"CLAW, CLAW"
The sound of a black bird could be heard in the now again quiet desert as it landed on the ground, slowly hoping, getting close to a persons head.
"Phug"
Hoping on top of it, ti began to peck a soft jelly substance, its eye and began feasting on its new food.
"Phug .. Phugh"
while eating its fill, it watched at the direction the strange noises were coming from.
"Phug"
Lizard like humanoids were collecting the corpses of their fallen pray, slowly placing them in carts that were tied to huge beasts, their yellow bodies and tight hide made them strong enough to resist the harsh heat of the desert, it legs were long and wide, to making it easier to move on the sand without fear of sinking or being slow down.
Not even an hour after the start of the slaughter, the noised had already died, reverting to the eerie silence that predominated the land.
The ground was red, moisten by the blood of the countless humans the were slaughter like pigs, without a way to resist, their bodies laid on top of the sand, gradually picked and place on the cart, then carry off to unknown lands.
There was no mercy, no matter how much they struggled or begged, their pleas were no heard, and all were equally killed, no prisoners taken.
As they proceeded with their job, a man observe the whole battlefield, his skin was darker than other making it a deep blackish gold color, his body, larger by at least a head that his peers and muscles thick enough to make most adults look thin in his presence.
In his hand, a spear as long as himself, resting on his shoulder, his eyes scanned the ground where his most recent battle had occur.
"Weak" he though as he looked at the result of their first attack, an overwhelming victory.
"i had some hope when i first saw them armed, but ..... sight disappointing"
He was uninterested when his scout warned of their pray, but hearing they were ready for battle, he got excited, hoping to finally move his body, to be relief from its boredom, so he personally lead his troops, ordering half them surround the enemy before attacking, but much to his disappointment, he didn't even need to send reinforcement, much less himself.
The prey didn't even try to fight back, breaking any formation they had and running in all direction, loosing what little advantage they possessed, sealing their fate.
"What a waste of time"
Cursing in his mind he couldn't stop his annoyance at the time he thought it was going to be a hard fight.
"You are thinking it was a waste of time"
"Tsk"
Hearing the voice of one of his subordinate and close advisor behind him, already imaging his annoying smirk, he clicked his tongue in disdain, he knows me quite well.
"What are the result"
Not even turning his head he order him, only to make his friend smile more at his childish behavior, but still proceed to so as he asked.
"To be honest even i can believed them, we didn't suffer a single casualty, the pray didn't even tried to fight back, and even harmed their own kin while trying to run away, it was overwhelming victory"
"And their numbers"
"Not sure since we are still counting them but it should be around 10,000"
"mhm" nodding his head, he couldn't help but agree they were good results, even do he was a battle carving warrior it didn't mean he was stupid, having no casualties and securing enough resources was already as good as they could get, his reputation should raise in the clan, albeit no much since they weren't strong foes.
"But there was a thing that picked my interest"
"mmh?"
"I have never seen such a race before, at least not in this part of the continent, i wonder what kind are they"
"Indeed i have never seen them before, while having some resemblance, it was still different from those forest bastards, and were too tall to be dwarfs, maybe some kind of dhampir? .... no, even their lowest ranks wont be this weak.
Looking at the corses in the ground he tried to guess their race for a couple of seconds before giving out and turning toward his adviser.
"It does not matter who they are, the contract been fulfilled, nothing else matter, as soon as they finish picking the corpses we will leave, anything else can be figured latter"
Giving his orders he turned his head back toward the battlefield, but instead looked at horizon, no, it seems as if he was looking at a place farther that the eye could see.
His eyes showed a look of contempt, disgust could be seen on his lizard like face as he muttered before leaving.
"Bunch of cowards"
Just as he began leaving one solider approached and knelt before him.
"My lord we discover traces of a few prays leaving before we encircle them, should we began. hunting party and chase them?"
"How many?
"From their footprints we can deduce just a few managed to escape"
"mmm.... no, leave them be, we already completed what we need and have enough to bring back, hunting a few of them is a waste of time".
Thinking for a bit he decide to just let them go, original he would send a small party to kill stronger enemies but this time it wasn't worth it, they were too weak and most of them had died so the chances of them regrouping and striking back were slim, with out saying his mood wasn't the best so he wanted to quickly get back home and be done with this.
"Guess luck was on their side this time"
Thinking those words he dismisses the soldier and went back into his tent to rest.
Three days after the massacre, unaware what had transcribed, Alex found himself standing at the front of what it seems as a huge rocky mountain, looking at it he could help but admire the sheer size of this natural wonder, its reddish color changed from light to dark as the sun moved creating a stunning sight that would definitely attract photographers and climbers from all around the world to capture his beauty, as well as conquer it.
At first he thought he could go around, but the closer he got, he began to notice either smaller cliffs or mountains at its side, making it impossible for him to advance.
Without idea of what to do he decide to seat down near a small tree he found near him, and recover his energy.
Except in the first day when he got here, he have been moving from dusk to dawn, resting and sleeping on either small caves or under rocks he found on his way here during the day, trying to escape the heat of the sun.
And after three days he managed to reach its destination, but now he was stuck on what to do, he couldn't go around the mountain not go under it, he was not a rock climber and even if he was there was no way he would climb such height without equipment.
His last option was to return but his supplies were already almost half gone, returning would meant certain death, plus he was sure that there had to be a way.
There were many factor on their summoning to this place that didn't add"
Why there?, Why were they armed and geared?, Why the need to give us food and water?
Many factors didn't add up which made him think that maybe there was a way out of his predicament, so after thinking for a bit he decided that the route he took was the most safe one, but now he wasn't so sure.
"Was i wrong and picked the wrong way?"
Getting up and moving closed to the mountain like rock, he began once again admire the sight while talking to himself.
" Sight, I guess i was really wrong, i may try going around this place to see if the-"
Thinking about his bad decision and begin to plan his next course of action, he notice something strange near the base of the mountain, a strange hole a few hundred feet from him, making it really hard to see, specially since this landform was easily thousand of feet long, not to mention height.
But what got his attention was not the hole as there were dozens around him, but the shape, its walls were too straight, almost as if it was cut and shape by someone, and in nature it was rare to find something in straight line.
As it go closer he felt the sensation of a cold breeze in his skin, which made him smile in excited.
"If there is a breeze, it means there is an exit.
Of course he may be wrong, it may not be an exit or just another cave connecting to this one making him waste time going in circles, but there was also a possibility he was right, and right now he didn't got a better plan.
After thinking for a few moment and weighing the ups and downs he decided to go, entering the cave, unknown what would he find.