==Never ending street lights==
It turns night again and the group stands outside the hideout with their hovering convertible, the ‘Sandschlitten’. The sandstorms stopped as they always do at night.
“So have your plans changed after seeing that?”, Horuteph asks.
Raiden mutters: “What would have happened to me if I had gone through the cleft? Is it safe to do that? Maybe Ketsuki kinda saved me. Whose skull could contain my DNA? In which world could that really be mine? I hope there’s more time rifts out there. If this was the last one we find then I’m fucked. What if this is the closest I can get to finding him?...”
Horuteph shouts: “Hey!”
He gets scared and answers: “Oh… ehm… sorry, I was lost in my thoughts. …Weeell, since my mates and I got all the time in the world now we can also help you out here.”
Erika comments: “Just say you want to help Lia.”
Raiden breaks out in tears and holds onto Erika: “Yeees! I want to help this incarnation of cuteness! I couldn’t leave this planet, knowing she’s going to feel bad when I could’ve done something to prevent that!!”
Erika, surprised by Raiden crying, replies: “Get your hands off me! Why is just this little girl your entire motivation?”
Ketsuki explains: “Cute little girls are something every guy wants to protect. It’s like an instinct.”
Raiden stands up and wipes the tears away: “You never said something more intelligent.”
He reaches out his hand to Horuteph: “Now, gimme the keys you just stole! You don't even know how to drive this thing.”
Horuteph looks surprised and pulls keys out of his pockets: “How did you know?”
Raiden explains: “I saw you doing it even though even I almost didn’t notice.”
Erika asks appalled from the background: “Even I?!”
Horuteph is a little annoyed: “Just take the key already. It’s no fun stealing from you.”
They all hop in the ‘Sandschlitten’ and Raiden turns on the force field. Horuteph is mesmerized by the technology and wants to touch it. His hands go through it and he is even more confused now.
Atsume pulls his hand in: “Things can go out but not in which means, there won’t be any sand hitting you. We’ll also go pretty fast but there won’t be any wind in here either.”
They start driving and Horuteph gets startled: “Where so fast! This is terrifying!”
Raiden explains: “But if we go at max speed, we will be at the world capitol in just a few hours.”
He turns the speed up and Horuteph starts to hold onto the seat as hard as he can.
“H- h- how can we b- b- be there in just a f- f- few hours? I- i- is it really that fast?”, Horuteph asks terrified.
“When the sun gets up, we’re there! This thing drives at around 400km/h!”, Raiden explains.
They’re already at the end of the Naarashi Desert and at the North Passageway.
Horuteph screams: “Slow down! There’s a massive drop th-!”, as they already jump off the huge cliff, down into the vast desert below.
Atsume and Horuteph are screaming but Raiden and Erika enjoy the fall.
“Hahh, that was so fun!”, Raiden happily comments.
Atsume leans into the front: “What the fuck was so funny about this! Don’t you dare to ever do that again!”
Erika asks: “How come I don’t hear anything from Horuteph?”
They all look at his seat. Horuteph passed out.
“Oh, I can see some of the huge-ass glass pillars again! They’re exactly the same as the ones we already saw!”, Shurui shouts from somewhere.
Atsume notices: “Shurui-chan? Where the hell is she?”
They notice Shurui is embedded into the front of the convertible and Atsume asks: “Ha?! What are you doing outside?! Isn’t that dangerous?!”
“Not at all! It’s cozy out here!”, Shurui explains. They drive off into the distance.
Back in the city in the south, Henima hastily walks through a hallway in the city hall. He opens the door to the meeting room and finds a few people in there. Two advisors with their heads burrowed in some books, a bald and very buff guy leaning onto the wall and a girl with her shoes on the table.
“Are the two other exploration squads ready?”, Henima asks.
One of the advisors replies: “They’re equipped and one of the teams is already on their way. We already explained the mission to them so don’t worry.”
Henima sighs in relief and continues: “Mara, Rock, we’re also heading off. You, Mara, take the ‘Blooming Blade’ we got from that pink soldier and you Rock, you’ll take the ‘Golden Knuckles’ from that other soldier. One of them is already a little dented but I think you can bend that thing back into its original shape again. Also don’t forget some spare scimitars. We gotta have at least one per arm of the group.”
Mara complains: “Uhhh, why do we have to head off in the middle of the night?”
Henima replies very aggressive and intimidating: “Because I said so!!”
Mara blushes and Rock says: “Don’t worry, he’s stressed right now.”
The sun starts to rise and you can see a huge city in the distance, girded by desert and mountains in the surrounding area. There are lights as far as you can see.
Atsume shakes Horuteph: “Hey, wake up! There’s a city!”
Horuteph slowly wakes up and then says: “Oh wow! We’re here. That’s the world capitol, Cenperi.”
Raiden comments: “This city doesn’t seem to end at all.”
“You’re right!”, Shurui shouts from the front, “This city has a diameter of around 77km! The most interesting thing is that there even stand some of the glass pillars inside of the city because they needed that much space!”
All of them gaze at the infinite view over the city while Erika thinks: “What is your obsession with these pillars?”
Horuteph thinks: “So this is the place where the king lives. The head of the Ashtark Empire. I’m going to kill him! No matter what!”
===========================
Things start to roll! Or maybe hover? Anyway, the Cenperi part of this arc starts now!