//------------------------------//
// 4. A land of Painful Memories 
// Story: The Strands of Time 
// by Faedelaide 
//------------------------------//

"How are the boots serving ya?"

Branch stomped at the dune below him in response, and nearly lost his footing in the process. "Definitely better than nothing, I'd say."

"They do look very cute on you."

"Well that's all that really matters then," Branch smiled widely. He took another step, and began to slide down the tall hill as the sand gave out beneath him.

Raven hopped down the dune and grabbed Branch's hoof. The insecticorn squirmed around as he tried to balance himself on the still shifting sand hill. After a moment, the rolling hills calmed, and the wastes were still once again. As the dune stilled, Branch leaned onto Raven's side in an attempt to keep himself upright, and to prevent himself from tumbling back down to the bottom.

"I guess I'm still not used to walking on sand though," Branch chuckled abashedly.

"Yeah, it's a lot softer out here. I doubt anyone's crossed these dunes in a hundred thousand years."

"Geez, do you really think it was that long ago?"

"Well why not? Those towers are older than Skull even knows. They're probably older than the firewinders."

"You think they're-" Branch cut himself off.

"What, were you gonna say 'older than the Strandbeast?' I mean yeah, probably."

Branch lowered his head. He pushed his hoof into the sand, carving smooth divets into its surface. "Yeah, probably."

Raven sighed, and leaned his head against his coltfriend. "I'm not, like, upset that you believe in the Strandbeast or anything. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, of course, but..."

"But?"

"What makes you think the Strandbeast isn't real? Just look at the firewinders. They're pretty fantastical. I mean, giant lizards with the power to breathe fire and swim through the dunes like water? That seems pretty far fetched."

"I get what you're saying, but if the village really does need our help, I don't want to save them with myths that we haven't ever seen before."

Branch squinted at Raven skeptically. "Well Skull saw it, and I trust him... And I thought you didn't even care about Cant."

"Look Branch, the only thing I care about is you. I trust you, so if you believe in the Strandbeast, I'm willing to give Skull the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe the Strandbeast really does exist, but until I see proof of it, I'll reserve my opinion."

"So you don't think I'm crazy for believing in the Strandbeast?"

"Of course not, my love. If anyone could convince me the Strandbeast exists exists, it'd be you."

"Thanks hun." Branch planted a small kiss on Raven's cheek, then continued to stumble his way to the dune's peak.

"Besides," Raven continued, "for one reason or another, it's because of the Strandbeast that we're out here anyway."

"That is a good point. Maybe it's the wiiiiill of the Strandbeeeeeeeaaaaaast, ooooooooh!" Branch giggled at his own joke, and Raven joined along.

"Who knows, the Strandbeast works in... mysterious... uh, Branch?"

The insecticorn turned to his partner. His eyes, two brilliant sapphires among the dull yellow sky, were now complimented by the slightest of purple glows. "What's up, hun?"

"Your bag," Raven pointed toward one of Branch's saddlebags, which was wrapped in a bright, lavender veil, "it's glowing."

"It is? Oh, it is! What do I do?"

"It must have something to do with the crystal Skull gave us. Quick, pull out the case."

Branch did as he was told. Blurred purple energy spewed out of the small box in thick, unbreakable waves. It's brightness was painful to look at, but Branch blindly opened the box. The second he did, the crystal shot up into the sky, trailing its purple aura behind it in addition to a piercing, high pitched whistling. It continued to climb higher in the sky, a single purple star among a rolling sea of dull grey clouds and barely visible rays of faded sunlight. Raven wondered for a moment if the star would ever stop rising, but before it could pierce the thick veil of fog that hung above, it stopped and stayed. The whistling, initially quieted by the star's distance, was now clearly audible, as was the blinding light that the crystal emitted. Raven looked down to avoid frying his eyes, and for the first time in his whole life, his shadow was perfectly visible, and incredibly sharp.

Raven hobbled towards Branch, the whistling getting louder by the second. He shouted as loud as he could, and only then did he earn Branch's attention.

"What do we do!?" he screamed.

"I don't know! I've never seen anything like this before!"

The two huddled close together, shielding their ears against the crystal's incessant wailing. Raven pressed his hooves to his head as hard as he could. He felt as if he was going to crush his own head, and still the whistling was as clear as could be. He could see Branch grimacing in pain, his wings buzzing in response to the sensory overload.

The whistling went on for another moment, then peace finally returned to the wastes. It was only once the Crystal's screaming had stopped that Raven could truly appreciate the peaceful ambiance of the wind's hollow, lifeless howling.

Branch peeked an eye open. His wings cautiously tucked themselves back into their elytra, and slowly, he began to take his hooves off his ears. "Is... is that it? Is it over?"

Raven too removed his hooves from his temples. He looked at Branch, in in the next second, the crystal star crashed back into the sand, tossing a small cloud of dust upwards, and imbedding itself into the soft, cushioned dune. The bright glow had all but faded from it, and its arms, once cacophonous, were now deathly silent.

"I guess so," Raven deadpanned.

Branch nudged it slightly, as if expecting it to set off again. Nervously, he scooped the crystal back into its case and placed it back into his bag. "Was that supposed to... do something?"

"I don't know," Raven stared up at the clouds where the crystal had once been and recoiled in surprise. Where the crystal had been afloat, a large purple star now took its place. From within its bright, plum center, a thin string of magic slithered out. It continued on in a perfectly straight, linear path throughout the sky, until it crossed the horizon, nestling itself neatly between two steep mountains in the far distance. 

