Maelstrom - of Winds and Colds - Maelstrom, #669

The world has become a hard and dangerous to live in place since the catastrophic event now known as The Great Dry. Centuries have past since that disastrous time and the climate has changed to a hot and scorching heat. Scouring storms roam the planet, treacherous sands suck down all they can in dangerous currents and huge twirling maelstroms. Water and food is hard to come by. Of the billions of people only a handful have survived the world-altering cataclysm, but those who did have adapted.
The struggle for life continues and people make a living any which way they can. Hunting for water, hunting for food... Water, the most vital thing for life, the most valuable thing in life. And the most difficult thing to come by. That's the way of this world of sand and heat. The way of this endless desert, this dry and parching place. But it's the only place they have. The north of Northern Dominance is an inhospitable place of mountains consisting of sharp, lethal peaks.
A treacherous place, which only a few dare to travel. But sometimes the risk of death is worth the risk of life, and that life surprises you with a reward. After it almost kills you, of course. And even though in the end it may just be a drop in a bucket, you take that reward with both hands, for it may be all you ever get. And all that will keep you alive. (novelette - 11.800+ words)