Right, where he originally stood a slippery chunk of sand took his place but the giant creature paid no attention to it and continued devouring sand.
Although the place where he found himself standing Impaired his vision he knew deep down where he was but chose to ignore it.
He could feel sand between his toes so he didn't worry about much although for the past few hours he hated it with every fiber of his being right now it provided a sense of comfort in his unfamiliar surroundings.
After a few seconds, a rumbling sound started coming from all around him, the sand started receding being sucked further down to Alaric knows where and Mansa had absolutely no intention of going along with it so he jumped off the lump of sand that felt so comfortable a moment ago.
When his feet landed on the ground he instantly stood up straight a chill ran down his spine.
"Ahh...."
He landed in water but the water didn't really feel right it burned a bit but the sticky, slimy sensation really served to push him closer to the edge, the slimy liquid aside but what his feet came in contact with completely pushed him over the edge, warm and pulsing like a living creature.
"No."
Mansa didn't want it to be what he was thinking, so he stumbled over to the closet wall although his eyes already adapted to the darkness he couldn't see everything perfectly when he found a wall he placed his hands on it and gently rubbed it.
"No..."
The walls were soft and sticky kind of slippery just like the ‘ground’.
"No...."
As he continued to deny reality his voice started cracking while the pitch started getting higher.
"No...."
The walls started contracting and expanding and the liquid below his feet started rising; it started burning now.
Turning his attention up ahead at the tunnel in front of him that seemed to be contracting and expanding rapidly followed by the sound of something being poured down.
Mansa wasn't stupid, he might deny reality but he most certainly wasn't stupid, when the sound of the sand coming got closer he started punching the walls full force.
Boom!
Boom!!
Boom!!!
Although the walls didn’t immediately break apart, Mansa who grew up in a village filled with warrior didn’t give up he kept hitting because he knew he wasn't by any means weak so when his fist connected with the walls they kept on dealing damage.
Serious damage.
After the fourth punch, the walls started bleeding while contracting and expanding rapidly but he didn't have the slightest intention of stopping so get kept punching.
It in this moment that he understood why the walls kept on contracting and expanding so much, all the sand that it previously swallowed was pushed towards the surface him included.
"Argh!!!"
Pui!
Pui!!
When the sand suddenly slapped him, some liquid went straight into his mouth, the fact that it burned a bit wasn't all that bad its the fact that it so disgusting.
Mansa closed his eyes trying his best to force himself to vomit but unfortunately, the cool breeze on his face forced him to relax.
'Wind?......Oh Alaric please no'
When he opened his eyes and looked down, himself and a bunch of sand were falling from a pretty good distance in the air.
Looking around at the giant creature which he’s pretty sure is a giant worm with a lot of huge rows of teeth but that not really what caught his attention, it’s the person sitting on top of its head looking out at him curiously.
All that isn't really important right now because he was falling but he couldn't fly all he could he curled himself up and pray for the best.
With a loud 'thud' sound he landed on the ground, the only thing saving him was the sand that he landed on was already wet but he didn't relax one bit he jumped up off the burning sand the moment he realized he was alive.
"Oh thank you Alaric!!! Your servant is forever grateful!"
Mansa felt like he had a fresh lease on life.
"I don't know who that Alaric fella you mentioned is but yer welcome"
Mansa was surprised for a moment before remembering the person he saw on the 'worm' he looked up.
Coincidentally the moment he looked up and made eye contact, the person jumped down.
"Ah"
Surprised for a moment, he hurried to catch the falling person.
"Thanks, lad now put meh down"
The person was clearly uncomfortable being held in a damsel in distress position.
When he put the person down and took a good look at him, Clad in dusty brown clothes and his face was wrapped in cloth with his eyes covered with goggles, his entire outfit blended in with the sand.
When he unwrapped the cloth, a full head of white hair and beard was revealed but Mansa didn't look down on him because of his age, the old men from the village were all old monsters.
