(Note: The Sand Orchard was in no way copied off of Final Fantasy 9 by Squaresoft, it is a coincidence
Bomb: Well, this can’t be too hard….
Lukis: Well, actually, it probably will be, you see…. There’s a Legend about this desert…. The Legend of the Donut Desert… That’s what the desert is called, Donut Desert…….
Bomb: Well what is it? It’s just a Legend anywho….
Lukis: They say that in the middle of the desert is an amazing sight, one of Earths natural beauty’s. Could be a waterfall, a tree, a mountain, no one knows. The legend says that the things lies directly in the middle of the desert, and that many have braved to see it, to touch it. It says that it bears an amazing gift that only the strong may aquire. Knights and journeymen have tried to see it but no one has, I doubt it even exists……
Bomb: Well, still, it’s kind of crazy to think that…
Lukis: Well, no one has ever been to the middle of the desert.
Girl: Either way we are all pretty screwed since even warriors have failed to make it just halfway…
Both Bomb and Lukis turn around.
Bomb: Ok, now who are you?
Girl: My name is Karen, I live in Delban over here. I was in the Delban milatary but I just quit a few days ago to search for another career because I didn’t like it very much but before I could figure it out you guys came and that guy wrecked our town up….
Lukis: What was his problem anyways?
Bomb: I don’t know…..
Karen: Well, he seemed pretty weak..
Bomb: He did?
Karen: I barely threw my boomerang at him.
Bomb: Why did you do it?
Karen: Well he was tearing up my town! I’m not a chicken like those other townees!
Bomb: Why did you come with us?
Karen: Well I just quit my job as a military soldier in Delban and I’m kind of broke and need a job…. You guys looked interesting, theifing seems exciting.
Bomb: Er…. Well why did you quit?
Karen: Just that all the corrupt things they were planning, but I don’t want to get into that now.
Lukis: Hey, let’s get walking.
Everyone got up and began walking through the desert. The desert was just endless piles of sand and rays of extreme heat from the sky.
Lukis: It will be dark in about an hour.
Bomb: We won’t make it….. Impossible….
Lukis: The cool air will revitilize us some at night, we will rest…. The legend also says that the natural beuty of this desert will heal you….
Karen: Interesting…..
They trudged on through the sand and soon the waves of heat became almost unbearable. Everyone wanted to stop so bad but they knew if they ever stopped they would be dead no matter what.
Lukis: Just keep your eyes out for something that looks…. Odd….
Bomb was continuing his walk when he tripped.
Bomb: Wah! Oww!
Bomb jumped up.
Bomb: The sand is hot, what did I trip on?
Karen: God….
Lukis went up to the thing and shuddered.
Lukis: Skeleton, must have been a weak warrior, I am barely tired!
Bomb: Yeah, yeah, let’s get going.
They began walking and Bomb began wondering about Karen.
Bomb: So where you born in Delban?
Karen: Yeah, I’ve lived there like my whole life. There is nothing very interesting about me……
Bomb: What’s up with your tattoo?
Karen: Oh, that, that is my blue sepher. It’s kind of an emotional thing, like when I was little and throughout then I always felt like there was this angel near me always talking to me. Just like an imaginary friend.
Bomb: What did it say?
Karen: Confusing stuff. Like don’t ever touch the green books and remember to visit me once in awhile and just garble that was just nonsense. It was just an imaginary friend and I was just fooling myself but I liked the idea of a blue sepher…..
Bomb: …………………….
As they walked across the same picture for a few minutes Bomb’s mind began to become clearer without all the distractions. All he had left to talk to was himself.
Bomb: (Well, look where we are now, the Lyrian Black Wings dead and you with a guy and a girl you don’t know walking around doing nothing…. Where are you going to go from now? Isn’t there something missing? There must be a point to your life anyways…. You know you have some unfinished business….. You know you got something to do but maybe in time you will figure out what.)
As Bomb was walking down the dunes he felt maybe the answer lay in the desert. With every step he took he felt an energy inside of him. A door or a window opening inside of him, something that would tell him where to go from now, maybe something that would tell him what to do or something he doesn’t know. Give him some purpose to live……. He counted the energy build and build until the sun went down and they stopped.
Lukis: Well, I guess we will sleep on the sand unless someone's got something to sleep on?
Karen: I have two sleeping bags in my backpack. And I got a blanket.
Bomb: I’ll take the blanket.
They unravled their sleeping bags and blankets and set them out across the sand. Lukis and Karen crept into their bags and Bomb laid back on his blanket and looked at the sky.
