The Dimensional Quest Part I: Journey To The Infinite

Chapter 42

As the heroes are on their way back to the tall cactus, Kitty asks "What did you all find?"

"Amethyst and I went into the cave and drained a pool of water, but found nothing else" Bliss answers.

"I found a dial and turned it, after crossing a ravine that suddenly flooded," Kitty tells them.

"And we rolled a boulder into a hole that randomly appeared," Emily mentions.

Chloe digests the information in her mind before coming to a conclusion.

"Maybe we helped each other. The water Bliss and Amethyst released may have been the water that filled the ravine Kitty found," Chloe suggests.

"And maybe the dial Kitty turned allowed the rock to appear, so we could roll it onto the spider and wake it," Emily continues.

April takes out a cactus fruit and takes a bite.

"I wonder what Daffy saw. Maybe he's waiting for us at the cactus," she says.

They approach the cactus to find Daffy is not there.

Kelsey sees small prints in the sand, made by webbed feet.

She decides to follow them, and the others walk behind her.

The sun's heat gradually desists as it becomes replaced with merciless cold, while a crescent moon arises to the top of the sky.

Bliss' body starts to helplessly shiver.

Amethyst sees this and takes a purple blanket from her saddlebag.

She uses her magic to wrap it around Bliss, who returns her generosity with a smile.

The trail of footprints leads them to an area that has nothing but sand spanning for miles around.

Candy sees a duck, glazed in the moonlight, lying back in the sand, looking up aimlessly.

"There he is!" she shouts.

Lily rushes over to him, followed by the others, as Daffy's eyes crawl to the left to see her.

"Water?" he asks in a terribly raspy voice, sounding like his throat was scratched by sandpaper.

Chloe removes a cactus fruit from her pocket, cracks it open, then drips the water into Daffy's slightly opened beak.

"Thank you," Daffy thanks.

"What happened?" Kitty questions.

Daffy shakily raises an arm and points to where the creature he saw stood.

"I was searching, got tired, and fell. Then I saw something strange. It was over there," he croaks.

"Might've been a hallucination," Bliss says.

Daffy lowers his arm, which is still shaking, and has it pointed at a set of footsteps imprinted in the sand.

"I don't think so," he moans.

Kitty trudges over to the footprints to analyze them, and notices they are oval shaped.

"These came from no creature I know of," she sighs.

Emily scoops up Daffy's body into her arms.

"Let's get you warmed up," she says.

Flames rise out of a pile of sticks as the wood begins to crackle.

Emily places Daffy near the fire, while the others gather around their source of warmth.

Kitty and Chloe lie down, then are quick to find comfort and rest.

"Goodnight, Amethyst," Bliss murmurs before sleeping, still wrapped up in Amethyst's purple blanket.

The unicorn smiles before closing her eyes as well.

Emily searches her bag for marshmallows, but finds Candy feasting on the gooey treats.

"Candy!" Emily gasps.

Candy looks at her and guiltily smiles.

"Sorry! I was just a bit hungry!" she apologizes.

Emily giggles.

"You didn't eat them all, did you?" she asks.

Candy gives her the bag, containing a handful of marshmallows left.

"Nope!" she answers.

Emily takes out a roasting stick and places one marshmallow on top.

"Good thinking Emily," Kelsey says as she takes a marshmallow and roasting stick as well.

April joins them and the three roast their sweets over the fire.

After they turn toasty and light brown, the girls chew on them.

"Mmmmm," they moan together.

Once April swallows her marshmallow, she yawns.

"I think I'm going to sleep now..." she groans.

She suddenly leans over and falls onto Kelsey.

"Hey!" Kelsey objects.

April softly snores as Kelsey removes her, before she goes to sleep too.

That leaves Lily and Emily awake, sitting in the orange glow of the fire.

"How many gems do we have left?" Emily asks, while placing another marshmallow over the flames.

Lily flips open her notebook and sees two gems in her sketch unchecked.

"Two," she answers.

Emily's eyes peer at the gleaming orange dots of light above.

"We've gotten pretty far, haven't we?" she says.

"We sure have," Lily responds.

Then she notices Emily's marshmallow has caught fire.

"Emily, your marshmallow..." she tells her.

Emily darts her head down to see it and gasps, then frantically blows the fire out.

She sighs in relief and lets the marshmallow, which is now black like coal, cool down.

Lily closes her notebook and lies back.

"Goodnight, Emily," she yawns.

Emily says the same to her.

She munches on her burnt marshmallow, as stars twinkle into existence in the night sky.