Hey guys. sorry for the long gap. I haven't had the chance lately to get much typing done at work and what i did get done was crap.

But I finally got the time necessary to get this chapter out and have time set aside to keep writing. My current goal is 2 chapters a week cause i feel like I'm letting you guys down if I'm waiting so long between chapter. But i will not release chapter unless they at least meet a standard i deem acceptable.

Please provide feed back guys as anything i get helps me improve, i know this story is kinda staring out slow but as I'm hoping to make this into a fairly large novel and despite what i but up for title's as chapters the first 3-4  are still part of the prologue. kinda.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 2 - Aftermath

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STILL STANDING HERE FOR!?! GO!!!"  Saar screamed at the rapidly retreating forms of his lieutenants.

Walking back behind his desk he collapsed back into his chair and went back to looking over all the reports to ensure he hadn't missed anything. It had been 17 hours since the Daughter of High Archon had left and the camp was now in chaos. He was trying hard to lock down information before anything could get back to the Empire but isolation of information was next to impossible considering the evidence of the event was literally strewn from one of the shafts all the way to the Outer Watch perimeter it.

Despite all of the carnage there appeared to be no living witnesses to the event and according to the reports there all of the Guard and slaves were accounted for. So the question was, what could have killed all of his men and the slaves, almost 50 in total, in the space just a few minutes. The most alarming part wasn't even the number of people killed, it was the fact that all of the slaves that had been killed were wearing collars. It was supposed to be impossible to die while wearing them and not even the Imperial Necromancers could do such a thing.

The only lead they had was that there were tracks that lead towards the north east into the Arielian Desert. Saar had already order three of his lieutenants and 120 Guards to pursue and report any findings.

Rubbing his temples to try and clear the ever increasing ache building behind his eyes Saar began to contemplate how he was going to inform his superiors at the Imperial Capital that for the first time since the mines had been established nearly 600 years ago, Kael had been attacked.

"Sir!" pulling himself from his thoughts, Saar looked up to see the Guardsman he had promoted to fill the position left by the previous pit leader's demise. He had to stifle a shutter as he remembered the sound of the pit leaders body before his death.

"Report."

"Sir, after you informed myself of my predecessors demise i took the liberty of having a group of slaves remove his body from the mines. Upon reaching the location that you provided, we discovered that the scene differed greatly from the one you described."

Saar felt his hair stand on edge as an immediate sense of foreboding spread through his heart.

"Sir, the given the condition of the body found, we deduced it to be that of the former pit leader. but unlike as you stated the body had almost completely dehydrated and the surrounding area contained no visible traces of blood. The only other objects in the vicinity were a slave collar and this crystal" Stated the guard as he withdrew a large colorless gem from his pocket and placed in on Saar's desk.

Saar stared at the crystal as his breathing hitched and his heart rate sky rocketed. The gem on his desk was a bonding crystal, that was easy to tell, what alarmed him though was that he didn't recognize what type. That and the crystal was dull.

There was only one reason for a crystal to be dulled. It had been bonded.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Since leaving the mines the man had not stopped moving. At first he was motivated only to kill, to spread his gift, but that changed when he had fought a group of guards after exiting the mine shaft.

He had attacked their group before they knew what hit them. moving through the group like a wild kir'boar, there was no finesse, just raw power and savagery. Using his pick with his enhanced strength to ram its sharpened metal through the guards armor with ease. when the pick became lodge in a guard he would tear into them with his hands and teeth. The blood filling his mouth burned through his body bringing with it a feeling unrestrained power.

So caught up in these new feelings was he that he didn't realize what was happening until the feelings of power were replaced by a sudden extreme pain that felt almost worse then his time as a slave as one of the guard's blades pierced his kidney.

He turned and pounced on the guard ripping into his flesh  as the guard struggled to stop the creature on top of him. The man slammed a fist into the guards throat to end his screaming before it could begin, crushing his windpipe. The guards eyes went wide as his body briefly forgot the damage been caused by this man in it's struggle for oxygen.

As the guard died the man felt more blood rush into him, slowly healing the damage he had sustained. but the feeling of power was dulled. diluted by something he had not felt in years, something he almost didn't recognize.

Fear.

Fear of dying, of not being able to feel this power. Fear of not been able to spread his gift.

So he fled . As fast as his new body could take him he fled in the first direction he choose and didn't stop, only briefly slowing to eliminate anything in his path on his way out of the valley.

And so he had come to here. where nothing but sand spread from one side of the horizon to the other. For three days he had traveled into this place, yet he still had not seen any signs of anything other than the rolling dunes and the occasional wind devil kicking up sand.

He did not know if this place had an end but he knew he could not go back. They would be hunting him.

Finally giving in to exhaustion he collapsed onto a dune, deciding it was as good a place as any to rest. He knew he couldn't keep going like this. His tongue felt like sand paper in his mouth and every breath grated on his parched throat.

As his mind started shifting through fleeting thoughts of an oasis appearing over the next rise or a storm crashing in from the horizon he heard a faint drumming at the back of his mind.

Thinking he was developing new symptoms from the dehydration the noise increase in volume as he concentrated on it. As the thumping was brought to the forefront of his mind he realized it wasn't in his head. he could actual here it. It seemed to be pulling him to somewhere to his left.

Crawling over he felt it getting louder, felt hes own blood vibrating in time to the thumping. As he reached a point he realized the origin of the noise stemmed from under the surface of the sand.

Willing what little energy he had left he slammed his hand into the ground. Sand exploded in a wave. Raising his hand back up he could see that clutched in his fist was a small reptilian creature about 4 hands longs and a long thin shell on its torso.

Without hesitation he brought the creature to his lips. tearing it head from it's body and finally quenching his thirst.

As the twisting pains in his stomach started receding to be replaced with the warm vibration that seemed to spread through his entire being, he felt another thumping coming from somewhere behind him.

Turning he saw what appeared to be an assortment of robes swing a club before his mind went black.