Creatures Of Sonaria: Sands Of Time

Part 15: Return

       Dune wakes up instantly, getting up and looking around. She sees Arche on the other side of the cave in his new form getting up. He stumbles a little bit with his new legs, but quickly learns. As does Dune. 

       "YOU TWO, HELP!" Dune hears Armolten shout. Everything rushes back, what happened before meeting the goddess: The fight. Sane and Gher are blasting Armolten with their breath while dodging flames. Armolten looked like she was going to get owned. Arche reacted first, lunging at Sane and knocking her to the ground on her back. He snaps his new jaws at her neck, sinking his larger teeth into her scruffy mane. Sane uses her hind legs and kicks him in the gut, forcing him off. Now they were fighting again. Dune turns her head to Gher, who was currently flapping his wings in front of Armolten while spraying on her head. 

       It's time to end this for good, was Dune's last thought before she sprinted toward the quarraling creatures, leaping in the air with her jaws wide. Gher saw her, but it was far too late. Dune had bit down on Gher's neck and her claws raked his wings, tearing them like flesh. Now he wouldn't be able to fly. The agonizing shriek that came from Gher tore Dune's ears, which she didn't even know she had now. 

       Dune threw Gher to the wall, blood from his wings and neck splattering the cave stone. Armotlen regained her strength and went to help Arche with Sane. Dune slowly walked to Gher, who was now coughing up blood. She saw now that a sharp rock had impaled him through the middle of his chest, just missing his heart, and centered right through the trachea. Gher was having trouble breathing.

       She loomed over Gher with a shadow casted by the fire. "Where is the stone tablet about the portal?" Dune demanded, stepping on his tail and tearing a bit of the tail-end off. Gher would have screamed if he could. 

       "I-It doesn't- cough... matter." He mutters, giving Dune aggressive eyes. "A little friend has already begun the process." Gher tilted his head to the side. Dune followed his gaze to Sane, who was being pinned down by Arche and Armolten at the moment. 

       Suddenly, out of nowhere, sand blasted her face. Dune stumbled back, shaking her head. She heard Gher shout, "GET THE ROTTEN CORPSE AND GET IT TO TIO!" Dune reacted quickly, swinging her tail and stabbing him right in the heart. Gher was paralyzed, giving Dune enough time to pick up a rock and bash his head in. Blood got everywhere, all over her new body. When she was finished, she turned to see Arche and Armolten on the ground, with Sane carrying a dead khemador. The same khemador from the volcano. She was flying out the other way, a different exit from the way they came. 

        "Come on, come on! We gotta catch up!" Dune said, already dashing through the cave. She could hear the other two trampling behind her. 

       Sane was already several wing beats ahead of them, flying through the cave as if she already knew the layout and where every rock was. Dune kept running into large boulders and stalactites, which made it easy for Arche and Armolten to catch up. Luckily, the bright blue flames from Armolten lit up the cave enough for them to keep running. 

       It took ages, and multiple run-ins with many rocks, but the trio eventually saw a natural light. Dune sped up. She saw Sane in the air for a moment before she dove downwards into clouds of steam. Dune skidded to a halt at the edge of the cliff and looked down. The steam clouds were thin and easy to see through. She could easily shape out small pools of water and large ferns and exotic flowers. This must be the hot springs. Luckily, it was cherry blossom season, so they didn't have to worry about any hostile reptilian carnivores keeping warm in the water. Dune could also see another aereis shape that wasn't Sane.

        Arche came to Dune's left while Armolten stopped behind her, catching her breath. "How are we going to get down there without wings?" Arche said, kicking a rock off the edge and watching it tumble down."