by Brandon Chen
“These are the Lost Sands,” Ares said, tossing the canteen back to Aleysha. “Use your head. We’ve walked less than thirty minutes from the cave, do you honestly think you’d be sweating that much?” He scoffed. “You have to learn the tricks that this desert will play on you otherwise you’ll die before we even make it a mile in.” He looked at Amon over his shoulder. “Amon, have you managed to locate the general direction of Ahriman’s body?”
Amon nodded his head, gazing out across the wasteland and pointing in a random direction that seemed to lead nowhere but sand. There.
“How can you possibly see that far?” Aleysha frowned.
“He’s a Guardian. This desert is where he was born and he knows every inch of it. His eyes can also see over a hundred miles away with perfect accuracy,” Ares said proudly with a smile and motioned for Aleysha to follow him. “Alright, let’s get going.”
The party of three began to walk through the scorching hot desert, feeling their skin being baked alive. During their several hours of traveling, Ares explained to Aleysha everything that Ramses had told him while they sat on Amon’s giant shoulders, resting their aching feet.
“Become a god,” Aleysha echoed. “So Zahir is trying to do what you’ve already accomplished?”
“Yeah,” Ares said. “I expect that they’re utilizing a lot of Persian soldiers to search for the fault. I’m not sure if they’ll all perish in the Lost Sands either. The Lost Sands takes advantage of human nature and uses it to drive human invaders to their doom. But with the Persians’ massive pool of resources, some of the desert’s tricks might not work.” He leapt off of Amon’s shoulders and onto the desert floor.
Aleysha blinked as Amon plucked her off his shoulders and put her on the ground beside Ares. “Why are we walking on foot? Isn’t staying on Amon faster and less taxing?”
“Yeah, and it makes us lazy. The desert will take advantage of that and have us killed. We need to be alert as we travel,” Ares said, beginning to walk across the endless hills of sand towards where Amon claimed was Ahriman’s fissure.
It was only an hour before Aleysha felt herself growing heavy and exhausted once more. The baking heat made her feel sluggish. Dragging her feet across the sand, the mercenary winced as she saw that Ares was effortlessly trundling forward as if nothing were wrong. Aleysha knitted her eyebrows. She didn’t want to seem like a burden to Ares because then that would only prove him right. She couldn’t slow down. Aleysha narrowed her eyes and groaned. She wanted to just collapse so badly though!
The god noticed her lethargic behavior and sighed, pointing to a statue in the distance. “Just a little further, Aleysha. We’ll take a break there.”
Reaching the statue, Aleysha realized that the figure was positioned on top of a flat, marble platform that was unnaturally inserted into the sandy desert. A huge statue of a golden humanoid stood tall in the desert, wielding a powerful hammer with a long shaft. The head of the hammer itself was a rectangle shape and glowed mystically with purple arcane energy. The statue wore armor that was made of glittering gold and embedded with various jewels that made the figurine shine even brighter in the sunlight. The sculpture was that of a male human, standing completely straight with perfect posture, except it had the head of a dog. There were grey stones embedded in the eye sockets of the stone figure that suggested the life-like figurine was not animated.
Aleysha almost expected the statue to spring to life, but luckily for her it didn’t. The effigy was placed in the middle of a flat, solid marble surface. The mercenary found it quite odd that the dog-man figurine had just been left out here randomly in the Lost Sands with all of these rich jewels embedded in it. She was surprised also that no one had stolen the gems off the statue; they were probably worth a fortune. More than she could’ve made in five years of working as a mercenary. Beside the statue was a naturally flowing fountain that seemed to constantly spew water up into the air, spraying it wastefully in the sand, where it soaked in and vanished.
Aleysha scrambled forward and put her mouth to the gushing fountain and allowed the cool liquid to satiate her thirst. She exhaled, splashing some of the water on her sweaty face before taking several steps backward. “What an oasis!”
“It’s actually a trap,” Ares observed, sipping sparingly from the fountain.
“A trap?” Aleysha blinked, eying the water precariously.
