Sand had risen up to completely cover the Sheikah and young Rito girl by the time the sandstorm finally blew over. There was no sign that anyone had ever been there, no reason to suspect that two near-death beings lay there.

And yet about an hour after the twosome had fallen from the Void, a figure swathed in multiple robes rushed forward to the exact spot where they slept and quickly kneeled to the ground, sinking an inch or two into the desert ground. A pair of woman’s hands emerged from beneath the cloth and began sweeping away the sand as fast as they could. Within a few minutes she had revealed a black cape, and as she continued a tuft of brownish hair emerged as well.

She promptly stopped upon uncovering the Rito’s face, as if she was confused for some reason. But she quickly shook her head, shaking away her doubts as well. It took a while, but she finally exposed both bodies. The Rito she picked up and slung over her shoulder. The Sheikah she grabbed by the cape and dragged along after her as she walked further into the desert.



Alpha awoke to the sound of metal scraping against metal. He groaned as his eyes slowly opened and he sat up. It took a few seconds for his memory to come back to him, but when it did he quickly glanced over the room he’d found himself in. His eyes finally rested on the young Rito girl, sleeping in a bed. It took him a second to realize that he too was in a bed, and that his chest had been bandaged up for some reason. He looked to his side…and spotted a black slimy worm sitting there. A grimy ooze surrounded it on the plate where it lay, and a distinctively disgusting odor floated off it. Alpha shied away from it immediately.

"You don’t have to worry about that…thing…anymore, Sheikah," came a voice. He turned his head to the opposite side of the room, seeing a Gerudo standing over a cauldron. She scooped some soup into a bowl with her metal ladle, walked over to Alpha, and gave it to him. "Eat up; that sandstorm must’ve done a number on you. You're lucky I found you…before the sand had completely covered you up. You’d have been dead by now if I hadn’t. As it is, you only slept for a full day."

Alpha took the bowl, quickly discovering his ravenous hunger, and began gobbling it up. It wasn’t nearly as good as the food he’d had in the past year, but it was good enough to eat without a second thought. In between bites, he looked over his savior. A typical Gerudo woman, with typical waist-long red hair, typical golden eyes, and typical Gerudo clothing. Except that, unlike most Gerudo he’d seen, her clothes and body were not adorned with any jewels or makeup…or anything to make her look prettier, for that matter. Not that she wasn’t pretty without them - far from it. It was actually kind of refreshing to hear a Gerudo woman talking without thinking that she was trying to either impress or threaten someone.

He glanced at the worm-thing again. "So what exactly was that thing?"

The Gerudo shrugged. "I was kinda hoping that you could tell me. It had been placed in your chest when I found it; caused your skin there to turn blackish. I managed to pull it out, but it wasn’t easy - it was actively trying to stay put. Its grip was so strong that I would guess it was trying to feed off of you, but when I looked it didn’t seem like it had taken any bites." Her confused expression complimented her words, so that Alpha had very little doubt that she was telling him all she knew.

Alpha thought for a second. 'Feeding…feeding on what?' Then it clicked - the pain that had come from his chest while in the Void, the abrupt loss of concentration - even though he’d trained long and hard to concentrate even harder when he was in pain - and his extreme loss of energy - it all made sense now. "That must be it. It was feeding on my energy, not my body!" He slammed his fist on the table beside him. "May Din’s fire swallow the Hakiems whole!" he muttered.

The Gerudo did not seem to hear his muttered curse, and instead walked over to where Calla slept, caring for the young Rito. Once Alpha had finished his bowl - and two more that he filled himself - he crossed over to her. "I’m Alpha. Thank you for saving us."

She looked up with a kind twinkle in her eye. "Name’s Koura. And you might want to back off of thanking me just yet." Her gaze returned to Calla. "This girl got seriously messed up. Not only did she breathe in a bunch of sand, but she’s suffering from hyperthermia. It’s rare, but not unheard of, here in Parapa, which is actually a rather cool desert. Still, the combination of the two means that things are not looking up, not at all."

Alpha knelt down beside Koura, concern evident in his expression. "So what can we do?"

