Chapter 3: Chapter 3

• 3^rd Person POV

(“Finally, I reached the end!!”)

Feelings of joy & relief bubbled up within him as he picked up his pace.

At the end of this helical staircase, that man is greeted with a vast circular platform. The outer ring of this platform is made from marble exactly like the tower. Yet, the inner ring & the foundation is made from something transparent.

Crouching down, that man rubbed his index finger on the transparent material. It has smooth and cold texture like…

(“Glass? It feels like it anyway”)

When he did this though, he can see through the glass & below where the pond is. He’s currently at an incredibly high place as if he is in 50^th floor of a skyscraper & looking down.

(“Okay this is scary”)

He stopped looking down and instead tilt his head up. His eyes widened for a second upon seeing this. Above him is an open ceiling revealing the night-sky filled with multitude of twinkling stars & the moons that shine its silver light upon the tower.

The view is breathtaking to look at, with him just staring at the beautiful open sky for good few seconds.

Then he lowered gaze to assess what’s on top of the platform, at the middle of this wide circular platform made from marble & glass. There’s a spiraling pedestal around half of his height and on top of that pedestal is a gem that slightly glint whenever the light from the moon hits it.

(“I’m curious”)

His inner desire leaked out as he moves closer to the pedestal. Trying his best to not rush since he is terrified of the glass underneath him break apart if he did.

In closer look, the spiraling pedestal is made from the very same marble material but there are minor differences.

The pedestal has several black veins on the surface of the spirals contrasted the glossy white the marble has.

(“Hmm?”)

He noticed something different, it seems the ‘vein’ of the marble have something coursing within it. Albeit incredibly slow & it is moving towards the gem.

(“The décor of this place is simply superb. How much money they spent to make this?”)

That man thought as he investigates the pedestal in more detail, the gem itself is small probably have the size of an almond as he compared it.

The gem resembles an opal & it is shaped like eight pointed stars. In addition, at the top of the spiraling pedestal four protrusion that resemble talons emerge and held the gem in place.

He wondered for a bit while circling the pedestal & the gem. In his mind, he’s trying to find a switch or a something that resemble a trigger to activate a generator.

Nevertheless, he didn’t find any until his mind thought something ridiculous.

(“The switch might be the gem?”)

He scoffed at himself for making that leap of conclusion, but he didn’t find any switches or a lever anywhere in the top of this tower. Remembering that during his journey to here, he also didn’t see any of those as well.

Inhaling large amount of breath, he hypes himself up as he extends his left arm & touches the gem using his index finger.

*TING*

He felt the smooth and strangely warm surface of the gem and in an instant, he felt something being taken out from his body & intense drowsiness begun to envelop him.

(“Hu…. Uh? … What’s… going… on…”)

His train of thoughts dwindled and blurred as if he’s shrouded in warm weighted blanket & on a soft bed ready to fall into deep slumber. His eyes begun to close.

The coiled hair around his neck & shoulder untangle itself when he fell and form a cushion as his eyes finally closes.

That man falls into a deep slumber.

Meanwhile, the gem glows extremely bright as the man is fast asleep. The movement of the something in the ‘vein’ of the pedestal turns backward as if it’s taking something out from the gem into somewhere.

It also gets faster & faster, as the constellations etched on the top walls of this tower glows in silver light. Highlighting all the etchings from the top to below of the tower.

*TREMBLE*

After all the constellations in the tower walls brightened, the ground beneath this tower quakes.

The top of this tower flashed with extremely bright silver light as if becoming a lighthouse where anyone can see from afar. But the mirage that covered this tower enshrouds the light preventing it coming out. The tower glows in the darkness through out the wasteland. Yet, no one could see it.

--

Meanwhile within the vast expanse of golden dunes…

“GRAAAA- “

*THUD*

Upon the fall of a massive quadruped beast a burst of sand flies up high in the air almost clouding the view with that impact, its grey skin & tusk coming from its face resemble a large elephant but there are differences.

The back of this creature is covered with hard shells like armor & it has long tail ended with a large ball and ivory spikes.

A native creature of this desert, who roams around and graze for smaller creatures or dried bushes. The armor like shells have multitude of cracks & oozing blood. Several arrows jutted out at its vitals as several figures emerges upon the fall of this creature.

There are four figures, humanoid in their appearance but taller than a normal human in earth. Their height reached approximately 2.5 meters if not more. Most of their figure is hidden with simple brown cloak making it hard to assess but it is certain that they are physically trained.

Two of those humanoid figures carried melee weapons such as a great-axe and great-sword in their hands with size almost as big as a normal human. There are scarlet splotches of liquid splattered on the sharp point on the weapons dripping to the golden hue sands tainting the color crimson.

Behind them is another two figures carrying long-bow & quiver at their backs, judging by the sheer size of that bow. That isn’t meant to be held by average human. It appears these large figures are hunters who lived at the desert.

“Boss, we’re going to have a feast today. Our lucky day to find one as big as this”

One of the archers giddily spoke up upon seeing the creature that has fallen, he took off his hood revealing his red sun-bleached wild hair & multiple scars on his face, but he has a big grin etched on his face satisfied with what’s in front of him.

