Capítulo 97: Take me there. Part 1.5
I don't think anyone will have the time to read this before Christmas, but I will just leave it here under the tree.
Or many just atop the counter lol.
Enjoy!
Happy holidays folks.
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Southwestern Suidelain, Five miles North of Klyptorin.
10 years ago.
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Vlamaira lay prone and nearly motionless with her upper body halfway atop the 50-meter high dune.
Sweat rolled down her spine, pooling in dimples at the small of her back.
It hissed as it hit the sand to either side of her stomach, so hot was the surface.
Her prototype long gun was propped and steadied upon her trekking backpack.
Her every breath was slow and measured.
700 yards off into the distance, and around the edge of a minuscule watering hole, a bask of Sand Crocodiles lay just as still just inches below the surface of the sand, soaking in the rays of the midday sun.
Every so often a small cloud would block the sun for a split second, bringing a sliver of mercy with the sudden dip in heat.
The vile and cunning creatures didn't need the water for they did not drink much if any unless they were sick or due to give birth, but they knew that nearly every other living thing around them did.
Although the agile burrowing creatures could "swim" through the sand at astounding speeds, this was one of their more favored hunting techniques.
And thus they lay.
They would lay, and wait.
They would lay and lay and lay.
They would lay until something foolishly -or desperately- made a move for the tempting water's edge as the desert sand could climb to a temperature of nearly 200 degrees Fahrenheit under the constant beaming of the midday sun.
The heat didn't bother Vlamaira.
Not in the least.
She in fact found the higher temperatures rather comforting.
The deserts of Suidelain were teeming with hostile and dangerous animals and monsters, and the heat did well to suppress many of them until nightfall.
It was also a blessing in that the sunnier days meant more active Crocs and a much easier hunt.
Lastly, her Dwarfym blood was half Sand Dwarf, and that meant she had an inherent natural heat resistance to help her body regulate said heat more efficiently than most.
This was one of the many genetic perks that came with mixed blood of any sort, and as would most in her position, she made the best of what was gifted to her.
Beside the intrepid Trapper's rifle, and slightly to her right stood a tripod fastened of sticks, that which held her extended telescope.
She pressed her right eye softly to the eyepiece of the device, slowly capturing the details of what she saw on the propped sketch pad that was just to her left.
Her left hand sketched and scribbled nimbly the smooth and rounded curves and bumps that made up the beautiful yet deadly creatures, all of this was done by reflex and observation alone.
She took count of the sprawling lizards as she completed the sketch, her irritation climbing with each second and with each additional Sand Croc that she counted beyond the seventh.
Vlamaira whispered aloud to herself, a habit that she had formed after working alone for so many years.
"Why wouldn't they lie?"
She said to no one in particular as she thought back to the small dorpie that she had passed through but a half-day hike ago, and the desperate looks on the faces of the handful of folk who had gathered what little they could to pay her for her services.
Beside her bag sat a small dirty, sheepskin coin purse.
Inside were but 50 bronze pieces, an amount that was just hardly worth but half of a single silver coin.
Nowhere near what she would normally accept for this sort of "pest removal" service.
But this too was not just any ordinary mark.
This was not just a single beast to be trapped or hunted.
This particular species had been reproducing at an alarming rate as of late, and this consequently had caused their loose territory to rapidly expand.
That wouldn't normally be too bad of a thing, as nature had a way of finding its way back to some semblance of balance with enough time.
This situation was a bit different, as for some odd reason this particular bask had been targeting the humans and humanoids of the little dorpie when normally they would be far more illusive and wary of anything that was not of their kind.
Sand Crocodiles were and would always be dangerous, as is any wild animal, but their diet was more attuned to small desert birds and rodents.
Maybe the occasional wild camel or lone Orcis even.
But never Humans, Dwarves, Elves, or any mixture of the sort.
Ever.
Not until now that is.
Vlamaira had taken the mark out of an interesting mixture of concern and curiosity.
The simple folk of the dorpie had insisted that this particular bask had been actively targeting and harassing them.
She didn't think that this was the case.
It was more likely that something else, something larger and stronger was pressing its way into the territory of the Sand Crocs, thus causing this erratic and divergent behavior.
Regardless of the cause or circumstance, it was now her responsibility to stop whatever was going on here, and more importantly, prevent these proud and torpid creatures from becoming ravaging ambush-hunting man-eaters.
Off in the distance, the group began to stir.
It was almost that time, Vlamaira noted.
The sun was nearly at its zenith, and many of the desert migratory animals would be making their way to this very spot.
Soon the hunt would begin.
Vlamaira had to take out at least a dozen of the creatures before sundown, and after they ate and got all lazy would be the perfect time for her to launch her assault.
