Scorching Sands by the Shivering Seaside

"Min-hyuk, come join this remote raid!" Yureum called out as she gestured to her boyfriend of four years. "lilbabybunnyboo and darkdeath32 are waiting for us at the Bandar Roti Pioneer Mall gym!"

Min-hyuk tore his attention away from the view outside the car window and grabbed his phone. He and his girlfriend started playing Maxemon Woah together around two years into the relationship, a few months before the vaccine for the pangolin plague finally became available to people in United Brancaland under 35 and physical distancing from the highly contagious disease was no longer necessary.

"Alright babe, it's a Wojaxantis right? Lemme pull out my Shiny Scribbidoo and mega-evolve that bad boi." With 5 seconds to spare, he joined the raid and focused on the flickering icons on his phone screen.

Min-hyuk and Yureum were in the sprawling Baie de Benioff, accompanying their friends Pa-jung and Sapna on a multi-day business trip to the MyFace global headquarters. Pa-jung decided to schedule a two-day backpacking trip along a secluded section of the Tihamah state coast a couple hours south of the bay after the trip, and decided to invite his non-Myface friends from Shirabad instead of his colleague Sapna. Min-hyuk knew that Sapna wasn't the most outdoorsy person, but he couldn't help but wonder if Pa-jung had some ulterior motives for leaving her out (possibly pertaining to a potential special someone he'd met online).

At any rate, Min-hyuk and his girlfriend had some time to kill while Pa-jung was wrapping up his conference stuff, so they spent the afternoon casually strolling along the palm trees of Saint-Yousef playing Maxemon Woah and pointing out dogs that passed them by.

The next day, Min-hyuk found himself staring out the window as a passenger in Pa-jung's rental car, gazing at the grey surface of the ocean and the steaks of light blue in the sky amidst a backdrop of white and silver. Gone was the warm sunshine of yesterday in Saint-Yousef, and with it went Min-hyuk's sanguine cheekiness. The gloomy seaside backdrop mentally transported him back to Shirabad after a light February rain.

Min-hyuk felt a bluster of ocean chill hit his right arm as Yureum opened the passenger door. The bulk of his biceps and pecs couldn't stop the coolness of the outside air from dampening his spirit. "You know, I figured it'd be a bit warmer than this when I heard we were going to the Pinnacles Cove two hours south of the Baie," Min-hyuk sulked.

"Come on, Min-hyuk," Yureum reassured him. "We've never done anything outdoorsy with Pa-jung before!" Her teeth shined from inside the hood of her jacket. She hugged him briefly before beckoning him to come out and brave the chill. "I brought an extra windbreaker if you wanna put it on, although it might be a little tight." She winked and playfully nudged his shoulder.

Min-hyuk smiled briefly and considered putting the windbreaker on. But the floral design was a bit off-putting to him, and he didn't want to come across as weird to Pa-jung's date, so he shrugged it off. "I'll be fine, babe. Your love and the pork belly from Pa-jung's H-BBQ rec are all I need to stay warm."

Four hours later, Min-hyuk found himself regretting that statement. It turned out Pa-jung's new lady friend was surprisingly adept at traversing slippery rocks and muddy ocean trails. It hadn't rained for around a month, but the near-daily fog of the Central Tihamah coast meant most of the trail was as wet as it would've been in perpetually drizzling Shirabad. Pa-jung managed to keep up, as his lower center of gravity proved helpful for twisting and bending among the nooks and crannies in the trail. But beefy Min-hyuk, who was carrying the lion's share of his and Yureum's stuff, lagged behind, and even fell into a beachside puddle at one point. Yureum couldn't help but giggle at how he got a slick of mud on his perfectly coiffed hair.

The clouds gradually cleared throughout the late afternoon, revealing streaks of gold and dark gray as the setting sun cast its rays on the fractured clouds above the ocean. They had made it to the stopping point for the night. By the time Min-hyuk got there, Pa-jung and his lady friend had already pulled out their Violetarian kimbap made from leftover ingredients at the MyFace World Headquarters kitchen. Each bite into the room temperature layers of rice and seaweed was permeated with the wholesome umami of the ocean and the salty chill of the onshore breeze. As nourishing as the was, Min-hyuk longed for a bowl of piping hot ramen. Still, Min-hyuk couldn't help but smile as he saw how Pa-jung and his date gently teased each other and fed each other bites of their kimbap. It reminded him of the honeymoon phase he went through with Yureum. And almost made up for how underwhelming the hike had been thus far.

As he settled for the night in his tent, an emotionally soaked Min-hyuk found himself wringing the metaphorical sand out of his boxers. To his surprise, his usually upbeat and energetic girlfriend had started snoring gently almost the moment she slid into the king-sized sleeping bag. "I had no idea she was even more worn out than I was," Min-hyuk thought to himself as he glanced over at his partner and turned onto his back. His legs brushed against the slightly damp cool of the unslept-in sleeping bag.

Without warning, Min-hyuk found himself standing in the scorching sands of Death Wadi under clear skies and a blazing sun. He was perched in the middle of a sand dune, without anyone else in sight or his backpack, but still dressed in the winter hiking outfit he had worn the previous day. The excitement of getting to experience a little warmth soon faded as he realized he was separated from Yureum and Pa-jung.

"Hey, where did everyone go?" he called out. With nothing in sight except for the horizon, Min-hyuk shrugged and scanned the dunes for any sort of shade. He wanted a reprieve from the chill, but he also didn't want to get heatstroke. There was a spot of green in the valley below with a stand of trees casting a shadow over half of the oasis. Upon spotting the shadow, Min-hyuk scampered over down the dune in his hiking boots, trying not to get too much sand in them.

After an hour or so, Min-hyuk made it to the patch of green in the valley. Despite his best efforts (and being aware that he was dreaming), he had to stop and dump the sand out of his shoes every 15 minutes, as he had done while hiking the day before. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was until he made it to the oasis. Even though there was no sign of anyone else in the valley, there was a disposable water bottle sticking out in a hole in one of the cottonwood trees. Without thinking, Min-hyuk reached out to grab the bottle, positioned the opening over his mouth, and unscrewed the cap.

Instead of drops of water, out came a scroll with black pen writing on it. Min-hyuk's bewilderment grew as he realized there was no water in the bottle. "Goddamnit, who the hell stuck this empty water bottle here? I knew this was too good to be true!"

After sulking and screaming into the void for a minute or two, he wondered if the oasis and the water bottle were a manifestation of his momentary thoughts and desires. " There's no way a water bottle would appear out of the middle of nowhere like this..." Still wondering where his backpacking companions were in the dream world, he picked the scroll up and unfurled it. Clearing his throat, he started reading out loud, and was taken aback at how well the message reflected his present state of mind:

Engulfed in the desert's parched silence, I was nothing but another grain of sand in the wind.