He plucks the lodged arrows carefully making sure to not break the arrowhead accompanied by the other archer who have a smile on his face as well.

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The one that the archer called boss have a figure taller & bulkier than the others. He comes forward after cleaning up his large great-axe from the crimson blood as he crouches down to the felled beast. The boss’ blonde sun-bleached hair shines bright upon being hit by the sunlight as he assesses the damage on this prey & things that are salvageable.

“I think we’ll be satisfied with this, want to go back?”

He spoke to the party behind him as they all nods to his suggestion. The boss tilts his head making a gesture to one wielding the great-sword as she nods in reply & brought out a long thick rope from the backpack she’s carrying.

In perfect efficiency she managed to tie up the entire form of the beast in a tight hold. Having few tugs here & there to make sure it fastened properly.

“Ready”

She replies after confirming that it will hold. As the boss looks up & see the bright sun already setting down, he brought up his hood with the rest follow suit.

The intense heat coming from the scorching sun would sear someone’s skin if left unprotected, thankfully the cloak they wore are made from creatures born in this place and have adapted to its harsh environment, so it provides adequate covers to fight against the blazing sun.

Coiling the rope to their waist, shoulder, and armpits the boss & the female wearing great-sword take a large amount of breath as they start.

Their muscles flexes with the rope stretched taut, the felled beast is now being dragged through the golden dunes.

The archers stay on guard with one in front & the other at the back making sure to pay attention of there’s any creatures that would emerge from the sands albeit extremely unlikely in this bright mid-day.

Their bows are ready on their hands as they watch over the two hunters drag the massive prey with their pure strength.

They took small breaks in between to reserve their stamina

Time goes on, until the sun has begun to set with the archers are more cautious knowing in night-time. The desert will be much more dangerous than before.

“Let’s go…”

The boss & his underlings pat the sands off their clothing after finishing a small break, he urged the entire party to move faster as night sets in. Strapping the rope to his body & the female great-sword wielder follow suit.

Grunting, they begin to drag the beast again with the two archers already in their position to stand guard & scout.

After a while dragging their prey, the archer made a gesture on his hand notifying the hunters behind him. They immediately understood as they sigh in relief, their destination must be near.

In front, is a massive wall that completely dwarfed them. That circular walls are probably around 8 meters and above protecting something inside. It appears this scene is already familiar as the hunters already know on where to go.

Although strangely, this wall has two different parts that built it. Proving that it has withstood through the elements and time & continuously being renovated. A black colored seemingly metallic outer cover that is patched with sandstones here and there.

The hunters maneuver themselves to be in front of a massive stone gate. There are two watchtowers on the left & right of the gate standing tall and gives vantage point to identify any threats coming.

Upon arriving there though, the archer made a hand signal while extending his arm as high as possible. The unknown humanoid figures at the top of the watch tower nods in reply.

That is until they see the massive beast being dragged by the two hunters. Glee can be seen from their faces as they eagerly operate the mechanism to let them in.

*CRICK*

*GRRRSSS*

The massive stone gate slowly but surely opens with the two figures on top of each watchtower operating the heavy machinery.

After its fully opened, the two watchers leap from the top and landed on the ground with sands being lifted by the sheer impact of their weight.

Although they are shorter in height compared to these hunters, their sheer bulk and musculature allowed these watchers to be in their position as operating the gate required a lot of strength.

One of the watchers carrying a large bow sheathed on her back glances to the side & see the haul first hand. She boisterously laughed at it.

“Ha! Well well well… big catch today?”

The boss & his assistant gives a thumb up while staying silent preferring to focus on their strength to drag them inside the settlement.

“Yeah, lucky us. Quite close to the hunting ground too. Want to join me for a big party *Wink*?”

The red-haired archer wiggles his eyebrow & winked to the female watcher as she shrugged her shoulder accompanied with a smile.

“Maybe? Heh…”

That’s her reply as the group of archers & watchers cheerfully laughed. The boss & his assistant already leave them behind.

Inside this settlement upon entering through the massive walls, most common thing people would see in the first time. Would be the sheer number of tents located on this place.

Ranging from different sizes & shape, it appears the housing on this place consist of tents. But in closer look, the leather used to make these tents are incredibly thick and it is held in place with massive ivory serrated nails that resemble tooth.

Lights coming from strange looking rocks attached to poles illuminated the neighborhood with several people roaming around at night until they noticed the upcoming hunters.

The citizens after noticing them gave a wide-berth to the hunters with some of them coming closer instead and asking to help the hunters with big grins on their face.

“Thanks”

The boss delightedly accepted and made a gesture using his head to his assistant. The great-sword wielder shrugged her shoulder before untangling her ropes and making several harnesses then giving them to the others.

After a while though…

*TAP *TAP *TAP

Hurried footsteps came from afar as a young man appeared, probably in mid-twenties having shorter height compared to the rest of the hunters, a still growing young lad. As he comes forward in haggard & pants

“Boss… haah… haah… the chieftain is looking for you”

(“My mom?”)

The boss’ face turn dark as multitude of grim hypothetical situations dawned upon him. He aptly turns his head to his assistant as the great-sword wielder nods.

In quick succession, he untangles the rope and dashed towards a direction he knew very well. The largest tent in this village.

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