Sand whipped past as they skimmed across the rising black dunes, barely a few meters off the ground, all things told.

  Their speed such that the desert appeared to undulate beneath them, a rippling sea of charcoal granules baking under the intensity of the noonday sun. The gale force winds kicked up by their passage taking the occasional bite out of the odd dune as they passed.

  Looking back, the reason for their breakneck pace was made obvious. Not a hundred paces behind them raced the desert monarch himself, The Old Man of the Desert. A sand worm of truly prodigious proportions—a four-hundred-foot-long colossus as wide around as, well, Eleanor didn’t rightly know.

  Needless to say, in one fell swoop it could’ve swallowed her, the griffin she rode upon, and a decently sized townlet whole, with still plenty room left over for dessert.

  Uncaring of the desert’s general topography, the S Grade Monarch ignored the many obstacles in its way. Choosing instead to simply barrel straight on through them, not even slowed as dunes were blasted apart, like waves before the bow of a heavy cargo hauler.

  Exploding forth with consecutive, heart pounding, soul numbing thumps—it’s circular maw of razor-sharp teeth spinning in alternating rings of gyrating hell.

  [Old Man of the Desert (Monarch Class | S Grade Rift Spawn)]

  Abilities:

  Colossus Stature, Colossus Speed, Colossus Strength, Sand Traversal, Impenetrable Hide, Earth Manipulation, Earthen Aura, Tremor Sense, Gyrating Maw, Bottomless Appetite, Feeding Frenzy.

  Weaknesses:

  ???

  From somewhere behind them, Eleanor once more heard the distinctive boom, as Jun delivered yet another one of his titanic blows.

  The periods of harried flight between such attempts were growing longer and longer, as he seemed to be taking more and more time to charge up each attack—no doubt hoping, just like her, that this would be the time he finally broke through its impenetrable hide.

  Seeing as all their other attempts hadn’t even been able to scratch the beast, let alone harm it, his glowing fists were really all they had in terms of reliable damage.

  That the forty or so minutes he needed to charge up each strike was likely more than enough for the beast’s soul vitality to heal any wounds it received, was not something Eleanor wanted to dwell upon right now.

  After a few more minutes, another of the ZephyrStorm Griffins banked over to glide beside hers. Riding just behind the griffin’s holder was Jun, a decidedly frustrated look on his face. With a deft manipulation of wind currents, the two griffin holders created a bubble of air just large enough for them to communicate without their words being lost to the rushing winds.

  “This isn’t working,” called G. Jun. “It’s healing too fast for us to deal any significant, long-lasting damage.”

  “Damn. I was worried that might be the case. Any bright ideas?”

  Jun grimaced.

  “One. But you’re not going to like it.”

  “Lay it on me.”

  And so, he did. And he was right. She did not, as it so happened, find herself immediately in love with his “plan.” Indeed, she found herself… less than enamored of the idea.

  With extraordinary grace and stunning agility, a girl, almost eight years and three quarters old, veritably dances across the gritty sands of the black dry desert.

  The shallow sand-drifts that shift and persist on the very outskirts of her home village. The ones she was under no circumstances permitted to venture onto alone. Not that she was without adequate protection, mind you.

  The soothing feel of hot sand between her toes nothing when compared to the comforting heft of mother’s gnarled walking stick.

  Abruptly, the girl twists, stumbles, swings—slaying rift spawn by the army-full with her lightning-fast attacks. Fending off siege after siege with one arm tied behind her back. Flying through the skies on dragons made of cloud. Taking tea with queens. And countesses. And honorable knights. Comporting herself, as always, with admirable aplomb.

  In fact, so absorbed is the girl in her games of make believe, that she almost fails to notice when the earth begins to tremble. The shifting of sands and distant rumble eventually snapping her from her reverie and drawing her eye toward the lip of a nearby rise.

