“Hide!” Helianna whisper-yelled, instantly running towards the yellow-green plants that blanketed the desert behind her. It took a precious few moments for Sylas to recover from his shock, and he had no chance to hide in time. He followed Helianna towards the forest, keeping watch over the dune guarding their approach. Light grew from the dune and he knew he was out of time.


    He dove to the ground, not realizing his good fortune. While he hadn’t made it to the forested desert, he had made it past one of the small hills, making it harder for them to see him. Realizing that they might come closer to investigate and that he had overestimated how quickly they would crest the hill, he shimmied side to side for as long as he dared, trying to bury himself in the sand.


    It worked surprisingly well, the soft sand slowly cascading over his form. He was far from buried however when he saw someone crest the hill. Cursing his biology for giving him glowing eyes, she shut them tight, hoping he was hidden just enough to remain unnoticed in the darkness.


    Helianna meanwhile had managed to make it to the deserted forest and had tried to bury herself under the kuz. Not even reaching a half a foot over the sand, it only partially covered her, but like Sylas, she hoped the darkness would aid her stealth efforts. She watched on, only now noticing that Ruusaan had neither run after Lesin with them, nor had she tried to hide. She had remained where she was and now walked up to the people atop the dune.


    Expecting a rudimentary torch, Helianna cursed as she saw the front man wreathed in flame to provide light. The fire ithrax was the one who came to investigate. Given her position in the forested desert, she did not like the possibilities.


    She listened intently, hoping to hear their conversation, but got distracted by something biting her leg. She shifted slightly, hoping it would get scared away while keeping refocusing on the conversation. She felt the small creature bite her again and she wondered if she had laid down on its home to draw its ire. It was fairly small and she doubted it would do too much damage to her so she did her best to ignore it in favor of the conversation.


    The conversation had started out a bit heated, but she had missed exactly what they were saying due to the distraction. They had calmed down a bit now and Ruusaan started to lead the man towards Lesin’s body, trying to explain what happened. Immediately, it was clear to Helianna that Ruusaan was a very poor liar. Either that or she was only trying to make it seem like she was lying for Helianna and Sylas while they listened, but she doubted that. If Ruusaan wanted to give them up, she could and they likely wouldn’t live long enough to be able to hold a grudge.


    The animal biting her was getting more insistent, and Helianna couldn’t quite put it out of her mind that she was providing an easy and massive meal for whatever little critter it was.


    The fire ithrax straightened from Lesin''s corpse, his gaze sweeping the dunes. If the man could tell that Lesin’s neck was snapped, it would shred what little she’d heard of Ruusaan''s flimsy story. Regardless, the man knew they were out here. With a roar, the flames around him exploded into a miniature sun, forcing his companions to shield their faces from the searing heat.


    He ignored them in favor of looking around, his eyes scanning for shapes in the dark. Not seeing anything, he moved closer towards Sylas and Helianna. In only moments, his eyes honed in on Sylas, whose form was still partially visible. Even with his sandy skin and the aid of night, it wasn’t enough. Realizing what was about to happen, Helianna burst to her feet as fast as she could, running towards them.


    “Run, Sylas!”


    His glowing white eyes snapped open and he scrambled to his feet, the sand sliding off of him like a waterfall and slowing his movements. The fire mage’s gaze snapped to Helianna before a smug grin settled on his face. Sylas ran past Helianna as she ran towards the man, trying to take advantage of the cover she would provide.


    “Not through the forest!” she commanded as they passed each other. Whether he misheard her or ignored her, she had no clue, but he continued running, straight into the forested desert.


    The man held a hand up lazily, a fireball slowly forming. He threw it forward at Helianna, who burst through the center of it unfazed. The remains of the fireball dissipated, and the man’s face briefly broke into shock before being replaced by rage.


    “You!” he screamed, another explosion of fire and heat radiating from him. Unaware of the people caught in the blast radius, he then channeled the flames down to his feet, quickly turning the sand around him into a shining circle of blazing heat.


    Helianna slowed, quickly realizing that while the flames wouldn’t hurt her, the superheated sand could. Snarling furiously, he continued to intensify the heat around and below him, hoping she’d step into the obvious trap. She glanced up to the top of the dune, where the other ithrax appeared.


    “Come fight me, you coward!” yelled the fire user and she was tempted to roll her eyes, but didn’t want to lose visual on either of them. At that moment, the man stepped forward, and Helianna immediately shifted into a fighting stance, expecting the mage to appear in front of her. Instead, he moved behind her and tried to push her into the blazing inferno before her.


    Taken by surprise, Helianna managed to stop herself from tumbling into the burning sand, but not without taking a large step forward. The movement brought her close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from the melting sand. She whipped around to face the man, but he was already gone. Movement flashed in the corner of her eyes and she tried to turn, but wasn’t fast enough. A fist landed right on her healing knife wound, causing her to hiss in pain.


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    Unable to swing at the mage due to her injured arm, she tried to land a kick, but he was gone before the blow landed, already dozens of feet away. Helianna shifted, making sure they were both within sight, now much more wary than before. She saw the spatial mage move and she braced, prepared both for a shove from behind but also for an attack.


