The Mayaware's reign has to end.
In a world of demonic beings with a hunger for human flesh, and thirst for blood, Hesi Renen knows it well. When her siblings are taken to the harvesting farms, she must do everything she can to get them out, even if...
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Hesi drew the scarf to her nose as she fought her way to the top of the dune. Sandy waves rolled off the horizon, riding with the strong breezes blasting from the east. The deep trenches made by the cart's wheels cowered against the blanket of sand fighting to flush them out of existence. She stalked forward, keeping the disappearing indents in the sand as far behind in her periphery. Her own tracks faded behind her the minute she made them.
Like their life, nothing was eternal in the ever-shifting desert.
Her muscles throbbed, especially in her legs. The sweat at the back of her head had long dried into a faint shimmer. Her water skin was dry, the last stop she made was when the Mayaware stopped for a drink in a small stream in the heart of the sweltering heat. Blisters and scabbing lines marred her arms and neck. She lost count of how many times she had to stop herself from picking at them with her sharp nails.
The desert bled out from her feet like an angry beast, the dunes reflecting each and every breath. Patches of dark green dotted the expanse, decorated by splashes of pink, yellow, and orange. Every once in a while, burrowing critters would poke their heads out of the surface, blink at Hesi, and scamper away. If only they were as free as those.
The days had bled together, the sun's eternal motion through the sky and the moon's appearance on a star-speckled sheet of ink meaning nothing. Her heart had never stopped weighing down on her limbs. The dread coloring her insides never ebbed to a faint flicker of guilt. The demons have her siblings inside the creaky cart departing from Agkhre. No way Hesi would allow that to be for much longer.
Her mind twisted and rolled over the facts, trying to come up with a plan. Any plan. She couldn't launch an attack on the cart. She'd be shot dead even before she could wrench the cart's handle free. And she didn't want to put her siblings in more danger if she brought the fighting to their feet.
So she stuck to climbing over bouts of rock rising from the carpet of particles, observing with piercing eyes where the paltry procession came from and where they're going. The end of Pai's scarf ticked her shoulders, reminding her of what was at stake should she fail in this mission. Should she never get her siblings back.
Would it be better to join her family in the afterlife in that case?
Hesi shook her head, dispelling the thoughts from her brain. Time. She still had time. Pai and Unsu were still alive. She'd get them back, even if she had to lay for herself a bloody trail. Even if she set herself to a path of ruin. Of heartache. Of sacrifices needed and met. She was Hesi Renen. There's not a thing she wouldn't throw away to fulfil the last promise she would ever give.
Keep them safe. She had already failed once. She's not going to again.
The cart's tracks faded with the wind. Hesi cursed with a click of her tongue and quickened her slogs. The sand stirred and swirled between her legs, the heat bleeding past her trousers and hugging her thighs. Her breaths hitched, chest heaving to attempt to catch up with the effort the incline demanded from her system. A budding headache settled at the base of her neck, working its way up to the back of her head. What would happen if she keeled over in this hostile place? It's not like someone would help her.
