A blood curdling scream pierced the night. Solon jumped to his sleep, reaching for his hatched, looking around the wagon as another howl echoed out across the sands. Sheela too, was now awake, moving over to Solon while crouching.

"What the hell is that?"

The mercenary poked his head through the curtain of the wagon, tracing the sounds back to the other cart in the caravan, one hauling the merchandise.

The four guards were poking their spears through the bars of the cage, angrily using the blunt ends to push and jab at a small creature. Solon and Sheela exited the main wagon to better see what was going on.

"You two! Go back inside, there's nothing to see here." Kopak turned to them, barding out the order.

"Easy now son, don't be rude to our guests." Vur'z said, walking past the pair while talking to his son.

"They must have been quite startled by the noise."

With a snap of his fingers, the old man lit a small lantern that hung by the cage wagon, illuminating what is inside. Solon leaned forward, squinting his eyes to see better what was moving under the flickering light.

A pair of piercing green eyes stared back at him. He could make our a tail and some ears, nothing out of the ordinary, until what he thought to be a large cat stood up on its hind legs.

"So that's a beast person?" The mercenary concluded, looking at the creature with slight aversion.

"Every basement dwellers fantasy."

"They exist on your world too?" The former genie asked.

"No, just as folk tales, legends. Fiction." The man replied, as the creature went from howling frantically to speaking.

It stuck its head through the wooden bars, waving its hands and tail around, yelling something at the man.

Solon looked at it, confused, as he did not understand a word that was being said. By the sound of the voice though, he could deduce that the creature was a young boy, and not a fully grown beast person.

"Alright little one, that's enough out of you for tonight." Vur'z said, waving his hand in front of the boys face.

"Sleep now."

The beast child backed away, but the spell had already been cast, causing it to slowly stumble until it collapsed on the floor of the wagon.

"Well, now I know why an old man and four would-be guards can make a living as slavers." Solon chuckled.

"Adult beast folk are impossible to train. They follow only who they believe is stronger than them, and they are freakishly strong, so not many people outside their own tribes can command them. That's why there is very little beast folk as royal help, soldiers or guards." The old slaver explained.

"They are only good for gladiatorial combat. But if you train one before they start adolescence, they can be molded into serving just about any purpose." Sedef added, as his father proudly nodded.

"I see. So what will become of this one?" Sheela asked, folding her arms.

"No clue. We acquire them and sell them further. The thought never crosses my mind as to where they end up, I don't think my conscience could handle it." Vur'z grinned at his own, before patting Solon and Sheela on their backs.

"The sun will soon rise, and we are all already awake, so what do you two say we get this caravan back on the move?" He asked, and the pair agreed, making their way back to the main wagon.

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"Shit. They have barricaded themselves too well in there." One of the dungeon clearing squad members cussed.

"What's the situation?" Clyde, who was sitting on the floor, back against the wall, looked up at the woman as she returned from the hallway that lead to the next dungeon floor.

Clyde's squad had reached the fifth floor of the dungeon with expert proficiency. Somewhere after the third floor, they stopped taking prisoners regardless of race, which resulted in a one sided bloodbath of various monsters and adventurers alike. On the fifth floor they decided to make a small makeshift camp, to rest after driving the goblins that reemerged back to their burrows. Their progress had been halted by a party of platinum adventurers that were tasked with guarding the next floor below.

Within the ranking system of many guilds across the continent, platinum adventurers were considered the highest tier of freelancers in the adventuring business. Though there were a few higher ranks than platinum, adventurers of that tier were most often employed as guards to many various royal families or were made into private militia, again under employment by royalty or extremely wealthy businessmen. Despite being considered adventurers still, they rarely abided by regulations and code of conduct of their respected guilds and gravitated more towards following the orders of their employers.

Platinum rank adventurers were the highest tier of adventurer that still functioned as freelance parties or individuals.

