Marem carried on, “So Johnaldo, what do you do?”
“Most people call me ShadowStalker actually,” Johnaldo interrupted.
She sighed, “Alright, what do you do, ShadowStalker Johnaldo.”
“I’m an Assassin of Wind,” he responded, looking off into the distance.
Marem had hoped to have a decent conversation, maybe strategize with him for combat, but quickly grew tired of his general existence. She went off closer to the front of the caravan, as he hadn’t realized she left during his intense brooding.
Sam called out, “Hey!”
She responded, “Hi Sam.”
Sam was the caravan’s head navigator. She was a woman who didn’t have much else going on in life except a love of maps. Marem sat beside her at the front of the cart, and looked at her obscene display of navigation. There were 3 separate maps laid out, one displayed the entire world, one displayed everything within a 500 mile radius, and another displayed a 50 mile radius. These were accompanied by all manner of compasses, travel stones, and random items to make travel slightly easier.
Marem had gotten to know Sam better than anyone else on this Caravan. Sam had a true love of navigation, and a proud record of never getting lost. Marem could appreciate someone with a passion.
“So from the sand, I’m gonna guess we’re in the desert?” teased Marem.
“You know it! Approximately 21 miles in, and our journey is fully mapped out. You can tell it's the western desert due to the granularity of the sand,” gushed Sam.
“So you just know off the compass right?” Marem asked, with a playful tone.
Sam was aghast at the accusation, “The compass is useful, yeah, but that hardly encompasses just how much is needed for proper navigation. Using the direction of the sun, the angle of the sunlight, our current elevation, and magical residue are all what make traveling so easy.”
Marem couldn’t help but laugh, “I’m sorry, hadn’t meant to disrespect the art of navigating. I understand the expertise behind it, just wanted to mess with ya.”
Sam would have told anyone else to leave, disrespecting navigation was serious business after all. Though if it was Marem, she could get a pass.
“Well, I suppose one could just use a compass and map to navigate, though that is preposterous to any serious navigator,” defended Sam.
“Well from here, we’re just in a straight line through the desert until we hit Faelde city, right?” She asked.
“Yeah, but it's still better to be over prepared,” argued Sam.
“What we truly need is better defenses, have you seen the so-called adventurer,” asked Marem, “he looks like his training is doing ninja poses and wondering why people cross the street when he approaches.”
Sam chided her, “Hey, don’t judge books by their cover. I’m certain he’ll keep us safe on the journey.”
Marem felt a bit embarrassed, not expecting her to take the side of a guy named Johnaldo. She wanted to argue back, but didn’t want to fight with Sam over something this dumb. Marem told Sam she was going to do some studying. She hopped off the cart and headed back to hers, ignoring a call from Johnaldo as she passed by him.
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Inside of the caravan, Marem still felt upset that Sam would side with the knock off Naruto and not her. Marem decided to just get some reading in and talk with Sam later, pulling out a copy of Basement Squirmer Sawyer, she got to reading. Despite the quality reading, Marem felt herself drift back off to sleep.
Her mid-morning nap was interrupted by the ground shaking. Marem heard shouting and panic outside, as she quickly looked out to see what was causing such a commotion. Her heart nearly skipped a beat as she peered outside, as she saw the Armurion protruding from the ground.
The beast towered over the entire caravan, looming over them as if it was taunting them. The muscled arm was covered in scars and healed wounds, a monster that had won many battles before. She saw the guards attempting to form a defensive line in-between the Armurion and the caravan, as ShadowStalker stood atop the nearest cart.
Despite her doubts of him, Marem had hope that he could keep them safe. She quickly got out of her cart, as she mentally prepared herself for the fight that would be soon to come.
ShadowStalker extended his palms, and the once mild breeze picked up with intensity and ferocity. While hair and clothing flapped violently in the storm being built up, he seemed to be pulling it all in towards himself. This continued until everyone was engulfed in a raging storm.
Suddenly, the air went still, as he pulled his arms in. In between his palms was a condensed storm, as he tried his best to keep it contained.
“Everyone, get down!” He commanded, his awkward apprehension turning into confidence.
The guards and individuals still outside of the safety of a cart followed his orders, only Marem continued to stand upright. From his hands shot out a barrage of miniature tornados, each one acting as a piercing shot.
The Armurion hadn’t expected any resistance from the group, as it took on the volley arm-first. Each shot broke through its skin, covering it in dozens of bleeding wounds. ShadowStalker smirked, nothing could survive his ‘Flurry of Wind Blades’.
Sadly, an Armurion is not nothing, it is a giant arm monster. He looked in shock as it not only didn’t die, but started moving. He prepared himself as the Armurion contorted its hand, likely posing for a powerful strike.
The Armurion struck a thumbs down. The blow left Johnaldo unable to move, stunned at deliberate display of disrespect. Unfortunately, the thumb helped him with that. Within the blink of an eye, the thumb smashed into him, throwing Johnaldo off his feet and through the air.
Marem instinctively prepared to cast healing magic, but there wasn’t much to be done on a flying corpse. The guards panicked, seeing their primary defender killed in mere moments, but they knew that they couldn’t afford to panic now.
They quickly started throwing off weak magic and arrows, as they tried to draw attention away from the caravan. The Armurion barely took any damage, only a few of the strikes managing to draw blood from the behemoth.
Its muscles bulged as it started to slam down on individual members of the guard, crushing their bodies as each slam caused the ground to shake. Panic was all Marem felt. She tried to do something, anything, but there wasn’t a person to heal. She was adept at healing, but there was nothing she could do about instant death.
Then she remembered Sam, who was likely hiding in her cart. She wanted to run over and help Sam escape, maybe they could run off before the Armurion moved on to attacking the carts. Though while she saw the Armurion move, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
It was massive, and even trained fighters were being crushed with no resistance. Marem knew she couldn’t stay out, otherwise it could move onto her once it finished the guard. She didn’t have the strength to run either, afraid it would target her for trying to flee.
The only option she saw was to hide in her cart, and hope she could take care of the survivors once the Armurion fled. Flinging herself in, she tried to calm her thumping heart as the ground shook with every strike.
It only took a few passing moments before she stopped hearing the Armurions thuds. That was when the screaming began. She heard a nearby cart being moved, those inside screamed, before it was hurled towards the ground. What was worse than the screaming was hearing it go silent.
Marem knew she couldn’t escape, and she cursed whatever Gods she could remember for not giving her the insight to leave. She could have taken another caravan to Edheim, she could have disobeyed her fathers wishes, or stayed at Flors city.
She could have asked Sam to leave behind the caravan and travel with her.
Once she felt the arm grasp her cart and lift it up, she felt fear overwhelm all her senses. Armurions were feared titans that could rampage for days on end, taking extreme force to fight them off. She would die today, for a dream that wasn’t hers.
Marem was an unfulfilled person in life and now she would be unfulfilled in death.