Waves of heat distorted the air as the blazing star shone brightly overhead. A blistering wind rushed over the expansive landscape, howling into the sky as bits of sand and dust twirled up into its clutches. While most of the planet was covered in dense jungle or towering mountains, there was one location across all the continents that was truly unique. As far as the eye could see, towering sand dunes dominated the landscape, sweeping onwards for miles and miles with no end in sight. There were no landmarks, no decorations, and no life to be seen, a scorching, inhospitable wasteland.

                Layers of sand shifted across the dunes as the hot wind blew across it, rattling a few isolated shrubs before sweeping over scorched, cracked rock. In this desert, scenes like this were anything but rare, but that didn’t mean the desert was without life! Claws scraped against rock as a tiny, tan colored lizard scurried into view, thorns decorated all across its body. Stopping atop a rock, it blinked its large, black eyes and tilted its head as something unusual reflected in them. Suddenly, a shadow fell over it.

                “Well, aren’t you the oddest little thing,” a pleasant voice spoke, the lizard glancing down as an orange furred hand scooped it up. It ran its wide, pink tongue over its eyes as it was slowly lifted, rising higher and higher until an orange furred face appeared behind it with sparkling eyes, “Let’s see… eight inches, covered in horns, cleans its eyes with its tongue…” Barking a laugh, the shasheek flipped open a leather-bound journal with her free hand, “A spiny starchaser! I was wondering if we would find one!” Setting the small lizard down, she regarded her journal as she pulled out a pen, “You are going in the journal!”  

                Rough, cloth clothing billowed in the wind as the shasheek wrote dutifully, her eyes sparkling as her orange furred hand swept back and forth. While a creature like her certainly seemed out of place in such a harsh, scorching environment, her people, the Krysheek, had masterfully adapted to all sorts of environments long ago. She had twin tails and short perky ears, just like the rest of her people, and bright blue eyes that certainly stood out amidst the rough, sandy terrain, but most of her fur patterns were currently hidden. Thick, dark cloth covered most of her body, leaving her forearms, head, and tails exposed to the elements, but protecting her from the sand quite nicely! Combined with the large pack strapped to her back, the canteens on her legs, and all the journalistic equipment strapped to her forearms, she fit the image of her role quite nicely.

                Her name was Tearna, and she was an explorer. Only a few hundred years ago, a Crisis had ravaged their world. Although they had endured, countless generations worth of knowledge had been lost. With most of their cities sundered and the world in disarray, regaining that lost knowledge had been a low priority, but now that things were beginning to heal, the emperor had seen fit to sponsor an expedition to regain some of the knowledge that had been lost, and that was where Tearna’s convoy came into play! Their mission was to explore their world and document their travels, recording whatever landmarks, flora, and fauna they happened to find so their people could once again understand the world they shared! Given where they had started, it had made sense to start in the world’s only desert, and while many expedition members weren’t happy about it, there was no dampening the enthusiasm of the star-struck explorer.

                “Expedition Entry, day one. The Karasi Desert!” Clicking her pen once, Tearna strapped her journal back onto her arm before smiling and continuing north with the rest of the convoy. “After only a few weeks of travel, we’ve finally arrived! I heard so many stories as a young girl about how inhospitable this arid land was, and now that I’m finally here… I can certainly say they were right!”

                A loud snort shook the air, the shaggy hair of one of their pack ghollon billowing in the breeze as it lay in the sand, several explorers relaxing in its shade. Tents flapped around them as other expedition members worked to set up tents, food, and a number of other things. “Trying to adapt to such a dry environment has been… difficult.” The end of a canteen turned up and shook once. A small frown touched Tearna’s face where she sat on a crate, peering into it briefly before sighing, “Most of our water evaporated because a certain someone, Dharna, didn’t cork our vases correctly. What’s wild is that it only took a few dozen minutes for the water to vanish! I didn’t even know it was possible for water to evaporate so quickly!”

                Sighing briefly, the woman smiled as she looked off with sparkling eyes, “But that hasn’t dampened our spirits!” On cue, someone let out a wail, bemoaning the lack of water while Tearna ignored them completely and continued, “Getting the chance to see such a magnificent place has been a delight! I still find myself giddy every morning, wondering what new sights I might see within these sandy dunes! It’s even more exciting when I think about why we’re doing this! The emperor has tasked us with rediscovering our world, and I will not let our people down!”

