Danger in the Desert Sands
----------------------------------------
A giant flaming snake, with skin that shines red, is chasing our hero. He is protecting an oddly colored swan, with black feathers, that is dropping large pieces of coal with every flap of its wing. While he runs, the snake begins to breathe fire, trying to burn the male alive…
Walking the desert landscape is John, our protagonist. He is a human male, in his adult years, with short black hair and brown eyes; he is five-foot six-inches tall, wearing safari type clothing. He has been searching the desert for a couple of hours for an animal he was hired to catch for a breeding company. As he continues to walk the desert, John finds what he has been looking for, the Coal Swan.
[Threat Level: 0 – Coal Swan.]
[Class: Monster.]
[The Coal Swan is a bird with black feathers, a red armor abdomen, beak and legs, and golden eyes. It is approximately four-foot tall. The Coal Swan is able to create coal due to the “Coal Gland” in its abdomen. Coal comes out from beneath its wings and is scattered as the swan runs about, flapping them. While not any more valuable than regular coal, it has a taste that only specific types of predators of the swan find delectable. Due to the Coal Swan’s body being made of ninety percent coal, it has little to offer when it comes to predators. It is a fast-moving animal, nearly impossible to catch, but it is easy to sneak up behind it. The Coal Swan has a low birth rate, making a somewhat rare creature.]
John slowly creeps behind the Coal Swan while its back is towards him. As he sidles towards it, the swan begins turning its head. Not wanting it to flee, John hides behind a nearby rock. Peeking over the large stone, he can see that the swan has not noticed him as it takes a few casual steps away, looking out at the landscape. He seizes the chance to rush up behind the swan and grab it. “Got you!” John says. Immediately after he grabs the swan, he feels the ground beneath him shakes, making him jump away. When he lands, he sees a Blazing Shine Snake emerge from within the earth, where he was standing moments before, while some pieces of coal fall from the swan.
[Threat Level: 3 – Blazing Shine Snake.]
[Class: Monster.]
[The Blazing Shine Snake is a giant red snake-like creature that is approximately thirty-feet-long, with black eyes, and has a jaw that can crush steel beams. It often tears large lumps of flesh from elephants and watches in amusement as the elephant slowly dies. The “blazing” in the snake’s name comes from the fact its entire body is lit on fire, which escapes from its pores. It is known for causing large forest fires near small towns by merely slithering through them, and the intensity of its flames restricts close combat. The “shine” in its name is because of its gleaming red diamond skin. The diamond skin makes it impervious to almost all physical attacks. Within its body is blood made of liquid fire that is referred to as “Flame Blood.” The snake is able to make its blood come out of its fangs at will, usually, after its fangs pierce its victim, the serpent watches as the victim melts from the inside out. The creature is not picky with its diet; it will eat just about anything within sight. It is one of the few known predators of the Coal Swan. Every year or so, a Blazing Shine Snake will devour a Coal Swan to replenish its “Flame Sack.” The Flame Sack allows its body to continuously be ignited and breathe fire. The Coal Gland from the swan is kept in the sack of the snake, which keeps it working for a year or so until the gland begins to deteriorate.]
“The informant didn’t say anything about a Blazing Shine Snake being around these parts!” John shouts as the snake begins surveying the area with its black eyes, searching for its prey. After it scans a portion of its surroundings, the creature sees John and lunges at him, trying to devour both him and the Coal Swan. When John realizes the creature is leaping towards him, he jumps out of the way. ‘If I had known that there was a Blazing Shine Snake here, I would’ve brought better equipment with me to deal with it!’ John thinks as the snake flies past him. John darts off sideways, and the snake gives chase. While running through the desert, the Blazing Shine Snake occasionally hurls itself at John or breathes fire to try to burn him alive. As the snake continues to chase him, it slithers past a bush about a foot away, and it is set ablaze.
John continues to flee and sees what looks to be a small palace made of stone ahead and dashes towards it, the Blazing Shine Snake close behind him. After he runs for a short distance, he looks behind him, only to see that the snake is gone. He comes to a stop and scans the area. ‘Where is it? They aren’t known for letting their prey escape that easily,’ he thinks, still looking around. Suddenly, the earth shakes beneath him, and he remembers that it can dig underground. John barely has enough time to get out of the way before the Blazing Shine Snake passes by him, burning off some of his shirts and almost making him lose his grip on the swan. After the snake stops, John throws a couple of Diamond Grenades at it; he removes the pins with his mouth, while he hides behind a large rock. The grenades blow up in the snake’s face, causing minor scratches. The Coal Swan squirms in his arms, causing pieces of coal to fall to the ground, tripping John.
[Weapon Level: 1 – Diamond Grenade.]
