Chapter 4 – Convergence of Adversarial Souls - Unshackled

“Ohhh…” Felkin groaned as he slowly crawled up from the ground and spat out sand. He stood up and sand trickled down him, he brushed off some on his hair and put his hand over his eyes as he tried to ascertain his location. He looked around and only had the monotonous desert sand in sight in all directions. He coughed up more of the sand and looked down at himself. His clothes were torn in a few places, where small wounds were visible. He put his hand to his face and felt a cut on his lip.

He realized that he was still holding his sword, which was lengthened towards the area behind him. He looked backwards at the sand and saw a long trail across the ground which stretched into a far along location and stopped at where he was standing. His sword was extended in that direction as well, he walked briefly across the trail and felt that his sword was lengthened even further away and anchored into the earth. He wound his aching arm and pulled back his sword to its original length. He stood there waiting for it for a couple of seconds before it snapped back into place. He suddenly realized what happened right before he was thrown out into the sand and quickly raised his sword, surmising that he arrived from where the trail was from, he tried to follow where it led to with his eyes, and it led far.

He squinted and saw faint structures in the distance, he had slightly regretted bringing down the only landmark across the desert plains. He saw small flashes in the distance, he focused and saw golden balls of light flying upwards where the tall spire once was. He suddenly felt a rumbling, something was moving quickly from where he was looking towards, but he could not see any creature moving or sand parting in the ground. He momentarily activated his eyes and saw an invisible trail of serpents, and the curse moving across the sand.

He quickly closed his eyes, bent his knees, and jumped upwards, landing harmlessly on the soft sand. He then opened his eyes, and looked where the curse was heading, it was in the opposite direction of the capital. He began to walk towards it but suddenly thought about why the curse would move all the way towards where he was. ‘It’s too far if she just used for them and it spread all the way here. Maybe she was directing it at me. Or…’ His thoughts were interrupted by another sound. This time, he could see a cloud of dust as several basilisks were moving rapidly across the desert. He readied himself, but the serpents simply passed between him, continuing onwards past him.

He thought it was strange, and shot out his sword towards one of them, striking it dead on the sand. To Felkin’s surprise, none of them reacted but instead continued onwards towards their goal. ‘The curse, the basilisks… The temple!’ He realized that their target was the temple that was a last stronghold for the humans. He began to run after them but looked back at the distant fighting on the opposite direction. He stood still and thought for a moment. On one hand, the others would be ill-prepared and unprotected to deal with both the basilisks and the curse but on the other, he could help and try to stop its source once and for all.

He gritted his teeth and turned around, running swiftly back towards the battle. He could only hope that they would find a way to escape in time before Felkin and the others could win or stall enough time to stop another wave of attacks going to them. “How long do you think before they’ll be back?” Raln asked Dagran. “They moved fast, but they’re still going a far distance away. There’s no telling before they’ll get back.” Dagran answered. “But they’ll be back before nightfall, right? To protect us from the curse?” Raln asked. “This place isn’t going to crumble that easily. And besides when they get back there will be no more curse to worry about.” Dagran reassuringly answered putting his hand on Raln’s shoulder. Dagran walked off towards another warrior, who was putting their hand on Kieron’s head while she rested.

“How is she?” He asked. “She’s fine, just needs more rest.” They replied. Dagran looked up at the walls of the temple. He thought about how strange it was that the twins were gone; from the time that they arrived, they were a ray of hope and now that they were gone it was strangely silent. Suddenly, Kieron sat up and through frantic breathing, said something. “Something’s coming.” She said silently in drained breath. There was a sudden shaking, dust slowly fell from the ceiling of the temple and the ground outside rumbled.

“What time is it?!” Dagran asked. “It's still day, the curse shouldn’t be happening anytime soon.” Raln answered. Then, symbols on the wall started to glow, two symbols each representing the sun and moon were placed on the walls by the twins for the temple’s safety. “Open the door! Look outside!” Dagran ordered, and a few of the warriors opened the stone wall as Dagran walked over to the entrance. As the stone door opened, he looked outside. He saw that the entire temple was slowly sinking, and the ground outside was shaking. In the corner of his eye, he saw a mob of beasts were rapidly moving towards their location. The other warriors saw it and dismayed. “Shut the door.” He ordered.