Clyde didn't feel like they were any issue to his unit, however they did possess magic that had proven a nuisance. A mage in the party guarding the sixth floor had the ability to manifest various defenses, and has used that power to create multiple gates at the very entrance to the chamber. Realizing that they will run out of explosives to tear down walls way before the mage runs out of mana to spam the same spell over and over, Clyde has decided to call in for backup, sending one of his men to the surface, as long range communication did not in the dungeon at the depth that they were in.

He now sat on the floor of the fifth floor, helmet resting by his side, as he smoked.

"We can't get in there." Said one of the soldiers, approaching him.

"I mean, we could, but they are pretty well prepared and since that's the only entrance, we would end up in a bottle neck and that'll lead to unnecessary casualties."

"I know, relax. Have a doobie." Clyde grinned, offering the man his smoke.

"Oh shit, don't mind if I DO." The other man grinned and sat down, taking a long inhale from the joint.

"How'd you even smuggle this past the outpost control?"

"Man, those bastards don't check for shit once I'm inside this armor. I have so much weed on this inside of this thing, If I get blown up, the whole dungeon will be hallucinating for weeks." The huge man tapped on his chest plate and laughed.

The two rowdy men attracted the attention of another comrade of their. The man put down his handheld monitor and walked over to them.

"What the fuck are you two doing?"

"Smoking, why?" Answered Clyde.

"What are we going to do about the sixth floor?" The guy standing over them asked.

"Jeremy, baby relax. I got it all covered." His armored comrade blew him a kiss and laughed.

"I called in for backup, that'll take care of everything. Now come hit this while we wait."

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"Ugh... Gods." Quinn huffed, leaning on her staff while chugging a mana potion, face frowning at the bitter taste.

"I think they finally stopped trying to breach"

"You alright?" Filtz patted her on the back. The paladin looked up, checking on the rest of his party.

"Everybody else alright?"

The remaining members of the party all raised their hands, signaling that everyone was alive and standing.

"Damn elves, they did not tell us we would be going up against such a force. While they hide on the last floor no less!" The parties fighter, a stocky dwarf said, spitting on the ground.

"Typical of those long eared wimps."

"Shut up." Quinn angrily said, not taking kindly to the dwarves insulting of her people.

"We were paid well for this job. Are you not an adventurer? If you dislike this, maybe you should retire instead and get paid to sit around and mold."

"Quinn relax. I'm sure he meant nothing bad by it." Said the party's tank. The large ogre woman walked over to the exhausted elf, casting a recuperation buff on her.

"Did they really back off?" Belam'Bal asked Filtz, while still casting her spell on Quinn, who had already started to feel less shaky and exhausted.

"I don't know. Rin! Anything outside the gate?" The paladin asked.

Outside of the dark behind the party, one of the three assassins replied.

"Yeah, they seem to have backed off. I sense no one near the entrance."

"Perhaps they have went to lick their wounds. Or maybe they have ran out of supplies. Their weapons aside, they did not seem too equipped to stay down here a long time. We can probably wait them out like this." The dwarf cackled.

"And have me do all the heavy lifting to keep the entrance sealed." Quinn rolled her eyes.

The party settled down, deciding to rest as much as they could before the next breach attempt by the invaders. Tension seemed to die down as a few hours passed without a single movement on the other side of the sealed off entrance.

"Told you, they must have realized we're not letting them in without a fight and gave up." Laughed the warrior.

"They are no match for Quinn's magic!" Belam'Bal patted the elf on the back.

"Wait. I sense movement." Yu, the second of the three assassins said, grabbing everyone's attention.

"The goblins in the area decreasing in number rapidly." Rin added to her brothers statement.

"Hah! They must be so angry at their loss, they are taking it out on the goblins." The dwarf said, slapping his knee.

"There is someone on the other side of the gate. A single person by the feel of it." Said Jan, the third of the party's assassins. Each of the three siblings was blessed with powerful detection magic, capable of sensing things even through objects and behind walls.

"Just one guy? Maybe they want to surrender? Think it's a trap?" Belam looked at the paladin, who shook his head and shrugged in response.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Yes. There is other present anywhere near, it seems he is alone." Rin's answer was interrupted by a faint knock on the stone gate, coming from the other side.

