D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

— Green —

Green cursed the sun. She’d been placed in what was probably the summer area but was in reality a massive fucking desert with giant pillars all over the place stretching upwards into the sky. It made her feel like she was standing on the scorched ass of the world and it was not a pleasant image. Green had already given up sleep through the rest of the night because she was expecting the heat… but the sun hadn’t even been up for an hour and it was already sweltering.

*Dammit. Who’s idea was this shit.* Grumbled Green as she leant against one of the many pillars around. This one wasn’t particularly thick. Barely giving enough shade for her to hide under for a quick water break. She’d found a few orbs to keep her topped up and placed them in a belt pouch but it was annoying to do so. The sun was so bright on the sands that it felt like she needed eye protection already.

*I need to find some way to get underground or one of the larger pillars so I can hide inside them… except at a distance it’s nearly impossible to tell how large these damned things are. They’re everywhere but the dunes have to be enchanted to trick the mind. I can’t tell which are large and which are simply close with even an extended look. The only saving grace against the sun scorched wasteland is that I haven’t seen any monsters yet.*

Green reached up and tapped the hat she’d put on. It was meant to be enchanted to keep her cool but it had never been tested in such conditions and wasn’t living up to the hype. Granted, it was just meant to be a comfort item and the team hadn’t needed to adventure in any of the serious desserts… but she new what she was going to spend her money on as soon as this shit was over.

Green looked down at the little Timmy that was standing behind her and pictured it following along behind her with a giant palm leaf to act as a mobile bit of shade. It was a really nice idea… but ultimately there wasn’t exactly an easy place to acquire such a thing. Still… something to keep in mind. Though if she needed to leave the desert for one she had no plans to return to this shitty place.

Green gulped down a few more mouthful’s of water before pushing herself off the pillar and sighing. It was only going to get hotter and she didn’t want to be the reason her team lost. Didn’t seem likely… but if she slacked off and it was? She’d never forgive herself. *Urgh. Curse my sense of responsibility. At least I’m not crazy enough to deal with this heat in the middle of the day and my ability to sleep just about anywhere will come in handy… but damn I’d love something as simple as a cave right now.*

Green glanced around at the various pillars before picking one at random. It wasn’t like she could tell the difference between most of them anyway. Sighing Green got a move on. The dunes were a pain. Just high enough you needed to struggle a bit going up but not so large that skiing down the other side really saved you much time or effort.

Green kept her eyes moving. Trying not to stare at any one point for too long and making sure to blink often. The light from the sands made it hard to spot orbs and Thyme hadn’t made it easy at all. They were frequently mostly buried and one of them she only found from stepping on it. *Which did scare me plenty. I thought I’d stepped on a monster of some sort but nope. Just one of those orbs we’re meant to find. How many others are scattered around the place?*

Just as Green was going to keep complaining she noticed that she was getting awfully close to the nearby pillar. She was close enough to tell it apart from the others now and it was massive. Smiling she started to pick up the pace a bit, even burning some mana to get there faster.

The pillar itself had a number of holes across its length and had the wind been present at all might have been making all sorts of eery sounds. Currently though it was silent. The winds were completely dead and Green was happy with that much. Once she got to the pillar though she realised a problem. For all that it was littered with holes… they weren’t connected. They were just large empty holes.

*Shit am I going to climb up this thing? What are the chances that there’s something here? It’s larger and rockier then some of the others. I could probably get away with scaling the outside, especially with the large holes to rest in… but it would be a large time sync and potentially an even larger risk. These things seem to extend upwards for a considerable distance. I’ve no idea if I’ll even be able to breathe at the top. Still… I have a fairly fast way to get down. Jumping. I’ve got the equipment to survive it… and it’s a decent place to rest. Potentially loud but that’s not going to bother me. I can sleep through that.*

Green placed a hand against the rock and tested it for durability. Putting all of her weight on one of the lower handholds and finding it wasn’t budging. Green nodded a few times and then kicked off the ground, flying up to the next hole in the rockface. It was a curved and seemed to have been carved out in one smooth motion. Unlike the outside the inside was almost perfectly smooth and might be an issue to climb up.

Green of course had plenty of experience with non-ideal terrain and was able to make her way up to the higher end of the tunnel and look around. Nothing seemed to change really. The outside was still a desert. The pillars were still exceptionally vague distances away. The wind wasn’t really an issue and the handholds remained sturdy from her quick tests. So… back to climbing.

A pattern soon established as Green started to ascend with much greater speed. She’d use a bit of mana to jump to a hole if her boots could cover the distance and simply climb the outside of the pillar if she couldn’t manage it. As Green got higher she noticed monsters flying around. They were camouflaged well against the intense sun and looked a lot like the sky above them. It was only now she had a better angle she could spot them. Then again, perhaps if the sun wasn’t so damned bright she wouldn’t noticed earlier.

Green hadn’t been thinking about her little Timmy much during this whole climb… but it didn’t matter. Apparently the tiny thing was just as good of a climber as she was because it always seemed to be just a few steps behind her. This was true even if she’d just launched herself upwards.

It was after about eight or nine holes, Green wasn’t counting, that something changed. Inside this one there was a big crack in the wall and just as obviously, inside the crack there was a larger orb. Perhaps a three or four hours of top up. The problem was that it happened to be too far inside to reach with a hand and much too small for Green herself to squeeze inside. *Wait… so is this… basically impossible?*

Green looked over at the Timmy. It was… small enough to get inside sure but the orb was too big to pull out anyway. *Hmm… can this thing break its way in? Actually can I risk asking? I’ve got no idea how much of this cavern needs to stay intact for the pillars to remain standing. I’d really hate to collapse the damned thing because I asked it to get me three hours of extra time. Of course… is it even strong enough for something like this? Would it be better if I had tools for the little guy?*

Green pondered for a few moments what to do. *Do I leave a mark on this? I’m not… too far away from the bottom. I suppose I could just remember it and climb back up if I really need the time later on? Then again I still can’t see how I’m meant to get into it without risking the whole structure collapsing. Even if I wasn’t in the direct path of the thing these pillars are huge. Having one fall would not only be a massive signal to anyone watching but potentially something that could injure me even if I’m not in the line of fire. Hmm… yeah I don’t really like this much at all.*

“Hey can you like… go in there and look around?” asked Green.

The Timmy gave her a salute and zipped through the gap in the rock. Disappeared from sight for a moment and then came back. Green stared at the Timmy. “Right… you don’t talk. Did I pack any paper? Are you smart enough to write? These are not questions I thought to ask…”

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