As they closed the stone door, Raln approached them. “Is it the curse?” “Yes.” Dagran answered. “Warriors! Ready your weapons, take the others to the back.” Dagran ordered. “What’s wrong is there something outside?” Raln asked. “There’s basilisks coming, get your weapon.” One of the warriors answered. “What?” Raln remarked. “Just go.” Dagran replied. Raln looked up at the seals on the walls, glowing brightly. “Maybe I can help with something?” Kieron asked them. “If you meant fighting, you should just go and rest for a while before you’re ready.” Dagran answered her. “No, I mean with moving these people out of here.” She remarked. “Even more tiring. You had trouble with just one person, now you’re going to transport all of us?” Dagran replied. Suddenly there was a loud crash coming from the roof.

The warriors who were barking orders and retrieving their weapons went silent. “It's going to have to be a last resort.” Dagran said quietly, picking up his spear. “Are the monsters attacking us?” “Is ‘it’ happening already, its not even night.” Some of the children were voicing their concerns to Raln who was ushering them to the rooms at the rear of the temple. “Don’t worry, we’ll protect you. Now, go hide.” He gently pushed them along and looked back up at the ceiling with a spear in hand.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and a basilisk put its eye through the crack it made in the temple’s roof. Dagran immediately tossed his spear into the creature’s eye, it howled loudly and moved away. He picked up another spear lying around and held it up high. The other warriors had their weapons ready, positioned facing all directions, waiting for an attack. The rumbling still continued, though all else was silent. “If you’re going to do something, do it now.” Dagran said to Kieron. She stood up and began to run to the back but then stopped. “Who am I going to send first? Surely not the kids, or the elders? Can we spare a warrior, just to ensure their safety?” Kieron asked.

Dagran looked back at her briefly. “Raln. Send Raln first, then if everyone else has passed we can send another warrior.” “What, why me? I want to stay here, and fight alongside everyone else!” Raln responded, overhearing their conversation. “We need a capable warrior to lead us to the other world. It has to be you, you can protect them.” “Why not you go, you’re the one that’s been there before right?” Raln asked. Dagran went silent. “Kieron, take him.” Kieron stood up and nodded and then turned to Raln. “Hey what are you doing? Dagran, stop her. Get your hands-“ “Whoof.” Kieron remarked. “Can you keep going?” Dagran asked. “Yeah, I think I can send a bit more.” Kieron responded.

“Get the kids, and… Prepare them but make it quick, we don’t have a lot of time on our hands.” Replied Dagran. Kieron ran to the back of the temple and at the same time, a loud crash shook the entire structure. She kept running as two serpents emerged, breaking open the ground in the center of the temple. “They’re inside!” Dagran yelled as he turned around and threw another spear at a basilisk. Although now, it simply closed its eyes and mouth and the projectile harmlessly bounced off its body. The other one pounced at the warriors, but they narrowly avoided its attack.

“Are the monsters inside?” “I’m scared.” “Don’t worry kids, I’ll get you out of here. Just close your eyes for a few seconds. You’ll be in a new place, but Raln will be there. You know him, right?” Kieron tried to reassure them. “Out of the temple? A new place?” The children were confused and wondering. “Uh… Just close your eyes, close them. And then the monsters will be gone. I’m going to count to three, and then you’ll close them. Ready?” The children looked at each other and then nodded in agreement. The increasingly loud sounds of combat began to echo through the building. “One, two, and three.” They tightly closed their eyes and waited.

Raln appeared in the forest in the middle of saying a sentence. He landed on the soft grass whilst still speaking. “-Off me!” He yelled but was surprised at his new location. “Ah!” He fell backwards, shocked by the sight of tall green foliage but quickly stood back up as he felt the alien sensation of the wet grass, covered with dew. “So, this is the other world!” He excitedly remarked. He looked around and could not focus due to the unknown sights and sounds, as if he was returned to being a child, he looked up at the trees in wonder, but it took him time to realize the temperature was much cooler. Suddenly, he remembered the last exchange between him, Dagran and Kieron. “Those two…” He grumpily remarked. The children that Kieron transported suddenly appeared and were seated on the floor, wide-eyed in wonder.