Cautiously, weapons drawn, Flitz told the elf mage to lower the gate, but be ready to cast it again immediately.

The elf nodded and did as she was told. To the party's surprise, a black man stood on the other side. He wore the uniform of the invaders, with slight modifications such as decorative furs and feathers that matches the green of the uniform. Filtz noticed something hanging off the mans hip and quickly identified the object to be a Kobold skull, clearly taken as some sort of trophy.

The man took a single step into the chamber, flashing the party an honest smile. His stature in no way matches his overwhelming confidence and lack of any fear or worry, considering he was no taller than the party's dwarf warrior.

"What do you want?" Filtz asked.

The man seemed to be glad that someone present spoke a language he could understand and locked eyes with Flitz.

"I have come here to tell you that you are surrounded."

Everyone stood in silence, baffled at what the man had just said.

"Surrounded?" Quinn whispered, looking over at the assassins.

Before she could get an answer, the man continued.

"Since we just had appetizer, I want to offer you one chance to surrender. Give up and I will let you leave here alive and in one piece. No harm. No foul."

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"Sir, sir, wake up. The reinforcements are here." A soldier nudged Clyde with her foot as he laid passed out on the floor.

The short black man pushed past her, stomping on Clyde's ribs, as he was laying on his side.

"Wake up, ya bastard!" He shouted with a heavy Cameroonian accent.

"Auuuugghhh... yeah, yeah, I'm up." Groaned the head of the unit as he got up to his feet, rubbing his bloodshot eyes. He took a deep inhale, hoping the stale dungeon air would clear away the fog in his head.

Groggily looking down, a huge smile appeared on the man's face.

"Shaka Zulu! Glad you could join us, all the way down here." Clyde laughed, patting the small man on the shoulder.

"Clyde, I see your humor is still as shit as the rest of you." The single person reinforcement replied with an equally big smile.

The other two men who were passed out on the floor woke up from the noise and slowly started getting up to their feet.

"So, this is our reinforcement? A pygmy?" Jeremy chuckled, looking down at Clyde's friend.

The black man looked at him, his confidence unimpacted by the comment.

"You will find me more than enough."

The armored behemoth shot a quick glare at Jeremy, causing the latter to look down and quickly head somewhere else in the cap to help the rest of the unit with preparations. They hauled in large, heavy, metal boxes as per the short man's orders, leaving them very close to where the exit to the fifth floor met the hallway that lead to the sixth floor. Soft huffing and noise could be heard from inside the containers, as Marcel walked over in front of the containers, signaling to the rest of the unit to move a healthy distance away.

"So, what's in the cages?" Jeremy asked Clyde, observing as the other man tampered with what looked like a remote to the containers.

"Gungams." Replied Clyde, his comrade looking up at him with confusion.

"Marcel is to beasts what Cesar Millan is to dogs." The behemoth in combat armor continued his explanation as the remove beeped and all ten containers simultaneously opened.

Jeremy shone a flashlight in Marcel's direction to better see what was going on, as the darkness in the hallway made it nearly impossible to see. The soldier stood frozen in his tracks, watching massive lizard like beasts emerge from the containers, sniffing the air and crawling around Marcel. The short, dark skinned soldier did not seem worried in the slightest, actually seeming glad and happy to be around those creatures.

Each of the ten lizards seemed equal in size, 5 feet from the head to the tail at least. Their arms and backs were covered in thick scales, the ones on their backs being the size of diner plates and overlapping. Arm scales seemed equally thick but smaller to keep mobility. Their tails ended with two dorsal plates, but horizontal, giving the tails an appearance of a double sided axe swinging side to side. They moved slowly, having only one pair of limbs, that being their arms.

As the soldier stood in shock, one of the creatures turned towards the source of the light that was shone.

Clyde quickly grabbed his comrade by the wrist, snatching the flashlight away from him.

"They dislike artificial light. So, don't do that." He said, letting go of Jeremy's wrist.

The soldier still stood stunned, as the creature's attention turned back to Marcel, the image of the lizards face forever etched into his memory.