                Many days later, sand billowed across a dune. Numerous ghollon snorted and groaned as they plodded along, the long line of expedition members carefully making their way along as the setting star blazed across their backs. “This journal will serve as a vessel for everything that I will witness on our journey,” Tearna continued, her pen blazing away as she walked and wrote. “I will do my best to record every creature, plant, and thing I possibly can, and when we are done, I will return home to tell everyone about all the wonderful things I saw and my heroic tales of courage, determination, and grace!” With a yelp, Tearna promptly fell forward, sand puffing out as her tails fell over her. With a huff, she pushed her cloak off her head and scowled at a few of the others as they laughed, “And I definitely did not omit anything embarrassing…”

                Light shone across miles of sandy dunes as Tearna stood atop a large hill. Smiling out at the horizon, she squinted and began to write, “The Karasi is largely how it was described to me, endless tracks of sand. The air is constantly scorching, and it’s so dry that the instant we uncork a canteen we’re in a race against time to drink our water!” A few clouds floated along lazily as she looked up and shielded her eyes, “Despite all the time we’ve spent here, we have yet to see it rain. I’m convinced now that it can’t rain in an environment like this, and it baffles me how anyone could live here.” Squinting in thought, she looked down and continued, “But, I have encountered a few things that have made me think differently!”

                Chitters drifted through the air as tiny claws scraped the sandy ground. Light glinted off a dark, bronze carapace as a small column of bugs marched along. They were quite tiny, no more than the size of one’s palm, and they had bright blue markings along their backs. Each one had their abdomens in the air, swaying back and forth as they walked, but within the glasslike abdomen, an unusual, but familiar, liquid swirled. Continuing to march, an eye appeared behind them, Tearna studying them with a bright smile as she watched their rears wiggle, “Jar bugs!”

                Tearna and several others followed the small column of bugs, pointing and talking as they observed their behavior, “These strange insects were one of my first encounters in the desert, and they instantly answered a burning question. While there is almost no water in this environment, these small bugs have somehow made it their living to find every ounce they can! It’s almost like watching a small caravan of miners, but their version of iron is water! While sightings aren’t too frequent, they aren’t exactly hard to find, and finding a column of them was like finding an Oasis!”

                A bug chittered angrily as it was lifted into the air, curling up as it hissed with irritation. Tilting it over, water began to pour out from its abdomen and into a canteen, several of the expedition members watching eagerly as their reserves slowly filled. Setting the bug back down, Tearna eyed her canteen uncertainly. After a moment, she took a swig, squeezing one eye shut before swallowing, “While the water is a little… sour, it is like the most refreshing spring! From what we have been able to observe, the jar bugs travel for days on end to find natural springs. Once they locate one, they drink their fill and march back home, but, as they walk, they leave a pheromone trail, just like ants, which leads the colony back to the spring so they can have a constant source of water! Though, in our case… we may have stolen their spring…”

                Water splashed as a ghollon buried its face in a water trough, drinking greedily before pulling its face out and gasping. Sounds of work echoed around the encampment, light sparkling off the shallow pool of water they had found. Tents now ringed the almost crystal-clear waters, the tired explorers refilling their canteens and taking long drinks while columns of jar bugs came and went. While most of the explorers were working on survival, Tearna, once again, found herself enamored by the wildlife.

                Small ripples rolled out from behind a tiny bug sitting on the surface of the pool, Tearna watching keenly as it skated back the other way. “Lilyskates!” She hummed to herself happily as she documented her find while the odd bug continued to periodically skate around, “One would expect a desert to be full of hardy, scaled creatures that can survive such extreme heat, but lilyskates have managed to survive by locating what few oases exist in the Karasi. Once they find water, they… spread, their large, green feet and seem to engage in a sort of photosynthesis! I’m not sure if it’s actually photosynthesis or some mutualistic relationship, but it certainly makes for an amusing creature!”

                She laughed as light sparkled off one of the small bug’s four, green feet, its gigantic black eyes shining as others skated around it. Admiring it a moment longer, she glanced up as a call rang out, sighing before getting up, “Unfortunately for me, these small reprieves were always short lived, not that I’m going to complain! After all, we can’t explore the desert if we don’t keep on the move!”

                Crates creaked as numerous ghollon plodded along across the top of a sandy dune. Numerous explorers marched alongside them, the expedition continuing its way across the desert. Further near the back of the convoy, Tearna continued to dutifully jot down notes even as sand billowed around her, “While I personally could have catalogued creatures in the dunes until the end of time, my colleagues weren’t quite of the same opinion. After documenting most of the wildlife in the lower regions of the Karasi, our determined caravan made its way north to the heart of the desert, and the sights we witnessed were some to remember!”