Back at the temple, Kieron was focusing. The old folks were silent but understood. They closed their eyes and Kieron held their hands, soon they disappeared as well. Kieron panted and breathed heavily, she tried to stand but struggled and remained seated on the ground. Suddenly she heard an object rapidly approaching, she turned around to see a basilisk crashing against the wall. She dodged out of the way, and she saw the fallen corpse of the basilisk, with a spiked mace stuck onto its eye. She ran back in to the center of the temple, one basilisk was thrashing and crashing into the stone walls and ceiling of the temple.

She saw some of the warriors were already injured and bloodied, a few at once were being pulled away by another one of them. Dagran had a stream of blood flowing from his head, the basilisk pounced at him and he stabbed it through the mouth with a spear. The stone door of the temple was broken, and another basilisk had its head poking through it, and the warriors could not get close as it snapped at them. A third basilisk was ramming on the walls of the temple from the outside, which soon cracked and gave way. “Dagran! The elders are transported, who’s next?” “Get the injured!” Dagran yelled.

‘But… You’re injured.’ She thought to herself as she ran towards the wounded, piled up in the corner. The whole front side of the building then broke apart, and the two basilisks swiftly entered the temple. One of them spotted the pile of injured warriors and hastily made way to them. It pounced quickly, but Kieron jumped in and stuck her sickle in its eye. It quickly retreated backwards, Kieron’s weapon still in its eye. She looked around at the chaos, the sand from the outside was beginning to pour in the open entrance. ‘Not again! How did it come to this again?’ She thought.

Earlier, when the curse just passed Felkin, he began rapidly travelling to the heart of the desert once more. It sounded like a continuous cluster of explosions, getting closer and closer. He used his sword and lengthened it, striking the ground whilst he was still in the air. He shot his sword out diagonally behind him, and extended and retracted it rapidly to make him move quickly across the desert. He followed his crash trail across the sand and he huffed and puffed as he exerted much physical force in moving towards his goal. Countless basilisks rammed against the ice that Nox had created. He had frozen the sand under them and created a platform in which they could combat the creatures without fear of the sand rising up from beneath them.

The corpse eaters flew in from above and were shot down by Solis’ sand arrows or blown back by Jura. Nox created ice walls to impede the incoming basilisks, Jura impacted them with blows from his shovel and pickaxe as they crashed through. Solis threw a ball of energy at a group of basilisks, incinerating them and the nearby fliers caught in its blast. The storyteller sent out projectiles of sand and used the great basilisk’s petrifying breath and targeted the center platform, Jura wildly swung in the air to dispel some of them, and Solis stopped some of the sand projectiles by her hand, halting their movement.

Though they could not do much against the basilisks underground who were ramming the ice from beneath the ground, cracking the platform and allowing sand to slowly rise up. Nox sealed the cracks with ice but tiredly exclaimed: “I… I can’t do this much longer!” “They just keep coming, there’s no end to the waves of their attack!” Solis cried out. “We need to stop playing defense, we need to target her directly!” Jura stated. “We can’t get close to her! All my attacks she just dodges or shields with her sand!” Solis exclaimed. “Where’s Felkin?” Nox yelled.

Suddenly they heard a thumping of the ground, like repeated explosions rapidly approaching them. The three of them looked in that direction, and the creatures also stopped their movement as the demigod turned her head over to the sound as well. She saw a figure in the distance, a long blade repeatedly extending and shortening hitting the sand below. Suddenly she met eyes with Felkin’s crimson gaze, his blade retracting after it struck the ground but in the next instant, her instincts responded to danger, and she ducked in response.

Felkin’s lengthened blade shot out fast, slicing her on the forehead as she narrowly avoided the brunt of the attack. She looked downwards and came face to face with a giant golden ball, she hastily created a barrier of sand, but the force of the attack blasted her backwards into the sand. Half of the face of the giant basilisk she rode on, was charred by the attack. One of its eyes was seared shut and it howled loudly and pounced towards Solis. Felkin struck it in its side, sending it backwards. Felkin sliced through the birds as he neared the area, and the other three glanced a peek in awe. A serpent jumped out from the corner of the platform and Jura immediately struck it down. “She’s down! We need to clear a path to her while she can’t do much damage!” He called out.

