The White Knight

Chapter 1

Walking along in the desert, I couldn't help but look down to avoid the bright sun, but doing so definitely ruined my posture and craned my neck. I knew these lands fairly well, I had grown up in the surrounding area all my life, and was making one of my monthly runs to the next town over to pick up parcels and any produce if they had a surplus.

Occasionally I'd look up through my thick dark hair to check my surroundings for predators or other people, but they were far and few between. Nothing can survive here for more than a few days at a time. My camel, and his ability to withstand this environment, has saved my life on many occasions.

A few hours had passed since I had left home, and the sun was hanging just above the horizon, starting to peak beneath. These hours before it became dark were the times when I needed to be most aware, as this was when predators were at their peak.

The nights between the cities were long, and the darkness brought fear like no other. Scorpions crept everywhere, the wind cut like knives at some points. If one listened closely, you could hear the faint music coming from the cities where there was a small night life.

One day, as I awoke I could smell roses. I looked around and wasn't in the desert anymore. It was a land like I had never seen. The hills were rolled, and the trees behind me were massive. The moist air gave me the chills and I could see flowers endlessly stretching along the field in front of me. Although the land looked lush and green, it was bare of any animals or other people.

I ran through the fields with a grin on my face, because all these flowers and grain would be enough to feed and make my whole village prosperous! It was what we've been waiting for years for. It would help if I knew how I got here though.

After a long search I found a young woman who looked around the same age as me, so I felt comfortable approaching her. As I neared, I could see that her skin and hair were different from mine, her skin was bleached white and her hair was as red as blood.

"Hello miss, can I harvest some of your forest here?", I thought it only polite to ask. She ran away screaming in a language I couldn't understand. Maybe she was here and a thief on the run or something, who knows.

That thought drifted from my head just as fast as it appeared, and I realized quickly I was daydreaming. "I guess I have some wild dreams, huh." I said to the camel rhetorically, half hoping it would respond in polite so I wouldn't feel so lonely.

As I neared the top of the next sand dune, I could see the top of a bleached metal headpiece, and that immediately set confusion in my mind. "What's someone doing wearing metal in this heat? They're probably on their deathbed sweating in there..."