    What came instead caught her by surprise as the full weight of the mage landed on top of her, knocking her to the ground. She twisted and writhed, doing her best to get out from under him, but grappling had never been her strong-suit. Her only saving grace was the prodigious sweat caused by the flame user’s heat that made it harder for the man to get a proper hold.


    She heard the flame user shout something, but she couldn’t identify what he said, her mind too occupied with the struggle. A moment later, the man grappling her fell to the side, replaced with Sylas standing above her.


    “Sylas?!” Helianna exclaimed in shock, surprised he hadn’t kept running.


    Taking a breath after her exclamation, she winced. The fire mage was creating so much heat that it was melting the sand and making it painful to breathe. The first thought that entered her mind was the insane level of heat required to do so. The second was the incredible stupidity and wastefulness of what he was doing.


    As if reading her mind, the fire mage unleashed a gout of flame at Sylas, disregarding the proximity to his own ally. His carelessness resulted in him hitting his ally more than Sylas. The other mage immediately started cursing him out and Sylas took advantage of the opportunity to throw a wild swing. He connected strongly, stunning the furious ithrax. Helianna, realizing the opportunity that was being created, immediately sprang forward and grabbed Sylas by the arm and started running, pushing him in front of her.


    “Fucking run! And not into the gods forsaken forest!”


    Sylas stumbled but ran, tearing off his flaming shirt as he did so. Thanks to his disorientation brought on by said flaming shirt, he wasn’t paying attention to where he was running, once again ignoring Helianna’s command. Trying to put her body between him and the fire mage, Helianna cursed as she chased after him. Her caution proved fruitful as she saw the light of flame repeatedly close in behind her before disappearing as she absorbed the fire.


    The enemy teleporter suddenly appeared once more, but the two of them were more prepared this time. Sylas immediately tackled the man, bringing him to the ground. He delivered a powerful punch to the disoriented man before Helianna arrived and delivered a kick straight to the side of his face. Now limp, she once again pulled Sylas up.


    “Come on-” she started to yell, but stumbled when tried to run. Both of them nearly fell as their legs were trapped by the foliage. They righted themselves and when they stopped to look at what was grabbing them, they noticed the plants and sand around them shifting. A quick glance at the other man revealed the disturbing nature of what they’d found.


    The man was being pulled underneath the sand all too quickly and the only movement they could see was driven by the plant, which now held them in its grasp. Without needing to say a word, they both instantly started trying to break free. The plant hadn’t wrapped around them like Helianna had immediately thought. Instead, it seemed like there was some kind of glue on the bottom of the leaves holding them in place. Upon the realization, Helianna tried to break the leaves off, leaning down to rip them one by one.


    “Break the leaves off individually! It’ll work better than trying to break them all at once!” she declared, a hint of desperation in her voice. The fire mage had done exactly what she was afraid of. He had lit the forest on fire. Not saying a word to each other, they both struggled to free themselves from the plant’s grasp. When Sylas freed himself first, he took a quick moment to look up at the fire mage, already struggling to see him through the growing smoke. The man’s eyes were manic and with a smile that Sylas would never forget.


    Not sparing another moment, he turned back to help Helianna, who had run through much more of the plant and was still far from free. With every passing moment, their movements became jerkier, the fire providing ample fear in both of them. The smoke arrived before the fire did, making both of their eyes sting and hiding which leaves still needed to be pulled off.


    By the time they get her free, the fire is barely over a dozen feet away and they immediately try to scramble away. Unfortunately, they weren’t completely out of the range of the sticky plant and they stumbled as they both found themselves stuck again, although not nearly as bad as last time.


    “Fucking fuck!” Sylas yelled uncreatively, his panic and anger clouding his mind. They scrambled to tear themselves away from the plant once more, the fire encroaching ever closer. Still several yards away, the fire reached the same sprawling plant they were trapped in. It began burning slower, creating a larger buffer for them to escape.


    The buffer came with a cost however, as they became completely blinded by smoke and tears as they coughed, their eyes and lungs burning intensely. Helianna tried to speak, but couldn’t get the words out beyond her rasping coughs. The smoke glowed ominously as the fire came closer, but they managed to break free with a final snap. Sylas pulled Helianna to her feet as she struggled, the coughs wracking her body and making it hard for her already weakened form to remain standing. Half running, half carrying each other, they ran from the growing fire.


    “We need to turn,” Helianna choked out.


    “What?” Sylas asked, too busy coughing to have heard properly.


    “Turn. The forest-” she started before being interrupted by a fit. “Is longer than it is wide.”


    He did as she asked, pulling her along with him. It was several minutes before they made it out of the forest, but they didn’t stop. They kept running until the forest was long hidden behind dunes.


    “There’s no way…” Sylas panted. “That they saw us.” Helianna nodded.


    “Too much smoke,” he finished.


    They both collapsed onto the sand, staring up into the night sky that was getting even darker with smoke. Their legs burned, the leaves still attached and the adhesive searing their skin.


    “We’re so screwed.”