Despite punishments, constant warnings, and the fact that a monster could kill him every day, he continued to wander the desert.
Why was that?
Why...do I do what I do?
What was his end goal here?
Currently, Free simply explored the desert, chasing after that short adrenaline rush he felt whenever the sand brushed against his bare feet.
Why had he left the village in the first place?
To find change...to escape this bland village.
Somehow, at some point, his original goal had become distorted.
He had become complacent...alright with staying in this village.
Although it definitely wasn't her fault, the reason for this was Evangel.
Because of her, Free's dreams of leaving this village for a bigger city or settlement had evaporated under the non-existent sun.
Being with her made Free think...maybe staying in the village wasn't so bad.
No longer was he roaming the desert to discover deviation in his mundane life...but simply to pass the time.
But now...even Evangel, who had originally known nothing about the outside, had passed him.
Not only had she obtained a relic, something practically impossible to obtain without outside help, but she had become an Eclipser.
With the power of a Lunite, she would surely flee the village and move into the bigger settlements within the realm.
Perhaps...that was where her anger at Evangel stemmed from.
Not because of her betrayal...which could barely even be called a betrayal, but the fact that she had passed him in the dream he had initially desired.
Jealousy.
How much longer was he going to idly waste his life in this village?
Free may have refused to acknowledge it for the past few years, but his explorations had met a brick wall.
Whenever venturing into newer areas farther from the town, he would either have to flee out of fear that a darkness monster would appear or have to come back to the orphanage.
But... as a Lunite, none of those restrictions would apply.
No orphanage owner or teacher would be able to control him.
Darkness monsters wouldn't be able to scare him!
The path forward was clear...wasn't it?
And, he had just had the first step handed to him through the blood-red fragment within the sand dune.
If that wasn't the world telling him to touch an end crystal tomorrow, then what was!?
Glancing backward in the direction of the village, Free sighed before lying down.
Perhaps his disappearance didn't mean much, but Evangel's would.
The orphanage owner probably notified the village leader, considering the talk he had with that Lunite earlier.
Village elders... no, perhaps, even he two towns' Lunites were already searching for him.
Free didn't know much about them, apart from their being blood related to the village leader, an elderly man who had claimed power with the "isolation" faction after the last leader's death.
One had messy blonde hair, with a red streak running through it at the front, and two pitch-black eyes, his pupils barely visible as a result.
Free had only remembered him because, oddly, it looked like he was looking everywhere at the same time due to his lack of pupils.
As for the other one, Free barely remembered her but recalled that she had long, navy-blue hair.
Sighing, Free stood up and... immediatly fell down, tumbling down the dune like a slide.
If he stood around in the open like this, it wouldn't be much time until the two Lunites discovered him, no matter his knowledge of the desert.
But if Free went to any of his bases set up throughout the desert, there was a chance that Evangel and the other girl would find her.
They were clearly after the blood-red fragment he had absorbed, so if they caught him, who knows what would happen?
Standing up and treading forward on the sand, Free mentally recalled the map of the desert he had drawn over a hundred times now.
The dunes there are higher than usual, and the sand is lighter...so I can blend in more.
Deciding on an area, Free gazed up at the near-full moon, recalling Lunite Zekrom's words.
There was going to be more competition than just Evangel and the other girl in finding the crystals...much more.
People he didn't know would be roaming the desert tomorrow...or perhaps right now, attempting to touch an end crystal.
His main challenge wasn't time...but other people.
Unlike Evangel and her mysterious teammate, Free didn't have any way to protect himself if someone stumbled upon him.
...
...
...
As the orange sand below slowly started to turn paler and paler, Free finally dropped to the ground and spread his arms out, making a sand angel.
Looking up at the moon, he could estimate that it would be around another hour and a half until it was completed.
Even if he wanted to, there was no going back now.
In this vast desert, there was no way for Free to shield himself from the moon, besides burying himself, which would also lead to death.
Gazing backward, he made sure there was not a footprint in sight before walking up to a dune, which was somehow even taller than the one containing the blood-red fragment.
Looking around, Free felt as if he was in a jungle, sand dunes stretching upward and blocking his view of the sky.
Taking a deep breath, he sat down, laying his head against one of the sand dunes, and...paused.
...
There were a lot of things about...such as how he was going to escape if he even touched an end crystal or fight if he ran across a person.
Yet...Free's mind was blank.
He was tired.
After nearly being buried alive inside a sand dune, he had discovered that his best friend had passed him in his own goal...and then walked an entire marathon in the cold.
Thus, in the next moment, Free's eyelids dropped, placing him in a world of darkness, and his body grew numb.