Wanderer

Before they could take in the scenery, the force of a wave hammered the back of their knees and sent them splashing and spluttering in the salty water. So, a great start.

They coughed until their throat felt raw, staggering up as soon as they regained enough sense to do so. The next wave was coming and it didn't care if the traveler needed their face free of the water to breathe air. In a dripping, soggy, miserable mess, they dragged themself free of the water to dry, unmarked sand, leaving behind trails of droplets.

It wasn't much use continuing to wear wet socks on a beach like this. They tipped water out of their boots and peeled off their socks, took stock of the surroundings for a moment.

Empty, was its biggest trait. The next was sand. There were a few rocks here and there, with a steep incline, nearly a cliff, up into the tree line. And along the otherwise unmarked shore, a line of footprints. Novis hurried to follow them before the rising tide washed them away. Whatever other traveler had made their way across this beach would be welcome company—it seemed like ages since they'd seen another humanoid being.

Despite Novis's brisk pace along the sand, the other traveler's footsteps maintained a large lead—large enough that their owner remained out of sight. Novis followed the trail for hours, many hours, enough for the tide to rise and fall again — they saw no one. Even though the pursued person's prints were fresh enough that the waves failed to wipe them away throughout.

Eventually, the footprints vanished without a trace. One moment, divots in the sand, the next, nothing. As if the person had disappeared entirely, or taken off into the air. Novis stood puzzled for many minutes in the setting sunlight.

In the end, they scrambled up the steep slope and camped on the bluff. They didn't see any other signs of the other traveler, or any other humanoids, for that matter. Unsettled, they left that world as soon as they could.