Raven cocked his head skeptically. "Was all of that true, Skull?"
"True as my bones are white. What good would it do me to lie to you?" Skull breathed.
"I dunno, but there's no way the Strandbeast actually exists. It's a myth... that you told us!"
Skull frowned. Out of the corner of his eye, Raven could see Branch leering at him.
"I believe in the Strandbeast, Skull," Branch tried to reassure the old stallion.
"Do not worry, Branch. I'm not upset by Raven's words, but rather at myself. The Strandbeast gave me another chance at life, and I repay the favor by making her just as revered as the marble that lies at our feet. It's nothing but stories, relics from the past... that's all I've let the Strandbeast amount to. How inconsiderate.
Skull sighed, in a different world altogether. "...Perhaps I should finish my story."
"Of course, Skull. Take all the time you need," Branch snapped his head towards Raven as he spoke. Raven, not wanting to anger his partner any further, said nothing.
Skull nodded at the silence, and took in a deep breath. "After I gazed upon the magnificence that was the Strandbeast, I returned to the black world that was my home. When I woke my men, as well as the lone insecticorn, had escorted me far across the vast desert. I asked them what became of the firewinder, but all they could tell me was that it had disappeared into a puff of sand. They continued to drag my weakened body across those dunes, until we arrived here after weeks of tired walking."
"Was anyone else here when you found this place?" Branch leaned forward, obviously more captivated with Skull's story than Raven was.
"Of course. Back then, they were uncoordinated, feasting on the slightest of scraps. Of course I wanted to help them, to give them the paradise they deserved, but little did I know just how much I had to offer them. On the day I witnessed the Strandbeast, she offered me three gifts. One, the most obvious, was the gift of life. Second was the gift of magic, a rarity more valuable than I realize even now.
Skull floated the box towards the couple. It wobbled and shook as it drifted closer. As far as Raven could tell, Skull's magic was about as powerful as he was young. Either way, the fact that it still worked was a miracle. The box floated in place in front of Raven until he grabbed it with his hoof. At that moment, the magic released its grip from the box, and Raven heard the subtle clink of something fragile bouncing within.
"The third gift," Skull continued, "was the most mysterious of them all. To this day, I still don't understand its importance. What I do know, though, is that if the Strandbeast had held onto it herself before gifting it to me, then surely it must serve some greater purpose. Perhaps it is one beyond my capabilities, and thus why I gift it to you just as she gifted it to me."
Raven opened the box carefully. Laying comfortably on a small cushion within the box was a small crystal. It reflected the lanternlight of the antechamber and covered the box's interior with various shades of violet. It was cut roughly, but obviously took the unique shape of a six pointed star.
Branch leaned over to look into the box. The reflected light of the crystal caught his bright blue eyes beautifully. "It's pretty pretty, but uh... what do we do with it?"
"That is for you to decide now," Skull responded. "I may not agree with your decision, but at the end of the day, it is not mine to make."
Raven gave his partner a sarcastic smile. The insecticorn rolled his eyes in response, and quickly snapped the box shut.
"Alright, well thank you for the story and the crystal, Skull. We should get going now, we got a lot of walking to do."
"Of course. Safe travels, and may the Strandbeast guide your way."
Branch gave the elder a warm smile, disregarding his condition. Holding the box carefully in his elytra, he scooped up the bags of skullberries in his hooves. Raven took the remaining bags, and after a moment of awkwardly trying to position the bags just right on their backs, they left the marble tower.
Raven sighed in relief. "Man, I was worried he was gonna talk the day away, it's nearly noon by now."
"You didn't have to be that rude to him, you know," Branch muttered.
"What, do you believe his story?"
Branch eyed the unicorn. "I do, even if you don't."
Raven wanted to say something, but the look in Branch's eyes told him it was best to just drop the conversation altogether. There was no point in starting their journey at each others throats. Resolving to keep his thoughts to himself for now, he stared mindlessly at the sandstone cobbles as the tower's shadow was left behind them.
Raven looked up for a second, making sure he was headed the right way. His head dipped back down almost immediately when he noticed where he was. To get back out to the dunes, they'd have to go through the marketplace, or more accurately, Vulture Square.
The town market was as barren as the rest of Cant. Throughout the entire sector, only three stores ever sold anything, and two of them were rarely ever open. The only shop that had any kind of consistency was Vulture's General Bazaar. Vulture usually only sold ashfruit, as it was one of the only things that didn't require Skull's magic to grow. And sure, any pony could just plant an ashtree seed and be done with it, but Vulture was lucky enough to have a whole pasture's worth of trees to harvest. This came with its set of drawbacks though. Since vulture had essentially cornered the market on ashfruit, he was able to sell them at exorbitant prices, to the point where the other shops would only open their doors when he closed his. Not to mention he was a jerk who wouldn't know manners if it bonked him on the head.
Fortunately, it seemed like Vulture wasn't around. Raven turned towards Branch. "Wanna split while the shaghead isn't here?"
"Absolutely, it was already bad enough trying to buy a bushel of ashberries. If I ever saw him again it'd be-"
"I hope you're gonna say ' a joy to my eyes and ears', bug boy," the sarcastic ooze of Vulture's voice slithered out from behind one of the store's windows. It took only a second for his body to follow behind it.
