Saeyo was ready even before Bob showed up. His leather bag and his dagger were all he needed, and he had no lack of those two things. But Saeyo was the only one who was ready at that moment. So they had to make a quick stop before setting forth on their journey to Nihonmura.
Together they left his hut and stopped in front of a well. The sight of the well, built of white stone, was both beautiful and terrifying.
Saeyo peered into the depths of the well, hoping to find a bottom. But the mist obscured the endless darkness that lay below. If he were to descend with a rope, he would probably never reach the bottom, since every rope in the world would be too short for that. Just thinking about it made him uneasy. It felt as though the well was influencing his thoughts and was just waiting to pull Saeyo into it.
'Unnerving...'
He looked back and caught a glimpse of the desert stretching as far as the eye could see. Even much further still. In the western wing of Solgrave, where Saeyo currently found himself, lay a desert overflowing with sand. Across the entire desert, there were barely any trees to be seen and only a few water sources with salt water.
The only thing that makes this place unique and discourages most people from living there is the gigantic dragon skeleton, which takes up a tenth of the desert. But Saeyo has not spotted it even once so far, as the deceased dragon lies on the northern edge of the desert, whilst Saeyo is in the middle of this wilderness.
If the ruins surrounding the dragon weren't as dangerous as he'd been told, he wouldn't be afraid to pay a visit to this place.
But danger was lurking everywhere on the left wing of Solgrave. The right wing was like an unachievable dream for Saeyo. A life there offers everything one could wish for. But as fate would have it, not everyone can afford such a perfect life. And Saeyo was the perfect example.
Equality has long ceased to exist. Those who do not wish to work as slaves to the system for the more powerful, and who prefer to strive for freedom, are not rewarded either, as long as they do nothing to contribute to the development of their society. Nevertheless, Saeyo isn't really unhappy with his current life. Unlike others who live in this harsh environment against their will, he does so of his own free will. He doesn't go hungry on a consistent basis, given that, despite where he lives, he continues to earn money and is able to afford the things he needs to survive.
Bob is strong enough to feed himself from the corpses of slain monsters and ensure that Saeyo no longer has to buy food for the two of them, but even when this flesh is properly cooked, it only makes one ill. So, despite Bob's advantage, Saeyo still has to go shopping for the two of them.
Scattered across the sandy landscape are ruins from a bygone era, in which people attempt to survive. But there are probably more corpses than survivors.
That means, as far as Saeyo knows, almost no one lives on the left-hand side apart from himself and Bob. He is living there for a simple reason: to keep Bob from being entirely alone. He could live closer to Bob, but Bob wouldn't want Saeyo to witness the potions being brewed.
However, as for Bob... Not even Saeyo knew the reason.
The ground behind his hut was still stained with blood. But the source of that blood was no longer to be found there. Instead, it was in the spot where Saeyo and Bob were standing.
Together they lifted the body and, without thinking twice, they threw it into the bottomless well. The shrinking dot disappeared after what seemed like only a second.
Without a sound to confirm the landing, the body fell further and further into the bottomless abyss.
***
Bob and Saeyo abandoned the collapsed hut and slowly set off on a long journey southwards. At the pace they were travelling, it would take an eternity to reach their destination without starving to death. For this reason, they had to make a stop along the way and take their chances on finding a monster they could eat.
In his beast form, Bob is large and fast, but in his natural form, he is small and slow. Not even Saeyo himself knows how they'll manage to defeat a Dreadspawn.
He dresses and behaves as though he had been an old man in his previous life.
Saeyo looked up, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to hold that gaze for more than a few seconds at most. No one who hadn't already gone completely mad could keep their eyes on the three motionless suns for long enough.
No matter how long they've been in the sky, it will always seem strange to Saeyo that the sky has changed so drastically. It has now been almost two years since he last saw a night sky.
Even if he wanted to leave Solgrave, he couldn't. No one could leave this place, and no one knew whether that would ever change. And Saeyo didn't know whether Bob even wanted to leave this place. That's why he would stay here, even if he were given the chance to move far away. That's the least he owes Bob. Without him, Saeyo would have died long ago.
The reason Bob visited Saeyo on this particular day was to deliver some new potions and to remind him to visit Nihonmura, as he, too, had run out of food and drink.
He brought the supplies in a small wooden chest, of which he has hundreds. However, he left it on Saeyo's doorstep before he transformed himself to save Saeyo.
But Bob won't be accompanying him for the whole journey. After they'd had a quick meal, he'd be saying farewell once again.
Saeyo clutched his stomach, which was growling for the second time, and to take his mind off it, he continued to watch the sky. The sky was blue and, no matter how far he looked, there were no clouds to be seen.
He turned around and realised how far they had already come. His house was no longer in sight.
On the distant horizon, Saeyo spotted some trees where they could rest for a while in the shadows.
He endured the heat and thought aloud:
"How much longer will it take?"
Bob closed his eyes to think for a moment and replied:
"You ask as if you didn't know the answer. We've just set off. It might not take long, but it might also take an eternity.
'It feels as if I've spent my whole life searching for food...'"
Desert sand had got into his shoes, and he suppressed the urge to take them off and remove it. That would only make the journey last even longer.
The air was more than just warm. It was enough to make one faint. Every now and then, a light breeze would blow their way. But instead of bringing cool air, they simply carried the sand into the air. Saeyo brushed the sand from his face that had found its way there.
Neither Bob nor Saeyo spoke for a while. Both were quiet and walked closer and closer towards the shady spot. It was silent until Bob broke the prolonged silence.
He muttered something to himself. So quietly that no one but Saeyo could hear his words:
"Don't move a muscle!"
Saeyo looked at him, puzzled.
'What has he noticed that I haven't?'
Bob hesitated, then confirmed Saeyo's fears:
"Something's moving beneath us. I can feel it. Either they're weak scorpions or worms. So don't move, so they don't attack us first, and we can wait until they come out of their hiding places."
The message was clear. This sort of thing had happened to Saeyo many times before. If you could sense movement beneath the sand, you should stay still and avoid moving, to make the enemies retreat. But their goal wasn't to make the enemies retreat, it was to wait for the perfect moment to launch an attack.
Saeyo wasn't surprised, though, that he hadn't noticed it, while Bob had. After all, Bob was an animal and possessed a kind of primal instinct.
Yet something didn't seem quite right at that moment. Instead of the movements beneath them ceasing, they grew stronger with every heartbeat.
Although Bob had made it perfectly clear to him not to move, Saeyo drew his dagger.
The next thing the two wandering creatures saw was the sand beneath their feet collapsing, and both of them found themselves falling into a deep abyss.