The desert stretched endlessly beneath the cold stars, dunes like frozen waves and towering stone formations breaking the horizon. Owen and Blair moved in silence for a long while, their step crunching softly against sand and gravel. Eventually Owen slowed, eyes scanning upward, and pointed toward a massive rock formation rising like a broken tooth from the ground.
"That one," he said quietly. "High ground. We can rest there."
They climbed carefully, Blair making it up with ease while Owen took his time, breathing steadily and choosing each handhold. At the top, the wind was cooler. The sky was ink black, scattered with distant stars. Owen sat down, legs dangling, shoulders sagging with relief.
"I owe you an apology," Owen said after a moment, voice low. "I should have had you wear the scrap armor earlier. I was too cautious, and that put you at risk. I just remembered the scrap armor just now."
Blair snorted, planting her hands on her hips. "You apologize like a damn officer writing a report. Relax. I am still breathing, and nothing even tried to chew my face off yet. I'm not even wounded."
Owen nodded. "Still, it was my mistake."
She tilted her head, studying him. "Then why do I get the armor at all. Why not you, huh. You are the squishy one."
Owen gave a small, humorless smile. "Because if I wear it and get hit, I still die. You wear it, and you probably break whatever hits you. Until my stats improve, protection is better on you. And it might slow me down since right now I'm too weak."
Blair stared for a second, then laughed softly. "Damn. That is annoyingly logical." She pulled the scrap armor from his inventory and slid it over her crop top, metal plates clinking. "Looks ugly as hell, but I have worn worse."
They ate quietly. Owen handed her a loaf of two star bread, dense and faintly warm. "This should keep us full for three days. Well, that's what the system says." he said. "Unless we fight too much of course, fighting does consume a lot of energy."
Blair took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Tastes like regret and sawdust, but yeah, I feel it already."
They drank the two star water after, cool and strangely refreshing, the fatigue in their muscles easing. Just like the two star bread, the two star water would hydrate them for three days. Conversation drifted from routes to supplies to jokes about how terrible Owen would look in the scrap armor.
Later, Owen checked his interface. "Two hundred eighty nine kill points," he muttered. "Five hundred for a ten pull."
Blair stretched. "Then we kill a few more ugly things. Easy."
"I want to be careful," Owen said. "But I'm just fragile right now compared to you."
"No shit," she replied dryly. "Just stay behind me, boss."
They the rested in shifts. When Blair took watch, she stood near the edge, eyes sharp. She glanced back at Owen, sleeping lightly, then froze. Something moved below. A lizard shaped creature, four feet long, skin split with bone ridges, yellow eyes fixed upward. It began climbing.
Blair dropped down, blade flashing. The creature hissed and lunged. She met it head on, smashing its skull with her fist. Bone cracked, but it kept moving. She drove the machete into its throat and ripped sideways. Black blood sprayed hot across her arms. The creature thrashed, claws raking her leg, peeling skin. Blair snarled, grabbed its jaw, and tore it open. Flesh split, teeth scattered, and she slammed its head against the rock until it went limp. She crushed its chest for good measure, gore splattering the stone.
Owen woke to the sound and hurried over, heart pounding. "Are you hurt."
Blair wiped blood from her face. "Nothing important... and it'll be sunrise soon."
The sky lightened to orange as they walked again. Heat crept back into the world. The desert was never quiet for long. Creatures burst from sand without warning. One wormlike thing erupted beneath Owen, teeth shredding air where his leg had been. Blair crushed it under her feet, the body popping like wet cloth. Another leapt from a cracked boulder. She bisected it midair, organs spilling onto the sand.
Owen stayed back, machete ready, breathing controlled. When a smaller beast lunged, he stepped in, slashed its neck, and hacked again until it stopped twitching. Blood soaked his hands. He felt sick but steady.
They walked on, bodies tired but moving, joking grimly about breakfast options that were not monsters. Then the ground trembled. In the distance, a towering shape rose. Twelve feet tall, broad, horned, and slowly charging toward them.
Blair cracked her neck. "Well. That looks expensive to kill."
Owen swallowed and tightened his grip.