[3] The Road

[Kaden]

Things happened way too quickly. Kaden heeding Piper's warning as quickly as he could, dropping his entire body to the sand. Against the sand, Kaden could clearly make out the shadow of a scorpion's tail sail past him. That was the second time that just acting, without bothering to think it through, had saved Kaden from certain disaster. This time, though, he had Piper to thank.

Scrambling to his feet, Kaden tried to put as much ground between himself and where he thought the scorpion was before stopping to take in the situation. From what he could see, there were three, maybe four, scorpions coming at the Hunters; gauging their exact numbers was difficult given their propensity for diving beneath the sand. Kaden's attention was quickly pulled from the insects.

From over a nearby sand dune, Kaden could feel the sudden and distinct appearance of... someone. Without his Sight, Kaden couldn't tell exact where they were, but he was sure they were nearby. It was several seconds before the courier thought to tell Szar to be on guard. Unfortauntely, Kaden was too late to do any good.

Atop the closest dune, Kaden could barely make out Szar's silhouette. It looked as though the changeling was getting ready to leap to Kaden and Piper's rescue. He never made it.

From over the hill, Kaden caught sight of the person he had sensed. It was almost impossible to tell anything about the person, other than their dark complextion and the fact that they were carrying a massive device of some kind over one shoulder. Without hesitating, the figure pointed the weapon -- at least Kaden assumed it was a weapon -- at Szar and, in a flash of light, caused the changeling to vanish.

"Szaaaaaar!" Kaden called out as his companion vanished.

Taking aim, threw an open palm towards the remaining figure on the sand dune. Before the courier could actually channel his energies, though, he was very forcefull knocked to the ground.

Already angry at the sudden loss of Szar, being tackled only added fuel to the fire. Kaden rolled on his back and, to his surprise, caught sight of Piper. The woman was looking over her shoulder at a giant scorpion tail that had been driving into the ground that Kaden had so recently been standing on. As understanding dawned upon Kaden, a good deal of the anger left him. He had to focus on what was actually going on around him.

"Thanks," the courier managed."

Piper simply nodded in response as she rolled away from Kaden and hopped up to her feet. Kaden was much slower to recover; his lack of physical prowess was beginning to catch up to him.

Despite the minor victories he may have had, things weren't going too well for Kaden. The events of the game, so far, had been controlled by someone else. Until he founda way to play to his own strengths, and not someone else's, Kaden would be fighting an uphill battle the entire time.

The heat, the sand, and his fatigue were all things that were working against Kaden. They made it difficult for the courier to focus, and even harder for him to feel out the subtle flow of energy within other beings. Without calming his mind and trying to push out the distractions, he might as well be powerless.

As he finally reached his feet, Kaden exhaled deeply. As he drew in his next breathe, he could feel energy surge through his eyes. He could see the light of Piper as she danced away from another scorpion's attack. To his surprise, Kaden could even see the scorpions that plagued them. The could still feel the heat of the sun, the sting of sand being blowing into his face, but they were distant.

The almost meditative state that the courier had attained was interrupted by the sudden report of a gun. Opening his eyes, Kaden turned his attention to Piper, who had already loosed half a clip into the nearest scorpion. The woman's slugs flattened against the scorpion's shell, doing no visible damage.

Insterestingly, Kaden noted that the insects seemed to have some control over the energies that flowed through them. As the bullets slammed into their bodies, the flowing light within them coalesced at the point of impact. It was probably an unconscious reaction to being attacked, but it gave Kaden an idea.

"Hey!" Kaden called to Piper. "How's your aim?"

"What?" Piper turned her head towards Kaden for only a second before training her focus back on the scorpions. "Good enough, I guess. Why?"

It took the courier a minute to reply, as his yelling had drawn the attention of one of the scorpions that had been lurking about underground. As it erupted from the sand, it struck at the courier with a pair of giant pincers. Waving his hand, Kaden managed to quickly erect a barrier of ki, Rejecting his opponent's attack and giving him time to run towards his ally.

"Think you can shoot the spots I hit?" Kaden asked as he approached Piper.

"There's an easy way to find out," she replied.

With a nod, Kaden pointed to the nearest scorpion and began gathering his energy. With a wave of his arm, Kaden expelled an arrow-like bolt of cerulean ki. The bolt crashed into the "face" of the scorpion, though it only seemed to confuse the insect. In the next instant, though, a hail of bullets crashed through the scorpion's outer shell and it dropped to the ground.

"What just happened?" Piper turned to Kaden, obviously taking note of her bullet's increased effectiveness.

"Well... basically, I make them weaker," Kaden answered after a moment of thought. "But it takes me a second to use that attack," the courier added with a glare up towards the sun and a wiping of his brow.

Both Kaden and Piper backed away as another scorpion popped out of the sand, practically taking the place of the one they had felled. To his surprise, though, Kaden found himself practically smiling. He and Piper were able to keep their distance and he found his thoughts coming much clearer and quicker. Kaden was finally finding his groove.