Elise Seaver's Story

Skullivan watched, his heart plummeting as he looked over Andle and the scene - the breeze blowing through his hair. The Leviathan had disappeared into the red, the only sound now the shifting of their feet, their breathing, and the sand swirling in the distance. The pain in his leg didn't hurt nearly as much anymore. Not with Aisha and Andle laying there.

As Boh yelled for her friends she felt Andle reach up to her arm - firm, and the skin of the palm now hardened with ash. "Nah, nah, nah - listen to me," He whispered - barely. "Listen to me. This desert... kills people," Andle stared up at her, red shadow coming down over the blue of his eyes. "It kills people, Boh... and I made a promise to keep you alive. I made a promise, I'd keep you away from everything that killed my... my little sister... that killed your mum, Boh...."

The man paused, turning his head slightly in the sand as the breeze blew his grey hairs back. "She was out there looking for it... the Change. And I always wondered what the hell she was doin', riskin' it all when she had you..." He swallowed. "...I was gonna keep you away, keep us safe, keep us feedin'... keep us trading. But... she knew what the desert was, Boh... she knew more than me." Andle's eyes were wet with tears - the sky reflecting in them. He swallowed his words - barely able to say them, but knowing he must. "She knew it killed people... and if she could change it..." He rubbed her arm gently with his ashy hand. "Then it couldn't kill you."

Suddenly Andle turned his head, out toward the rest. "Hotshot," He called, raising his voice enough to be heard - though Boh could hear it collapse in his lungs. Skullivan, who'd stood in the middle of the scene, swallowed and stepped forward, his feet dragging in the sand.

Andle squinted up at the man. "You truly believe the Change is real?"

Skullivan looked down and nodded - there was something about watching this man lay in such pain that hit him. It hit him hard. "I do."

Andle breathed. "And you think you can find it?"

Skullivan looked into Andle's eyes, before noticing the stare of all the survivors around him. "...I really think I can," He admitted, his voice cracking slightly.

"Then you got a find it... you're all here, you all survived..." Andle breathed again, heavy - shallow breaths. His eyes traced the ground around him, hitting each of the survivors as his gaze swept. "You are the closest... anyone has ever been in the history of this desert..." And then his eyes rested on Boh. Her sweet face - so red, so twisted - so much hurt. "...You got to find it..." He breathed again. "You can't join me... you can't join your mum... can't let this place... kill you, kill your kids... kill your family..." Tears dropped down the sides of his face, hitting the desert he lay on. "I love you so much," Andle's hand slipped from her arm. It landed gently on the sand. "...You've got to find it..." He did not take another breath.

Skullivan's eyes were red as he watched, the entire group having heard Andle's words. The group of misfits, outsiders, travellers - all having woken up thinking it would be a normal day. Even the wounded, as they were being tended too, had listened. Everyone had seen. And for Skullivan, what he saw hit him like a rock. He'd never seen someone die before.

There was silence in the Sea of Sand. The sun faded on the horizon.










Mirova breathed, her gloved hands holding the idol out into the last light of the sun. The markings along it's body, the lengths people had gone to find it. "It doesn't matter what you believe..." She repeated to herself. "As long as they do."

Mirova pocketed it and began to march out over the desert.

Metal invaded the cooling grains of sand. And again. Again.

In the distance Bohdana's small figure could be seen among the shadow of the dunes. Another shadowy form lay beside her; Andle's body, covered by a dark cloth adjacent to a growing hole within the sand. It was hard to dig up sand, the grains kept caving in on either side each time Boh struck it with her shovel. She would not sleep tonight.

The group had gathered together now, giving those who needed it some assistance underneath the suddenly appearing glimmer of stars that penetrated the gradient of purple to blue after the sun had set. It was a beautiful sight usually, but tonight the Qafar sunset felt melancholic and underwhelming, failing to grasp the air surrounding this new group of lost souls, left with nothing but a small lingering taste of direction.

After refusing help, Boh had dragged her uncle's body some way away and begun to dig a grave, an endless amount of tears wetting the desert beneath her feet. Bohdana was alone, but she was strong. Andle had known that, she knew it herself. She just needed some time to mourn the loss of her family and, more importantly, grasp the reality that she was now left with the weight of an impossible generational dream on her shoulders.

Xaverius approached Bohdana, pulling out his weapon and using it to help dig the grave, using the saw blade's flat edge to keep the sand from caving in. "I'm sorry for your loss, if you need anything from me say no more." He said. "Y'know, I only had this saw blade 'ere as a scare tactic, never thought I'd use it. Now that I have I'd rather not again." He added, as he tore the tape from his weapon and dropped the saw blade into the sand.

