"I think it was this way..."
Lune turned slightly to the side, though directions had slowly begun to blend together in the endless sea of crimson desert. The cold air of the night made him almost forget the relentless heat of the sun and its piercing light, which made his eyes hurt at a single glance.
'Why are people even missing this thing?'
He took a small glance at the sun between his fingers, squinting against the brightness.
'All it does is blind and hurt my eyes.'
If people knew what a headache the sun actually was, they wouldn't bother mentioning it in every textbook possible. The idea of having this damn thing hanging above his head every day sounded like hell. But soon enough, he let the thought fade away as he came to a halt.
He'd walked for twenty, maybe thirty minutes. The structure he'd seen couldn't be further than a mile away.
"Should be around here," he muttered, looking around as if something could confirm his suspicion. Only sand remained, stretching endlessly in every direction.
'Well, I guess I'll just wait for the sun to go down.'
Lune sat down against a dune, letting his eyes rest. But time felt like it came to a halt. The sun barely moved, no matter how many times he checked its position. Minutes crawled by with agonising slowness, each one feeling like an hour.
"Is this damn thing even moving?" he murmured after taking a glance at the sun for what felt like the hundredth time.
With an annoyed groan, he lifted himself up and looked around, searching for something to help the time pass. He almost hoped to fight another vulture or two to break the monotony, but the sky, just like the sand, remained quiet.
Lune summoned his weapon, staring at the glaive that materialised in his hands. The weight felt foreign in his grip, almost awkward. Then, with nothing better to do, he began to swing it slowly, trying to find a comfortable way to handle the weapon.
It felt weird to use. He'd never imagined having to wield such a thing, mainly having learned about swords, bows, or spears in his studies. The glaive seemed like something in between a spear and a sword, combining the worst aspects of both.
Time finally started to crawl forward as he continued to practice with the weapon, though he wasn't making much progress. He cursed at the relic he'd received more than once, his movements clumsy and uncoordinated. The blade caught in the sand. The shaft felt too long. His grip kept slipping.
But then, as the sun's bright glow turned to a golden, calmer radiance, something stirred beneath the sand.
Lune paused, confusion clear on his face. He took a glance at the sun, confirming it was too early for the sand to shift.
"Did I imagine—"
He didn't have time to question his mind again. A sudden burst of sand erupted from underneath, followed by the emergence of the creature that had chased him to the crooked tower below.
'That damn thing followed me here!'
Lune's eyes widened in terror as the massive carapace broke through the crimson surface. The creature instantly lunged forward. Lune threw himself to the side just as the monster's pincer crushed into the sand where he'd just stood, sending waves of crimson scattering across the desert.
He had no time to get to his feet. The creature was already on him, its segmented body moving with horrifying speed across the sand. He raised his glaive just as the massive pincer came down.
With a devastating crack, the glaive shattered.
[Your Relic: Scavenger's Glaive has been destroyed.]
The pincer continued its trajectory, crashing into his abdomen and sending him flying several meters through the air before he crashed into the sand. The world went dark for a moment. His senses returned a heartbeat later to see the enormous creature crawling toward him, its many legs churning through the sand with mechanical precision.
Lune sprang to his feet through the pain, trying to move away from the monster as fast as he could. But through the sand, his feet barely dragged while the creature crawled at an enormous speed. He managed to move only a couple meters before he could feel its presence right behind him, close enough that he could hear the clicking of its joints.
He turned around out of instinct.
The massive pincer was already coming at him.
It crashed into his abdomen. His vision went dark in an instant. The distant voice of the Spell rang in his head, though he could not understand what it was saying through the roaring in his ears.
[Your Relic: Boneforged Carapace Armour has been destroyed.]
When his senses came back, he was sprawled across the sand. Blood spurted from his mouth as he tried to breathe, each gasp sending fresh waves of agony through his broken body. He lifted his head with all his strength to see the creature coming at him, its pincers raised for the killing blow.
'I guess this is it...'
The objective of his quest, the Temple of the Hollow God, was right beneath him. So close, yet completely out of reach.
Or so he thought.
Before the monster could reach him, the sand stirred.
Lune's eyes shot wide as he realised the sun had fallen below the horizon. He let out a painful laugh as he watched the creature stumble backwards as the sand pulled from under it. Blood sprayed with each chuckle, but he was too far gone to care. The irony was too perfect. Saved by the very thing that had been tormenting him all day.
But he didn't get to enjoy watching the creature fall as sand moved from under him too.
His body stumbled and twisted, falling across the moving sand. He came within inches of the creature, its pincer snapping at him but missing each time as they both tumbled downward. For a moment, they were locked in a grotesque dance, predator and prey falling together into the abyss.
But soon things took a different turn.
He realised the sand's movement was more violent than before. The sand monster hadn't emerged somewhere far away, pulling the sand toward itself in a slow, consistent pace. It was right above him, pulling too fast to slow his fall. All the sand from under him disappeared in an instant, leaving him and the monster in freefall.
His eyes shifted between the creature falling inches away from him and the ground below. Or rather, the structure that stood whole despite the ruins around it.
As the sand pulled away, what he was falling toward was none other than the temple itself.
The Temple of the Hollow God rose from the darkness below, its ancient stone untouched by time or the desert's fury. Massive pillars stretched upward, and at its centre, a yawning entrance gaped like an open mouth.
Lune's broken body plummeted toward it, the monster's pincers still snapping uselessly at the air beside him.
'At least that fucker will die beside me,'