Dust and Desolation

[Shay Cormac]

Shay opened his eyes, feeling the intensely hot breeze bristling his tied back hair. Blinking, all Shay could see was nothing but a barren land of... practically nothing. The sandy-yellow ground had only a few dry bushes scattered about every so often from horizon to horizon. The more Shay looked at the scene in front of him, the more and more he could almost hear the winds themselves whispering in his ear. Shay could already see faint haze lines in the air, a drop of sweat forming on his eyebrow.

Having not much of a choice at this point, Shay decided to walk, still looking around in any which direction for some hopeful clue as to where he was going. Seemingly on some sort of rocky hilltop, Shay looked down to see a peculiar set of railroad tracks set along the flat ground of sand. Although these tracks looked familiar to Shay, he still failed to recognize it's technology. Shaking his head, Shay realized it would probably be a wise idea to follow these tracks, although in which of the two directions, Shay did not know.

Shay scratched at the back of his head again, supposing he might as well pick one way and see where it takes him. There had to be some sort of inhabitants here, and tracks like these, whatever they did, always had to lead to something, unless of course, the worst of the worse happened. Shay was doubtful he wouldn't find anybody with an average intelligence and sentience on either which direction he choose, although this entire situation seemed way too risky anyways. Shay only then remembered why he came here in the first place. New Babylon.

"I certainly hope this will all be worth something..." Shay grumbled, wiping the sweat from his already moistened forehead.

Looking both ways, Shay couldn't help but feel he had to go right for some reason. Nothing inside him told Shay that this was the correct choice, but at this point, nothing would. Shrugging slightly, Shay swung his body to the rightmost direction, and walked his way down the side of the railroad. Shay walked for minutes, feeling as if he hadn't accomplished a thing as a result of every tract of land here looking almost completely identical. The minutes Shay walked felt like hours, and for once, he wasn't sure if he was holding out that long or not. Trying to hold back the fact that he was clearly exhausted from the heat already, Shay closed his eyes, not noticing he began to walk slower than usual.

Shaking his head, Shay was disappointed in himself for not being able to hold out this long in the heat. He could swim for minutes at a time in ice-cold waters in the North Atlantic, why was a bit of warm weather getting to him? Shay could already feel the sweat from his face dripping onto the ground beneath him, the rest of his body nearly soaking up his coat. Holding his hand to his forehead, Shay staggered a bit, looking around for a place to sit. Conveniently enough, there were plenty of rocks to hide under for a nice shade. It wouldn't help too much, but Shay figured it was better than nothing.

"Finally..." Shay desperately spat out, slowly walking towards the shade. It took him more than awhile, but when Shay finally got there, he took no time at all to drop himself right under the rock itself, leaning backwards and breathing in as much of a rhythm as he could keep it in. Feeling the pressure of being away from most all of society at the moment, Shay began to talk to himself.

"I've got to get used to this..."

Shay kept his gloved hands to his face, shaking his head to regain his senses, or whatever he had left of them, anyways. Sitting for a while, Shay could barely feel how uncomfortable this was for him, only the relief of the cool shadow covering the blistering hot sun soothing his nerves. Finally being able to think straight, Shay began to thought of this Omnilium again. Shay looked at his curled up body, murmuring to himself once again.

"It has to help me here... It did all the other times... If I keep going like this, I'll be passed out under the sun in no time at all..."

Shay held out both of his hands, making it seem as if he was trying to hold something. Shay closed his eyes, leaning in to focus.

"Water... Come on..." Shay gritted his teeth as he spoke, trying to remain focused under his hazy state of consciousness. His eyes were closed, but even Shay could see the blinding rays of the bubble of light beginning to form in his hands. He wanted to smile knowing that this would hopefully work, but he couldn't, remaining to focus in as hard as he could now. As Shay's head began to increasingly get hotter and hotter, he could feel the weight of a flask in his hands, finally realizing he didn't need to strain himself any more.

Immediately, Shay opened the flask, and began to gulp down at least a third of the water inside. It was a relatively big container, just what Shay needed. The water inside was cold and seemingly fresh, cooling down Shay almost the moment he began drinking. Shaking his head, Shay's vision began to focus more and more, and he finally got up from his seat under the shade, not too far away from the tracks he was following. Keeping a steady breathing pace, Shay began to quicken himself to a jog, putting all of his energy into not giving into the heat.

Shay had found some purpose here, after all. He wanted to help these Verses and turn them into prosperous, peaceful lands. Shay felt more motivated than he did before, no Assassins holding him back, no Templars but himself. For the first time in his life, Shay felt at ease with being alone, following his own creed, his own order. The more Shay thought, the more Shay ran. He ran, and kept running, the heat not even bothering him anymore.

It was time to start anew.