[Despite the name Diamond Grenade, it does not involve real diamonds, but synthetic diamonds instead. The synthetic diamonds are broken up into shards and placed inside the grenade shells, along with gun-powder. Due to the nature of the synthetic diamonds themselves, they are valued at a low cost. The diamonds are used mostly in low budget school plays or used to make weaponry against creatures like the Blazing Shine Snake.]
As John is falling, he spins his body to the right, dodging the soaring Blazing Shine Snake as it then goes back underground. The Coal Swan escapes from John’s hands and begins running away, dropping pieces of coal as it does. As the swan is taking off, the snake comes out of the ground again, sending the swan flying backwards, scattering coal all over, as John is picking himself back up. Once upright, he begins running again and grabs the swan, making a dash for the stone castle, failing to notice the dark clouds looming over it.
As John arrives at the castle, he glances back and sees the Blazing Shine Snake, a short distance away, glaring at him angrily with its scratched-up face, still chasing after both him and the Coal Swan. John races into the castle while pieces of coal continue to fall from the swan’s free wing. While he runs through the castle, the swan again escapes from John’s grip and bolts away. Due to the narrow hallways of the palace, the swan cannot reach full speed, allowing John to keep up with it. As he chases the bird, he notes a strange chill in the air as he passes multiple doorways. He looks back, no longer seeing the Blazing Shine Snake behind him. ‘I must’ve lost it, but it won’t stay that way for long,’ John thinks, as the Coal Swan runs through a large doorway with him right behind it. “Get back here, you, stupid swan!”
After racing through the doorway, John finds himself in a gigantic room filled to the ceiling with gold. ‘I will have to remember this place in the future,’ he thinks, as he sees that the Coal Swan has stopped running and is near the opening of the next room. John sneaks up behind the creature and again picks it up. He then walks through the next doorway, ignoring the two six-foot-tall armored skeletons being held up by their swords, while the swan is trying to get out of his grip. As he walks in, John hears the sounds of the Blazing Shine Snake breaking through the walls of the castle farther away.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
As John enters the new chamber, he sees a blue sword in the middle of the smaller room. ‘What do we have here?’ he thinks as he walks up to it. Once he is standing next to it, he begins examining the sword and realizes it is made of blue diamond on a small stone pedestal with what looks to be a golden seal, a circle with a bird in it spreading its wings out. He holds the Coal Swan with just his left arm, making it difficult as pieces of coal continue to fall, but he still does not let go. He pulls the diamond sword out of a small stone pedestal with his right hand, once he removed the seal disappears. The room drops in temperature, causing the swan to shiver. After picking up the sword, he feels a magical power coming from it. ‘This should help with the Blazing Shine Snake,’ John thinks, as he walks back the same way he came, the coal guiding him…
The Blazing Shine Snake is breaking down wall after wall of the castle, as it searches for its prey. Annoyed both with its inability to find its prey and the scratches on its face, the snake begins letting off an excessive amount of heat, causing the floor beneath it to sear. In its rage, the snake begins to breathe fire throughout the room, which causes the stones to begin to melt. Even in the serpent’s enraged state, it senses a presence behind itself. The Blazing Shine Snake turns its head around, only to look upwards and see a pair of ice-cold blue eyes glaring down at it, as steam begins coming off the flames of the snake. Before the serpent can do anything, there is a loud roar that comes from the unknown creature…
Frightened by the roar, the swan, still in John’s grip, becomes rowdy. John, after hearing the inhuman roar himself, starts running again until he hears a wall break behind him. He glances back and sees the Blazing Shine Snake crashing through, coming straight at him. John darts out of the castle, the snake right behind him. He notices that the scratches on its face are gone. ‘I didn’t know it had high-speed healing, even minor scratches usually take a couple of weeks,’ he thinks to himself.
Leaving the castle, John runs, the Blazing Shine Snake chasing after him. Occasionally, the snake would lunge or breathe fire at him, while the Coal Swan flaps its one free wing, dropping even more pieces of coal. This continues until John and the snake runs alongside a deep cavern. He suddenly stops and spins around as the Coal Swan tries to escape his grip once more. As John swings the diamond sword at the snake, it causes him to lose his grip on the swan, and this movement allows it to escape. With the swan no longer distracting John, he focuses on the snake by swinging the sword along its stomach area, leaving a deep slash mark across its abdomen. He moves out of the way as the snake’s blood falls to the ground, along with flames that come out with the liquid. This enrages the snake, and it attempts to pierce John with its fangs.
The fight continues, with John either slashing the snake or dodging it as the creature lunges at him, breathes fire, or goes underground and comes out beneath him. At one point, the snake erupts out of the ground, and John jumps on top of it. He had kept the sword near his feet, after realizing during the fight that the blade had been giving off some type of water barrier, keeping the snake’s fire away from it. As the Blazing Shine Snake lands, John slashes his diamond blade across its head, leaving a deep gash. Feeling the piercing pain from the attack, the snake shakes its head while violently moving its body back and forth, making John fall off, as well as losing his grip on the sword. As the Blazing Shine Snake writhes, it gets too close to the edge of the cavern and falls off, along with the sword.
