Garnet raised a quizzical eyebrow at Daymonn. "You really expect me to believe this is real? It's nothing more than a film set!"

"A film set? Look around you." He chuckled, rolling the crystal orb across his hands before letting it float off into the air and hover before her nose.

Orbs. "Balls." She snapped. "Special balls." And for goodness sake, what was the man wearing? Garnet though. A black leather vest, exposing long, muscled - but well toned - arms. Around his wrists were matching leather bands. And his pants! They were made of very dark, metallic blue material that was almost black. Tight around his hips, then flaring out slightly, and then gathered again at his bare ankles. It was like something a genie would wear!

"Look, dude, I dunno how you got all those balls to float around like that, but I refuse to believe this is real. I'm gonna make myself wake up!" Garnet plopped down into the orange sand, crossed her legs in a meditating position, and hummed.

Daymonn leaned down over her until his long dark hair tickled her nose and she sneezed. "Do you mind?" Garnet snapped. "Keep your hair to yourself please."

Scowling, he sat down beside her and stared. "You're wasting valuable time."

"Time? You mean time exists here? Gees, I was thinking this was gonna be one of those timeless fantasy thingos where everything's eternal!"

"This isn't fantasy!"

Garnet made a face as if he was nuts and looked around her. Various sized orbs floated around at various heights. Some were very high up, others very close to the ground. Sizes varied from no bigger than a pea to the size of a large mansion. They were all in swirls of colour, brilliant and bright, some transparent too. The landscape was composed of sweeping, orange, sand dunes as far as the eye could see, and the sky was green with purple streaks. "Yeah, you're right. This all so very normal."

She sighed. A tennis sized orb made its way around her head, bumping against her forehead. Garnet seized the culprit and threw it with all her strength. "Can you also keep your balls to yourself?"

"I don't have any control of them." Daymonn quipped.

"Yeah, typical."

"Are you ready to go?"

Garnet groaned and got to her feet. "Alright. Let's go, wherever we're going. But keep in mind; I still think I'm dreaming."

"That's fine with me." Daymonn was now standing right in front of her, and Garnet could not remove her eyes from the hollow of his neck and sweeping shoulders. "I also have a little something to show you," he said.

Garnet watched his hand go into his pocket and return back out, enclosing what looked like one of those furry, round cat toys. When he opened his hand and let the thing sit on his palm, it began to slowly uncurl. A small head appeared, resembling that of a cat's and a racoon's with huge green eyes and small pointy ears on the sides. Its body was near ten centimetres long with a lion-like tail and legs shaped like a crocodile's. But unlike a crocodile, this creature was covered in short, fuzzy grey fur.

" THAT?" Garnet looked ready to faint, staring at the wet, pointy nose and short whiskers ... and tiny, white, needle-like teeth.

"This is a tymanid. I named him Roly."

"What the a tymanid?"

"This creature. They exist nowhere else . it is a species of its own, unrelated to anything you may have ever seen. You want to hold him?"

Garnet curled her bottom lip and put up her hands in retreat. "Is it safe? Does it bite?"

"Not if you don't hurt him. Just don't squeeze." Daymonn offered her the creature. Garnet closed her eyes and held out both her hands. She could feel him placing it onto her palms, warm and fuzzy. She opened her eyes.

Tiny claws pressed into her skin while the tymanid's swishing tail tickled. "Wow. I'm tempted to call him Fuzzy Morocca."

"You can. He's yours now."

"What.?" Garnet looked at the creature and it looked back up at her with watery eyes above a small bulb of a nose. "Why are you giving your pet to me? And he already has a name."

"I found him two days ago, he's an orphan. And he's not used to the name I gave him yet, so it doesn't matter." Daymonn patted its head with his index finger. "They're very, very intelligent."

"Alright, so how does Fuzzy Morocca fit into us having to drop the stone of Alorodd into the volcano?" Garnet couldn't keep her eyes off the creature.

"There are beings we will come into contact with on our way to Kronos." Daymonn explained. "These little tymanids can be quite vicious when faced with an enemy, and they're bite is paralysing painful. But don't know who their friends are."

"Well, good." Garnet sighed, smiling. She then carried the tymanid to her shoulder and let it walk off. "He can sit there as we walk. He's so unbelievable warm, though."

"Their heart's pump almost as fast as a hummingbird's wings flap."

"Gees."

"OK, we should get going."

Garnet nodded again and let him lead the way. They trudged through the strange desert at a steady pace in silence. The sky visibly changed hues, from light to dark and all shades in-between, while some of the orbs floated around lazily. The air was thick and had a strange, musky, smoky smell - like nothing she had ever smelled before.

