Several days passed on our journey to the savannah. The trip became monotonous: we walked for several hours a day, we searched for food, we gathered as much water as we could find, we continued walking, we made camp, we rested, we got up, and we walked again. We did this day in and day out nonstop. Days melded into one another. It wasn’t the heat that got to us, nor any lack of food. We had plenty of food and there was plenty of shade.

No, what got to us was the boredom of it all. The repetitive nature of our walks. Cao Tzu was not exactly used to all of the walking, but Octavian, Straden, Mil’Tuk and myself were more than acquainted with the feeling of aching feet and wobbly legs. One day, the situation became a bit less tedious and more serious. We climbed up a rocky plateau and reached its surface. Our intent was to find a pathway around the huge rock face, but Octavian noticed something that was even better. A Large pathway made up of naturally made spires that could support our weight and lead us through the plateau and cut our journey much shorter and save us time on that day.

The issue was that the spires had a very small surface. They were flat and easy enough to stand on, yet there was only space enough for us to have one foot on one spire, meaning we would have to hop from place to place. Further still, we weren’t sure that all of the pillars were able to support our weight. The sudden force of us jumping on them could cause the pillar to topple over if given enough force. Time was of the essence, and if we walked around the plateau, it could take weeks. We had no idea what state the survivors were in, and needed to get there as soon as possible. We all agreed, yet with our course of action set, it was time to decide who would go first.

We came up with the tried and true method for deciding one’s fate. We drew straws. Cao Tzu gathered the straws and we sorted them accordingly. Once they were mixed up in her hand, we gave everyone a firm look and then drew our lots. We held them in our hands and one by one we opened them. The straw rested neatly on my palm. We examined the others. Mil’Tuk sighed in frustration. He ended up drawing the short stick. He grimaced and we patted him on his shoulders, wishing him the best of luck. Mil’Tuk two tentative steps towards the first pillar. He looked back behind him, judging the distance between his jump and the pillar. He adjusted himself accordingly and then looked at the pillar. He took a deep breath. He knew the dangers of the jump, but ever brave, he wouldn’t let fear defeat him. He had a running start and leapt forward, landing one foot on the pillar. He waved his arms around for balance, trying to keep himself steady. He leaned back, almost falling. He tried to adjust himself, almost losing his footing in the process! Yet finally, he was perfectly balanced. One pillar down, several to go.

He hopped from one pillar to another with the same careful stride. Making one mistake would send him falling to his doom. Another jump, and another. Then he made one final leap, almost falling backwards, but he had done it! He crossed the dangerous pillars. His knees were wobbly and his nerves shot. He sat down to get a rest. He deserved it.

We decided who would go next by drawing lots again. Another jumbling of the small bits of straw and then a pull. Octavian was next. He cursed under his breath for a moment or two before he made his attempt. He took a running start and leapt to the rock and landed on it, but he nearly tripped. He had overshot it. He could feel himself slipping, so he had little choice but leapt forward. Without much time to plan his jump, he narrowly missed his landing. He grabbed onto one of the pillars. Climbing back up would have been extremely difficult. Instead, clever Octavian shimmied himself along to get himself a better angle. He had only a few chances to make it to the other side with Mil’Tuk. Once he was at the right angle, He pulled himself up as high as he could. Then, he kicked himself off of the pillar and quickly turned to grab at the other. Every time he did so we felt a knot tightening in our bellies. Each jump was more perilous than the last. Ille’Sethak blessed him that day however. With one final jump, Mil’Tuk was able to grab him by the forearm and pull him up.

The rest managed to go through one by one until it was just myself and Cao Tzu. We drew lots for the final time, and she was the one to go next. Everything went well at first. The first jump was easy enough, but the second one proved challenging. After the constant jumping from pillar to pillar by each of us, the fragile stone gave way with each weight applied to it. Cao Tzu unfortunately was the straw that broke the camel's back. As soon as she landed on the pillar, everyone heard a loud crack, and the pillar began to sway. Cao Tzu’s attempts to balance herself only made the pillar shift even more.

Seeing little choice, I jumped on one of the pillars. As soon as I did however, the one I leapt on started to topple. Like a house of cards the pillars were falling apart. Cao Tzu was barely able to hold on and maintain her balance, even with her burgeoning magic. She tried to cast spells with hand gestures to try something (anything) to not fall to her doom. She raised her hands up, and several stones from the base of the pillar jutted out and fused with the part of the pillar that was breaking apart. This worked, but the pillar was weak and the sudden movements of the stone breaking made it brittle and it simply broke at another part, making her efforts useless.

As my pillar began to topple, I leaned forward in an attempt to cause it to fall towards Cao Tzu. Both of our pillars smashed against one another. At that moment, I yelled at her.

“Jump!!!”

With only a second’s hesitation, she jumped onto the next pillar, and I jumped on hers. I could feel the pillar under me buckling and heading towards another one. Cao Tzu managed to leap and was grabbed by Straden and Octavian. The second pillar crashed into a third one, and I moved accordingly. The entire collection of these stone towers were falling apart in a chain reaction. I leapt forward, but had misjudged my jump. I was dangling, barely able to hold on with the tips of my fingers. Behind me the pillars fell down and coated the ground with dust and debris. I could feel myself slipping. Brutus grabbed my wrist just in the nick of time. With his great strength he pulled me up and set me aside. We had made it to the other end of the gorge, with the way back lost to us.

