Tale of the Desert Crossing

Magnus Ramone

Age 14

Tale of the Desert Crossing

The Desert was vast and ancient and filled with gods of Fire, Sand, and Air. The expanse of desert was so wide that you could travel for years without end, and many did. Life existed in the Desert, but it was sparse and thin, and there certainly was not enough food for sentient life to evolve. One day a hole was opened, and the gods of Water came through to rival the gods of the Desert. They created humanity and the oases for them to live. To every Water god an oasis; to every oasis a Water god. Every thousand years, though, a human must cross the desert to the original water temple to claim another thousand years of water. This is one of many tales of The Desert Crossing.

The weather was torrid. Sand dunes in the far distance shimmered as if underwater. It was even hotter than usual in the desert.

Sadin called out, “Spirit, slow down! I am far too hot to keep on like this.”

“You’re quite lucky that we travel at night then,” responded Spirit.

A voice came from the back of the group.

“We aren’t all immortal like you!” Gecko said. “Just because you drank nothing but wind for one hundred years doesn’t mean we won’t succumb to heat stroke.”

Spirit thought about this for a minute and stopped on top of a sand dune, staring out into the distance.

“Do you see that house in the distance?” he queried. “A spirit must live there, or else we are near a town, and my magical eyes cannot see an oasis for miles.”

“Gecko should scout ahead while you stay with me then, Spirit.”

Gecko grumbled loudly about always being picked to investigate. However, he transformed into his true form (that of a spotted gecko) and headed off to the house to spy. As he was approaching, he saw a sign on the door that read, “Spider Sage of the Glittering Kingdom.” He thought Ah, then it is a sage who lives here, who must have mastered the art of living without water. Thinking it was safe, he returned to normal and knocked on the door. A spindly, old man opened the door.

“Ah, a traveling monk,” he said, “I’m sure that you feel tired.” Gecko did feel tired.

“I think I will sit down for a short while.” Gecko was really quite sleepy. “I must be getting back to Sadin soon though.” He yawned and sat down into a hammock.

“I think . . . I’ll just . . .” he yawned again, “ . . . close my eyes a little while.”

Far away, Spirit was getting restless. He started to pace back and forth across the sand. Sadin continued to drone on and on.

“So, that’s why if I could eat only one food, it would be potatoes. They are nutritious and can be prepared in lots of ways and—” Spirit cut in.

“How long are we going to wait for that idiot? I bet that the homeowner offered him some food, and he is down there gorging himself with not a thought for you!”

“Calm down, I’m quite sure he is merely trying to negotiate a night’s stay.”

“I’m going to go check it out.” Spirit lifted off the ground and flew to the house. However, as he flew, a sandstorm picked and forced him into the ground. Sadin buckled down and covered his face with his desert cloth, hoping to wait the storm out. Spirit began to fear for Sadin and even Gecko; this sandstorm had come too fast, too suddenly. This was a demon storm.

Soon, the storm cleared up, and Spirit flew up to the clouds and looked around. The house was gone, and so was Sadin. This was bad. Very bad.

“If I remember correctly, there is a city just ahead. Now that Sadin isn’t slowing me down, I can make it there.” He flew off at top speed arriving at Golden River Oasis within the minute. He set down and stood by the river, scooping up a handful of sand. He bowed to the river and threw the sand in.

“Hey, Golden River Spirit, get out here!” As they say this, they remove their traveling form and put on their true form. Away with the skin, hair, and bones, in with the form of purest water. Out of the human-like shape, in with one more like an ape. Rising out of the river came what appeared to a human made of glowing liquid.

“Who dares summon me so rudely!” The figure looked down and saw Spirit. “Oh Sands, I’m so—” The blow came like lightning. The Spirit of the Golden River was flung a distance into the desert. He got to his knees but did not get up. Instead, he started bowing profusely and spoke.

“My deepest apologies. I did not know it was you. Please spare me. I did not know you were freed,” Spirit approached and squatted down and pulled the Golden River Spirit to his feet.

“I may choose to spare you if you will give me the information I need, Golden,” he spat, “now, are there any demons in the area that you know of?”

“Y-Yes, there is the Golden Weaver outside of the town. He’s been giving us a bit of trouble.” Spirit was furious.

“I ought to report you to the King for negligence. However, I don’t have the time for this, so I’m just going to ask you this: Where is the Golden Weaver?”

“A few miles north of here. He lives in the Under Earth Oasis. You can find it under a lone tree in the desert.” Upon hearing this, Spirit left. Behind him, Golden brushed himself off and shakily walked back to his river.

Deep in the desert, a lone tree stands. As Spirit saw it from a distance, he decided to transform into a fruit fly to go reconnoiter. Flying around the tree, he saw a small hole at its base and flew down into the depths. There was a long dark tunnel until suddenly he burst out into a cavern. The ground was covered in cool moss, and a fine mist floated through the air. Some strange crystals hung from the ceilings providing light. Dotted around were a few small pools and some trees from which hung luscious fruits. Tied to these were his friends back-to-back. Under a different tree, the old man sat being fanned by two servant demons. Spirit, enraged at seeing his friends tied up, shapeshifted back into his original form and jumped toward the demon. The demon bellowed a challenge, “Who are you? Who enters my home?”

“You kidnapped my friends!” shouted back Spirit, who then leapt to attack the demon. Suddenly, a net struck Spirit and entangled him. One of the servant demons jumped to his feet and began to drag Spirit away. The demon leader behind him shouted after him, “Now that we have captured the third disciple, we can feast tonight!”

At this, the old man cackled.

Spirit was stumped. No matter how small he shapeshifted, he was stuck to the net.

One of the demons called from outside, “The pot we have is too small to hold them.”

Now, this was marvelous for two reasons. One, it meant that they would have to wait a little longer to eat them and two, it gave Spirit an idea. He shapeshifted into a camel, and the net stretched around him, but didn’t break. He tried a bigger animal, a hippo this time, and the rope grew taut. Bigger again, he became an elephant, and the ropes snapped. Changing to his true form, he flew out of the room and punched one of the minions. He slashed Gecko’s ropes and turned to the old man. The old man laughed and changed himself. Growing four extra limbs, he began striking at Spirit who dodged right and left when suddenly, he saw out of the corner of his eye the other minion running at him. Gecko came from behind and engaged the lesser demon. Spirit got in close, formed the water of his hand into a blade and stabbed upward through the demon.

Gecko subdued the other demon and they watched the old man. He began

to shrivel, and he turned into a large brown spider, which fell to the floor.

Sadin spoke from behind, “Are you going to remember to help me?”

“Oh right,” Spirit said and untied Sadin. “I know of a city nearby where we can beg for some food and shelter.”

“Sounds good,” said Gecko, “I’m quite hungry.” The three monks climbed out into the sunset and walked toward the lights on the horizon.

What happened next? Well, to find out, you will have to continue reading the tale of The Desert Crossing.