Skyborne Raider

Oh damn.

I know what's happening. It's the castle and volcano and...

Fuck!

How the hell did no one ask me how the ride was and what I saw? I wasted so much time with the wings and my hammer.

I can't forget what I've seen. Luck was on my side, though, to experience the view and make the map!

Wait! No, we can’t stay here without water in that heat for long. I reason with myself.

I need to collect my thoughts and get back on track, my sense of direction is having a tough time as this desert is huge, and we are on the lower part.

I need to concentrate and replay it in my head.

I stand there and turn around with my eyes closed, recalling the sights.

“The forest we came from, with giant bugs, snails, and wolves, continues to the area with the black tower. And everything else we've explored so far.” I point in the direction.

“Next is a dark, foggy area.”

Turning on the spot clockwise, I continue to show what I remember.

My sneakers are full of sand, but I completely ignore the discomfort.

Mike listens to me for a second but then jogs over to Harald, up on the dune. He’s still limping a bit from his wounds after the bug encounter.

I can see he struggles, but despite the wounds, he’s a tough one.

What flatters me a bit is that only Astrid stays close, listening carefully and curiously.

“These in the distance might look like…”

Curious and eager, Astrid interrupts me, “Mountains?”

“Yes. But they’re not. These are actually trees, I believe.” I open my eyes and look into the distance. It indeed looks like a ridge of mountains.

“Here, do you want to write and draw it down?” I ask, opening my inventory.

“I was about to ask you that.” She looks at me dead serious, eagerly accepting and starting to write and analyze what she traced earlier on the maps.

So, should I write 'sequoias'? Or?” She raises her head while holding the black ballpoint pen, which has three random letters imprinted on it, separated by periods—probably an abbreviation for some company.

“If these are indeed trees, they’re far taller and larger than any tree I've ever heard of, let alone seen with my own eyes.”

“Giant forest,” she whispers as she writes.

“I didn’t see enough in the distance because of the fog and darkness, but you can write that nothing but darkness lies behind the forest we walked through.”

I backtrack a bit, trying to remember the foggy place.

“There’s that railing on the map after the bamboo forest, far, far away. Maybe even a possible dungeon?” she notes.

“Did you happen to spot anything?”

I gently shake my head in disappointment and continue turning.

“Then over there, where the boys are…”

“Fuck me, man!” Mike raises his arms and touches his head in disbelief. Even though he’s on top of the dune, we can still hear him clearly. I chuckle a bit.

Astrid flinches and almost moves, startled for a moment, but I calm her with a simple gesture.

I believe Mike’s solid character isn’t easily rattled.

Megalophobia, maybe? A quick thought flashes by.

It can’t be that big, right?

“Dunes and sand, literally nothing else, stretching far, far into the distance,” I continue explaining what I saw when I was up there.

“Should I mark this to the edge of the paper?”

“Do as you see fit, maybe one day, we’ll be able to explore it further.”

"I’ll also draw some dunes and trees around and mark the creatures we fought so far, okay?

The original map only includes places of interest so far, like caves, castles, settlements, towers, and rivers, but no biomes."

"Sure." I nod.

She doesn’t push me for the obvious surprise reveal. I see her slowly and clearly writing down the details: where we’re standing now, where the bug attacked us, the snails, and the other creatures.

The stuff I was planning to do, she fills in for me, with a glorious, easy-to-read handwriting, incomparable to my hasty scribbling.

“Seriously, Astrid, what the hell? Come here! You won’t believe your fucking eyes,” Mike calls, frightened.

She hushes him with a hand gesture.

I can see in her big eyes that she enjoys every moment here with me. The slow process of filling in the paper and preparing for the surprise reveal excites her more than the secret itself.

“Let me continue. If my calculations are correct, we’d need to walk for days to get to the... hmm, how do I put it? The colossal palace or the Castle for the giants.”

“When I say colossal, I mean it. It’s truly uncanny to see it in person.”

Now I can see she wants me to finish so she can see it herself.

