--An) Still 2 more chapters to come!--
"Can you explain to me what this negative magic zone is? I mean, I can cast magic, so it does not seem too negative." Blake was confused. From things he had watched and seen before, there were sometimes zones where you could not use magic, but this place allowed you to use magic as far as he could see.
"As the name implies, a negative magic zone will not allow magic within its area. But, since our bodies hold mana, and we use that mana to cast spells, we can cast magic to a certain extent. It's just that it will dissipate quickly. For example, the ice magic you talked about." Clance explained.
"So even if I cast a fireball, it would only fly a few feet before breaking apart?" Blake asked to confirm. He just wanted to make sure he grasped everything he should be grasping.
"Exactly. Magic will only be worth it if you use it at a point-blank range. Although I do believe that body-enhancing magic should still work." Clance answered. She felt a little helpless herself as this was not an easy thing to deal with. They could only keep moving forward and hope to find the edge of the desert.
Blake rubbed his face in frustration. "Alright, you choose! We will go in the direction you choose." Blake decided to leave it up to fate. And since fate brought Clance to him, he would let her decide.
Clance pursed her lips and looked around. She then looked at Blake with a serious expression as she asked: 'Are you sure?"
"Mmm… I will follow your lead." Blake nodded.
"Then this way." Clance grabbed Blake's hand and flew off in the direction she thought was correct. Her senses were all messed up, so she could only hope to follow her gut feeling.
The two flew under the hot sun for hours with no sign of night coming any time soon. Both of them were dripping in sweat. They created water with magic and drank it, and Blake gave Clance food to eat from his space pouch. The two continued forward for what seemed like days. Currently, Blake was already holding back his lust as much as possible after drinking Clance's blood a few times now.
It felt like the longer he was under the sun, the more hungry he got. It was like the whole area was fighting against him. Because the hungrier he got and the more blood he drank, the more his lust would rise. He had to control himself since he knew this was not the place to be doing sexual acts.
What seemed like two weeks later, both Blake and Clance were about to scream. "What the hell is with this desert!? Is it endless or what!?"
"I know we are going straight because I have been using the clouds as a means of keeping my direction, but for some reason, those clouds do not look like they are getting closed no matter how fast we fly. I think we are stuck in some kind of illusion. And if that is true, it would be a natural one which is impossible to break out of." Clance felt defeated. She never thought they would run into a natural illusion.
"Whatever the case is, we need to figure this out. If above ground does not work, then what about below? Those sandworms have been surviving somehow, so we should be able to do the same, right? I am sure they need to eat. Otherwise, one would not have attacked me earlier." Blake did not know if this would work, but it was at least worth a try.
"This might work, but I do not know anyone who has ever tried such a method, and you said these sandworms were molten sandworms, right? They are made of lava?" Clance asked.
"Pretty much. We will just need to kick their ass if they get near us. Either way, we need to try. I think if we use a barrier on our skin like I did when I was shielding myself from the lava rain earlier, then we should be able to push the sand aside if we superheat it as the worms do." Blake had no idea if this would work, but he could see the molten sandworms melting the sand around them to make a path through the sand, so if they did the same, it might just allow them to escape from this place.
"Alright, we will do as you say. I think my dragonic fire is hot enough to melt the sand. I will cast my own barrier on you and myself to allow us to withstand its heat." Blake nodded, and the two landed on the ground.
This was all or nothing. It was basically the only option they had not tried. Blake let Clance put a barrier around him and took his hand as she surrounded them with a blackish-reddish flame that instantly melted the sand under their feet. As the sand melted, they began to sink. In a matter of seconds, they were both sunk deep into the sand. The sand from above was falling down over them, but it turned into liquid glass that rained down on top of them. Once they reached a certain depth, they finally hit solid rock, which Clance melted through once more.
"We should be able to start moving forward soon," Clance said with a smile, but to both their surprise, as they broke through the rock, a huge cavern opened up under them! Blake and Clance were not expecting a massive cavern, and they both fell to the bottom, with Clance landing on top of Blake.
"Shit!" Blake cringed. He had just slammed his head hard off the stone floor. "Clance, you okay?"
"Yeah…. But I never expected that to happen. To think there would be such a large cavern here." Clance slowly got up and extended her hand to Blake. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just a headache." Blake knew he wouldn't die even if he fell head first, never mind just slamming his head off the ground. As a drakani, such a fall was nothing but that did not mean it still did not hurt.
