Sand.

Dry, gritty and capable of fitting into any spot it could sift itself through. It was all that covered the Heryan Desert as far as the eye could see. Encompassing caravans, civilizations, and whatever unfortunate fellow that found himself caught in its path.

Arya sat about ten miles in, if her calculations were correct, dusting as much of the cursed flecks out of her food as was possible. She'd given up on the notion that she wasn't already coated in a layer of silt from her team's excavations, but she had at least hoped her rations would have escaped the majority of the sand's fury.

From the looks of things, none of her colleagues had been able to avoid it either. After three weeks of searching through the remains of what they thought to be the lost temple of Daera, all they had to show for their efforts was mud-spattered clothing, a small collection of broken pottery and tufts of old thread woven in the clay itself. They weren't any closer to finding the 'portals' her grandfather had spoken of or any real, feasible evidence to prove the Temple had even been there in the first place.

As she abandoned her sandwich and tore through her supply pack, the flimsy yet familiar corners of her grandfather's map caught on her fingertips. She unrolled the paper, being careful not to fold any edges or creases, since nearly half of the map was already illegible to the human eye.

"Don't tell me you're reading that ratty old thing again," Colin called out from the other side of camp, his black beady eyes peering at her from afar. A beast of a man if she'd ever seen one. "I thought we told you to leave your fairy tales out of this for once."

Arya laughed, inching the map closer towards her body, "You can't keep a girl from trying. Besides, without this we wouldn't have found our lead to the desert in the first place. That doesn't sound like a fairy tale to me."

Pouring water over the fire, Colin cracked a smile as smoke billowed up towards the rising sun. "Fables, then. Whatever puts your heart at ease, but we aren't here to give you a fairy tale adventure, we're here to discover history. Leave the stories behind for children to find."

"You don't need to crush the girl's spirits that badly," a soft voice said from inside the tents. Corrine stepped out into the open, bags hitched over her shoulder, a silk shroud covering her dark hair and a wet cloth wrapped neatly over her mouth. "Besides we deal with your shit as is, Colin. You're lucky Dean hasn't beat you within an inch of your life yet with the way you run your mouth."

"Someone has to be the voice of reason," Colin replied, smirking as he strapped on his own gear.

Arya ducked her head, engrossing herself in the map as the others started to bicker again. They never let up, tearing into each other with every opportunity they had. If the Captain heard them, they'd both be traveling at the rear of the pack again, a spot that members prayed they didn't have to take due to the amount of dust they were coated in by the time they reached the ruins of the Temple. No one wanted to deal with sand chafing their skin for the ten or more hours they spent on site.

Soon their voices faded beneath the crinkling of the map, and the lead-lined dunes sprang to life, spanning miles and miles of treacherous terrain that had taken the lives of many archaeologists that had fought to make their way through. Arya could still hear her grandfather describing the horror of losing his best friend to the never ending waves of sand and time.

He hadn't spoken much about his journey in the deserts, but his dedication to his craft was what ultimately led Arya to the field of archaeology.

Not only was it a chance for her to discover more about the past, but it was a way to reconnect with him, and there was nothing in the world she wanted more, having lost him nearly seven years before. She wanted to make him proud.

None of the others wanted to hear her mope around the camp about that though, and Colin had made that especially clear, going so far as to hide the map from her when she got especially antsy about it.

She made sure to keep it close now, and as she tucked it into the waist band of her pants the Captain made his way into the center of the camp, leaving a cloud of dust trembling in his wake.

"I expect all of you to be ready to head out, gear packed and attitudes in check in five minutes time. Anyone not ready gets left behind for today's salvage." He turned towards Colin, who was still eyeing Corrine and trying to stifle his laughter. "You're already on the list, son. Best not make it a habit, or I'll see to it that you spend the remainder of this trip cleaning the rest of the team's unmentionables, among other things. Understood?

Colin straightened his shoulders, locking his eyes forward as he cleared his throat. "Yes, sir. I understand."

The Captain studied him for a few more seconds then cast his gaze across the rest of the group before moving out to grab his tools.

