Chapter Text
The first hurdle to get past was the blasted wind barrier, but of the hundreds of others they had travelled with, a few had found some weak points and had been excited to spread the news and technique around. It was a little hard because you had to build up a lot of speed and then get under the wind to push through.
Getting the speed was easy for Archways. They could fly higher and stay up longer than most others. Even some white cloaks -who had the advantage- had to really work it to keep up. This sort of happened simply because Archways never liked the color on themselves –even with the added perks- but still wanted to do the tricks that the white cloaks could perform. So, stubbornly, they took the harder route and ended up getting a lot of experience from their experimentation.
Archways, before they took off, wanted to get to a higher spot on top of the ruin as not to waste energy.
And here came another useful skill they learned, one that was tricky for everyone no matter what since it didn’t come naturally like flying –Climbing.
Moving back to the ruins, Archways eyed the eroding building up and down looking for footholds; the metal gates were no good, their legs always slipped through and would get caught, they needed something solid to brace against.
Soon they found the easiest spot to climb- lots of holes in the wall and a short distance to the top.
They started first by pressing their whole body against the wall, to help balance them, and then put their leg into the first foothold. They then pushed up and then reached with their free leg into the next foothold. On and on they carefully shimmied up the wall til they reach the top of the wall.
Now getting over that last bit and onto the roof was the trickiest. With no more wall to brace against, the wayfarer had to plant their face onto the roof and roughly throw the rest of their body after them.
After that it was the easy part. Archways leapt into the air with one powerful stroke and spread out their cloak wide to catch the wind. Using the wind barrier as an aid, Archways was tossed up high into the sky.
Archways circled once around the ruins to correct themselves before bee-lining to the weak point in the barrier. As they neared, they closed their cloak tight, tilted downwards, and dropped like a boulder; and at the last second before they’d ultimately plant themselves into the ground, they open their cloak to maximum and forced themselves out of the downward drop.
The wind barrier hit them like a solid rock of fury. Archways squinted their eyes shut as they were buffered by the flying sand and gave another mighty flap of their cloak to push through.
They were close to punching through, but the wind was starting to grip their cloak to yank them away. One last almighty heave ripped them from the wind’s grasp and they tumbled out the other side of the barrier.
With no glyphs left to spare, Archways shouted in triumph as they got to their feet and shook off the sand.
Now the fun part.
What was way out there in the endless desert?
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For the first couple days, Absolutely Squat NOTHING.
At least nothing to answer Archways’ curiosity. Sand, sand, rock, sand, sand, sand, rock, !cloth friends!, sand, grave, the foundations of a building, sand, sand, saaaaaaand.
Though they were some new experiences.
Flying for two days straight was starting to seem like a bad idea. There was this heaviness that they just couldn’t shake off and it was getting worse. But they had no idea why that was, surely it would have been the same like the usual two hours flying they did to the mountain?
Archways’ eyes fluttered close against their will and then quickly snapped open again when they veered to the side. It had been like this for hours now and, regrettably, Archways knew they had to land and figure this out or drop out of the sky anyway. They couldn’t focus and they’d surely miss things like this.
A bit of sand slapped them in the face. Archways shook it off sluggishly, but more just replaced it.
A sudden burst of wind caught the wayfarer off guard and nearly pushed them into a huge dune. Where was this wind and sand coming from? Another wind barrier out here that they had to get over?
Archways bleary scanned the horizon.
Then suddenly felt as frozen as ice as their eyes spotted something very worrying.
A little ways to their right, a wind barrier that engulfed the sky was barreling straight for them. With a start, Archways realized that it was a sandstorm. One that could do major damage if they didn’t find cover fast.
But as they looked all around, there was simply nothing to hide behind. They looked around frantically and tried to fly higher; there must be something around here, even just a little boulder would do.
The sandstorm didn’t care and another strong wind beat the wayfarer down. Even if there was no cover, they had to land fast lest they lose total control to the raging storm. The large sand dune was probably their only option so they turned on a dime and they let themself pulmet to the ground. The sand blew wildly and the storm made haste. The sky was losing its light and the dune was starting to vanish in a sea of sand. Just when they touched ground, the wall had reached them and unleashed its wrath.
Archways screeched in alarm as they were tossed and turned with no way of knowing sky from ground. Their legs frantically searched for purchase as they wrapped their cloak painfully tight around them. They eventually slammed into a dune and the moment’s pause was enough for Archways to right themselves and press themselves as flat as a cloth friend into the dune. But the wind was strong and wrestled to get under the wayfarer’s cloak. Archways struggled to keep the wind from lifting them off the ground, but to no avail. They were ripped from the ground momentarily, but it was enough for the wind to carry them up and away.
It was only thanks to being blow harshly into a now revealed broken war machine that Archways found a place to hide. The wind nearly separated them from their sweet haven of cover, yet Archways won. The wind howled in blistering rage at its escaped prey. Out of its reach, Archways pressed themself tightly to the walls of the broken machine and let themself have a moment to breath.
They felt a tickle at their legs. Archways pinged in confusion and shifted carefully to search for the source. The storm wasn’t done yet and was now shoving wave after wave of sand into the small space.
Alarmed once more, Archways started to swipe, kick, and push at the sand frantically in an attempt to get the sand out. It wasn’t working and soon the sand had invaded the space. Archways curled up as tightly as they could , knees above their head and cloak shrink wrapped around.
The sand licked at their back but never engulfed them. Archways cracked an eye open; when had they closed them? It was pitch black now, the sand blocking the entrance, but also blocking the storm from reaching them.
They were effectively buried.
That heaviness from before was back, now that they were safe. They chirped feebly at the heaviness.
‘Go away’ they wanted to say. Eventually, they lost the fight and fell asleep for the first time in their life.