Jado jumped back, holding the saw leg like a spear to keep the hyena to try and bite him. The animal only growled softly, his whiskers slightly retracted to reveal two rows of teeth that were as yellow as the animal's eyes. The young man threw a glance behind him, seeing another hyena circling him. Sweat began to accumulate on his forehead as he tried to think of a way to save his skin. Right now, the hyenas didn't seem to be too vindictive, clearly trying to check out if he was a predator or a prey. Jado couldn't help but think that he was the latter right now.
He waited patiently, waiting for the hyenas to make the first move. The young man couldn't afford to make them his enemies and was sure that if he did something first, the other hyenas surrounding him would use the opportunity to rip him to pieces. He wanted to run away, but from what his mother told him, running in front of a predator that could sprint much faster than him was only a stupid idea that would only lead to exposing one's back and death.
All of the other hyenas came to surround him, letting him discover that there were seven of them exactly, all with the same rugged, brown-yellow fur that seemed to fuse with the sand on the ground. None made any aggressive move, and they only watched him silently, growling softly whenever he would come too close. Jado felt like he was going to lose his mind, between the heat, the sand, and the damned hyenas who might or might not want to eat him. His heart wasn't racing, because, for some strange reason, he felt way less intimidated compared to when he saw the big crab earlier in the day.
Suddenly, without any warning, one of the hyenas lunged at him, its maw wide open to try and bite his arm off. Reacting instinctively, he moved the saw leg to block the attack, yelling in the process out of fright and adrenaline.
"Yarghh!!!" He swung the crab's leg, the dented teeth that he used as a blade shredding through the pelt of the hyena, making the latter yelp in pain and jump back. It stumbled a few steps back, fright nestled in its yellow, vicious eyes. It licked its wounds, leaving its place to another hyena who lunged at Jado aiming this time for one of his legs. Not having the time to be thankful for them only coming one at a time, the young man slammed the saw leg in the head of the hyena, planting the tip in its back, before pushing down with all his weight, slicing through the skin like a cleaver would with a piece of meat. Once touching the vertebral column of the hyena, which was foaming and spitting blood in a yell of pain, the saw leg got stuck.
Jado did the only thing he could think of and pulled on it as if it were a saw. The makeshift weapon shredded through the hyena grotesquely, splitting the animal in two in a fountain of blood and guts. Jado stepped back, disgusted by the gore while picking his weapon back up. The hyenas that were still surrounding him began to cackle loudly, making him wonder if they were mocking him or their previous comrade. Without any other actions, they simply left the premises, leaving him with his bloodied saw leg and the corpse of the hyena he killed. He fell on his knees, gasping for air while the adrenaline finally stopped pumping in his veins. That was the first time he fought a beast, and he was lucky enough to not get hurt in the process. Of course, the fight with the Corrupted-whatever didn't count, since that thing wasn't even able to defend itself. Or himself? No, it was a monster, so using "it" was more than correct.
Yeah, it was a monster. Jado sighed, dropping his weapon on the sand. The moment the crab's leg touched the ground, a jaw closed on his thigh from behind him. Jado yelped in pain as he tried to turn to see what attacked him, discovering that one of the previous hyenas hadn't left, clearly holding a grudge against him. It was holding tightly on his leg, ripping his flesh out in bits and pieces. The young man felt the blood trickle down his leg, the sharp rows of teeth planted in it. He punched the beast as well as he could, succeeding in making it back off. The hyena cackled, licking its lips covered in blood, savoring the taste of his prey. Brought by the smell of blood, the other members of the pack came back, growling and cackling while forming an inescapable circle around him.
Sand rose with a gust of wind, the hyenas using it as a signal to launch their assaults. Jado hurriedly picked his weapon back up, raising it just in time to pierce one of the hyenas through its opened mouth, stopping it dead in its tracks. He pulled back the crab leg as quickly as he could, but it wasn't enough and he had to endure a claw swipe from another backstabbing hyena. His sight began to blur, but he pulled himself together thanks to his determination to stay alive. His leg that had been bitten gave way beneath him, destabilizing him.
One of the hyenas used the opportunity to go for his throat, getting too close for him to use his long weapon. He pulled out his pocket knife in desperation, planting it in the throat of the beast. In a rage fueled by pain, he ripped the throat open, losing the grip on his knife at the same time. Not losing a second, he rolled away, avoiding another attack, before sweeping around him with the crab leg. One of the hyenas couldn't avoid it, and one of its legs got caught in it, which Jado didn't hesitate to shred completely. The hyena yelped while rolling on the ground, unable to flee his next attack. He planted mercilessly his weapon in the chest of the beast, twisting it in the process, before ripping it out in a bloody show.