  Plagued by curiosity, she hurriedly makes her way up the steep incline of shifting sands, long years of practice making her footsteps sure, despite the desert’s many attempts to sabotage her footing. Raising her head above the lip of the shuddering rise, she doesn’t immediately understand what it is she’s looking at.

  And when, at last, she finally does, she also comes to a sudden realization. Understanding, all at once, why her mother had been so adamant she keep away from the outskirts.

  Because a gaping maw large enough to swallow the sun was now bearing down on her. Meanwhile she was too terrified to even move, let alone make as if to defend herself. Suddenly, the gnarled stick in her hand didn’t feel quite so mighty, and any dreams of valor were now far far away. Leaving her helpless.

  Unable to do anything but stare, wide eyed, as the churning maw grew ever larger in her vision. An ever-expanding void that would gobble up the whole entire world, with her the first morsel swept down its gullet.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Then, something altogether unexpected happened. The monster, liable to eat up the whole wide world in one big bite… exploded.

  Detonating in an eruption of silver and crimson light. A stream of tiny specks, like red locusts, swarming out from the monster's long belly to eat through its long sides, even as chunks of its flesh were torn away—blasted high into the sky on silvery waves of concussive, bone rattling force.

  And then the first of many shockwaves reached her, and she fell tumbling down the incline of sand.

  Landing safely at the bottom, she didn’t even wait to catch her breath, before she was sprinting towards the village, a heartfelt apology already on her lips. It would seem that, at least this time around, mother had been right after all.

  Eleanor grimaced.

  Spitting to try and rid her mouth of the awful taste. With a concerted effort she managed to pull her left leg from the remains of the massive worm corpse, slipping on several of its many liquids in the process, and landing squarely on her butt with an audible splat. The coarse ridges of its hide were less than accommodating, as it so happened.

  “Well! That was certainly… effective,” the Flight Lieutenant called down from where she and her Griffin still hovered at a safe distance. “If… disgusting. I hope you don’t mind, really, I mean no offense, but could we possibly postpone our departure? At least until you two have had a chance to clean yourselves up a bit?”

  Eleanor glanced down at what was effectively her brand-new armor, now covered head to toe in gelatinous worm goo. She shot a wicked glare in Jun’s direction, only to find him even worse off than she was. At first, he looked to be doubled over in pain.

  Glancing down at the ruined state of his hand, she felt a sudden flash of concern—she knew from experience how much of a burden his titan’s fist ability placed on his body. That was when she heard the first of many dry heaves, as, instead of shuddering in pain, her familiar appeared to be trying very hard not to be sick.

  “Mother of-! Got in my bloody mouth, the bastard. I think I swallowed some. Oh gods…!”

  Eleanor left him to it. Turning back to the Lieutenant, she answered.

  “That’s… fair. Though, I’m unsure as to how we’d go about something like that here…?”

  The woman gave her a wicked grin, before miraculously producing a sphere of water from her palm. The five other junior officers quickly followed suit, equally mischievous expressions on their faces.

  Fire. Smoke. Distant screams.

  This was what greeted them as they burst from the ashen cloud bank—the circular wall of smoke and ash which cordoned off this stretch of fiery terrain—and emerged onto the Volcanic Ashlands proper.

  A dead place of harsh angles and scorching heat, where the rain of ash was near constant, impenetrable, and the only real light came from the many rivers and lakes of molten rock that bubbled far below.

  Lava flows which seemed to paint the entire landscape an ominous red.

  Characterized by jagged spires and cragged outcroppings; it was an inhospitable environment from the get-go. Lacking even the basest of necessities for long term survival. The virulent proliferation of rift spawn only serving to further exacerbate the issue.

  As they homed in on the location of their quarry, signs of battle only grew more and more numerous. Smoking craters and fresh divots carved into the ground. Darting silhouettes and brilliant flashes flaring in the distance, as every shifting shape and size of fiery projectile flew this way and that.

  Darting and colliding in an incendiary display, like a festivals’ worth of fireworks gone off all at once. From their vantage it was clear that the remaining members of the recon team, made up primarily of fire attuned holders, were being pressed and harried by the veritable hordes of fire rift spawn that called this place home.