“As soon as we move from here, the basilisks from below will attack us!” Solis exclaimed. “They’re still coming in waves!” Said Nox, whose hands were on the ice to prevent it from shattering. Solis stepped towards the edge of the platform but saw a basilisk coming up from beneath the sand. Instinctively, she held out her hand to block it and closed her eyes, but when she opened them, she found that the sand itself was dragging the serpent down. She focused and then the sand closed on top of the creature, trapping it beneath the surface.

“I don’t think I can use my ice any further! There’s nothing stopping them from jumping out of the ground!” Nox yelled with the mark on his arm slowly fading. “There’s no need! We’re going to go straight to her!” Solis yelled. “What?” Jura remarked. “Come here, I’ll clear a path in the sand!” Solis ordered. Jura ran and picked up Nox and went to the edge of the ice platform where Solis was. When they reached her, they saw there was a straight path in the sand, compacted and headed straight to where the demigod landed.

Underneath the sand, serpents were struggling and thrashing beneath the ground, Solis holding both of her hands out to control it. “It's safe.” Said Solis. The three of them stepped onto it cautiously, and began to run along it, Solis trapping the remaining basilisks underground. From behind them, a few of the flying creatures swooped in and Nox quickly turned around and waved his hand at them. Suddenly, sand sspears rose out of the ground and caught the corpse eaters and brought them down to the ground. “I figured if you could do it, I could too.” Said Nox. Solis looked at his arm, the mark was not glowing when he manipulated the sand.

As they continued forward, Solis was struggling in keeping the serpents in the ground Nox held his hands out as well, helping his sister keep the creatures down in the ground. “How can we use the sand like this?” Solis asked Jura. “It’s probably because of your connection to the sand god that originally created this world.” He answered. “Hmm…” Solis remarked. “Its not like we’re surprised, but please elaborate.” Nox replied. “I look for flowers, they root into the ground, and they’ve spread all throughout worlds.” “Oh.” The twins exclaimed. “The flower rooted itself into the sand, and fed on the god’s blood, thus sprouting gods themselves.” “Well… Let’s just discuss this later.” Said Nox.

Felkin was still battling the giant basilisk, half of its face was charred, leaving only one functioning eye which was performing in a most heightened state to keep up with Felkin. It spewed its black breath onto him, and as he was in the middle of fanning it away, it struck from the side, using the fog as a smokescreen. It swiftly bit down onto Felkin’s sword, locking the blade tightly in its teeth. It then rapidly raised its head upwards, smacking Felkin on the chin and pushing him onto his back.

He quickly jumped onto his feet, blood dripped from his mouth and slowly trickled down his chin and onto his sword. As he jumped back up, the giant basilisk opened its massive jaw and was inches away from him. He quickly coiled his sword and held it with both hands ready to swing, but then as he swung the serpent breathed out its petrifying breath. It used the force of the gas’ expulsion out of its mouth to push it backwards, avoiding Felkin’s swing. He could barely react before it engulfed him and froze him in place. He was in mid-swing, and then all he could see was blackness.

Stolen novel; please report.

From the outside, it looked like a rough outline of his shape was turned into crystal. The material was directly coated on his entire body, and molded perfectly, locking any movement as he struggled. It was like every muscle on his body shook furiously, exerting effort to smash the crystal out of purely his will. Jura carrying Nox and Solis was running across the sand path, still holding back the underground basilisks. Out of the corner of Nox’s eye he was worriedly watching Felkin and the great basilisk fighting. As Felkin was coated in its crystal breath, he let out a gasp and pointed. “Old man, he got caught up in its breath.” Solis and Jura then turned and saw Felkin who was covered and crystallized.

Solis began to step off the path but then looked down at the writhing basilisks below her. “I can’t control them for much longer!” Said Nox. She stepped back quickly and looked up, at the massive basilisk that loomed over them. Suddenly, smaller basilisks jumped out at them, Jura quickly swatted them away. “If we stray too far from the path, the basilisks aren’t trapped anymore.” Solis said to herself. “Let’s go, he’ll manage. That thing is our only problem now, more of them will escape if we wait any longer.” Said Jura, pointing towards the large basilisk and wiping sweat off his brow. The great basilisk then pounced at them, Solis moved out of the way and Jura deflected its charge with his weapons. “Go!” He yelled.

