บท 13: Chapter 13; Camel Spider
Kael stirred, the oppressive heat of the desert sun pressing down on him as he rested his back against the jagged surface of a large rock. The air shimmered with waves of heat, distorting the horizon into a mirage of blurred shapes. He wasn't resting, not really his body remained tense, ears straining for any unnatural sounds beyond the whispers of shifting sand.
Suddenly, his instincts flared. A faint, rhythmic vibration coursed through the ground beneath him. His sharp eyes darted to the distance, narrowing. Something was coming.
With practiced speed, Kael summoned his scythe. The dark, curved blade materialized in his hands, its surface gleaming faintly as if drinking in the sunlight. Without hesitation, he ducked behind the very rock he had been leaning on moments before, pressing his back flat against its cool shadow.
Shadows rippled and wrapped around him like a second skin, merging him with the shade cast by the towering rock. That ability belongs to the cloak called Darkness Blend. As he prepared to wait. The sun blazed down fiercely, stretching shadows across the golden expanse of sand.
A shape loomed into view. At first, it was just a distortion in the mirage, but as the seconds passed, the creature's outline sharpened. Kael's sharp senses caught a glimpse of its shadow a grotesque silhouette, spider-like, but far larger than any natural predator. He cursed inwardly.
Steeling himself, Kael leaned ever so slightly, his body taut like a drawn bowstring, and peeked from behind the rock. He froze, his eyes narrowing as he observed the monstrous figure.
It was a camel spider, an enormous, nightmarish creature that could only be described as a horrific blend of alien and arachnid. Its hairy, brown body gleamed under the sun's harsh rays, its movement predatory yet disturbingly silent. Kael's gaze tracked its segmented body its compact head and thorax merged into a grotesque prosoma, while its abdomen, though smaller, pulsed faintly as if alive on its own.
A pair of long, whip-like appendages jutted from the rear of its abdomen, twitching intermittently as though tasting the air. Eight spindly legs extended from its body, each jointed and covered in bristling hairs that glinted like needles. Kael's stomach churned at the sight of its massive chelicerae powerful, jagged mandibles that opened and closed with unnerving precision, capable of crushing bone as easily as brittle twigs.
Near its jaws, smaller, modified mouthparts twitched incessantly, brushing against the sand. Kael guessed they were sensitive organs, aiding the beast in hunting or communication. His eyes flitted to its face or what passed for one. Clustered around its bulbous head were multiple simple eyes, gleaming like tiny black beads. At the center of its grotesque visage, a single, larger eye fixed itself on Kael's direction, the iris gleaming with an unnatural intelligence.
Kael froze. 'It had stopped'.
The camel spider stood motionless in the baking sun, its legs arched and tensed, as though poised to strike. Its many eyes scanned the rocky outcropping, pausing unnervingly on the shadow where Kael hid. Time seemed to slow. Kael's grip on his scythe tightened.
The creature didn't move. Its central eye lingered.
Kael tensed up. His fingers itched to act, but he forced himself to remain still. Even the faintest motion could betray him.
The desert remained eerily quiet, the soft hiss of shifting sand the only sound as the tension mounted.
"Damn,"
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