Zemen's Daring Quest

People spoke of the desert. But they didn't speak of it often. They liked to forget that it had happened.

The village was relatively new, but sparsely populated. It was a small place, with a poor economy and a struggling population. A few men were employed as miners, and some women worked in the local storehouse. But for the most part, life was hard and brutal, and people died young.

It was the note that had been posted on the door that had drawn me here. Bizarrely, it hadn't been written on paper, but on a weathered piece of stone. "Zemen, healer," it read, "you are needed here." I remember staring at it for a long while before I folded it and put it in my pocket.

I'd heard of people using water to write things before - my old master used to do it when he needed a fresh start - but this seemed different somehow. The fact that someone had made an effort to find stone and carve into it intrigued me more than anything else. And so I'd packed up my bags and set out for the small town in the desert called Tarnak-el-Safra with its population of hardly two hundred souls.

The heat from the sun beat down mercilessly on my head as I walked through the sandy wastes surrounding Tarnak-el-Safra, making me regret my decision not to hire a carriage to get me there. Not that I could afford one anyway; my funds were running low after taking another job as a healer in Lattash several weeks ago, and I hadn't quite started earning money yet here in Tarnak-el-Safra.

I looked around myself as I walked past dusty sand dunes towards the town. My footsteps stirred up small clouds of dust as they landed among clumps of yellowed grass and green plants that still managed to grow despite the harsh climate of Tarnak-el-Safra's surroundings.

Even though I'd heard about this place before I'd left Lattash, I hadn't really known what to expect from it; but what I saw now was rather disappointing compared to what I had imagined. The buildings were mostly ruins or half-finished buildings, their doors hanging off their hinges or shutters missing from their windows letting light in where dust shouldn't be able to enter. A few larger buildings seemed intact, but even those looked like they were about ready to fall down because of disrepair and neglect.

I kept going until I reached the main street leading into what seemed like the central square of Tarnak-el-Safra's center where there was a small building with pillars holding up its roof standing in the middle surrounded by other smaller buildings surrounding it like spokes around an axle - a well? There were people moving around inside these buildings - some working on repairs just like everywhere else seemed to be in this town - some carrying supplies from here to there...and others just walking by with no apparent direction or purpose at all that could be seen from where I stood looking down at them from above on top of one of Tarnak-el-Safra's ruined walls overlooking the main street leading into its center square.

Suddenly one face among those others caught my attention: A man stood leaning against one of the ruined houses' walls directly opposite from where I stood watching him below me from atop the remains of Tarnak-el-Safra's wall next to its gatehouse tower which looked like it had once been covered in white paint but now was covered in dust instead which together with all other colors made up Tarnak-el-Safra's characteristic brownish hue without which this place would have looked considerably less dull than it actually did right then during my first visit there.

He wore ragged clothes which he seemed very familiar with judging by how comfortable he appeared wearing them; his eyes were closed behind dirty glasses while his head drooped forward slightly under his tousled black locks covering most of his face except for his nose sticking out between them which suddenly made him look like an ostrich trying to hide itself behind its own feathers for safety against whatever dangers might lurk out there in front of him waiting for him: Melancholy personified! How could anyone not feel empathy towards such sadness? What could possibly be causing him such pain? Was there any way to help him? Those thoughts were racing through my mind as suddenly he opened his eyes beneath his black locks and looked straight up at me! For a moment we stared straight into each other's eyes before suddenly he smiled broadly showing his yellow teeth and waving enthusiastically for me, seemingly happy about seeing me again after so long...although we'd only met minutes earlier inside one of Tarnak-el-Safra's many empty houses when he handed me that strange note bearing only my name on it...but who was this man? And why did he seem so happy seeing me again? Had he been waiting for me back then inside Tarnak-el