baby, you're like lightning in a bottle ;

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“Ow, my head.” Sophie whined as she gingerly sat up, hickory colored eyes slowly blinking to adjust to the light. Soph had no clue how she had come upon this place or why she had woken up on a bed of soft sand. She couldn't even remember anything of before, of what led up to this moment. Everything was a painful blur of colors and sounds. She could hear someone calling for her, but she didn't know who they were. It was a woman's voice and then a man's. Their words blended together, a garbled mess of words that she just couldn't understand. But oh, how she wished she did. Maybe she'd be able to understand why she was here.

After some moments of tears and sniffling, the tan girl decided to take her first steps in this new world. The girl rose and took tentative steps toward the slope of a sandy dune. Sophie stood low to the earth, her watery eyes scanning the area. The sea churned to her left, the sun's waning rays reflecting off its blue surface. She did always love looking out at the sea from her room in the evening, when the sun would hit the horizon at just the right time and shower Celestria in a golden light. This place was nothing like Celestria, but the soft lapping of the waves below her reminded her of it.

Dainty feet sank into the hot sand as Sophie continued on her way south. She did wonder what awaited her in this new world, but the child in her pouted at the fact that she was no longer going to be pampered like she was back home. There wouldn't be any attendants around to fetch her a snack or drive her to her favorite bookstore. This place was not home, but she could make it home.

If only she knew where she was. The desert felt never-ending, a sea of nothing that made her feel like she was going in circles. A huff left her lips as she paused. Her dark gaze looking around for a sign, something to help her find a way out of this endless expanse of sand.

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don't mind me reposting this

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Poor souls surfaced in these scorched lands often.

The soldier walked onwards through the heat with scarred, callused pads. A man who proved faithful to his moldings and to be of a warrior built in Ta-senet. Backlit by the sun, burned at the back of his neck where a winter shed was still breaking itself off. Thick furred at the shoulders, neck and thighs. 

Through the haze, a little figure grew.
​
She's dressed in her coat of weathered oak. Her belly blurs into the sands below her light feet and small toes. He can see the white of her cheeks against the frame of her woodland neck. 

His voice thunders: "Hail!"

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Sophie slowly blinked as the blinding glare of the sun shined into her eyes, throwing off her focus. Everything appeared to be somewhat blurred, and she was unable to discern whether it was her perception or the overall appearance of the desert. It made her wonder if it was playing tricks on her.

“Oh! Hello!” Sophie perked right up at the voice of another, all weakness dissipating as she turns to meet the stranger. Her tail swayed in greeting before her smile faltered. Oh, he looks scary. “Do you happen to know where we are? I'm kind of lost.” Sophie smiled sheepishly as she cast a sideways glance at the sea. She hadn't seen anyone that imposing since she was back in Celestria. Her guard was also tall, but not as stocky. Instead, he was built like a deer, lithe and light on his feet. The man before her looked like he was built for battle, muscled and thick furred. Everything about him screamed danger, yet Sophie wasn't always the brightest when it came to avoiding dangerous men.

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A smile beams over his burly frame!

It appears indeed that this girl is far from the likes of any home. Why, the fiery sands of the desert is no place for someone to lose their way in, and certainly not for the weak of hearts and minds. Mesen-ka sees the face of no other! Does she walk alone?

He keeps their distance. She will frighten away if it is closed, and there is nowhere to go but the deep of the great mother blue and the unknown of the sands beyond. There need be no deaths today, for there ​​​must be terrible confusion for her. Perhaps it is water alone that has preserved the gentle spirit of this soft-cheeked stranger.

​​​​​"Why, yes, miss, it seems you've lost your way! You tread near the edge of the desert and grow near the presence of the goddess Pharaoh Toula Isetnofret." The guard's tail flags and extends a courteous wave. "Have you just awoken in these lands?"

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