14.2 Gate 3 -A Sting in the Tail

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Early in the next morning I was standing outside the hut, arms crossed against my chest. An icy wind blew howling slowly, making me to clench the sweater I was wearing closer to my body. I was sure it has been more than thirty six hours since my victory over the last challenge and it felt unnatural that there wasn't any intimation about the next one from the Constellia.

I was looking around, concentrating at every nook and crook, and trying to figure out what possibly my coming up challenge could be. Vrischika was a humanoid scorpion, with eight set of limbs and long, segmented and pointed tail. I sighed letting my anxiousness out. Only imagining the Constellia was slightly creeping me out, envisioning how difficult my challenge was going to be.

Nazira did have a choice, and she chose not to come outside to watch me going through these challenges, although against my yearning. Her eyes had shown a gentle concern before I had walked out the door. Even after my clear explanation that why she honestly didn't have to be worried, her sensitiveness wouldn't allow her to pick up the strength to even to watch me struggle.

A sudden shrill creaking sound alerted me, snapping me out of her thoughts. I frowned, darting my eyes at possible corner of the desert. The sound I was hearing seemed more like a bodily structure rubbing frantically against the wall. I dropped my hands down and took a step forward, carefully placing my feet over the sinking sand. The continuous sound of scratching and scuttling warned me about it's arrival and I slowly prepared myself for it.

There was a disturbance that arose far away from me, at the other ends of sand dunes, making me involuntarily take few more steps forward to have a clear view. My mouth slightly fell ajar when I noticed the loosened particles of sand rising in the air, beginning to vibrate as in a violent vortex. Gust of wind blew fiercely, whipping the sand travel towards my direction. I quickly covered my eyes, lifting my hand up and tilting my head aside.

Whooooooosh!

Wind was strong enough to spill the large amount of sand over me. My outfits and my hair became filthy with the powdery particles. Unable to withstand the wind mixed with sand, I turned around to get inside the hut. But a flat and graveling voice stopped me to do so.

"Good Morning, Hayden Mackay."

I peeped over dubiously, slowly lowering my arm. And as I had guessed, standing in front of me was Vrischika, with his feet apart, a single pair of his hands on his hips, and the remaining of his other hands gliding up and down creating a wave-like movement. His long spiky tail was resting slightly over his head. His body was covered in a reddish brown robe, and his long humanly legs with tight black silky trousers.

"What's up with the dramatic entrance?" I grumbled, getting irritated for making my hair all dusty.

"That's my style," he said, shrugging. "Don't you like it?"

"Constellia with a style, I love it," I replied, giving him a fake smile, "So let's get on with it. Tell me, what's the challenge?"

I haven't had a slightest hint that he was carrying it underneath his robes, until he pulled out to show it to me. The thing he was holding made me to automatically shrink my eyes and  to gaze to see how long and sleek this razor sharp sword was.

"You will be needing this," Vrischika said, tossing me the sword straight at me.

Impulsively, I caught hold of it. Vrischika then stayed quiet allowing me to have some time to inspect the rest of the sword. My fingers firmly and perfectly gripped the black leather hilt, as if it was custom made just for me to use it in the challenge. The sharp silver blade glinted beneath the sunlight, creating rainbow color reflections on it.

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