Even though he was pierced by the claw of a beast five times his size. Even though he was launched across the air, hurdled into sand and stone. Even though he was cut up, bruised, and beaten. Even though he was on the run from the city guard. Even after using his mysterious strenuous power so much. He still stood in his battle-damaged state. His sword carrying the weight of his arms and head, as he leaned upon his hilt, with the black and silver blade pierced into the soft sand ground.
"Hoefen, why are we going toward the crazy guy!" cried out Ceauli as I dragged her across the sand.
"Ceauli, he's the only one who can save us."
"But..."
"Just trust me!"
All across the Outerlands, mercenaries ran in all directions, but wherever they went the Devil Dog would follow. It would slash and scratch, the pain from its bleeding mouth and cut paws radiating in its anger and rage as it rampaged across the dunes.
I stopped at Tusk's aching and bleeding body, his forehead cut up, blood flowing over his red eyes and dark hair.
"Are you ok?" I asked as he turned his red eyes toward me.
"It's you kid... Uhg... Stay away while... I'll kill that..." He fell back down on the sandy ground, with his sword wrapped up in his arms, he looked out at the rampaging Devil Dog.
"You look tired," I said earnestly.
He looked up slightly pissed, "I've been running all night and I've used too much energy. I can probably kill that thing, but it'll cost me."
I let go of Ceauli's hand as she leaned down to look at Tusk's wounds. She looked at his cloak, his legs, his shoulder, and stomach.
"Hoefen, we need to take him to the doctor. That wound on his shoulder looks horrible."
"I can carry him, but I don't know how far..."
"I can walk... Just let me rest a second."
I quickly pulled out my golden dagger and turned toward the bloody battlefield. This doesn't mean much, but if I can at least protect this man then maybe...
All across the morning horizons, as the sun beat down on my face, I watched as the monster tore through the remaining mercenaries. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five. All that remained were two mercenaries with their spears pointed out, and Chinin, Lin, and Minda behind them. Their bodies contrasted against the dark shadows of the Devil Dog. It's brown fur-coated limbs dripping as it bounced back and forth from one dune to the next. Its large body shaking and panting in blood and death as it reached the final group.
"It's injured! Kill it!" screamed out Lin as he stood behind everyone else.
Chinin held out a short sword as the two mercenaries with spears attacked the monster. They tried to pierce its furred skin from beneath as it jumped up to attack-
Snap-snap!
Both of their spears snapped into pieces as their weapons came into contact with the monster's fur. It was too hard, too rough, too strong to pierce through, so as the monster's pressure came down on them from up above their spears broke and-
Squish!
They were crushed to goop and mush.
"Shit! You two behind me!" screamed out Chinin as he held out the small sword, backing up fast as the Devil Dog turned its head toward the group.
"It sees us! Run!" screamed out Lin as he took off in another direction.
Minda ran in the opposite direction of Lin, toward a nearby town very far off. They both left Chinin alone, his singular silver sword against a monster of giant proportions.
"DIIIIEEEEE!" he cried out in his musclar manly voice as he ran at the beast.
Crush!
Within seconds he was squished beneath the paw of the monster
---
Ceauli looked up to see Chinin's dead body crushed off in the distance, his remains licked and slurped up by the Devil Dogs cut up and sizzling mouth. It then turned its gaze toward Minda.
"Chinin... Chinin!" screamed out Ceauli as she got up and tried to run toward his remains in the distance.
But before she could take off I turned around and grabbed her, pulling her down to the sandy ground.
"Hey hey, shush... It'll hear us..."
"Listen to him girl, we will be safe from this distance, so don't interfere with its feeding if you want to survive," explained Tusk as he sat up from the ground, his sword held out between his black leathered arms and bleeding shoulder.
"But... But..." She watched as the Devil Dog chased after Minda, "but Minda... She's..."
"HELLLLLPPPP!" cried out Minda in a useless cry.
The sun in the sky. Was this her fate she thought? Was this how she was going to die? To a beast? To a- The Devil Dog opened its monstrous mouth and took one powerful bite.
Chomp!
Her body was split in two, with her lower guts cut up by the Devil Dogs gigantic arm-sized teeth. The front of her body spewed out in pain as she launched across the sandy dunes, half-eaten and dying. She was of living and death. She laid out on the sand as her life slowly fell from her eyes. As the silent curtain fell.
---
In a carriage across the sandy dunes from the City of Forr to the Outerlands, a group of six knights clad in white armor approached the valley. They each wielded two-handed long swords with their armor etched in the symbol of God.
God's symbol was one diagonal line intersected by three-pronged horizontal lines and two verticle ones. It was a symbol of the holy church of Murami, and the symbol of one of the leading religions of this desolate world.
Out of the six knights in white, one stood out from the rest, as the leader. He sat at the front of the group, with a white cape tucked into his white armor. And unlike the other knights, he didn't have a feathered helmet nor any face protection. He instead had pure short white hair, bushy white eyebrows, and clean white eyes. He also had a face of sternness and focus, like he was always having a revelation, or always in a struggle of sin and nature.
He reached into his black satchel by the side of his carriage bench and pulled out a dirty brown book, with the symbol of god stitched into its fabric.
He read from page fifty-three, "us Soldiers of Murami. Forewarn and cast in iron and steel. Our sword protectors of that weak and that night. We light the way for our ancestors. Shouldered paths of white eagles. For Death's door is but a knock away. We fight and fight. For Murami!"
A short silent pause continued across the white knights as they quietly reflected on the beautiful poem that was just sung by their leader. And then, almost like in unison of harmony, they all repeated out in a soft-spoken tone...
"For Murami!"