                Smiling, Tearna lowered her pen as she gazed out across the desert, “Our views were almost always spectacular. We could see the clouds dominating the scorching horizon, dunes as tall as mountains, and numerous desert herd animals.” Scraggly plants crunched as a herd of tall, four-legged animals munched their way through them. One of them lifted their strange looking heads, absently munching as their long, curled horns glinted in the desert’s light. Flicking its tail, it looked up the dunes, absently eyeing the caravan as Tearna began to jot notes, “It never ceases to amaze me the kinds of life that can take root in such a harsh environment. Against the sand and searing heat, I never would have expected furred animals to thrive. Of course, I suppose the ghollon’s endurance is testament enough to what furred animals can achieve, but the greatest testament of them all is beyond a doubt our own legacy!” Smiling brightly, Tearna lowered her journal as she looked ahead of the caravan with sparkling eyes.

                Towering over the dunes just a few miles ahead was a sight known all around the world, Nerkossa! Light glinted around the tall, rocky mountain. The mountain was covered in craggy rock, making it look more like an overgrown boulder, but what made it truly unique were the numerous rocky ledges and spine-like protrusions jutting off it, making it look like a thorny pinecone. No matter how far one looked, there was not another mountain like it, and that was for numerous reasons. After all, the name of Nerkossa didn’t belong to the mountain, but to the city that had been carved into it!

                Loud chatter and clanging echoed through the streets of the city. Tall, sandstone buildings stood along both sides of the long road that looped around the mountain all the way to its top, windmills placed precariously across the rocky surface while large, cloth tarps stretched out to provide shade. People of all colors meandered up and down the streets, the shadows of tall buildings rolling across them as merchant calls rang through the air. Almost every building had been designed similarly, leaving little variance from street to street, but it gave the city a unique identity. Nowhere else on the planet could one find buildings like these, and having them extend all the way up the mountain in a continuous spiral made for a very unique city layout. All in all, it had certainly earned its title as the jewel of the desert, and it was a welcome sight for any beleaguered travelers.

                Ghollon snorted heavily as they greedily guzzled water from a set of troughs. Near the southern part of the city, a large courtyard dominated a wide-open terrace. Tents had been erected in different parts of it, the tired expedition members reclining under the shade while some worked to repair their gear. Others were browsing nearby shops while a few were talking up the local innkeepers as they struggled to find lodging amidst such a packed city. One of the expedition members drank from a canteen with relief, letting out a long sigh as he sagged onto a bench while several other members laughed at him. In a city like this, it was the chance for the expedition to take a reprieve and prepare for the next leg of their adventure, but for someone like Tearna, it was just more for her to document.

                Light beamed across her as she shielded her eyes near the edge of the terrace, a large smile on her face as she looked up towards the top of the city. Up the face of the mountain, she could see more buildings, tarps to shield the citizens, and multiple windmills that constantly churned. Smiling happily, she began to write, “When I was told about the jewel of the desert, I never expected this! It’s nothing like Orden in design, but just as hospitable despite its surroundings!”

                Laughter rang through the air as a group of children charged down a road, weaving through a crowd and drawing the ire of more than a few people. Stepping aside, Tearna let out a laugh as she looked back at them before continuing up the road and admiring the sights, “In truth, being amongst the city was no different than visiting someplace like Mercanta! The buildings are of surprisingly good quality, and there was no shortage of items to purchase. Additionally, the culture in the city is no different from that of Orden, and it reminded me a lot of home. Seeing the familiarity was nice, but I was constantly stunned by the architecture! I’ve never imagined a city being built up the side of a mountain, and there was one other thing I didn’t expect that dictated how the city operates.”

                Dripping echoed as small water droplets fell from a spout and plopped into a pot. Hefting it up, a sheek wearing tan cloth clothing carried it away, Tearna watching curiously before looking back up at the large reservoir, “It should have occurred to me, but everything in the desert revolves around water, and that applies to the city as well.” Writing a note, she looked all around the square she had found herself in. Each of the buildings had noticeable spouts and basins to catch water, and even the items arranged around the stalls appeared to be designed around water collection.

  “Water is such a crucial resource in a place like this that the entirety of their culture revolves around it,” she continued, squinting in thought before looking at her journal. “They design their homes around it, their shops, and even their belongings! Everywhere I went, I found methods for collecting water I had never imagined, and now I sorely realize just how much we take such a resource for granted. In the Karasi, water is truly the key to life, and without such dedication to its gathering, a city like Nerkossa would never be able to exist.”