It's head was torpedo shaped, bone plating covering it like a helmet, connecting to the neck and back plates. 2 pairs of eyes, one eye on each side like the snakes and lizards of Earth, the other pair sitting atop the head, facing directly forward. It was unlike anything he had ever seen.

Marcel whistled once, snapping Jeremy out of his trance and getting the attention of his pets. He pulled something out of his pouch and let the creatures get a good sniff. With the second whistle, the lizards moved uncharacteristically fast, lunging at the walls and ceiling of the hallway and boring into them.

Silence ensued, soon followed by muffled and distant screeching of the goblins in their nearby burrows.

"Huh, I guess some goblins did survive." One of the other soldiers commented nonchalantly.

"What the fuck are those?" Jeremy muttered under his breath.

"Told you, Gungams. Cave dwelling predators from this world. Everything from their webbed claws to the shape of their head and scales is designed to have them glide through the ground like they're swimming.

They use their arms to clear the way and move forward, while their long bodies use motion similar to snakes to move fast. Pretty tough to kill too, those plates are thick as shit, damn near bulletproof to standard caliber. Even lower caliber ammo piercing rounds struggle against them. Their underbellies are soft, but good luck flipping one of those nimble bastards on their backs." Clyde explained.

"I have no clue where Marcel found them, let alone how he got them doing tricks." He added.

"If they're underground, why do they need 2 sets of eyes?" Clyde's comrade asked.

"I don't really know. According to Marcel, they use the eyes on the side to see, like our reptiles. The eyes up front at to mesmerize and entrance a larger opponent or bigger prey, while the rest of the pack moved in from the side to kill. So yeah, do not look them dead in the eyes. Don't look at them directly at all, those things are always itching to beef." With his explanation finished, Clyde raised his right hand, making a circling motion with his index finger, giving the unit the order to start packing up as they're about to head out soon.

Jeremy took one more glance at the now silent hallways, but Marcel was already gone, walking on his way to the sixth floor, to deal with the party that was barricaded there.

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Everybody stared confused at the dark skinned soldier standing at the entrance to the sixth floor.

He did not seem very armed nor armored. Even if he was carrying a hidden weapon, the party knew there was little to no chance he would be able to take them all out before Quinn's magic or the assassins took him out.

But for some reason, his words carried the weight only irrefutable truths do, when he told them they are surrounded.

"Rin, Yu, Jan! Observe the area again, this time as far as you can, include the walls and ceiling too."

Ordered Filtz, never taking his eyes off the enemy soldier.

"Surrounded? You must be mad. There is no way they would be able to dig through this much earth in such a short time. Plus, we'd hear them." Said Belam'Bal, looking from one party member to another, seeking someone to agree with her.

The paladin opened his mouth to speak when the clamor, the tale tale sound of steel hitting stone, echoed from the side. He turned to the source, only to be met with Rin, kneeling on the ground, staring up at a spot in the ceiling. She had dropped her dagger, her arms hanging limply at her side in utter surrender.

"Right there... There is a lizard, right above me." She whispered, never taking her eyes off the spot above, tears welling in her eyes.

"There are lizards, all around us. Burrowing through the soil." Jan answered, as Quinn rushed over to Rin, trying to snap her out of her daze.

"Gungams." The dwarf said, exhaling in defeat and taking a step towards the enemy soldier, axe in hand.

"What are y-?" The party's tank reached out to stop him, but the dwarf already had his mind set.

"There is no chance we can survive this, let alone fight the beasts off." The warrior continued, looking Marcel dead in the eyes.

Although the invader did not understand a single word of dwarven, he got the message loud and clear.

The dwarf dropped his axe to the ground and raised his hands high, palms pointing outwards.

"I surrender."

"You coward!" Quinn hissed, snapping her head to face the dwarf, glaring at him furiously.

"It is so like you, to abandon something as soon as the going gets tough."

"I have been paid to defend the dungeon, not leave my bones in it."

The dwarf replied, walking over to the enemy and turning around to face his comrades.

He looked at the paladin, begging him without a word to listen to reason and surrender.