The Gerudo bit her lip, as if not sure she should mention this, but decided to anyway. "There’s a medicine man in Parapa Village. A real sweet Human guy, one of the few non-Gerudo who’s been accepted into the town. We’d need to go to him for help; he’d be happy to help us out. He knows me too; we go way back."

Alpha looked around and spotted his staff leaning against a wall. He walked over and grabbed it, then turned his direction to the doorway. "Then let’s get going! There can’t be much time left!"

"Not that easy, Alpha," Koura’s sad voice came back. "You see, I’m an exile of Parapa Village. They spot me even once in there, and I'm dead."

Alpha glanced at the woman in a new light. 'An exile of the Exiles...interesting...' He turned back to face her, then immediately doubled over, coughing uncontrollably. 'I'm still too weak to do anything useful...' he realizes. "We're going to need some help."

Slowly walking outside, the Sheikah examines the night sky. If Koura's words are correct, then it's been a full day since the group escaped the Hakiems' base...there's a chance...

Using as little energy as his plan requires, Alpha forms a glowing white ball in his hands. Slinging it around, he hurls the Light Elemental Burst skyward. In minutes, the sphere explodes outward, releasing a brightness unheard of at nighttime. The Sheikah only hopes that his beacon is seen by somebody with the strength to aid them...

The cool nighttime air of Hyrule's famous desert brushed against Blank's face as he stumbled through the sand. It had been hours since he had parted ways with his companions after escaping from the horrible lair of the ancient Sheikah tribe - the Hakiems. The elite army, headed by a vengeful Sheikah and a vile Zora, was no doubt furious that their prisoners had escaped.

He tripped and fell, feeling the sand colliding with his face, and letting out a shocked yell as a variety of cold sand flecks were thrown into his eyes. The nomad climbed to his feet, staggering towards the sea as quickly as possible. As he reached the waves along the kingdom's east coast, he dropped to his knees and plunged his face into the refreshing water. Of course, while the sand had been driven from the sockets, Blank had learned a valuable lesson: never wet your eyes with salt water. It took a few minutes for the blinding pain to subside, but he came to his senses and regained sight before too long. And continued to trudge sullenly across the wastes of the freezing sandland.

Quite tired of wandering around, and cold as ice no less, Blank slumped against the mountain's wall and sighed. It did not take him long to start a suitable fire, and soon their was a small flame alight on the desert ground. He sat there, staring into the blazing creation, wondering where in the world Alpha and Calla had disappeared to. He shook off the horrible memories of the Void; he would have to make sure to stay away from ever having to enter that realm again.

And so, being as fatigued as he was, Blank's initial response to the burst of light exploding in the air above was shock. He rose to his feet, cautious of who could have cast the bright magic. It was dark, but not far from where he stood he could make out the silhouette of a man, which faded away as the light's almighty aura dispersed. Blank crouched down, and sprung into a headlong run at the unidentified being. "Who's there?" he called, running into the unknown and colliding due to the simple fact that he had been unable to see the man in the surrounding darkness.

OOC: Damn, second to reply. I wanted to be first.

IC:
Rose didn't really know Alpha. But she had bonded with Shada, and Rose was willing to help her out. She had went off on her own to look for the Sheikah. Rose had thought that with the eyes of owl, she could find him easily, but such hasty thinking had begun to enter her mind more and more. Hyrule was a large land, larger than Holodrum, and she was looking for two people. Cliche as it is, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Come on, Alpha, show yourself, Rose thinks to herself.

Almost instantly after Rose thought that, a bright light appeared over Parapa Desert. Rose grins; rather she does it mentally. After all, owls can't smile. She veers of towards the desert. She lands a little bit to south of where the light had been. She changes back to herself and walks cautiously towards the source, her sword drawn just in case. "Is that you Alpha?" she asks.

Alpha gazes out over the vast expanses of the desert that surround Koura's cave dwelling, trying to find some sign of a person responding to his light. The moonlight is rather soft tonight, and the stars do little to aid in his search. His senses remain dulled after the draining of his energy, but he is able to stand and scan the horizon.

