Chapter Fourteen

Within the barren plains of yellow grains, Alem stared at the man in front of him in shock. His purple eyes glimmered like the flickering flames in the back. The clashing of swords, growls of beasts, all of it became silent. As if a blanket was placed over the world, covering even the echoes.

"Simar? Wh- what the hell are you doing here?!" his voice became shaky, something that even Eli found shocking. She walked to Alem and looked at the man who was a little lost. His features were similar to Alem's, yet they were… prettier.

"Who are you?" Simar was a little confused. Although the man looked familiar, he couldn't place him anywhere in his memory.

"Simar, it's me. Alem." With shaky hands, Alem reached out and hugged the man. "Holy shit! What the hell are you doing here?! How the hell did you get here?!"

"A-Alem? Is it actually you?!" With his eyes widening even more then Alem's, he grabbed the latter's cheeks and looked at him carefully. "What happened to you? How're you here? Weren't you on a scholarship? How did you end up on this battlefield."

"First answer me." Alem felt his world take a huge turn. How could Simar be here?

"I don't know man. I was hanging out with a few friends when this old guy threw me into a car. When I woke up, I was here." Simar trembled while explaining. "For more then a year I was in this place alone, I didn't know what the hell was going on. Why the hell was I even here? I thought I was going to die."

"Old guy?" Suddenly a person appeared in his mind. 'Grandps?' Anger suddenly filled Alem's mind. "Grandps! Come down and explain what the fuck is going on! Why did you bring my little cousin here?! What the fuck is going on!" Him being in the survival game was acceptable, but bringing his family into it? That was crossing the line. "Come down and explain yourself!"

"Relax." As a loud voice echoed in the world, everything froze, only Alem and Simar could move. The flame, air, clouds, swords, everything stopped.

"Alem, what's going on." Simar was frightened as he got closer to Alem.

"Don't worry. We'll know in a bit." He seethed as he watched a person appear in front of him. "Grandps, why the fuck is Simar here?"

"Why not?" Shameless smiled.

"Stop smiling. This is bullshit! I don't want my family being involved in this! So why the hell are you bringing them into this?!" Alem growled, his purple eyes vibrating. The hidden pink also began to showcase itself slowly, shining brightly.

Shameless shook his head and waved his hand, pulling Simar into the air. "Ask him yourself."

"What do you mean?" Frowning deeply, he spoke in a ghastly voice.

"Let me just tell you this, this cousin of yours was a second away from death. Because of his stupidity, he could have been killed." Shameless waved his hand again and Simar fell to the ground. "This is me helping you out Alem. I could have let him die, but instead I brought him here for a second chance. Plus, it will be useful to your training. Keep an eye on your cousin. As you know, he is no good person." With that, the world un-paused.

"Alem?" Eli looked at Alem with worry. She had never seen him yell or get angry like that before.

Ignoring her, Alem glared at Simar. "What the fuck did you do?" His calmed his mind quickly and thought things through. Shameless would never do something without reason, and if he wanted to involve his family, why not bring his brother or sisters? Or a member he was very close with. Simar, although his first cousin, wasn't someone he actually was close to. The man was untameable, rude, obnoxious, and violent. Even his own mother didn't trust him around others.

"I didn't do anything man." Simar shook his head in fear.

"Don't play dumb." Walking forward, Alem grabbed his collar and lifted him up. "What the fuck did you do?"

"Let go of me." Simar suddenly got pissed and kicked Alem's stomach.

"Alem!" Eli rushed over, but Alem gestured her to stop.

"We may be cousins, but don't try and act like my dad. Even if you were my dad, don't as me shit." Simar glared.

"Don't be an idiot. Look at your state. You're in a completely unknown place and you're still not going to listen?" Alem frowned deeply. This was not a cousin he liked, but family was family.

"Aren't you here as well? Why can't I be?" Simar didn't budge.

"I'm very different from you. In this world, I'm above all, while you are below all." With arrogance exuding him, Alem spoke with a snort.

