The First Descent into The Labyrinth (2)

With a steady pace, the group pressed onwards through the sandy expanse that they found themselves in. They knew not how long they would have to travel, but they persisted nonetheless bearing both the blistering heat and bone-dry air.

Time passed not one step at a time, but in a confusing waltz as nothing they had was any indicator of time passing. Even the 'sun' above them did not change its position, merely maintaining its position as if determined to wear down the group. Nevertheless, the group continued on only stopping for Cyrus to cast a Vita spell on Imran or him passing out some of his emergency rations he always kept on hand.

This continued until Cyrus halted in place, raising an open hand in the air and then closing it to signal them to stop and then to be silent. Both Imran and Minerva, having received training from a young age as is required of every citizen of the Empire, easily understood and followed the order. Cyrus scanned the area in front of him for a moment, before suddenly pointing to the ground at his feet and dropping onto the ground in one quick and silent motion. His companions, although confused about his actions, mirrored them as they did not know Cyrus as the joking type.

Cyrus slowly inched his way to the group, before whispering so lightly that each of them had to crane their necks to catch the barely audible sound.

"Up ahead is a resting sandcrawler. Seeing as it has not detected us already, it is either in the midst of setting up an ambush or it is injured and recuperating. If it is the former, we should move to intercept it while we still have the advantage. If it is the later, then we can safely ignore it as it will be long before it emerges. Even so, to see a lone sandcrawler is rare indeed…they tend to not be alone so it is possible more will come even if we deal with this one" whispered Cyrus, sharing his knowledge of the wasteland.

"Sandcrawler… I have heard of such a Brutum in passing but not enough to know what it is. All I really know is that it is the only type to be able to survive in the wasteland, where the number of things for it to devour is few and far in between" whispered Minerva in response.

"They are of a varied nature, with each herd often having unique traits when compared to the other…but the differences are still subtle enough for them to all be regarded as the same creature. Nevertheless, I propose we dispose of it while we can and then hide quickly in case it has companions" whispered Cyrus, making the decision for them as his position of leadership entailed.

The other two nodded, drawing their respective weapons as they slowly stood up alongside Cyrus.

"They are not the strongest in direct combat, always favoring to ambush instead to make use of their razor-sharp teeth and powerful body. When alone, even a group of fresh militia could easily best it" said Cyrus as they began walking towards the spot where the sandcrawler was.

To the untrained eye, the patch of sand that Cyrus pointed out looked no different than any other.

"Look at what sticks out of the sand ever so slightly, those two cacti looking things. Those are not plant life of the wasteland, but two tubes in which a sandcrawler can breathe out of as they lie in ambush under the sand for days on end."

The two whose origin were not of the wasteland took such vital information to heart, perhaps it may come in use later in life but at the very least it surely would come to great use in the current area.

Slowly they approached, but not so slow as to possibly make the beast below suspicious. With their chosen weapons in hand, they made their way to their enemy. Imran took point, as his long glaive was the most efficient weapon when it came to monster killing…what is better than a weapon that allows the beast to simply impale itself for you, in the most ideal circumstance anyhow.

As they reached the area directly in front of the two tubes, as expected, the monstrous foe emerged with a guttural growl as it opened its jaws, revealing several rows of sharp teeth, and moved its long spindly legs to propel itself towards the trio. Up close, it looked more like a bug than an animal or plant, what with its roach like body covered in chitin with two large antennae like objects below the two tubes that grew from where its eyes would have been if it had been a beast.

The look of the crawler meant little to the trio, as Imran braced his Glaive with his entire body as his foe readily impaled itself onto his weapon. A guttural crunching sound followed by the squishing and subsequent eruption of various organs being destroyed by the impalement, the creature squirmed as it tried to free itself from the shaft of the spear that now found itself inside of it. The more it struggled, however, the more damage was done to its internal structure…causing the creature to grow frantic. As if it had resolved itself to die, instead of escaping it instead moved forward causing the spear to go even deeper. Its true aim in doing so was obvious to all as it opened its jaws once more right in front of Imran's face, so close that he could smell the stench of death that was contained within.

He would not have to bear such a stench for long, as with yet another sickening crunch, and this time a popping sound, the beasts head was sliced off by an overhead strike from Cyrus.

Even more bug like, the bottom half of the beast continued to move which would have possibly injured someone if left unchecked. The problem was solved within the same breathe as Cyrus cutting off the head of the sandcrawler, as Minerva was ready and waiting to act and act she did as she delivered a strong kick to the lower half of the sandcrawler. The kick did as intended, sending the bottom half of their foe across the sand away from them to twitch around until it finally died. An unintended side effect was that the insides of the beast could be seen to all as the internal fluid of it spilled forth; two cord like organs could be seen, one almost translucent and white while the other yellow with a blood like substance that was currently spewing forth.

"Buglike indeed" thought Cyrus, who had spent a possible unhealthy amount of time experimenting on various creatures…insects included.

The creature felled, Imran pulled his glaive out of the front half of the crawler and then kicking away the still slightly twitching head…shivering in disgust all the while.

"What disgusting creatures they are. These things are the common wildlife in the wasteland…how unpleasant to say the least" said Imran as he flicked some of the gore off his blade.

"They are not the most pleasant of creatures and they also may not be the strongest individually, but their strength comes in their numbers and speed. If this sandcrawler was not alone, then we will find out soon enough. Let us quickly move away from this location and conceal ourselves in the sand…if this 'illusion' is as real as it appears to be then masking ourselves in the sand is the best way to avoid them. They have terrible sight that is almost useless if it even exists, but their sense of smell is far more formidable. Only buried beneath the sand do we have a chance of escaping this sense…but a chance is all it is so be ready to act" commanded Cyrus.

The other two voiced their understanding before trying their best to clean themselves of any kind of obvious scent that the killing they underwent may have left on them, while following Cyrus as he moved to a location slightly away from the killing field.

Bury themselves in the sand they did. At first it was scorching hot, but eventually the sand turned out to be quite cool…a welcome reprieve from the otherwise neigh unbearable conditions that they were in just moments prior. Now that they were under the sand, the chances of their detection by the possible other members of the sandcrawler herd should be quite low. There was just one problem with the current circumstances,

"I can only hope that the chest does reveal our position, it was is too bulky to hide within the sand with enough time to spare. Imran could eventually use his magic to conceal it, but something is off about the essences around us. While the essence around us seems normal, it is like a chain with one too many links… perhaps this is an illusion after all, and the essences are merely imitations? But everything feels so real and acts as one might expect it to in the real world" thought Cyrus.

Nevertheless, the trio waited to see what would happen all the while they split their focus between the world within and the world without as they attempted to get to grips with how the essence of this 'illusion' functioned; so that they might be able to make use of what magic they could in a time of need, assuming such a scenario even occurred.