Kyle Dorrin

Losing All Sense

Chapter 1- Lost

This far out in the desert there is a lot of things that can kill you. The Annala, giant sand worms with rows of razor sharp teeth, will swallow you up from below before you even know to get out of the way. The Lacer, humanoid reptiles that fashion weapons from the stone and what dying twigs they can out here, set up terrible ambushes that can be waiting over any sand dune. This of course kept me on edge while I was traveling through this desolate landscape. When I saw a large plume of sand sprout up over the next dune I stopped in my tracks and waited for ten minutes for some beast or another to come and take my life. When one didn’t I became curious and set to make my way up the wave of sand. Trekking up slowly and cautiously I made my way to the top. What I saw when I got there mystified me.

Three women sat in the sand as if they had just fallen from some great height. Though I did not see them fall they appear to have hit the ground hard. All three women had fair, pale skin, obviously not born for the desert sun. They wore light white robes, torn and dirtied but elegant, and ornate leather sandals. What struck me as the most horrifying and mesmerizing about them however was a disfigurement on each of them.

The first, I will call Spectri, as she appears to have had her eyes torn from her skull. If she had been able to see then she would be staring directly at me. Those hollow caverns where eyes should have been were now emptied, save for the skin that had begun growing onto the walls of her sockets. She had soft features on a petite frame with long, thin, black hair. If she tried to speak her voice was to soft for me to hear.

The next, I have decided to name Eari. She had hard, chiseled features with a bald head and where ears should have been there was only bright red burns with blisters. It appeared that her ears had been chopped off and where they would have been was burnt with a brand of some kind. She tried to speak but her voice was loud, shrill and incoherent. Perhaps she believed that the others could understand but without ears, not even she will ever know the sounds that come from her. All that could be heard was a high pitched, ear piercing squeal that forced the other sisters, and myself to cover our ears.

The third sister I’ve taken to calling Mulva. She had short brown hair that barely made it to her shoulders. Her eyes were a piercing gold orbs. Her most striking feature however was her mouth. She could not speak due to her mouth being sewn shut with what appeared to be, from a distance, a rusted piece of razor wire.

As the three ladies stood there looking about, those who could see at least, I decided to move around to the west. As I moved in silence, Eari and Mulva tried to spy some idea of where they were and where they could go. When I finally finished my movement, Eari pointed north and let out her high pitched squeal that is supposed to be some type of speech. Spectri covered her ears and nearly keeled over in pain. Mulva moved to the deaf speaker and tried to silence her. When all was quiet once again the looked to the top of the nearest dune and began to climb. All but Spectri, as she could not see that her friends were going. After they were a quarter of the way up the dune they realized that Spectri was not with them and hurried down to retrieve her. Together they moved, Spectri in the middle, holding the hands of either companion to her sides, up the sand. From my new vantage point I could see over their wall of sand and as they climbed. Two the the lizard like lancer were marching up the hill with spears at the ready to throw and a small curved sword in their other hand.

As our three unsuspecting women crested the peak of their dune, hand in hand, two spears were suddenly thrust upon them. The two who could see dove the the side, trying to pull Spectri out of harms way. They were unsuccessful however and as the blind women fell off balance and tried to catch herself she also caught a spear to the side and she squealed out in pain.

Eari, now rising to her feet looks to see the reptiles charging with swords in hand only ten feet from her and her companions. Mulva moved to attempt to treat the wound suffered by her sister. When Mulva finally reaches her sister the spear is pulled from the squirming body of Spectri and the high pitches cry of Eari becomes a low growl that evolves into a scream of rage as she moves to intercept the Lancer with spear in hand. Eari charges with a deft thrust that is easily parried aside by the first lancer. She then moves to her right to avoid being flanked by the second lizard man.

Mulva is now pressing her hands against Spectri’s wound attempting to stop the bleeding. The second lancer that was not being pressed by Eari now approaches the unarmed women. As he moves to strike using his blade that whistles through the air to Mulva. As she hears the whistle, Mulva stumbles back away from the blade, which impacts an invisible barrier only inches from the girls neck.

The lizard looks down to the wounded Spectri who is now holding a hand out and chanting in a foreign language. “Lasatri poradi el mato tor paka uns era”. The phrase is repeated over and over as the beast tries unsuccessfully to slash through this magic shield.

Eari is now going parry for parry with her opponent. As the fighting continues, the repeated thud of the steel blade on the haft of the spear has begun wearing down and nearly cleaved through Eari’s weapon. Seeing that the lacer is now focused on breaking her spear, Mulva steps in, not parrying the next strike. Instead the blade that was aimed that the spear whistles through the air as the spear is raised high and Mulva steps in one step closer. Now nearly making body contact with her enemy, Mulva accepts a glancing blow from the blade but drives the spear down and through the heart of her opponent who falls limp on the weapon.

The remaining Lacer as now moved from the shielded Spectri to the seemingly helpless Mulva. As Mulva backed away she began pressing her hand downward to the sand, as if trying to compact the air before her. As the lancer now stands over the girl, she brings her hand up in a fist and a spike shoots from the earth impaling the monster through his thigh. The creature yells out angerly and swings his blade wildly. One strike manages to land on the shoulder of the speechless girl before she can move out of harms way. As she moves back, Mulva’s hands move in a new motion. Her left hand moving counterclockwise in a circle. Her right hand remains steady at the center of the circle. The air around her becomes cold as the circle fills with ice. Her right hand is thrust forward and the circle of ice forms a spike, impaling the paniced lacer through the throat. The sword falls from his hand as he struggles for what breath he can manage while trying to break free. After a few seconds he falls lifeless to the sand that is now wet with blood and water.

With the threat overcome for the time being, Mulva returns to the side of the fallen Spectri. Upon reaching Spectri, Mulva is bounced away as she impacts the barrier still held in place. Spectri’s robes now tinged red from the stream flowing from her abdomen. Mulva returns, now banging on the invisible shield trying to find a way to communicate that the battle was won. Their deaf friend also returned and tried to communicate the victory, however; the guttural screeches might have had the opposite effect. After minutes of this, Spectri’s skin had become a blanched pale as she faded into unconsciousness from the loss of blood.