Emerging from the now watery crevice, we landed down onto the rock shelter. The water pouring out from above had now begun to fill the stream that fed into the oasis. Despite the watery revival, there was no time to celebrate as we narrowly evaded the large boulders that came crashing down after us. The groups of participants who had been eagerly awaiting began to cheer as they observed the water flowing freely, ignoring the danger in front of them.
“Everybody, stand back and find cover!” I yelled.
However they refused to listen as they began to swarm the stream, kneeling beside it as they proceeded to slurp the water they gathered in their hands. Whilst they were filling their flasks to the brim, others began showering under the waterfalls to refresh themselves. However, the water which had begun to flood the stream, once again began to dry up, seemingly disappearing around the boulders which had now begun to swell.
“What’s going on, where has the water gone!?” They yelled.
I glanced over to the boulders and noticed that they were once again on the move, this was bad. I dashed over to a large rock to shield myself from the incoming danger. Peeking out from behind the rock, I witnessed the reality of the situation as the boulders began to roll across the landscape, rolling over all of those who stood in their path. Some lowkin began to cast their sorceries in an effort to dispatch our unknown foes.
“What the hell are these things!?” They cried out.
“Some kind of wild beast, I shall take care of this.” One man declared.
The man attempted to attract the attention of one of the boulders by standing out in the open, standing in its path. I couldn’t see it before, with my focus on the enemy I observed what looked like a spritz of water coming out from under the boulder in small bursts. It was seemingly gaining speed with every burst as it came rolling towards him at a rapid speed, but upon its collision course with the man, it was abruptly stopped. Surprisingly, it appeared as though the man caught the boulder between his hands, he had somehow achieved his goal of stopping the wild beast. However, it only proved to hasten his death as the boulder began to uncoil itself, revealing a large and imposing creature. It’s face was rather small with beady eyes and a pointy snout. Whereas it’s abdominal skin appeared leathery, its arms and legs were seemingly covered in the same material that it’s carapace was made of. The creature let out a shrill squeal, stunning those around it.
“Wha-What is this thing!?” The man uttered his final words. Wielding tusk-like claws, the creature dug into the man in an effort to gore him, tearing him in two.
“Somebody call for the others!” They yelled, approaching the nearby guards.
“Stand back, there are still wild beasts that require your attention.” The guard snapped.
“We can’t do this by ourselves, you need to help us!”
“I’m afraid this isn’t a dire situation, the standard groups are not to waste their energy on such petty problems. You are all more than capable of handling this.” Spoke the Magistrate.
“Fuck! I didn’t sign up to die here, let me out-” A man cursed, but before he could finish, the guard had cut him down.
“How disappointing, I expected more from you lot, but in the end you lowkin are nothing more than cowards and runaways.” Magistrate Lar donned a look of disgust. “I shall return to my Lord, inform me when this whole situation has settled down. And should any more of the lowkin try to escape, you know what to do.” He emphasized.
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The guards began to close off any openings out of the oasis, and began to set up a perimeter atop the cliffs which surrounded it. We were left to fend for ourselves, the bastards couldn’t be bothered to lend aid to us, seeing us as less than sub-human. With nowhere to go, we had no choice but to defend ourselves against these creatures.
“We need to stand our ground, let us work together comrades!” Pyro shouted.
The other lowkin understood that this was a situation that required cooperation from all of us, thus a small group formed around him in an attempt to take on one of the creatures using their combined strengths. Pyro urged other lowkin who were adept in fire to cast a collective sorcery intending to burn one of the incoming creatures.
“This is the fire born from the heat of our battle, may it burn you to ashes!” Pyro and the others casted a large globe of fire, using what limited powers they had, and cast it towards one of the creatures.
The sorcery was sent crashing into the creature, and upon impact knocked it out of its roll. The creature squealed in pain as the fires began to cook it alive. Though short of breath, they cheered for what they had accomplished, despite how small the victory was. However, one of the other creatures took notice of their attack and began to make its way over to their group. There was no time for them to react, nor was there enough Eitr in the air for them to cast another sorcery. This was no time for me to stand idly by, Pyro and the others were in danger, it was about time I returned the favor from earlier. I had meant to save it for later, but it seems right now is a good time as any to put it to use. I unbuckled the Vykin cannon from my back and began to make my way over to their group, ready to take aim.
“Move aside, I’ll handle this!”
I motioned for Pyro and the others to take cover, and they obliged. My finger held down on the trigger, I readied myself as the creature began rolling its way toward us. The distance closing in, now was the perfect time, I released my finger off the trigger, a wave of energy bursting from the artifact hit the creature head on. Unable to take the force of my attack, the creature was not only stopped but sent flying in the opposite direction, crashing into the cliffs that surrounded us. The energy produced was far greater than when I had used it back at the manor, my ears still ringing from the blast. I glanced over to where the creature had crashed into the cliffside, its rocky carapace now shattered, the blood oozing from its cracks.
“That was one hell’uva show, friend! You saved our asses, but to think you had a Vykin weapon, where did you find that?”
“This? Oh you know, I picked it up in the city.”
“Hah! I must be looking in the wrong places then!” He laughed.
There weren’t many of those creatures left now, it seems we might just be able to make it out of this situation alive. All of a sudden, the creatures all stopped rolling around and began to uncoil themselves. I couldn’t imagine why, without moving around they were susceptible to being killed, easy targets for the likes of us. Something was wrong, it was at that moment I realized that there was one thing I had completely ignored. Where exactly did all that water go?
“What is the beast doing!?”
“It’s vulnerable, now’s the time to attack!”
The other lowkin began to issue an assault on the creatures, disregarding their own safety. The creatures were standing still, it was then I saw what looked to be small holes dotted on their leathery skin, seemingly gasping for air. Centered beneath their legs, presumably near their rear end, appeared to be what looked like a large trunk-like appendage. The appendage began to swell, and it’s aim was focused on the few lowkin that charged towards them. The tip of the appendage began to pulsate, what followed was a rapid stream of liquid that came gushing out with great force. The lowkin who were closing in on the creatures fell to the floor in pieces, the pressure of the water slicing them up into nice clean chunks. There was no chance of me getting close enough to use my artifact now.
Pyro looked over to me. “We really pissed them off now, friend.”