Neither of them wanted to go back into the desert.
So instead, they followed its edge hoping to circle it — staying just within the trees where the ground was still solid, where the cracked orange heat gave way to faded greens and bark-slick trunks. The spectral chain between them pulsed gently, almost idly now, moving like it too had fallen into the rhythm of their steps.
No words.
Just walking.
The desert remained to their left. Always there. Like a beast asleep with one eye open.
Time passed. Maybe an hour. Maybe more.
Then Riven slowed.
"…Is that—?"
Yue Lin stopped beside him, eyes narrowing.
The deserts monotone stretch of cracked orange stone was interrupted by something.
Something they knew very well.
A stone slab.
It stood far out into the desert, half-sunken into the scorched ground, its gray surface stark against the endless wash of heat and dust.
It looked exactly the same as the one they'd seen before.
Riven's jaw tightened. "Another one."
They hesitated a little but eventually kept moving.
None of them wanted to enter the desert and test if this stone was a trap as well.
Once bitten, twice shy.
They continued walking along the edge — keeping the desert to their left and the forest's faded green to their right. Boots scuffed against packed dirt and dry root, the spectral chain brushing softly behind them.
The air was hotter here, but not as heavy as inside the desert itself.
Soon another hour passed — maybe more. Hard to tell. There was no sun, no moon. Just the same dim, shadowless light filtering through the skyless expanse above.
Then—
Yue Lin slowed again.
"There."
Riven followed her gaze.
Out in the desert — farther than the last — another slab.
Same design. Same size. Same dust-choked surface.
He frowned. "…Is it the same one?"
"No," Yue Lin said, voice low. "Look at the angle. It's facing a different direction."
Riven looked again.
She was right.
Another one.
They kept walking.
And after some time—
Another.
And another.
Every so often, another gray slab jutted out from the scorched expanse like broken teeth.
"…This can't be normal," Riven muttered.
Yue Lin said nothing. But her silence was sharp. Agreement in its quietest form.
The slabs kept appearing.
Too evenly spaced.
Too consistent.
Each one they passed stood motionless, half-buried in cracked stone. Each one looked identical to the last — as if copied from the same mold.
They were glad they hadn't touched the others at this point. Glad they hadn't taken the risk. There was something wrong about them — wrong in a way that neither battle instinct nor training could quite define.
So they kept walking.
Hoping the desert might eventually end.
But it didn't.
The slabs stretched on and on, dotting the endless heat.
Until—
Riven slowed.
"…Wait."
Yue Lin stopped beside him.
The terrain ahead was changing.
The line of scorched desert stone curved gently — not inward, but outward — until it suddenly gave way to something else entirely.
Not forest.
Not mountain.
Not river.
Just… air.
Open air.
And a drop.
They had reached the edge of the island.
Riven stepped forward carefully, boots crunching stone until he stood at the very border.
Beyond it: nothing.
A chasm of black void stretched below them, flickering faintly with the occasional shimmer.
To the left: the desert, still breathing heat across their backs.
To the right: the forest.
Straight ahead: the void.
Yue Lin exhaled quietly beside him. "Guess we can't circle the desert."
"Yeah," Riven said, his voice dry. "Unless it ends sooner on the other side?"
A chasm of black void stretched below them, flickering faintly with the occasional shimmer.
To the left: the desert, still breathing heat across their backs.
To the right: the forest.
Straight ahead: the void.
Yue Lin exhaled quietly beside him. "Guess we can't circle the desert."
"Yeah," Riven said, his voice dry. "Unless it ends sooner on the other side?"
They stood there a while longer, eyes scanning the island's edge — as if the path forward might appear just because they were looking hard enough.
It didn't.
Eventually, Yue Lin spoke again. "We've got time, right?"
Riven nodded. "More than a month, I think."
"Then we might as well try."
He looked at her.
She shrugged. "Better than rushing into something like that." She nodded toward the cracked orange expanse behind them. "At least this way, we'll know for sure."
"…Fair."
Neither of them sounded convinced.
But at least it was a plan.
For now.
We should rest first," Yue Lin said. "Get food."
"Yeah."
The bit of stag meat they'd brought with them was already gone anyway.
Eaten on their way here, while they were trying to circle the desert.
They turned and headed back into the woods.
The forest thickened again — trees leaning close, branches hanging low.
And as they moved through it, Riven muttered something half to himself.
"…Why didn't we just follow the island's edge from the beginning?"
Yue Lin paused. Then gave a dry huff that might've been a laugh. "I don't know."
"I mean, if the exit appears at the end of the trial, it'll be at the edge. We couldn't miss it."
"I don't know." She could only repeat herself.
Maybe it was because of the whole situation.
They were stranded in some weird trial.
Just escaped from a fight with a skeleton and then got chained together by some kind of magic.
Everything was weird.
So they neglected the normal things.
The simple solution.
Following the edge of the island.
"Let's just find something to eat," Yue Lin said.
There was no use thinking about that now.
If they managed to cross the desert, they could then follow the edge.
But the further they walked, the clearer the pattern became.
The animals were gone.
No tracks. No nests. No signs of life.
As if everything with a pulse had learned to stay far away from the void's edge.
It was the same pattern they'd noticed when they first arrived.
It took quite some time until the forest seemed alive again.
Finally, the heard the sound of water ahead.
They followed it.
A small pond, half-shaded by stone, shimmered faintly through the leaves.
Riven let out a long breath. "There we go."
They caught what they could. It wasn't much, but it was fresh. Enough for a meal.
They refilled their flasks, ate slowly by the water, and didn't say much.
Afterward they found a small rise beneath a half-bent tree and cleared it of brush.
No tent. No walls. Just stone and flickering firelight.
They took turns watching, as always.
The next day, they set out again.
Heading back to the desert and following it to the other side.
Make sure there really was no way around.
The dry expanse remained the same, cracked and silent, stretching endlessly beside them as they walked along the treeline.
And even after passing the midway point from where they had intially started, every so often, just like before —
Another stone slab stood off in the distance.
Eventually, the forest thinned.
The wind picked up.
And the world opened.
They had reached the other edge of the island.
Just like before — to one side, the orange stone desert. To the other, forest.
And ahead of them, a black gulf of endless trial space — a void that shimmered faintly with unseen depths.
They stood there for a moment, neither saying anything.
Yue Lin folded her arms. "So it really does cut across the whole island."
Riven clicked his tongue. "We really have to go through it, huh."
A pause.
Then—
"…Wait," Yue Lin said quietly, shock evident in her voice. "Look."
Riven turned, following her gaze.
Far in the distance — beyond the desert, past the haze of heat and fractured earth — a faint wisp of gray curled upward into the still air.
Smoke.
It drifted lazily into the sky, just barely visible through the heat shimmer.
Riven frowned. "Is that…?"
Yue Lin narrowed her eyes. "A campfire."
Neither moved.
"…Is there someone else here?" Riven asked slowly, unsure.
And for the first time in days, the air around them felt different.
Yue Lin's voice was quiet, even a bit excited. "Let's cross from here. If we're fast, and there are really others... maybe we can meet them… maybe even help each other."
Riven gave a single nod.
And together, they stepped into the desert.