After all that chaos and the rapid shifts in events, Sami finally decided to speak up!
He pressed his lips tightly together, clenched his fists, and let out a suppressed shout:
"Damn the both of you! Explain to me what's going on, and stop crying as if it's the end of the world!?"
Senn looked at him with sharp eyes, brimming with tears; she looked beautiful despite her sorrow. Her gaze was bold, but her voice held a tremor as she screamed back at him in a reflexive retort: "Damn you, you jinx! Couldn't you have found a better time to show up?! Now, of all times! What a farce!"
Sami shouted back just as loudly:
"What 'showing up'? What are you talking about? And who do you think I am? Damn everything! My mind can't process this!?"
Suddenly, Senn fell silent and looked at Lam, who exchanged a glance with her as if they had been struck dumb once more. Then she looked back at Sami, let out a hopeless sigh, but composed herself. She lifted her collapsed body from the floor, took a deep breath, and began wiping away her tears... while Lam also approached.
Sami watched them in silence from a distance, his back pressed against the wall, rearranging his thoughts, trying to understand what was happening.
When they finally stood still, Senn looked at Lam; they seemed to have a silent conversation. Then she turned her gaze back to Sami and said in a coherent yet bewildered voice:
"You are the Knight of the Moon, right?"
Sami gave her a full look of disbelief, raising both his hands and his eyebrows in a gesture of surrender. Of course, he had no answer to her question.
"Wait, don't tell me you don't even know...! Damn! Was our fate truly in the hands of this ignorant person...? It seems our hellish decision wasn't so bad after all now."
Lam cleared his throat before saying: "Well, this is common knowledge among us, but perhaps you don't know it since you're from outside this desert. But you must realize that this desert is endless in every direction. Also, the sun above affects all desert dwellers mentally. If they stay under its rays for too long, it can make them hallucinate, or worse... it might turn them into monsters."
The wave of information hit Sami like a shock. His eyes widened, and he fired off a quick question: "So, who is this 'Knight of the Moon' you're calling me?"
Senn sighed. She gave him a hopeless look, her eyelids swollen from crying, and said:
"Well, the Knight of the Moon is a legend passed down by our ancestors and inherited within the Temple of the Moon, in the heart of the city. The legend says that one day, a knight from outside the desert will come, bearing a name different from others, unaffected by the Hellish Sun, to end the Eternal Sun and restore the lost radiance to the Lunar Desert."
She took a moment of silence before continuing in an irritated voice: "But ridiculously, all those who believed in that legend have already been dead for a long time. With the new generations, we began to doubt the whole thing. And after many attempts, we decided to obtain the Key to the Temple of the Moon ourselves...?! And now, after we did that, you suddenly appear... in such a stupid and unjustified way! Damn you! I'm starting to hate you more!?"
Sami remained frozen in place like a stone statue, drowning in the sea of new information. His mind was trying to process everything.
Sami had always been adept at solving puzzles, but now he felt as if the pieces were starting to fit together in a terrifying way.
He sighed quietly, while screaming internally: My God... this explains a lot! It seems my first ordeal isn't that bad... this is a story I already know... Yes, the story of the Temple of the Moon... It's a common story among us! I've even read it before! Well, although what the girl said is a bit different, it clarifies so much! The reason the lake monster attacked, the strange key I got... And also, there's something odd... all of their names are just Arabic letters... I noticed that now. And also, it seems they are right, because the route they took never led us to the stone giants... But there are so many vague gaps! Everything is unclear... Ah! Damn! I need to think more!
Suddenly, the thread of his thoughts was cut off by Senn's face, which had approached far closer than it should have without him noticing. Her face was only an inch away from his!
Sami regained his senses and realized he wasn't safe, quickly retreating backward while his ears turned red. He looked at them with suspicious eyes.
They were looking at him with eyes that were shattered, yet held a new spark...
And that was the thing Sami feared most.
Yes, there was hope in their eyes.
Sami screamed internally:
Damn! I take it back! It's never easy!
To be continued...