Not knowing what to do or where to go, he walked toward the horizon.
'There's nothing here. I don't see anything but sand. If I stay here, I…'
As the leader of a team, Nova thought rationally. If he stayed here, where the portal was no longer present, he would die sooner or later. Searching for a way not to die like a stick of dried meat was the best decision he could make.
'I didn't train for this…'
As he walked, he thought about everything he had learned in elementary and high school.
Most of the classes, when it came to Aberrations, were theoretical.
Aberrations were always random—a truth everyone already knew. It was highly unlikely for an Aberration of the same race to emerge from another portal, and that was precisely what made them so dangerous.
Every Aberration was different from the last, but they were classified in the same way as Empaths. Some Aberrations relied heavily on stealth and were considered Assassin-type—others fought at range and were classified as Caster-type.
That made it easier to know how to deal with Aberrations.
What did any of that have to do with what was happening now? That this place was most likely crawling with Aberrations! And it was more than likely that there wouldn't be just one type.
'If an Aberration shows up, maybe I can defend myself, but…'
Although he had also learned various survival methods for places like the Dark Islands or the massive forests that filled his planet, he didn't know much about deserts or how to fight an Aberration in this kind of terrain.
In the end, it was just bad luck. Having a living, well-nourished planet was great—but that was exactly what condemned Nova to having no idea how the hell to survive in a desert.
Of course, Nova, despite being the weakest member of his team, knew how to fight and defend himself. In high school, there was a self-defense class where young people learned basic martial arts to protect themselves from Aberrations when escape wasn't possible.
It was a mandatory class the government had imposed decades ago.
'I also need to find a few things… Water. Food. Shelter. How am I supposed to get all that in a place like this?'
Survival required many things—especially the obvious and essential ones. Water in a desert should be impossible to find.
In high school history classes, they taught about ancient Earth. Nova learned that before the impact, the planet had been dying. Extinct species, deserts that had once been beautiful green patches on the planet, and all kinds of arid zones.
That part hadn't seemed very important back then, but now, that small amount of information was incredibly valuable.
Then there was food. Would there be anything edible in this world? That was one of his biggest doubts. And shelter—in an open, flat place like this desert—seemed impossible.
With nothing else to do or think about, he searched through his pockets, hoping to find something useful.
'Ten seeds, my communicator, a couple of coins…'
That was all.
With all the pockets a trench coat has, on this very day, Nova hadn't thought to fill them with anything useful.
'Man… I'm going to die…'
He stopped, staring at the ground. The calm was slipping away; his heart was becoming unsettled.
Although death was something he had considered before—as an Empath—he had never thought it would be like this.
Fsss… Fsss…
Sweat ran down his forehead and fell onto the sand, evaporating completely. It made a sizzling sound, already showing what this desert would do to his body if he didn't find water quickly.
For the next several hours, he walked without finding anything of note. It also seemed like the day would never end. The smaller sun had moved from its position, but the larger one had only shifted a few centimeters—if measured by his finger and the shadow on the ground.
'I can't go on anymore.'
Not even a long fight against an Aberration would have been as exhausting as walking through this desert. A city boy didn't have what it took to survive this kind of adversity.
'I'm hungry… I'm thirsty…'
He was tired, and everything just kept getting worse.
All that was missing was for an Aberration to show up and make his life miserable—and that would definitely turn this day into the worst one he'd had since childhood.
'What do I do?'
He pulled the seeds out of his pocket again. He considered eating them for a bit of energy, but they could also be used for other things.
'There's no moisture in this desert. I can't make these seeds sprout.'
That was the biggest problem. On Terra, there was humidity everywhere, and Nova's plants could grow easily—but in a dry, deadly desert, that was impossible.
'I have nothing that can help me.'
He knelt on the sand, but immediately regretted it. His leather boots smelled like burned rubber. His feet inside them were cooking—it hurt, and he could no longer keep going.
'So fast. So pathetic…'
He wasn't sad, much less scared. He just wished his death were more honorable. Maybe someday, fighting a Category 0, dying on his feet like a hero. That would have been great—but what he got was something completely different.
'I'm so weak…' he thought, with a calm, sweat-soaked expression that only made the moment more depressing. 'I guess this is the end.'
He was sure that even his uncle Viktor would be able to survive this.
Again, he wasn't disappointed, nor ashamed. His heart was simply in a deep state of calm that prevented him from suffering in his death.
Maybe, today, this ability to dull his emotions would actually be useful.
'Should I just lie down and die?'
Considering that he had already done everything he could to survive—walking for hours without seeing nightfall, with dehydration drying out his organs—he gave up.
He couldn't fight anymore.
He was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty in just a few hours. If he couldn't survive this, then how were the Aberrations of this world able to?
Unfortunately for him, that question was about to be answered.
Just as he was about to faceplant into the ground and get cooked like an egg for breakfast, he felt a faint presence moving nearby. He looked around, turning in place, but saw nothing of interest.
However, that presence was still there.
'If you're an Aberration, come out already and stop wasting my time.'
The ground trembled. Nova frowned, wondering why he had even asked that. Things like that were guaranteed bad omens.
The sand shifted—first forming a small hole where sand fell like an hourglass—and then a faint moan echoed through the empty desert, wet and hungry.
'Shit!'
Feeling that faint energy signature grow stronger with the sound, Nova took off running, no matter how exhausted he was. Just as he got about ten steps away from the area, an Aberration he had never seen before burst out of the sand.
'What the hell is that thing?!'
Nova was facing a Category 6 Aberration.