𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃

chapter five - sandstorm

"There's something outside."

Lucas threw his "blanket" across the room. In a hushed tone, he asked, "What is it?"

"I don't know!" Jalen whispered back.

The whole shack rumbled. Sand shivered and fell from the furniture to the slate grey floor. Link and Jaron were standing by the doorway that was currently covered by a piece of cloth. They were afraid of what was beyond it but prepared to take it on if it were to attack. Lucas leapt to his feet and headed to them with Jalen following suit.

Lucas peaked through the holes in the charred and worn cloth, but all he could see was sand and the sky. From behind, Lucas heard pouring. Not the pouring of liquid, but pouring of some sort of powder-like substance. He looked back and saw sand pouring from the hole in the roof, forming a mound on the floor like one you'd find in an hour glass.

Jalen noticed too. "What the-"

The mound exploded and particles blew around the structure. A violent wind lashed around the group of boys, whipping their clothes and hair around. Sand attacked the eyes and throats, causing a fit of coughs and tears. However, no matter how many times Lucas hacked and hacked, sand still invaded his mouth and esophagus. Tears that were streaming down his face were meant to wash his stinging eyes, but they just made it easier for the coarse substance to grate against Lucas' ivory skin. In the chaotic embrace of the enclosed storm, Lucas buckled over in agitation and stumbled around in a haze.

He felt a rough cloth brush over his hair, and just like that, Lucas escaped the fierce madness of the crude cyclone. The young man collapsed onto the ground and struggled against the sand in his system through wheezes. After coughing up grit to the point that he could see crimson drops on the ground, Lucas gagged and vomited the nearly bare innards of his stomach. The sand was finally with the rest of the desert, not exploring the organs of Lucas' digestive track.

It seemed that through all the regurgitation, Lucas hadn't noticed the panting and sighing of the other three right beside him.

"What... pant... was that?" Jalen asked breathlessly.

"A... cough... Jorvik." Despite being winded, Lucas still added on a with a smirk, "Idiot."

"Aren't they... sigh... supposed to be more, I dunno, scaly?"

Link forced out a laugh.

Lucas regained his breath. "Is philosophy the only thing you waste your brain cells on? Jorviks can take on all sorts of shapes and sizes, whether it be humanoid, animal-like, or something like a footstool. It's only when they're dead and all that's left of them is a reptile-like carcass do they have scales. Even a child knows that."

"Then... how do you differentiate them from other animals and stuff?"

Jaron shook his head in disappointment.

Baffled by Jalen's ignorance, Lucas replied, "Jorviks are born from humanity's fears and vices. Their appearance and abilities mirror those fears and faults! How do you not know this?"

"I'm still a little lost..."

Right after Jalen trailed off, Vaessen's shack detonated, turning the poorly-constructed walls to projectiles. The four young men were sent backwards by the impact. The stove was in pieces and ascending into the stratosphere, the blankets were sent flying past the horizon, and the Frederick Nietzsche book fell into Jalen's lap.

"Awesome," he muttered to himself.

"Link!"

Jaron dashed across the dunes with wide eyes and an anxious expression contorted on his face. He dropped beside Link whose eyes were shut tight and forehead dripping with blood. He must have been hit by a flying piece of metal from the explosion.

Lucas stood up to see if he could help but was stopped by a wall of wind and sand. He tried finding a way around it only to realize that the Jorvik had him surrounded.

"Crap."

Even with the sandstorm blistering at his ears, Lucas could hear an enraged roar. Almost beast-like, the bellow was one of pure anguish and hate boiling over. Lucas would know; he let out the same one when Vaessen helped him discover his Gift.

Through the barrage of sand, a sharp blade pierced through. The flash of silver nearly cut off Lucas' ear. No, not silver. Camouflage green?

The Jorvik released Lucas and begun focusing its assault on Jaron. Jaron madly swung around a fierce saber that seemed to be made from the same material we the jacket he wasn't currently wearing. Could this be Jaron's Gift?

Now free, Lucas ran over to Link, still out cold and being taken care of by Jalen.

"What's happening?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know! Jaron just got really mad after checking on Linkin's head then threw this bracelet at me!" Jalen exclaimed while holding up a large band of metal. "Next thing you know, his pants and boots have spikes, and his jacket is a sword!"

Lucas yanked the bracelet from Jalen's hand. It was just a thin, rusting piece of metal. Lucas couldn't imagine why anyone would wear it as an accessory, especially Jaron. However, upon further inspection, Lucas noticed that a Jorvikian scale was attached. It wasn't glowing any sort of interesting colour, so it's purpose was to detect Gifts. Perhaps it was meant to suppress one instead?

"DIE-"

Jaron grunted as he swung his jacket-saber towards the sandstorm Jorvik. However, since it was simply wind and dust, no harm was done to it no matter how deadly the slash was. Even though his attacks proved useless against the Jorvik and its blitzes, he kept going in a fit of rage. With a trained eye, Lucas could tell Jaron had experience with combat, but his anger was causing his moves to come off as unpolished and insane. He didn't even realize that his aggression was amounting to nothing.

Eventually, the Jorvik grew tired of their frivolous dance and passed right through Jaron. It rapidly made its way towards Linkin, Lucas, and Jalen. Lucas brought up his fist and widened his stance, hoping his Gift would prove to be more useful against the Jorvik than Jaron's.

"Come at me! I dare-"

He was cut off by a mouthful of sand. Lucas' throat, lungs, everything - they were were all cut off by sand. That included Lucas' consciousness.

✦✧✧✧✧✦

"FUN! THIS IS FUN! AGH-"

Jaron slammed his fist in the sand, and Lucas finally came to.

"What's going on...?" Lucas asked groggily.

"It took Link! The fu- That CRABBING MONSTER TOOK LINK!" Jaron screamed.

"Why would it do that?" Jalen asked.

"I'll tell you why, Jalen," Lucas sighed. "Because no matter how much Jorviks vary in appearance and abilities, there is one thing that unites them all at their core: They love seeing human beings suffer."

Jaron screamed in agony once more before kicking the sand and walking towards the rising sun.

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A/N

Take a shot every time Lucas says "What's going on?", "What is it?", etc during this chapter. Or better yet, take a shot every time Jalen is clueless during this entire book. I know this one's pretty short, but the next chapter is gonna come out really soon. By the way, there's only two more chapters before this "arc" is over. I'll finally be able to stop using the word "sand"! Anyways, I'm bad at outros...

Bye.