Eril's Story

Day 12

Set and I parted ways the following day. Our paths naturally split as he was heading North, and I was continuing onward to the West. Before I said goodbye I was given a word of caution about some of the plains in the surrounding areas, then with a wave and a cheery whistle, Set gathered his herd, storming off and kicking up a cloud of dust in his wake - the way he had arrived.

Without the chaos that came about by traveling as a rider in a pack of energetic animals, there was a stark contrast now, simply by walking - taking in all the sights and sounds again at a simpler pace, I certainly still preferred it. The sandy surroundings stretched on for miles ahead of me, all I had to discern direction with was the blazing sun in the sky. Picking my way forward on paths, and through dry brush and small ravines.

I came to the flattest part I had yet seen, packed sand in all directions, rocks and boulders scatter amidst divots of packed earth. Walking through the boulders was awe inspiring, the sheer size of them being intimidating. At times I lost sight of both the horizon and sun, temporarily leading to lost bearings. It was during one of these moments that I felt as if I were possibly going in circles - so to reorient myself, I clambered with some difficulty up a rock that seemed taller than the rest in the immediate vicinity.

From where I stood, I was rewarded with a perfect view of where I was going, and to my relief I saw that the boulder field was shortly coming to an end in front of me, I had maybe fifteen minutes more of trekking before then. Suddenly though, I felt my feet starting to lift. The field of rocks surrounding me were starting to quake and become unseated, one by one, in quick succession, they inched their way away from the ground. My own previously stable platform began shifting and rocking as I struggled to balance my weight, the slightest move causing the boulder, many times my weight, to freely rotate.

I slid off the side and dropped to the ground with a thud. The stones continued to rise, higher and higher, inch by inch. I knew in this moment that this was probably what I had been warned about, but I was in the thick of it now and the only way out was forward. Rushing off in the direction I had scouted, the rocks were already a few feet off the ground. A few minutes later they had reached head height and I could see the whole land laid out in front of me, no obstruction barring my sight. Still the boulders crept skyward.

This went on until the sky above was filled with stone, blocking large chunks of light from the sky and turning the ground into an ominous shadowy mosaic. Everything stood suspended - a gentle breeze sweeping by stirred the boulders, causing a visible ripple among them. Then as if by some universal signal, the floating earth started plummeting back down towards the ground. The first crash was deafening, another that landed close caused me to stumble and my bones to shake. Thunder was in the air. I ran as fast as I could, looking about at all times, trying to determine if my path would lead to decimation by falling debris.

A giant hunk of stone crashed down right in front of me. I threw myself to the side as it rolled with inertia into another already fallen rock, smashing into it and splitting it down the center in a cloud of gravel and smoke. Dust and sand clouded the way but I pressed on, dark silhouettes from above continuing to bombard the Earth.

Rounding another fallen rock, I ducked back behind just in time when I instinctively heard the hum of a flying shard whoosh past my head. It was too close. Mere minutes after the upset, all the boulders were back resting on ground, innocently, as if they had always been simply resting there, the only sign of disturbance, a lingering haze of dust in the air. I for one was surprised I had survived the ordeal. Any of those rocks would have been enough to end my life in an instant - though there had been no time to think or worry about that in the moment.

I picked my way around the fresh craters and rubble, a scene of extreme disorder, until I reached the end, sinking down to my knees in thanks - fate wasn't done with me in this world yet. Hopefully I could spend the next few days not having hair raising occurrences spiking my adrenaline. Such though was the price for traveling an untamed land, and I realized why less people were keen on traveling for themselves.

Further on there was a small stream that I found, and it was refreshing to be able to wash up and clean myself. It was as good a place as any to make camp. After the chores of camp, the rest of the evening was spent writing in my small pocket journal, and sketching from memory some of my recent sightings. Then put my things away and slept well.