The wind outside the tavern was different from the one that had blown before. It was no longer a light breeze, but a deep, ancient breath that seemed to rise from the bowels of the earth. The edges of Kaelis' cloak stirred like living shadows, and his steps left faint imprints in the dust, immediately swallowed by the ground, as if the road itself wished to erase any trace of their passing.
The boy followed him in silence, keeping a cautious distance. It wasn't fear, but an instinctive wariness, like the feeling one has before a wild animal that could, at any moment, decide whether to ignore you or destroy you. The sky above them hung lower, heavy with clouds that pulsed with an inner glow, like a slow, distant heartbeat.
"Don't look back," said Kaelis without turning. "No matter what you hear… don't turn around."
The sentence fell between them like a thin blade. The boy didn't ask for explanations. They kept walking along a path of grey stones, winding between black rocks and monoliths corroded by time. Every now and then, a distant rustle rose behind them, but whenever he tried to pinpoint its source, it dissolved, replaced by silence.
Then, the boy heard it. Not a natural sound. A rhythm.
Far away, as if coming from beyond the hills: three beats, the third split in two. Ba-da-bum… cha… cha… A shiver ran down his spine. It was a sound without melody, yet heavy with meaning, like the residue of something greater, a fragment of a forgotten language.
"Ignore it," said Kaelis, still without turning. But the tension in his voice betrayed the opposite.
The path grew narrower, forcing them to pass between two walls of rock, tall and smooth as blades driven into the ground. Here the air was colder, denser, and the sound of their steps was swallowed by the stone, as if the world had stopped listening to them. The boy had the sensation that those walls were watching them. Not like eyes… but like ears. As if the path itself were memorising their every step.
When they emerged from the stone gorge, they found themselves before a sight that stole their breath. A stretch of golden sand spread out to the horizon, but it was no ordinary desert: here and there, like protruding bones, fragments of towers jutted out, broken domes, bridges suspended halfway into nothingness. It was as though an entire city had sunk beneath that sand, leaving only scraps to bear witness to its existence.
Kaelis stopped, gazing at the landscape. "The Desert of Visions," he murmured. "Every step you take in here will take something from you… and give you something in return. But what you lose is not always less important than what you gain."
The boy wanted to ask what that meant, but in that moment the wind shifted and the rhythm returned, closer this time: Ba-da-bum… cha… cha…. It was impossible to tell where it came from. The sound seemed to move—now ahead, now behind, now beneath their feet.
Kaelis cast him a quick glance. "If you hear it too close, run. Don't ask why."
And they began descending towards the desert.