now


    Maintain your balance, Marisol!


    Focus like you’ve never focused before!


    primal


    [Antonio Saranno last sailed by this strait three months ago, and his navigation data shows there is one landmass between three to four kilometres out,] [At your speed, it should take you no less than ten minutes, but no more than twenty.]


    Ten minutes


    [And what in the Great Maker’s names are you doing?] [Do not waste your energy, Marisol! Focus! Your chances of failure are already high enough as they are, and now you decide to start launching off waves? Please prioritise your safety! Flashy moves can come once you are on solid ground–]


    If you can project yourself as a little water skater on my shoulder, can you also project something else into my eyes?


    [... Like?]


    You can read my mind, can’t you? Put her in front of me. Please.


    [...]


    better


    [... How can you even remain so cheery and hopeful in a situation like this?] [You have a ninety-five percent chance of dying in the storm. You are untrained in the strengths of an Insect-Blooded. You can still turn around and have a safer, easier journey back to the shoreline, but… why is it that you can smile like this?]


    [Whether it is for your mother or not, are you simply not afraid of death, Marisol Vellamira?]


    did


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    … Do you know the ‘Chariot’s Sandstorm Dance’, Archive? Legends have it that when the first Sand-Dancers rose from the graves of those who died in the desert, they were the lords of the wind! They were the guardian deities of caravaneers and travelling merchants alike! You couldn’t cross the desert without at least one Sand-Dancer in your caravan, because when a sandstorm hits and threatens to swallow you whole, it is only the Sand-Dancer who can single-handedly draw the storm’s attention away with their beautiful, graceful dance!


    People may be stronger now, aye! Caravaneers may have tools that can anchor their carriages to the ground when a sandstorm blows, and there may be more Insect-Blooded warriors with magical abilities to gawk at now than ever, but a Sand-Dancer lives their entire lives on the edge! All day, all night long, on the blistering hot sands where the very ground can melt the skin off our feet—it’s hot and painful and sometimes we’ll feel like falling over and never getting up again, but that just won’t do!


    A Sand-Dancer must be graceful no matter what, and do you know why?


    Because the Swarm that attacks humanity are without gravity. They are colossal bugs whose wings can conquer the sky. One stride of theirs is a hundred strides for us. They are stronger, faster, and bigger than us in every regard—but when Sand-Dancers are eternally graceful on the edge, we show humanity that we, too, are in no way inferior to the Swarm.


    This


    Just like the Swarm! Sand-Dancers. Can. Fly!


    just


    soared


    laugh


    … I may not make a lot of money sand-dancing, and mama may have forgotten why she started dancing, But I remember seeing her dance for the first time, outrunning a storm, and it’s something I’ve dedicated my life to. It’s a noble job where I get to entertain a crowd, buy my own bread, soar through the sky, and… guess what? It just so happens to be fun as well.


    I may have chosen it, but you were the one who still agreed to give me the water strider class.


    I’ll have you take responsibility and guide me forward until the very end.


    <hr>


    <div>


    [... The landmass is closer than Antonio Saranno’s navigation data suggested,] [Keep at your current pace, and you will arrive within five minutes, but do be warned—you are still far from civilization, and there is no telling what will await you on that unidentified landmass.]


    Come on, just be positive for a bit. Say something good about me.


    [You would make a good bug-slayer. You have talent. Why not turn around and return to the continent, where you can then take the Hasharana Entrance Exam to become a registered bug-slayer?]


    No can do, Archive.


    It’s still a race against the ailment getting worse.


    I’m going to the Whirlpool City, getting my vial of healing seawater, and going home to mama.