anwhile, in a different part of the simulation.
Under the blinding sun, the desert stretched endlessly in every direction.
Golden sand rolled over dunes like ocean waves frozen mid-motion, and the heat shimred off the ground in a haze that made everything ahead seem like a mirage.
There were no trees, shelter, or signs of life—just the sound of wind brushing across the open expanse.
Evelyn opened her eyes slowly and squinted against the glare.
Her boots sank slightly into the hot sand. A dry wind swept her long hair back as she adjusted to the sudden brightness and rising temperature.
"...You’ve got to be kidding ," she muttered.
She wasn’t alone.
Three other girls stood nearby, all just as stunned as she was. One of them, a lean girl with dark markings under her eyes, looked around slowly before letting out a long, annoyed sigh.
"The desert? Seriously?"
"Don’t tell we are the ’lucky’ ones," the tallest one said, already pulling a scarf up around her face. "And here I was expecting today to be my lucky day."
The third girl crouched down and let the sand run through her fingers. "This place is cursed," she mumbled. "I can feel it."
Evelyn stayed quiet for a few seconds longer.
She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or swear.
Out of all the places the simulation could’ve dropped them, this was probably the worst. Not because of the heat or the sand, but because of what lived beneath it.
She tapped her wrist display and pulled up the local terrain data.
Still blurry.
No marked threats yet.
But she already knew.
The desert wasn’t just an empty stretch of land.
It was a hunting ground.
A place where poisonous beasts road freely, most of them hidden beneath the surface.
Giant worms, scorpion-type horrors, and things that moved like shadows under the sand until it was too late to react.
This area had one of the lowest probabilities of appearing for a reason. It wasn’t ant for beginner teams.
It was ant to test desperation.
She slowly turned in place, scanning the dunes. Nothing obvious. No landmarks. No clear direction.
Just dunes and wind.
"This place is the worst kind of starting location to have," she said finally, her voice calm.
The girl with the scarf nodded. "Yeah. And we have no choice but to wait till we find a way out or die trying."
"We need to move," the short one said. "Standing still in the desert is asking for sothing to grab your legs."
"Agreed," Evelyn replied.
"Which way?"
Evelyn paused, then pointed toward the left—sowhere between the sun’s descent and the wind’s path. "That way. Feels slightly lower. Maybe less exposed."
They didn’t argue.
What else could they do?
Hope?
Laugh?
Cry?
They just started walking.
Step by step, their boots sank and dragged through the dry terrain. Every few minutes, they switched formations—soone taking the lead, soone covering the rear.
None of them trusted the ground beneath them. Every crackle of shifting sand made their hearts jump.
The air was dry enough to sting the inside of their noses. Sweat started to form under their suits, but the suits themselves were designed for this—to regulate internal temperature just enough to keep them from overheating.
Still, it was draining.
Ti passed.
Maybe an hour.
Maybe more.
None of them spoke much.
Even Evelyn’s mind wandered between calm and alertness.
It was hard to stay sharp with no enemies in sight, but harder to relax when the enemy could be beneath your feet.
The wind picked up once, blowing harder than before.
The sand kicked up into their faces.
They turned and braced, shielding their eyes.
And that’s when it happened.
A rumble.
Low.
Deep.
Not loud—but close.
The type of sound that didn’t echo in the air.
It vibrated through the soles of their boots.
Everyone stopped moving instantly.
Evelyn’s eyes narrowed.
"Movent," she said.
No one asked where.
They felt it too.
The girl with the scarf whispered, "Left side. Ten ters."
They slowly began to shift formation again—spread wider, stay light on their feet.
But the sand stilled.
No eruption. No attack.
The rumble faded.
Nothing ca.
Just silence again.
False alarm?
Or hesitation?
Evelyn didn’t want to wait around to find out.
"Keep going," she said.
They picked up their pace slightly.
No running.
Running in the sand was stupid.
As that would just slow them down, while the energy they spend increases exponentially.
But they didn’t take their ti anymore either.
Ten more minutes passed.
Then twenty.
And then—sothing new.
A shimr on the horizon.
Brighter than the sand.
Evelyn blinked.
"Wait..."
The girl beside her squinted. "Is that... water?"
"It can’t be," another said. "We’re in a desert."
"So what, it’s not like there cannot be any bodies of water nearby," Evelyn reminded.
"And the whole point of the simulation is to prove that, as this is inside a forbidden zone, powerful beasts can influence the terrain to their advantage."
They climbed the next dune.
And there it was.
A wide, flat shore.
A beach.
Real sand is lighter in color and finer in texture.
And beyond that?
A massive body of water that stretched all the way to the edge of the horizon.
Clear, shimring blue under the simulated sun.
Waves rolled gently against the shoreline.
The group stared in silence.
"...So is this a sea or just a massive lake?" the scarf girl asked.
Evelyn didn’t answer.
She was too busy scanning the area.
It looked peaceful.
Too peaceful.
And in a simulation like this?
That was almost worse than monsters.
Still...
It was water.
It ant they weren’t stuck in the middle of an endless desert anymore.
Even if sothing worse was waiting out there, at least it wasn’t worms under their feet.
The short girl collapsed to her knees. "I take it back. I like sand now."
Evelyn slowly lowered her bow, letting the energy forming in her fingers fade away.
She exhaled.
For now?
All they can do is see if there is anything other than these sand dunes and water, as staying here is not an option.
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