They ran along the path, the sand they controlled behind them moved with them, and so as they moved forward, basilisks pushed through and were following in their trail. The three of them didn’t notice, but a faint red glow was emanating from within the crystal. Felkin saw it as well but noticed that it was not coming from his eyes. He looked to the side with his eyes and saw that his sword was glowing red, the blood that had dripped onto it was a bright shining crimson. The crystal around his sword was slowly beginning to crack and give way, and then his blade was free from the petrified prison, the rest of him was not.

He focused and felt the blade moving. His sword struck back into him, like it was another appendage he controlled. He felt strange striking towards his face with his own blade, and silently hoped that the crystal would stop any impact from directly hitting him. As the blade struck again and again, he could hear the material crack and slowly crumble until finally he shattered it away, he closed his eyes and as he opened them, the blade was inches from his face. He was still mostly trapped, and his blade began striking away at his torso, his freed head turned towards the others and saw the three of them were still fighting against the beasts.

The basilisks were attacking from the front, impeding their path. The great basilisk rammed itself into Jura once more, he tried to block the attack with his weapons but was pushed back, enough for Nox to lose his grip on him and fall to the ground. Jura tried to walk forward and pick him back up, but he was repelled by the giant beast. A wave of small basilisks from the front jumped out of the ground towards Nox. He raised a wall of sand to block them, but some of them poked through it and were struggling to push forward. Solis reached to her quiver to find that she had ran out of arrows, she tried charging energy in her hand but only found faint sparks sputtering, the mark on her arm was slowly fading.

Felkin had already broken through the crystal covering his torso, he stretched and moved his arms around to shake off the material that remained. He looked back at the others and then began work striking his hip and the crystal around his legs. He looked back at the others and saw that the small basilisks began spewing their black fog, which slowly wafted in the air towards Nox. He began striking faster and faster, he could feel each strike break apart and deform the crystal. He looked back and saw Solis running towards her brother, intending to carry him away or jump in the way of the petrifying breath. He broke the crystal that bound his legs, he had to shake the excess off before he was fully free of its grasp.

“Nox come on, move out of the way.” Said Solis running towards him. “I… can’t… stand!” He said whilst trying to crawl away. “Hold on!” Said Jura, who was kept at bay as he dodged attack after attack from the giant beast. Solis pulled Nox back, and when she turned her head, the fog had reached up to her. Felkin ran in and swiped horizontally with his sword, cutting through, and blowing back the dark fog, and right through the swarm of small basilisks. He then turned around and immediately shot his sword out striking the great basilisk’s face. He aimed for an eye but realized he had only struck where its other eye used to be.

The massive beast then thrashed about wildly, Jura picked up Nox and dodged as the beast slammed itself into the ground multiple times. As it bashed against the sand, it scattered and removed the upper layer, allowing some of the basilisks to jump out, Felkin and Jura struck them and drove them back into the sand. “Hold it down!” Felkin yelled, gesturing to the giant basilisk. Nox and Solis focused, and then sand from the ground attached itself to the creature, briefly halting its movements but it still wriggled wildly. Felkin lengthened his sword and wrapped it around its body, and he pulled it back, slamming it onto the sandy path.

The basilisks beside the path slowly wiggled their way onto the surface as the twins focused their effort onto the giant beast. Jura ran in to deal the final blow, but it opened its mouth and began to breath its dark fog. Jura quickly swung his weapons towards the basilisk, the force of the attack sent out a strong gust of wind that blew the gas back. The gas blew back into the giant basilisk’s mouth and traveled deep into its gullet. When the creature realized what had happened, it thrashed more heavily and wildly, Nox froze the sand that covered its body to completely stop its movement. The serpent choked and struggled, but soon the light in its eyes faded and it ceased moving entirely.

Solis sighed in relief and turned to the path ahead. Suddenly, the basilisks all at once burst out, and moved upwards towards them, it seemed like the sand path was the only sand in sight due to their number. She quickly turned around and saw that Nox was unconscious under Jura’s arm. Jura was running towards her, while Felkin was saying something. Felkin raised his sword and coiled it as the basilisks rapidly approached. “Go!” He yelled to Jura who picked up Solis and jumped over the basilisks and continued to the path. Felkin slammed his sword down onto the ground, creating a blast that momentarily stunned the nearby creatures.

