"We are going to ride a beast?" Xylena exclaimed, standing beside Sylvester and holding his hand.
Hozin looked at Kimino. "She has the ability to communicate with the beasts and befriend them."
Sylvester watched Kimino stride forward onto the loose sand and kneel down to place her palms on it. Then she began to tap the sand gently while muttering something under her breath. She continued doing it for several minutes while the sun slowly ascended.
Eventually, the ground began to shake, evident by the vibrating sand. Then the sound of the earth moving reverberated throughout, overtaking the silent, dusty desert.
'I can sense an extreme amount of excitement. What kind of creature is it?' Sylvester wondered and attentively stood in place. He kept Miraj close to his shoulder, not wanting him to be hunted by the Dragon Snake.
"Grrr…!"
A growling sound arose while the sand slowly lifted up, forming a hill. It continued to rise with the increasing sound. But Kimono didn't budge an inch, even when the hill was directly beneath her; clearly, it was the body of the Dragon Snake.
"She tamed her first Dragon Snake when she was five years old. If only our clan had known earlier, she would've been revered as a goddess," Hozin said, sounding a bit dejected.
Sylvester silently watched the colossal Dragon Snake emerge from the ground. At first, he observed its gray scales and then its massive body. Its head was at least fifty meters wide. Then, as it slowly appeared in its full grandeur, its head rose so high that even the birds had to dodge it.
"Wait!" Sylvester exclaimed as he caught sight of it. "This is just an oversized snake."
"Oversized?" Hozin amusedly muttered. "There are smaller Dragon Snakes in the East?"
"There are, and they are not even a tenth of this snake's size. Can it breathe fire like a Dragon?" Sylvester inquired. "If not, then this is just a snake."
"It cannot spew fire, but it can melt sand in its mouth and blow magma out. While the acids in its body are strong enough to melt stones and steel easily, its body is robust enough to ignore the strikes of most foes," Hozin introduced the creature to Sylvester. "They reside under the sand to feel the moisture and feed on desert elephants or simply sand."
"Interesting," Sylvester remarked as he looked in awe at the enormous creature before him. The snake's face was surprisingly cute and not at all intimidating, although its sheer size was overwhelming.
Eventually, the snake lowered its head to the ground level in an attempt to allow them to climb over. Kimono was already there, gesturing to them.
Instead of jumping up, Sylvester approached the snake's face. Its big, black eyes shifted to him, and its smile remained unchanged. The nostrils alone were large enough to swallow him whole.
"What a colossal creature you are," he muttered. "You seem so thrilled to meet that girl. Chonky, try flying near its eyes."
Woosh!
With a woosh, Miraj took flight around the snake's eyes, making noise and taunting it. "Look at me, big friend! I can fly, unlike you, who's called a Dragon...Hehe."
'It's tracking Miraj's movements. It can see him then?' Sylvester confirmed his hypothesis. There was something magical and historic about the land that connected Miraj to it, but he had no idea what it was.
"Stop bullying him, Chonky. Go and sit with Kimono," Sylvester ordered before jumping onto the creature's head. To his surprise, he found a strange, gray growth of scales shaped like a small hill. It was hollow, with an entrance inside where Kimono sat.
"It will protect us when the Dragon Snake travels under the sand," Hozin explained as he invited Sylvester inside. The shelter was like a closed tent, but the scales could grow more and close the opening as well.
"How do you command it?" Sylvester asked.
Kimono replied, "Mind connected. We are friends."
"She is the one who made this shelter of scales, Apostle. Even I do not understand the extent of Kimino's blessings," Hozin added.
'Hundreds of Grand Wizard rank beasts. If I can control them like her, perhaps even taking over the world won't be out of option,' Sylvester wondered silently.
Thud!
The shelter shook heavily, signaling the Dragon Snake had dived into the sand again. It moved smoothly, with minimal jolts felt by any of them. Except for Kimino, none of them had any idea what direction they were heading. But thankfully, Hozin explained the route in great detail.
It turned out that the Death Sea was only thirty percent of the Divine Desert. After reaching the volcano mountains, they would have to continue on foot and fight creatures such as Giant Lizards and spiders.