Had Brutus been a second too slow, and I would have fallen to my death. The Rocks would both crush every bone in my body and bury me all at once. Perhaps walking around the plateau was not such a bad idea after all. Still, we have all made our choices and we must face the consequences of them.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

We proceeded to walk through the plateau’s pass, still coming down from the rush of adrenaline that pumped through Cao Tzu’s and my own heart. With shaking knees and a new aversion to nights, we continued. When we arrived at the slopes off of the plateau and towards our destination, there was something that felt wrong. We didn’t know it at first, but there was a sense of unease that filled us as we continued down the slopes.

Cao Tzu turned to me and signed with her hands and lips at me. Octavian had not yet understood the meaning of these gestures.

“What is she saying?”

With a grim look on my face I looked around in silence, trying to look for something. While searching, I finally spoke.

“Do you hear that?”

Octavian tilted his head to the side and scanned the area with his ears.

“Hear what?”

“Exactly. There's no sound; no birds, no animals, nothing. This place sounds dead.”

Instinctively we all drew our weapons. The Blasted Lands were home to many foul creatures. So far we had seen giants that could change the landscape with just their footsteps. What other terrors were waiting for us? What was watching us with cold uncaring eyes while we stumbled around in that great wide slope? Cao Tzu and I came to the conclusion that other animals were afraid to venture here. The same fear that gripped animals when shown fire had been present here. Yet if this spot was so dangerous, where were all the bodies?

As I walked, I had no idea that I passed something that was akin to a trap door made of dirt that began to lift up. Something was following us. I turned to look behind me for just a moment and was met with large mandibles that would have punctured me had I not raised my shield in time. What was attacking me was some underground ambush creature. It resembled a dirt colored centipede with a large protective shell covering the back of its head like some large shovel. Its fangs were large and dripped with a thick liquid. As it tried to bite me, I used my shield to my advantage and plunged the sword deep within the base of the neck. The creature bled and fell down on the ground, writing in pain and hissed, wiggling its body before curling up into a ball, dead.

By the time the others had turned to aid me in the attack, the creature was already dying. It seemed easy enough, but I knew all too well that fate was a fickle creature. Sure enough, more of those creatures began to pop up from trap doors. I sighed in frustration.

Evidently I had drawn the short stick this time as far as fate was concerned. We had little choice but to fight. These bugs outnumbered us ten to one. Fortunately their greatest advantage had been destroyed, the element of surprise. How it was time to deal with their second greatest advantage. Numbers.

One came up before me and struck at me like a cobra trying to bite at me. I dodged out of the way and swung my blade down, only to find that I had simply scratched the surface of the bug's harder shell. It tried to strike me again, and I waited for a perfect moment to strike its underbelly before alerting everyone.

“Our weapons can’t pierce their hide! Cut them from their bellies!”

Octavian did as instructed, taking his blade and swinging upwards at one of the creatures just as it tried to bite him.. Its head was severed and the body writhed while the head rolled, the jaws of the creature still moving. The creatures hungrily bit and tore at Octavian, but his shield provided him with the greatest of protection.

Brutus let out a vicious war cry and charged into the horde before they could bite him. With his great strength, he took one by the head and pulled, He ripped its head off with bits of its yellow gore taken with it. He threw the head and caved in another creature’s own head. He picked up the body of the centipede creature and began to swing it around, using it as a weapon. He brought it high above his head and flattened one into a fine paste.

Straden and Mil’Tuk were back to back with each other, keeping each other’s guards up. One blocked incoming attacks which gave the other time to strike.

“Try to stay alive, boy! Don’t want to be killed by a bug, do you?”

Straden smirked as he playfully taunted Mil’Tuk as if he were training him. Mil’Tuck responded by bashing the head in one of the bugs and then looking back at Straden.

“Better these bugs than old age.”

“Bah! I may be old, but I can still slaughter my fair share of bugs!”

“Wanna bet?” Mil’Tuk then started to count how many of the bugs he had killed. “Five! Six! Seven!”

Straden saw what Mil’Tuk was doing and quickly tried to kill as many as there were in response.

Cao Tzu used her new found magic to cast spells at the creatures. She made several gestures before bringing her hand to her throat and then breathed fire upon the bugs. I was there to strike at those that were getting too close to her. With the scent of burning bugs in the air, we first felt like victory was assured, However the tide of battle turned. There were simply so many of the bugs. Too many to count. It seemed like when one was killed, another took its place. With each strike and each blow dealt to the creatures, more showed up. We were being backed up to each other. I then made a grave error. I tried to swing at a bug as it was trying to strike me, but I had missed and aimed inches too high. The creature bit down on my leg and I could feel a great deal of pain as if my blood was on fire. I retaliated with a kick and a thrust of my blade into the creature's mouth.

Suddenly, there was a small explosion. A loud “poof” and smoke began to rise. The centipede creatures chittered and screeched loudly as more of these smoke bombs dotted the area. The creatures retreated and hid back through their trap doors. My vision began to turn cloudy as I saw the few figures that were slowly advancing on us. I held my hand in front of my face to block the sun, but no matter how hard I tried to strain my eyes, I couldn’t see who our saviors were.

I felt tired and despite my best efforts to stay awake, the pain in my leg was too great. It was as I feared. They had a powerful venom in their bite. I tried to focus but eventually the entire area started to spin rapidly. Without realizing it I fell down on my side and drifted off into blackness. The world melted away before my very eyes as I sank into nothingness…