Crossing of the Paths

Book 1: Desert Wind - Chunk 7

The Crossing of the Paths
Second Edition
By MMM/AJ
Part I: Desert Wind

A/N: Hey again readers, if you're here reading this note then I'm super grateful you've stuck with me! I know the last chunk was a bit heavy and I can totally understand if that might turn some people off. Fortunately I can say that this chunk does not have any deaths in it!

That doesn't mean it will lack any punch though, there's some new twists still waiting for you at the end! I am very proud of this one too, since I managed to squeeze in a shitload of new little details to enrich the story and make everything feel more connected. There's more than a couple callbacks to previous chunks, see if you can spot them all!

And also, this chunk marks the halfway point of Desert Wind! There's 14 Chunks total, so only 7 more to go before we finally catch up to where I'm currently working. Hope you've enjoyed as much as I have!

Chapter 17: Ven'vha

There was no real rest for Mewtwo after he collapsed in the middle of the desert. He did manage to sleep right through it when his Rakeshan companions carried him back to the vehicle and put him back in his seat, but soon that sleep was again infiltrated by the glowing red eyes of the Gaze.

It was almost a relief that the bizarre, consciousness-warping power of dreams seemed to rob Mewtwo of the immediacy of his loss. The reality of the dream insisted that its own brand of dread take center stage, so the bleeding wound of grief was shunted into the background for now. He found himself once again staring at those lidless, slitted pupils in the same black void as before. Knowing there was nothing he could do to fight back or escape them, he instead sat quietly and waited, hoping that the voices he'd heard before would reappear again. He didn't have to wait long.

"...beast attack on their caravan ...effect... We watched from... subject ... devastated by..."

"...only managed to kill one... hoping for a better casualty rate..."

"The beasts are tremendously difficult to control... been allowed to use telepathic... more effective ...managed to kill ...or more if we had the necessary control ...devouring... rate may not matter... a VIP, and... emotional... As far as... mission was..."

Mewtwo's eyes widened in shock as he realized what was being said. This was the clearest message he'd heard from the dream yet, and the context was unmistakable. This made it all the more frustrating when his sleep was once again interrupted. He opened his eyes and saw Sumati gently shaking his shoulder to wake him.

"I apologize for waking you Mewtwo, we're almost to Ven'vha."

Mewtwo sat up and rubbed his eyes. He was back inside the same Helmasaur as before, sitting in the rearmost seat where he could lean against the back wall and sleep. Dull pain throbbed through the burns on his hands and the bruise on his ribs. He could hear the hum of the engine around him and saw the familiar faces of all the same Gerudos in the passenger compartment, save for one. The seat where Ruisa had been sitting had been left empty. Mewtwo felt his guts sink when his eyes settled on that empty seat. The grief struck all at once, but it didn't feel like a physical blow. It felt more like he had drank a gallon of swamp water and the sludgy weight of it was boring down into his belly and spreading its cold, murky tendrils. His mind didn't even know how to process the grief, all he could do was sit in silence and stare. He expected tears to come pouring out of his face just like when Ai left him back at the desert spring, but something about this particular grief made it impossible for him to express. He struggled with it for a few moments, feeling a wave of guilt over the fact that he couldn't bring himself to cry. Then his mind suddenly caught up and realized that the fact that they were now driving on through the desert meant that he had missed whatever moment of silence or funeral service that the Gerudos might have given to Ruisa before moving on.