The level of scrutiny from their lead made Arya shiver just thinking about it. He'd already kicked three members off the expedition for malpractice and misconduct, and she didn't know what she'd do if she became the fourth.

Did that count as an irrational fear? Probably, but she couldn't let anything stand in her way of discovering what her grandfather had searched so desperately for, which he'd left no clues about, when he had willed the map of it to her when he died. That alone sent her on a wild goose chase in his attic to hunt down the darn thing, but she refused to let him down. Not again.

Scrambling for the rest of her things, she tightened her shawl and cloth around her face, doing her best to cover any remaining skin from the heat of the blazing sun. There weren't supposed to be any sandstorms today, so they were hoping to get out in time before the scavengers descended on the Temple's remains.

As they lined up to start their hour-long trek, Arya found herself caught up in the beauties of the desert, despite the tales of beasts and death that had plagued its inhabitants for centuries.

She stumbled through the dunes, legs dragging beneath the weight of the sand and her pack, but despite that she felt as if her grandfather was walking alongside her, his steady hand guiding her to the ruins as if to say, "Here! This is where I was searching! I know you can find it!"

The inscription from the top of the map seared itself across her mind's eye, circling her thoughts like a lion closing in on its prey.

"Through oceans and seas, all that remains is the deed. In water once more, death lies hidden beneath deceit."

She mumbled it over and over as they walked, twisting the phrases and deconstructing the words, looking for any opening that promised a different outcome than her last excavations.

Yet every time she came up empty handed with nothing to prove her grandfather's claim, hoping the rest of the team could make up for her lack of results before the Captain realized she was a liability.

If she was able to find another piece of pottery or script, it would keep them off her tail for a few more days, but she couldn't keep brushing the Captain's concerns away with an anxious giggle and a sob story about her grandfather. As a lead he was kind enough, but if it interfered with the job she'd be thrown out in the desert before she had a chance to plead her case.

"Eat or be eaten," she murmured, taking a breath as they came up over the final crest and the ruins began to peak out of the deserted wasteland.

Its ancient spires clawed at the sun as the wind ripped mercilessly against its crumbling corpse. The sand-ridden skeleton gave way to eroding walls that once would have stood nearly fifty feet in the air, reaching for the heavens that the people looked to their gods to bless them from. Arya swore she could still hear their whispers rising from the ashes, prayers drifting and wrapping around her like incense, drawing her closer to their resting place.

Breaking into three groups, they each split up into the branch of rooms they'd been in for nearly a week now. Arya settled into her search area, a six by six section each member had designated to them, and wandered around the perimeter like she was in a trance. Unable to come to a stop, she scanned the earth while her tools sat forgotten at the base of the stairs.

"Through oceans and seas, all that remains is the deed," she said, getting on her knees and tracing the base of the wall with her thumb. "The deed as in a scroll? A person? A place?"

All she wanted to do was prove she could do this. To show the people who had ridiculed her grandfather that impossible discoveries were possible, whether they led to something 'substantial' or not. Even if all she had to show for it was an object the size of her pinkie, she was determined to finish this.

"Or maybe it's a symbol," she muttered, her finger catching in the wall as she followed a shallow groove into the ground. "Ancient peoples loved their symbols, didn't they? Whether it be for religious ceremonies or personal piety, everything holds meaning if you're willing to look for it."

Arya scraped at the ground with her spade, doing her best to avoid the walls or anything that would be damaged in her search. The line dipped deeper into the ground further down the wall as she dug, spooling into a mundane circle that trailed to an end in the hollow doorway.

"Damn it. The circle would've been helpful," she said, digging on the other side of the stairs this time. "A piece of a written language would be even better. 'In water once more, death lies hidden beneath deceit.' There's already so much death here, so how am I supposed to pinpoint where it lies?"

Sweat poured down her back, drenching her with every dip of the spade. She could hear the others moving in their rooms, no doubt unearthing a discovery that would lead to their next promotion. Another minute that she lost in searching through nothing but an empty room.

"I'm trying, Pop. I promise I'm trying, but where am I supposed to find water in a desert like this?"

