The Search Begins Volume 02 of An Unwanted Destiny

Seventy-One

Two days after leaving Ongeny I found myself laying at the base of a giant sand dune, weaponless. I had lost the spear while battling with a Kiger, a creature which resembled a tiger that was larger than a man with scales instead of fur. I barely had time to bring the spear up as it came at my throat. I drove the spear into the beast's mouth and in its death throes it snapped the shaft in two. Once the creature was dead I withdrew the end of the spear from the beast's mouth, but the tip had broken off, still lodged in the beast's throat. I tossed the wood aside then continued my search.

As I laid there I could feel someone very powerful nearby and rolled to my feet trying to focus on the Ahanko, trying to find its location. After a few minutes I saw that it was coming from the top of the dune. This presence I felt was similar to when I encountered Havick. It felt like it was my own Ahanko which was very odd. I scrambled up and the moment I reached the crest I caught sight of a slender man with tan skin, wearing loose robes with a black and aquamarine color scheme. His sandy blonde hair was somewhat unkempt; blowing in the slight breeze that suddenly blew passed me. The man looked back at me and his eyes, which were like two sapphires, stared with admiration. I stepped forward but before I could say anything there was an aquamarine glow which appeared around the man. As I stared in shock a large gust of wind blew passed, kicking up the sand. I brought my arms up blocking the sand but watched as the man seemed to disappear like smoke into the wind. I shook my head as the wind died then looked around thinking perhaps the heat was starting to play tricks on my mind because somehow that man was very familiar. It was as if I had seen him before. The moment I saw what was left in the sand I smiled. Diark was driven into the sand where that man had been standing.

"What the hell is going on?"

I slowly approached Diark and placed my hand on the hilt, not sure as to what to expect as I pulled it out. I waited for some kind of attack but when nothing came I sighed. I strapped it to my back and I looked around thinking I knew which way I was supposed to go to get to find that beast. The following day, at midday, I finally came across a Merthekyr.

It was smaller than what Midreah explained but I shrugged. He did not say that it had to be a certain size I thought as I slowly crept closer to the beast which pounced on a small Kiger. As I got closer I slowly drew Diark and watched as the creature lifted its head. It turned straight at me and its slitted eyes blinked once. There was this strange calm for the next few minutes as I waited for the beast to move. Suddenly it let out a cry and rushed away. I cursed and quickly chased after but it disappeared on the other side of a dune. I was about to dive down after it and I just barely kept myself from falling by digging my feet into the sand.

"Not good," I said shaking my head as I looked down and saw nearly three dozen Merthekyrs all ranging in sizes, one which seemed to be the size of a two story house.

I slowly started to back away and came to an abrupt stop when I hit what felt like a tree trunk covered in scales. I slowly turned around, looking up at the head of a Merthekyr which looked to be the size of a two story house. I slowly tried to back away but a leg slammed down blocking my path. I let out a little laugh then sprinted forward just before the beast tried to devour me whole.

I hacked at one of the beast's legs but Diark only bounced off. I hurried out from under the creature, sprinting away as fast as I could. I glanced back and could not believe the size of the beast. It looked to be nearly a quarter mile from snout to tail and stood a few hundred feet in the air.

The beast let out a howl as it turned around. I slowed down knowing that I would never be able to outrun a creature of that size. A single step from this creature was hundreds of feet. I took a deep breath and brought Diark before me just as the beast let out another howl. It dug its claws into the sand then rushed forward.