Phoenix Rising

Journey Through the Desert

"Aris! Aris, wake up, please! Don't die on me!" Kaela pleads weeping.

Her voice sounds distant and dream like. I want to go back to sleep and ignore it. I see sunlight burning through my eyelids and I know I won't be able to resist the light of day. I cough up sand and throw up all over the ground. My throat burns in pain. My eyes flutters open and I quickly squeeze them shut again because sand has fallen in them. My eyes instantly start to water uncontrollably. I can hardly breathe because of the sand in my lungs and my nostrils.

"Oh, thank God that you are alive!" She cries out as she embraces me on the floor. She dusts me off a little and I am very grateful. "Come on, open your eyes." She says calmly. "This won't hurt at all."

I open my eyes doubtfully and she quickly pulls the tears from my eyes and washes out the dirt in a simple rinse. I strain my eyes and squint because of the bright desert sun. A few tears still stream down my face and I still feel all sorts of pain.

"It wasn't that bad now was it?" She smiles. "Here, let me help you up." She offers me her hand. I grab it and start to stand up, but once I place pressure on my right leg I cry out in pain and fall over immediately.

"Oh my goodness, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to." She stutters in complete distraught. She brings her gaze down to my leg and gasps. "You are going to be ok." She lies. I know she is lying. It's very obvious. Definitely since I heard her voice waver and she nods sympathetically like a doctor.

"Can you move your knee at all?" She asks.

"I think so..." I try and it hardly moves at all. I didn't want to lose my leg and I am hoping that it can be healed.

"Maybe a little. I broke it, didn't I?" I ask wincing. I never wanted to break my leg and it is five times worse than I could ever have imagined, well before the lion attacked.

"We are going to try to stand you up again, ok?" She asks slowly.

"Please, not again." I plead.

"This time, support your weight with your left leg instead of your right. Try to keep you right leg lifted as high as you can and you can use me for balance. You might also be able to use your spear."

"Where is it?" I gasp frightfully. "It must be in the dragon's neck still."

"Just wait here and I will be right back." She commands as she runs off to the dragon. I pull myself slowly to a sitting position and I look at my leg. It hurts, but most of the pain has subsided. I flinch back at how awful it looks and I want to throw up again. I tear off the bottom part of my left pant-leg and wrap it tightly right above the wound. I am bleeding heavily and I'm glad that at least no bone broke through skin. My leg is completely cut up and I feel like I shattered my whole leg. Kaela comes running back and she looks awful herself. Sand is all in her hair and her whole body is coated in sand.

"I found it." She says holding the spear in her hands.

I breathe in for a minute and I blow a gust of wind which cleans the majority of the sand off of us, forming a dust storm that parts in every direction except for us.

"How did you do that?" she asks in shock. "Your eyes just turned yellow for a minute and then you used a yellow power. That is amazing! When did you start being able to use the yellow power?"

"Two days ago when I first met Rose. We need to talk about the important things first though. My whole right leg is probably shattered and we are lost in the middle of the desert. How in the world are we going to find Emilea?"

"Can you just teleport us there?" She asks hopefully.

"Not in this condition, no. We will have to walk there."

"Aris, you must at least try or else we will die here. You won't be able to walk across the desert with a shattered leg, or you could just send a message to her mind?" She offered optimistically.

"I will try. Grab on to me." I think of the giant building and close my eyes. When I open them we are still by the sand mound. "Didn't work, told you so. I will try to send her a message to come rescue us." I close my eyes and I start to raise high above the desert. I can see everything from here. I can see even the smallest of bugs crawling around through their sand mounds. I see Emilea's thought frequency shooting into the air and I quickly zoom into it.

"Emilea, it is Aris. Kaela and I are stuck in the middle of the desert. Get a phoenix to help you save us soon or else we will die of dehydration." After the last word I lose connection.

"Did it work?"

"I think so..."

"Well, you need your sleep. I will find us minimal water, food, and shelter until Emilea arrives."

I lay down easily. Wincing, I return to a somewhat comfortable position in the sand. It doesn't take me to long to drift into a sleep...