"Hey, let's take a breather," Lana suggests, feeling exhausted. Ruby quickly searches for the nearest rest stop on her laptop and shows it to Lana. "We just need to hold on for another 20 km." Lana gasps, thinking Ruby planned this all along. Ruby giggles mischievously, but her expression turns serious as she notices something on her screen. "Looks like we won't have to wait long because we've got company." Lana's eyes widen as she sees a red dot rapidly approaching their location. "Looks like Sam misses me a little too much," she mutters. Despite the impending danger, Ruby remains calm and starts strategizing their next move.
"Listen, there's probably a powerful enemy chasing us, and we can't outrun it. But we need to throw it off our trail," Ruby explains, pointing to a nearby ravine marked on the screen. Lana nods, gripping the rails tightly, wiping away any sweat, and urges the horse towards the ravine.
The ravine stretches for a good 20 km, with dry sand covering its floor, creating a stark contrast to the lush green meadow they just passed through. Suddenly, the carriage jolts, crashing against the side of the ravine. Lana looks up and notices a shadow looming above them. She can barely make out a figure, about 5-7 feet tall. Worried, she glances at Ruby. "It's keeping up with a horse," she says. "Must have some kind of speed-enhancing ability." Ruby quickly types a string of code and a small drone resembling a spacecraft hovers out of the carriage. It scans the area before flying towards the approaching figure. Lana asks what the drone is doing. "Distracting and analyzing," Ruby replies. Just as the words leave her mouth, the drone crashes onto the hood of the carriage, its metal melting from contact with solid stone. It's an Earth Castor. The ravine was a mistake.
Tremors start to blur their vision as sand and rocks slide, blocking their path both behind and in front of them. The horse desperately tries to navigate through the obstacles but fails to protect the carriage, which now has a gaping hole in its hood from a rockslide. The figure on top finally jumps down and lands gracefully in front of them.
Their brown hair concealed their intentions as they firmly grasped the ground, causing tattoos to spread across the surface.
The surrounding areas trembled as the earth crumpled, leaving no platform for the others to jump from. The horse desperately tried to hold onto the platform the person was on. They stood there, looking through their noses, searching for the wagon's tongue, but there were no riders.
From behind, Lana swung her blade, slicing a good line of their neck. It came to a halt as the person dodged, narrowly avoiding full decapitation. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a man with a pretty face. He leaped into the abyss he created, leaving the two, horse and the carriage atop a solitary structure. Now they had to figure out how to escape. As they brainstormed, hands made of synthetic material and sandstone rose from the underworld, attempting to trap them, like swatting a mosquito. In desperation, Lana swung her Ruby into the wagon and commanded the horses to leave. They descended, leaving Lana to face her fate alone.
"Hey, Lana," Kemuri said, standing beside her, her body covered in dust. Kemuri nodded at Lana, then glanced at her the approaching hands. She clenched a rock and thrust it forward, igniting a symphony of flames that engulfed the hands, melting them beyond recognition. She looked at Lana and asked, "Who did this?" Lana pointed downwards. Kemuri's eyes darkened, and together they plummeted to the floor.