The old stranger looked at him from head to toe and smiled.
"What's yer name kid and what are yer doing all the way outch yer"
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
What caught Mansa off guard was that he and the old man spoke the same language although his accent was strange and pronounced some words horribly they spoke the same language.
It was hard for him to contain his excitement.
"My name is Mansa, 'the mother' left me here"
When the old man heard that his face showed a trace of sadness, even though the youth in front of him was big, his face showed that he’s still young and for his mother to abandon him in the middle of the desert is despicable.
"It okay kid, you can hitch a ride with me back to the city am sure a strong kid like yer self will have no problem finding work"
Clearly confused by what the man had said. Why would he want to work? Still, he chose not to say anything because he really didn't want to walk back to the city, the man had mentioned.
"Okay, thank you"
When Mansa said thank you he placed his right hand on his chest and slightly lowered his head.
"No problem, let's go.........Bubbles down"
The old man said that the giant worm lowered itself onto the ground for them to get on.
"Let's go, kid"
Mansa ran over and climbed on the giant worm, to his surprise its body wasn't soft its hard like a stone.
When he got on top of the giant worms head, he saw the old man holding some ropes with one hand and holding out a pair of glasses for him while gesturing for him to put them on with the other.
Mansa put it on his face according to the old man instructions.
"Heeyah"
The only made that strange sound, and the worm started moving at full speed, it caught him off guard if it wasn't for the old man holding onto him he would've fallen off.
"Where are yer from?!!"
Because the wind, as well as the sound of the worm devouring the sand the old man had to shout so Mansa, could hear him.
"Mhmm it doesn't really have a name but I'm from the mountain!"
When the old man heard that he looked at Mansa, looked at desert then back to Mansa again.
The way he said it made it sound like its somewhere right around the corner.
"Have you ever heard of Alaric?!"
[ Just a regular Jehovah witness aren't you? ]
Ignored.
"No why?!"
When Mansa heard that he seemed to get more enthusiastic.
"Would you like to?!"
The old man wasn't really sure how to respond he could hear the excitement in Mansa's voice but still.......
The conversation between Mansa and the old man about Alaric lasted almost two hours, it couldn’t even be described as a conversation more like a lecture.
The thing that saved the old man's ear was the city they were approaching, it structure stunned Mansa into silence, buildings weren’t anything new to him but was the size and location that stunned him.
In the lifeless desert, the city seemed like something that was taken out of a painting, it shouldn’t be there.
Big beautiful trees and colorful plants, crystal clear water. The city and the desert were complete opposites.
“Before we go into the city we gada leave my baby here at the stables!”
No objection came from Mansa, his attention was still on the city.
The stables was simply a giant ring type place with a lot of other worms there.
A question he never really had in mind was finally answered, why were the worms eating the sand.
Even though all the worms seem to look the same there were small differences like some of the hand slight purple color while the others were brown.
The purple ones seemed like the females due to the attention they were getting from the brown ones, the thing they pooped out was wrapped in a thick substance, once removed there were thousands of small transparent crystals while the men pooped out solid blocks of hardened sand.
All of was fascinating to Mansa but it still wasn't as interesting as the city.
When the people at the stables saw Mansa they all showed expressions of fear mixed with shock but mostly shock, the old man simply ignored them all and continued walking with Mansa.
Being the nice person he is, Mansa raised his hand to wave to the few people that were scattered about but his expectations of them greeting him back wasn’t met in fact something he would’ve never expected happened.
When they saw him smiling they were even more afraid, when he raised his hand to them it seemed like a monster was about to attack, every single one of them ran like their lives depended on it.
“uhmmm……what just happened?”
The only explanation Mansa could think of was that it had to do with cultural differences, maybe to them, his actions seemed threatening?.
Seemly completely unaware of everything that just happened the old man looked around in confusion.
“What the hell, why’d they all leave without saying anything!”