Even though dwarves never had a habit of expressing their feelings, he did not wish to see them die.

"I agree." The ogre woman sighed, dropping her spiked club next to the dwarfs axe.

"We have been paid in advance, and quite a hefty sum at that. But to defend the sixth floor of this dungeon. We failed at that. Even if we fight and die here, that outcome will not change. Please Filtz, I know you have plenty of reasons not to die here."

"Anyone else?" The paladin asked, though his mind was set on an answer the second the dwarf put his axe down.

The threes siblings threw their assassins daggers onto the pile, and went to stand next to their comrades.

Filtz sighed, somewhat glad at the decision they had made. He turned and looked at the elf mage, the only one still hesitant to lay down her staff.

"What, what if he still kills us after we surrender? We can't guarantee that." She shouted, pointing her finger at Marcel, who had leaned against the edge of the hallway, already bored with the display.

"He might. But if there is even a small chance that we can walk out of here alive, I will take that gamble." The party leader answered, sheathing his blade back into its scabbard and extending his hand to Quinn. The mage looked down at her feet, before taking his hand and joining the group.

The black man looked up at them.

"So? I take it you surrender?"

"Y-yeah. We surrender." Flitz answered, avoiding the man's gaze despite being significantly taller than him.

The party's hearts collectively sank as Marcel frowned at their answer bit, before shrugging.

"A disappointing answer, but a very expected one. I am a man of my word. Leave."

Without another word, he turned around and walked back up the hallway, letting out another short whistle as he went. Gungams burst through the walls and ceiling of the hallway and followed their master obediently, never once glancing back at the stunned party, that up until a few minutes ago could have been their meal.

Not stopping to think or reflect on the situation, the adventurers quickly grabbed their discarded weapons and bolted up the hallway, running past Clyde and his unit who began to descent from floor five to floor six, running all the way to the exit of the dungeon.

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Solon was overjoyed when small village peeked from the behind the dunes.

It was far from what he would consider a developed settlement, but at this point, he did not care at all.

Soon, the caravan slowed to a halt, just in front of, what seemed like a market of sorts, and everybody stepped out.

"Thank you again Vur'z, for sharing your wagon and supplies with us."

Solon said to the caravan leader, bowing his head slightly.

"Thank the two of you, for sharing stories and a good time with us."

Vur'z replied, bowing back.

The caravan moved once more, leaving the pair behind and disappearing around the corner.

"Well Sheela. It has been an... experience." Solon said, extending his good hand to the former genie.

"Oh don't get ahead of yourself mortal. We are not on equal ground just because YOU believe you outsmarted me. I am the Goddess of the Sands!" She scoffed, looking down on him, partially due to her superior height, partially due to her over superior ego. Arms crossed and resting on her chest, it was evident she would not reciprocate his show of good faith. A few passerby's turned their heads at her loud statement, before moving on with their business.

Solon closed and retracted his hand, making a clicking sound with his mouth.

"Oooo-kay then."

Before he could turn away, he stopped for a second, one last question on his mind.

"You speak a lot of languages. Do you know what that beast thing was yelling at me before Vur'z knocked it cold?"

She raised an eyebrow, rubbing her chin. Solon wasn't use if she was trying to remember or if she was trying to decide whether to tell him or not.

"It thought you were an adventurer and mentioned something about having a big reward for its safe return or something like that. Saying its parents are adventurers too, I believe. Too late now though."

"Yeah." Solon nodded.

"Well, so long Sheela, best wishes with your new life."

"Hah! I don't need wishes. I will amass a following and usher new rule of power and prosperity." She proclaimed boldly, garnering some more attention from the vendors and onlookers.

"Great. Looking forward to it. I'm sure your reign will bring even more sand to this desert." Replied Solon, before nodding and walking away, quickly blending into the crowd. He moved at a brisk pace, making sure to get out of ear shot before she could retort, relishing in the having the final word.

Sheela grinded her teeth, before swiftly turning on her bare heels and walking away in the opposite direction.

Both quickly got swallowed up by the marketplace crowd, never once turning back as they parted ways.