Lukis: Tommorow morning when the sun comes up we get up and go then and there…..
Karen: Fine…..
Everything became quite and Bomb stared at the sky.
Bomb: (Someone, anyone, just give me a reason to live……)
Bomb watched the night sky and the stars and it all faded into his mind as he drifted into sleep after the exhausting eventful day.
Bomb… You are close… Just stay strong, I can feel you……..
The bright light woke all 3 of them up at the same time. They stretched a little and began rolling up their blankets and sleeping bags. They knew that they needed to get going quickly if they wanted to live. They began walking as Karen stuffed all of it into her brown backpack. It was windier today as they trudged across the same ashy sand today and stared at the same dead picture they had all day yesterday. As they started walking, no one was talking, not even when they passed corpse by corpse, they didn’t talk. They knew what had to be done and there was nothing to talk about. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes seemed to turn into hours as they walked across the desert. Then the wind began blowing.
Bomb: (Sure is getting windy, I think we are close…)
Bomb: You guys think we are close?
Lukis: To what?
Bomb: You know…..
Lukis: That’s a legend man, don’t believe that….
Karen: So this thing was called the natural beauty?
Lukis: Well, some people referred to it as the Rose of the Sand and the Sand Orchard but I doubt it is a plant, and besides, it has many other names but there is no official names….
Bomb: We are close guys, just keep walking.
Lukis: Nothing is there!
The wind began increasing until Karen’s hair whipped against the wind and Bomb’s torn wing wavered violently in the wind.
Bomb: …. *Sigh*
Bomb cringed at the pain and Karen dug into her backpack. She pulled out a long bandage wrap.
Karen: Here, wait.
Bomb stopped and Karen wrapped the bandage around his wing until his wing was wrapped all around and it looked like one long stick.
Bomb: I don’t know….
Karen: It may look stupid but just leave it there.
Bomb: Fine….
Bomb: (I’ll take if off later anyways…..)
The wind got faster and faster until it was hard to stand on two feet. There were tons of sand and dust flying past their faces and as they walked it just seemed to get worse and worse.
Lukis: I can’t…. Go on…. Man…..
They had been walking up what seemed to be the largest dune and were almost at the top.
Karen: Me neither….
Bomb: Guys!
Bomb turned around to face the two and began walking backwards.
Bomb: We will make it! Once we hit that thing we will be ok! I know it’s here! Look, just stay tight, I can feel it so close.
Lukis: It can’t be true…..
Bomb: Well yo- Whoah!
They had reached the top of the dune and Bomb flipped over backwards, the edge of the dune was so steep you would have to slide down because walking would be near impossible.
Lukis: Bomb!
Karen: Whoah!
Lukis and Karen ran to the edge and saw dust flying past as Bomb rolled down the hill.
Bomb: Waaahhh!
Lukis: He’s tumbling down the whole dune, we gotta follow him!
Karen: Wait…..
Karen’s eyes were focused on something else.
Lukis: Holy moly…….
It stretched up higher than anything they had ever seen. The trunk ended and leaves began where they lay atop the dune. The trunk was as wide as a circus tent and the branches stretched up higher than two dunes the size they were on piled on top of eachother. It was a tree in the middle of the desert, they had never seen anything like that. The tree was huge and lively with bright green leaves and young fresh bark. But even more odd than the tree was that it looked enclosed as if in a tornado. Wind twisted around the tree like some sort of shield. A shield that stretched up into the sky and probably never ended. It stretched up into the blue sky, there were no clouds. It twisted around the tree bringing dust and sand with it.
Lukis: The Sand Orchard… The..Natural Beauty, it is true?
Karen: How did we make it here?
Lukis: Bomb!
Both their eyes darted down to Bomb who was still tumbling down the dune into the tornado encased desert tree.
Lukis: Shoot!
Lukis and Karen jumped down after him and tried to run down but it was too steep and then they too fell over and tumbled through the sand of the tremendous trench.
Lukis: Gah!
Bomb now was almost to the bottom. The wind sucked him in like a vacuum and he flew into the tornado. It whipped him in it’s direction like a rope attached to a rocket. He spun around the tree so fast in the cyclone he was around the whole thing in a second and gaining speed. It sucked him round and round until finally he disappeared into it. He fell down and down and crashed onto the sand. He picked himself up quickly and looked up the monster tree.
Bomb: …….. What… Is that….
He was now in the tornado and infront of the tree, he coudl feel the wind trying to grip him abck in. He stuck his hand out to touch the tree. His hand brushed onto the bark and everything faded black. Everything just blurred into nothing.
