the adventures of hornsy and the blacksand mercs

dreams of ash and dust

grimmus wakes in the middle of a desert; nothing around but sand for miles. a faint incoherent melody of voices filled the air behind him to the north. as he turned around his whole body seemed to be drawn closer to where it came from.

as the sound got sharper and louder, his perspective shot forward at a blinding speed across the water passing a few small islands until everything became a blur. eventually, he slowed down enough as he starts to enter a massive city; its colossal building ruined and turned to glass. his vision speeds up until he hits the docks near the ocean and stops completely. 

in the far distance is an island; its clouds menace with a crimson glow as the voices begin to get louder and louder, his vision narrowing towards the island as he is pulled towards, slowly increasing in speed. the voices get even more louder. 

 as he reaches it the voices coaless into a loud peircing scream. grimmus then sat upright in his bed almost screaming himself. his heart's thunderous beat filled his ears like a raging storm

grimmus looked around and saw neal coming in with 2 steaming cups of...something

neal: you alright there?

grimmus: yea im...im good, thanks. what's that?

neal: oh, its something that can only be bought here, its called coffee, or something.

grimmus: *in his head* huh they got coffee here, wouldn't hurt to get some Amaretto with it

grimmus: can I have one

neal: of course, I got this one specifically for you

grimmus: Noice!

grimmus then took a sip of the black brew; it was rather strong in taste

grimmus: *cough cough* gods that strong as fuck, got any milk?

neal: sure

neal then passes grimmus a small pitcher of white creamy milk

neal: fresh from the goat's udder

grimmus: thank you, my Exo-skeletal friend

neal: Exo-skeletal?

grimmus: it means your bones are on the outside, almost all bugs have them

neal: ah...

grimmus: and for me, along with humans and shek, have endo-skeletons

neal: huh, learn something new everyday I guess

grimmus: yea

a silence fills the air as both of them sit and drink together

neal: are you sure you're ok?

grimmus: yea, im just...homesick that's all

neal: what's your home like

grimmus: tha-

neal: "I rather not say", I understand if you don't want to ask.

grimmus: umm...thats not it

neal: oh...well shit

grimmus: I and about 100,000 of my kind live inside of a glacier underground

neal: a glacier?

grimmus: a wide and deep river of solid ice

neal: that's a thing?!

grimmus: yep

neal: huh, I never really travel much outside of the normal trade paths, but I never heard anything about a glacier before

grimmus: it's a secret glacier, well out the way of any adventurers' path

neal: ah, I see

grimmus: so how long have you been trading for?

neal: about 2-3 years-ish, and though my experiences im able to head into dangerous territory with my caravan and make it out unharmed

grimmus: so basically you can sneak almost anywhere undetected 

neal: yep, got at least hundreds of offroad paths and mountain trails in my head

grimmus: well that would help get past the holy nation. also speaking of them, I don't know much about them 

neal: well, in short, they're a bunch of xenophobic, technophobic, women-hating zealots

grimmus: wow, I met a bunch of pricks in my life, but these guys are a fucking cactus 

neal spat out a bit of his coffee as he tried to suppress a laugh

neal: never in my life, have I heard them described in a way like that, mind if I use that next time?

grimmus: oh gladly my friend

the 2 went on chatting about small things when grimmus finally decides to open up about his nightmare

neal: holy shit! there's...more land out there than just here?

grimmus: yea, rather far away.

neal: and you said that there's a city near the end

grimmus: yep, the very ground, turned to glass; its buildings ruined and stained a bleached white and grey

neal: i... I never heard a description so...bleak before

grimmus: yea...i don't know what it means but...

neal: but whatever it is, it might be important, maybe someone or something is waiting there for you

grimmus: yea...might be the person I lost a while ago

neal: so...want to talk about-

grimmus: Nah

neal: of course

they then sat watching the sunrise sipping their drinks together

sorry for taking so long, lockdown kinda scrambled my brain a bit so i had to work a few lines a day or so. i do hope you enjoyed, make sure to leave a comment down below as it helps me know whats things I left out or need to change as well as boosting my self-confidence seeing that im not awfully good at writing but seeing you read them makes me rather happy so i wish you well during these dark times, my mate hornsy also has a twitter @Horned_bastard