The Wastes Exploration

There was an unfortunate amount of bureaucracy that went into allowing people into the Wastes. Praque’s head honchos were paranoid about defectors, rebels, and a slew of other issues. In Alcyone’s opinion, they had every right to. Respect bred respect, and all the higher-ups had done was breed unrest. That was what happened when you instilled a social hierarchy based on the status of your birth.

Alcyone lowered the coffee cup from her lips, taking a moment to look around the café where she sat. It was always warm here. Not an uncomfortable heat like some places she had been. The Phuzo running the place was good at keeping the ambiance and the temperature well regulated. It was a shame that a cushy life like this wasn’t her style. Still, it was nice to get out every once in a while. If there was a chance of dying today, she wanted to at least have a good taste in her mouth going down.

---

The gates certainly were a sight to behold. She didn’t think she’d seen this many Phuzo clamoring about since the last job raffle for the Work district. With how freely they had been passing out expedition identification forms, though, she couldn’t be surprised. She figured she would need to look into those positions Astyr had told her about sometime soon. However, it was no doubt that other Kin would be gunning for them as well. Best to let the hype die down. Alcyone leaned up against a support beam from a distance, watching the crowd feed thinner and thinner as they were processed. Once it seemed like nobody was being trampled any further, Alcyone made her way to fall in step with the others.

It was easy to forget how bright sunlight really was, especially when you were faced with it without all the elaborate grandiosity of Praque’s architecture. It truly made the outside world feel abandoned. Alcyone’s hand moved to shield her eyes as she stepped forth, moving to the side to allow any others behind her through. It felt like a long time before her eyes finally adjusted to the light, a welcome breeze rippling through her fur and cloak to combat the rapidly increasing heat. Warmth was nice and all, but there was a difference between lounging in the sun for pleasure and feeling as though your body was being cooked in an oven.

In the distance, Alcyone could see the forms of various Phuzo who had entered the Wastes before her trekking out on their own adventures. None of them who were returning seemed to be suffering any grievous injuries, but some were making their way back faster than others. The majority, however, were pushing on and trudging through the sand just as she was. With nothing that she could see causing some to turn back, Alcyone decided to chalk it up to personal preference. Not everyone could handle the Wastes, it was a pretty unforgiving place - and she had only been out here for half an hour.

Trudging forth with the sand catching in her fur, Alcyone’s trip led her further away from any others. She didn’t wholly mind, if she was honest. The concern was there about running into something, sure, but at least on her own she could be certain that she wouldn’t walk straight into some large beast and get her limbs torn off. Still, it would be a good idea to make sure that her equipment was up to snuff. Patting her bags down and sorting as she walked, Alcyone picked her head up every now and then to glance ahead of her. The last thing she wanted was to wind up facing down against something and her stuff not actually being where she remembered putting it. Luckily for her, her double-checking was enough to reassure her. Everything seemed to still be as it was before she had left the confines of Praque. Sighing a breath of relief, Alcyone turned her gaze forward and continued her journey.

Until she couldn’t.

Alcyone nearly stumbled forward as her paw refused to lift itself. Recovering quickly, she looked down at the source of her problem. She quickly realized that in an effort to prevent making ragged, haphazard tracks through the desert, she hadn’t realized that she had stumbled right into a patch of what appeared to be quicksand. Wracking her brain for the proper solution on how to proceed turned up nothing. She wasn’t much of an adventurer, and none of her prior jobs had dealt with quicksand before. Was it supposed to be staying still made you sink slower? Or was moving a lot supposed to help? Alcyone couldn’t be sure, and the feeling of her paws sinking didn’t offer much assistance in the thinking department.

Pride was something that Alcyone held close, but in a life or death situation, she would much rather her pride be swallowed than let herself be a corpse. She did eventually yell out, head on a swivel as she scanned the horizon. What was once a comfortable, or at least tolerable vacancy was now a spell for doom. Gritting her teeth and attempting to struggle against the sand made her all too aware of the sinking feeling she felt, both in her stomach and literally.

As the sand crept up her body and tugged her further below the surface, the frustrations began to give way to fear and worry. Survival instinct had kicked in, sending sand flying as she raked her claws viciously across the surface to claw her way out. It proved futile, as she was dragged further and further.

Her body encompassed by sand, the feeling of being swallowed and crushed by the weight of it all. Was this what death was supposed to be? Sinking into the void, surrounded on all sides as sand filled your nose and mouth? Lungs stinging as you took your final breath above the surface? Alcyone refused to go down peacefully. Fighting your last was important, even if it took everything you had. She made one last wild swing, a final attempt to free herself from the sand.

Freedom came with a price, she soon realized, as she felt her body suddenly devoid of the pressure around her. That price? Falling at rapid speeds.

The impact of hitting the ground did more to knock the wind out of Alcyone than the sand had done. She realized this as the gasp of air she took on instinct didn't come with inhaling sand. Bringing a hand to her mouth, she realized that none had gotten in at all. Perhaps the feeling of being swallowed had been much less than she thought.

Dragging herself to her feet, she nearly gagged on the smell surrounding her as she tried to orient herself. The cavern was somewhat spacious, with large crystalline structures jetting out from all sides. It was somewhat of a miracle that she hadn’t impaled herself on one. Alcyone herself wasn’t particularly spiritual, however. Coincidence, she decided, was what she would chalk it up to.

The source of the foul smell caught her eye not too long afterwards, as the golden glow surrounding the base of the crystals amplified their shimmer. Stumbling over, Alcyone tried to get a closer look before the feeling of nausea came back even stronger. It wasn’t likely that she’d manage much investigation in this cave at this rate. Snagging a handful and stashing them away, she resolved to first focus on finding a way out. Once she made it back to Praque, if she made it there, she could think about what she’d do next.