• L u n a r i a •

Chapter 4

      Lunaria awoke in a pained state. Her entire body ached, and her appearance battered and bruised. She refused to open her eyes - didn't want to accept that she was dead without even beginning to achieve her dreams.

      Her body flung upwards in a coughing fit, and feeling like a bucket of sweat was being poured down her face. Her eyes flew open, and the measly amount of air in her lungs was gone in an instant.

      Lunaria was not, in fact, dead; However, she was stranded in the middle of Selune knows where. It was a desert, obviously. But it was so generic, she could be in another region entirely. There was practically nothing other than sand for miles, save the weird domes and holes for whatever creatures decided to live in such a place. Lunaria didn't consider her lifestyle to have been rich; Modest, at least. To live here, though, was a completely drastic change of perspective.

      She shook her head furiously, partially to remove sand, and otherwise to stop thinking about non-sensical things that wouldn't help her situation. She looked down at her robes. Suprisingly enough, they were barely tattered other than the masses of sand that were stuck onto it. She dusted it off and smiled a bit; guess these annoying robes finally helped, she thought.

      Lunaria tried to think of ways to tell where she was - roaming around aimlessly wouldn't solve anything. As a monk she couldn't use any waypoint spells, or any in general. There weren't many solutions, or items at her disposal. Setting off to an oasis might help, maybe people go there to fetch water? Isn't that still roaming?

      It really isn't a rational first move, but I don't see any other options here. Though nothing about this situation is resonable, honestly. Lunaria decided heading north first would be good, as it's practically a straight line and easy to backtrack. She contemplated making a symbol or placing something in the sand as a landmark, but rationality kicked in and she quickly realized it would get covered up if a sandstorm came. She nodded at this, and set off north.

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      Her lips were split and cracked, and her throat might as well have been sandpaper. Lunaria could barely feel her legs, spending the last dregs of adrenaline to keep her moving. Her eyes widened - a cave? It seemed naturally made, and she pushed herself to the limit to dash towards it. It was her last hope.

      Once she was inside the cave, she almost couldn't believe it. The sandstone build was perfect, a hole in the exact centre to let in a decent amount of light. The floor was covered in sand, but that wasn't at all a problem; the biggest factor was the river that ran through it. It was clean water, fresh as can be. Lunaria quickly ran towards it, to check if it had the most needed thing; Food.

      Tears would've flooded her cheeks if she hadn't been so dehydrated. There were only a few fish, barely enough to survive a day or two. Lunaria looked around for anything to create a makeshift spear, or any weapon at all. There wasn't much, she knew if she tried enough she could sharpen a rock but the staff part would be an issue. However, a small, lean twig was by the water, maybe swept by the wind or river. She tried swinging with it - it was much lighter than she was used to. Maybe the rock would add more weight, but then she realized another problem; The binding. What could she use to bind it together? This was getting to be too much for her.

      Lunaria eventually settled for just attempting to grab the fish and kill them on land. As expected, it went a little wrong. She only had one fish killed - her stomach was already roaring like a tesseract. She spent the next couple of hours trying to light a cooking fire, and made a measly flame to roast the fish over. To go with it, she cupped some river water into her hands, and drank it. It was nowhere near the quality of the Temple's dining hall food, but who was she to complain? She'd left of her own free will (kind of.) Left her friends and the only people she called family behind.

      She wasn't the type to freak out and apologise 9000 times - but she sat on the sandy floor and sighed. Staring into the fire, her violet eyes were unmoving as a tear came down the side of her face. Lunaria quickly wiped it away; She wasn't weak. She refused to sit and cry her pain away, and instead snuffed out the fire and placed the stick she had on the ground near it. Glancing at a large rock, she sighed as she climbed up onto it and curled up. Closing her eyes, she wished that she was on the boat, instead of wherever this dump was.