“Greed. There is a difference between what you need and what you want.” Ares explained, stepping back from the fountain. “The water fountain has been conveniently placed next to this statue where there are beautiful gems of every sort embedded into its gleaming golden armor. If a single gem is taken out of place the Guardian will awaken. Those humans who seek to improve their wealth by stealing a gem from this statue will awaken the beast and be eradicated. This desert is a place for those who seek adventure, not for those who seek to fulfill their own selfish desires. This Guardian was created for the sole purpose of guarding the desert from the selfish humans that would plague the Lost Sands.”
Aleysha gazed in awe at the statue. “T-That’s a Guardian?”
“A slumbering one, yes.”
“Well I wasn’t even thinking about touching those gems anyway,” Aleysha said, biting her lower lip. I would probably be dead if Ares wasn’t here.
“Good. Wealth like that will do nothing for you in this desert.” Ares stretched his arms. “Phew, if we didn’t stumble across this place you probably would’ve been done for.”
“Huh?”
“The desert was targeting you, making you a sloth,” Ares explained. “That heavy feeling that you experienced while you were walking was making you feel defeated, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, eventually, the heat makes you give up hope. You collapse and most of the time, you become too lazy or apathetic to even care about getting up. You accept your death and succumb to yet another natural human sin, sloth. The desert takes advantage of such flaws and does its best to weigh you down. If you notice what the Lost Sands is trying to do, though, it makes it much easier to push through,” Ares said and turned his head, his ears twitching. “Something’s nearby. Amon, do you feel that?”
Amon gently walked onto the platform, trying his best not to bump into the dog-man Guardian accidently. The golem had no intention of awakening a foe. Amon hesitated, listening to his surroundings and nodded, grunting. Underneath us.
“Underneath?” Aleysha exclaimed, looking at the ground. She didn’t feel anything. “Uh, what’s underneath us?” The moment she spoke, she felt it. The ground shook in a startling tremor, shaking the earth to its very foundation. Aleysha staggered backward, her heart beginning to race. “W-What’s that?” She reached for the shield strapped to her back and pulled it out, brandishing her sword at the same time.
Ares’ eyes darted around, absorbing their surroundings. The rumbling was coming from everywhere; he couldn’t pinpoint where its origin was. He shut his eyes tight and exhaled through his nose, trying to calm himself. Clearing his mind, the boy felt his heartbeat slowing. Soon, he could hear everything. He could feel everything. Vibrations pulsed through the ground, rushing through the soles of his feet. He picked up on every movement the tremor created. His eyes fluttered open and he grunted, tackling Aleysha clean off her feet.
The earth suddenly erupted, sending a geyser of sand spewing up towards the sky. A massive worm exploded from the marble ground, sending pieces of the shattered platform splintering through the air. The gigantic worm had an oval-shaped orifice with hundreds of sharp dagger-like teeth that poked out of every inch of the creature’s mouth. The worm’s mouth opened up into a pitch-black abyss, and the creature itself was even larger than Amon.
“It’s a core-digger!” Ares bellowed as the gigantic worm crashed back down, burrowing deep into the earth. The tremors started up again as Ares and Aleysha staggered back to their feet. “If that thing comes up to the surface from underneath us then we’re as good as dead. It’ll swal
low us whole.”
“What do we do?” Aleysha shouted over the roaring earth. “I doubt we can outrun that thing!”
Ares’ eyes widened as a worm tore itself from the sand several hundred meters away, flying high through the air and descending upon their position. At the same time, he sensed movement right underneath Aleysha. He kicked off the ground and swept Aleysha clean off her feet again as another worm creature burst from the platform underneath her. Marble scattered through the air and Ares grunted as debris rained down around them. “There’re two of them,” he murmured, his eyes flickering to the first worm that was still falling down towards them with its mouth wide open. He pressed the soles of his feet into the ground and winced, knowing that he couldn’t get out of the way of the descending core-digger. “Amon!”
Amon intercepted the worm and stepped between Ares and the creature, grabbing the top and bottom of the monstrosity’s giant mouth. The elemental roared as he ripped the worm’s jaw off, gripping the squirming creature by the nozzle. The rest of the monster’s convulsing body fell down on the golem, who grabbed the elongated beast and hurled it through the air. The decapitated worm crashed into a sand dune a mile away, writhing around for several seconds before it finally went still.