A hyena bit him in the left arm, making him lose his grip on the crab leg. Screaming in pain, he planted his thumb in the eye of the hyena, twisting and digging in the cavity until the beast let go. The hyenas left him with some breathing room, and he picked his weapon back up again, gasping and panting for air. Two of the beasts had stayed in retreat, only observing and cackling at the fight. There were three dead beasts and another that was panting in pain, its eye bleeding profusely.
"Argh...No...I counted seven?" Jado blurted out, his head hurting from all the blood he lost when he tried to count the enemies. At the exact moment, the hyena that left with a huge bleeding gash on its side lunged for his head from behind while cackling. Instinctively, he fell on his stomach, the beast passing over him before rolling in the sand. Jado didn't lose an instant and pushed himself forward while stabbing the crab's leg with his other hand. His arm wasn't strong enough to hold the spear by itself, and he let go of it, the weapon slipping away. Nonetheless, his initial objective was fulfilled as it planted itself right in the ribs of the hyena, pinning it to the ground.
Jado rolled on his back, holding his wounds while screaming in pain. He could barely see anything or even think anymore, but he knew that he had to stand up and fight the remaining ones. Yes, there were still three hyenas, right? Where were they? He pushed himself up while recovering his weapon, looking around crazily, blood flowing down his body from every part of it.
"Arghh, I...I want to sleep," He blurted out, using the spear as a support to hold himself up. No matter how hard he looked, he couldn't see the other hyenas. A track of blood as well as paw traces in the sand informed him that the beasts finally left. He sighed in relief, before jolting himself awake back up.
"No, they already got me once with this trick!" He yelled, holding his spear with a feverish determination, turning and stumbling around while expecting another attack. His clothes were completely ripped out, but he couldn't care less about it. He had to deal with his wounds soon or he would bleed out and die in this damned desert.
"Sh...Shit! I...Bandages..." He repeated while hallucinating, ripping his clothes to use the fabric as makeshift compresses. He had to stop the bleeding. That's all he could think of. Jado tied up his wounds as best he could and grabbed one of his kills by the tail.
"I...Argh!!" He fell on his knees, his leg giving up once more. Anger fueling him, he stood back up, "Inventory!"
The blue window opened, and without even waiting for a second, he threw the carcass in it. He sighed in relief once he saw the corpse getting absorbed in the inventory. He quickly repeated the process, praying to whoever would hear him that sacrificing those would save him because it was his only hope right now. He had killed four of them, as the small 4 under the icon of his inventory informed him. He crawled back to the Altar, each step costing him another breath, another second, and bringing him closer to the doorstep of death.
His eyes lit up once he saw the now familiar small, circular stone contraption, and relief washed over him.
"Ahh, finally..." A smile hung on his lips as he closed his eyes and everything went dark around him. His head fell straight into the sand, burying him in darkness. Shadows twirled around him, whispering hidden mysteries in an incomprehensible language. Black sand flew in a storm in front of his eyes, revealing a somber graveyard. His eyes widened once they rested on one of the tombstones. The name of his mother, Maria Mirak, was written on the tomb in red ink, a crimson color reminiscing of blood. He turned around, refusing to believe his eyes, stumbling and falling in front of another grave, this one bearing the name of his father, Patik Mirak.
"No, no, no!!!" He yelled, trying to wake up from this nightmare. He ran in the rows of tombs, reading the names as he passed. Mr. Babel, Madam Sabia, Uncle Jack... He froze as a sudden realization washed over him. Every name written on the tombstones was the name of the villagers of Araashir. A horrible thought was born in his head, and he proceeded to read every single tombstone. Ten, fifty, one hundred... He arrived at the end of the graveyard, an ember of hope lighting in his heart, alongside hate and a desire for revenge. Only two names were missing in the graveyard.
Nari Dina and Kale Toren.
Jado breathed in heavily, opening his eyes widely, his body hurting all over. His lips were crackled, and he had sand covering most of his wounds, making them burn and even more painful than they were originally. A meter away from him, the Altar was there, waiting for him. He gritted his teeth, screaming through them, and pushed himself to the ledge of the Altar. He opened his inventory and dropped the four corpses on the stone table. His eyes began to blur once again, and he felt his consciousness, slip away. In one last try, he yelled one word.
"SACRIFICE!!"
And finally, Jado fell back, his body resting in the sand, as he left his fate to the stone Altar. He managed to hear one last thing before the darkness obscured everything.
"Hint: Sacrifices never go unrewarded."
