‘Let me go this instant!’

The old man was trashing and struggling. He was tied on the side of the pillar.

His face was red not because of anger or embarrassment, but because his face was being burned by the blazing desert sun.

The six visitors were sitting on the shaded part of the stone ruins, drinking water and eating canned foods.

‘How come we understand him? The soldiers who invaded us was speaking gibberish’ asked Martinez

‘I don’t know, maybe it’s a side effect when were here? Or maybe the author is just lazy’ Adams answered.

‘Should we get him out of this heat?’ Watson asked

‘Nah leave him be, we have to move out soon’ the captain answered

‘We just leave him here and let him die of dehydration? How heartless can you be?’

The captain stood up and then looked at Watson. He was holding back the rage and fury that happened to him during the Invasion.

‘This is just a miniscule compared to what they did.’

‘They didn’t send envoys they didn’t send messengers they just attacked and mercilessly slaughtered everyone in their path like they were in a rage, like they were being controlled’

‘They burned our houses our buildings, raped our women. It took us a whole 3 months to stop them’

‘They killed my wife.’  He holds his gun tightly.

 ‘Tell me Ms. Watson have you watched your loved ones getting stabbed by a spear from behind, blood flowing from their mouth? ’

‘I-‘

They went silent. The old man is still screaming and cursing in the background.

‘All right, let’s go scout the area, that’s what we are here for.’ The captain said with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

Few hours passed. They were now trudging in the Helgard desert finding signs of civilization.

Hot desert winds blowing mercilessly making their throats dry. They were lined up, the captain was on front while Jackson was on the back.

The captain was now regretting leaving the old man. He could’ve used him to guide them.

  What was he thinking getting the anger and rage get the best of him? What a rookie mistake.

Now here they are walking in the middle of the vast desert with nothing but cactuses and weird skulls in sight.

‘Are we lost captain?’ Richards asked.

A sudden rumbling in the sand stopped everyone from their tracks. Suddenly a worm 20 ft in size burst out from the sand.

Its mouth was filled with serrated teeth. It slithered through the sand launching toward Jackson.

It went through Jackson’s left arm ripping it right off. Blood was pouring into the sand, Jackson screaming in pain.

The worm dived again hiding in the sand.

‘What the hell is that!’ screamed Richards.

‘Whatever the fuck it is, it ripped out Jacksons arms.’ Adams said while dragging Jackson

The worm emerged again speeding towards them. Everyone readied their guns and pointed it at the worm.

‘Shoot!’ Said the captain

They unleashed a barrage of bullets towards the giant worm. The sound of gun fire echoed throughout the desert.

Hundreds of bullets flew through the air, hitting the worm. It shrieked and struggled, but the damage was not enough to kill it.

It crawled and struggled to dig to the sand. It took quite some time for it to vanish.

‘Did we do it?’ asked Watson.

‘I think so’ answered Martinez

Jackson was still in the sand crying in pain holding his now stumped hands.

Watson kneeled beside Jackson and put down her bag. She took out white bandages and proceeds to mend his arm.

The sand trembled and shook beneath them.

‘Shit’ Jackson screamed

He pushed Watson with the last of his strength. She tumbled towards Adams.

The sand shook more violently then the worm sprang up swallowing Jackson whole.

‘No!’

‘Dammit!’

Martinez, Adams, and Richards fired a salvo of shots.

The Worm shrieked.

The captain took out a grenade and pulled the pin.

‘Eat this motherfucker’

He flung it towards the mouth of the worm.

There was an explosion. The worm’s stomach expanded and then it ruptured.

Splashing worm guts, innards, and what remained of Jackson.

*

Rend and Lok are standing beside the man who just flew through the platform

‘Are you alright?’ asked Lok

‘He just got pummeled by a huge hammer and flew 10ft in the air. Of course his alright’ Rend answered sarcastically.

The girl put the hammer on her shoulder like it was just made of paper. She then moved toward the end of the platform looking down on Rend and Lok.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

‘I’ll make you fly higher if you call me a kid again.’ said the girl while looking at Rend.

‘Who are you?’

‘You’re quite the rude on aren’t you?’

‘Can you please tell me you name?’

