Solo A journey begins.

[Sjuhnaat]

Fall 21st, year 512.

"Oh relax, This won't be difficult at all!"
This is a story of a kid named Sjuhnaat.
"Sjuhnaat, you shouldn't do this. You don't even know to fight. What if you stumble upon a thug or a beast of some sort? What would you do then?"
For a long time, he had planned to leave his tribe like his father did. Although much younger than when his father left the tribe, he stubbornly believes he's ready for the trip.
"Improvise, obviously."
With an irrational determination, he's prepared to leave behind the only person that ever truly mattered to him; His mother.
"That is your plan? How will you improvise your way out of the stomach of a hungry desert-beast?"
He had been waiting most of his life for this day. The day where his self-proclaimed 'epic' journey would begin. His guardian owl, Gohnywa, wasn't very thrilled about this 'epic' journey of his. As the only one aware of his decision, he is continuously trying to make him stay with his tribe, but to no avail.
"Sure. I can handle a stomach or two."
Negligent and thrilled by the risk of his decision, Sjuhnaat was hastily packing his horse. He didn't want to have to look at his mothers face when he took off. If there was anything that could break his determination to begin his journey, it was her.
"Then what about your mother, Sjuhnaat?"
He and his guardian were communicating by the use of thoughts. This way, no one could hear the argument they were having, which played in Sjuhnaat's favor.
"She'll be fine. I know it!"

After a few moments of packing, he happily put up the last pair of flint and tinder into his backpack. He swung it onto his back, before mounting the horse from the left side. Sitting comfortably in the stirrup, he looked up into the evening sky.
"This is the beginning of something great. No doubt."
A tear slowly crawled out of his eye. The thought of his mother when she noticed he was gone had popped into his mind, her tears unbearable even if they weren't real. Yet.
Gohnywa wasn't a single bit happy about this.
"Sjuhnaat, snap out of it! You will die for sure if you travel into the desert!"
Sjuhnaat simply pretended not to have heard his words.
"Don't worry mother. I'll make you proud."
Kicking the sides of the horse, it began galloping as fast as it could.
"Sjuhnaat! Call for me only when you regret, then I will help you come back to the tribe."
With the wind blowing through Sjuhnaat's hair, he simply twisted his upper body around to face his guardian still sitting by his tent and waved goodbye.
"Don't come if you don't dare, Owley!"
Gohnywa glared into the horizon, seeing Sjuhnaat slowly disappear in the distance.
"You better not die..."

[Sjuhnaat]

Riding through the deserts, Sjuhnaat had a pre-chosen destination. Yahebah. He had heard a lot of good rumors about the inhabitants, and saw it as a perfect test of his skills and his potential to seek out the city of Yahebah. On the map, it looked like the city was close, but reality couldn't be more different.

After couple of hours, around midnight, Sjuhnaat could be found sitting on the ground next to his horse, his father's map in his hands.
"So, horsey, how long can you go without water I wonder?"
The horse obviously didn't reply to his question. With a slightly exhausted snort, the horse began examining the sandy terrain very closely.
"I should set up camp for the evening, right horsey?"
With a smile on his face, he reached out for his backpack and took out his tent equipment. Something was missing. Something vital.
"The pole! Where's the pole? Damn!"
With a perplexed look on his face, he stared at the insides of the bag, realizing that the backpack was too little to carry a pole in the first place. Perhaps he had put it besides him and forgot to pack it up on the horse?
After trying to remember what had happened for a moment, he decided not to let it bother him.
"I'm just going to find another way to put up the tent!"
Searching his backpack, he soon found something that reminded of a pole - his fishing rod. Without even considering the risk of having his fishing rod breaking in half while asleep, he picked up the rod with a smile on his face.
"I found a solution horsey!"

Half an hour later, his makeshift tent had been made. It was very loose and looked like it was about to fall apart all the time, but Sjuhnaat simply ignored that.
"There we go! Goodnight horsey!"
Inside his tent, he had rolled out his bed and packed out his blanket, all ready to go. And so, Sjuhnaat put his head on his bed, slowly falling asleep.
"I'll show you... Gohnywa..."
He mumbled before falling into a deep sleep.

[Sjuhnaat]

Fall 22nd, year 512.
Day 2 of his adventure.