Once the Blazing Shine Snake and the diamond sword fall off the edge, John scans the area for the Coal Swan. After looking around for a couple of seconds and not finding it, he decides to head back to the castle to get some loot, knowing that he would get a much better payday from selling such treasures than continuing to search for the Coal Swan. John begins walking back to the castle, following the trail of scattered coal…
The Blazing Shine Snake at the bottom of the cavern shakes its head, looking no worse than before it fell, even after falling three hundred feet. The wound on the snake’s abdomen, now sealed due to its flame blood, leaving a black scar that will disappear in a few weeks. The serpent gazes up from where it fell, with a furious look in its eyes. The snake begins pondering if it should give chase to the human, but the Blazing Shine Snake decides to leave before it is hunted down by something much worse…
After walking a while, John finds himself back at the castle. As he walks up to it, he sees a Coal Swan near the entrance. Without the bird noticing him, he slowly begins sneaking up behind it. When he gets close, he grabs the swan and keeps a strong grip on it. Remembering when the snake chased him and seeing a rope inside the castle, John walks in, takes the rope, ties up the swan and holds on to it, and goes to grab some treasure before he leaves.
Not having to worry about the Coal Swan escaping now, John begins roaming down the halls, following the trail of coal from earlier, and notices something while passing a room. He walks in, as the swan’s squirming, going crazy in his arm, and sees another Blazing Shine Snake lying dead on the floor. Approaching the corpse, he finds the body to be completely torn apart. Taking a closer look, John sees scratches on its face, the same scratches caused by his diamond grenade earlier that day. This meant that there were two Blazing Shine Snakes in the area, and this was the one chasing him at the beginning. While John focuses on the snake’s body, he fails to notice the Coal Swan has become completely quiet and unmoving, his frosty visible breath, nor the sound of movement from behind him. It is not until he hears the hissing sound of another snake that causes him to snap out of his trance. As he begins to turn around, he notices the cool breeze from earlier has dropped in temperature drastically. That is when John knew-he was dead.
Once fully turned around, John nearly drops the Coal Swan as he sees what appears to be another Blazing Shine Snake. Although it appears similar, he knows from the cool breeze and the clear color of its skin that this snake is not the same type. No, it is something far worse than an environmental disaster. ‘How? Why is something like IT here!?’ he thinks, his eyes going wide. The snake in front of him stands tall, the ground beneath it slowly being covered with ice, while it stares down at him with its ice-cold blue eyes. John begins backing away until it lets out a terrifying roar that sends off streams of frozen air that makes spots of ice form on the walls. The blast of air also freezes the rope around the swan. John runs back into the hall; as he drops the Coal Swan, the partially frozen rope breaks, and the swan begins running alongside him. As they head outside the castle, the snake crashes through the walls, knowing where they are going, and proceeds to smash through walls to cut off both John and the swan.
Once outside, John looks behind him as the snake releases an earth-shattering roar, making the Coal Swan stop in its tracks. Suddenly, a huge amount of freezing air is released from it, turning the stones of the castle to solid ice. The sky blackens with dark clouds as a massive snowstorm suddenly begins. The snowstorm makes visibility nearly impossible, as the desert wasteland of sand turns to snow. John and the Coal Swan can only stand in terror as they face a threat far more deadly than a Blazing Shine Snake. “Threat level, Unknown, Polar Shine Snake,” John said aloud.
[Threat Level: ? – Polar Shine Snake.]
[Class: Monster?.]
[The Polar Shine Snake is a mythical creature that has no actual proof of its existence, but many people believe that the serpent is real. There have been paintings found of Blazing Shine Snakes within desert castles depicting this serpent having clear skin and being nearly twice the size of a regular Blazing Shine Snake. Tales, written on scrolls, tell of its power over ice, hence its name “Polar,” but no conclusive evidence has been found. One of the most famous stories found to date is its ability to change both the weather and land to ice.]
The Polar Shine Snake faces John, paying no attention to the Coal Swan. The snake then releases a breath of pure snow that misses both him and the swan. When John glances behind him, where the attack hit, he sees the snow and ground have turned into an inferno of chilling fire. John looks back at the snake, only to see its shadowy figure as he hears something, he thought he would never hear from such a creature: “You humans were always so pathetic,” the Polar Shine Snake speaks in a hissing tone. Its ice-cold blue eyes glare down at John from its dark visage. Its mouth opens, and a light that shines like a diamond appears inside, preparing to blast a breath of snow so hot it’s polar…
To be continued?
----------------------------------------