‘Ok, since you begged for it’

‘I didn-‘

 ‘My name is Annie of the Grindwall family. A proud half giant’

‘A half giant, Shouldn’t you be a little taller?’

The girls smile vanished and her face was masked with fury. She then tossed her hammer beside Rend, almost hitting him.

It fell with a large bang almost cracking the stone floor underneath it.

Rend jumped back dodging the heavy hammer.

‘If you call me short ever again, I’ll throw you so hard you’ll end up in Mt. Frostbite inside the ass of a frost giant’

Rend gulped and then nodded.

The girl stepped out of the platform and then Tiberius went up.

‘Well that’s everyone’ he said while putting his hand behind him.

 ‘Let me just say that I am a bit disappointed.’

The room went silent.

‘Some of you showed promise, while others gave up without even trying without even swinging a weapon.’

‘Well that’s what we humans are’

‘When we are given an option that it’s okay to give up, that nothing bad is going to happen to us, we slack we loosen up’

‘We have no use for that kind of people here, and if you want to be that way forever you can leave, you are free to walk out of here’

‘But if you want to change that, to find something you want to fight for, your own way to fight.  Then go to the next room, which is the magic room’

He walks to the stairs of the platform.

‘That’s it for our first test. Good luck everyone, you’re going to need it’

Tiberius walked down the stairs and then towards the door.

 As soon as the door closed, the recruit’s starts talking to each other their voices filling the room.

‘What do you think Rend shall we continue?’Lok asked

‘Of course we should, why should we give up now?’

‘I don’t know man. My father forced me to be here, and I only agreed because I heard that there are a lot of pretty girls in the army’

‘The way things are going, there will be a lot of work to do Rend, work. I hate work ’Lok complained.

‘Listen Lok’

Rend puts his right arm around Lok’s shoulders.

‘Don’t give up now man. Some of the girls are looking at you’

‘Really, you mean it?’

‘Yeah man, keep doing your best and impress them more. Someone might even confess to you’

Lok gave Rend a quizzical look.

‘Stop it with your tricks man I’m not gonna fall for it again’

‘You once told me that milk tastes better when you directly drink from the udder.’

‘I believed you and now my father has banned me from going to our stable, my family now thinks I have a thing for animals’

Rend laughed.

‘You actually believed me?’

‘So, how was the taste?’ Rend asked

‘Not too bad’

Rend laughs again and slaps Lok’s back.

After much convincing, Lok agreed to proceed and they went outside of the melee room.

They were now in the hallway of the training grounds. There was a huge carpet in the middle of the room and it stretched into the back and into the entrance.

Stone pillars were lined up on the side of the carpet. There were 8 rooms in total 4 on each side.

There were signs above the room and two wooden doors at the entrance of the room.

Some of the recruits have now left the melee room and are now walking towards the magic room.

Rend saw Leo at one of the pillars still embarrassed and angry at the incident earlier. They went towards him.

‘Hey, are you not going?’Rend asked

Leo just kept silent and just glared at Rend.

‘Forget about him man, let’s go. It Ms. Valentine turn next’ Lok said

‘Oh yeah, she was the one in charge of magic, Lets go’

Rend and Lok took off and head immediately towards the magic room.

The magic room was octagonal in shape with a huge mirror on one side and on the middle was a circular table with a chair on the top side.

The table has a crystal ball on the middle, glowing despite that the room was well lit.

There were also shelves on every corner of the room filled with strange artifacts and trinkets.

Ms. Valentine was sitting on the chair her sexy legs were on the table. Lok and Rend immediately look at her as if they were drawn by a mysterious force.

They went closer and joined the other boys who were already standing closer to Ms. Valentine.

The girls were at the back of the boys clearly getting irritated. Some of them are getting impatient.

Leo and other late comers finally arrived.

‘I assume that’s everyone’ Valentine said

She puts down her legs, pulled her chair, and then fixes her long black hair.

She then stood up her boob’s sways in every movement as if they were synchronized.

‘Let’s start shall we?’

She walked towards the huge mirror and put her right hand in it.

The mirror changed color to green and a spiral like haze start to form in it.

‘Follow me’

She then disappeared into the mirror.

The recruits followed.

They were teleported into a place where there was nothing but vast grassland as the eyes can see.

There was no sky only an empty white void.

Ms. Valentine was floating in the air looking down on the recruits.