The second core-digger smashed from the ground, seemingly enraged by the death of its companion, and dashed through the air at a lower angle than its partner. It flew horizontally towards Ares and Aleysha with its mouth snapping towards them, loose saliva splattering onto the cracked platform.
Aleysha leapt to the side, allowing the giant creature to fly past her. She brought her sword cutting upwards at the creature and blinked when her steel sword glanced harmlessly off of the worm’s impenetrable hide. She staggered backward, realizing that an ordinary sword wouldn’t leave a scratch on a beast this strong. The mercenary turned to Ares, who was still standing in the worm’s path. “Ares!” she cried.
Ares extended his hand and his spear materialized at the tip of his fingers, levitating and pointing straight at the oncoming monster. The boy’s face was calm as he breathed out, sending the spear whistling through the air towards its target. The weapon went into the worm’s mouth and rapidly began to hack the creature from the inside-out, stabbing and jabbing the monster’s innards. The god stepped to the side as the worm crashed down on the ground, sliding across the damaged platform until its body slithered off onto the desert sand. He turned to Aleysha and raised an eyebrow at the girl. “You’ve got guts,” he called out, acknowledging her attempt to strike the beast. “Not bad!”
Aleysha beamed but still knew that she wasn’t strong enough to defeat a creature of that caliber. Not with her ordinary strength. She squeezed the handle on her sun shield and sighed at the sweltering heat. The mercenary was about to go to the fountain in order to get another drink but realized that there was a cracking sound coming from that direction. She turned her attention to the statue and to her horror, the joints of the Guardian began to snap to life.
The mercenary stared in awe as bits of rubble and dust crumbled off the figure and soon the dog-man statue creaked to life, its limbs snapping as it stepped off its pedestal and down onto the hardened marble, gripping its hammer’s long handle with both hands. A statue was coming to life? She supposed that she shouldn’t be surprised by anything in the Lost Sands, but shock registered upon her face as the creature raised its hammer over its head. The grey stones in his eyes were now gleaming as brightly as pure rubies.
“Move!” Ares suddenly raced across the platform and tackled Aleysha clean off her feet as the dog-man brought its weapon crashing into the earth, shattering the ground like glass. The ground cracked as what remained of the solidified, marble platform exploded into the air, a gigantic cloud of dust swirling through the air around the area as the hammer tore through the floor.
Aleysha blinked, noticing that Ares was on top of her, protecting her from the falling debris that rained down around them. She opened her mouth to speak but the words died upon her lips. She was far too stunned by the bizarreness of this situation.
“Amon! How did the Guardian awaken?” Ares demanded, pushing himself off Aleysha and to his feet, turning to face the giant statue.
“The jewels….” Aleysha pointed at several jewels that had fallen out of the Guardian’s armor and were lying on the ground. “They fell out!”
“So that’s what triggered it, huh?” Ares murmured. It must’ve been all the rumbling from the worms and Amon.
Amon groaned an apology.
“It’s alright, buddy. Let’s take him out.”
Amon released a bellowing roar as he stormed forward, his gigantic rock arms outstretched as he charged at the Guardian. The dog-man raised its hammer and smashed it into the side of Amon’s torso, sending the golem staggering to the side several steps. But the colossal giant didn’t let that stop him and tackled the statue, driving both titans into the ground, the earth quaking from their frightening power.
“What about me?” Aleysha yelled over the sound of the battle. “What do I do?”
“Stay here and don’t die,” Ares called over his shoulder, immediately vanishing into thin-air. He reappeared above Amon and the Guardian, who were on the ground wrestling for dominance. The dog-man had Amon pinned to the ground, pressing its hammer’s long handle against the throat of the rock golem. Ares descended from the air and drove both of his legs into the back of the Guardian. Both of his hands were stuffed into his pockets as he shattered the spine of the statue with ease, the gleaming armor of the creature cracking beneath his heels.