Uluru watched in silence as the young girl dug a grave for her uncle, now lost to the sands. A parent dying in front of their child isn't exactly unheard of in the sea of sand...but that didn't make it any less hard to watch. No child should have to witness something like this. Uluru didn't personally know the girl or her uncle, nor did he ever have the right words for consoling others about such things, so he left the girl to herself for now. Something told him by the way she initially shrugged off any attempts to help bury him that she'd rather be relatively alone for a bit anyway.

Uluru instead called Yanyan over and hopped on the beast, flying over to the spot where the last of them had fallen down from the hatch and into the sands below. He gave close inspection to anything in the sands that shifted from their usual pattern...such as a few chunks missing out of a dune from which people landed. Looking off into the distance he attempted to determine how far they had traveled from Dol-Duna. "Can't be that far...but are we really in walking distance...?" he asked himself. "considering all the ruckus that were were partially responsible for, I'm not sure that's a good idea..."

To be frank Thessir's recollection of the events aboard the ship and even after were hazy. In the cool night he sat atop a dune, his backpack keeping him up like the back of a chair. Faint smoke rolled from his mouth as he took a puff from his pipe. It was ornately crafted, a finely hollowed smoking pipe smelted from untarnishable platinum. An old keepsake of his from the caverns he called home. The plant he smoked was an old weed he had kept sealed from the caverns as well, something he originally intended to use when he got back from applying the runes. Seeing as he knew there was no way back anymore it seemed a waste to let it rot. It's properties were both to relax and induce mild hallucinations, both of which were desirable to him right then.

He looked down at the gun he had pilfered from the wetland soldier during the harebrained escape set in motion by the rogue wetlander. A fine acquisition, this technology while by no means extraordinary was still interesting insight into the technological development of the wetlanders themselves. It would help tide over the feeling of disappointment which was sure to set in during the days to come. After all, his high wouldn't last forever.


Unlike most of these people Thessir always kept his traveling supplies in his backpack. In short time he pitched his tent and laid out sheets along the floor of it. He wasn't tired, far from it. He was simply looking to set up a place to sit and rest after the harrowing events, only some of which he even remembers enduring. He still didn't know where some of these bruises came from. He does however know where the blisters on the back of his neck came from. This day was one of the few days where he woke while the sun was still up and he never needed the reminder as to why those days are so few. If it were up to him those days would be even fewer in number, perhaps even so few as to say none.

Once settled he simply rested in his tent, took another long drag on his pipe and a swig from his canteen. A gut feeling, perhaps what remained of his more critical faculties, told him that the nights ahead were going to be problematic. This was to be perhaps one of the few times he might be able to simply kick back and relax.

Elise made her way to where the others gathered, wincing a little when she sat down. She'd gone off for a moment to wrap her torso, hoping the bandages would keep her fractured ribs at least a bit stable. she drew her knees to her chest and out her chin onto her knees, "We were in the air for too long...Dol-Duna is miles away, we'd never make it." She slipped her face further behind her knees before adding, "Not all of us." She then cast a glance over to where Aisha lay. She felt sorry for the young woman, and even more sorry for the man who lost his life trying to save his niece, the same niece who now bore the burden of burrying him.

She took a deep breath to collect her thoughts, they survived, there was hope the Change was real, and the irony of being thrust into an adventure was not lost on her. She eyed each of the members, all seemed to bring something unique to the group, the Clan. "So, we can't seem to deny any longer. I know I feel it, and I'm hoping you all do as well...we are all here for a reason, if not, you'd have left alone hours ago. After all, we don't owe each other anything, but yet, here we are. Fate has brought us together for one reason or another." She looked at Skullivan, "You say you know the Change is real, I want to find it, my name is Elise Seaver, and I think we should become a Clan."

Everything just moved so fast. Musa's observent tendencies had led her to witness multiple scenes take place on that airship. She'd seen desperation, anger, nobleness and silence. The only thing was that there were too many people who weren't listening to eachother, for her to do anything about how they were feeling. But then again, human relations weren't her specialty. So she had kept watching until things really went left. Suddenly everyone had been running and Wetland soldiers were trying to hold their shimmering blades up to her neck. Luckily a hunter like herself was never allowed moments of blankness like the one she had felt trying to take over her. Her eyes narrowed and she'd fought back, clearing the circle of potential apprehenders before her. Then she'd helped along where she could, especially the with the ones who were in fact consumed by that feeling of a loss of direction when the action started. Musa had tried to get them moving but everyone was behind enemy lines and with so many of their prisoners already escaped, they weren't about to try and fail completely. Her heart had been pounding in her chest as she donned her Bull Skull and stood in front of a group that was now hers and tried to protect them. Then that explosion had stopped her heart and breathing as the ground was torn from under her feet.