It was clear why not many humans in history had been able to reach the Core Temple. Even if one were to somehow survive through the Death Sea, they would be too weak or wounded to continue battling the creatures ahead.
It was an arduous expanse of land that was impossible to traverse without expert guidance, similar to the assistance he received. As for the Desert Cannibals, they steered clear of the Death Sea and only traveled on the perimeters of the plateaued terrain.
Consequently, it took Desert Cannibals more than a year to journey from one end to the other. Of course, it didn't help that they had to keep moving to search for food based on the seasons.
Still, it took them a week to cross the Death Sea, even with the help of the Dragon Snake. When they emerged, they found themselves near a colossal volcano and another Guide Tower.
After bidding farewell to the snake, they resumed their journey. Walking along the edges of the continuously spewing volcano, they battled a few dinosaur-like creatures. They were then confronted by a horde of hundreds of giant spiders, as tall as a three-story building.
It would have been challenging for them to fight the spiders, but with Sylvester's fiery abilities, all the webs were burned away, and the spiders were reduced to ashes. He didn't go easy on any adversary as he wanted to reach the ruins quickly and learn the way to communicate with Xavia.
Finally, after five months of traveling, they arrived at the third and final Guiding Tower. Again, checking the shadow's direction at the right time of day, they knew where to go.
And eventually, they arrived at a site of massive ruins.
"This is where Moonwatchers used to reside," Hozin revealed emotionally. "This is our first time returning here since learning about the genocide."
By then, sand had overtaken the broken stone and mud buildings. Roofs had collapsed, and nature had taken over. All that remained was an eerie silence of what used to be a flourishing civilization.
"How many were there?" He asked.
"Tens of thousands were killed due to constant raids from the Cannibals within a single year. The only exit from the landscape was blocked, so there was no escape," Hozin explained. "Come, we must hurry before the sun sets. It is best to cross the Tribulation Path during daylight."
Sylvester followed behind the pair with Xylena's hand in his grip. They traversed through the ruins and soon arrived under a gigantic stone arch that had formed naturally. It was constructed of Redstone and looked oddly out of place.
"People rarely attempt to go farther than here," Hozin stated. "But today, that shall change."
They finally arrived in front of a vast, deep ravine with a sheer vertical drop. It was so terrifyingly deep that only a dark black void could be seen inside. The extent of its depth was unknown.
Sylvester looked ahead, and his jaw dropped. The ravine was endless in length. Furthermore, he could discern a faint hint of a distant structure beyond the mist.
"Do you want me to fly over this?" he asked them. "Perhaps we can go around?"
"The Core Temple is guarded by ancient magic, Apostle. To enter, you must cross this Tribulation Path. All you must do is walk right over the deep, dark ravine. If you possess a pure and kind heart and pass the trials, you will not fall into the abyss. You will walk right over nothingness and reach the temple," Hozin explained to him in detail.
Sylvester peered into the dark ravine, then back at the older man. "You want me to walk straight onto the possibly bottomless ravine?"
"Yes, Apostle."
"..."
"You can do it. I have seen you go through," Kimino added to reassure him.
Sylvester sighed and glanced at his own absent limb. "You people are harassing a poor cripple at this point. Chonky, remain on my shoulder and rescue me if I fall."
"Don't worry, Maxy," Miraj perched on Sylvester's shoulder tightly.
"All you need to do is walk straight. Once you reach the Core Temple, a path will be created for us to follow you inside," Hozin added.
Sylvester, sadly, was questioning his own heart. 'Do I possess a kind and pure heart? I do not believe so. Does that imply I will fail?'
"I will come with you!" Xylena suddenly exclaimed.
"She cannot go," Hozin was quick to protest. "Having multiple humans on the path can have an adverse effect on the outcome."
Sylvester sighed and took a leap of faith. "If you say so, I will walk."
Hesitantly, he stepped forward over the steep cliff and tried to find the ground beneath his foot. It was terrifying to stare at the endless darkness before him, but he could not step back after spending so much time on the journey.
'Here goes…"
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