Nyx: Remnants of the Ashen Blood Chapter 2: Dream Sand

BY Hardikkumar Joshi PUBLISHED April 10, 2021

Encapsulated by glistening meadows, he could hear faint echoes in the distance.

Deep dark shapes seemed to spiral in the sky as they took on a gray hue. A twang followed by a buzzing sound reached Mark’s ears, and he instinctively hit the ground and rolled to the side, looking around for the source of danger while ducking behind a large boulder. He yelped and looked up at the shooter just in time to dodge another arrow.

A little way up the road was a group of four people riding horses. Two of them carried bows, while the other two were armed with short, curved swords. They cantered towards him, heads held low and their coats rippling golden like the intertwine rays of the sun were embedded into them.

They skidded to a halt and stepped into his sight of clear vision. On the first horse, a sturdy man with silver gauntlets held a broadsword, his built of a rapier but yet could easily hack through the hardest metals. Upholstered on his back was a quiver of arrows flecked with blood-red feathers.

Between them, rode a hooded lady with a spear in her hand. Her poise frame with slender legs made her beauty undiminished. She held a golden chest protected in her hand.

She had a helmet of extraordinary craftsmanship wrought from emerald and molten silver.

They were approaching the cliff, but the world seemed to glitch. As swift as the wind, the torches in their saddles blew away, and it gave off an acrid stench. Footsteps rumbled through the rubble-strewn land and something whirled by the group.

Suddenly, a volley of blazing black arrows covered the sky and immediately brought two men down. The lady steadied her spear and galloped away towards the cliff.

A deep growl rang through the forest and the ground was split. A burning claw shone and a dark figure clawed itself out of the earth. The creature had a grizzled, grotesque face and crimson eyes bored through his purple cloak.

The lady seemed to shudder as she gazed at her fallen companions, but as soon as she saw the beast, she bounded towards the ruins. Dark shapes seemed to crash through the shrubs pursuing the lady. She muttered some words, and she disappeared into the wind. The crimson-eyed beast stood at the peak of the mountain, jutting all over the barren landscape. He surveyed the area with a practiced eye. The black landscape could not cloud his steely gaze, as he could see the landscape as if sunshine were streaming over the land.

He caught a flicker of movement and sniffed the trail. He flung a dark green bolt toward the cliff. As the bolt went to the cliff, everything around it seemed to burn piece after piece. The bolt struck the ground, and the lady materialized at the spot.

She collapsed onto the ground but made her way to fall from the cliff. Before she could, the beast jumped from above and landed behind her nimbly. The beast held her eye to eye. Green fumes seemed to blow from his eyes. He snarled and prepared to stab her, but before he could, the lady shrieked “Gravoz” and the golden chest vanished from her hand emitting an eerie orange flash and reappeared where Mark stood.

Mark touched it but was stripped into reality.

He woke up shivering and opened his eyes. He heard nothing; he felt nothing, yet he was aware of the coolness of the air and its loamy fragrance. Cocooned in the face of the earth, feeling the rock beneath his feet. He felt the blood return to its normal steady pace and could feel his heartbeat again. His fingers were sore from being cuffed to the ground, as were his legs.

Water ran ever so coolly down the small fissures. In that pristine peace, he could take a moment to realize the situation. Small, loose stones littered the floor and the light from the torches got closer to the rock face.

The cave was built into the muddy brown rock of the cliff, and the stone guarding the entrance was jagged and uneven, arranged in such a way that it would be difficult to spot. He felt as if he were surrounded and that’s when he realized that he was confined in a wooden coffin and could only make out minor details outside through the splintered slits.

All of a sudden, flaming torches sparked to life, lighting up the tunnel ahead and bathing the entire cavern in a flickering violet glow.