The shaghorn poked his head out of the window, mindful of his two large, broad horns. His face, as well as the rest of his body, was covered in a thick layer of wiry fleece that had a consistency not to different from steel wool. If he had let his hair down, it would have certainly covered his eyes, but at the moment it was held back with an intricately carved marble hair band. Though, even if he had covered his face, the aura of patronization that practically exploded off of him was more than enough to get a picture of his personality.
"Where are you two short stacks headed, huh?" he grinned.
Branch kept his gaze forward, deciding not to indulge the large creature. Raven decided otherwise. "What's it to you? We already gave you enough business, now you wanna chat our ear off too?"
Vulture gasped in mock surprise. "Hey, c'mon. Is it too much to ask that two friends have a friendly conversation with each other?"
Raven huffed and sped up his walking to catch up with Branch. The edge of town was in sight, it would only take another couple minutes before he could leave this town behind.
"Hey, we all know what's up," Vulture shouted from out of his window. "We know what you're going out there to find!
Raven and branch both stopped in their tracks. Slowly, they turned in his direction, and Vulture responded with an uncharacteristically reserved face.
The shaghorn spoke up again, in a quieter, more somber tone. "We all know who you're looking for. Skull told us. There's not much you're gonna find out there."
"How would you know?" Branch growled.
"You think I grew from the sand like a plant? I had a hometown of my own, y'know. And I can tell you right now, it was a hell of a lot nicer than this place."
"...What happened?" Raven asked.
"Same thing that happened to skull, to the featherbacks," Vulture pointed a thick, muscular hoof towards Branch, "even to your own mother. We all just ran out of time. Lakes went dry, fruits went sour, solid houses turned into crappy little shacks. One by one, all the other shaghorns turned tail and ran... until it was only me. I only left when I realised they weren't ever coming back."
"Oh... Vulture I'm-"
"Don't be sorry," Vulture interrupted, "It'll happen here too, and It'll keep happening till the firewinders are munching on our sun bleached bones. I mean, look at this place and tell me that it'll still be standing in twenty years time."
Vulture swept his hoof outwards towards the rest of the town. Raven couldn't help but agree with him at that moment. The huts that surrounded the great marble tower were built of leaves and bone. Every year, more ponies' homes crumbled, and then they would rush to Skull, begging him to fix everything. But in that moment, Raven truly understood that, no matter what Skull did, no matter how hard he worked to achieve his goal, everyone in Cant was doomed. It was only a matter of time before they figured it out.
"I know that you think the same, Raven," Vulture called out to him, "which is why I don't plan to stop you. But you'd better find something out there. I'm tired of running away. We all are."
Branch stepped closer to the shaghorn. "I promise we'll find the Strandbeast, Vulture, and we'll save everyone. We'll find the paradise Skull always spoke of."
"I bet," Vulture spoke simply. He ducked his head back into the store without another sound, and the two ponies turned back towards the desert to start their journey. After a moment of walking, the same sarcastic voice echoed behind them again.
"Hey, hold up a second, would ya?" the ground shook slightly as the heavy thrifter galloped to catch up with the duo. Hung from one of his locks of thick hair was a set of black leather shoes. As he tried to catch his breath, he unhooked the shoes from his coat and handed it over to Raven.
Raven stared at the shoes with skeptical surprise. "What's this for?"
"They're sandboots... made from firewinder leather...whew... for the bug boy."
Branch's eyes widened in shock. "You're giving this to us... for free?"
"Absolutely not. I expect them back in mint condition once you get back," Vulture leaned in close, his voice now a quiet mumble. "And I expect you to come back, yeah?"
the two ponies blinked, each taking in a moment to absorb Vulture's uncharacteristically kind gesture.
"Well... thanks Vulture. I'll try and bring these back as intact as possible," Branch uttered.
"Yeah you will. Do you know how hard it was to get firewinder leather? I risked my good looks for those boots."
Raven rolled his eyes. "Uh huh, good looks, sure."
"Hey, I can take my boots back if you think that sass will keep the sand out of your coltfriend's hooves."
"Alright, sorry. Thank you for the boots, Vulture."
"Yeah yeah, bring 'em back or i'll make boots out of the both of you next," with that, Vulture stomped his way back to his store. As he left, the two ponies sighed.
"Well, there's that tender moment gone."
Raven chuckled. "If that's your definition of a tender moment, I feel bad for you."
"Well maybe we should hang out more then," Branch leaned in closer to Raven.
"Let's get walking for a little while first, ok?"
Branch nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."
Branch trotted off towards the town's edge, but Raven stayed back for a moment. He looked back at the dilapidated hut that was Vulture's store and huffed. How much time did he have left? How much time did any of them have left. How much longer until their houses and stores ended up like the great marble towers, nothing more than the hollow memory of a forgotten age?
Closing his eyes for a moment, Raven turned to catch up with his coltfriend. The sun was already lowering in the sky. A light wind blew through the ramshackle huts of Cant. The only thing left for Raven now was Branch... and the wastes.