The silence was surreal. There were no birdsongs, no howling winds, no rustling leaves - NOTHING. It was like she was stuck in a twisted dream set in-between two parallel universes where there was . But Garnet continued on walking beside Daymonn for hours until she knew her legs would give way.

"I have have to rest." Placing a hand over Fuzzy Morocca to keep him in place, she lowered herself to sit on the ground.

Daymonn sat down beside her, scratching his head. "We don't have any food or water, you realise. We much continue on to the stream. there'll be some wild berries there, and water."

"And how far away is this stream?"

"About an hour's walk."

"WHAT! Hell no I can't walk another meter, let alone for an hour. Just let me sleep for a while will ya?"

"All right, but don't blame me if you get bitten by strange bugs that live in these sands!"

Garnet waved a hand at him. "Yeah, whatever." She lay down and shut her eyes against the glare of the multicoloured sky. Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind of everything and went into a deep sleep. Garnet dreamed of floating mushrooms, bugs with huge eyes and for some reason, weasels.

Daymonn, bored stiff, watched her sleep. It was worse watching grass grow, but because there was no grass around, he had to take second best. Daymonn whistled a long note and the followed this by quick, high pitched ones, tapping his fingers against his knee. Garnet opened one eye and glared at him as best as she could. But he failed to look her way and she muttered "You woke me up."

"Good, shall we go now?"

Garnet groaned and sat up. "I suppose, since you're just gonna sit there whistling, right?"

"Yep."

"Ok then. off we go."

The tymanid had been curled, fast asleep on her shoulder, but now it was wide awake as they continued on their journey. Sweat was beginning to bead on her forehead and she was developing a stitch in her side. Even through the souls of her shoes, her feet felt scorched by the hot sand. At this point all she wanted to do was go home.

An hour later Garnet almost screamed in joy. Along the horizon were bluey jagged mounds, obviously some type of mountain range. "Is that it?"

"Yes but we should be careful. Other creatures live there, and some are very vicious and territorial."

"Wonderful - what joy. I don't suppose they'll invite us in for lunch then, I'm starved."

"You're not funny."

"Well if you grow a sense of humour than I will be!" She snapped loudly.

Daymonn murmured something under his breath and Garnet raised her voice even more. "WHAT!? SORRY, DIDN'T QUITE CATCH THAT COULD YOU REPEAT?"

"I said be quiet."

"WHY?"

A glass-shattering squeal came from up above, followed by the feathery sound of enormous flapping wings. A monstrous sized bird loomed right above them. "Duck!" Daymonn cried.

Garnet threw herself to the ground and raised her arms over her head. "That ain't no duck, trust me!" A shadows swept over their huddled forms as the bird continued its screeching. The tymanid made a strange clicking noise in its throat and fled off of Garnet's shoulder. "Hey! Where are you off to?"

"We have to run for it!" Daymonn seized her arm and pulled her up in a flat-out sprint. Garnet caught sight of the creature swooping down and grabbing Fuzzy Morocca between its talons. "No! We can't leave him there!"

"He'll be fine! Come ON!"

They ran hand in hand, the bird soaring above, still clinging onto the tymanid. Garnet's breath caught in her throat and her lungs seemed to burn a hole through her chest. Suddenly the ground gave way beneath her feet and she plummeted down. They had unknowingly come up on a huge ravine.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Garnet screamed all the way down, flailing her arms as her backside scraped against the sand behind her. It seemed as if she were in the middle of a dust storm - it filled her mouth, ears and eyes and even her nose so that she found it difficult to breathe coupled with the rushing air.

It seemed like forever before she thumped onto level ground, Daymonn following close behind her. The clouds of sand settled out slowly around them. She coughed and spat, rubbing her eyes with clenched fists. She felt the tiny particles itching her scalp.
"Are you alright?" Daymonn asked.

"Well I have no broken bones."

The shadow fell upon them again and Garnet groaned. "Not again. wait, it's falling. what the?"

Sure enough, the giant bird was a limp rag doll as it fell to the ground with a thwack a little way off.

"Come quick." He got up and ran to the bird. Rolling her eyes, Garnet followed. Daymonn studied the feathery creature. "The tymanid must have bit it."

"Fuzzy?" She raised her eyebrows, looking around. "Well, where is he?"
"Right there."

The tymanid struggled from underneath the bird, making that clicking sound again. It zipped up Garnet's leg and settled itself onto her shoulder again. She studied the bird, which was the size of a car. "It looks like an oversized eagle."