"Woo!"
The group of warriors erupted with cheers.
"To the canyon!"
"Kill the chicken!"
They were excited.
"Eat its flesh!"
"Drink its blood!"
Maybe even a bit too excited.
"To the canyon!"
Gerald appreciated their roaring enthusiasm, and so he quickly took the lead, "Alright men, let's get the fuck out of here before the worm comes back!"
They marched across the desert, but before long Gerald remembered one important thing and quickly went to talk with Dug.
"Erm… Where is this canyon exactly?"
"It's, uh… It should be over that way," Dug pointed after orienting himself by heaven bodies.
"Alright," Gerald quietly answered and then got back in his leading position. "Let's go! A few more hours and we'll be there! Forward march! Hurraaa!"
"Hurraaaaaaaa!" they shouted back with lifted morale. A long night was still ahead of them.
***
It was early morning, when the sun just barely revealed its warm rays, that an excited shout came from one of the exhausted warriors, "Hey! Look, over there! Is that..?"
In the distance, at the edge of the horizon, a dark shadow split the dry wasteland.
"That's it!" Dug shouted and straightened his tired body. "That's the Wailing Canyon! We've arrived!"
The Wailing Canyon was called that because of the wind that blew through it was making a constant wailing noise. The place was like a crack in the earth, beginning abruptly and ending just the same, with only one road leading in or out. It was almost like a natural prison.
However, this place was anything but that.
A vast underground river ran along the canyon, a reason why the place even existed. In the beginning, nobody knew there was an endless amount of water right underneath the sand, but then one day the ground suddenly collapsed, revealing the lifeblood of the desert.
Nobody knew when or why it happened, perhaps a Sand Worm came too close or it was simply a result of the passage of time weakening the stone, but the fact remained. An abundant water source and a cool cavern to escape from the summer heat thus came to be.
But that was centuries in the past. The Wailing Canyon was now a green oasis, the river banks transformed into fields and forests for agriculture and food production. Even the top parts of the canyon were recently greening up, thanks to many years of hard work in making transferring water through pipes to higher levels possible.
The place was now a mandatory rest stop for travelers of the Great Desert, especially the merchant caravans that connected north and south. There they could rest and recover, stocking up on water and food as well as hiring desert mounts for some coin.
That's also why the group made their way to the canyon, to scout out the area and get a few beasts of burden to help in their travels.
Or at least, that was the plan.
But as many things go, stuff doesn't often go as planned. That became quite clear when a giant pillar of black smoke started rising above the Wailing Canyon.
The group hurried towards it despite the exhaustion. They were clearly good people who tried to help even if they didn't know what was going on, so Gerald decided to be generous.
He handed each of them a Stamina Potion, and moments later they were all imbued with energy and fighting spirit.
"Woooo! That's some good stuff! I feel like I was just reborn!" Dug roared, feeling the energy course through his veins.
"I feel invincible!"
The gang then sprinted across the desert until they reached the entrance to the canyon. Around it, in the midst of greenery and dry grass, many bodies littered the ground. While most belonged to a single faction, some of them were not like the others.
"Sand Walkers!" Dug gasped in shock.
"Wow… How can you tell?" Gustav asked as he was similarly observing the fresh corpses.
He then received a livid look from his boss. "It's the tattoos, dumbass! You seriously didn't do any research?!" Dug pointed and took the opportunity to scold him at the same time.
But Gustav didn't care. He simply shrugged his shoulders and took the insult like a champ.
"Should we help?" Gerald asked, tired of waiting.
The rest of the warriors were also itching to fight. They were full of energy and felt invincible with their unending stamina. However, Dug kept a cool head and preferred to stay on the safe side.
"We need to make a plan," He said. "Who knows how many of these bandits are there. Only one path leads into the canyon and the enemy could be hiding anywhere. We have to be careful!"
Some grumbling and disagreements were going about. A few of the hot-blooded guys just wanted to rush in head-first, but even they didn't have the balls to do it alone.
"Right, it's just one path…" Gerald said to himself and rubbed his chin as a crazy grin formed on his face. "Only one path, so nobody can escape, huh… Hehehe…"
With a thud, his Titan's bulwark appeared before him and stuck itself into the ground. At the same time, the Toothpick was also summoned, landing in his hand.
"What the heck is that?! Is that a metal door?!"
"It's clearly a shield, stupid!"
"How?! Just look at it, it is massive! No way a human can use it!"
"Correct!" Gerald grinned. "It's made for the big guy." The men could only gawk as the bedrock beneath their feet shook and cracked into pieces, encasing Gerald in stone from all sides.
"Behold! The Golem Armor!" Gerald laughed and picked up the Titan's Bulwark that now looked just about the right size for the stone giant. The glaive in his hand, however, appeared somewhat small. Still dangerous though.
"Let's go men! For gold and glory!" He shouted, his boundless confidence spreading like a virus. Quickly they are all excitedly charging down the stone path after Gerald who was shaking the ground with each step.
Well, all except Dug and his right-hand guy.
"Damn, where did you find some crazy bastard like that? Thad to cost a lot! And you were hiding him so well, haha!" Gustav slapped his boss on the back.
"I…" Dug was speechless. "I didn't know…" He honestly had no clue. Actually, after finding out he invited another member into his group while being drunk he almost wanted to apologize and kick him out. But, as he got another member without paying him, he decided to just go with it.
And what a smart decision that was.
But then he suddenly realized something. The guys didn't know anyone here! What if they started a fight with one of the people here while fighting the Sand Walkers?! It would be a disaster!
"Wait! Wait for me!" Dug shouted and quickly ran after them.
***
The path leading down was carved into the bedrock and was wide enough for two wagons to move side-by-side, so even with Gerald running with many tons of stone, rumbling down like an avalanche, the ground remained solid.
However, the commotion was loud enough to attract some unwanted attention. A few members of the Wind Walkers tribe hid in the crevices beside the path, camouflaged by the long gowns they wore, that had the same color as the rocks around them. If a person was unaware of their presence, he would be dead meat.
A swift slice of their blades and the fight would be over before it even began. Or at least that's how it was supposed to be when a sand Walker attacked Gerald...and struck stone.
Too bad he relied on the sound of footsteps instead of checking who was coming.
"Huh?" Gerald looked down at his rocky leg and the guy looking at him in an absolute stupor. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Gerald reacted. "Out of my way!" He smacked him across the face with his stone hand.
It was unclear if the man was that stunned having a massive stone giant suddenly appear before him, or if the smack was just that strong, but he flew over the edge, without a single peep or resistance, and disappeared below the cliff.
"Oh… Well, that was unexpected…" The fight, if it could be called that, was over in an instant. Gerald didn't even have time to look at the guy before he disappeared. It was all so underwhelming that he felt embarrassed by his actions.
Poor guy just wanted to slice his throat, and instead of giving him a fair fight, he just slapped him over the edge. Talk about being disrespectful!
"Hmm… Yes, well... Let's go…" He said to the gawking soldiers behind him. "I promise I'll be gentler with the next one."