Year of 365

June 13

Mirages were not uncommon in the desert. Many people would come back to civilization drunk with the heat claiming to see things that had just been mirages, like an oasis filled with pristine crystal clear water, or temples that oozed gold. The locals all had tales of their own, and if you looked hard enough, you could find claims that rivaled some of the others around them. One woman claimed to have seen a bank of sand that rose higher than all the dunes around it with a hole at the very top, leading down into a dark shadow of black. A man who worked in the bar said that he had once seen the trail of a snake so long that it had to be from prehistoric times. 

The strangest came from a man that hadn't been seen in the town for centuries. Over time, his story became varied, no one knowing which version was the truth. Some say that he had claimed to see a woman of unexplainable beauty out on one of the dunes with skin like bronze and hair like chocolate. Others say it was a woman with hair like the red berries that grew on the cacti surrounding the village with skin like sand. But, there was always one constant fact from the tale. The man had seen her just as she crossed the top of the dune and though her dark clothing covered most of her body, her back was exposed, and he could see the clear and distinct outline of a tattoo in the shape of a snake. He had called her the snake woman. Many doubted him when he said that he saw the snake woman and they just labeled it as a mirage, like all the others, but there were a few who suspected that he truly had seen something. Expeditions had been launched by some, but each had returned empty-handed claiming to have seen nothing but sand, and over time, the story became legend, slipping into the lost memories.

Until that is, one man traveled to the village intent on solving the mystery. Had the man truly seen a woman out in the desert, or had it been a mirage. He came from England, fresh out of Cambridge University with a degree in historical studies. Knowing that this would be too big a task for him alone, he brought a team of loyal researchers with him, including one of his professors who had also shown an interest in the legend surrounding the woman. 

Their search started in the village, trying to piece together the true story from what little details they could find. They started in the inn where they found a woman drawing a design of a snake on a piece of paper.

"Excuse me," the man said, clearing his throat to try and gain the attention of the woman. "Are you a local here?"

She nodded. "What can I help you with?" She rolled up the drawing and tucked it underneath the desk, opening up a notepad. "Do you need a room?"

"Uh, no," the man said. 

"We were wondering if this is the town that has the rumor about the snake woman," the professor explained. He pulled out a notebook and flipped it open to a drawing that he had done. It was supposed to be the tattoo of the woman, but since there weren't really any official pictures of her, it was hard to say.

The woman laughed. "Yes, this is the town, but I doubt you will have any luck finding her. Masuda hasn't been seen for centuries."

"Masuda?"

"The man who claimed to have seen her. He disappeared a year after his first claim, wanting to go and try to find her again, but he never returned. He probably succumbed to the desert heat."

"Do you know where he went?"

The woman shrugged and gestured to a roughly drawn map of the desert that was hanging on the wall behind her. "It was said that he wanted to go to the great dune, as that was where he saw her last."

"The great dune?"

She pointed to a place on the map which seemed to be in the center of the desert, a long ways away from civilization in any direction. 

"If you are wanting to try and track him down, I suggest you rent some camels. They're the only way that you will be able to cross the desert." 

"Thank you," the men said, bowing slightly to her and leaving the room, heading back out into the hot desert sun once again. 

"Now what," the young man groaned, pulling out his leather-bound notebook and pencil. He had a small map of the desert tucked in between the worn and aged pages. He unfolded it and quickly marked down the rough location of the great dune before tucking it all away into his backpack again.

The professor, however, wasn't interested in marking places down on the map that he had brought and was instead eyeing a shop across the courtyard where they were standing. It seemed to be a little smaller than the other shops around it and people seemed to overlook it as they passed, though the scarlet and violet curtains drew him in for a strange reason.

"I'll be right back," the professor muttered, starting off in the direction of the building before his accomplice could say anything. 

Inside the building, the air was much cooler, though it was surprisingly stuffier. There was no breeze filtering through the slits that acted as windows and every large opening was covered by elegant sheets of fabric as if wanting to block out all the sunlight possible. 

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

"What are you doing in here?" 

The professor spun around to see a woman dressed entirely in black, including a headdress and face covering. In her hand was a bright scimitar that looked like it had been used recently for something, as there were a few splatters of blood sticking to the edge. The woman held it up to the man and slowly backed him up into one of the walls behind him.

"What do you want?"

The professor held up his hands in surrender, hoping to avoid being run through by the deadly weapon. "I was just looking around."

"And you decided that the best way of looking around was to enter a house that was clearly not open for guests," the woman hissed, pressing the tip of the sword closer to the man's stomach.

"I apologize," he whispered hoarsely, all confidence gone from his throat.

The woman moved her face closer to his and stared at him. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"No, Ma'am. My colleague and I, along with the rest of our team, came here to try and solve the mystery of the snake woman."

"The snake woman was only a mirage. She isn't real."

"Has that been proven?"

"No, but..."

"Then we are here to find out if it was truly a mirage or if she was real."

The woman sighed and straightened up, removing the sword from where its tip was starting to draw blood from the man's stomach. She pulled down her mask and head covering, revealing dark hair and chocolate skin with what looked like golden specks on her cheekbones. 

"I will let you leave with your colleague," the woman said after a moment. 

The professor nodded and straightened his vest, taking a step toward the door before stopping and turning around to the woman again. "You seem to know a fair bit about this legend." 

"What gave it away?"

Pointing to a pile of books near the door was all it took as an explanation. There were many books piled around the room, some focusing on legends of the area, others focusing on geography and botany of the desert, the professor wondered why there were so many of these, and on the wall at the very back, there were clippings of the many news articles that had been done both on Masuda and the expeditions on the snake woman.

"I suppose I've looked into it a few times," the woman admitted, pulling out a rag and sitting down to clean her sword.

"Would you be willing to help us?"

"Only if you have something that will compensate me."

"What do you want?"

The woman shrugged, "Money?"

"Done."

"Then go and get your colleagues and I'll tell you what I know. We'll compile resources and leave in the morning."

The professor nodded and turned to leave once again, but the woman stopped him with one more sentence.

"And for the record, I am not being held responsible if you and your friends perish in the desert."