We stand looking out over the desert as the sunbeams cook us and it's the first time I really realize that we've been hiding in the desert for most of the time on the run because the knights can't be here for long without their armor heating up and burning them.
It's peaceful out here when you look over the black and white sand but if you look closer you can see the darker sides of this place.
By the color of the sand we should be in Dawnglow City the second biggest city of the five kingdoms before Arox blew it up into dust, killing families from all over the Forest kingdom. It is said to have been the most beautiful city travelers have gone to, the streets humming with life as beautiful Pegasus feathers and Dragon scales were sold on the street markets by breeders.
My mom told me about the time when her father took her there to see the famous dragon show, where Dragon breeders would show of their dragons and the dragons themselves seemed prouder than the rider of its special scales and strong wings that shine when the sun hits them.
But now it's all dust, the buildings, the people, the life that once traveled with every person that came here, now the stories are told to the young not to spark joy or hope of a better life but to show how cruel Arox is even in his 90s he still rules the Crimson kingdom with full power.
Some say that he drinks Forester blood to keep living because the Foresters would grow up to live about 200 years while the golds only 150 while the Crimson only 80 and Ivy 100 though the Cloud folk have the shortest time around 55 years but I've heard of wizards and witches who could live all up to 300 years or more if they don't use any magic.
"My mom used to tell me stories about this place" I say out of the blue.
"What is there to tell about a desert?"
"It used to be a city, the sand is dust"
"What happened here?"
"Arox blew it up with unnatural forces that he claimed to have harvested himself"
"What force could burn something so badly?"
"The Fire from Naxzef himself" Naxzef controls and contains fire he will select people for tasks and if they pass they can get fire from him.
Ealoxk rememberers seeing that fire when they came to Lerckdor, it was on some sort of a ball that would explode as soon as the knights let it roll down the streets.
It was black and hotter than anything melting the windows of our house as my mom grabbed me and him saying goodbye to my dad before leaving with my grandpa.
"How was it? The city I mean"
"The buildings were tall towering over the streets shielding the people from the burning heat of the suns, the summer sun hot as hell and the winter sun cold as ice. The bricks were black to keep the summer suns heat over the winter and the winter suns cool over the summer"
"I didn't know there were two suns or anything else but Summer"
"The sun never goes down in the Summer but in winter it barely comes up leaving darkness and cold, some people say that the winter sun is the moon but it's much bigger and bluer than the moons"
"There never was anything about the winter sun in any of the books Foxinir gave me"
"That's because people are afraid of it, the water rises flooding over sea villages before freezing over the village"
"Where are we exactly right now?"
I look over the desert with a vivid memory of a map of the five kingdoms.
I look at my surroundings imagining if the buildings were still there and I feel as if I'm standing in the busy streets of Dawnglow.
Adults hurrying to work, kids playing unsupervised on a playground, a supervising knight on big beautiful black horses with magical black feathered wings at its side, fairy's and pixies fluttering to deliver messages between people for three copper Rings a sentence in the message, merpeople bringing food from the waters to sell on the market and teenagers in gold and purple or black and purple school outfits.
I can smell the scent of the newly baked goods and from the flowers that seemed to have just bloomed a few seconds ago.
"Would you like to send a message?" A female pick with blue hair asks straight to my face but I just shake my head politely.
A titanium bird flies by with a few water fairies on its back, then I can see a marvelous orange dragon flying over the street like it's a completely normal thing.
I look to my left and see it land with its shimmering scales as the sun hits them and it's like it knows that everyone is looking in awe because it stands so formal, its chest out and head high still as a statue as the rider buys something from a dragon supply table.
A little bit beyond the dragon I can see the road that leads to the capital city of the Rising Sun, Lerckdor.
I start walking through the crowd but when I take a step it all disappears falling as dry sand.
"Niztal?" Rivy asks a bit worried.
"We're standing in the middle of a street market with all kinds of Forest people and animals"
"Like what?"
"Merpeople, pixies, fairies, dragons, titanium birds, Pegasus and more I suppose"
"Forest folk aren't just human?"
"With all those books you had it's surprising how little you actually know about the world"
"I wrote and drew more than I read"
"Forest folk are all kinds of creatures very few are human most are elves like the Queen or fire fairies that are bigger, don't have wings and can speak to animals, most of them chose to be ether Dragon trainers, riders or breeders though few of them go through school and work for the queen as knights" they are the ones who wear gold instead of black because they go through different schooling than elves and humans.
"What's that way?" Rivy asks pointing in the direction the rode out of Dawnglow goes.
"Lerckdor" I make sure my voice would not break when I say it out loud, because it's probably just dust now.
"Niztal? What are you doing out here?" Tolx asks in a blank tone behind me with horror in his eyes like he too had a nightmare not a dream.
"Nothing much" I say in that same tone.
He looks around and realizes quickly where we are because he stares in Lerckdors direction, obviously getting memories thrown at him.
"Lerckdor" he mutters under his breath before looking away and getting in the shadow of the wagon.
I hear something close in rapidly and before I can look it hits me in the back, something hits me again in the leg and I fall to my knees as something sticks out of my leg.
"The hell?" Tolx says confused because it came out of no where.
"Come on" Rivy helps me into the shadow where Tolx is.
It's an arrow with a red arrowhead.
"Keep her still" Rivy says and pulls the arrow out before putting his palms on ether side of my foot closing for the bleeding as Tolx holds me as still as possible.
Rivy does the same to the arrow in my back as I hear whispers.
"I think I hit her" someone whispers but someone else shushes at them.
"Someone's coming" I say and Tolx takes two small daggers from under the wagon getting ready for whoever is coming.
"We're gonna be rich" the first voice whispers closer now but the other one just shushed them again but more aggressively this time.
We see shadows closing in before being pulled out of view to not get noticed as they get near us but what they don't know is that Tolx is an experienced hunter so if someone knows this trick he knows it too and he does because he slides under the wagon every move swift, quiet and he's gone in the blink of an eye.
I hear the daggers flying through the air and hit something once then I hear metal against metal.
I feel weak but I'm determined to know Tolx will win.
They fight for a while before one of them slashes the other and everything goes completely silent.