Gales POV
I could feel my head spinning as I saw the name of the skill displayed in front of me and attempted to make sense of everything that I was just told and leaned on the wall for support. It was completely ridiculous that out of all the things I could have been, the thing I become is basically an extinct monster that this world went to extreme lengths to wipe out. My mind also went back to the moment I was sent to this world and remembered the strange pod that angel put me in and with what she said being "that can't be the only options left" if I remembered correctly.
"Um excuse me..."
Was there really no other option besides this? Why was this an option in the first place?!
"Um hello...."
What did they expect me to do when the majority of the world would probably just end up killing me?!
"E-Excuse me!"
I was brought out of my thoughts by Ashes yelling and I looked at her and I saw a worried expression on her face and once she saw me look at her she spoke.
"Are you ok?" Asked Ashes as she stared at me.
I was surprised at her concern for me as I thought that her worried look was more out of her concern for her own safety as she just finished telling what was essentially the boogeyman about a power that he may or may not have.
I sighed and eventually spoke after a bit and said " I'm fine thanks for asking."
She smiled a bit and nodded her head and said "You really didn't know any of this?"
"No idea whatsoever. This is genuinely the first time I got any answers about myself."
"Your parents didn't tell you anything about yourself?"
As she asked me this I thought about exactly how much information I should be giving out about myself and decided on keeping some things to myself. I didn't want to share more than I had to even with Ashes as there were things that I didn't feel comfortable sharing with anyone at this point and wanted to limit the amount of information that anyone knew about me, so I looked to her and spoke.
"I don't really remember anything from before I was a slave. Nothing about the gods and nothing about the world I supposedly came from. I also don't remember my parents and the first thing I woke up to after losing my memories was the sound of one of the slavers yelling at me and the system window that told me my name."
As I finished my explanation she stared a bit and had a slightly dumbfounded expression and said "So you just woke up without any memories of yourself besides your name?"
"That's right" I replied.
She gave me a strange look which I already expected as my explanation was a little vague. I tried to think of anything else I could use to try and avoid any potentially difficult questions until Ashes spoke again.
"Ok I believe you."
I was taken aback from what she said. I didn't expect her to just accept my explanation just like that and I was fully prepared to lie. Once she said this I asked "...Just like that?"
"Huh?" Questioned Ashes.
"You don't want to ask me about more things? You don't think that I'm lying about my memories?"
I knew I should have just accepted it but a part of me didn't know if I could just accept this and move on and I wanted to know why she just accepted this. I looked at Ashes and waited for her response and she responded with "I was scared when I first saw you in the cells. I remembered all the stories I read about the wolves and I thought you were the same. But when the others held me down and were tearing off my scales I saw the look on your face. You had a very kind look and you promised me that everything was going to be OK and that you would take me home. I felt really scared and alone in that place and I decided to stay close to you because you weren't as scary as the stories you were. There were times where I didn't like what you said and I thought that you would actually hurt someone but.... then you saved me." She walked a little closer to me and continued "I thought I was going to die when I got trapped under the rock and I didn't think anyone would help me but you did. You went back for me when no one else did and when you needed help to read the words in the pod you asked for my help and believed in me. It was the first time anyone did that for me so...." she then grabbed my hand and smiled and said "I think that you're a really good person!"
I was silent after she said all this and felt a little uncomfortable at everything she was saying as I wasn't used to all of this praise. I really didn't intend to make that promise and mostly said it without thinking and I saved her from that rock due to my own past and slightly selfish reasons. I moved hands slowly away from hers and avoided her gaze for a moment and stood there awkwardly not knowing what to say after all of that and stood in silence for a bit. Thankfully the awkward silence was interrupted by the sound of the pods warning.
Five minutes until emergency power shuts off.
At the sound of the warning both Ashes and I quickly went back to preparing our cloaks and I mentally prepared myself for our journey and once I was ready I stood near the metal door of the pod and placed my hands on the metal wheel of the door and took a deep breath and turned it to open it to the outside world.
Once I opened the door I was immediately blasted by a powerful wave of heat that felt as though I was standing in front of an oven and could smell the powerful scent of the desert. My nose was assaulted by the dry scent of the sand and dirt in the air and caught a slight herbal scent on the wind, no doubt from some of the vegetation of the desert as well as some smells that I didn't recognize. The smell while overpowering was thankfully not as bad as I was expecting and was something I quickly adapted too and once I did that I took a look outside.
