"Etha, c'mon we have a long day ahead of us." I feel her nudging me.


I suppose I feel into a deeper slumber than I had expected. my body feels as if it has all locked into place. I roll over groaning.

"Do we have to? Come back to bed." I say.


"Etha, you know why we can't just waste time like that." She sighs. "Though I admit it is a tempting idea." She adds with a laugh.


"But Mia!" I tease.


"Come on now Etha, we have to keep going." She grins at me.


I don't want to get out of bed. I just know we have to keep moving. She is right. I groan as I sit up. She has a point. 


I can't help but feel as if we are meant to spend our life like this, when the mission is done. We could retire and spend our lasting days together, much like this. Mia is taking her time getting situated and slowly is packing things into their proper places. I try not to think of the bodies we had to bury. 


I know deep within my heart that this will end up being the strongest of relationships I will have, including friendships. I can't imagine what life would be like now.


Pulling my clothes on is a quick feat and its only a few moments before I am helping Mia putter around our tent. She seems content, humming some kind of tune from the old world. I know she has a fascination with the way our suffering began, but she should probably find another hobby, or we will be hunting down artifacts for all of the remainder of our lives.


"Hey Mia, would we ever retire?" I ask.


"Well, we can't always be hunting these places down." She sighs. "Though I wish we could." She adds. 


This confirms my thoughts. She is happiest when adventure is around the corner. Which explains why she doesn't stay in New Boston. I only wish I understood fully. Her parents were like her, so this may be a big deal. 


"We'll keep going until we know we can't." I say.


"Thanks Etha." She says. "Oh, and I think I know where our next campsite is." She adds with excitement."


"Oh?"


"The Predlym." She says with a huge smile. "It's an above ground ruin of what they called a blimp in the old world." She explains to me.


"So, let me guess, it's got an excavation team there too?" I ask.


"Yeah, but they have the most direct route to the next city so we can resupply." She says. "That and they may be interested in this." She holds up a book that is dusted in the sands of the land. 


"What exactly would this be?" I can't help but ask.


"This is the autobiography of Ark Tech's founder." She smiles. "We wont be needing credits any time soon." She hugs me with a giggle.


"That must be important." I smirk. "Why didn't you tell me back in Old Boston?" I ask.


"I like the element of surprise." She says.


The way she walks to me is clear. Once she comes to me she kisses me and my body ignites and trembles. I find myself in awe.


"No kidding." I say laughing lightly.


It feels great knowing we are together on the same page. We wouldn't be able to work as a team in any means of the word is we weren't. I sigh as we pack camp away, finishing up for the start of the next walking stretch. 


"Hey, Mia, I been thinking, wouldn't it be best to travel at night?" I ask.


"Clearly you've never been out after sun down." She smirks.


"Oh?"


"It's more dangerous because of the Bone Spiders." She explains.


What the hell could that be? I cant help but wonder. We put our equipment away and begin walking, Mia taking point, as she knows where the place to go is, at least roughly. I suppose we can't rely on exact because the old world has been missing from existence for some long time now. 


"Bone Spiders?" I ask.


"We speculate on how they exist, but long story short, they are almost human like people who are covered in the bones of their enemies." She says.


"You can't possibly mean they actually clean the bones for armor." I ask. 


The heat seems to be worse than yesterday, almost as if the sand itself could turn into glass. I find myself imagining what these spider people look like. It is freaky to think that a being would wear bones for armor. It sends my hairs to standing on their ends. The tingling of that has me shudder.


"Well, its rumored they eat the marrow before hand." She adds to the information she relays. 


We keep talking about these mysterious beasts and I am both interested and stricken with fear of them all at the same time. I want to know more, but that likely means I would have to put myself and Mia in direct line of danger.


"Wonder if that's the weird sounds we heard in Old Boston." I speculate.


"It's possible. I haven't seen one face to face to know, but I wouldn't be eager for that encounter." She laughs.


We must have been walking for ages now. The sun has crossed the sky and it feels like we have made very little distance, although admittedly there has been a lot of idle talk. We simply reminisce on the old days when we only worried about helping my parents with their vendor stall back in Basha. Then it dawns on me.


"You think we ever would go back to Basha?" I ask. 


Mia seems rather surprised with my question. It seems like she never had given it a thought. I have to admit, with us only talking about the settlement, it makes me wonder if we could perhaps retire there, should we do that later in our life. 


"I don't know. People don't even remember me back there. Most of the friends I had died years ago." She admits.


"With everything that happened, you've got a point. I even thought you were amongst our dead." I say. "I feel that sentiment. Most back home probably assume I died too." I admit.


"It's sad to think this is what our lives are becoming in this world." She sighs.


I sigh deeply and take a look up to see if we can spot anything yet. I only see what I think is a mirage. The mirage looks like a large white piece of the moon is sticking from just beyond the horizon line. I smile.


"It is, but, is that thing over there the Predlym?" I ask as I point to the weird object in the distance.


"I don't know." She says.


"Well, lets head there and find out." I smile to her. "You and me, we are gonna make life better here for everyone." I add. "You'll see."


She looks at me rather quizzically as we keep our path to the object in the horizon. I know deep down, she wants to change this world. It's what shown me that we can have a life. She is the reason I press on with her.


"Yeah. unless we die trying." She laughs lightly. 


I am glad I can bring a bit of extra hope into her mind. I believe we can do it, so I want her to feel this way too. I have a feeling we will be making big changes in this world. Even with just uncovering Old Boston. I can't help but feel like i was meant to join her in her groups ranks.


"If it means anything to you at all, I would like to join you with the mercenaries." I say.


"Really?" She asks.


"Yeah, think they will be down for it?" I ask.


"Probably." She says. 


The night is almost upon us as we approach the object. The item begins to look blue and much larger to us as we get closer. I start to think this is the thing she was planning on stopping at before.


"I think that's it isn't it?" I ask.


"I think so." She smirks. "Let me know if you can see paint on the side when we get closer." She adds.


I speed up a little more with excitement. We may have made the second big discovery of our travels. I am over the moon with joy. We are doing it. Just like I told her!


Over the horizon coming from the direction of the object we think to be the Predlym, is seemingly sending a bunch of people our way, torches and swords in hand. It seems primitive to me, even for our limited tech available. I shake my head thinking they are trying to stay safe. 


"Etha, wait." She says. 


 I stop dead in my tracks. I turn my head to face her. Something is wrong.


"What?" I jest.


"I see white on their bodies." She actually sounds genuinely concerned as she speaks. 


I look back to take a second look. It's then I realize, she's thinking it's the bone spiders. I grab onto the electric whip and close my eyes for a moment to take a deep breath. We may just die tonight.