Looking down south for a second, he hears the distant cry of a hawk overhead. Glancing upward, he manages to catch sight of the bird as it travels high in the atmosphere. However, his attention is brought back down to earth at the sound of a voice, followed quickly by the nearby crunching of shoes on sand. He looks over and manages to make out a figure charging forward. Squinting, he realizes who it is: Blank Fireside.

"Blan-oof!" he cries out as the Nomad rams into him, knocking the Sheikah to the ground as well as knocking the wind out of him. Sand immediately infiltrates his hair, clothing, mouth, and nose - but fortunately not the eyes - as he struggles to at least rise into a sitting position. 'I did not need that...' he thinks, still weak from that parasitic worm. Wrapping a hand around his stomach, where the Grunt had made impact with the Scholar, he slowly regains his ability to breathe normally.

When his chest is moving back and forth at a relatively normal rhythm, he lets go of two words that he has been holding back on: "Hey...Blank..." he says slowly and through clenched jaws, trying to withhold the flood of annoyance that threatens to make him kill the adventurer.

As he struggles to get off the ground, he hears the voice of Rose call out to him. Exhaling sharply as he manages to rise at last, he rubs his head. "Yeah, it's me. Good to see someone knows how to greet a person properly.

While running, a string of thoughts had been running through Blank's brain. The rushing breeze, however, made it impossible to heed its warning. Hm, I must be getting close to whoever is out here... maybe I should slow down... Unfortunately, the freezing whips of Parapa's air distracted his attention, and he did not realize until too late that he was dangerously close.

He sprang to his feet, spitting the sand out behind him and regaining focus in his eyes. Before him lay Alpha Varaudo. He knew not whether he should feel relieved, or if he should turn in the direction he had come and run away from the doubtlessly peeved mage. This was a rare occasion, though. Finding a missing ally in the middle of nowhere was very reassuring. He could only think of two things: One, apologize, and two, confirm that the Sheikah and Rito were alright.

"Oh, sorry, Alpha... Alpha! How did you... Where did you... Why... Ha!" was all he could say, unable to express how glad he was that the scholar had been found. "Are you alright? Where's Calla?"

"Ohhh..." Alpha groans, just before he coughs out a mouthful of sand. His hand moves from rubbing his forehead to the back of his neck as he replies. "Well, I was doing just fine..." He gives his head a good shake, sending a thin cloud of sand flying around him.

At the sound of Calla's name, though, the Sheikah's eyes open again, revealing seriousness. He quickly explains. "We dropped off here in the desert, and were found by a Gerudo. I'm doing alright, but Calla has a bad case of hyperthermia. We need to get medicine from a man in Parapa Village...we should probably talk to Koura herself about this." Using his staff to push himself back to his feet, he slowly leads the other two back towards the cave.

Rose follows Alpha into the cave. The inside was simle; something she could go for if she happened to be rained out. Of course, that wouldn't likely happen in the desert, but still. She sees the Gerudo. "Hello," Rose says in Gerudic.

Koura glances up as Alpha leads Blank and Rose into her cave. She automatically assumes that they are hostile, but upon the friendly and familiar greeting of Rose's she lets a smile return to her lips. "Hello yourself," she replies in Gerudic, then turns to Blank and Alpha. "Friends of yours, I presume, Alpha."

The Sheikah nods. "I believe that they can help us. All they need is directions to this doctor of yours, and -"

"Not that simple, Sheikah." The Gerudo shakes her head and turns back to face Calla. "Enici isn't the most of people. He won't help unless I'm there asking."

Alpha runs his fingers through his hair, releasing another wave of sand into the air. "Well, that certainly complicates things..." He shakes his head again and turns to face Rose and Blank. "Well, I suppose we'd best explain matters to you."

When the explanation is finished (OOC: I really like doing that...), the Sheikah turns to Koura. "Exactly how long do we have?"

The Gerudo sighs. "Impossible to say for certain, but I'd be willing to bet that she won't survive til tomorrow night. We have to move quicky; we'll have enough time to get there, get the medicine, and get back. Nothing more." She turns to the two joiners. "Can you handle that timeframe?"