Jura quickly ran forward, carrying the twins until he reached a sand dune and found the demigod who was behind it. Jura was surprised when he saw her, and then gently put down the twins, with Solis standing over her with her arm pointed at her. “I… I’m no longer controlling them. I don’t think I even could anymore.” She coughed, her leg and half of her torso was charred by Solis’ attack earlier. “It's all over. The world I tried to create. In the end I created nothing at all, I just destroyed everything I touched.” Jura raised both of his weapons to strike her, but suddenly a wave of dread covered them. It was as if a heavy weight was placed on them, as if they were walking through deep mud instead of the open air. All of the basilisks turned around and faced it, ignoring Felkin who looked towards it as well. The corpse of the ancient dragon, seemingly unmoving and unresponsive sent out a presence that overwhelmed them.

The basilisks suddenly all turned towards the demigod and quickly made their way towards her. “Look out!” Felkin yelled, as he prepared to run towards the wave of basilisks. But as he ran, he turned his head and saw the unmoving dragon and remembered the vision the storyteller told her. ‘Wrath.’ It certainly felt like it to him. Like a primal, uncontrollable rage, it oozed out of the ‘corpse’ and seemed to direct the creatures away from him. He began running towards it, still recalling how it whispered into the demigod’s mind in the vision before the start of the spreading of the curse of the sands. “What is he doing?” Solis asked, as she and Jura prepared to meet the approaching basilisks in battle. “No… Don’t!” The demigod yelled. Jura looked at Felkin and then the stone dragon and figured. Felkin looked back and saw the basilisks coming closer and closer to the others and he pushed himself to run faster and shot out his sword towards the dragon.

As it neared, the blade slowed and then was repelled by a force that surrounded its body. Then Felkin realized that the dragon being unharmed earlier was surely not because he missed it. Solis formed a ball of energy in her hand and then threw it, blasting away the serpents who were at the front but more appeared from behind them. Seeing this Felkin suddenly had an idea, he held the blade close to himself. As the blade got nearer and nearer, he stopped the blade just before it touched his skin and with shaky hands, he could not push it any further.

He saw that Jura and Solis were already engaging with the wave of serpents and then he closed his eyes. Like a tiny serpent, his sword moved on its own, quickly striking him below his shoulder. He gritted his teeth as the blade struck him, only puncturing into him enough to draw blood. He opened his eyes and could not afford to glance at the others any further, he sent out his sword towards the dragon’s stone body. This time it was not impeded by any force, and Felkin’s sword went through, breaking it apart and crumbling it as if he struck through a sand dune.

Suddenly, the basilisks went slack and fell to the ground. Jura was holding one’s jaw with his hand, the other one holding his pickaxe and his shovel was dropped onto the sand. Solis was about to jump backwards from a group of basilisks but could not muster the force to do so and fell back onto the ground seconds before the serpents went still. “No…” the scaly demigod faintly exclaimed and sighed. “I… shouldn’t have. Now I can’t, any longer…” She remarked.

Felkin ran over to them. “It’s gone. You’re free.” He stated. “I stopped being free that day. When I accepted its wrath as my own, it became the only family I have left.” The demigod exclaimed. Felkin, Jura and Solis stood over her, silent. “Perhaps that’s why I let some of them live.” “What?” Nox now barely conscious, faintly questioned. “I couldn’t bear to be alone forever in this world, even though I was blinded by anger. All I did was destroy, I created nothing.” She wistfully stated. “And now, this world dies.” “What do you mean by that?” Felkin asked.

Jura looked around and saw the cracked and shattered remains of the stone dragon. A pit was forming under it, sand was rapidly trickling down into it and then the dragon’s remains fell into it. Jura walked forward, cautiously and saw that the pit was beginning to grow. “What’s happening?” Felkin asked. “You can feel it in the ground, can’t you?” The demigod turned to Solis. “We have to go.” Said Jura, picking up Nox and waving the other two over as he began to walk away. The opening in the ground rapidly grew larger and larger, the nearby sand falling into an infinite dark chasm.