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"Hgnn...It tickles..." Jado muttered, his brain muddy and his tongue pasty. His body was hurting all over for some reason. Something tickled him on the cheek, and he reactively chased it away with a swipe of his arm, turning around to get more comfortable in his bed. He stuffed his face in the sand by doing so and took a big whiff of it, making him open his eyes in shock and cough to get it all out. Spitting all of the sand in his mouth, he turned his head left, freezing when he saw what was tickling him.
A snake, probably around 20 inches, was standing silently right beside where his head was previously, hissing slowly. It simply stood there, staring at him with its small, orange eyes with black pupils. Its scales were dark brown, covering its stout, robust body, helping him to blend in the sand. Its head was triangular and flattened, with a distinct neck that separated it from the body, and had a large and curved mouth with sharp fangs. On top of the snake's head were two small horns, and Jado couldn't help but find the appearance of that beast cool. The only snakes he had seen before were the common grass snakes that they often hunted for their meat. Those snakes weren't very dangerous, but the young man had a feeling that the one in front of him was very different.
They stared at each other for a while, long enough for Jado to notice that his wounds had somehow closed during his loss of consciousness. He threw a glance at the Altar, noticing that the corpses he had placed on it were gone. He probably had to thank himself for sacrificing the corpses just before collapsing. His wounds weren't something he was supposed to survive easily. The horned snake didn't move, still staring at the human in front of him while hissing from time to time. It didn't look aggressive, but so did the hyenas earlier. Jado instinctively looked around for his weapon, only wincing at his stupidity when he realized that he had placed it alongside the hyenas' corpses. It had probably been sacrificed.
The young man turned back toward the snake, sighing.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Do you want to eat me?" He asked dejectedly, his eyes widening in shock and incomprehension when the snake shook its head from left to right. Did...did it just answer him?
"You...Can you understand me?" Jado said hesitantly, gasping when the snake made an affirmative movement with his head, hissing happily. What was going on? Was he talking to a snake?
"Did I go mad already?" He asked aloud, rubbing his neck with his eyes stuck on the creature, who tilted its head in confusion. Jado blinked a few times, then decided to try and rub his eyes to see if it was a mirage, but the snake was still there. Convinced that he was hallucinating, he slowly held his hand forward, trying to go and pet the snake. It didn't move, and let the human do whatever it wanted. Jado let out an amazed sound when he felt the scales under his touch, rough but warm. He paled when he realized that the snake was indeed real, and jerked his hand back, scared of the thing biting him. The reptile only shook its head dejectedly in an almost human manner, clearly disappointed in Jado.
The latter decided to accept it as it came and to question the snake to understand what it was doing there.
"I can't believe I'm talking to a snake..." He sighed sadly, still half-convinced that he was just crazy, "So, uhm, are you, well, friendly?" The snake moved his head up and down, clearly answering positively.
"Alright, good. I guess. Uhm, what...What are you doing here?" The snake turned its head toward the Altar nodding toward it. Jado suddenly felt his mind clear up as he understood how this snake came to be. With a thought, he summoned the Altar's window, checking it out.
Nameless Altar of the Forgotten Desert Level: Abandoned Ruin (in repair) Structural Integrity: 584/1000 Owner: Jado Mirak, Servant of the Sand
Sacrifice available: None
The structural integrity had jumped by two hundred points, meaning a whole hyena was worth fifty points. The level of the Altar had also changed, "in repair" having appeared. Did that mean it was going to fix itself starting now? How did that work? This still didn't explain how the snake arrived there, so he summoned his Status window, his eyebrows rising when he saw the changes that appeared there.
Name (Jado Mirak) Rank Insignificant Class (Servant of the Sand) Title [The One Who Saw Death] Agility Insignificant Constitution Insignificant Intelligence Insignificant Strength Insignificant Skill(s) [Resilience], (???) Companion(s) (Nameless Desert Snake] Task(s) A Grain of Sand in the Gear of Time (5/?)
A [Title] had appeared in the said category, The One Who Saw Death. Indeed, the young man was pretty sure that the blade of the Reaper was probably just under his throat this time. He opened the description of the title.
[The One Who Saw Death]
[You saw the light but were pulled back in your pitiful life.
You've seen it, but Death shall not claim you yet. Live to fight another day]
Effect(s): You receive one last push of energy when you're on the brink of death.
Interesting. He was curious to see how this effect would work, but he certainly wasn't going to test it by voluntarily putting himself on the brink of dying. A skill had also appeared in the Status window, Resilience. What was it?
[Resilience] Rank: Lowest (You can take pain because your objective is much more important than a measly suffering.) Effect: You're slightly more tolerant of pain
There was a rank to this skill, Lowest. That probably meant he could improve it better, even if he was a bit puzzled at the effect. Did that mean that if he pushed the skill to the maximum level he would stop feeling pain altogether? He wasn't sure what to think about that. But it was true that pain tolerance would help him if he found himself in another complicated situation like the one with the pack of hyenas. Without pain to hinder him, he would be much more efficient in fighting, but less aware of his wounds. It kind of was a double-edged blade, Jado thought. Whatever, he still had to see the effects of this skill in combat, and he wasn't about to anytime soon.
