Extra's Guide to Surviving a Dark Fantasy World-Chapter 49: City of Sarhina

"This is such a mess; it seems like we’ll have to visit Lashira once we are done with our business in Sarhina."

This... he knew something about those women and maybe even that Zarethar statue.

"Why is everything okay there? I tried to probe.

Obryth looked at me and returned to his previous smile. "It’s nothing much; it just seems like some of our people thought it was a good idea to shelter a few filthy cannibals among us. Don’t worry, though—this will all be dealt with very soon."

Suddenly the ground beneath our cart began to tremble, rising and falling in uneven rhythm. The people among us didn’t seem to react much though, only maintaining their balances as if this was a comman occurrence. Obryth even looked excited, looking at the horizon from which the tremors seemed to be coming.

"He is finally here," Obryth whispered, looking at the horizon.

The dunes shook as a giant hundreds of meters tall whale burst out of the sand. Its translucent fin shimmered through the golden expanse as it exhaled out a geyser of sand.

Looking at the giant monstrosity, the three of us couldn’t help but shake in our cage. I, on the other hand, wasn’t shaking out of fear but something else. My mind immediately went back to when I first saw the ruins of Lashira.

"Well it seems like I’ll have to leave for now, don’t worry though I’ll instruct my people to guide you to the Azure Veins."

"You are going to Lashira?" I asked.

"Not right now, but soon. This might be the last time we meet, though. When you reach Sarhina, take some time to enjoy the city before you move on. They don’t call it the Jewel of Dominion for nothing, you know."

Saying so, Obryth leaped off the cage and disappeared into nothingness. I, on the other hand, couldn’t tear my eyes away from the whale-like beast. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

That massive section of the city that was somehow missing on the other side, the very chunk that seemed as if a giant monster had bitten it off.

I suppose I already understood how Obryth intended to handle the situation.

--

Days passed as we spent our time in the caravan, moving towards Sarhina. Obryth had been a man of his word, and even though we hadn’t seen him since that day, he had made sure to improve our accommodation a lot.

I mean we were still living in a cage, but no longer were we assaulted by the spear for the short crime of talking. Even our food had gotten a lot better, but that was a moot point considering how we couldn’t eat or drink what they were giving us and instead had to survive on whatever was left inside our spatial storages.

And so days passed one after another, turning into weeks. Until one day-

I woke up, fully expecting myself to be stuck inside the cage when a sudden wave of sand hit me in my face.

That’s odd.

I slowly opened my eyes, only to find myself lying down on the sand. The same went for Tess and Aria; both of them were fast asleep, with no sign of the caravan, the cage, or that guard that rode alongside us.

Just what was happening? I began looking around, turning when I saw something in the distance that made me pause.

High up in the sky I could see the visages of floating rivers, moving forward towards a black spec in the horizon.

Even from so far away, I could still somehow guess what it was.

It seems like we had made it to Sarhina.

--

Tess and Aria were still asleep so I took the time to whip out our cooking supplies and began cooking some of the leftover sandweavers meat, while actively making sure I didn’t wake them up.

Once finished, I woke them up and handed each of them a bowl.

Both of them were obviously confused but understood it when I explained it to them. Aria was especially excited after seeing the rivers floating above our heads.

Considering the distance, it wasn’t going to take us more than two days to reach the city. Thanks to our ride in the carriage, we had been well rested as well, and most of our previous wounds had healed as well, at least to the point of becoming manageable.

With high spirits and our hearts filled with hope, we finished our breakfast and set out on our journey towards the city.

The way towards the city was pretty uneventful, once again sandweavers were everywhere but that was it, as for our constant water problems under the hot desert, they were already long figured out by Aria.

We reached the city on the second night of our journey, coming face to face with the city of Sarhina, surrounded by giant walls towering high enough to pierce the clouds. Made of some kind of white marble, the city walls, still stood tall after thousands and thousands of years.

"No wonder he called it the jewel of Elduvar’s dominion," Tess whispered, equally amazed.

"I don’t think Stormraven can fly high enough to scout inside," I commented from the side.

"Considering its length, It’s going to take us a long time to find a gate," Aria spoke as well.

"Let’s take a break for tonight," I suggested and began taking out our camping supplies. The sun had already set, plus we had been walking for an entire day. Not to mention, it was cold; it was better to rest for the night and look for a way in tomorrow.

Both the girls nodded, heard my suggestion, and began setting up the tent. I, too, sat down and began cleaning the utensils before continuing to prepare the sandweavers, plucking out their legs.

"You are always stuck with the cooking duty, let me make our dinner tonight." Tess offered while taking the cooking supplies and putting it over the bonfire.