“With the speed that that’s opening, we won’t be able to outrun it.” Solis stated. Suddenly, the sand under them began to shake. Then it rose, with them slowly raising up to the air on a platform of sand. “You, I don’t know your name. I can feel the hold of an outside god is strong on you, break free of that shackle, or it’ll end up like this once more.” The demigod remarked. “It’s Felkin.” He answered. The pit was growing ever bigger, consuming the dead basilisks that had fallen all across the battleground and the flying creatures that were laid low. The sand below them began to rise. “Wait.” Said Felkin. “We need to go, kid.” Jura exclaimed. “Tell us your name.” said Felkin.

He bent down and she whispered something in his ear, he stood back up nodded at her. Then, the platform of sand the four of them were on rose rapidly to the sky, and then moved away, to the direction of the temple. Solis held onto Jura and Felkin planted his sword on the ground, trying not to get blown away by the speed of their movement. The demigod girl was now a small dot in the distance, growing ever smaller, while the chasm grew larger and larger, seemingly not shrinking in view even as they traveled farther and farther. “I can see it!” Solis pointed to a structure in the distance, the temple was beginning to show in view.

The other two turned around and put a hand on their forehead to see it clearer. Suddenly, the sand under them began to dissolve. From the great height they were on they fell, the wind rushing through them as they rapidly descended. Felkin coiled his sword and slammed it down, creating a geyser of sand that blasted upwards. Felkin walked off after they arrived on the ground, but then knelt on the sand immediately after. “Everybody alright?” Jura asked, dusting himself off from the sand. Felkin gave him a thumbs up, Solis stood up and coughed but also gave him a thumbs up. Nox who was lying on the sand feebly said: “I’m still alive.” Jura picked him up and put him over his shoulder.

On the horizon, Felkin saw that the sand there began to be swallowed up as well. “Let’s move, its going to catch up with us soon.” He began to run, Solis and Jura followed after him. “The temple, it's…” Solis could not finish her words as they approached the damaged remains of the temple. The structure was in ruins, the roof was disappeared, and damaged remains of the walls stood, the temple had already partially sunk to the ground. “She must have sent basilisks here to attack the temple, and a partial curse as well.” Said Jura. Dead basilisks lay outside the temple, some died after the stone dragon’s destruction, and others had received injury and were killed by combat.

Solis ran inside the temple and Nox was tapping on Jura’s back to let him down. As Solis entered, she found bloodied and destroyed walls of the interior, the markings they had placed on the wall had faded and looking around in the rubble she was searching for survivors. Beside a pile of rocks, Kieron sat panting heavily with her hand to her mouth trying to hide from the basilisks. Solis cautiously walked through the temple and when Kieron saw her, she pointed her sickle at her in panic, but then sighed in relief. “Are they gone, is it over?” She asked Solis.

“Yeah, where is everyone?” Solis asked her. Outside, Felkin and Jura were still looking over the horizon, in the distance the sand disappearing into the earth could be barely seen approaching them. “I’ve transported most of everybody to the forest, but since they had to leave quickly, we couldn’t bring many supplies.” Kieron remarked. “Is everybody okay?” She asked. “I started with the children and the elders and transported them first. With the fighters, I transported the injured ones first. But soon almost everybody was.” She exhaustedly stated. “Where is… Dagran? You said most.” Said Nox, leaning on the wall with one hand and supporting himself from falling to the ground. “I’m here!” Dagran exclaimed, raising one hand to wave them over.

“Dagran!” Nox quickly ran over to him but stumbled and was caught by Solis, who walked over to him. “He wouldn’t let me transport him before anyone else.” Said Kieron. “Yep.” Said Dagran. He was sitting behind a fallen piece of wall, blood trickled off his fingertips as he raised his hand. “Are you alright?” Solis asked. “I’m as alright as this old temple.” Dagran smiled as he feebly raised his other hand and knocked on the wall behind him. “Your gift… I never got to use it.” Nox held out a sickle fashioned in the shape of a crescent moon.

“Since it wasn’t ever used in combat, I can give it back to you, good as new.” Said Nox trying to hand it over. “It’s pretty dirty now, you should bring it with you and clean it. I’ll stay here, I’ve been sitting in this desert and looking at the sand for all these years now, I’ll just sit here and enjoy the view. You guys go ahead without me.” Dagran quietly stated. Jura walked in from the outside. “We need to go; the land is disappearing and its moving closer and closer towards here.” Said Jura. “Where’s everyone?” Felkin asked, entering the temple ruins. “It's fine, they were transported out earlier.” Dagran answered.

