Flood

After thirty minutes of waiting, they resumed their journey, having meticulously checked everything.

They walked in a long silence that was only interrupted by the soft crunch of sand underfoot and the faint whistle of the desert breeze weaving through the dunes. 

The children, though weary from the day's journey, hummed half-remembered songs as they nestled against the elders' backs. Heads drooped onto warm shoulders, and tiny hands clung to faded shawls. The elders holding on to the Unicol, drawing strength from the quiet melodies and the trusting weight of the little ones.

The teenagers walked in groups, still full of energy. They traded wild stories about the carvings they'd glimpsed on the ruins; voices animated and faces bright with the thrill of discovery. Some dared each other to guess what lay beyond the next dune, spinning tales of lost cities and treasures hidden beneath the sands.

Their laughter rose and fell, a counterpoint to the children's soft humming. The adults bore the silence, their expressions a mix of exhaustion and hope. Some smiled, listening to the children's songs, while others exchanged small nods with the elders

Lorian glanced around, the corners of his mouth curled upward in a smile. He watched a young boy, his head pillowed on his grandmother's shoulder, humming quietly. But then, as he glanced skyward, Lorian's breath caught in his throat.

As if it was the desert way of announcing the coming evening, before Lorian who had stopped. 

The sky above, once a sheet of pale blue, had been split wide open torn apart by some invisible hand. Layers of rich golden clouds, brushed with hues of crimson, gold, and deep violet, swirled and danced like ethereal smoke. These clouds refracted the light of the setting sun into dazzling patterns that mesmerized the eyes.

Within this stunning chaos, framed by flame-colored clouds and a sea of twinkling stars, rose a crescent moon not the usual pale silver, but a striking, luminous blue. Though still partially obscured by the golden clouds, glimpses of it could be seen. 

What truly captured Lorian's attention was the spectacle above it all: two massive planets, one resting on the other like colossal stones stacked with a halo of glittering stars surrounding them.

It took only three seconds before everyone else noticed. The children's screams of delight pierced the air, the teenagers let out collective gasps, while the adults stood with mouths agape, their expressions frozen in wonder. The elderly, with eyes wide in awe and disbelief, gazed at the celestial marvel. 

Only the Silvian Outlaws, the Watchtower guards Phil and Iran, along with Selene and Uro, remained unfazed, simply smiling at the sight. For them, traveling through the desert near dusk often unveiled such a spectacle. One that left everything in the desert breathless and compelled all to pause and simply watch the magnificent display.

Lorian exhaled slowly, feeling the weight of days lift from his shoulders. He let the silence stretch, savoring it, until he caught Roy's eye and gave a discreet wave. Time pressed on, and the desert would not wait for long. Roy nodded, then called out to the others, his voice gentle but firm.

"It's time. Let's keep moving."

There were no groans, no protests. The people of Nuya knew this was a sky they could look up to again and again, a wonder that would always shine above them, no matter how far they wandered.

The group of over sixty people continued, many people still glancing up at the sky. Lorian could see two towering cliffs, close to each other with a gap between. As he was thinking about if they should go through or around, as the cliffs weren't that wide. 

The sands beneath were no longer still.

The ground began to tremble subtly at first, like a whisper in the earth. Then Uro's voice bellowed, deep and commanding: "Run!"

Lorian jerked his head around. Where the horizon had once glowed gold behind the dunes, now a living wall of crimson sand and choking smoke churned in furious vortices. The sinking sun was reduced to a feeble ember behind that blood–thick gale. Through the roiling haze a tide of shapes surged, a mile and a half across: desert monsters in a relentless stampede.

An ocean of beasts surged forward. Massive scorpions skittered on jointed legs, their obsidian claws clicking like chimes of doom. Six-legged felines' muscles rippling beneath mottled scales launched themselves over ridges of sand.

Tusklike behemoths bellowed, nostrils flaring jets of dust, while serpentine horrors wove and hissed between them, fangs gleaming. More than a thousand creatures stampede toward the humans: A Type II Beast Flood.

"Run! Don't look back!" Lorian and Roy shouted as one. The Nuya people erupted into frantic motion.