Hot wind howled around the top of the mountain. A few solitary buildings sat around its peak, but most of the space was dedicated to a large courtyard with numerous viewing ledges. Stepping up to the smooth, sandstone railing, Tearna looked out across the desert, “Life here is certainly different than what I imagined. It’s not nearly as insufferable as some of my instructors made it sound, and there is a certain beauty to be found amongst the golden dunes. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have minded staying in the city for a few weeks, but, unfortunately, we are here for a reason. Our people are counting on us to rediscover all we have forgotten, and we can’t do that by exploring what has already been explored!” Nodding once, she turned away from the ledge, “But, thankfully, the next leg of our journey was going to be a bit quicker, and more exhilarating!”

Far from Nerkossa, wind blew across a sandy dune, heat radiating from it as the star broke against its top. Without warning, a massive, wooden prow smashed through the dune in an explosion of sand. Timber creaked as a massive skiff plowed through the desert. Tall masts stood across it, just like any sailing vessel on the ocean, but the masts were much wider and taller. The vessel was comparable to a galleon, though it was certainly a little more bleached. Numerous tarps and coverings decorated its top, casting shady spots onto the large deck as crates groaned with the skiff’s motions. Ropes creaked as dozens of the ship’s crew worked, performing maintenance and ensuring the massive sand vessel continued on its course.

Near the back of the ship, a table had been set up with a large map on it. Numerous expedition members were standing around, pointing at different spots while several others tended to the ghollon nearby. Footsteps echoed a distance away as Tearna left the table behind, stepping up to the edge of the sand skiff as she looked out. Sand billowed around the ship as wind continued to howl in her ears, the ship moving at an exhilarating speed as it seemed to slice right through the sands. Smiling giddily, Tearna once again pulled out her journal.

“Ships that sail on sand! Who would have thought?!” From above, the pale, wooden ship was a speck amongst the infinite desert as she continued, “Traversing such a hostile environment is a difficult task beyond any shadow of a doubt. The sand makes for uncertain footing, and the heat can lay low even the staunchest of survivors! I never could understand how caravans could make such consistent trips to supply a city like Nerkossa, but it all suddenly clicked when our expedition leader announced that he had booked passage for us aboard a sand skiff!”

“Sand skiffs are how the denizens of the desert make most of their trips, and they are exactly like our galleons! They’re large, lightly built ships designed to catch the wind, and their hulls are coated in a strange substance that almost completely negates friction, though it supposedly does need to be replaced quite often. The real key to the ship’s functioning, however, are their tall sails. They’re so much bigger than a galleon’s that I could hardly believe it, but they aren’t completely effective on their own. That’s where the ship’s specialized crew comes in!”

Tendrils of grey wind rolled against the back of the sails, causing them to bulge forward as the ship sped along. Standing atop the back of the ship were four individuals, their eyes glowing as they willed their wind powers into the sails to speed the ship along. Tearna watched them intently from where she was sitting before finally writing, “With a team of wind wielders, the skiffs can achieve a surprisingly ambitious speed! While I have to imagine that such an exhaustive effort takes years of training, they make it look easy. I went down to eat for my midday meal, and when I came back a few hours later, they were still at it, as still as statues with their winds roiling around them! Honestly, it really makes me wish that my own powers were a little more impressive. After all, there’s only so much I can do with… soil…”

                Sand continued to rush along the side of the large skiff as it sailed along. Suddenly, geysers of sand erupted alongside it. Sandy scales appeared through the dune as numerous creatures began to swim alongside the ship, diving in and out of the dune as they blew sand from their nostrils. The creatures were roughly nine feet in length, had dark, flat spines on their backs, and were just barely visible at their shoulders because of how submerged they were. Their golden eyes were slits, covered in a thick membrane as sand continued to blast their faces, and they seemed incredibly interested in the skiff.

                “Sand shearers were an interesting creature to document.” Tearna leaned over the side of the skiff, eyeing the nearly dozen scaly backs she could see swimming alongside them, “These large reptiles have developed the unique ability to, quite literally, swim through sand. Through a process of vibrating their scales, they can slide through sand like water, letting them move at surprising speeds and take down their prey with relative ease. With their powerful claws and vicious dispositions, their prey only really has one option. Outpopulate how much the shearers can hunt.”

