It was nearly nighttime as Leo and Aria made their way through the desert. The scorching heat of the day had begun to fade, but their bodies still ached from hours of walking through the sand. After Leo's meditation to restore his Lumina energy, they had pushed on relentlessly toward the city ruins.
"Water check," Aria called, her voice raspy from the dry air.
Leo examined his bottle with concern. The water was barely a quarter full – not nearly enough for another full day in this environment.
"I'm running low," he admitted. "You?"
Aria shook her head grimly. "Same. The supplies were meant to last three days."
"Tomorrow's our third day," Leo noted. "We need to reach the ruins by morning."
He was disappointed at himself for not taking some water from the river in the mountain biome earlier. Heck, he was doubting even leaving the biome thinking the forest would be any better. How much worse were a few large rocks compared to what he had faced.
If only he knew.
The two walked in silence for several minutes, the vast expanse of sand stretching endlessly around them. The sun had nearly disappeared behind distant sand dunes, painting the sky in oranges and purples. Despite the beauty, Leo couldn't shake a growing sense of unease.
Something about the sand behind them didn't look right.
At first, it was barely noticeable – just a slight rise in the sand dunes they had passed. But as Leo watched from the corner of his eye, he saw it again: the sand rising subtly, as if something large was moving beneath it.
Without a moment's waste, Leo reached for his bottle and took a long swig of the precious water. In one quick motion, he moved beside Aria and poured some into her mouth before she could protest.
"Run," he whispered urgently, his eyes fixed on the disturbance behind them.
"What?" Aria started to ask, but Leo was already sprinting ahead.
"Run!" he shouted, no longer caring about staying quiet.
Confused, Aria glanced back and saw the sand erupting as massive shell segements emerged and went back in. Her eyes widened in recognition before she bolted after Leo.
"Damn, another underground beast?" she cursed, struggling to maintain speed in the loose sand. "Why do they all have to burrow?"
The creature pursuing them resembled a mightmarishly large centipede. Its body, easily fifteen meters long, was covered in armor-like plates that glinted in the fading light. Dozens of legs propelled it forward with terrifying speed, while massive pincers clicked hungrily at its front.
"It's much faster than us!" Leo called, his lungs burning.
"No shit!" Aria shot back, notching an arrow as she ran. She fired behind them without slowing, the projectile bounced harmlessly off the creature's armored head. "Damn it! Nevermind what I said before, these guys gave me the bow as a cruel joke."
The centipede dove beneath the sand again, tunnelling after them. Leo knew they couldn't outrun it forever, their stamina was already depleted from the day, and the beast showed no signs of tiring.
The sun had fully set now, and the desert night was getting colder around them. Leo had read about how deserts could shift from scorching to freezing in hours due to the sand's inability to hold heat.
He had worried about the cold desert night, but when it came to what's worse, being eaten beat freezing any day.
As darkness settled over the landscape, Leo realized something odd. In natural deserts, temperatures would drop gradually as night fell, but here, the change felt quicker and extreme – another reminder they were in an artificially created environment where normal rules didn't apply.
Ahead of them, something else was developing on the horizon – a massive swirling brown cloud rising hundreds of feet into the air.
"Is that what I think it is?" Leo gasped between breaths.
Aria's face paled in the moonlight. "Sandstorm. And a big one at that."
The whirlwind of sand grew larger by the second, advancing towards them. Behind them, the centipede burst from the ground again, getting closer with each burst.
Trapped between two deadly forces, Leo could only mutter a single word: "Shit."
His eyes darted around desperately, searching for any option. Then he spotted it. A large rock formation emerging from the desert floor about fifty meters to their right. It wasn't much, but it might offer some shelter from the approaching storm.
"Aria! That rock!" he pointed. "Get there and cover yourself!"
"What about you?" she called back.
"I'll distract it! Go!"
Aria hesitated only a moment before changing direction towards the rocks. Leo turned sharply in the opposite direction, drawing the centipede after him. The creature took the bait, its many legs churning through the sand as it pursued what it saw as the easier prey.
Leo pushed his body to its limit, his lungs burning and muscles screaming in protest. The sandstorm loomed before him, a wall of swirling sand that would peel skin if he entered unprotected.
Behind him, the centipede had fully emerged, its body rippling as it closed the distance between them.
Fifty meters to the storm. Thirty meters. The beast was only seconds from reaching him.
Leo could feel its presence at his back, hear the clicking of its monstrous pincers preparing to snap him in half. The edge of the sandstorm was just ahead, particles already stinging his face and eyes.
At the last possible moment, Leo clenched his fist and did what he'd been avoiding – he called upon his shadow step. He focused on the deepest shadow cast by the rock where Aria had taken shelter, visualizing it clearly in his mind.
The centipede lunged, jaws opening to swallow him whole – but snapped closed on empty air as Leo dissolved into darkness.
Aria had just pressed herself against the rock at the side opposing the storm when a patch of darkness materialized beside her. Leo stumbled out, collapsing to his knees and gasping for breath.
"Holy—" she jumped. "Don't DO that!"
At this point she didn't bother asking what he had done, she wasn't surprised anymore with what the shadow boy could do with the darkness.
"Sorry," he wheezed, "I didn't have much choice."
The sandstorm engulfed them seconds later, howling around their small shelter. They pressed themselves tightly against the rock, using their packs and clothing to shield their faces from the sand. Through the roaring wind, they could hear the frustrated shrieking of the centipede as it lost its prey in the maelstrom.
"How long do you think this will last?" Leo shouted over the storm's noise.
Aria studied the patterns of the swirling sand. "Based on the intensity and wind direction? About an hour!"
They awkwardly huddled together for warmth as the desert night grew increasingly cold. The storm provided an unexpected opportunity to escape the chase of the centipede.
"When this passes," Leo said, "we should be able to make the ruins by morning if we push hard!"
Aria nodded. "The map shows a more direct route from here! We can cut through that narrow valley!"
For forty minutes, they remained pressed against their meager shelter, discussing strategies for reaching the center of the testing grounds. Leo explained what little he knew about the ruins section from his map study.
An environment of collapsed buildings that would offer cover but also potential ambush points. Entering it, they would be just outside the orange section or possibly in the outer area of it.
As the storm began to subside, the howling wind diminishing to light gusts, they prepared to set out again.
"The centipede creature will probably still be hunting us," Leo warned, checking his remaining water supply.
"It's probably moved on," Aria replied, though she didn't sound convinced. "Even nightmare beasts need to eat something besides humans."
They packed their gear and prepared to leave the shelter of the rock. The storm had nearly dissipated now, revealing a star-filled sky above the desert.
Just before they stepped out, Aria held Leo's arm.
"Hey," she said, her voice weirdly soft. "Thanks. For back there."
Aria shyly continued, "you could have just saved yourself with that shadow trick yet you stayed back for me and even became bait so… Thank you"