ELIXA

CHAPTER 33

The sun was finally fading through the other side of the orange sky when they arrived at the city that grew out from the ground. Myriad of towers swelled from the dust, brown, elegant domes, sitting aloof on the single rectangular blocks, identical to several hundred that spread across the city. Oddly enough, there were gardens of green, sprawling through the base of the buildings and across the gates. Springs of blue waters also flowed from the far side of the city, towards the center gate and disappeared into the two hands of the world. For a desert land, palm trees and several trees whose names were not forthcoming danced with the north wind as if glad that the scorching heat was falling on the other side of the world.

Kristen shifted the airpipe on her nose, patting the neck of the Bostrich and urging it forward. She followed behind the stiff-necked Vick who took the lead, smiling like a baby that had found its mother.

Kristen's neck would have grown stiff as well, but instead, it