Rose nods. "I'm pretty sure I can," she replies verbally.

OOC: Holy crap! How long have I been at Level 8?!

"I need a little relaxation." Dogura said aloud, sitting on a rooftop in the Town Square. He removed a small sandwich he had prepared for himself, and took a large but satisfying bite out of it. Leaning back, he let out a long sigh. The moon was bright. He sat up abruptly. The moon was a little too bright. Upon closer inspection, he realized that in his position, the moon should be behind him. It was a foggy night as well, the moon shouldnt have been visible.

"What in the name of Din?" He muttered, as he took another bite of his sandwich. He picked up his small pack, and stood up. Although it was rather windy, he kept his balance just fine, as he examined the light further. It must be a flare, or a beakon for help...He though finishing off his sandwitch. His wounds were almost fully healed from a recent face off with a Kroperg. Not something many people can say they have done, and lived to speak of it.

"Well, what will another mission hurt me?" He said with a grin, and a leap off of the roof top. He was in the trees, and then dashing across the land. People turned only to see a blue bolt. He was traveling fast, and was feeling energetic after 3 cups of coffee. He stopped at the edge of the deku woods, as he stood before a massive stone wall. It came from Parapa? He thought, making a dash into the cave. He didnt need light, he was accustomed to sleeping in the dark.

He emerged into Parapa, and a cool breeze blew over from the ocean. It was a cool, windy night, and Dogura liked windy nights. He kicked up quite a bit of sand behind him, as he dodged through trees, and rocks. He stopped at the site of a few familiar faces. He was just now realizing how winded he was. He sat down, and looked at Alpha, then turning his gaze on Ms.Rose, and Blank. "Well, what have we here?" Dogura chuckled. "And at such an hour!" He finished, laying back in the sand.

He was well happy to see that Alpha was okay, after his mysterious dissapearance in the portal. "So who was it that sent off the flare?" Dogura asked, looking accusingly at Blank, knowing it wasnt anywhere possible that Alpha required his asistance again so soon.

"Dogura!" Alpha says in greeting as the next of his allies approaches the cave. "It was me; Calla's in deep trouble." He quickly explains everything, then lets Koura continue.

The Gerudo quickly outlines the things that need to take place. "The medicine man can be found in the Crescent Moon Tavern most of the time, but getting there's the tricky part. Guards are often patrolling the streets, so we need to avoid them; once they catch sight of me, we're done for.

"Plus, once we meet with him, we've still got to get to his shop. It's on the outskirts of town - another time when we could be captured. Good news is that from there we ought to just be able to walk straight back, no problems." She shrugs. "For once, the beginning's the hard part, rather than the end.

"I think our best bet is for someone to act as a distraction so that I can get in and speak to Enici with at least half of the resistance."

"I can be the distraction," Rose volunteers, not knowing how much trouble it can get her into. If she's lucky, she'll just be exiled from Parapa Village herself. "Just tell me what's the best way to distract these people."

"Not a disguse?" says Arco all at once, as if he'd been premeditating the words for some time and only now mustered the courage to spit them out. The innocently concerned look on his face is almost as disturbing as the fact that he's just quietly sitting on the floor against a leg of the bed Alpha had been in, and looks to have been doing so for some time.

"Rrr..." he stalls, in much the way you might say, "I mean," or "that is," and then falls silent again. Then like his first spoken words, he unexpectedly breaks into a rapid, stuttering speech: "Wouldn't it be better to try to find him quietly, and just use distractions as a... rrr... a 'Plan Bee,' I think it's called?"

He clamps up after finishing this, and for a moment you feel like you can see through his body to the wall behind him, so much that he doesn't even seem to be--oh wait, nevermind. He's right there. Silly Shadows.

-----
Several minutes earlier...

Footprints. Two pairs over here; that one perhaps had smaller, dantier shoes. Those... boots. And over there, those very strange, skimming steps, like a heavy man's, yet skimming over the sand... aren't there those odd warriors who can do that sort of thing?