  Jotting a few more notes, Tearna looked back down at them with a smile, “That being said, the shearers weren’t a problem for us. From what the crew told me, they have a tendency to follow the sand skiffs for a couple of reasons. The first is that the skiffs will often scare prey out of hiding. The second is that the skiff’s crew has a bad habit of feeding them leftovers…”

A groan rang out as a hatch opened on the side of the skiff. Vicious snarls rang out from below as several of the shearers took notice, more than a few fighting to get closer to the skiff as several sheek rolled several bins up to the hatch. One by one, steady streams of leftover food and scraps began to tumble from the ship. Sand puffed into the air as the shearers turned into balls of flailing limbs, vigorously attacking the bits of leftovers as the crew emptied the ship’s hold. White teeth flashed as one of the lizards shot out of the sand and snatched a larger flank, instantly disappearing onto the sand as dozens of others swam up to take its place. Tossing out a few more loads, the hatch on the side of the ship slammed shut, leaving the shearers to fight over the leftovers as the Skiff pulled away.

“While our interactions with the Shearers was quite positive, I’ve learned that they aren’t exactly the friendliest of creatures from the stories the crew has shared.” A frown rested on Tearna’s face. She was sitting atop a crate beside a haphazardly constructed table on the ship’s upper deck, wind making the tarps flap overhead as she listened to the crew sitting at the table, “Apparently, shearers are voracious predators and will attack anything that breathes. Any caravan making its way through the desert without a skiff has to be extra careful to avoid losing ghollon to roaming packs, and several of the crew have even lost friends. It makes me even more thankful that the first leg of our trip was as peaceful as it was…”

Frowning in thought, Tearna finally bowed her head with a smile before standing and moving away. Stepping up to the edge of the ship, she rested her hands on the railing and gazed out with a tense frown, “As dangerous as the Shearers can be, I am firmly aware of a much more terrifying monster lurking amongst the dunes. Before we left the city, I spoke with the Raijin Watchers, a group dedicated to tracking the movement of the desert’s largest denizens in order to protect our people from their wrath. While it sounds like our current trajectory is safe, the dunes constantly shift, and I cannot help but worry that we might encounter the most terrifying creature to ever walk our planet.”

Far away to their north, more dunes dominated the horizon. A hot, scalding breeze billowed over the seemingly innocuous sands, the only creature stirring being a herd of furred creatures plodding along. Suddenly, one of them let out a terrified bellow as the ground began to shift. They took off in panic as a city-sized section of sand began to rise. Black spines poked out through the sand as a massive, clawed limb flew up, three more following along behind it as the black scaled behemoth pulled itself from the ground. Slamming its thick, spined tail down, it split open its crimson maw and let loose a bellowing roar as black smoke concealed it from sight.

“Thankfully, we made it through the desert without encountering the Mountain of a Thousand Needles.” Loud thuds rang out as crates were set down on a dock. Bleached planks stretched out over the sandy dunes in a haphazard, branching grid, numerous skiffs docked alongside them. Nearby, a small town was built on top of a solid, rocky foundation, kites dancing in the breeze while windmills turned all throughout its burrows. Timber creaked as one of the newly arrived skiffs rocked slightly in its dock, pulling at its ropes as a team of ghollon were led off the massive ship. Coins jingled as the expedition leader handed a coin pouch over to the shipmaster, shaking his hand before waving and walking away.

“Maurnida marks the end of our journey through the Karasi,” Tearna wrote, walking along the dock with her head down. Pausing, she looked up at the city before her with a small smile, “While our journey through the desert was quite spectacular, I admit that I am relieved to be out from the dunes. The scorching heat and lack of water can only really be tolerated for so long, and while I find their culture beautiful, I don’t think I envy the denizens of the desert. That being said…”

Frowning in thought, Tearna looked behind her with a small smile. Light glinted across the vast desert, the color of the sky slowly turning orange as the star began to set on the far-off horizon. Sand billowed into the air across the tall dunes, sand shearers swimming in packs while lines of bug marched along dutifully. She slowly turned her gaze as she smiled at the sight, “I will miss the beauty the desert has to offer. Both in terms of the life it harbors and the glittering sight of the endless sands, the Karasi really is one of the jewels of our world, and I hope beyond hope that these journal entries will give our people some insight into another of the great wonders that we lost after the Crisis.”

Breathing deep, she turned with a start as a shout drew her attention. Smiling, she hurried after her expedition as they moved into the city, lights flickering on within its towers as the darkness of night began to rise to the east, “Our journey, however, is just beginning! There is still so much of our world that we need to explore, and we won’t stop until we rediscover every corner! The Crisis took so much from our people, and our world was scarred by its atrocities in ways that we’ll never recover from. But, if this little bit of light can in any way bring our people closure and help us move forward, then we all are happy to do our part no matter how far we have to travel!”

Climbing up to the top of the stairs leading into the walled town, Tearna smiled and looked back up at the orange sky, “My name is Tearna, and for all those reading this entry, no matter how far off into the future you might be, this is the beauty of the world we share, and I will do everything in my power to help you experience it!”