Esmay inhaled through her nose and raised her sword as Alex’s actions revealed the lupine face of the figure. Much like the game master they had encountered upon their arrival, only all in one piece as far as she could tell, a white, human-like wolf stood in front of them. She addressed their questions, introducing herself.
	“Yang… Don’t suppose there’s a Yin we need to watch out for, is there?” The wolf seemed nice enough… at least, she had not tried to attack them. Yet. 
	“Hey, wait a minute!” Esmay lowered her sword and made to follow after Yang when she turned to leave. “Who’s Jigsaw? The guy--or whatever--who greeted us?”
	Esmay gave a growling sigh when the wolf disappeared into the shadows. “Fine. Thanks, anyway.”
	[b]“Well, that was a little weird,”[/b] Sydney observed as Esmay returned to the clearing.
	Esmay shrugged as she continued toward the chest. “And everything else that’s happened so far falls under your definition of ‘normal?’” She bent over and dug around in the chest. “Besides. It was helpful.”
	She laughed triumphantly when she found a sturdy belt and sword frog. She quickly attached her sword’s sheath to the belt and looped it around her waist as she followed the others back to the path. Taking her place near the lead with Sydney, Esmay pulled her sword out, did a quick lunge, then sheathed it a few times, trying to get accustomed to the weight.
	[i]Bit heavier than fencing rapiers,[/i] she thought as she sheathed her sword again for the fifth time after just as many lunges and parries. 
	When they came to a desert, Esmay groaned. “Great. Sand.”
	As soon she stepped from the shade of the forest, the light intensified, bringing with it a summer’s heat. 
	Esmay quickly lost track of how long they had walked for, the grains of stone shifting beneath her feet making more work of every step. With a silent thanks to the hair tie keeping her hair in a high ponytail, she wiped at the beads of sweat glistening on her forehead from the heat of the sun.
	She stopped and staggered back as the sand began to shift beneath and around the group. She drew her sword, her fatigue all but forgotten as creatures emerged from the desert ground. As they shook the sand from them and porcupine needles sprouted from their backs, Esmay couldn’t help but marvel at the almost beauty of the odd creatures. Familiar and even on the verge of cute, with their mouse-like faces, and yet so different from anything she had ever seen. But the look in the creature’s eyes and snarls on their faces diminished her wonder.
	[b]“Guess it’s time for a fight.”[/b]
	“Oh, really?” Esmay bit, before the first of the monsters charged.
	The screams of her friends--both in fear and pain--merged with the snarls and screeches of the Quinox. She fought alongside the others, looking for any kind of weak point or tender spot the monsters might have as she dodged and fended them off with a few well-placed blows.
	Seeing one of the creatures charging toward Sarah, Esmay lunged into it with a guttural cry, her sword swiping against its hind leg. As her sword met its mark, the sand shifted beneath her, and she shouted as she slipped
	The creature screeched and spun around, murder in its large, black eyes.
	Esmay scrambled to get to her feet, using the sword to help her up, as the beast changed its course to her. She moved to jump out of the way, but the sand shifted once again, and she fell back to the ground.
	Her eyes wide and heart pounding in her throat, she raised the sword over her as the monster lunged, its claws stretched for her and teeth bared. 
	She let out a scream and closed her eyes as she thrust her sword up.
	She felt the blade pierce the beast’s body as it fell on her, a fiery pain running through her shoulder as its claws dug into her skin.
	It gave an earsplitting screech as the weapon went through its soft underbelly, the sound defining and echoing in her ears long after it stopped, the creature’s limp body pinning her to the soft sand. After a couple minutes of digging her way out from beneath the heavy monster, she finally managed to free herself of its weight, pulling her sword with her. The beast’s blood stained her shirt and ran down the sword, bits of sand clinging to the sticky red substance.
	[i]When I get back,[/i] Esmay thought as she shakily got to her feet, stumbling a couple steps as her mind still tried to register what, exactly, just happened, [i]I’m starting fencing lessons again.[/i] Trying to shake off the pain running through her left shoulder, she held her sword up and hurried around the carcass.
	Her eyes widened as looked up in time to see Simon rescue Sydney.
	“Simon!” She screeched, running toward him and Sydney, but it was too late. She tried to look away, but the image of the Quinox’s quills and the blood that now stained the sand seared into her mind. She felt like throwing up.
	A snarl from one of the beasts reminded her that now was not the time. Unless, of course, she wished to join Simon. She aided everyone else in eliminating the remaining monsters, trying to banish the image of her friend’s murder and ignore the fallen bodies of her other comrads.
	When all the monsters were either dead or had fled, Esmay slowly walked to the others, the tip of her bloodied sword dragging against the sand. Red soaked into the tears of her shirt around her shoulder, and sand caked her hair, which had mostly fallen out of place.
	Sticking the sword into the sand until she decided to wipe the blade off, she reached out to the nearest shoulder to steady herself as Sydney spoke. 
	“Maybe…” Esmay began slowly once Sydney had finished speaking, her voice quiet and mouth dry. She tried to swallow, but there was nothing there to choke down. “Maybe it’s like being K/Od.” Even as the words left her mouth, she doubted them. “Maybe there’s a way to revive them or something. Like Phoenix Down, or whatever.”
	She patted the person beside her on the shoulder in a gesture of thanks for letting her lean on them, grabbed her sword, then sunk to the hot sand beside Sydney, unsure how to comfort the sobbing girl.
	[i]They can’t all[u] actually[/u] be dead,[/i] she tried to convince herself, but a single quick glance around at the lifeless bodies of their friends and the blood soaking into the hungry sand told her otherwise.
	Esmay took a deep, shaky breath. "But either way, we need to keep going. Or at least get out of this wretched desert."