The lush breeze of the plains slowly blended into the harsh intense heat of the desert. The sun beamed down on the land, foliage deprived of the elements the flourish and thrive a stark reminder of the cruelty of the world and the varied conditions within it. Cyrus's carriage careened through the dunes and slopes of the coarse desert sands. The wooden wheels of the carriage fumbled through the millions of grains of sand that they trudged through. The carriage bounced and tumbled through the sands as Cyrus continued at the same pace that carried them through the forest and plains that surrounded Lexin.
"Slow down up there! You're gonna tear the wheels off their hinges!" Celene yelled as she poked her head out of the carriage's front window.
Cyrus looked behind him and in the carriage. "Oh it's not that bad just a bit bumpy."
Inside of the carriage Henry bounced and tumbled around the interior. He was launched from seat to seat and pin balled from wall to wall inside the carriage and yet the duck's face never changed. As if he was basking in the middle of a lake his body resembled a loaf of bread being tossed around by strong winds.
"Look at Henry he's fine, if he can handle it you can to." He laughed as he watched Henry bounce around inside the carriage.
Celene once again found herself dumb founded once again at the attitude and resilience of Henry, a few frantic and concerned blinks flapped from her eyes before she shook her head and re calibrated herself. "This duck is not normal! Where did you even find him! But that's besides the point! Look at Sarah!" Celene pointed to a rather disgruntled angel.
Cyrus looked over to where Sarah was to find her in a fetal position on one of the carriage bench like seats. Her hand was covering her mouth and her body rattled with each movement and jump of the carriage. With her head tucked into her knees she peeked out of her labored position and those blue eyes of her glared daggers at the bumpy driver.
"Stop this thing now before I- Hrrmf" Sarah heaved as she tried to speak.
Shivers ran down Cyrus's spine as those daggers shot into his back. "Alright, alright we can take a break and camp out for a second." With a nervous and frightened chuckle Cyrus slowly reeled back on the reins of the carriage until it came to a steady halt.
The second the carriage had stopped Sarah swung the door open and scurried out of the carriage. She ran off a bit from the carriage and was followed by Henry as she went to steady her bowels after such a rough ride.
Cyrus held back a small chuckle. "I guess angel's can get motion sickness. Guess they don't fly that fast." He looked back to Celene who was still huddled inside the carriage.
Inside the carriage Celene was much more covered than normal. On top of the normal cropped top and loose fitted pants that she normally wore was a large hooded cloak. It covered her up completely although with her having the hood down her face and long flowing hair was still visible. As Cyrus joked she didn't respond, her eyes stayed on the horizon and their surroundings. Her gaze went from dune to dune, every little sound seemed to make her jump. Cyrus watched her odd behavior and slipped into the back of the carriage with her.
"You okay? You've been off ever since we decided to go to Ibis." He questioned as he grabbed her chin and made her look at him.
"Yes, yes I'm fine we just-" When Cyrus grabbed her in such a way a slight blush appeared on her face when their eyes locked. She swatted his hand away as all her attention shifted onto him. "We just need to hurry up! We can't spend too much time here there's no money to be made in a desert. Tell Sarah to hurry up already." She frantically responded as she put some distance between the two of them and leaned out the window of the carriage to look for Sarah.
Cyrus's eyes narrowed as he listened to her response. "Alright, you little gold freak." He chuckled.
" I am not a freak! I'm a golden beauty thank you very much." She flaunted, flicking her long ponytail that lay behind her. A small laugh escaped her lips as she played herself up a bit.
Cyrus hopped out of the carriage, he looked around for a certain angel to find her walking back towards the carriage with Henry at her feet. Her walk was a bit shaken, she wobbled slightly Henry leaned against her leg to keep her in a straight line. Cyrus did his best not to laugh at the sight of the angel.
"You ready to get going again?"
"Not with you driving." She quickly responded.
"Well Celene refuses to drive so I don't know who-"
"Henry, he's smarter than you I trust him to drive better to." Sarah didn't hesitate to recommend the duck to drive not even letting Cyrus finish his sentence.
Cyrus looked down at Henry who merely responded with a quack and started to waddle towards the front driver's cabin of the carriage before he suddenly stopped and turned his head. The duck's gaze went to the horizon, a blank stare into the vast desert before he flapped his wings and flew into the back of the carriage.
As he watched him Cyrus chuckled. "Oh I thought you were gonna drive buddy, got cold feet." As he laughed a low rumble started to resonate through the sand beneath his feet.
As he felt the sand beneath his feet rumbling Cyrus's eyes went wide, from the horizon the sand started to rise. As if it was the ocean waves started to form on the sand's surface, it barreled towards the carriage in one big sweep. It tore through the land before suddenly it split, multiple funnels of sand started to shoot out in different directions surrounding the carriage and the others. As if something was tunneling just beneath the surface of the sand more and more waves appeared.
