure thing," and lead Arroe to the house of Sheilla.

Inside, Ru told her that Arroe was with them, and she told him that the only space she had outside of the guest room was a couch in the back.

"And you really don't need to be sharing a guest room with Ru and Xyn-lea... they've been apart for a month or so, so....." commented Sheilla.

Ru turned red and cleared his throat. "I'm gonna go and check on her, by the way." and then he dissappeared up the stairs.

" uh the couch is all I need ...thanks i appreciate your kindness..."arroe said bowing slightly, then walking over and crashing on the couch as soon as he laid down, after he removed his equipment so it wouldnt make it uncomfortable for him.

he began to dream of finding "Her" and hoping that he would maybe find the answer he needed within himself. as he entered the dream realm he saw a figure of a girl with orange hair, and purple eyes. he then saw another person but it was too hard to see who it was,as he watched it like it was a memory being played back in his mind, he could hear faint screaming and the orange haired girl running with a sad painful expression. he then saw the shadowed figure try to run after her but was stopped by what looked to be guards,and screamed a name"KYRYUU!!!!!!!"it echoed through him making him wake up screaming it as well like in his dream.


arroe wiped away the sweat that was on his face."it was only a nightmare it wasn't real.... but i need to get some sleep. i hope this doesnt affect me tomorrow ..." he said rubbing his eyes and laying back down again.

Ru opened the door to the guest room and saw Xyn-lea napping on the bed. He walked over to her and nuged her.

"You sleeping?" he asked her. She sat up.

"That depends on how you define sleeping," she said with a smirk, pulling him down on top of her.

--------You can probably figure out for yourself what happens next *Shifty eyes* ....yeah.....---------

Ru was awakened at some point during the night by hearing Arroe scream out of his nightmare. Now awake, instead of falling back asleep, he wondered if Arroe was doing all right. Ru, being his usual overly kind and protective self, decided to at least check up on Arroe. He grabbed his pants from where they'd been deposited and got out of the bed as carefully as he could, so as not to wake Xyn-lea. (he needen't worry, really, though, as she was actually a deep sleeper)

At the foot of the stairs, he walked to the door of the back room and peeked in.

"You sleeping okay?" he asked in a whisper.

"yeah.. i guess...." arroe said laying down so it would kinda hard to hear waht he was saying. arroe went back to sleep. not waking up at the crack of dawn like he used to do.

Ru nodded, and then went to go upstairs, but didn't really feel like sleeping any more. Instead, he went outside and managed to climb on top of the roof of the store, and sat on it, watching for the sunrise (as he occasionally did)


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Xyn-lea stirred in her sleep, feeling well rested, and turned over, but awoke at once realizing Ru wasn't there. She sat up, looking out the small window, and saw afternoon light.

"Looks like he let me oversleep," she said through a yawn, feeling oddly laid back that day. Dressing decently, she headed down the stairs, where Sheilla was already minding her shop.