Survival (open)

[Augustus]

Before he returned home to the Dream Realm, Augustus wanted to do some intensive training while he was in the Mortal Realm. He decided on trying to defeat the Gobi desert. He traveled for a week with a caravan that was going along a trade route to meet up with some nomadic goat herders for cashmere wool. Augustus thought it was weird to raise goats in the desert but apparently there were some parts of the Gobi that had vegetation suitable for grazing animals.

He separated from them somewhere where there was nothing but sand dunes for miles. They all thought he was crazy but figured that he was another one of those crazy tourists. They left him with some food and water supplies along with mixed remarks of "good luck" and "you're going to die". He watched them leave and set up a small pop tent to eat his lunch out of the blowing sands.

After he was done eating, he folded up the tent and gather all his things to try to find his way out. Adrian appeared with a frown on his face. "You have to be quite stupid to try to survive being out here."

"This is just a part of my training which hasn't been approved by the Queen but I'm sure she would be understanding."

"How would your mother feel about this?"

"It doesn't matter what she thinks. She rather see me settle down with someone that she arranged to marry me."

Adrian smirked, "Well at least you were smart enough to have a water sprite with you."

"Well, you're only here just in case of an emergency. I rather tough this one out on my own." Augustus watched Adrian's smirk disappeared before making his disappearance. Well, so much for encouragement from him, he thought to him self.

Wrapping himself up with a light scarf to shield his head and face from the sun and sand, he started off with all his survival gear on his back. He knew that he wasn't going to be easy but it would help him out with his training. Plus it was another way for him to avoid his persistent mother of his who kept bothering by showing up during his training in the Dream Realm no matter how many times he moved.

Some time had passed and night was falling as well were the temperatures. He pick a spot to set up camp, and took out the tent to sit and eat his jerky and apple sauce since there wasn't anything he could find that he could burn. It was the last of the apple sauce he would be eating for while since he couldn't carry a lot considering he was afraid that it wouldn't keep well in such high temperatures. He started to notice that it was getting really could now and quickly got into his sleeping bag. He couldn't believe how the people were telling him before he started his trip that even though the desert got hot during the day, it would get really cold in the night. They told him to carry sunscreen and clothes that covered his body which seemed a bit weird since people tend to wear less clothes during the summer months in cities. But all the things that the people were telling him paid off and made sense to him now that he was in the desert.

He started to drift into sleep now that his mind seemed to settle down. He would need as much rest he could get to battle the next day.

[Augustus]

Augustus woke up just as the sun was starting to rise and he started to pack his things up hoping to start traveling before it got too hot. After wrestling with the pop-up tent, he was on his way, eating a granola bar for breakfast as he walked. It would seemed that he was going about his day as a walk in the park but he had to keep that mentality if he was going to find his way out. He made sure that he kept his self hydrated enough where he could ration out his water so that he didn't need his sprite's help.

The sun was high in the sky now and it seemed that all of its rays where coming down on him and him only. He thought that maybe he should rest so that he didn't have to exert himself with the sun beating down on him. However, there was nothing but sand all around him so the only thing he could do was pop up the tent. As he was trying to set up his tent, he could feel the winds picking up speed and he hoped that he could hide himself away from the sun so he didn't have to feel the brutal heat from it.

Sand was blowing around him, making it difficult for him to see what he was doing without getting sand in his eyes. It was then that all of a sudden, he had this feeling to look back and when he did, he saw what it seemed like a cloud of dust coming his way. Great, a sandstorm. It was the only that came across his mind before realizing that he need to set up shelter fast so he could get out of it. But it wasn't fast enough, the winds were blowing very hard and the storm had leaped up on him. His tent blew away from him and he tried to chase it but the sand blowing in every which direction made it impossible to continue his pursuit after it. The had surrounded him and consumed him. It was dark, it was as if the sun had hid itself away from him. He no longer had to worry about the sun now.

[Augustus]

After the storm ended, everything seemed calmed now. The darkness that Augustus was in seemed comforting and he wondered if this was death was like. But he had to get out, out from under the sand before all of his air was gone. Luckily it wasn't too deep and he didn't have to worry about freeing himself. The sun was down on him again and its intensity seemed the same as before the storm. He sat there for a second to collect himself before he tried to find his stuff which would be like find a needle in a haystack but he had to try. Besides the tent, his food and water was all in the bag he carried.

He didn't know where to start but he picked a spot and started digging around where he was. He was digging furiously, moving from spot to spot, trying desperately to find his stuff. He ended up finding his water and a few granola and power bars. Everything else must have blew away in the storm and he could was accept it. He put the little food he had left in his pockets and took a sip of his water before setting off. He had a feeling that he was going the wrong way since he got disoriented from the sand storm but all he could do was hope for the best.

The landscaped had changed by the time the sun was setting, there was sparse vegetation scattered about now which was the typical dry kind found in deserts but it gave him hope. He started to pick at some of the small bushes for kindling and set the material in a spot he picked. With the little light that was available from the sun, he got a fire going after his painstakingly attempts at it. He sat there by the fire eating one of the bars he took from his pocket, thinking that this night was going to be rough. He had lost his tent which was forever now the deserts and the sleeping bag was in it as well. He had nothing for comfort but the fire he built and he knew it was going to get cold.

[Augustus]

The nights were rough at first, if he had any sleep it was for only for about an hour or two. But after his run in with a fox, which he was surprise to see out in the semi-desert region of the Gobi, he had bedding. It wasn't a pretty sight, Augustus was too tired to move after the little food he had found, and the fox tried to take advantage of that. The fox tore at his clothes try to get down to the meat, Augustus getting his second wind, ended up taking the fox's life with his knife. With little remorse, he skinned and cooked him up to eat. The fox wasn't that big but at least he had something to keep him warm during the nights. During the day though it was a hassle to deal with but he couldn't complain.

Again he tried to walk after resting up a bit, he had ran out of water now and was trying his best to keep going. He hoped that his luck would change but it seemed like a long shot. If anything though he would have to rely on his last resort for help and that was Adrian. As he walked, he noticed some birds of to the distance and they seemed to be playing in the sand or thats what he told himself. What he actually saw was what he thought was just a mirage from the heat making it seemed like there was water. But as he got closer he could hear the little splatter of water that the birds were making and he could actually see some water. He towards the water, scaring of the birds and threw himself down to drink as much as he could. It was basically a puddle but he tried to make the most of it by drinking and throwing the water over him to cool himself down. Though it was a bit painful on his shoulders and parts of his back that was now expose because of losing his shirt to the fox. He could feel that the sun had burned up his skin and it was starting to peel away. That didn't matter to him, not right now, there was water here and he filled up his bottle as much as he could before moving on.

He had a bit more energy now and was walking a bit faster but he didn't want to walk to fast and burn up all his energy. He kept a steady pace and he tried to tell himself that he would find his way out. He heard noises behind him and thought that it some animal trailing him, waiting for him to give up so it scavenge off his body. He kept trying to ignore it but he would look back and not see a thing. It got louder now, it sounded more like camels along with voices. He stopped to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating and listened. He turned around and when he did he saw that there was a caravan coming up from the other side of a hill towards him. At last, he found people.