Suffering from the heat and the lack of drinking water, I could feel my muscles beginning to cramp. I thought I was clever by slowing down the flow of blood in my body as needed in hopes of cooling myself off, however it did little to ease my discomfort. The cold only made my muscles cramp up more, I would drink water to remedy myself if not for Jaro. We could only hope to refill our flasks with water, thankfully we were nearing the end of the fifth day, we would reach the oasis before long. We were approaching the region of Goltib and entered a more temperate desert steppe near its borders. The other lowkin who were further up front spotted something in the distance, and began to call out to the others. Green blurs dotting the horizon, I saw what looked like trees, we had finally found respite after our long trek. However our hopes were quickly tossed aside as the situation we found ourselves in would prove to be a problem.

“There’s nothing here, it’s all dried up!” Some of the lowkin pointed out.

“No way, don’t bullshit me. Move out of the way!” Jaro began pushing his way through the other lowkin to see the reality for himself. “Shit, there’s really nothing here… fuck, I came all this way only to die of thirst!?” Jaro shouted.

“Jaro, calm down. There is likely a logical explanation for this, the water in an oasis doesn’t just disappear, the water has to come from somewhere.” Inca reassured.

“Still, it doesn’t explain why the water is all gone. What could have caused the oasis to drain like this.”

The oasis was seemingly dried up, with what little water was left, it would not be enough to sustain the entirety of our mission’s participants, let alone our group of six. This was odd, as far as we could see there was no sign of wildlife or sand being blown in as the oasis itself was sheltered by rocky cliffs and foliage which served to brush off any sandy wind. With Gloria on standby, Magistrate Lar and the other Midkin began to disembark from the vehicle to observe the situation.

“Will somebody tell me what is taking so long for our water?!” Magistrate Lar shouted, seemingly irritated. “You, report the situation as to why exactly we haven’t gotten a drink of water yet?” He pointed to a kindorian soldier.

“Sir, there appears to be a problem… there is no water here, the oasis is empty.”

“Empty? That can’t be! Move aside!” Magistrate Lar began to make his way towards the dry cavity. “No, no, this can’t possibly be… if there is no water here then we will surely perish… of course not… this is only another obstacle in my lord’s path.” He reassured himself.

“Sir, what would you like us to do?”

“You said there would be water here!” Cried some of the lowkin.

“Be at ease, there is indeed water here, however we must find it!” Magistrate Lar attempted to calm down the crowd. “Do not fret, we shall surely survive this ordeal, so I ask all of you for your help if we are to overcome this most troubling situation. If any of you know of how to resolve our current situation, I implore you to speak up!”

Everybody seemed to remain quiet, reserving themselves in an unsettling silence. Unable to come up with a solution, they would have to come to terms with the uncomfortable truth, there would be no surviving this ordeal. I imagine many have begun to hold some regret in joining this mission, pondering to themselves how to survive this dire situation. They couldn’t leave, the closest city was a three days trip, one they wouldn’t survive without a supply of drinking water. I could sense the tension grow within the crowd as they all began to eye each other, if things couldn’t be resolved, there would soon be a crimson oasis born of needless bloodshed.

“If I may speak, sir. I might know of a solution.” Inca answered.

“Ah, it would seem there is somebody of use in the forward advance who can use their brain after all, what exactly is it that you propose?” Magistrate Lar inquired in anticipation.

“There may very well be a plausible explanation for our current situation, the solution to our problem might be right in front of us. It is possible there is a blockage preventing the water from flowing into the oasis. There appears to still be water coming into the oasis, though at an exceptionally slow pace, I imagine if we trace it to its source we may be able to figure out what has gone wrong.” Inca replied

“Is that right…” Magistrate Lar sighed. He began to eye those in the crowd, as well as some of the guards. “You heard the man, there is no time to waste! All of you in the forward advance, go investigate the source, time is of the essence!” He commanded.

The participants of the forward advance began to scramble, clambering over the rocky terrain to identify the source of what little water was running through the oasis. From what they could see, it seemed to be trickling down from up the rock shelter, from an opening into the cliffside. A small group of participants agreed to take the risk into the unknown and investigate what was going on. That was half an hour ago, they still haven’t returned.

“What the fuck is taking them so long, I’m dying of thirst here!” Jaro cried out.

“You think they might need some help?” Pyro questioned.

“It’s possible, perhaps the opening is deeper than it appears.” Inca thought.

“We’re going to need that water soon, if they need help then I shall lend them another hand.” Pyro declared.

“I ain’t wasting my energy, let them do the work.” Jaro objected.

“No one asked you to come, Jaro.” Pyro stated.

“You being smart with me, asshole?”

“Easy now, Jaro.”

“I’ll come with.” I offered.

“Let’s get to it then, friend.” Pyro encouraged.

We began to make our ascent up the rock shelter, the trickling sound of water guiding our way into the cliffiside’s opening. It was very cool and dark inside, we called out for the other participants if they were nearby.

“We’re right here!” They called out.

“So you guys are alive, what’s the hold up?” I asked.

“Well we found the problem, however it’s not one easily resolved.” One of the men pointed to what appeared to be large boulders blocking off the path further in.

“Ah, well if it’s muscle you need, you’ll be happy to know you have the two of us here!” Pyro smiled.

“We could certainly use all the help, these things won’t even budge with our combined strength.”

“Well then let’s get to it then.” I encouraged.

I began pumping blood into my arms to prep myself, but before I could even attempt to use my strength, Edith began screeching when I began to touch the rock. It was at that moment I realized something was off about its appearance, it seemed as though it was beginning to grow in size. The other men were beginning to do their own probing only for Edith to fly off and begin pecking at them, causing them to get annoyed and chase her away. They proceeded to probe the rocks further only for the rocks to seemingly shift in place, Edith screeched once more and flew out of the cave, something was wrong.

“One… two… push!” The other men began to push one of the rocks aside with the help of Pyro. With the rock displaced, the water came gushing out.

“Ahaha, we did it!” Pyro roared.

I feared the worst, but perhaps it was just my imagination. It was at that moment the large boulder that had been blocking the flow of water began to move. Seemingly rolling in place, the boulder burst from where it once stood and began to hurtle towards one of the other lowkin. It was instant, there was no time to react, the boulder came in contact with the lowkin and crushed him into the cave walls. The boulder then dislodged itself from the wall, revealing the splattered remains of what was once a man. We were all stunned, I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. The boulder then slowly rolled its way toward the other large boulders, all of which also began to move. This was not a safe place to be.

“Don’t just stand there, run! We need to get out of the cave, now!” Pyro shouted. The others, shaking in fear, were brought back to their senses. We all glanced at each other and began to make our escape, as imminent death came rolling after us.