‘Nice angle’ Lok said.

She puts her hand into her breast and chanted something.

Suddenly humanoid clay figures emerged from the ground. They were lined up horizontally, one clay figure for each recruit.

‘For your next test, you will attack this puppet with any magic you know’

‘The greater the damage the bigger the chance you will be added to the Spellcaster, that is all’

‘She’s not much of a talker isn’t she?’ asked Rend

‘Yeah, but maybe she’s different in bed’ answered Lok.

‘Start’

‘Alright my best spell huh?’

Rend lift both of his hand, then opened them, and then he starts to chant.

You have to remember the spells in the Arcanum, Rend thought.

Focus all your mana in your palm and then concentrate it into a ball.

A flaming sphere manifested in Rends palm.

‘Alright now for the special touch’.

He chanted again. His face straining, a single sweat rolled down at the side of his eyebrows.

Pour the mana inside the fireball. Contain it.

The flaming sphere changed color, from fiery orange to crimson.

‘Destroy my enemies, Fire Bomb!’

Rend release his spell. The crimson sphere shoots toward the doll.

The sphere hits the doll torso. It immediately bursts into flames, burning it from head to toe.

Then suddenly there was a fiery explosion. Rend covered his face from the shockwave and heat of the spell.

The dolls torso and feet were completely obliterated. The dolls burning head flew 30ft into the air, when it hit the ground it was still on fire.

All of the recruits stared at Rend.

Ms. Valentine flies towards Rend, she lands in front of him.

‘Where did you learn that spell?’

Her face was close to Rend’s face that their noses are almost touching.

Rend was clearly getting flustered. Those huge tits are almost touching him.

‘Ah…’

He was sweating now.

‘I invented it?’

‘Very good’

Ms. Valentine flew back upwards.

After everyone was done, some of the dolls were burned, frozen, zapped, or disfigured.

Ms. Valentine reaches out her hand and moved it to the right. Like turning a dial all of the dolls immediately disappeared.

‘All right, next is defensive spell.’

She lift both of her hand’s up into the sky and starts channeling a spell.

A small swirling haze starts to form on top of her hands.

‘Wait!’ All of the recruits shouted in unison.

The haze transform in to dark clouds. There was lightning travelling to and fro.

‘Shit!’

Rend quickly kneeled and touched the ground, He pours out his mana.

 ‘O great spirits of earth reach out your mighty hands and protect me from my enemies.’

The ground shook around Rend and huge earthen hands covered him.

The dark cloud rumbles and a lightning bolt shoots from it, hitting a mana shield from one of the recruits.

There was a salvo of lightning bolts, pummeling the recruits with 10,000 volts of electricity.

After the lightning storm was over, Rends earth shield was crumbling.

Some of the recruits are on their knees while others were lying on the ground.

Ms. Valentine put down her hand and flies down on the ground.

‘Good, that is all’

She snapped her hands.

The surroundings start to warp and the white sky starts to melt.

All of a sudden the recruits find themselves back at the magic room.

All of their lightning burns were healed and they felt refresh as if they didn’t go to the mirror.

‘That’s one crazy teacher’ Rend said while helping up Lok.

‘I think I’m in love’ Lok answered.

*

The visitors were now hiding in at the crevice of one of the canyons.

They were all covered in bile, blood and worm guts.

Watson was vomiting in the corner.

Adams was sitting on a corner while holding his gun tight as if he was comforting it.

Richards was rubbing Watsons back.

The captain and Martinez was at the entrance of the crevice, on guard.

‘What do we do now sir?’ Martinez asked.

‘We spend the night here. I think we all need some rest’

‘Yeah’

‘The second team will be here after one week, so we better find a safe place to set up a camp’

‘This place is not close to safe, with giant worms lurking about’

‘Listen sir, it’s not your fault’

The captain just went silent and stared at the distant.

He knows Martinez is just trying to comfort him but look at the situation, it was clearly his fault.

Leaving the old man is one thing, but killing Jackson. He sighed and wiped his forehead.

Suddenly his eyes widens, he sees a silhouette in the distance. It was on the horizon.

‘Is that, a carriage?’

He took out his binoculars and peered through it.

‘Let’s move out everyone, I think I found our ticket out of this god forsaken place’