Children clung to the leather-backed elders perched on the Unicol strong hides. The adults and teenagers sprinted, their pants or trousers and sand-cloaks flaring with every desperate step. Every pounding step sent scented plumes of golden grit skyward, only to vanish in the crush behind them.

"George! Lovers!" Lorian shouted as he kept running.

"On it!" Uro screamed with the Lover Ascendant's arounds shouting back. 

[Lover - Connection!]

Then, like a pulse, a wave of ethereal blue shimmered over the runners. Shoulders unknotted; lungs filled with ease; the soreness in their calves ebbed away as though never there. All that remained was a relentless appetite to run. 

Lorian stole a glance at Selene, her brow flickered for a heartbeat, then smoothed, she kept moving. His gaze moved to Louise and Uro, sweat beads trailing salty lines down their temples as they continued running. He knew the outlaw Silvian had used the Lover - Connection ability to transfer the people's exhaustion and pain. All of it towards Selene, Louise and Uro, all three who were Adept Ascendant or higher. Only beings of their caliber could absorb such agony and keep moving so easily.

Uro shouted, urging everyone to move faster as the beast tide was slowly gaining on them. Of course, Lorian expected this, it was impossible to outrun the beast tide with this group. 

'Just need to pass that cliff…'

Lorian sized the distance to the cliffs: twenty seconds, at best. "The cliffs! Rush in quickly!"

Two monolithic stone walls loomed ahead, their surfaces scarred by centuries of wind and grit. Between them yawned a narrow pass, barely wide enough for three people to move in side by side. The people of Nuya as if they knew this began to organize themselves, the limitless energy with no exhaustion they felt made this easy. 

Three figures slid into the canyon's mouth side by side; then three more over and over. 

…

Evan's eyes snapped open, the world exploding into a cacophony of chaos and speed. The wind whipped past him, stinging his face, the air thick with the scent of sweat and dust. His legs churned faster than they ever had in his life, muscles burning, lungs scraping for air. He didn't dare slow; he couldn't, not with the earth-shaking roar behind them.

Ahead, his daughter Kali clung desperately to the back of the elderly figure riding the beast, her tiny arms wrapped so tightly her knuckles blanched white. The Unicol's hide was matted with sweat and streaked in grit, its sides heaving as it thundered over the uneven ground.

Kali's small body jolted with every stride. Dust crusted her cheeks, tears tracing muddy lines down her face. Every few heartbeats, she twisted to look back, panic etched deep in her eyes, searching the stampede for her father. 

Evan caught those glances, each one a silent plea that clawed at his gut and pushed himself harder. His heart hammered against his ribs; the sand beneath his shoes was a blur, lost to sensation, drowned out by the deafening, earth-shattering tremors roaring behind them.

They're gaining.

His mind shrieked in panic, 'She's too small! If she falls—'

"Come on!" he bellowed, his voice fracturing with desperation.

The ground shake, countless limbs thundered and howled, the noise growing, multiplying, closing in. The sound was everywhere: a living avalanche of terror. Fear clawed up his spine, cold and animal, threatening to swallow him.

The group surged into the cliffs, a narrow passage, the thin thread of survival.

…

A teenage girl stumbled forward, her chest heaving with each labored breath, her throat raw from crying out. Her name was Riah, and her cheeks were crusted with sand, grains clinging to the tear tracks on her flushed skin. Her legs were caked with more sand, feet were bare, her sandals left in the sand.

Her breath came in ragged, half-choked sobs as she struggled to keep pace.

Her friends, Marek and Elia, gripped her hands tightly, pulling her along. Elia's eyes were wide and wild, pupils blown wide by terror, while Marek's jaw was clenched so hard his teeth threatened to crack. A fresh cut split his forehead, blood painting a crimson trail down his temple.

Neither loosened their grip, even as Riah faltered.

"Don't look back!" Marek shouted, his voice quivering, high and brittle.

But Riah couldn't resist.