There's a cave over there, and... oh! and behind me, those are my footprints, aren't they?

OOC: Sorry Red Fury ><. Guess I hit "Submit" a few seconds before you did...

'What better distraction could there be than a thief on the run.' A disembodied voice flows into the cave. It's instantly recogniseable, then as if to make sure there is no doubt, Raven suddenly appears at the mouth of the cave. It appears he has heard everything that has been said so far and more surprisingly seems to be offering himself as the distraction.

He gives Koura a tradional Gerudic greeting (in Gerudic) and bows politly to her. 'Don't worry, Alpha. I'm sure that you will get yourself killed someday. Just try not to take anyone else with you.' He says; all the time looking at the seriously ill Calla.

A flare in the desert, it was instantly recognizable, the night was never this bright. Cursing to himself loudly, he begins walking. It always had to be trouble in the desert. Why wasn't there ever cake in the desert? Well, the sand of course, but it was the concept, not the end result that he cared about. Steps, cold and soft in the grass of the forest, his home, his comfort zone, and he knew he had to leave. What for? This is what confused him, adventurers making their way around Hyrule saving every helpless no name, as if it was their job. He shakes his head, yet somehow, he sensed this was inportant, flares are not common, especially among the peasants. It never occured to him that it could have been Alpha. A wind, dragging his leaves back from their resting position, so he has to smooth them out once again, he makes his way to the cave. He had to enter and try an help them, but he didn't know where, and the desert was his nemesis. Bad memories occured whenever he entered, and he wondered if it would be so once again. Click, clack, tip, tap. His tiny feet sound as they are drawn onto the hard rock of the floor. Sand residue from the desert already began haunting him. As the other end of the cave became apparent, so did the sand. His mind was flooded; eaten end vomited by his past.

'Why don't you shut up and die?' A stab in the leg and a squirt of blood. A knife directly into the throat.

He trembles closing his eyes, hoping to coerce this to leave his mind, he dreads this memory, it takes his sleep, it lingers in his consciousness, and otherwise tortures him. It is then that the pain continues.

Digging, the blade of a shovel tearing the sand in the night sky, a body, bleeding wildly on not only the ground, but on his robes. Blisters, the handle of a shovel tearing his hands, and quick breathing, panicked and cold, almost... evil. A thunk as the body takes it's position in a grave. A long trek home with a ravaged mind.

He shakes his head violently, he hated this reminiscience, it reminded him of the evil that lurked in his body, waiting to be provoked, then it would talke control, not releasing it's vicegrip until his foe had been eliminated. He almost choked on his throat just remembering, though he knew this pain was nothing like at the time. This is when he fell to his knees, a more recent memory.

"Grenada, you must do it!" A female voice called out to him, but he couldn't bring his sword down, something stopped him, and the tiniest hesitation caused a dramatic change. Being forced to the ground, the deku could only watch his sword was forced into the stomachs of the two nearest to him, before they fell to the ground, and Grenada couldn't help but smile.

He had done all he could, yet he still couldn't save them, that's what truly hurt his mind, that was his job, a mercenary, and he couldn't even do it. He cursed as he forced himself up onto his feet, this was when he remembered his objective, find the source of the flare. Searching quickly, he moved fast, he wasn't sure how long ago it had been sent, but he had dawdled enough. Running, the wind rushed past his body, again blowing his leaves from their comfortable positions, but he dind't care this time. He soon noticed silhouettes on the horizon. This was good, he had began wondering if his mind had been playing tricks upon him, tempting him to the desert to torment his soul again. Sprinting quickly, he finally began to see them take shapes, and saw that many he had been with previously were there, most noticably Alpha. 'He did make it out! Hooray!' Skidding to a stop, his feet propels sand up to the others, but his face is covered with a smile that ensures it was unintentional. If one were to glance hard enough at his eyes however, they would see the turmoil shining through his hard set features, bloodshot and full of pain.

OOC Alpha: Sorry for the slight misuse of the purpose of this thread, but it seemed like the perfect opportunity.