The sun hung like a cruel god in the sky, its fire pouring down upon the endless dunes of the desert trial zone. The air shimmered with heat, bending light and twisting vision. Every grain of sand beneath Ashen's feet burned like coal, but he didn't flinch. He had long learned how to endure pain in silence.
"This place is going to kill us before anything else does," Kerr groaned, wiping sweat from his brow with a trembling hand.
"Keep moving," Elira said, her voice steady but stern. "We haven't seen any landmarks for hours. There must be something out here—some kind of test."
Ashen remained silent, walking a few steps behind the group, his tattered cloak fluttering in the hot wind. His gaze scanned the horizon, noting every shimmer, every shift in the dunes. Something about this place felt...wrong. Not just hot or empty. But alive.
Reynor, walking ahead with his chin raised and expression proud, scoffed. "It's clearly a test of endurance. They're trying to weed out the weaklings. If you can't survive a little heat, you have no place in the military."
"Easy for you to say," Lin muttered. She walked with a limp—her boots had started falling apart on the first day of the trial. "Not everyone grew up on silk cushions."
Reynor shot her a glare but said nothing.
The six of them had been sent into this mock battlefield three days ago with limited supplies, no map, and no instructions. It was the final part of the drill arc—the last test before full induction. Ashen didn't know what the commanders expected them to learn out here. But he had a feeling it wasn't just about survival.
Ahead, the sand shimmered with a strange flicker. Like a ripple in the air.
"Wait," Ashen said, stopping.
Everyone turned to look at him, surprised. He rarely spoke unless necessary.
"There's something ahead. Look."
They all squinted. At first, it looked like nothing—just more heat distortion. But then the shimmer twisted. It became a flickering wall of color, almost translucent.
"A mirage?" Sera asked, her tone unsure.
"Could be," Elira replied. "But... it doesn't look natural."
Ashen crouched and pressed his palm against the sand. Warmth surged up his arm—but there was more than heat. There was movement. Vibrations. Something was shifting beneath them, something massive.
"Something's under the sand," he said, standing quickly.
Reynor rolled his eyes. "You're imagining things. Heat's getting to your head."
"No," Ashen said firmly. "We should circle around. Not walk straight into it."
Elira nodded. "I trust his instincts. Let's move west. Ten degrees."
They veered slightly off-course. As they walked, the mirage followed—no longer just a shimmer, but a looming shape. A silhouette. Something like a city... or a carcass. It danced at the edge of their vision, refusing to resolve.
Kerr started muttering to himself.
"What's wrong?" Lin asked.
"I saw something," he whispered. "In the heat... I thought I saw my sister. She's dead. Died last winter. But I swear, she was standing on the dunes. Waving."
No one said anything. They all kept walking. The silence grew heavier.
Hours passed. The sun never seemed to move. Time twisted, just like the light. When they finally stopped to rest beneath the half-shadow of a leaning rock, no one spoke for a while.
Ashen drank a mouthful of warm water. He kept his eyes on the horizon.
The mirage was gone now. But it had left a feeling in its wake—a pressure, like something watching. Something waiting.
"I don't like this place," Lin whispered.
"You think any of us do?" Reynor snapped. "This is war training. It's not meant to be a picnic."
"It's not just the heat," Elira murmured. "There's something unnatural here. I feel like we're walking into a memory that isn't ours."
Ashen glanced at her, eyes narrowing.
He felt it too.
As the sun dipped—though the heat didn't lessen—they made camp in the hollow between two dunes. Lin and Kerr slept first, exhausted beyond words. Sera took first watch with Elira, while Reynor paced the edge of the camp like a lion in a cage.
Ashen sat on the sand, cloak pulled tight, staring into the distance. There were shapes moving there, in the dark. Not shadows. Not people. Not beasts.
Something ancient.
And it was awake.