Noticing them as they started to circle and surround them Cyrus clicked his teeth, his eyes darted back and forth from stream to stream in the sand. He clenched his fist and sparks of electricity burst forth from his hand and formed into a bolt. He gripped the lightning bolt and took a deep breath before he launched it at one of the lumps of sand that was barreling towards them. As it struck the sand it flew into the air, an explosion of sand detonated where the bolt struck as dust and sand lingered in the air briefly before it dispersed. As the sand and dust cleared a small crater had formed in the sand, the bolt had turned the bottom of the crater into glass and inside of it was a slender humanoid figure, its golden body was covered in scales, a long thick tail extended from where its spine ended at its waist and its head resembled that of a lizard. The creature was singed from head to toe, some of its scales fried off of its body as it lay lifeless in the crater as its body cracked and twitched from the lingering electricity in its body.
As he saw what had been barreling towards them Cyrus's gaze turned to another, her fist clenched once again and another bolt formed. "Celene some help would be appreciated you can cover a some help would be appreciated you can cover a larger area, my lightning isn't good in the sand."
As he spoke his gaze turned to Celene in the carriage. In the carriage Celene's eyes went wide as she saw the lizard like creature. Her mind raced and she quickly threw her hood over her head and ducked down against the floor of the carriage. Her entire body shook and her breath became erratic. She laid against the carriage floor and made herself as small as possible.
As he saw the state Celene was in he clicked his teeth, his gaze turning towards Sarah as the angel shrugged her shoulders.
"My runes are too slow to hit them if they keep moving like this, get them out of the sand then I can do something." She responded without him even asking as her sentence had been broken up a few times from her dry heaving.
Cyrus let out a small sigh but his gaze narrowed again, he tracked one of the creatures that barreled at them under the sand and launched another bolt. The sand jolted off the ground, a spire of glass being made and another lizard creature lay singed and lifeless on the ground. Again and again he clenched his fist and launched bolts of lightning into the sand, each one another spire of glass was formed and another corpse littered the sand but the waves of sand didn't thin and before long they had reached them.Blasting out of the sand a creature darted towards Cyrus a sword and shield in its hands. Cyrus grabbed his dagger off his hip and the clashing of metal resounded through the area as the Lizard's sword swung down at him and was narrowly blocked. Cyrus clicked his teeth as he pushed the lizard back and slashed at him, his dagger crashed against the lizard's shield as the two exchanged blows. Cyrus's eyes darted between the lizard's arms, each movement Cyrus watched, as the lizard raised its sword for another slash Cyrus's feet crackled with electricity and kicked off the sand, a few shards of glass were left in his depart as he shot off the ground and launched a high speed slash. But as he kicked off the ground and his dagger cut through the air the lizard's grip on its sword changed, twisting its wrist it's slashing blade changed course and parried Cyrus's slash, his blade sliding off the side of the sword. His eyes went wide as the lizard parried his faster slash. It spun on its back foot and planted its heel into Cyrus's stomach sending him reeling across the sand. Clenching his dagger electricity coated his body but before he could move four lizards burst out of the sand that surrounded him. With their swords drawn they all barreled down towards him but before they could connect a bellowing laughter echoed through the air.
"Hah, hah, hah, another pack of dastardly lizardmen! Witness me once again and know the might of the Rastis!"
As the mysterious voice rang out it was like something blocked out the sun, a different light seemed to fill the area, it was dazzling, impossible to ignore. Cyrus, Sarah, Celene, the lizardmen, all their gaze were forced to turn, their attention being stolen and all being locked onto one thing, one man. Barreling through the air was a large humanoid, covered in fur and with the head of a jackal. A shield was in its left hand and a long spear in its right, crashing back down into the sand it encompassed the jackal as it's hearty laugh filled the area.
The gazes of everyone were locked onto the jackal and another voice came from one of the lizardmen. "Change of plans, get the stupid jackal first!" One of them commanded and dozens of lizardmen sprouted out of the sand.
"Hah, hah, hah! A cowardly plan but a solid one good job! Let's make this battle grand!" The jackal's voice boomed as he stood proudly amongst the sand.
The dozens of lizardmen charged the jackal, swords and shields drawn they slashed and cut at him. With a confident smile the jackal leapt into the air and threw his spear into the ground. The sand beneath the lizardmen that charged him shook, as he came back down he landed on the base of his spear and dashed off of it. With his shield in front of him he tackled a lizardmen and flung it off careening into another one. He spun on his feet and launched his shield, it bore through the air and smashed into the snout of a lizard. It rebounded of his face and flicked back into the air, the jackal dashed and reeled his fist back to punch the rim of the shield and sent it flying back through the air to slam into the chest of another lizard.
He let out a laugh after his barrage of shield attacks, their gazes all still locked on him among the ones that were still conscious. From behind the jackal a lizard charged with a slash of his sword it tore through the jackal's back.
" Hah ha! A mighty blow!" The jackal didn't so much as flinch to the slash along his back.
He turned to face the lizard that had slashed him and a fiery golden light radiated off of his right arm, taking a swing his fist rammed into the lizard's face and sent him bouncing off the sand, the lizard careened through the dunes carried by the force of a single punch until he was out of view.
"Now who is next!" He said with a hearty laugh
The entire fight Cyrus's eyes had been locked onto the jackal with an unusual fervor but now his gaze seemed to be his own again. As he looked around the lizard's that surrounded them started to run and retreat back into the sand. As he continued to look around the area he looked at Sarah and her eyes had gone wide.
"Another one? Here!?"