Sand to Stars

Midnight Wanderings

The young wanderer stayed until the next night, slipping away without a word, tail sweeping behind him as he enjoyed the cool breeze of the winds against his scales. He walked silently, glad to have chosen traveling at night over being worn away under the sun's harsh glare.

It was a good change of pace. And it meant that he would be able to cover more ground quicker. Even if it also meant sometimes dealing with the creatures that came out when the sun went down. He was able to evade most of them, sneaking past with his claws gripping his weapon tightly.

Some were completely uninterested in him. Others were much more intrigued by this young lizard and approached. Rapidly... and hungrily approached, actually.

There were about four of them, each about the length of his tail from end to end. They had a rounded tan carapace over their short bodies and jointed legs. Each was fast, moving in nonsensical patterns as they got closer. He'd never seen these things before, but they reminded him of maybe beetles? But a little flatter and much much larger, with jaws that occasionally clicked as the small group approached him rapidly.

He lifted his weapon and tried to track their movements, taking potshots as they got closer and closer. Each missed shot kicked up superheated sand and jagged pieces of glass. Each trigger pull fired a beam that broke the darkness of the night, illuminating the sand it passed over.

He took a short moment to aim after backing up, and this time the beam struck straight through one of the skittering insectoids, leaving a glittering hole encrusted with glass in its wake.

The other three took this opportunity to rush towards him to close in on their prey. After two more potshots, he turned and started running. It would be better to find a hiding place, not that there were many in sight.

He pushed himself harder as they followed, one even daring to jump at him. It fell short, but it was still enough encouragement to get him to run faster. Not that it helped however, they were fast and skittered rapidly, occasionally leaping if they fell too far behind or got close enough. He reached for a dagger on his belt, nothing more than a sharp bit of metal really, and kept an eye behind him as he ran.

They were getting closer. He pulled the dagger out and sidestepped the next one that leapt at him. His hand went up and he drove it into the underbelly of the beast before he pulled away and started sprinting again. It screeched in pain and dropped to the ground after it had been stabbed. Which at least distracted the remaining two with their fallen ally now that it was in front of them.

Soon the... insects? Were out of sight, too busy feasting upon the fallen to care that the prey had gotten away. He came to a stop, bending over and supporting himself with his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths. Once he caught his breath, he just started walking again, looking to the sky to see how long he had until the sun came up. He could tell it would be soon. He needed to find shelter.

When the sun rose he dug himself a small area to sleep in safely. Closed his eyes and relaxed into the cool sands. They shifted around him as he settled down, and he was able to slowly but surely fall asleep. But then the sands gave way, leaving him to fall.

As the sands fell out from under him he yelped and scrabbled for anything to catch him. But he found only sand falling with him, as the caves swallowed him up. With a cacophony of thumps, cracks, and a final thud, he lay still, unconscious and alone in the pitch-black caves. 

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Apologies for the time between parts, as well as how short this one is, but school and IRL things got in the way. Should be back to weekly now!