The Sage's Vow

24.2 || Enough

They didn't enter any of the buildings. Each tower looked much like the other, and though Cale couldn't know the minds of the Sage or his dimension companion, he doubted they'd toss the seal into a building like any of the others.

Then again, how better to hide it?

His head throbbed. He forcibly ignored the pain and pressed on.

Some buildings rose a few dozen meters over their heads, while others had crumbled to only one or two stories. Green tainted everything, whether it be from the plants crawling up the buildings, threading their way across them, or simply painting the glass and metal a green shade.

They had to duck into a few of the buildings to avoid passing bands of monsters. They saw more than just the bipedal lion-like beasts. Scaled creatures on all four legs stalked past their hiding places. More dragon like than lizard, carrying themselves high with powerful legs, but with shorter necks. Spikes circled their heads, but they glittered and occasionally undulated. Once, Cale and the others had to wait for nearly twenty minutes while the reptiles and lions warred against each other, and during the battle, they saw the reptiles growing their horns to use as whips or launching them as projectiles, much as the lions used their liquid-like manes.

Also like the lions, after the reptiles were vanquished once, they rose again in smaller forms.

None of the buildings they ducked into for safety or passed on their survey gave him reason to pause. They went down one street that finally broke up the monotony. A park led to a large concrete bowl, and at the center, a ship of stone rested atop a pedestal.

Despite the weather outside and the thriving greenery, the concrete bowl was as dry as desert sand.

After a short discussion, they filed the strange ship as a point of interest to investigate later, possibly after they'd regrouped with the others, before exploring further.

He wasn't sure how long they'd walked before someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Did you hear me?" Kaitlyn stared up at him, worry creasing her brow. Deserved worry, given the fact that he hadn't realized she'd said a single word. How could he be so focused on listening for signs of trouble and not hear that?

"I must have missed it," he confessed. "What did you say?"

Her concern visibly worsened, but she didn't push the matter. "We need to find food and water. When's the last time any of us ate anything?"

Cale squinted in the distance as he combed through his memory. "There should be rations and canteens in the ba—" His eyes slid shut, and he cursed. The bags. The ones that the three on the rescue team carried with them.

All left behind in their original shelter outside the dome.

They'd had so much rainwater to sate their thirst that it had been easy to forget about the missing canteens, and the gnawing unease had kept any hunger at bay. But they burned a lot of energy through their constant movement and earlier skirmishes. They needed food, whether any of them felt hungry or not.

It shouldn't have taken Kaitlyn mentioning this for him to remember that. It had been his original priority in his first pocket dimension encounter.

At least they had the same way as then to procure water. "Samara." The other three stood a small distance away. Weariness made itself home in the creases on their faces. "We need water, and there must be a source here if the beasts survive, but until we find it, could provide it instead?"

Mara lifted her hands in front of her. An uncomfortable silence hung over the group as she simply stared at her own palms. She bit her lip, and her fingers curled into a fist.