Great Stone Serpent
"Fate is a mechanism that leads people together huh. I wonder what he's doing now. The enigma. I'm sure fate would bring someone like him to us more than once if he's still alive. Just seems to me that he's a bigger piece of the puzzle." Ellyn momentarily thought about Felkin as she muttered those words. "Hmm?" Metas asked. "It's nothing. I was just saying something to myself." A strong breeze suddenly flowed through the air, although desert winds are proven to blow stronger.
Earlier back to when Kieron was contemplating on whether she would just drop Felkin off in the sands, their journey continued. As she struggled to pull him across the sands, she had her thoughts as company in the monotonous sandy vistas before her eyes. 'He's out like a piece of driftwood. He must have been past his limit, he's injured too. Must have taken a lot of energy to fight like that. It's like his blade moved on its own, or that he wasn't human at all.' She had her abilities and fighting style described as supernatural, but she did not herself believe the praises. "At least there's a destination to go to." She said out loud. She momentarily thought about saying an apology to Felkin but refused. She began to breathe heavier but focused only on moving forward and her thoughts. She held her hand out, thinking about going back and using her ability to phase back into the previous realm. But she put it down in fear of ending up back in front of the shadowy multi-limbed creatures they fought before.
"I'm starting to think that that place could be a mirage. Maybe more than one person can mistake the same thing as a mirage." "Wait." Felkin raised his hand. "Finally, if you're awake now you can walk fine enough on your own." She remarked. Felkin sat up and put one hand on his sword. "What's wrong?" Kieron crouched and whispered. "I'm hearing something." Felkin paused and closed his eyes. "Below us!" Felkin leapt as the ground opened up. He extended his sword in midair hitting it on its head but his attack bounced straight off. He noticed its appearance, a large serpent covered in stone scales. Felkin landed on the soft sand, carrying Kieron in tow. He carried her above his shoulder with one arm and though annoyed by this, she gave no complaint as Felkin lowered her to the ground.
The creature loomed tall above them and hissed loudly. It was coated in grey stone-like skin, with bright green eyes glaring at them. Felkin and Kieron stood ready, standing in the scorching heat and waiting for the beast to react. The serpent hissed and growled and arched its back preparing to pounce when Kieron tossed a handful of small pebbles at it. They flew at a speed that would immediately knock regular humans out, but they shattered and crumbled harmlessly against its skin. "We need to get through its skin somehow." She said before the giant serpent lunged at her in a overwhelmingly blinding speed. In a split-second Kieron was able to react as the creature got naught but a mouth full of grass and soil, which was alien to it compared to the sands and earth of the desert.
As soon as she avoided the attack she retaliated with a slash from her crescent blade and struck it on the face aiming for an eye. The blade of the weapon snapped off when it impacted the skin of the creature as it was pulled away. Kieron was startled as Felkin pulled the serpent back, with his sword coiled around the body of the creature. He held on tightly as the creature wriggled angrily. "I had it!" She exclaimed. "You were about to be its lunch!" Felkin remarked. She moved in to finish the beast off but it opened its mouth and spewed a black smoke. "Hmm?!" She exclaimed as she ran and leapt backwards to avoid the smoke. The creature then fully emerged, its long tail emerging from the sand and it swinging backwards, throwing Felkin away. The blade of his sword could not grip onto its tough skin, and as he flew backwards, he separated from the serpent.
As the black smoke spread, it created stone shards on the sand, even transforming the top layer of it into solidified rock. "What its breaths touch, turn to stone! It's a basilisk!" Kieron exclaimed. The word resonated something familiar in Felkin's mind and startled him like a bell ringing in his ears. He could feel his eyes stinging as he forcibly strained them, their color turning red. The creature turned towards him and gave a loud hiss, but as Felkin stood in a stance ready to confront it, he closed his eyes and put a hand to his head in pain. As the creature prepared to attack him, Kieron noticed his condition and began running towards the giant creature. But even as his eyes were closed shut, Felkin twisted his blade and made it coil within itself and swung it upwards to meet the head of the basilisk who sprang in to swallow him whole.
As his blade impacted the temple of the beast, it made a reverberating sound and a shockwave shook throughout its entire massive body. It spread even through the ground itself, shaking the earth for a few seconds like a minor tremor just occurred. The creature was blown backwards, but for a moment it seemed like the attack made no effect. Then a small cracked formed in its stone scales, and it fell backwards towards the ground. Felkin opened his eyes, now back to their usual color and began to run towards the creature to finish it off. The basilisk recovered from its stupor and stirred and sprang upwards, opening its mouth and prepared to breath its smoke towards Felkin.
Kieron then threw her broken weapon straight into the roof of its mouth, stopping its attack from occurring. It then slammed back into the ground and shot forward, like a projectile being loosed straight into one direction, it opened its mouth wide as a last resort means of attack. Felkin aimed his coiled sword as he ran and loosed it, the blade lengthening rapidly straight into the basilisk's mouth. Before it could close its mouth, he plunged its sword deep into its gullet and kept thrusting it as the blade shredded through its internal organs. The creature slowed and halted to a stop, only being a few feet from Felkin as it lay motionless. Kieron then ran up to him.
"Is it dead?" She asked. He then pulled his blade back and made it revert to its original size, the process taking several seconds and his sword coated red with blood. As the last of his sword emerged from its mouth it brought along a splash of blood and entrails, the residue of which splashed on them both. "Yes, it does appear dead." Felkin answered dryly. They then sat under the beast's corpse, shielding them from the sun as they attempted to wipe the blood off of their faces and rested. "Look up, scavengers." Felkin pointed upwards as gigantic birds circled high above the air. "We better leave before we have to deal with them." He stated. Kieron stood up and squinted to look at something in the distance. "Isn't that smoke?" She asked excitedly.
Felkin stood up and looked at where it was coming from, it was the great stone structure they were following earlier. "Looks like it. Let's go." He stood up and began to walk. "Are you sure you're alright?" "Its fine, I'm fine. For now, at least." He and Kieron then began to head towards the direction of the plume of smoke.