Our Existence Is Scandal

✦43✦

T E M P E S T

My feet landed on a moving Deimos, bending slightly to absorb the weight of the fall.

Riding him was easy, like second nature. His movements were erratic and the turns he took were strong but I could feel where he was going through the ripples of his muscles. For Astra however, this was probably the worst day of her life. She hung loosely on his back, her body jerking with each turn.

The only thing keeping her on him was her tight grip on Deimos's saddle. Her eyes were closed tightly, trying to keep the rushing painful sand out of them. I was able to adjust the feathers on my hairline to cover my eyes, but she was not as lucky. "You good curly?" I called out over the loud sound of buildings crumbling beside us, the dome falling and the sand rebuilding. She didn't reply me, only holding on tighter which made me chuckle.

Walking past her, I swung my legs over the saddle and took my seat before wrapping my fist around Deimos's leash. I patted his side firmly before tightening his leash. He let out a loud shriek and jerked as if to try buck us off, but I held strong. I was now in control.

I directed Deimos, making sharp turns but overall keeping us both safe until I saw a clearing in the sandstorm where the smaller buildings had finished building and the ground was calm. A shadow from above us had me looking up and seeing a piece of the dome heading for us, large enough to crush us and hurt the beast I was on.

I leaned back to grab Astra's shirt and yanking her closer to me before I dug my heels in Deimos's side and yanked his leash upwards. On command he began to dive into the ground, taking us in with him and saving us form being crushed by the falling piece of debris.

Astra's shrieks were swallowed as I'm sure she now had a mouth filled with sand and I pressed myself tightly against Deimos to avoid myself from getting my head torn off as we moved at high speeds underground. When I felt that we'd travelled far enough I bucked against Deimos again and soon we were shooting out of the ground.

Funny thing about Deimos, when he comes out of the ground, he goes vertically upwards for a couple of meters.

Something I probably should've mentioned to Astra that I remembered now that I was watching her slide down his ascending body.

Sighing, I let go of Deimos's leash and felt all my blood rush through my body as I began falling. The world flipped as my legs tucked to stable my landing in the sand. Astra was on her knees, clawing the sand out of my mouth. "I think that's the worst thing that's ever happened to me," She coughed, before snapping her fingers desperately at me, "Water," Her fingers trembled, "Do you have water?"

I knelt, "I don't drink water, curly."

She wheezed, a sound coming from her mouth that I was certain meant she was about to die. I let her clean herself up, hearing her ramble under her breath about how she should've just let 'them' take her, but I chalked that up to her being very dramatic. After she was done, she fell back on her bum, letting out a sigh before bringing up her left hand to stare at it.