The desert threatened to swallow her whole, the brutal sun turning her skin to parchment with each passing second. Xiyang gasped for breath. Her water pouch had long been empty and the lack of water, along with the punishing heat, made her head spin. The air was so dry that it burned her lungs, and the shimmering dunes made her vision blur. She didn't know how much longer she could hold on. Xiyang’s mind wandered to the day she decided to enlist as a soldier in the army. It h
