Rise of the Blood Weaver - Chapter 84 (Patreon)

Spending the next 4 days walking over fine golden sand was beginning to get tiresome. And no, it wasn’t because it was hard to walk on. After gaining his new Remembrance: [Convergent Greaves], that had become easy work.

No, it was because at any moment, a colossal sized worm could emerge from below them any second. Arlo listened carefully for any rumbling. He could still remember the sound from the very first day they had arrived.

And sure, Justin had said that it would be unlikely it would be on this side because of the mountains, and now with the maze obstructing the desert. But what was stopping it from going all the way around? Hell, what if it could bloody fly?

Okay, maybe he was becoming a bit paranoid. But maybe that was a good thing. To be cautious.

Today, they had walked further than the others with no refuge from the Sand Surge in sight. There was also no footsteps. It was as Merc had said, after the Sand Surge, it had wiped away all traces of the mysterious man from ever existing.

It wasn’t just Arlo that was beginning to worry, but Merc, too. She was responsible for their lives as the leader, after all. And no leader wanted to lose her soldiers on the destination, not the battlefield. The further they strayed from their last checkpoint, the more dangerous it was to keep going. Yet they forged ahead regardless.

8 hours had passed since the last cave they had taken refuge in. If they wanted to return, they would have to jog back for that entire time. Arlo didn’t know if he could manage that. They were almost at a point of no return. But the structure in the distance was getting closer. Merc decided to pass it. Now they had no choice but to head towards it.

After a couple more hours, the haze in the horizon broke apart, revealing a truly gargantuan statue. It was an open hand. It reached so high above, that it looked like it was trying to grasp the heavens. Arlo didn’t even want to guess how high it travelled. Without a doubt, it was a good size taller than the tower back in the giant’s city.

As his eyes settled on the structure, Arlo couldn’t help but frown. He recalled the scripture written in blood back within his Horror.

A child emerges, and the blood awakens.

Spear veiled in shadows, Sword gleaming in the light.

Witness the scenes of a never-ending desert, monstrous creatures, reaching palm, and the forgotten army.

Heed the whispers of the cunning fool.

Dread the reign of the Cursed Lord.

The never ending desert, monstrous creatures, reaching palm… Holy shit, Arlo thought with his mouth wide open, catching grains of sand billowing in the gentle breeze.

Child emerges, blood awakens. That was him.

Spear veiled in shadows, sword gleaming in the light. Hell, that was Justin and Merc, it had to be.

The next line was exactly the location that he was now standing in. The scripture was, what, telling the future? Foretelling? But how? It was a Horror. It was a story-line stripped away from the spirit world. Whatever happened there, occurred many, many years ago. Maybe 100, 200, it could have happened even 500 years ago, or longer for all he knew.

So how?

Arlo ruffled his hair, a feeling of dread overtaking him. He had so many questions. What was going on? Was he brought here on purpose?

Who the hell was the cunning fool? Cursed Lord?

“Hey,” Justin said, nudging Arlo’s shoulder. “You alright?”

Arlo shook his head. “I’m fine. I’ll tell you later.”

“We’ll use that hand as a refuge against the Sand Surge–”

Elian interrupted Merc, “Hang on.” His eyes narrowed, then widened a second later. “Shit–”

Elian didn’t have to say it. As the haze parted, everyone saw it. A monster–a giant–stood atop the opened palm. Creatures in the thousands climbed the pillar, trying to claw out a piece of territory for themselves for the night.

They must be like Arlo and his team; too far away to find a safe place from the tsunami and the encroaching darkness.

The giant atop the hand moved about with a mind possessed. It wouldn’t let anything crawl atop to join it. Arlo couldn’t see exactly what it looked like as he was still too far away, but it had a strange outline. Jagged, like multiple appendages were poking out of its body.

The other monsters seemed to realise that getting on the top was a fool's errand. So they latched onto a piece of the colossal rock and clung on. They also slaughtered anything that came near it. Creatures from all over arrived. It was like a watering hole for beasts in africa. Every living thing was battling for a piece of territory.

And soon it would be Arlo’s turn.

“Okay, so I’ll say it,” Justin said, cupping his hands behind his neck. “What the hell’s the plan for that? We have no time to return. So we can only go forwards.”

“We’ll have to carve a path up the pillar,” Elian said.

“While climbing?” Justin asked. “Can you climb and fight at the same time? That’s a talent, you know?”

“We can’t do that,” Merc said. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Do you have a plan?” Arlo asked.

“I do,” she said, pointing over a dune to the far left. “There’s an incredibly powerful life force coming from over there. It doesn’t seem to be moving. My plan is this: Bring it over here so that it can wipe out the monsters vying for control of the pillar–”

Justin interrupted, “I’m going to stop you there super soldier. Are you insane? Don’t answer that, I already know the answer. And what the hell happens to us?”

Merc continued, her face unchanging. “We won’t be on the pillar at that time. The monster over the dune obviously doesn’t care for the pillar. It will kill everything. Then we take our spot.”

“Wait,” Elian said, shaking his hands. “Merc, how do you know about this?”

“It’s part of my Trait,” she said. “Within a certain distance, I can detect the strongest life-force that can take my own.”

The group turned silent. Arlo was the first to speak up, “Then you knew of that Fallen back in the city? Why did you enter then?”

“I had to.” Merc shrugged. “I had nowhere else to go to hide from the Sand Surge.”

Justin brought the conversation back to the topic at hand. “Never mind that. How long will your plan take? We’re running on borrowed time here. We have, what, four to five hours of sunlight left before the darkness comes.”

“Then we better be quick about it,” She said. Her eyes stuck on Justin.

“Oh hell no,” he replied. “Are you kidding me?”

“You’re the fastest out of all of us,” Merc said. “The highest chance of mission success is if you are the one to lure it to the pillar.”

“And how the hell am I meant to know how fast, or powerful this creature is?”

“You’re not.”

“There has to be another way,” Arlo said. This was bloody crazy!

After a few moments of silence, Justin kicked the sand. “Ah, fine. Could do with a good run, anyway.”

“Justin, you sure?” Arlo asked. “You’ll have to run for at least 20-30 minutes in a non-stop sprint.”

“Probably longer,” Elian added.

“Not helping,” Justin said, shooting Elian a glare. “I’ll be fine. Just get ready to scale that damned tower.”

Arlo bit his lip. He was debating on something. If Jusitn was going to make it, he needed all the strength he could get. This was for everyone's survival. He grabbed Justin’s wrist. Arlo sent his mind into his core. He thought of [Void Sanctum]. It moved to his command. The energy moved through his arm, and was about to flow through his palm, and into Justin’s–

“No.”

The familiar voice said. Its ancient voice was just a whisper. Arlo broke out of his core. Justin and Arlo looked at each other in a daze. He had also heard it.

Justin shook his head. “I don’t need it. Thanks, though.” He smiled, then walked off into the distance.

Everybody knew it, but they didn’t want to say anything. If Merc could only detect the strongest life-force in the surrounding area, then that meant that whatever Justin was heading for, was more powerful than the king atop the heaven reaching palm…