Amos landed first. There was no competition, but he still smirked at being faster. Cassandra touched down next to him, sparks flying off her hair. She was as regal as she could have been, and Amos was glad they turned out the way they had.

"Was there any reason to touch down here?" She asked, arms crossed.

Amos's smile faded. "Oh."

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Well, let's not exert ourselves with superfluous takeoffs. I'm not quite used to flying on my own power. At least it's hot as Etras down here, I feel right at home."

Amos turned, and scanned the horizon. "Whatever Cin chose to come here had some reason. Think it's because of the ether density?" Amos hadn't even checked what the desert felt like. Ether sensitivity was easier for Cassandra. Amos took a breath, and let the desert feel him. Unlike the plains outside the city, the desert was overflowing with ether. It would have been suffocating if the pair weren't mostly made of the stuff.

"Perhaps, except for that direction," Cassandra said, interrupting Amos's trance. "The whole desert, save for a shrinking region not far from us, is a veritable well of ether concentration."

Amos looked in the direction Cassandra was, and noticed a small glistening in the distance. Without a second thought, he sprung towards it on a gust of wind, spraying sand in all directions, likely covering Cassandra. The blazing wind felt like bliss on Amos's face, a heat he'd almost forgotten. As he approached, he saw what was shining. A thin, golden portal frame. The sun seemed to darken, as did the portal's vicinity. Before Amos could question why, a massive hand grabbed his arm and effortlessly redirected his flight path downwards.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Amos tumbled over a dozen times in the sand, struggling to regain balance. When Amos finally stood, he dusted himself off with a single blast of wind and stared down his adversary. A massive Cinraal, with three times the mass of a normal man. Its proportions were almost human, except for the bulging shoulders and arms. Its head looked almost reptilian, and housed piercing yellow eyes.

"Don't tempt me, little man," it said with a voice matching its frame.

"L-little man?" Amos stammered. "Really? You're going with something cliche like that?"

The Cinraal responded by bringing a fist down on Amos's head, completely unfazed by the gust attempting to repel it. Amos hit the sands hard, head pounding and vision blurry.

"Alright, yeah, I'm pretty little. Amos by the way. Who're you?" Amos heard his own voice was just as distorted as the rapidly approaching inferno.

The Cinraal turned around, fist clenched. Cassandra's fury met the immovable wall that was this thing's right jab. She nearly bounced off it, landing in the sand just as dazed as Amos.

The Cinraal suddenly faltered.

It fell to a knee, clenching his own head. "I… can be called Baal," it managed to get out before collapsing.

Amos wasn't sure if it was his slowly receding dizziness, or if he actually saw golden chains appear around the Cinraal, squeezing it. The creature shrunk, its body began to conform to human shapes. As Amos blinked away the last of his daze, a young boy lay in the now frozen sand where Baal just was.

Cassandra rose, holding her face with both hands. "Is this-"

"I think we have a few new questions for Malachi," Amos concluded.