Taking a proper look outside I could see the vast yet enchanting site of the reddish sand that spanned for miles in every direction and also spotted a few large rock formations in various directions that were similar to the ones that we hit. I couldn't see any signs of life except for what appeared to be a small lizard covered in red crystals quickly scurrying towards the rock formations.
Once I finished surveying the area around us I looked back at Ashes and asked "Are you ready?" To which she smiled and nodded and grabbed and held my hand ready to walk out with me. I sighed and let her hold my hand and we stepped out of the pod and into the desert.
-----------------------------------------------------------
A couple of hours had passed since we left the comfort of the escape pod and headed towards Ashes home and the journey was proving to be more dangerous than I had expected.
Thanks to Ashes knowing the desert and it's dangers we were able to navigate some of the more treacherous parts of the Ember Dunes. After two hours had passed of us walking I had smelled something slightly foul in the air and could hear something massive moving and as soon as I said this Ashes dragged me to a nearby rock formation and we hid under the rock and soon I saw what we were hiding from. It was a massive insect oil creature that almost reminded me of a mantis but was the size of an elephant and had similar color to the deserts sand was dragging what looked like a large not so fresh lizard across the sand of the desert and into a cave. Once the mantis entered the cave we quickly moved away from the area and once we were far away I asked Ashes what that was.
"That was a Razorclaw they like to go hunt other monsters or people in the desert by using camouflage in the sand and then using its claws to rip apart its prey and then take it back to its nest. They aren't the most dangerous thing in the desert but then can be scary."
Scary was an understatement. Other than the massive creature that chased us, this was the first other monster that I actually got to see and it was terrifying. I already wasn't a fan of bugs, so to see one the size of an elephant was already disturbing but to know this wasn't the worst this desert had to offer didn't sit well with me.
We continued our journey through the desert and had to take a few detours due to different monsters appearing that we thankfully noticed before we got too close and had to move to a different location due to one monster in particular. We avoided an area where a giant sandworm borrowed in the sand and only saw it as it started burrowing towards another monster that reminded me of a giant bull but was in a dull orange color and had two large pointed glowing horns that began to walk in its territory. In an instant the sandworm burst from the sand and wrapped around the bull and soon multiple other worms burst from the sand and bit into the bull and attempted to drag it under. The bull bucked wildly against the attack and it's horns began to glow and it quickly used it to gore two of the worms and lit them on fire and stepped on another and crushed it.
As the monsters continued their fight we took the opportunity to move away as the bull was slowly being dragged under the sand. As we moved away from the struggle I noticed that Ashes was struggling to keep up, most likely due to us running away from so many monsters and having to endure the heat. I nearly forgot that I could continue for much longer than her thanks to my skill so I suggested that at the next patch of shade we find that we take a break for a bit to which she agreed.
We walked for at least ten minutes and in the distance saw a small rock formation that provided just enough shade and we quickly walked towards it and sat down and enjoyed the shade. Once we settled down under the shade I opened my system and a memory came up from a couple hours ago.
Flashback
Just before we fully left the area the pod was in I checked to see if I could take the survival kit out of the inventory. When I checked the system a new tab was available and when I checked it a window displaying my inventory popped up. From there I could see a screen that displayed rows of empty boxes and in one of the boxes the survival kit was displayed. I went to touch the small box and was given the option to take out the kit and when I agreed the survival kit appeared in my hands. After checking the inside of the kit I confirmed that everything was in there and I was able to place the kit back in the inventory. I also checked to see the limits of what I could place in the inventory and went to the pod and checked to see if the pod could be placed in the system. Once I touched the pod a small notification appeared on the system.
'Cannot place any vehicles in inventory. Inventory must be upgraded to do so.'
After reading the notification I was intrigued by the fact that I could upgrade my skills. I wondered what I needed to do to upgrade my skills and if all my skills could do the same but I decided to leave the matter for later and started my journey with Ashes.
End of Flashback
Once I finished that memory I looked to my inventory and took out the survival kit and grabbed a water bottle opened it and took a sip of water and passed it to Ashes who tried her best not to gulp down the water. As I saw her relax a bit with the bottle in her hands I decided to take the opportunity to take a better look at my system.
I swiped to the skill window and for the first time I got to properly see all of my skills that weren't locked away.