Muss had plummeted probably hundreds of feet and managed not to pass out. When the sand was the right distance, she managed to pitch herself into a roll and safely land into a nice slide. When she was finally still, her right ankle was throbbing and the world seemed wobbly. She then had pushed up her mask and looked pale.. If a woman of her skin tone could even look that way. Flying, Falling, Explosions and jumping out of that flying contraption to face an immesurable height could do things to a person who's lived their whole life at the base of a volcano hunting and gathering for her tribe. Her golden eyes looked distant and dull as she had swayed and tried to get herself off of the dune she had landed on and closer to the voices that sounded distorted to her ears. She had.. Somewhat witnessed the death of Andle. If gasping and wiping her mouth between bouts of vomiting a little ways from the others really counted.

In the silence that had followed his death, Musa dropped her staff and took one step forward. She made another gagging noise and lost her footing as the horizon tipped and rolled, taking her with it. Her eyes rolled and everything went black as her body hit the sand with a soft thud.

Skullivan stared in despair as Thessir helped Musa, his hairs blowing in front of his eyes as the sands shifted around his sitting form - like a sheet of fog swaying across white hills - freezing in the night. He glanced around - bodies littered, people trying to get warm, trying to help one another. The Wetland Traitor glanced over to Elise - whose words had fallen on deaf ears. "Right, I'm not from here but I'm pretty sure you can't just decide to start a clan," He said. "There's... probably ceremony, or something. I don't know..."

Skullivan's words drifted off as his gaze lingered angrily onto the sand before him. "So are we all dead, is that's what's going on right now?" He called out, pushing himself off the slope lazily and standing in the wind - his bare body still shivering. "Because I was telling the truth to the... to the man, there," With a swallow he nodded to Bohdana's direction - to the grave she dug. "The Change is real... and I can find it. Or rather I could if we weren't in the middle of the god damn desert, and if the Leviathan didn't still have the idle." He glared back at Uluru. "Great plan, by the way."

Skullivan sighed, kicking sand.

"Ceremony...right...as if I wasn't just born into one. Clans are just governmental structures, they exist because people say they do and others recognize them as such. How you ask? Someone introduces themselves and their clan as a clan and boom...it's a clan." She rolled her eyes, "It was just an idea." She drew her knees closer to her chest as the wind picked up, "And they don't have your Idol. A woman named Mirova from Dol-Duna has it. I fell into her shop with Boh and Aisha, Boh gave her the idol in exchange for her fortune. If you need it to find the Change, then we need to make our way back to Dol-Duna."

Uluru shoved Skullivan slightly in annoyance. "No one else came up with a better one, wetlander," he replied before looking in shock at what Elise stated. "You...you gave it to someone in Dol-Duna?! That...was our only link to it...the Change," he looked at her once more. "Who was this woman? You say you GAVE the idol to her....you didn't sell it?"

Elise eyed Uluru, "I didn't give anything," She pointed to the young woman digging the grave, "She had it when Aisha and I were looking for him," she nodded in Skullivan's direction. "She came out of nowhere and next thing I knew we were on the floor of a very exotic tent. The woman there asked for payment in exchange for information...I can't remember what Boh wanted, though. She said she'd found the idol, and gave it to the woman." She sighed, "The woman got very excited, not like she wanted to hurry us out and get some glory, more like shocked and awed by being in the presence of the idol. She said it would bring about the Change...that's when the Wetlander's came in...We got separated, I'm sorry."

"Exotic tent..." Uluru mouthed silently, remembering something that that Andel person had mentioned back in Dol-Duna. "What tent? The Nomad's tent?" Uluru asked Elise, though he was positive his assumption was correct.

Who else but the Nomads were fully aware and fully believed in the power of the change. Not that it did them any good now. If there was any lead on the change at all, it seems Dol-Duna still had the key to it all. Luckily the Wetlanders didn't have it, but it was still to close to them for comfort. Uluru then turned to Elise and asked a question, in a different tone than before, "This woman, by the way....how old would you say she was? You remember at all?"

She squinted, thinking on Uluru's question, "Yes! She was one of the Nomads." She shook her head, "I got so caught up in looking for him, I didn't think. We shouldn't have left her...it all happened so fast." She sighed, "I'm sorry. I should have thought more clearly." She stretched her legs out and leaned back, her hands running through the quickly cooling sand. "I don't know, I just have a feeling she'll find us."