Felkin ran over to him and offered his hand. “Let’s go, if you guys are the only ones left here, we can go before it catches up with us.” “I’m… Staying.” He replied. “But soon there’ll be nothing left in this desert, everything’s going to be swallowed up by darkness.” Said Felkin. “If this whole place goes, I’ll be happy to be the last one to enjoy the view.” Dagran continued. Felkin simply nodded in response. “Can you stand, or use your abilities?” Jura asked Kieron. “I don’t think I can transport another person more, I’m sorry.” She replied.

“It's fine.” Jura pulled out and raised his tools. “We’re staying.” Said Nox. “What? Why?” Kieron asked. “This land, we’re connected to it. If it dies and disappears, I suspect we will too.” Replied Solis. “So, we’re just going to sit here and wait, along with him.” She continued, sitting down next to Dagran. “Ah, that… Sucks.” He remarked. “That’s why we wanted to solve the curse ourselves, instead of just leaving.” Replied Nox, sitting down next to Dagran as well. “That’s what I told Felkin.” Said Nox. “Isn’t there something we can do?” Asked Kieron. “You can leave now.” Said Nox.

Felkin peeked over the horizon, he could hear the crumbling of the earth as the edges of the world fell to blackness, rapidly approaching towards them. “If that’s what they want, then we have to go now.” Said Jura. “Can’t I do something? I’ve absorbed the power of gods before, maybe using my power I can transport you?” Said Felkin, trying to haphazardly come up with some way of saving them. “All this work, just for you guys to bite it?” Kieron said wistfully. “Don’t worry guys, all our lives have been to save the people here. Now that we’ve taken at least one of them out of here means we succeeded.” Said Solis.

The landscape began disappearing into what appeared into an endless night sky, the white clouds overhead vanished into an unseeing darkness, and the once vast sea of sand was now being reduced to nothingness. “Go now, Felkin. You being here was our greatest influence. Gods from outside have taken a hold on you, follow her advice and unshackle yourself. You’re going to be more involved in things to come, at least that’s what we feel.” Said Nox. “If we don’t go now, it’ll catch up to us.” Jura said to Felkin. “Get her out of here first, I’ll try to figure something out!” Felkin exclaimed.

Jura then started his ritual, but in a more hurried manner. He clinked his tools together and brushed them against the ground in a rapid rhythm, that could have been mistaken as a form of music. As he and Kieron disappeared, Felkin knelt to the ground. He started rapidly pocketing the sand, much to the twins’ dismay. “That won’t work.” Said Solis. “Let it go, we’re tired anyway… I think we’ll go rest now.” Nox continued. The two of them sat closer and rested on Dagran and closed their eyes.

Felkin gritted his teeth but maintained a serious expression. A single tear rolled down from his eye and down his cheek, dripping onto the ground. He then began picking up handfuls of the sand, and with a second of hesitation, he rapidly shoveled them into his mouth, chewing and then swallowing. Surprised, Dagran managed a few words despite his coughing. “That’s… Not… Necessary.” Felkin looked up at him with an expression that said: ‘What else can I do?’

As the darkness rapidly encroached on them, the sun nor the moon was no longer in view. Solis and Nox held each other’s hand and then slowly began to fade. “Stop… That…” Said Dagran, coughing. “Here.” Dagran held up the ivory-colored sickle that was given to him by Nox. “One warrior to another, I feel bad if a perfectly good weapon is going to be wasted. Take it, I’m sure they won’t mind.” He raised it towards Felkin who took it and placed it on his waist.

“Tell us, Felkin. The name of our sister, what she whispered to you.” Nox feebly asked. “Raia.” “Maybe we’ll see her.” Said Solis as both fully faded away. Jura appeared behind him and immediately began his ritual. “Time to go kid.” He spoke. Felkin maintained a serious expression but was struggling to maintain it. The last thing he saw was Dagran with his eyes shut, but looking up and smiling before the darkness closed up to them, and then Felkin closed his eyes.