Into the oven part 2

The day turned into night, with Rufus and Doreen returning to their camp. The night was chilly, forcing them to put on all the clothes they had. Luckily for the grey skins of the bunch, the cold air eased their condition.

The temperature plunged almost below zero, with all kinds of insects, reptiles and other small animals coming up for the first time out from below the sand, as being on the surface during the day was unbearable, even for them.

The Ghersengs put back their armor on and formed a circle to keep watch for anything that could attack them.

Doreen and Rufus explained what had happened with the Saracens they had seen. It was clear that they would have to find their way out on their own.

"Does anyone of us have a compass or something to help us?" Joan asked.

Yosef took out a small compass, but unfortunately, the arrow kept spinning around making it useless.

They had no maps or no working compass. They had water barely for two days and the grey skins were almost completely incapacitated during the hot sunny days.

"This cannot be how the people live in this place. There must be some kind of shelter or a place with a much more suitable climate," Joan pointed out.

"Going into one direction looking for this suitable climate could be a death sentence to us," Haley pointed out.

"Staying here is a death sentence to us anyways," Joan said back.

~~

As they were planning their next move, two beings were watching them.

One was a large-looking creature, lurking below the sands, sneaking closer to them.

The other was a human, in the sky on top of a floating scythe. The person was dressed like the Saracens they had spotted earlier. Heavy robes covered their entire body, and a scarf shielded the wearer's face.

~~

The Ghersengs who were in full battle armor guarded the camp. One of them saw the sand moving. He got closer to inspect what was going on.

As the Gherseng walked forward, he didn't see anymore anything and thought he had just imagined everything. The sand suddenly sucked the warrior in before he could even yell for help.

After a while, two Ghersengs saw that one of their comrades was missing. They went to inspect it and got closer to where he was supposed to be guarding.

One of the two warriors spotted the missing warrior's helmet and wondered what it was doing in the sand.

As he was picking up the helmet, two large claws grabbed hold of him, pulling him down. He was able to resist for a while but not for very long.

The other Gherseng rushed to his rescue and plunged with all his might his glaive into the sand. A large and horrid scream was heard, with the claws letting go of the Gherseng, saving his life.

"What is going on here!" one Gherseng yelled with two more warriors running to the scene.

"Don't move or you'll lure in the monster!" one of the Ghersengs yelled before a large insectoid lunged from beneath the sand.

Two large claws punctured and killed instantly one of the Ghersengs with the remaining four looking in horror as a giant monster appeared from beneath the earth.

~~

The cries of the Ghersengs could be heard by Rufus and his friends. They stopped their meeting and ran to the scene.

They saw the monster that was battling the Ghersengs. It was a giant antlion insect, a monster with enormous claws on its face. It had a large body with a relatively small head in comparison. Its skin was rugged and brown, with six long legs to help it move around and dig itself under the sand.

The Ghersengs fought valiantly, being able to cut many of its legs and one even plunging its glaive deep into its belly.

They were fast and strong, being able to see most of the attacks before they came at them. Their armor was tough, but not tough enough to shield them from the strong monster's claws. One Gherseng was then caught by the legs of the monsters and raised it into the air.

The unlucky warrior was just about to be eaten by the giant antlion, but Pema came to his rescue. He manifested a carbon armor that covered his upper body and stopped the gaping jaw of the monster.

Then Joan jumped on the face of the monster and plunged her large greatsword right onto its forehead.

The giant antlion still refused to die. Rufus then joined Joan on its forehead and touched it, making the head explode into small tiny pieces.

"Seems like this desert wants to kill us no matter what...." Edward pointed out.

A second large antlion lunged from under the sand at them. Before it could harm them, it was stopped when it was crystalized, that then shattered, killing the monster instantly.

"I think we should get out of the sand and closer to the rocks," Haley pointed out.