Business

The hull of the ship was strewn with golden flakes while the brown color resembled the bark of palm trees.

It looked to be three stories above the sand and it's length was as long as three palm trees placed in a row.

Scribbles are written on the rear and side of the ship.

For a moment l thought I was hallucinating but the loud banging sound the large Um made when diving back into the moving sand jolted my limbs into action.

I ran away.

Circling the battle that was happening in the rushing river of sand, I sprint ahead to get out of range.

I hear a screeching sound, it sounded like nails on a wet chalkboard but the thing that got me was that it was heard in my mind.

It had a paralyzing effect that only a strong pulse of mana got rid of, 'This thing as a whole other level of bad news'.

I turn my head to see smaller Um fleeing the scene following right behind me.

Cursing my horrible luck I turn north east a thin figure out running the Ums.

Turning my head back I see a small wave detach and follow my general direction I could tell that by the time they reach me they would disperse.

I calmed my beating heart and began to run west keeping my eye on the drama unfolding on the mobile sand fortress.

One harpoon after the other was sent into the large centipede like body, but every time it dived a dozen of the harpoons would come out leaving the ship to have to hit it again and again.

Once I was out of sight of the ship I flew into the air and headed west, 'Fuck that' I said to myself wondering what kind of idiots would go knocking on deaths door like that.

It wasn't even a day later when I was resting on a large cliff that I saw them coming from a distance, dragged by the large Um.

It would dive into the sand and come up the ship getting dragged along.

I couldn't see anyone on board because of the distance but I didn't think they could use mana or else they wouldn't even have built that ship.

Either way it's not something I can hunt, even if I could I would need a lot of energy I don't think grenades could do much.

After watching it for some time I realized that some of the harpoons would bounce of of shiny places, like it's slime was hardening.

"What kind of morons..." I said out loud.

'What are they doing'? Ava asked her curiosity rising by the second.

'None of my damn business' I said, snorting before jumping down the other side of the cliff.

My water had long ran out but I smelled rain coming and I wasn't going to miss it.

Flying further west the river widened forcing me to one side.

I chose to fly to the side with cliffs and ridges as a tactical advantage against anything that would creep up from the sand.

The downside was it was harder to traverse, but my main source of nutrition sought shade underneath the rocky terrain so I was eager to get there.

Flying high I got a good look at the terrain, Directly to the north of me was rocky terrain and to the south was the heavy sands.

In between ran the sand river going west and to the east was whatever was making this sand flow, presumably a large body of water.

I sighed, rubbing my temples noticing the red energy rushing like mad underneath my skin.

It had been like this for the past few days, I felt like I was overworking my body and this red energy was trying it's best to compensate.

It's a miracle I haven't died by gout yet.

Whatever was happening to me I needed a safe place to explore it.

I flew across the river but when I got close I realized those aren't rocks and cliffs, they are dead Um bones.

That along with the mana in the air being slightly thicker made my hair stand on end.

I saw the earth tremble underneath me and I felt a pulse of mana ripple through me giving me a bad feeling.

A centipede like creature with shiny armor and a wide open mouth heading right for me after it broke past the earths surface.

'Why me you overgrown tapeworm"? I was genuinely frustrated but I realized why it was targeting me as I sent pulses of mana to speed up.

This things small eyes are covered in slimy goop and it could sense me from the powerful pulses I was emitting to stay afloat.

I created as many fire balls as I could while flying which was a total of four letting them all go inside the large creatures mouth.

The explosions didn't even slow it down, but I did see blood which was a good sign.

The fact that it kept rising from the earth scared me most of all.

It made the one being hunted by the ship look like a punk.

By the time it raised it's large head it I measured it to be over thirty feet with some more length supporting it on the ground.

I flew right across the river, not wanting to attract the attention of any more of it's brethren.

The thought of running from another one of these things made me fly even faster.

The one's I killed and ate were infantile compared to this.

As my luck would have it the behemoth followed right behind swimming through the sand as if it was a swimming pool.

I flew up higher thinking about what I can do to lose this thing, that was when I heard the loud screeching noise again.

I looked to my left to see the boat far off in the distance and a plan forms in my mind.

'Why did you stop running' Ava said fear overloading her thoughts, being linked at the moment I felt all of it as if it was my own.

'Don't worry' I said baiting the creature and letting it catch up to only fly higher in the air.

I took my time getting to the other side, that was when I heard the screech again but this time it was close.

I felt it in my mind, and so did the larger Um.

I looked like a knee jerk reaction for it, it probably recognized it's brethren and knows how much meat it can look forward to.

As I saw it dive into the sand going against the stream like it was hot butter, I considered watching how this played out.

Instead I turned my head and flew away.

'None of my business' I said to myself.