There also was a new category, Companion. He glanced at the snake, understanding where it finally came from. The young man opened its description.
[Nameless Desert Snake] Rank: Lowest [A companion that found you on the brink of death, born from the sacrifice of your enemies. Take care of him, and he will take care of you.]
So it indeed was a gift of the blue window. Its name was terrible, though. Nameless Desert Snake felt so...generic. Could he change it?
Do you want to change the [Nameless Desert Snake]'s name? Y/N
"Yes, of course. I'm sure you would agree," He said while looking at the snake, who nodded insistently, "Since you're a snake of the desert, I'll name you...Dune, like the ones we are going to live in." He decided, the snake hissing happily at its new name. The status window updated, with the name [Dune] replacing its previous one. Jado nodded contently, before turning toward the last matter. The task window had been updated, and he needed to check it out.
A Grain of Sand in the Gear of Time (5/?) Mission: Repair the Nameless Altar fully Current Progress: 584/1000 Reward: [The Seed of a Kingdom], [Eyes of the Pharaoh] Hint: The quicker you get this task done, the sooner you'll be able to have a roof over your head.
"Oh, so now it wants me to fix the Altar completely." Jado shook his head dejectedly. He almost died trying to fill this bar, and that was when he had a weapon to defend himself. Besides Dune over there, who, by the way, had no idea what he could do, he had no means of defending himself or even hunting something. Should he try sacrificing scorpions and small living beings in the desert? Maybe he could try it, but he doubted it would be really useful.
Jado sighed, lying down in the sand and covering his eyes from the burning sun. His clothes were sticky and heavy with blood, but it wasn't like he could wash or even change them. He certainly wasn't going to use his water rations to do so anyway. Thinking about those made his stomach grumble, and he sat himself up, leaning against the warm stone of the Altar, before opening his Inventory. Dune slithered in the sand, before crawling up his clothes to come and rest around his shoulders. Jado tensed up a little but quickly got used to it, the presence of the little snake soothing. At least, now he wasn't alone anymore in this damned desert...
In the blue window of his inventory, his rations were waiting for him, alongside the icon of something he never put there. It looked like the crab leg he used as a weapon, but slightly different. He took it out of the inventory, whistling in surprise and appreciation when he discovered that it was a new weapon. He took a ration out at the same time, letting Dune nimble on the meatloaf as he studied this new armament. It was a staff made of black chitin, with a blade at each end of it. It looked hard to use, and most important of all, very dangerous. Jado had no idea of how he was going to use this, but it certainly was better than his fists or the saw-leg he used before.
The young man suspected that the accidental sacrifice of the crab's leg earned him this double-edged weapon. Passing his hand on the chitin handle, he felt an engraving under his skin. He looked more closely, discovering two words:[Desert Fang].
"How cool..." Jado couldn't help but blurt out, before putting the weapon back in the inventory. He gave a bit of water to Dune, before emptying the leather flask in his mouth, and discarding it near the altar, like he had done for the previous ones. Perhaps it would be useful, perhaps it wouldn't be, but at least it was there. The young man ate his meatloaf, sharing some pieces with his snake, enjoying a peaceful time and letting his body rest after the beating it took.
After finishing his meal, Dune wrapped around his shoulders, Jado checked out his map, seeing that no red points were close to him, which reassured him. He didn't want to get into a fight if possible, even less with something much more dangerous than a pack of hyenas. He decided to go and check out the victim of the gigantic crab one last time, to see if anything remained he could take back as a sacrifice. He probably had an hour or two until the night fell, so if he could complete the task before that, he would be really happy.
He walked back to the site of the fight, checking out the place he fought with the hyenas, but nothing remained, not even a drop of blood. The sand seemed to have absorbed it all, leaving traces of it. He climbed up the mound, expecting a large eaten carcass, but was instead met with a hole. A big, wide black hole that was large enough to swallow three or four gigantic crabs. And the scariest wasn't that this looked like a bottomless pit, no, it was that there were stones in the shape of teeth that weren't there before surrounding the hole. Jado stepped back slowly, Dune slithering nervously on his arm. He checked out the map, seeing a black point right where there was none before.
"It must have arrived just when I wasn't checking the map..." Jado whispered, still stepping back slowly. This was a gigantic monster that swallowed whole the gigantic mass of flesh the big black crab left behind it. And he wouldn't take the risk to annoy it.