"Wait..." Skullivan's eyes lit up at Elise's words. "If the- if the Wetlander's don't have the idol, if the Nomads do-" Skullivan looked up at Uluru, the starlight in his eyes. "Then we can still do this- we can still-"

Suddenly Skullivan saw a fire-light up in the distance, in the centre of the group. "YES," Skullivan breathed, kicking sand up into Uluru's mouth as he sprinted for the fire. Skullivan slid to a stop at the fire, the sands of the desert blowing over it - constantly threatening to snuff it out. But it was warmth. Skullivan glanced up, looking around - people injured, separated, talking among themselves.

"Guys, theres still hope," He called out. "GUYS!" He yelled loudly, standing up. "LISTEN TO ME. We can get out of this but we have to do it together - she," Skullivan glanced back at Elise. "Whatever her name is, just told me the Wetlanders don't have my Idol. That means there's still hope. That means we can... we can still get out of here and change things."

Skullivan's incessant yelling caused the other's to take notice. "But we have to work together - right now."

"How?" was the knight's first word, sitting at the edge of the group. She swallowed loudly as she noticed some eyes turn towards her and realized what a mistake it was to take her helmet off. Dents in the armor seemed to be highlighted by the glow of the fire.

Ka'wa shifted uncomfortably as she sat cross-legged upon the sand. Averting her eyes, she chose to look upon the sand instead. Her right hand tugged upon the glove on the left with small, anxious tugs.

Skullivan glared at Ka'Wa. "Well, let's figure out - let's figure out whose injured, let's work together - get me a blanket, if possible, you know, so I don't literally freeze to death." Skullivan's eyes glanced over at the wall of dunes that surrounded them, sand shifting atop them, and the maze of stars above. They shone so brightly here. "Then figure out who can navigate what, who has maps, compasses - figure out who is familiar with this part of the desert, figure out where we even are."

Bohdana smoothed down the sand of the grave with the back of her shovel, glancing to Rusten with a proud expression. Finally done. It took less time than she thought, which she was thankful for when she heard the Wetlander's stupid screeching over to where the fire had started.

"Damn," Boh swore. She'd have to add the finishing touches later, "Damned fool of a took."

Sand lifted at her steps as she stomped toward the rest of the group, the fire blazing brightly in the middle where the Wetlander stood and screamed to them all, "Hey!" Boh growled, grabbing Skullivan's wrist angrily, "HEY! Shut the damned hell up. D'you know how far your voice carries in the desert? Have you ever noticed how silent the dunes are? We don't know where we are! Your friends could be around any corner!"

The young girl shook her head and released his arm from her snapping grasp, letting go of her frustration with a sigh. She looked up and down at the Wetlander with a raised eyebrow, catching his last comment about being freezing, "Listen, you can have Andle's things, here--" she shuffled over to where she had placed Andle's pack and hoisted it up, dropping it at Skullivan's feet, "We packed for 2 weeks back at the bazaar. Were gonna go to...well, it doesn't matter anymore."

Bohdana swallowed, "Now where the hell have you people been that you've never heard of the north star?"

Ka'Wa's face burned and she merely nodded at Skullivan's words. Of course that was the answer, she thoughts as she bit her lip, Of course he would glare at me for that. Her eyes looked up from the sands, awaiting the input of the others. She was taken aback by Bohdana's reaction and couldn't help but laugh, covering her mouth and trying to keep it quiet. However, she didn't answer, fearing Bohdana's wrath since she wasn't too sure of how to use the north star.

Skullian frowned at Bohdana, remaining silent before opening the pack of Andle's belongings. He pulled out a blue tunic from it and hastily pushed it on, ripping off the remaining black tatters of his uniform and kicking it into the fire. He grabbed a white cloak, wrapping it around his body as quickly as he could - giving out a loud sigh of relief as the cold no longer hit his bare flesh. "What the hell's the north star?" Skullivan sighed. "Will it get us to a town? Because if the Nomad and the idol are out there, we have to find it - and that means healing up our sick."

"The north star is the worlds natural compass. It'll tell us where north is and therefore which way to go. It should be right over...aaah..." Bohdana pointed up to the sea of stars. There were millions. Billions. Thousands of different constellations and even more notably bright stars. Boh swallowed, hunting the sky with a glare.

Look for a star that's brighter than the rest, usually sorta separated from everything else.

Bohdana frowned as Andle's voice rung in her head. That wasn't very helpful. She glanced back down to Skullivan, "I'll uh, I'll find it, don't you worry. In the meantime Andle and I always kept medical supplies in our packs. Maybe it'd be best to rest up for the night or...I don't know."