Desert Queen by Nightlyre.deviantart.com on @deviantART | Fantasy creatures, Creature concept art, Alien concept art [https://i.pinimg.com/originals/91/08/ef/9108ef14a219f665a5d1782a9349c89b.jpg]
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Back during the early years of the war, we fought against the Slyraks. They who called themselves the Masters of the Sand. Born in the Red Rock of the Wasteland, these great snakes were powerful pitiless enemies. They had eyes that could hypnotise a man, fangs that could pierce through armour, and breath that could cause your skin to boil.
For many years, we fought against them, and for many years we died. Until, the Lightbearer, in his wisdom, chose me to send against them. By then I had attained quite a reputation among my people, and it was left to me to deal with the most difficult of battles. But even then I was not prepared for what awaited me in the desert.
Slogging through mounds of sand that could swallow a man whole, I marched my warriors into the desert. Six thousand of the best fighters that I had trained, equipped, and supplied with the best weapons. I had thought to capture a few of the enemy, and use them to find out where their cities were hidden. But for days as we wandered aimlessly beneath the burning red suns, we found nothing, saw nothing, and yet warriors would disappear each day. Vanished into the desert.
I tripled the guard on watch at the perimeters, had patrols constantly moving through camp, and yet more of my people continued to go missing. Days went by, then weeks, and still there were no signs of the enemy. And yet the worst was yet to come.
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Having given up on my plan to seek them out, I hatched a new plan, one where we would lure the Slyrak into our camp, leave ourselves defenceless, while my men hid beneath the desert sands. That night, unlike many nights beneath the White Star, we caught our first glimpse of the enemy. They had scaled red skin that shone in the starlight, torsos with two well muscled arms, and great tails that slithered in through the sands.
In that moment as I watched them come into our camp. I had believed we had deceived the enemy, but the trap did not close. No warning horns were called, and the desert remained silent. Terrified, I signalled for my men to be to arms, but too few awoke that night, and those that did, did not live for very long. Still, with the help of my warriors I slew several, and drove the creatures away, but not before they had laid waste to my camp. The warriors I had secreted beneath the sands, were found dead, their skins turned to parchment.
I had thought then, that my quest was foolish, that we had come up against an enemy that could not be defeated. When by chance we discovered a sinkhole outside of camp. One of the men that had fallen through, had survived somehow, and claimed there were great underground tunnels beneath us. And it was in that moment I realized why the enemy could not be found.
Gathering what was left of my army, we feigned a march back out of the desert, before we made our way down. The tunnels below were coated in an inky black substance, the shedded skins of many Slyraks, and rock walls that smelled of brimstone. There, at the beating heart of their realm, we came upon a city the likes of which I had never seen before. It’s yellowstone buildings were carved smooth with hundreds of stone statues, golden arches, and above it all a massive white crystal embedded in the vaulted ceiling.
Calling upon the powers of the Lightbearer I brought the cavern down upon them, and slaughtered those that survived, but in my mind, I still see that crystal glowing. Glowing in the dark as I reach out for it.