"Going mad already, are we, Fable?" Colin said, popping into her room suddenly. "I've heard of newbies losing their minds on trips, but never one as soon as you."

Arya continued her digging. "I didn't realize talking to yourself was a sign of losing your mind, Colin. You must've lost yours ages ago, and can you cut the Fable crap? You know my name."

He chuckled at that, shielding his eyes as the sun beat down on the pair of them. "Ooh, with that one I may have thought you actually had a backbone, Fable. Don't tell the Captain, he might try to give you some responsibilities."

Clenching her fist, she moved to the middle of the room, shoveling left and right in hopes that her dust would annoy him into leaving. "And with that attitude I'm not surprised you're an even bigger asshole than most of the people here think you are!"

She smirked and glanced over her shoulder, satisfaction running through her veins as that snotty grin slipped off his face. Maybe she needed to look into growing more of a backbone if this was the usual result.

"Asshole is my middle name. If you haven't realized that by now then you're even more dense than I thought you were." He paused, his shadow towering over her as she stabbed the spade into the ground.  "You should leave the real work to the professionals. Go back to school and try again when you actually have a passion for the field."

Rage speared through her chest. "Listen, bastard, I'm sick of you belittling me like I'm some kind of child! If you want to make yourself useful, why don't you do me a favor and hand me the damn... water?"

"You're capable of grabbing your own bottle," Colin sighed, walking back up the steps. "At least be willing to do something for yourself."

Arya sprung up from the sand, spade forgotten as she waved her hands. "No, no, no! That's not what I meant to say, Colin, look! Water!"

She pointed frantically at the ground, where a spout of water was spraying up from the hole she'd dug, pooling until it formed a perfect oval-shaped puddle. "Is water even supposed to be able to form here?"

Colin frowned, running a hand through his hair as he stared at the puddle. "Not that the Captain has said. I can't say I've seen anything like it in my years of being out in the Heryan."

"All I did was dig in the center of the room..." she said, bending towards the puddle and staring into the crystal clear surface. "Do you think we should call the others?"

He grunted. "I guess it's a find. Not necessarily groundbreaking, but its something."

Leaning to the side, she kept angling herself to check if there was some opening in the wall she wasn't seeing. Maybe she hit a pipeline? Not likely, but more logical than a magical fountain springing up out of nowhere in the middle of the damn desert.

A cloud crawled lazily across the sky, giving her and the puddle shade when suddenly a shape darted beneath the water, sending ripples across the murky surface. Arya fell back with a gasp, heart racing as she tried to look closer while her body screamed for her to run.

The whispers returned, voices of those long gone echoing through the room and spiraling into the water. They called her. They cried for her. They needed her.

Her hands shook while her shawl slipped to her shoulders, mouth parted in awe as she peered into the puddle and saw what looked to be a city made of stone. Only one word came to mind. The one thing this could possibly be in a land cursed to break anything that it touched.

"The portal."

Water started to slosh from the sides, tremors shaking the image of the city within. Arya could feel the power rising up from the puddle, an oddly reverent fear taking over her entire body.

"Colin!" she shrieked in excitement, spinning in the direction of the doorway. "Come look at this! Please!"

He stepped in with Corrine on his heels and that arrogant look on his face. One that Arya was ready to squash with the evidence she was providing for the team.

"You guys it's the portal I was telling you about! It's exactly what my grandfather's map said it would be like! In water once more!" She waved them over desperately, pointing behind her. "Please come look!"

Instead of the smiles and congratulations Arya expected to hear, she frowned when Corrine froze and Colin's eyes widened with... fear?

"Arya, get back!" he screamed.

She raised her eyebrows, scoffing as he jumped down the stairs and ran towards her. "If you're trying to pull another fast one on me, you're going to have to try harder than that—."

She didn't have time to finish her sentence. All she could do was stare at them, her limbs going limp with terror as her shawl cinched around her throat and she was yanked backwards; the last thing she saw was Colin's outstretched hands before she plummeted into a thick, inky pit of darkness.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~