Into The Unknown

Sand dunes. That was all the female had seen for hours on end. Nothing but rolling hills of dried waves as far as the eye could see. Tiny granules clung to the hairs around her paws, including the long hairs feathering out around her ankles where her strides had kicked up the sand. Where ever she walked the thick, dried and cracked pads of her paws would ache in protest, both from the long endurance they had endured and the heat of the sand on which they walked. Behind her was a lonely trail weaving through the dunes with no obvious direction in mind. She had been traveling all day, for several days in a row, attempting to reach anything other than more sand dunes. If she had known when the first sandy mountain had appeared, that there would be nothing but identical dunes for days on end, she would have stuck to the coast instead. 

She let out a huff as she stomped at the ground, a puff of sand blowing out around her in response. It seemed idiotic and reckless to enter the sands now that she had plenty of time to think back on it. At the time it seemed like a reasonable option, considering she wanted to head east, but she had no idea there would be endless sands awaiting her. A dry, rough cough rippled out of her throat due to the sand she had kicked up, causing her to wince in pain. It was a harsh reminder that she was in desperate need of water. Just the thought of the cool, clear, liquid had her attempting to wet her lips, but even her tongue had gone dry. Great. Just Great. She was going to die here.

"Are ya thirsty kiddo?" A tiny voice, high in it's tone but low in volume, suddenly asked. Odette chuckled to herself, "Ah, here comes the hallucinations. You really are going to die here." She shook her head and dropped it to face the ground, attempting to drop her head in shame, but a pair of large, green eyes stopped her. Large eyes sat squarely on a tiny, round face, with long white whiskers hanging from a pale pink nose. It looked like.. a kitten? "Hallucination? Ya think I'm a hallucination do ya? Do Hallucinations do this?" Suddenly the tiny, adorable face contorted into a face of focus and fear, launching itself towards Odette at an impressive speed until something sharp slashed across her muzzle. She jumped back with a squeal, lifting a paw to the bridge of her nose and finding tiny lines of blood. Enraged and confused she turned back to the tiny kitten with a deep frown. "What in the world are you?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at the blonde creature. 

Instead of answering, the tiny thing started walking to the left and away from Odette, a black tipped tail twitching behind it. "I'm the sand cat you oaf. Cordonia, Queen of the Dunes. I have been watching ya for the past couple hours, and ya are clearly lost. I know a waterhole nearby, and ya definitely look like ya could use a drink." Then she disappeared behind a dune. For a second, Odette hesitated. This could still be a hallucination, right? Leading her to her doom? But the tiny scratch marks on her snout told her it probably wasn't. So she took off, sand kicking up in her wake as she charged over the hill and found Cordonia already on the next, her head turned and waiting for Odette. Together they walked and walked, in pure silence, with Odette watching curiously as the feline moved. She spoke like an adult, but looked so young, it was bewildering the wolf. 

Suddenly the cat came to a stop, drawing Odette's attention to the scene before them. A large pool of sparkling, dazzling water laid in waiting, caressed by the dunes and sparsely growing trees. The life force was lined with small patches of grass, making the scene glow with life in an otherwise dead terrain. It was an oddity for sure, to have a gathering of water in the land of sand, so strange in fact that once again Odette was faced with the possibility that this was all an illusion. "Well?" Cordonia questioned, gesturing to the pool with a dumbfounded expression. "Why aren't ya going?" Sighing as if she already knew it was all a big, cruel joke, Odette somberly walked down towards the water, expecting nothing but more sand to meet her paw as she reached out to splash against the hallucination. Instead of a cloud of sand, a wave of water rippled across the pool, and droplets turned back to rain down on Odette who was as surprised as she was ecstatic. "It's real? It's real!" She cheered, launching herself in the pool with the sand cat cackling by the shore.