The changing seasons. As predictable as the Yubos are cute. Summer on Atys and I could not have chosen a worse time to expand my knowledge about the desert. I used the kami teleporter to get meself to Pyr, the capital of the Fyros. I was met by a unforgiving heat like nothing short of the kipestas fire! I’m still wondering why on Atys they choose this place to call home, the Fyros. A feisty and resilient people it seems. Always on the move to somewhere. One of the first things I noticed now that I let myself take the time to look around was that Pyr is very heavily defended. I saw no less then two big patrols just outside of the city gates! No doubt that they are well needed thou. The desert was swarming with gingos and a strange crustacean creature called Goari. These creatures had me boggled. They looked like they belonged near or in the water but there was simply no water to be found, anywhere! They somewhat resemble the kitin but are not related, or so I was told.
Yet I saw them move about close to and in herds of kipee so they must, if not be related, atleast share some sort of mutual respect. Or it might just be that the kipee does not take notice of them. Anyways.. I soon found out that the goari are just as aggressive as the gingo. They did not let me get close enough to study them. Instead they launched at me, pinchers ready to tear into me. They where not hard to fend off but still.. A homin not on his or her guard could easily fall prey to these animals. They didn’t seem to move in herds, so the careful hunter could easily single them out and pick them off one by one. That said, I weep inside for every goari slain. They looked like a proud and honorable species.
I let my feet take me in which ever direction they saw fitting, not giving much thought to where I was going. Where was I going? I had never explored the desert so there wasn’t really any specific places to go towards. I kept dodging the gingos as best I could, killing only those that came to close. The heat was murder on my spirit and I was just about to give up and return to the jungle when I stumbled upon a strange gate in the middle of the desert. I was aching to go inside but my courage finally let me down and I had to turn away. I will have to return with my friends and find out what lurks inside. Or just ask them and not go in at all.
At this point I was quickly running low on water and decided to turn back towards Pyr. The only problem was.. I couldn’t make out which direction I had come from. My footprints was long gone and all I could see was sand, sand and the odd goari. The only option I had left, not counting going through the burning gate which really wasn’t an option was letting Ma-Duk guide my feet and not intervene in their cooperation. I once more set off into the desert. The sand dunes seemed endless and so did the gingos and goari. My trek was made longer by every gingo I had to run around, harder by every goari I had to outrun and more disheartening by every mouthful off water I had to drink.
I was nearing dehydration when I suddenly stumbled upon an amazing sight. It was not a oasis, nor was it a eight legged Yubo, like the one I saw earlier until I rubbed my eyes and found out I was starting to see double. It was bridges over a canyon! My thirst quickly disappeared as I neared the bridge and saw it in all its grandeur. An amazing feat of architecture. It stretched from one side of the canyon to the other and below, way below it I could make out kitin, massive kitin.
I don’t know if it was the fact that I was probably dying of thirst or the pure beauty of it all but I made my way over the bridge to the other side of the canyon without any thought about the dangers might be waiting. And a good thing I did too. On the other side I was greeted by massive creatures. They looked like big tree trunks at first. But my huffing and puffing woke them up and soon the whole herd was moving about. They weren’t aggressive at all and quite frankly seemed as interested in me as I was in them. Ma-Duk has really blessed Atys with a wondrous variety of creatures.
While I was trying to imitate the tree trunk creatures, I now call them Woodbaï, I realized that my time in the desert was up. If I would stay any longer the thirst would claim my life and my life energy would be prematurely reunited with Atys. I had to use my last resort and teleport back to the jungle. It pained me, having to leave the woodbaï like that but I reassured them that I would be back soon enough. I do not envy the Fyros for living in such a harsh place as the desert. When I was returned to the jungle it was raining, heavily. I could not conceal my joy as I danced about in the falling water and soon found a new special place. A place I will return to every time I have visited the desert.
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