Early morning hours, the wind was blowing hard enough to lift some grains of sand, even small swirls of dust could be seen constantly appearing and disappearing in the distance, but this did not prevent the overwhelming heat from fulminating in the first ray of sunlight. After all, Infernatum was not an ordinary place, and even the area where the now lonely city of Oasis is located was just one of the farthest parts of the center of that deadly desert.
Many people had the knowledge that the central part of Infernatum was considered a Grade A environment, that is to say a zone where only those considered Alpha rank or higher could have a chance of getting out alive and the further away from the epicenter of the place, the lesser the degree of danger, one would be exposed. Oasis was located within the D grade danger zone, one of the lowest within Infernatum, after all who would put a trade route in a dangerous area?
But despite that, the D grade danger was enough to be deadly for most ordinary humans. Omicron people would hopelessly die, while people with classification as Delta (a rank above Omicron) could barely survive in this challenging environment and only someone classified as Gamma would have enough power to independently survive in this place on their own. However, if they went deeper than they should be then they would just be pushing their luck.
The only survivor of the cruel massacre stood quietly in front of the gates of the great city. The boy looked at those thick wooden doors which were mostly shattered, it was as if hundreds of sharp claws and weapons of some kind had ripped and torn it until finally they were able to gnaw enough wood so that the owners of those claws and weapons could cross the barrier and invade the city; As if he was deeply meditating his next move the dirty teenager remained motionless, in his heart he was sure that the scene inside the city would not be better than the situation outside, and perhaps it would even be more unpleasant since less scavengers meant a greater amount of decaying flesh and with these temperatures the process would accelerate in such a way that in just a few hours the exposed flesh would already be a horribly unpleasant liquid mass whose smell would be able to make most people vomit.
Hesitating a little he looked back at the field of bones, he knew he was completely alone and the only presences that accompanied him were those small insects and the smaller scavengers that were still desperately searching for scraps of food they could enjoy. Watching a small rodent carry away a snout of bone that was probably a finger, as it rushed into a hole in the distance that was likely its burrow, the young man watched as he tried to remember exactly what had happened but after being attacked by a giant skeleton and feeling his chest being pierced by that sharp spike. In his brain it had all become a mystery, but in his mind, everything had blacked out once his body was impaled by that giant skeleton and the last thing, he remembered were the words that he strangely felt that he himself had pronounced, "We are united by blood, I am you and you are me," and when he woke up that horrifying wound had completely disappeared.
At that moment he had many questions, but it was not that he had no way to answer them either, he had already tried to enter that black space again but he was unsuccessful despite having tried for hours. The young man had even tried to talk to himself in desperate attempt to have more information about his current situation but it had been useless and he had reached the point of thinking 'This is how people start to lose their sanity'. Knowing that he had only two options, it was to either enter the city and find a way to stay alive long enough for someone to find him or face the desert on his back and pray to quickly find some caravan that would travel to this place and help him.
Who would lightly make a decision in which his life would depend? Probably no one and at this moment the young man was wrapped in his thoughts, finally he made a decision, he raised his eyes with determination, taking a last look at the bone field. But when he was about to enter the city, he noticed in the distance a black dot in the sky, he did not know at what time that mole had appeared in the sky but perhaps it had been a while and because he was immersed in his thoughts, he had not noticed it, but just when he wondered what was that strange point? He suddenly realized that the dot was getting bigger as time went by and for this there was only one probable reason. It was approaching at a fast speed and precisely with that speed it would soon reach the place where he was.
Escape?
He had no idea where he was and besides with the speed at which the unknown object that was now at the size of a tennis ball was approaching, he could not get very far away and it was normal after all it had been practically 24 hours since the disaster and it is likely that some caravan or travelers had arrived at Oasis and upon seeing the scene had run at full speed in search of help in other nearby cities. There was a saying in the desert, "News travels fast in the sand".
With no choice but to wait for the imminent arrival of the object, his face that which until now had remained completely calm, showed a clear expression of surprise and even his mouth opened slightly from the impression that the black dot had given him when he was close enough to distinguish its shape. Who would not be surprised if he noticed that a giant blue whale was rapidly approaching his position? That creature seemed much larger than anyone would think, and this only became clearer as the closer it got. As if it were crossing the sea, it was furiously moving its tail up and down to propel itself at great speeds, while that characteristic whale sound that sounded more like sonar scanning the area could be heard, a sound which became louder and louder as it got closer.
A complicated look had appeared in the red-eyed man's eyes, he couldn't be surprised to see that whale and at the same time he wondered 'What the hell is a whale doing in the desert? '. But his surprise turned greater when he noticed that just above the head of that majestic creature was the silhouette of what looked like a human. But just at that moment, one of the sound waves caused by the howl of the whale had raised a large amount of dust which rammed against the walls of the city and with it against the young man who could barely manage to raise his arms in front of his face to cover those beautiful red eyes of all the dust.
Moments later everything was calm and the cloud of sand that had risen slowly had returned to the ground and he regain the ability to open his eyes but then he was surprised by the scene before him, as a huge blue whale was floating imposingly on the plain full of bones, while on the head of that majestic beast was a bald man with brown skin that had a beard quite pronounced and whose body shape made note that he was a rather corpulent person, this man was wearing a complete black armor, whose most striking feature was a white belt from which the sign (B) was protruding. The knight kept a cold and severe look while analyzing the surroundings trying to guess some clue of what had happened until finally his gaze was planted on that ragged young man with malnourished appearance in front of the gates of the city and with an imposing and deep voice exclaimed, "My name is Aeris commander of the fifth legion of the imperial army in the service of our King Magnus, announce your name and rank then explain what happened in Oasis, lie and you will be executed".
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Hi everyone, I bet no one expected a whale in the middle of the desert.... Points to me for impressing you I guess.
I hope you continue to enjoy this intriguing beginning. Wondering what will happen to our protagonist and if he will tell the truth? I wonder too