The Universe Key

Chapter 5: Welcome to Salo

"Hey wake up we're here." Is the first thing Brilan hears in the morning. He opens his eyes and sees Ignis welcoming him into a new day. "Hey we made it to Salo." Ignis says to Brilan trying to encourage him to get up. Slowly but surely Brilan sits up and starts to rub the sand out of his eyes. He looks around and sees Clara has already gotten up and is ready for the day. "Are we really here already?" Brilan says with a gravely morning voice tone.

"Yeah we rode through the night. You slept really well. Here have breakfast." Ignis says to Brilan as he tosses him a sandwich that he packed for the trip. Brilan catches the sandwich and immediately takes a big bite of it. He starts quickly eating the sandwich. He wants to start the day and see Salo as soon as possible. He also wants to catch up to Clara who has gotten a head start and is ready to go. He finishes the sandwich and finishes getting ready for the day. Once Brilan is ready the three of them grab their weapons and step outside the craft.

The seaside town of Salo. Miles of beautiful sandy beaches as far as the eye can see. The blue sea allows dozens of boats to go out and fish. The golden beaches allow people to surf the incoming waves on surfboards. Nothing but beach, sun, and surf for as far as the eye can see. This is what Brilan sees as he steps outside of the cutter craft. 

He, Clara and Ignis get out of the craft and step onto the rocky part of the beach where the ground starts to transform into sand. Brilan and Clara look at their picturesque paradisiacal surroundings and are amazed and calmed at the same time. 

"What is this?" Clara asks as she marvels at the ocean. 

"This is the beach." Ignis says to her as the cutter craft starts to turn back into a platter. Ignis picks it up, tears it in two and connects the opposite ends together. He puts it away in his backpack as the kids start running towards the ocean.

The two of them have never seen a beach before so they are eager to take the sights and smells in. The two of them start walking in the sand. Brilan has a little bit of a difficult time walking through the sand as it shifts under his feet. He's never walked on sand before and he has to get used to it. "It's a little hard to walk on this stuff." Brilan says to his sister.

"Just take your shoes off that will help." Clara says as she starts to sit down on the beach and take off her shoes.

Brilan turns to Ignis and asks him "Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Yeah of course that's a good idea." Ignis says as he follows Clara's lead and starts taking off his shoes.

"The sand's nice and warm feel it in your toes." Ignis says to Brilan as he joins them on the beach and starts walking to the ocean. Brilan follows suit and takes his shoes off. He does feel a little foreign and self-conscious. But as he feels the warm sand on the souls of his feet he starts to relax and get a little more comfortable. So the three of them walk around the beach and get their bearings.

When they look to the sea they find dozens of people surfing and lying on the beach enjoying the sun and soaking up the rays. The surfers happily and joyously ride the waves on their surfboards as the water comes into the shore. When they look to the shore they can see a myriad of different beachside homes and as Brilan and Clara take in these sights and sounds they can only imagine how peaceful life is in this beach town. They can spend all day admiring Salo but they have some serious business to take care of. "So where can we find Cearulen?" Brilan asks Ignis.

"I think we can find her right out there." Ignis says as he points out to the ocean. The three of them turn and look out to the sea. "She couldn't possibly live in the ocean could she?" Brilan thinks to himself. But when they look out to the ocean they see a group of surfers riding a particularly large wave.