Welcome Bomb, you made it here quickly…..
Bomb opened his eyes and saw a bright light, a blue light flowing around him. It had a mind to, it was what was talking to him, and the times before.
Light: Bomb, you have made it to the natural beauty of this desert. Only the strong have made it here and only the strong deserve to see what knowledge I have to offer and the to receive the gift I possess. Bomb….. Listen well, everything I say is important, don’t overlook anything of what I show you…. Bomb, you are the hero of a Legend, a Legend that I have overlooked on this world and have watched grow. This Legend is of a boy and his comrades in a fight to save themselves and possibly the world… There is evil to… One you have fought at Delban, he was born to thwart your legend and was born on the intent on killing all of you, even though he is weak…. And, there is one more, even stronger, though that was written in the legend. These two and I come from a land away but close. I can't explain that, somewhat from another dimension. Here, but on another here... A place where the all powerful reign and watch on all of you, it's too complicated to get into exactly what we are and what we do and how we do it right now, but you were born from there into the dimension you are in now. You and the other two evil. You were born to live this Legend and they were born to reign destruction upon your legend. Just like any other Legend you have heard of... The first was born to stop you and the second was born to destroy... Now, with these two, there is something else... There is one problem….. I can’t explain so much to you of now as you must figure much of this on your own, but, there is one evil force the Legend does not speak about that is walking this land now…. I wish I could show you the ancient tablets of this Legend which show all and tell all but I cannot show you it all now…. I have studied all these tablets from my land and they tell all that is your Legend...I will show you one tablet now though…. You may not keep it or touch it, you may look at it, remember what I show you….. This is one of the tablets of the ancient Legend you were born with and all of the tablets together spell the story of your Legend, here is just one. Do not ask where it is from exactly, you would not understand, but this is one of the true tablets your legend was created on….
The light went off to the side and a brown tablet flowed up to Bomb.
Bomb: Who is this?
Light: I cannot tell, all I can say is this is the second evil force the legend said you must face.
The tablet showed a large man, it also showed Bomb. The large man had Bomb in his hands and was crushing him, Bomb’s face was twisted in horror.
Bomb: He’s killing me?!
Light: Not quite Bomb, he is fighting you, and he has immense strength.
The man’s clothes or color could not be detected on the tablet, but he too had wings like Bomb, like Kyle, like Rick, Lance, and the others.
Bomb: But, he is a Winged Lyrian? He has a human body but dragon wings……. But, Agile didn’t have those, he didn’t….
The tablet flew off quickly.
Light: That is all I can tell you but remember that tablet, I may show you more next time we meet. My light is concealed in all that is beautiful, all that is beautiful and natural in all ways….. Bomb…. What you must do next is find the one called Agile. Meet with him again… You must figure out who he is….. And also, you must search for the natural beauty, you must find me again….. In any beauty on this earth I am in, I am the earth’s beauty…. I leave you now with my knowledge, and now I shall give you a gift….. I cannot tell you what the gift is or how to use it, you will figure it out on your own, but…. I will help you use it and you will learn to control it soon, do not fear, you will begin feeling it soon….. I must go now Bomb, time cannot be wasted, find Agile! Find out who he is! You and your friends Lukis and Karen, find him!
The light faded away and everything became deep space. It all began to blur and before Bomb knew it he was waking up… Like it was all a dream….. The darkness turned back to light and the light blurred back into the image of the desert.
Lukis: Bomb……
Bomb: I am back?
Bomb got up, they were all outside the mystic tree tornado now and off to the side.
Karen: We tried to get in to get you but it threw us out in it’s wind barrier….
Lukis: What happened in there?
Bomb: I….. don’t really know…..
Lukis: Bomb…..
Bomb: We must find Agile…. That’s all I will tell you right now, I need to think about all of this…
Lukis: How can we?
Bomb: I don’t know….
Karen: Let us head for Saltis now…….
The 3 got themselves up and back together. They walked to the top of the dune across from the tree just as high as the one on the side they had already passed. They turned around to grab one last look of the beautiful thing as the reach the top of the gargantuan pile of sand. It’s twisting cyclone and beautiful leaves.
Lukis: We must not build a road through here….. This desert does have a beauty to it, and only the strong deserve to see it….. Maybe it was a good idea our plan was foiled….
Bomb and Karen grasped a final look walked off down but Lukis stood for a second staring at it.
Lukis: …….
He hung his head down and trotted down with them. Even though they may have only traveled half the sands they now had the knowledge, and the gift of the desert. They began the journey for Saltis, prepared for a boring journey through sand even though danger was right under their noses……