"Oh really? Just because you changed a little, doesn't make you the best. Don't act up." His words even made Eli frown, but she refrained from speaking.

"No wonder aunty and Jabil found you to be a burden." Sighing, Alem completely calmed his mind.

"The fuck you mean by that?" Simar clenched his fists and spoke angrily.

"You know exactly what I mean." Shaking his head, Alem took the spear from Salea.

"What, you're going to attack your own family? Even I wouldn't do something like that." Scoffing, Simar took a few steps back.

Smirking coldly, Alem suddenly threw the spear. Everyone watched as the spear flew in the dark.

"Arg!" A painful howl reverberated in the night sky as the many saw a man plunged into the ground. A spear piercing through his chest.

"S-scary." Eli felt her body become weak.

"What the hell." Kir took a step back as he saw his opponent pinned to the ground. His body impaled, blood gushing from his mouth. He turned his head and looked at Alem with fear. 'What accuracy.'

"Attack my own family? Don't compare me to you. How many times have you raised a hang against Jabil?" Alem walked towards Samir slowly. The latter's mouth was agape as he fearfully took a few steps back. "This whole world is my territory. I can do as I please and no one, nothing can stop me. But you?" Lightly tapping on his chest, Samir fell to his knees. "Tell me now, what the fuck did you do."

With cold eyes staring at him from above, Samir felt his body become weak. "I-I…"

"You what." Alem became impatient.

"I bashed Jabil's head with a bat…" Samir looked down, his body shaking. "He slapped me, and I lost my mind. I didn't think and grabbed whatever was near me and hit him."

"Bastard!" Raising his leg, Alem kicked his gut, throwing him further. "Yellow, go and get rid of that big guy first. Everyone else, just see if there are supplies we can use." With commands given, everyone went away, wanting to avoid Alem's anger. All except for Eli. She stuck around.

Samir laid on the ground, grabbing his stomach. Groaning. "It's not my fault! He hit me for no reason! He knows I lose control, so why the hell would he slap me!"

"Is that your excuse? Jabil is your older brother! You fucking waste, he raised you! Fucking idiot, is he even alive?" Unlike Samir, Alem loved and respected Jabil. The latter was literally the perfect older brother. He was envious of Samir and the rest for having such a brother, one he could never have. Yet, Samir smashed his head?

"He's alive! I promise!" Samir screamed while slowly getting up from the ground. "Alem, stop it man. I know I shouldn't have hit him, but he did it first. We brothers always fight! You know that."

"You don't have such a right. Smashing his head? That's not brotherly." His chilly voice cause Samir to fall back to the ground. He laid on his back and panted heavily.

"C'mon Alem. Forget about it for now. I just want to leave this place. I've been through enough." Samir covered his eyes and spoke painfully. "I haven't seen mom or anyone in so long. I don't even get to eat or drink properly. This is torture."

Seeing him complaining on the ground, Alem sat down as well and sighed. Looking up, Alem whispered. "Grandps, can you make sure Jabil is alright? I'll do something in return."

[System Notice!]

[Desert Centipede has Evolved to Lord of Sand. Location…]

Seeing the alert, Alem sighed. "So, you want me to take this test seriously?"

"Alem, are you ok?" Eli ignored the notice and walked over to Alem carefully.

"Yes, I'm fine." He smiled at her weakly. Getting up from the ground, he rubbed her head a little. "You're the only one who truly cares for me, huh?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I care?" She smiled while. "So, that's your cousin?"

Hearing her words, Alem sighed. "A disappointing one, yes." Simar snorted once those words came out, but he didn't argue. "Anyways, you wanted to see me fight, right?'

"Are you…" Looking at him carefully, she gripped his arm tightly.

"The Lord of Sand. It should be a good demonstration of my strength, don't you think?" Smirking, he picked up the spear from the ground and walked towards Samir. "Get up. From now on, you follow what I say. If you pull any moves, then I don't mind breaking your legs. I'll explain it to aunty later."

