Elena of the Elanoir (Discontinued)

With Shifting Sands

"Elena!" a voice seemingly cried out. I was already exhausted from last night's ordeal, being covered in small bite marks.

In response, I groaned and shouted back, "What??"

"Can you come down here? I need your help!"

I rolled over onto my side, "Just five more minutes... I'll be down in a bit... what time is it anyway??"

"Elena- it's already twelve pm!" 

My eyes flew open faster than a bird taking flight. I couldn't believe myself, I slept in that late?! That was the latest I had ever slept in, I thought 11 am was too late! Almost in a panic, I got up running around as if we were under some sort of attack in an attempt to get ready for the day. 

"Twelve pm?! Ryan, why didn't you wake me up earlier?!" I wailed, grabbing some clothes to change into. 

"Well, I saw how tired you were after dealing with those demon eyes! I didn't want to wake you up in case you were still tired!" Ryan responded back. 

I quickly changed into a black and white striped shirt, finished with a purple trench coat item. I threw on some grey pants, which were always a hassle to get on with my talons getting in the way and threw my brownie brown hair up into a messy bun... then I realized how stupid that look so I put it into a simple ponytail. Finally finishing it with a purple flower in the hair, which Ryan said complimented my ashy blue eyes. 

After I finished getting dressed, I practically flew down the stairs, but I unfortunately tripped over my talons and came crashing down. 

"Are you alright Elena? There's no rush you know!" He chuckled as he walked over to help me up once again, "I just needed to ask you something!" 

I brushed myself off, "What is it? I'd do anything!"

I basically owed my life to Ryan, as he had saved mine. He knew I was to die if I had no assistance as I laid there, so he gave me that assistance despite being hysterical and too weak to even get up myself. I'd truly do anything for him, and that meant anything. 

"Well..." he started, "I need you to head to the desert..."

I let a groan slip out, "The desert? Ryan really? You know I hate that place!"

He let out a soft chuckle, "I know I know! We both hate it you mean?" 

I stuck up my nose, "Well I hate it more, and the sand always gets stuck in my talons! Hell, sometimes even my wings!" I said in an almost mater-of-fact tone, and it was true! It was always a pain at the end of the day to clean out. 

"Well I..." He let out a defeated sigh, "okay, I can't argue with that... but do you think you could grab some waterleaf? And well..." He started and looked around as if he was about to tell me something personal, "can you also grab some antlion and stormlion mandibles?" He finally ended with an awkward smile. 

I looked away and gave a small eyeroll, those two creatures were always a pain in the ass to deal with, especially since one of them can paralyze you and basically shock you to death if you were not careful. The other was just fast and painfully annoying to deal with, and sometimes they sit in the ground spitting sand at you. Other times they grew up to have wings and could attack from above. 

I cocked my head, "Why do you need those? Like... what purpose do they serve? Is it for a new potion recipe you found?"

"Actually no! Remember that pyramid we raided not too long ago?" He answered, as he grabbed something I couldn't quite see, "well I figured out what those hieroglyphs translated too! Apparently, it's a recipe for a desert medallion, it doesn't say what it's used for or where it comes from, but I want to study it!"