  With many of them visibly injured, they maintained a fighting retreat, even as packs of feral, flame-wreathed hell hounds bayed for their blood.

  Luckily for them, the strike team’s arrival would not only serve as a timely extraction for these brave women, but also as a much-needed extermination of the rift spawn that were chasing them. Eleanor was the first to leap from griffin back as they swept down to alight on a scorching ridge.

  Wasting no time at all, she quickly sped towards the train of haggard looking women, her blade already sheathed in a gelatinous red substance.

  And Jun on the other hand? Well, he had a much bigger fish to fry.

  [Black-Scaled Drake (Monarch Class | S Grade Rift Spawn)]

  Abilities:

  Dragon’s Stature, Dragon’s Speed, Dragon’s Strength, Fire Immunity, Impenetrable Scales, Fire Manipulation, Intimidating Gaze, Intimidating Aura, Dragon’s Pride, Dragon’s Flame, Dragon’s Breath, Ruler’s Domain.

  Weaknesses:

  ???

  Already having been briefed by a runner on its myriad abilities, and now just seeing the big behemoth in person? Well, Jun felt it was fairly safe to say that, in the event this became a purely martial engagement, it would not end well for him.

  No, not at all.

  And not just because the beast was huge and rippling with muscle—it’s metallic black scales wholly insufficient in hiding the tightly coiled definition that lay just beneath—but it’s current location as well. Half submerged in a lake of fire, for all intents and purposes, the several story tall, land-locked dragon appeared to be taking a nice warm bath.

  Like an island at the very center of a bubbling lake of rock, it looked on impassively as its lesser brethren ran down the recon team, golden eyes flashing with as much arrogance as they did intelligence.

  It’s scales like burnished metal reflecting warm, molten hues. Sharpened ridges adorned its spine, flowing from the top of its head, down it’s expansive back, until they disappeared beneath the surface of the lake.

  Two massive S shaped horns sprouting from its head, while smaller, twisting ones wreathed its temple like a crown of thorns. It’s head shape tapering into a long, slender snout—with several of its dagger long teeth poking through.

  Looking down at the proud beast from the elevated rise where they stood, even Crushing was hesitant to fight it head on. Jagged spires looming far off in the distance, swirling ash like a blizzard’s shifting screen, and the occasional streak of red lightning from up above giving the already intimidating S Grade Monarch a decidedly ominous feel.

  Which meant it was a very good thing, G. Jun decided, that he had no intentions of getting up close and personal whatsoever. Without further ado, Jun began charging up his mantra.

  Lancing Spear | Reaching Spear activated, and out of the coiling ribbons of green mist that followed, a polished emerald wand was formed. With a start, G. Jun noticed that something was off. The focus wasn’t nearly as pristine as it had been the first time he’d used it.

  A web of hairline fractures now tracing all along its length. Unable to call things off once he’d begun the process, Jun attempted to push more aura into the wand, to somehow seal up the cracks, but it was to no avail. He only succeeded in adding to the spinning ball of light slowly coalescing at its tip.

  What was going on here? Was this what “he” had meant by a limited number of uses?

  That seemed like some fairly important information for him to simply gloss over without further explanation. What would happen if he somehow went over the provided limit, for instance? Would it explode in his hands, obliterating him and the surrounding area for miles around? That he hadn’t even tried to expound extensively upon all the possible pros and cons of this ability…

  It-! It was just so irresponsible of him. Worse! It was downright sloppy!

  And here he’d been hoping his prime self took more after him than he did the others. G. Jun fumed, or as close to it as he ever came anyway. A slight frown creased his brow, his mouth a flat line.

  He’d honestly expected more from himself. How disappointing. And then, as if it had sensed his distress, the Monarch’s head swiveled in his direction, and with a sharp jolt like ice in his veins, locked its golden, reptilian eyes with his.

  It knew.