The Lost one's journey

Part 22: Kruha

As Raphael walks through the portal the blazing heat of the sun pounds down on her. "I hate this place." She says as she enters the fourth world of Kruha. A large desert spans as far as she can see with the sun high in the sky. Raphael sighs as she looks around the lands. She then pops her fingers creating a string of mana. She ties Pocu to her back then gets down on all fours on the ground. 'pustynia was to the north and the ruins is to the east.' Raphael thinks to herself. She digs her claws into the sand then launches herself. The cloud of sand that expels from her reaching the size of a small mountain. Raphael runs across the desert on all fours similarly to a beast. After about an hour of running she stops. She stands atop a small hill seeing ruined and collapsed buildings ahead of her.  "I need a plan. Rodet is alive he just can't be dead. The Arcana have to have him. So I need to find out where they are. Then save him. My turn to return the favor from all those years ago." Raphael says to herself as Pocu slowly wakes up with a scream as reality flickers in her eyes once again. Raphael quickly grabs Pocu from her back and gives her a hug. "Whoa! Calm down little one. Bad nightmare?" She asks while chuckling. Pocu seems freaked out but still does return the hug. "I- I don't like nightmares." She quietly says as she tightens her hug. "Yeah no one does Pocu. Just try and calm down and relax. It wasn't real." Some time passes and Pocu does let go. She lands on the sand and looks around. "Where are we?" She asks a bit nervously still clearly shaken up by her nightmare. "While you were snoozing I found the gate." Raphael says smirking as she pokes Pocus nose. Pocu giggles as Raphael pokes her. "Hehehe! So where are now?" She asks with a happy smile. Raphael looks uncomfortable for almost a second before she starts speaking with a large grin on her face. "Welcome to Kruha Pocu! The finest and only desert in all the worlds!" she says with a slight bow. "Wow!" Pocu exclaims as she looks around until she notices what looks to be ruined buildings ahead of the two of them. As Pocu sees the buildings she begins to shake a little bit as reality seems to flicker once again to a burning village. Raphael notices then and pats her on the head. "You might wanna get out of that cloak. It gets hot here fast y'know?" She ask with a smile. Pocu seems to snap out of it and turns to Raphael with a smile. "Oh yeah you're right." She says before taking off her cloak. "Ok here's the plan little one. We're gonna head to that village over there." She says while pointing at the ruins. "Then see if they haven't seen Rodet. That grumpy man probably went ahead of us because we took too long." She says shrugging. Pocu laughs and nods as they start moving. Raphael takes Pocus hand as they walk to the slight surprise of Pocu.  As they arrive to the ruins Pocu notices several beast and Beastkins. Raphael seems to not look around only looking ahead while having an uncomfortable expression on her face. Raphael notices a slight black tail slip past a wall and her eyes widen for a short time. 'Damnit Ik- Raphael he isn't here. I know he wouldn't be somewhere like this.' She thinks to herself as they walk. They eventually enter a building that seems to be a tavern of sorts. Raphael looks around seeing multiple different species of beast and beastkin littering the area  however many of them look sick or injured as they lay on the tables or even the floor. They approach a white haired cat beastkin who seems to be the bartender. Raphael begins to speak to them in an odd language meanwhile Pocu looks around the tavern and sees a familiar face. A lone elf carrying a familiar bow on his back. She manages to slip from Raphael's hand as she bickers with the bartender and walks over to the elf. As she walks over she looks at the multiple injured and sick beastkin with an almost uncaring look in her eyes. As she approaches the elf she notices that he's wearing tattered clothing, not even wearing shoes and his hair dirty and short. She stands besides the table looking at what he's doing. He seems to be carving arrows out of wood. "What are you doing?" She suddenly asks spooking the elf. "AH!" He shouts out almost dropping the arrow. He turns to Pocu looking at her in great shock. "You... You made me lose everything!" He shouts out enraged as he grabs Pocu by the collar lifting her up in the air with one hand. "AHH HELP!" Pocu shouts out scared. Raphael quickly snaps her head to Pocu shouts and dashes over there at lighting speeds and kicks the elf down saving Pocu. She hardly has time to celebrate as the elf recovers quickly rolling back and pulling his bow out and firing it at Pocus head. Raphael easily swats the arrow out of the air or so she thought as the arrow explodes on contact. "I'LL KILL YOU!" The elf shouts in a blind rage. Raphael doesn't seem injured by the explosion quickly putting Pocu on the ground and moves closer to the elf. She's caught off guard as the elf's bow splits in half showing itself to be two blades. The elf makes a quick swipe at her head but she's able to pop her fingers and create her metal claws to block the blades and then counter with a kick to his gut. The elf grunts in pain and is even pushed back a bit but pushes pass the pain. He then smacks the flat side of the blades together using them as a focus to cast a spell. What seems to be the head of a dragon appears with a green hue to it and eagerly attempts to chomp down on Raphael. She easily dodges it and seems to almost teleport behind the elf. She puts him in a headlock choking him until he passes out. "Pocu please explain what happened?" Raphael asks as she stands up and takes the man swords putting them back together to form a bow. Before Pocu can say anything the bartender runs over to Raphael and begins shouting at her in a different language. Raphael tries to calm him down while speaking the same language but it doesn't seem to do anything. Pocu then goes over the man and gets a close look at him. She has a flashback to the past when she saw Rodet mercilessly kill a majority of his friends leaving only him and another beastkin. "Is he ok?" She says to herself. Raphael seems to finish trying to calm the man down as he walks away grumbling. "Pocu please explain what that was?" She asks slightly worried as she walks over to her. As she walks over she notices a small tattoo on the man neck of a Wyvern. Pocu then begins to tell Raphael how she met him.