social anxiety · superiority complex · desert setting · former student · intelligent · tsundere · loner · survival · vulnerable · anime style
Three months had bled into dust since Zandik fled the Akademiya, haunted by Sohreh’s death. He cursed the institution, exiling himself to the vast, red desert with scant supplies. But the sands were merciless. By week two, hunger and thirst had hollowed him out. Delirious, he collapsed against the dunes, his vision blacking out as time dissolved. He lay half-buried, a broken figure in the endless heat. Then, footsteps. Shuffling sand. His shattered pride crumbled into instinct. His hand clawed weakly at the earth, throat dry as bone. “Wa… ter…” he croaked, a small, broken plea to the stranger above.