Endless Seaquest: Vrezal's Journey on Kepler-176

The brutal sun beat down on the rocky wastelands of Kepler-176, baking the ground and turning the air into a dry, smothering miasma. Two figures trudged across the desert lands on their way to the City of Skennderneul. The younger of the two, a wiry man with sandy hair and a face that had seen many years of hard living, sighed and shaded his eyes from the blinding light.

"I don't know why I let you talk me into this again," he muttered. "Why did we have to leave so early? It's not like the sun is going to set any sooner just because we're walking through this infernal wasteland."

"Because we want to get there before nightfall," replied his companion, an older man with neatly trimmed beard and hair that was as white as his long robe. He adjusted his wide-brimmed hat and squinted at a patch of shade ahead of them. "If we can make it to those boulders over there before sundown, we should be fine."

"You say that every time we head out for another trip," grumbled the other man as he trudged after his mentor. "And what does 'fine' even mean in this place?" He suddenly lurched forward as he tripped on something in the sand. "What in all the hells..." he exclaimed as he fell flat on his face. As he rolled onto his back, he saw a large rock sticking out of the sand only inches away from where he had been standing moments before. "A little warning next time would be nice," he grunted as he dusted himself off. The old man chuckled softly and walked over to where his apprentice lay sprawled out in the sand.

"A special gift from one of my students," said the old man with a grin as he reached down and picked up a small stone tablet with some writing etched into it. "This one was made by Rilkfirnd, but I think this might be Sirsein's work." He handed it over to his apprentice who propped himself up against a rock and examined it carefully, then looked up at the old sage questioningly.

"They're...they're mine?" stammered Vrezal Sakennar as he recognized some of his own writings in the tablet. "But I thought...oh no, if Rilkfirnd is making these then something must have happened to Sirsein!" He jumped up from where he sat and began pacing back and forth between two boulders that were blocking the harsh sunlight from reaching them directly. "We have to go back now! We can't go any further until we understand what happened!" He paused for a moment when he heard his master chuckle softly again, then turned around and glared at him angrily. "I'm serious!" he shouted angrily. "Sirsein has been my best student ever since I started teaching her philosophy back in Tivlindtir nearly twenty years ago! She was extraordinary in so many ways...and she was always so good with her spelling! What if something terrible happened to her while they were making these signposts?"

The older man patted him gently on his shoulder and pointed towards the sun which was slowly disappearing below the horizon behind them. "Vrezal Sakennar," he said quietly, "it's too late for us to turn back now." He walked over towards their pack which was sitting on top of a boulder nearby and pulled out a few pieces of bread which were wrapped tightly in cloth. He handed one over to Vrezal and took a bite out of another one himself, then wiped some crumbs off his beard and looked at their surroundings inquisitively. Although they had left early that morning, they hadn't gone very far before Vrezal had gotten impatient again and wanted to turn back for some mysterious reason that escaped him for now. He could see some rocks sticking out of the sand nearby, but otherwise there wasn't much else around except for more sand and rocks stretching out towards the setting sun in all directions until everything blended together into a sea of orange hues shrouded by dark haze that covered everything within view from above. There wasn't even any wind today - not even so much as a soft breeze - which just made things worse than usual for him. But Vrezal didn't seem too bothered by it judging by how calmly he finished eating his piece of bread without saying anything else or even looking anywhere else apart from directly ahead at their destination which was still quite far away according to him. The old man sighed heavily and wiped some sweat off his forehead before taking another bite out of his second piece of bread while glancing once more at their surroundings with tired eyes that were starting to lose focus under all this heat and sand getting blown everywhere around them by an invisible force that tried its hardest not to let him rest no matter how desperately he needed it right now...but there would be no respite here today unless they got closer to Skennderneul soon enough before nightfall came upon them unexpectedly; time was running short already thanks to this never-ending sun beating down on them relentlessly all day long without mercy or compassion for anyone who dared venture beyond civilization near these regions where nothing grew except for rocks and sand covered desert wastes stretching out for miles around them where only death roamed free under blistering temperatures far above one hundred degrees Celsius all year round with constant winds whipping mercilessly through these desolate lands blowing sand into everything unfortunate enough to stand still long enough for them to pass through unimpeded...his thoughts trailed off slowly into nothingness as everything around him began to blur together into one indistinguishable mass while they finally entered Skennderneul's borders after trudging through this hellish land all day long only hours before dusk would fall upon them unannounced...