Danger

In the distance was a small group of men that stood atop a large sand dune overlooking the ruined city of El Diablo…

Every one of them were covered in black cloaks that hid any discernible features. One of the men stepped forward and pulled out a telescope, peering through it to take a closer look at the town.

Among the ruins, the remnants of a recent battle was the only thing that could be seen under the moonlight with his telescope.

Putting it away, he signaled the rest of the group to enter the city. Together, they all slid down the dune and began making their way to their destination.

...

"Shit man, trying to find any trace of that bartender is annoying. Why don't we just focus on finding this dragon."

Leezy said, spitting onto the sand.

Reyes paid him no mind and kept scanning the area with Mana Sense, trying to find Rachel's trail. In the distance, he finally found a large patch of scorched sand that had an abundance of Mana residue left behind. The charred bodies that had littered the town so far were nowhere to be seen near it.

"Hey, this was where my sister's house was!"

"Hmm, the scorch marks look different than the other one's. It also has a different type of mana residue left behind. I'm not too sure what happened here but I don't think Rachel is dead, that much is for sure."

U

Reyes said, kneeling down to touch the scorch mark as he spoke.

A small jolt of electricity spread across his hand as he touched the sand, confirming his doubt that it was a fireball that was responsible for the mark.

Nodding and walking over Melony, he pat her on the head.

"Yeah kid, your sister is alive, she has got to be."

"Good, then lets go find her!"

Quickly they left the remains of the city and decided to go to the nearest town to figure out what cities where nearby.

As they walked, the wind suddenly started picking up violently. A few miles away, a large sandstorm was brewing and heading toward them with abnormal speed.

Seeing it, they all took off running toward a small rock formation a couple feet from them, barely making it in time.

The sandstorm whipped up sand that tore through the air like bullets around them. Hastily, they looked for somewhere to take shelter. In the distance, Leezy spotted a cave and began running to it.

Melony and Reyes followed closely and after a bit more running, they managed to throw themselves inside.

Inside the cave they could hear multiple stalagmites dripping with water, filling the cave with eerie echoes. The darkness inside was so thick in the night that none of them could see each other.

Holding his hand forward, Reyes focused his ki to develop a small orb of light in his hand.

All around them were bone splinters, making the floor look like the back of a porcupine. Slowly they made their way deeper into the cave as the sandstorm raged outside which was taking off chunks off the cave entrance, as if the rock were icing atop a cake. As they walked deeper, they eventually entered a large chamber that had a large oasis at its center that was nestled inside of a huge human shaped skull.

"Well this is just great!"

Leezy said while approaching the skull cautiously.

As he neared the water, a huge tentacle erupted from the water and wrapped itself around his waist.

"Leezy!"

Reyes called out to him but his brother couldn't hear it because he was already underwater.

Before he could dive in after him, something moving through the air toward him caught his attention. Throwing himself to the side, an arrow flew by him and dug itself into the cave wall with a clang. Blood trickled from a gash on his cheek as he turned to the source of the throw.

Behind him, about 20 feet away stood 4 cloaked figures.

"So you motherfuckers want smoke? Let's get it!"

Pushing Melony into the shelter of the skull beside him, he shouted at the newcomers.

"We will make sure you don't leave here alive..."

They all replied, summoning their weapons as they rushed toward Reyes.

One had a pair of katars, one brandished a spear that was as long as his body, another had a bow with a quiver full of arrows, and the last had a spiked hammer.

As they quickly closed the distance, the one who wielded a hammer threw it at Reyes. At the same time, the rest jumped high into the air. Arrows flew toward Reyes in tandem, attempting to keep him distracted from the hammer flying toward him.

With finesse, Reyes slid on his knees and ducked below the hammer. As he did so, he twirled his katana as it was still in its sheath while channeling ki into his legs and sword, blocking the incoming arrows before they could strike.

The ki coursing through his legs served as lubricant, speeding his momentum as he continued his slide. Following this up, he twisted his body and swung the katana still in its sheathe, connecting with the one who threw his hammer as he slid by him. A shockwave formed from his strike, causing the whole cave to shake from its force.

Unfortunately for him though, the strike did absolutely nothing to the man who managed to block in time.

Boom!

The 3 that were in the air earlier came crashing down upon Reyes, sending a huge cloud of dust and debris into the air which obscured their vision.

After it cleared, only the 4 individuals were left standing.

"Where did he go?"

"Find him!"

...

Leezy struggled against the tentacle to no avail.

Even with his great strength, it was minuscule compared to what wrapped his body. He found himself beginning to panic as he sunk deeper and deeper into the oasis with little to no oxygen left in lungs.

'Fuck! Just how deep is this damn thing.'

The area around him was getting darker and darker the deeper he was drug. It was to the point now where he could barely see anything, save for the light coming from the small hole at the top of the oasis.

Lightning began to leap from his armor, wrapping itself around the tentacle that held him.

Roar!!!!

A high pitched roar resonated through the water as Leezy managed to free himself from the tentacle's grasp, but to his surprise and horror, a massive bone squid floated into sight.

It was roughly the size of a battleship, with bright blue pupils sitting in a pair of empty eye sockets that stared at him with intense hunger. Eight long bone tentacles shot through the water toward him as the squid hungrily eyed its prey.

Leezy tightened his grip on his great-sword and readied himself for combat.

Clang!

He managed to block each tentacle, but the force of the impact sent him sailing through the water. Even worse than that though, his great-sword was chipped a little from the strike.

Channeling his lightning, he swung wildly toward the squid and threw multiple arcs of lightning from the tip of his sword.

Curling itself into a ball, the squid used its tentacles to block the lightning and shot out a stream of ink into the water. In the already dark oasis, it made it even harder for him to see. It was at the point where he could barely see anything at all.

Boom!

Out if nowhere, a tentacle cut through the darkness and slammed against his body. Sailing through the water again, he could barely hold onto consciousness, his whole left side surging with pain as he resisted the urge to scream which would have filled his lungs completely with water.

'Damn it, I have got to get the fuck out of here, I'm fighting on its terms right now!'

Quickly focusing his ki into the soles of his feet, Leezy kicked as hard as he could in the water.

An air pocket formed under his feet which propelled him upward toward the entrance of the oasis. Just as his head broke through the water, another tentacle wrapped itself around his ankle, snatching him back down into the water…