Slowly but surely, the fishing rod that had replaced a pole was moving with the help of the desert winds. Slowly, it was being pulled out of the sand, and suddenly, it popped right out of the ground. The skin-walls of the tent collapsed right on top of Sjuhnaat, making for quite a surprise wake-up call.
"Bah!"
He exclaimed. Thinking he had been assaulted by someone, he started wrestling with the leather, his heart beating faster than the beat of a festival drum.
"Who's there? I'll beat you up! I'll rip out your throat out and, and..."
It didn't take him long to realize that he was fighting with his tent.
"Oh."
He got up on all fours and crawled and pushed his way out of the collapsed tent. Next to the tent was his horse, all covered in sand.
"Oh horsey, I'm so sorry. I'll clean you up right away!"
He hurried inside of the collapsed tent and came out with a brush in his hand.
"Don't worry horsey, I'll clean you up like a professional."

The rest of the morning passed by with him brushing his horse, him serving some of his food to him and his horse and packing up his equipment. With the map in his hands, he took a quick glimpse of his surroundings. Sand. Sand. More sand. A bit of sand. Oh right, and then some sand. He knew that this meant they would have to travel by the use of their intuition until they found some kind of landmark. With a loud sigh, he swung his backpack onto his back and mounted his horse again.
"There's only one way to do this. Forward, horsey!"
With a kick to the horses sides, it sprung to life and galloped forward.

While traveling, the silence of the desert began to seep into his mind, pictures of his mother constantly appearing in his mind. In the beginning, the silent desert winds seemed calm and friendly, but after several hours horse-riding, it began to feel like torture. Unlike when he did The Search, he had left his mother unaware of his whereabouts and what he was doing. Guilt was the only thing that could explain what he was feeling. Later afternoon, he broke out in tears.
"Mother... Mother!"
The horse stopped very suddenly, shocked over the yelling from its rider. It was so surprised that it stood up on two legs, throwing Sjuhnaat down onto the ground with a loud thump.
"Aouch, that hurt! Stupid horse..."
The horse turned around, giving him a confused stare. He didn't look back though. He was silently glaring into the desert sand, tears falling down his cheeks.
"No! It will not end like this!"
With a forced smile, he sprung back on his feet, wiped off his tears and posed with his fist pointing towards the sky.
"I'll become an adventurer! I'll become a survivor! I'll become a hero! One day. One day!"
Without wasting any more time, he jumped up on the horse, kicking it so hard that it hurt it, speeding it up once again.

From now on, whenever he looked in the horizon, he saw his future. Whenever he looked behind him, he saw his past. When he looked at his future, he saw glory and wealth. When he looked at his past, he saw isolation and boredom. The path was set, and his will remained strong. The only way to go was forward, towards Yahebah!

[Sjuhnaat]

Fall 24th, year 512.
Day 3 of his adventure.
Time: Evening.

With an almost devastated look on his face, Sjuhnaat looked at his map and into his backpack. Comparing the distance they had already traveled, it was obvious that he was going to run out of food a long time before he reached his destination. With food enough for one and a half day if he had to feed both himself and his horse and a travel time of at least 4 days, he realized that his skills would be put to the test. What was even worse, was that they were about to cross a dangerous area of the desert in not too long - at least it seemed to be the most dangerous area in the whole desert, with cities such as Eloab and Hai lingering immediately next to it.
Not wanting to give up and beg for help from his guardian, he clenched his fist tightly, prepared to sacrifice his very life to keep his honor and his dream intact.
"Horsey, I have a plan."
He smiled widely and confidently look up towards the eyes of his horse.
"You better not disappoint me."

His plan was to starve himself so that the food could last longer, and in exchange, make sure the horse is properly fed at all times. His plan was simple and showed just how determined he was to succeed - unafraid to feel the pain of an empty stomach or a dry mouth, he was prepared to make sure he would arrive in some shape or form in Yaheba.
"You can have the food and the water. But you better get me to Yaheba before I die! You hear me?"
The only alternate plan he could think of, was to travel to Eloab, Hai, or to simply rely on luck, which would mean him stumbling upon an oasis or a cactus-plantation. Even he thought that those plans were too reckless or stupid - suicidal, even.

Feeling like the man with a plan, he mounted his horse and traveled into the horizon once again. The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Dull, even.