She glanced over her shoulder, her heart pounding louder than the thundering footsteps behind them. The beasts were close now, their approach marked by the increasing volume of steps, a relentless rhythm that matched the whirlwind of sand closing in from behind. Her imagination filled in what she couldn't see the beasts' gleaming eyes, their monstrous mouths gaping wide, lined with rows of jagged, razor-sharp teeth.

The sight knocked the breath from her lungs. She shivered violently and forced herself forward again, tears blurring her vision, turning the sand on her cheeks into muddy, stinging tracks.

The canyon's end was in sight. Hope and terror warred in every breath.

They were nearly at the end of the canyon path when Selene's voice cut through the narrow passage like a blade, sharp and chilling,

"Fall!"

The cliff walls shuddered violently. Rocks split with a sound like thunder; then came a roar, not from the monsters, but from the world itself. Riah stumbled, instinctively ducking as the world seemed to shatter. Behind her, the entrance to the canyon collapsed with terrifying finality.

Enormous slabs of stone crashed down, sealing the path with a thunderous, echoing crash. Dust exploded into the air, choking and blinding, as boulders the size of houses buried the way they'd come.

The canyon mouth, the way they had entered just moments before, began to collapse with terrifying finality. Enormous slabs of ancient stone plummeted down, sealing their path with a thunderous crash, and clouds of dust exploded into the air as the massive boulders filled the gap.

Yet even as the dust swirled and the earth convulsed, a new voice rose above. Roy, steady and unyielding, shouted, "Keep moving!"

Adrenaline blasted through Riah and the others. They surged forward, sprinting for their lives as the relentless footsteps behind them grew fainter under the new cacophony of crumbling stone. Though the pace behind seem to go silent, the ominous crunch of rocks being pulverized and the deafening, thunderous clamor filled the air.

It was terrifying.

…

Lorian ran with the Nuya people as they pushed forward across the blistering desert expanse. The dull thud of sandals against the parched, cracked earth punctuated the air, while sweat glistened under the relentless sun, tracing rivulets down bronzed skin.

 Lorian could tell from their expression of terror, Nuya people can hear it. The guttural roars and the furious cascade of cliff rubble signaled the relentless advance of beasts clawing through the stone, their numbers overwhelming.

Selene's voice rang over the desert wind. "Storm!"

Lorian's head snapped to the west. His golden eyes went wide, stunned by what he saw.

The horizon boiled.

What at first looked like a distant cloud grew in seconds to a monstrous wall of swirling red, gold, and shadow. The base was a seething inferno of sand, twisting and climbing higher and higher, blotting out the last light of day. Above, black storm clouds writhed and collided, their bellies flashing with jagged bolts of silver lightning.

Each strike illuminated the storm's heart for an instant, the air crackled with electricity, every hair on Lorian's arms standing on end. As a deep, rumble built from far away, swelling louder and closer by the heartbeat.

Children, once trembling and crying out from fear of the beasts, fell silent. Their tear-streaked faces turned to the new threat, eyes wide and round as moons. The storm loomed taller than any mountain, a wall of fury and color that was enough to scrape the very dome of the sky.

Lorian shouted once more. "Keep moving! We will make it!"

The adults and teenagers didn't hesitate. They knew stopping meant death, whether by the beasts behind or the storm bearing down ahead. Feet pounded faster, sand spraying in all directions, hearts racing like war drums.

The very ground seemed to tremble, whether from the monster stampede or the storm's approach, it was impossible to tell.

Lorian chanced one more glance over his shoulder.

And he sighed.

Through the thick haze of dust and crumbling stone, he saw them. An endless tide of beasts. Giant scorpions skittered over splintered rock, their claws glinting black and deadly. Sleek, scaled felines streaked through the chaos, muscles rippling beneath patterned hides.

There were tusked behemoths, serpent-like horrors, and more, over five thousand strong, pouring through the shattered cliffs, eyes blazing.

They were catching up and then behind him, he heard Selene's voice.

"Delay."

The effect was immediate, as Lorian glanced at the storm. The swirling wall of sand and lightning seemed to hesitate, its roiling mass slowing by mere seconds.

But those seconds were priceless, as the Nuya people surged forward, halfway across the approaching storm.