At night they would burrow deep below the surface to avoid the cooler temperatures that came with the setting of the sun.
As a large and looming cloud rolled in front of the relentless sun, Vlamaira suddenly caught a subtle movement in the distance, far off to her right.
She was a marksman through and through, and she trusted her peripherals just as much as her frontal sight.
She had scanned and scanned and scanned again, keeping a constant watch on the bask of Sand Crocs.
Nothing had moved outside of the occasional bird passing over.
Nothing else should be out there.
Vlamaira pulled her knees up to her stomach and arched her rifle up and over the telescope to its right, slapping it down between her legs and taking aim all in one fluid motion.
She sighted a target but a moment before she felt the sand beneath her rear begin to subtly vibrate and shift.
No more than 500 yards off, and closing rapidly, was an immense and surging Oilesh Sand Whale.
The monstrousness of its nature could almost be forgiven for how beautiful the long, sleek, wyrm-like creatures were.
Its thick, black skin glistened as it cut swiftly through the sand in a direct course for what it had likely deemed its next meal.
Its pale green eyes were focused with hunger and determination.
Its long, thick, scar-ridden flippers pounded away at the flowing sand, brushing it aside with astonishing ease and propelling the thing ever forward.
Vlamaira judged the distance quickly and as accurately as her pounding heart and racing mind would allow.
She figured that at this distance, she had a bit less than half a minute to come up with a way out of this.
A single, desperate thought came to mind.
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700 yards off into the distance, and scattered about the water hole, several men in dark robes lay as still as death just inches below the sand.
Each of them appeared as a Sand Crocodile.
Why, you ask?
Well, each of them WAS a Sand Crocodile.
Each of the 10 men was a Shapeshifter.
But an hour before Vlamaira's arrival, the group had arrived from the opposing direction.
They had slaughtered her true targets -the bask of Croc's that had indeed been harassing the small dorpie- and had shifted their forms to replicate that which she would come for.
The process had been long and painful.
Their bones bending and snaping, then healing into new shapes with new functions.
Their skin and hair all falling off and out, only to be replaced with light yet dense scale plate-like body armor.
Their eyes melting into puddles in their heads before reforming into the solid, piecing orbs of the fierce reptile.
Their teeth were pushed from their place and replaced with razor-sharp dagger-like reptilian teeth.
What was their purpose?
Why did these strange people go through such pains and at such lengths?
It was said that this lone woman carried a prototype long gun on her person at all times.
A prototype that was said to be far superior to nearly any other similar weapon in existence.
What made it so special?
It could fire physical projectiles at speeds beyond the human eye, and even more deadly was the fact that these projectiles seemed to be nearly impossible to stop or redirect with magic.
The weapon was what was referred to in legends as a Mage Killer.
The group of me had been sent to retrieve it in the name of their leader, their King.
They would not and could not fail.
Their leader had opted for a different form.
One that was a bit less...subtle in appearance and approach.
It was he who now surged through the sand towards the woman.
It was he who bore the shape, strength, and speed of the massive Oilesh Sand Whale.
It was he who would set their plan into motion and force the woman in their direction, and into their waiting ambush.
The once dark-robed men lay still in their new forms.
A still as the sand around them.
As still as death.
Waiting for the clouds to drift over the sun, for the shade to help cool their burning blood.
Waiting for the hunt to began.
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I don't know If I will get a new chapter part done before the year is out, but we will see, yeah?
No promises lol.
I will see you all just as soon as I see you!
It won't be long, you have my word.
We are soooo close to the end of Part 1, and 1.5 which is Act One: Embers.
Act Two: Smoke.
Will be starting soon, so keep an eye out for those, yeah?
I hope that this year has been good to you, and if you are reading this after Christmas, I hope you got something that you needed.
Stay warm out there folks -or cool if you are in that sorta region lol- and have a good holiday week!
I will see you all soon, maybe even before the year is out, my birthday is December 31st lol so I may be a bit busy!
I love you all!
Thank you all again for 66.71K Views since this story made its debut back in 2023.
And an additional 46.55K in Spanish! AAAAAAND 5.95K in German!
That's 119.21K Individual looks at MY story, regardless of how many pairs of eye balls that number is attached to, I am beyond grateful.
That may not seem like much to you, or anyone, but to a small-town, middle-aged, nobody like me?
It means the world.
I don't get paid for this, but I love you all, and I love that you continue to read along, so I will continue to write the next part, and the next part, and the next, until the views just stop coming in.
I will leave you al at that.
I hope that 2025 is amazing for all of us, and If I don't see you all before then?
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!
As always, safe travels folks!
Stay safe.
Stay healthy.
Stay vigilant.
-Redd.
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