Shadow Path (Part 2)

The moment had arrived. The priest barked his orders, commanding the girl to recite the ancient runes. Allendra obeyed without question.

"Inna morra, buarra, inna morra, soarra..."

As the words spilled from her lips, they rose and echoed, magnified by the power of the flames. Sand cascaded down from the hills encircling the canyon, and scorpions skittered towards the inferno. The smoke billowed higher, and footsteps thudded closer.

"At last, their queens arrive," Raaz growled with pleasure.

Allendra glimpsed the fierce, unyielding glint in the elf warrior's eyes. Fear seized the girl, and she squeezed her eyes shut. The orcs and ogres fell back, forming a barrier around the fire, with Raaz leading them.

"Anathra, berthar, inna lorra, roarra..."

A storm erupted from the heavens, rain lashing down in sheets, wind whipping up a tempest that battered them from all sides. Despite the onslaught, the fire continued to blaze, casting an eerie light over the scene. Orcs who had been parched and thirsty for days in the desert greedily lapped at the muddy water that fell from the skies.

Allendra cracked her eyes open a sliver and spotted the looming shadow of a colossal scorpion. Beasts the size of men clashed with the frontline orcs, but the warrior elf dodged their blows with lethal grace. All the while, the priest wove the inky black smoke into a weapon and hurled it at the scorpions. Allendra shut her eyes again and continued chanting, terrified of what might come next. The screams, the searing heat, the stench of smoke clogging her nostrils, the spattering of muddy droplets against her skin, the hissing and snapping of pincers... it was all too much to bear. She fought to remain conscious, urging herself to hold on just a little longer.

"Athinna moarra, buharra, inna moharra, soarra..."

The storm raged on, growing stronger with every passing moment. The ground trembled beneath their feet, threatening to crumble into dust.

"Run!" someone shouted in the distance.

The ritual was broken, and the words died on Allendra's tongue. Overwhelmed by the onslaught, she let out a piercing scream. After that, she remembered nothing.

At first, they perceived the rumble of colossal boulders disintegrating and rupturing. Next, grains of sand and rocky debris blanketed their forms. Suddenly, like a deluge unleashed from a mighty waterfall, tons of water surged through the entire canyon. All of them recognized that this tempestuous torrent could not be solely attributed to the inclement weather. They found themselves abruptly swept away by the raging waters. The young girl fought to remain buoyant, but the force of the current was too great. She teetered on the brink of drowning, until she faintly recalled glimpsing a cable or a rope that encircled her frame, and an enigmatic force hoisting her up.

She jolted awake, expelling a torrent of water and mire she had swallowed. Their surroundings had transformed into an arid and sterile terrain, encircled by sedimentary rocks and crests. Muck smothered every surface in sight. Baaz sat beside her while Bishop retched nearby. However, there was no sign of Raaz, the orcs, or the ogres.

"What happened? Where are we?" Allendra gasped.

"Alive, and that's what counts. What else matters?" Baaz snickered.

"And the others?"

Baaz grinned silently, offering no response.

* * *

Upon ascending to the high plateau, Baaz cast a watchful eye upon his surroundings. The vast and unforgiving desert lay to the north, stretching out as far as the eye could see. The westward path, marked by a towering range of jagged mountains, appeared to be the sole passage. To overcome the mountain's sheer face, he could employ the ancient sorcery of spider climb. Alas, he lacked the essential ingredient, a live spider, and had yet to encounter one in the barren desert.

Baaz traversed parallel to the canyon, seeking a crossing point where the elevation intersected with the canyon. The mountainside rose like an impregnable fortress wall, unscalable by mere human grip alone. He contemplated descending beyond the scorpion's realm. At the intersection, the mountains widened southward, and just below lay a cave or tunnel, likely a continuation of the caravan's canyon path. The scorpions were emerging from this tunnel, scuttling towards the group.

He lingered in the area, attuned to the sounds and movements of the scorpions.

As time ticked by, Baaz witnessed ever larger scorpions emerging from the tunnel, prompting him to conclude that venturing into that area would not be wise. Pressing his ear to the mountain's rugged facade, he discerned two distinct sounds: the first, a tumultuous rush of water; the second, a cacophony of clattering rattles and piercing screams. The reverberations emanating from the tunnel's depths grew increasingly ominous, causing him to surmise that even more gargantuan scorpions might emerge after sunset. Upon conferring with Bishop, he divulged information about the water, but kept his thoughts on the colossal scorpions to himself.

