Aesir's Perfect Dilemma

The terracotta wind blew, sending the dust of dead plants into a swirling frenzy. The dry gusts stirred up into a gale, bringing with it the loose soil from previously dried out hills and mounds. Aesir raised his arm to shield his eyes from the blinding sand storm and looked around for any sign of life.

It had been a month since he had left his home, the Oasis of Thirst, to venture out into the barren world. He had traveled far, following the river that ran for hundreds of miles through the desert. As he journeyed further south, the river had grown smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared altogether. The land was flat now; no more hills or mounds in sight. There was nothing to drink here and Aesir knew that he must continue onwards if he wanted to find water.

"I'm going to die."

Aesir lowered his arm and turned around to see one of his friends standing behind him. He had not heard them approaching over the storm but somehow they were there. The other person was carrying a small bag slung over their shoulder and they swayed back and forth as they stood still while staring at him. Aesir smiled when he saw Ixarie's beaming face.

"What are you doing here?" asked Aesir with a chuckle. "You should be working on your project for school."

Ixarie shrugged their shoulders and said: "It's boring there." Then they added: "You're going to die too."

Aesir frowned when he heard this comment and said: "Well... yes... but we both knew this would happen eventually." They had all known from the beginning what would happen when the planet died; it was not something that wasn't talked about among them anymore. The other children just hid it better than Ixarie did when things got tough.

"Why do you say that?" asked Ixarie as they tilted their head to one side and regarded Aesir curiously.

Aesir sighed as he took a step closer towards Ixarie so that they could speak without shouting over the storm: "Because we're dying!" He spread out his arms wide while saying this as if it were some kind of revelation that would force its way into Ixarie's mind like an epiphany. It was clear from Ixarie's blank expression that this did not work though so Aesir continued on: "The planet is dying! We have no food or water anymore! We're going to die if we can't find something soon." There was silence for a minute as he waited for Ixarie to understand what he meant but instead they just nodded in agreement with his words before saying: "You're going to die because you don't know where anything is!"

Aesir stared at them with widened eyes then shook his head while laughing before walking off through the sand storm again towards where the river once was. When he glanced over his shoulder after walking a few steps, he could see that Ixarie was still standing where he had been with their arms now folded across their chest while looking up at the sky as if thinking deeply about something important before jumping when someone tapped them on their shoulder behind them. Aesir rolled his eyes again before continuing on alone through the endless desert wasteland in search of something - anything - that could save them from certain death.