Camels

Lands of no return:

In the quiet yet foggy desert a single man could be seen walking.

He wore a knight armour which was mostly broken and quite fragile.

A faint blue humanoid light infront of him guided him through the fog as the fog started to change.

'I left the dunes I guess.'

The fog's whipped up and heavy wind blew which almost made tumble down.

But I walked through the thick flowy fog infront of me.

It was twisting and churning and a tint of blue was mixed with the fog.

Right now Sero was holding my hand making sure we would not get lost.

'I hope it's not an uncharted area.'

That would be certain death for a newbie like me.

We walked and walked, I don't know how much time passed nor how much distance has passed.

But finally the fog calmed down and the sandy terrain changed.

Right now I stood on barren land filled drought cracks.

Which wasn't really an upgrade from the sandy dunes but it's not like complaining about it would change it.

'I have ran out of food.'

A real problem now.

I should've known that when I rushed into here but can you blame for doing it in the heat of the moment?

'Well then let's keep going.'

Sero started moving and so did I.

'This terrain doesn't give much of a clue since a lot of terrains in the lands of no return are similar to this.'

'If I can find a view point then I could try to find something that serves as a sign.'

But if I can't find any it means this is a uncharted area.

Which means...

Money.

Fun fact, if you find a uncharted area you can write down a detailed report and get paid for it.

And so I started writing.

The unfortunate thing being that I had to do it in the remaining pages left in the ancient book.

Although it isn't of the best quality it certainly is usable and the fountain pen makes up for it.

Letters in golden ink was quickly jolted down the book as I wrote down everything thing that I had seen after entering this area.

Which was basically nothing.

'It seems like it's enchantment make sure it's ink doesn't run out.'

That was certainly useful.

My pace increased and so did Sero's.

'By the looks of this place there's no way I could find food here.'

Which was a bit discouraging but I toughened it out.

'Atleast its better than execution right now I have a chance to live.'

Even after which seemed like an hour of walking I still hadn't seen anything worth notice.

'Well it's sad.'

Nowadays my physical health has been great

Due to the rest I had gotten during my journey through the starry dunes.

My mental health? A bit traumatized due to that eternal bliss I felt but everything else is alright.

The only issue being my soul which ofcourse I am enduring.

The pain has significantly lessened and it wont flare up until I do something that will strain my body.

For example, fighting something twice the size of mine.

'Seriously? Them?'

I looked at the shadows formed by the pack o beasts in the distance.

They were about five of them.

They were tall, twice my size and the had quite a long neck.

They had humps on their back and a skeletal rider was riding them.

'Terror camels?'

I sighed and equipped my mace.

Running away was an option but these guys are faster and have more endurance than me.

Which means I'm pretty much dead if I don't fight back.

And sensing my hostility they all rushed towards me.

The way they were running was making me crack a smile.

Their head swung side to side violently while they ran which was a funny sight.

And the moment they emerged near my protective layer and layed their eyes on me they all started shrieking.

They had gray skin and a small pair of jagged horns on their head.

Skeletal remains of their previous victims were attached to their back with a saddle.

Don't ask us where the saddle came from we only discovered like 5% percentage of these lands.

What made them terrifying was their speed and their bite force.

Unlike normal camels these guys were carnivores.

I readied my mace and the moment one approached me with my neck as their target I cracked his kneecap.

-Grhkk-

It shrieked in pain and one leg kneeled on the ground.

'Now!'

I tried to crack its head but however another one rushed towards me from the side.

I raised my gauntlet to protect my neck from its jaws and goddamn it hurts.

And another one and another one.

I was trying my hardest to protect my neck with both of my arms.

'Well atleast I did that much during my first encounter with wild beasts.'

The bear and the goat doesn't count.

Everyone was trying to pierce through my armor.

And every single one of them was biting onto me.

One but through my shoulder pad and God was I in pain.

"Fuck you!"

I bit back.

Although raw camel tastes bad it's not like I have a choice as my limbs were bitten down by the other camels.

"Gh-k!"

One took my entire left calf off and another took my three fingers from my left hand.

Pain turned to rage and soon the camel that I bit down on had the unfortunate of getting his snout ripped off.

And I didn't stop there.

i headbutted the one that was chewing on my fingers like grass.

And it only made it a bit flimsy and I on the other hand was seeing stars.

'Well I already lost three fingers what more damage is there to be done?'

I thought as I drove my two fingered hand down that camels mouth and ripped out whatever that was in there.

The other three soon noticed.

Unlike their normal counterpart these guys are as stupid as me.

Pretty convenient.

And soon they started shredding me.

"Fuckkkk!"

I screamed like never before.

One of them ripped my right cheeks off alongside some flesh surrounding my eyes.

I'm pretty sure the left side of skull was visible right now.

They weren't killing me due to their fetish of wearing their victims as trophies but it is only a matter of time.

I struggled with everything I had, my mace was already dropped to the ground so all I could respond to them were with kicks and punches.

Bites too.

Matter of fact I started to take a liking to biting others.

My mind went to a silent state as my brain ignored the pain and focused on extermination no matter the damage recieved.

Only two were left right now, finally I was able to stand on the ground again.

A camel head was held by me by it's eye sockets.

It was still attached to the body.

I pierced its eyes and it died of bleeding.

My fingers were short or it would've died much sooner if I reached its brains.

And finally the remaining camels were upon me.

I did not use my limbs anymore.

It was my maw versus theirs.

Camel blood quenched my thirst and their flesh relieved my hunger.

It was the same way my blood quenched their thirst and my flesh filled their stomachs.

It was an exchange.

An exchange of death.

The person who runs out of juice first loses.

And considering they had a lot of meat on their body it was sure I would lose.

But would I?

********

Uncharted area:

In a fog filled and droughted area, a human could be seen gnawing at corpses of dead terror camels.

He seemed to have completely lost it and a skeleton would have more flesh than him if you saw his appearance.

It was an exaggeration but it will really make you wonder in awe how he is still alive.

"Seriously humans are as savages as mother said.."

A sigh accompanied by a graceful voice rang from my side.

"Shut up Callon."

I ordered the man of high stature while looking up at him.

He had sharp pointy ears and a beyond handsome face and long golden hair in locks ran down his shoulders.

He was damn tall and had broad shoulders with some muscle outline sticking through his clothes.

He wore light leather armour and a bow was hung on his shoulders.

Unlike him I was short.

Well what can you expect from a dwarf?

We were a duo of adventurers and quite famous actually.

"Think we should help him?"

He asked with uncertainty as he winced in disgust as the humans swallowed a whole heart which was the size of his head.

He scrunched it up first which drained the blood and stuffed it inside.

He also drank the blood seems like he is not much of a food waster.

"Did he go crazy out of hunger or is it a disease or some curse?"

He quipped in but I was quick on my feet as I approached him.

The human was still kneeling on the ground clawing and eating whatever was left of the camel.

"You okay son?"

I put my hands on his shoulder keeping him on place.

He seems to have snapped back to reality as he slowly turned his head to gaze back at me.

'Oh.'

And from the eyes visible through his helmet I could see his fear.

Fear of death.

Something every adventurer has experienced in their life.

It's like a coming of age celebration.

"It's okay."

I comforted him and he stared back at the corpses.

I could see his body trembling and he seems to be gagging.

'Finally noticed the smell?'

And then to no one's suprise he vomited.

Inside his helmet.

'Well this is one hell of a mess to clean up.'

I sighed as Callon approached us.