Thereafter, he resolved to traverse northward along the mountain's base. He journeyed unhindered for roughly three kilometers before catching sight of some movement about five hundred meters to the east, amidst the undulating dunes of sand. Although the rising plume of dust obscured his view, the commotion was undeniable. His knowledge of the Pharah continent was meager at best. Nevertheless, he had taken note of the abundant lore concerning mythical creatures that were frequently mentioned in the Barren Lands, including the colossal, Hook Teeth-like worms that might very well present themselves in the desert.

Baz hesitated for a brief moment, waiting with uncertainty. No other plumes of dust had ascended. He deduced that the stillness weakened the prospect of a colossal creature's presence. Advancing cautiously with silent steps over the sand dunes, he progressed towards the source of the commotion. Climbing a sand dune taller than the others, he beheld a broad opening, stretching to about one thousand and five hundred paces, in the heart of the concealed plain amidst the great sand dunes. At the center lay a vast and likely deep abyss with a hundred-foot diameter.

The Snakeskins, garbed in barely anything, congregated around the chasm, performing a ritual. Five drummed a small drum with their hands, while another five played an exotic melody on a flute-like wind instrument. The remaining twenty waved their spears around, dancing, turning, and singing. He watched them in silence for a while. A few guttural roars emanated from the abyss's depths. The tempo of the ceremony intensified with each roar.

"Blast it. They're summoning the beast here," he muttered to himself.

Helpless against thirty foes, Baaz, the mist elf, decided to turn back to warn the others. But then the ground shook with such ferocity that he lost his footing and tumbled towards the plain. The Snakeskins had spotted him and hurled their spears. Baaz scrambled to his feet, pulled out an obsidian jar and flint from his pocket, and kindled a fire. He hesitated before looking at the wick of the jar. Time was running out.

Baaz drew a deep breath, clutching the one enchanted bomb he had left. Was it the right moment to unleash its power? He couldn't tell. Yet he lit the fuse, aimed with care, and hurled the bomb towards the pit. A thunderous blast and a howl echoed from the depths, interrupting the Snakeskins' ritual. The crazed warriors swarmed towards Baaz.

He glimpsed a swift figure felled by an arrow that flew from an eastern route, more than six hundred meters away. Only one elf could shoot with such deadly accuracy: the same one who had nearly struck the priest during their escape from Wassel port. The halfling stood beside him.

The elf of mist bolted away in a diagonal stride, paying no heed to the rear. The earth quaked once again, but this time with greater ferocity. A deafening growl reverberated in his ears, and then, all transmuted into dust.

Baaz knelt down, feeling as hapless as he had ever felt before. He surveyed his surroundings; it was akin to a scene that could have been spawned from the bowels of hell itself. The somber clouds, deluge of rain, dust clouds billowing from the tempestuous winds, cacophonous tremors that shook the ground, and assorted debris that pummeled him incessantly, all coalesced to form an environment of complete chaos. The only certainty he had was that the colossal creature was drawing nearer.

His survival instincts kicked in, and he took off wildly, without knowing which direction to take. He could hear the sounds of the massive beast scraping the earth. As he attempted to wipe his face, he discerned a small creature crawling on it: a minuscule spider. He grinned, taking the creature into his palm with great care. Looking towards the peaks that resembled shadowy forms, he continued running in the direction he hoped was west. The gargantuan worm that had fixed its sights on Baaz continued its pursuit.

The ground continued to quake, thunder rolled, and the tempest and rain grew ever more intense.

As Baaz looked back, he witnessed the giant beast impaled by a flurry of arrows, and heard its piercing, anguished screams. He surmised that the elf of Galanadel had unleashed those venomous projectiles. What compelled the elf to aid him, he wondered. But he had no time to ponder. He fixed his gaze on his goal, and chanted the mystic incantation. Like a spider, he began to scale the mountain's sheer surface, which towered before him like an impassable wall. Then, the reverberating howls of the colossal creature echoed through the air as it collided with the steep slopes, and the sound of the wall rupturing split the silence.

Finally, the sound Baaz had anticipated reverberated through the earth. The mountain's surface, hollowed and weakened by the giant creature's ferocious assault, splintered and caved in on itself in multiple layers close to the ground. The part of the tunnel from which the scorpions had emerged also collapsed. Water gushed forth from both the spot where the tunnel's roof had given way and the point where the monstrous worm had first cracked the surface. The ground convulsed relentlessly, with a fearsome, bone-shattering intensity.