Amon used his mighty strength to toss the injured Guardian off of himself, sending the dog-man tumbling across the ground. The golem groaned, pushing itself into a sitting position as it scratched its head. Ares landed on the ground before the giant, having leapt off the Guardian’s back several seconds before. The god gave his best friend an approving smile.
“Hey! Dog-breath!” Aleysha yelled.
Ares turned suddenly and saw that the mercenary had taken out her sword and shield and was rushing directly at the Guardian, who had begun to push itself back onto its feet. He winced. That idiot! She’s going to get herself killed!
Aleysha slowed to a stop in front of the giant dog-headed humanoid and held her orange shield up to the glowing sun. The light of the star shined down on the sun insignia engraved into her shield, and suddenly the entire shield began to evanescently glow with the warm colors of red, orange, and yellow.
Ares and Amon stood by with their mouths gaping, watching Aleysha with surprise. It seemed as if the shield was soaking in the sunlight, taking it in as energy. But what would that energy be used for and how was Aleysha doing this?
The dog-man creature didn’t seem to be patient enough to find out. It gripped the hilt of its hammer tightly and lifted the gigantic weapon over its head and brought it crashing down upon Aleysha.
The mercenary continued to hold her shield confidently, sweat beginning to form on her brow. Just a few more seconds! I can do this!
Suddenly Ares appeared right in front of Aleysha, teleporting from his original position beside Amon. The god extended one hand outward, his other arm at his side, stopping the powerful hammer swing effortlessly. The earth beneath him cracked, absorbing the force of the blow and a cloud of dust swept outward from his position, swirling around him. Unharmed, Ares glanced over his shoulder at Aleysha and nodded at her.
Aleysha lifted her shield even higher now and a beam of bright orange light tore from the heavens and pierced through the sky, bashing down into the Guardian. There was a loud groan that sounded like a resounding horn as the incredible light sent glowing orange energy in all directions. The beam receded back into the sky, vanishing as quickly as it had come. A circle of black ashes surrounded the area where the Guardian had been struck, forming a symbol in the earth that looked like the sun. The statue had been completely incinerated. Nothing was left but ashes drifting in the desert wind.
Aleysha lowered her shi
eld and exhaled, feeling slightly dizzy. She smiled wearily, glad that she had contributed to bringing down the colossal Guardian. “Got him…!” She was gasping for breath, her face slightly blanched.
Ares stared at the ashes of the obliterated Guardian. Aleysha had summoned that incredible surge of power that had roared from the heavens? The god, however, did not sense any magical presence radiating from the mercenary. He glanced at the shield, which had now stopped glowing. So it was that shield that had summoned such outstanding power. It must’ve been taxing for its wielder to call upon that powerful magic.
He flitted forward and caught Aleysha as she collapsed and slid into unconsciousness. The girl’s shield clanked to the sand and Amon eyed it curiously, recognizing its unique design. Ares held the mercenary in his arms and looked to his best friend. “Amon, you recognize the shield as well?”
Yes.
“And you acknowledge that Ra disguised himself as Aleysha five years ago.”
Yes.
“How is it possible that Ra knew what Aleysha would look like in five years? Do you know why Ra took that form?”
I do not know.
Ares looked at Aleysha’s shield and frowned. “How do you think she got this shield? It can’t be coincidence that our paths crossed and she happens to have this magical treasure. Clearly Aleysha knew of its incredible power.”
Perhaps our interrogation may begin when she awakens, hm?
“Perhaps,” Ares murmured, looking up at the glowing sun. “I just want to know who this god, Ra, really is. Is he on our side?”
Who knows?
Ares placed Aleysha in Amon’s palm and sighed, letting the golem carry the unconscious girl. He looked at the sleeping mercenary and smiled at her. “You did well, Aleysha, and you’ve proven to me that you’re more than ready to come on this journey with us.” He kicked off of the ground, flying hundreds of feet into the air, and landed on Amon’s shoulder swiftly. The boy brushed his blonde hair from his eyes and gazed out across the stretching desert. “Somewhere out there is the Persian army and Ahriman.”