"Branch, look!" Raven pointed, and his partner gasped.

"That's gotta be where the Strandbeast is!" Branch exclaimed. "And where there's the Strandbeast..."

"There's paradise!" Raven finished the insect's sentence. "That's got to be where the crystal land that Skull talked about is. If we go there and bring back something as proof, Skull and the other villagers will have to follow us!"

"Well then what are we waiting for? Come on!" Branch quickened his pace up the side of the hill. Though he nearly fell over himself multiple times, he eventually made it to the dune's peak.

Raven followed behind him, dashing to his side whenever it looked as if he was going to stumble over. But, after a small, wobbly walk, the two stood at the top of the hill, and stared ahead at the wastes that stretched far off into the horizon.

"Let's go, Raven! The faster we walk, the faster we get there," Branch began to attempt his way down the hill and into the heart of the wastes, occasionally glancing up to redirect himself towards the star's path.

Raven began to follow him, but something in the distance caught his eye. Some of the more distant dunes were oddly shaped. Their peaks were less neat than usual, and their sides were scored by several long, winding scars. Throughout the dusty plains, these scars occupied every available space. Some overlapped over each other, while others appeared to run in coordination with their neighbors, giving the appearance of the clawmarks of some titanic beast. Every once in a while, these scars would lead to a chaotic, interwoven bundle of trails. There, some of the scars would stop, but others seemed to exit, where they would then continue on through the wastes before they disappeared at the foot of a dune. 

Raven looked at the odd looking battlefield of long, string like indents in the sand. He again attempted to catch up with Branch, but something new caught his eye. In the center of many of the bundles, a pale blue-white patch was embedded firmly into the sand. Raven squinted to try and see what it could be, but it was too distant to distinguish. He turned to his partner, and saw a similar, if smaller bundle that was placed right at the foot of the dune he and Branch stood on. Again, he leaned to get a better look at the odd pit. As the stringy arena's pale center shone faintly in the barely existent sunlight, Raven suddenly understood what it was.

Within the center of the winding mass of scratches and thin trails were wide, scattered pieces of glass.

"Branch. Branch, wait. Branch!" Raven called out for his partner, but the insecticorn didn't pay him any mind. He was too busy staring up at the glowing trail above to notice Raven, or the piece of glass that stuck out from the dune's side.

Quick as a flash, Raven jumped in front of Branch, just as he tripped over the small glass pustule. Raven grabbed his partner by the waist, and by reflex, Branch's wings snapped open, whacking Raven in the face with his thick, heavy elytra. He and Branch tried to keep their footing, but Branch had nothing to support himself on. Slowly, the force of gravity took him, and Raven along with him. Despite Raven's desperate attempts to keep his hooves on the ground, the two started rolling down the hill. Fortunately, Raven's intervention prevented Branch from gaining any speed, and so their roll started off rather slow. This gave Raven enough time to lodge his hoof on the small piece of glass. Still holding on to Branch with one hoof, and holding onto the glass with the other, Raven could barely hear anything over the beating of his own heart. From their commotion, wide waves of sand rolled calmly down the hill.

"Raven, what was that for? What are you doing?" Branch demanded.

"Look at the sand, Branch," Raven heaved.

Branch turned to look at the dune's bottom. The sand that had been loosed by their scuffle continued on down the hill, disturbing more sand as it did so. Slowly, the small wave of sand turned into a rolling wall that covered a sizeable portion of the dune. 

The sand continued on until it reached the dune's bottom. As the rolling mass of dust passed the bottom of the hill, the countless grains scraped against an odd object. The rolling sand slowly began to uncover something that had obviously been buried for some time now.

The most obvious thing was the object's eye catching color. It was a beautiful turquoise that managed to shine brilliantly despite the lack of true sunlight. Branch and Raven watched, the latter with bated breath, as more and more of the object uncovered itself.  

The next thing to be revealed were two shrimpy, almost vestigial wing nubs that had long since lost their majesty. After that was a single row of white spikes, now discolored from the sand. Then came two sets of claws, a long, spear like snout lined with teeth like sharpened needles. Finally, removed from the cover of the dune, a single lifeless, orange eye appeared, staring up at nothing in particular.

Branch was now deathly still, trying his best not to disturb any more sand. "It's... it's..."

"A firewinder," Raven finished. He heaved himself upright, and helped Branch to do the same. "You gotta be more careful, love. We're in firewinder country now."

Branch turned to him, his face disfigured by uncompromising fear. "We... we have to go through there? Through f-firewinder country?"

"If we want to make it to the crystal paradise, yeah."

The insecticorn looked all around him, uttering a quiet, exasperated "awh" whenever he noticed another firewinder pit. Once he faced Raven again, his face was two shades whiter than it had been before.

Raven pulled Branch in close, leaning his head against his partner's. "It's gonna be alright. We can see where the firewinders are most concentrated. See, like over there. So long as we take the path less travelled, we'll be less likely to bump into one of them.

"Besides," he gestured to the pit that lay before them, as well as the dead firewinder. "This pit hasn't been used in a good while. That means the firewinders probably all left a while ago. We're going to be fine, ok?"

Branch nodded slightly. "Ok. But can... can you lead the way please?"

"Of course, love," Raven nuzzled his partner, and carefully slid himself down the hill, trying his best to set a pace that Branch could keep up with.

This was it. There wasn't any turning back now, and they had a long journey ahead of them. Raven sighed as he made a path down for his coltfriend. As he watched Branch slowly and deliberately make his way down the dune, he desperately hoped that the things he'd said were true.