“A volcano and an unending gray area. Lunar landscape. Nothing but craters, rocks, and soil. Mostly dusty, maybe? And of course gray only.”

She finishes writing, rolls up the scroll, and hands me my possessions back.

“Who, how, why?” Harald looks me in the eye.

“So when do we raid it?” I answer with a laugh.

Mike still shakes his head in disbelief while chatting with Astrid.

“What could possibly build something like that?” she asks rhetorically.

“See those darker and lighter areas?” Harald points at the castle, as if it helps us locate what he means.

“If those are windows or doors, then that thing was made for…” He doesn't finish because Mike interrupts.

“Giants?”

I point my finger up into the distance and test the trick my grandpa taught me years ago.

We were sitting in the garden, and I wondered how tall the trees were in the distance. Mostly poplars, tall as an apartment building.

I had to extend my arm, point my finger up, and by the length of my arm, I could get a rough estimate.

It worked pretty well, measuring trees a few dozen meters from us. But this thing... Well, at least I’ll try.

“Hmm."

Pointing and fidgeting with my right arm, I close one eye and mumble some numbers under my breath.

"That castle is about 300 meters tall. It’s about half a kilometer wide.”

Astrid is surprised, and so is Mike, though he hides it well, keeping his cool as always.

“Go on,” Harald acknowledges.

I whisper to myself, counting how many times what seem to be doors could be stacked on top of each other to make up the 300 meters I estimated.

“If I'm close at all, whatever lives there must be about 20 meters tall, judging by the size of the doors.”

“Let’s hope not,” the old man adds.

“Damn, I wish I had a camera right now,” is all Mike can say.

"So do I." I add.

I decide for the group to take the next step.

“Harald, this heat, Mike’s wounds, and dehydration. We really need to find the merchant or inn or whatever and take a day or two, or three off. Where was that car?”

“Close to the fire. But it seems the dunes have already covered it,” he says, his wrinkled forehead telling me everything.

“You mean the same firepit where we ‘saved’ our progress by taking a nap?” Astrid asks, cutely making air quotes around ‘saved.’

“No bowl, no floating. Just a regular firepit. But there’s a possibility. I didn’t dare to dig under the firepit.”

“I didn’t see any of those miracles—like a castle or volcano. I was definitely closer to the green area and never made it over this huge dune.”

"What if we call Pocco?" Astrid hints.

"Can we leave this for later? I'm in no mood for getting harrassed. We need to ask him some questions anyway." I scoff.

"Give me a chance, if I fail we ask for help." Harald confirms with me.

That’s more than enough info, so we continue walking toward the place we came from, maybe steering a bit toward the sequoias.

As always, I and the old man lead the party, with Mike and Astrid chatting behind us.

I envy Mike’s headscarf, as I can feel the heat boiling my blood.

At least the lucky old man has his grayish cap with a security sign.

I've waited a good few dozens minutes for them to reach my landing spot, but this trip feels way longer.

I catch myself counting steps to get anywhere close, as the heat burns the top of my head.

Suddenly, I feel relaxed and cozy.

Did the heat just take over? Is my brain cooked?

I look at Harald, and he seems to be enjoying the trip all of a sudden, closing his eyes like he’s about to fall asleep. I glance back at Mike and Astrid, and they look tired too.

I open my eyes wide. Could it be?

“Harald!” I shake his arm. What if the safe fire is close by?

I've only felt this cozy twice since we've been here. Once, at the first fire in that creepy dungeon infested with armored spiders.

Both times, there was this feeling.

I stop and sit on the ground. The feeling of calmness grows even stronger.

“Is everyone feeling the same?” I ask aloud, but calmly.

“Yes,” Astrid responds with a big yawn, sitting down in the sand.

Mike follows. “I think we should start digging here.”

*Clang*

Harald takes a few steps forward and stops after a loud clang.

He raises his leg and stomps on the spot.

The sound repeats, and now we’re all awake.

He quickly kneels down and brushes the sand away from the metal plate.

“What the fuck?”