“I’m not sure I waved to them and they ran off”
The old man placed his hand under his chin, giving off the impression that he was in deep thought, so despite him dying to see what the inside of the city is like he didn’t interrupt the old man.
“Maybe it’s because a yere skin color? After All folks round ere don’t really see people that look like you plus you so big you probably look like a wild animal to them”
The explanation brought a wry smile on Mansa’s face he was happy to have gotten an explanation but the explanation made him feel a bit sour.
“That’s their business, lemme show you the city”
Nodding his head vigorously Mansa followed behind the old man.
The city did not disappoint in the least.
People of all different shapes and sizes wearing colorful clothes, the children playing, vendors shouting to attract customers attention to the different foods item and trinkets they had, though he didn’t see anyone that looked like him at the moment it didn’t matter to him.
It’s noisy, dirty but it almost filled with a sense of wonder that made him feel as if he’s in a dream and it had a freeing sensation to it.
Living in the village it was basically the same thing over and over again with same people but he didn’t have a problem with any of it because that was all he knew but now that a whole new world has been placed before him everything before felt dull and pointless.
Whenever someone saw Mansa they would try to run off without him realizing it or try to avoid his gaze, the looks on their faces were mirrors of the people in the stables, not everyone in the market had that reaction in fact very few did most of the people were busy with their own things.
“I gotta get sumn’ done so ammo leave you somewhere yu can get sumn’ to full ya up then I’ll see about getting ya dat job okay?”
Walking in front of Mansa the old man maneuvered the crowds with expert level precision, Mansa stuck close behind him trying his best not to get lost in admiring the city.
Before long they arrived at a little shop with roughly eight dark brown tables inside with three chairs to each table.
A few people scattered in the little shop roughly about twelve of them both men and women, unlike the people he saw a few moments ago these people were dressed similarly to the old man, the only difference was body type and size.
“Ya have any money?”
“Money? What’s that?”
He wasn’t trying to play dumb to get a free meal or anything like that he really didn’t know what the word meant since the system in the village was basically one of equivalent exchange or you just give what you have in excess with asking for anything.
Taking a deep breath the old man sigh little bit annoyed and a little sympathetic.
“Grab any seat ya like”
Mansa walked inside the shop and all eyes were on him but unlike the people before these people only looked over curiously before returning back to what they were doing, the old man walked up to the counter and spoke some words to the person while pointing at him and handing him a few pieces of green paper with some bronze and silver designs on it.
When the conversation ended he walked back to Mansa.
“Their gonna give ya sumn’ to eat and drink, Don’t leave ere I’ll be back later”
Mansa smiles and nodded his head.
“You are a very kind old man, I’m not familiar with this place as yet but I'm sure there aren’t a lot of people that would help a person in need like myself, May the mother shower you in boundless blessings.”
By the time he finished speaking he’d already clasped his hands and even though he was seated he still bowed slightly.
Forcing a smile the old man left and shortly after the food and drink arrived, This was his first time seeing something like that and he didn’t have the slightest clue of what it was so he didn’t dare eat it but chugged the drink like it was nothing.
From being swallowed to getting caught up in educating someone about Alaric to getting absorbed into the majesty of the city, his thirst was completely forgotten until he saw the drink.
After drinking it he immediately regretted it, it burned his throat like crazy and caused him to feel slightly dizzy but at the same time freer, it’s one of those amazing annoying feelings.
Closing his eyes tight and focusing he managed to finally regain a bit more like his normal self but only a little bit, the odd thing is he could feel a pair eyes staring at him without ever looking away.
Whether it was the liquid he just drank that slowed down his mind, distorting everything or there's actually someone staring at him, he couldn't tell.
Searching the shop he couldn’t find anyone which made him suspicious but he still felt the eyes on him.
“ Are you stupid? Do you want to die that badly!?”
…………..
[ And that kids is how I met your mother ]
………….