"Sure." Samir got up and nodded his head, thought slightly irritated. "Where are we going?"

"You saw the alert, right?" A cold smile appeared on his face. "Let me show you why I'm on the top of the food chain."

Samir looked around and his face suddenly paled. "Alem, you'll die. Don't be dumb. I don't need to know, just forget about it. Uncle will literally get a heartache if something happens to you. Let's just stay in this camp and wait out this bullshit." Though Samir was a waste of a person, he did genuinely care for his brothers. Sure, he fought them, hit them, and so on, but everyone knew he was a straightforward guy, sometimes too straightforward.

Though Alem knew this, the fact remained Samir was no good man. "You don't need to worry about me. In this world, there is nothing that can stop me." After saying that, Alem turned his gaze towards Nor, the only one still in a fight. Luckily Yellow was there too and the fight was essentially coming to an end.

"Alem, just let them go. We don't need to kill anyone. They won't do a thing after a good beating." Unlike Alem and the rest, Samir was still stuck in the Earthly mentality. Murder, death, swords, it was uncommon to him.

Shaking his head, Alem continued to watch the fight. Gilrin had already lost his hands and was just screaming on the ground at this point. Nor wasn't attacking either, it was just Yellow. "Samir, since you're here as well, then just watch everything. Our world is peaceful, murder only occurs in war and even then, normal people don't see it. This world is cruel." Soon enough Gilrin was gone, the only thing left was a black pellet and stains of red. Flesh and bones were scattered across. "Yellow, come now." The bloody wolf walked over, it's aura even more ferocious than before. Samir couldn't help but take a deep breath seeing this. "Kir, go and get the pellet from your opponent. Salea should be collecting many items, so Samir and Nor, go and help her out. Take Yellow and the remaining wolves with you."

Everyone nodded their heads. Even Nor did, though she was a little reluctant. Only Alem and Eli remained.

"Do you truly plan to fight the Lord of Sand?" She was worried. Whether Alem could truly beat it or not wasn't important, his life was more important than some ego battle. "Why not just forget about it? We obtained two pellets here, and once we go to the second camp, we can get around four more. Maybe more. We don't need to fight such a beast."

Alem gently patted her cheek. "Don't worry. I don't boast because of ego. I truly believe and know I can fight anything in this world." He grabbed Gilrin's sword and swung it slightly. "Now that I have a good sword, it will be even easier to fight."

With that said, Alem walked away and began to search around as well. If they could find extra pellets, food, and even more water, that would be best.

A few hours passed before everyone met back in the middle. "So?" The one Alem looked at first was Salea.

"Gilrin kept most things in the open. So, I was able to locate a good amount of food, but we won't be able to move those for now. Water is available since we used a well for that." She then pulled her hand forward and showed a few items in her palm. "Fortunately, I knew where Gilrin liked to hide things, so I was able to find three pellets."

Alem reached forward and took the pellets while smiling. "In total, we should have about seven pellets now. However, our group has increased to six, so we still need twenty-three more pellets."

"Well, if we can go to the second camp, atleast four more pellets will be acquired. That is, if you don't spare more people." Nor spoke while grumbling, her eyes landing on Salea. She didn't mind Samir's presence since Eli already told her about him.

"You have a problem?" Salea spoke with a cold face.

"Relax both of you." Alem shook his head. "Nor don't worry. I'm planning on facing the Lord of Sand, so I should be able to gather a few pellets from that. Plus, who knows how many people head to that location was well."

"Lord of Sand? You're going to fight it?" Suddenly, her eyes brightened. She wanted more pellets, but more so, wanted to see Alem's full potential. "Then that's great. When do we head out?"

"Let's wait until morning. A few of our wolves are also tired and injured, so let them rest." With Yellow and his group as the main mounts, they needed to rest. Plus, they lost one already, so they were down to only four, including Yellow.

"Alright, tomorrow we head out." Nor nodded her head in a bit of excitement.