Ruined

Torchlight plays a creepy shadow show on the walls as the group moves down the corridor. "Hold for a bit." Grath orders the group. "Hold your torch closer to the wall, Doa."

Doa does as ordered, "It is the same one we saw at the entrance." Doa shares his observation.

"Yes, it looks very similar, but the beast has more heads I think." Concern crosses Grath's face as he looks to Doa for confirmation.

Doa just nods in agreement, and without waiting for the order begins to move forward. The ruins give him the creeps. "Let's keep going, we have been staring at giant statues and uninspired murals for the longest time," further leaving Grath behind with every word.

Grath, realising he got lost in thought, rushes to the front of the group. "It looks like there is light ahead, maybe we will finally find some treasure, don't you think?"

Everyone replies "Sure," in a unison flat tone. 'Grath you talk too much!' is what they mean to say.

Doa walks alongside Grath and nudges him in the ribs to draw his attention. Grath instantly looks at Doa incredulously, but Doa holds his finger up and makes a "Shhh!" sound, hushing Grath so they can hear the ambient sounds better. A 'Shhh' seems to echo his own from behind. All six scouts turn their heads to inspect but see only darkness as their torches are extinguished. "Behind me!" Doa commands, "Closer!"

The five scouts huddle behind Doa. He raises his wind shield just as the first torch is blown out by the torrent of air rushing past them. Doa's windshield redirects the flow and force directed at them, keeping them from being dragged down the long stone corridor. 'Good thing I am now able to expand it.' Doa thinks, smiling with pride.

He feels less resistance from outside the shield and slowly begins to drop it. One of the scouts uses a simple fire spell and the torches sputter alive. "Forge from dust, a stream that rejects the night." Doa casts his own glowing stream of mist to trail down the corridor behind them.

"All seems clear," he says as his eyes follow the mist down. The mist dissipates and a low rumbling reverberates from the darkness.

"We need to go!" Grath screams, already well ahead of the rest.

The other four scouts follow quickly. "Hey, what the hell Grath!" Doa pushes wind to his heels and springboards off it, quickly catching up to the leader. "Do you know what it is?" he asks, running alongside Grath, who for a moment seems surprised at Doa's speed.

They burst into the room where Grath said light was coming from and abruptly stop. "Whoa!" one of the slower scouts exclaims, and everyone follows his gaze up to the towering dome. Doa begins to scan the chamber but the rumbling has become a loud buzz.

"I think we need to move to the opposite side." He tells the others and already pulls two of them by their sleeves. "What is that?" He looks back toward the entrance as they put distance between themselves and it.

"Man, those ancients' drawing skills are horrible!" Grath grits his teeth and takes a deep breath before answering. "That is the thing from the pictures, a Hydrantis."

From the squad, Grath is the leader and most experienced. Even though they all think he talks too much, at least most times he knows what he is talking about.

"The light is coming from that collapsed part of the dome. We need to move over there but don't rush and keep eyes on the Hydrantis." Grath begins calling orders and everyone moves as one.

Beside Grath, Doa keeps pace. "It looks like we are quite a bit below the desert floor, will there be enough sand for your armour?"

"That is why we need to get to that side. When there, I need you to collapse it further." Grath shares his plan as they move carefully along the chamber walls. "It will watch for now I think. Brothers, you do what you do. Kala and Rariu, we need to get armour quick. Doa…" Before Grath can finish, the beast moves to intercept them.

It stands beneath the ruined dome, sunlight glistening off of six giant eyes from three heads. The mantis-like beast flexes its pincers as if preparing for a boxing match. Doa can't help but think how cute mantises are when normal size, but at three times his own height and three times the heads, this thing is the stuff of nightmares.

Then Doa realises it must have stalked them from outside already. Its body is perfectly coloured to blend with the light and dark hues of the desert, and now the sandstone of the ruins. The thought sends shivers down his spine.

"We will handle it!" The two scout brothers announce as they dash forward, surprising Doa with their speed. "Pip, take left," the right brother says. "Fil, take right," the left brother responds. In unison they draw dual daggers. "Pip, hit the knee," Fil instructs. "Now!" Pip yells as he and Fil leap, targeting the Hydrantis's knee joint in the hopes of quickly immobilising it.

The Hydrantis opens its wings in a blink and rises above them, leaving both brothers striking nothing but air. "Brothers move!" Doa takes the opportunity to send a gust of wind forward and push the beast back. It quickly recovers and moves forward again.

"I will draw it, you guys get your armour loaded!" Doa pushes off of a wind burst to reach the entrance they came from. "Here Tissy!" He blasts jet streams of air aimed directly at the beast's eyes.

A shriek erupts from the three mouths and the Hydrantis turns towards Doa, its six eyes blinking furiously. Then Doa notices the middle head's eyes turn from soulless black to red. It points its pincers toward Doa and a blaze erupts around him, spiralling and closing in.

Doa quickly reads the situation, taking note of the change to the beast's eyes. "Not very nice of you," he says calmly, more to himself than the beast. Doa spins up his air shield and rapidly expands it to push back the flames encircling him. "Breathless void steal breath from the light," he chants rapidly, and the flames flicker to an end.

"We have him now!" The brothers appear loudly behind the Hydrantis. "Fil, cut his wing!" Pip encourages his brother. "Pip, cut the other wing!" Fil responds enthusiastically. Both brothers jump down from the pillars of sand they made.

The Hydrantis, watching them attack from behind with the left head, responds by blowing them back with a gust of wind mid-leap. Doa notices the eyes belonging to that head turn green for a brief moment. Before he can contemplate much more on this, the Hydrantis flies forward with terrifying speed.

"Grath!" Doa yells, hoping they have had enough time. He deflects one of the Hydrantis's pincers with enough force from his wind shield to stun the beast momentarily, but he is not sure he can do that even one more time.

Fortunately the brothers answer Doa's silent plea. "Pip!"

"Fil!"

Doa watches them launch themselves again, taking advantage of the Hydrantis's stunned state. Each brother thrusts his daggers into the beast's wings and rips his blade down and through.

"Ouch," Doa observes, with little pity for the thing trying to kill them. The brothers hit the ground below, their blades having cut clean through, and they roll out from under it. The Hydrantis crashes to the same spot only a moment after.