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Sayuri and her followers continued heading east riding on their camels on the plateau. The wind is very strong that came from the south. Hiroki could see for himself that he is leaning to the right so he could sit on the camel with balance. His companions followed behind him and he noticed that they are starting to descend. He figured out that they are finally on the slope and he can even see the continuation of the dunes at the distance but they discovered that it is a valley with sand as its reservoir instead of water. It is late in the morning and the sun makes them all squint as they glance at the mountain ranges at the distance. The mountains arranged themselves in a way that most of the tallest mountain were sitting at the farther north and the short ones were descending to the south of the valley. It is a dry valley, with no signs of water but sand.
Put it as it is but the company endured the climate for over a month. Seeing this barren wasteland is not a fresh view. There's nothing to be excited about.
After an hour, they finally traveled on the sand. They followed the curves of the dunes to the east. They walked on it for hours until noon. Suddenly, Sayuri jumped off from Jasper and over Hiroki with her unsheathed katana over her head. She swings it down as she descended and a head of a giant snake bigger than a car rushed out of the sand.
"Argh!" she grunted after realizing that the snake has tough skin so it didn't get sliced but only knocked down just to rise again. Behind it, is its body buried under the sand but then it moved and its long body went out of the sand and destroyed the flawlessness of the dunes.
"Get back, Hiroki!" shouted Jack as he flew up to help their goddess.
Hiroki tried to control the camel to turn back but it panicked until they fell sideways and slid on the right side of the slope. "Crap!" he curses after feeling his right leg in pain as it is pinned under the camel. They stopped sliding and the camel stood up and stepped on his stomach. "Argh!!" he cried in pain, feeling the heavy hooves of the camel like it's drilling a hole in his stomach. Then it ran away to the west, along with the other that carried their stuff.
"Hiroki, look out!" shouted Jasper from the top of the dune.
Hiroki looked behind him and he saw the body of the snake slithering towards him. He tried to move but his stomach is in pain and his right leg is broken. Then a large hand grabs a hold of his body and with its right shoulder, it pushed against the body of the snake and anchored its feet on the sand. It is Jasper and he transformed into a cyclops.
"Hang on, Hiroki!" he said with the deep voice of a cyclops and put Hiroki behind his back. "Yaaaargh!" he roared as he climbed up the body of the snake.
The snake hissed after Sayuri sliced it with her sword in a loud bang but didn't go through the skin. Jack shot it with his sniper rifle and missiles but it's still unscathed. It lunged forward to catch him in the air but he shot at its throat. It screeched in pain and Jack dodged to the left.
"Sword of Seven:" Sayuri prepared to slice its head as her eyes and sword lit up. "Guillotine!!!" Its head got sliced clean-off as well as the sand below it. Then there was a loud rumbling and the surrounding sand got disturbed. The body of the snake sunk with the collapsing sand, as well as Hiroki and Jasper. Everything just suddenly collapsed.
"Hold on!" shouted Jasper before transforming into a griffin. Hiroki rode on his back and they flew. The griffin Jasper screeched in pain after getting hit by the tail of the falling snake.
"ARGHH!!!" screamed Hiroki and then sank under the sand.
Sayuri went after them on her wide sword as she cried out "NO!!!" She dived into the sinking sand with her blades clearing a path for her. Jack followed behind her as the sand from above caved in and all was dark. Jack used his arsenal to create light and then they found themselves in a large chamber. Jack still has his lights on and they saw a massive trunk of a tree just beside them. And around them are sand and large chunks of rocks falling from the ceiling of the seemingly endless chamber as they can't see far of what's around them because of the vast space. Sayuri can sense where Hiroki and Jasper are so she pursued where she senses them. Jack used his infrared sensors and saw the body temperature of the two inside the opening of a staircase. "There they are, my lady!!" he shouted and they flew downward even faster.
She sheathed her sword, slowed down, and faced the large boulder falling from above them. "Colossal Sword!!!" She summoned the biggest sword she could conjure that covered them all and safe from the falling sand and debris. She can't stop the falling and piling up weight on the sword but only managed to slow them down as she transferred all of her strength to the sword by holding out both of her hands.
"Go with them!!!" she yelled to Jack that is helping her push against the sword.
He nodded and went to the unconscious Hiroki and Jasper carrying him. "Climb down!" he told Jasper and he quickly went down while Jack waited for Sayuri. She came down with such speed as well as the sword.
"YAAAARGH!!!" she cried when she applied more force to not let the debris crash on them before they could get to safety. It still crashed but the sword covered the entrance and the debris can't go in until something massive that fell from above that destroyed her sword. It was so sudden that she wasn't able to protect herself so a large rock went through the shattered sword and hit her with a great force, knocking her unconscious. Jack caught her and he dived down into the tunnel.
Jasper was carrying Hiroki and with his snake eyes, he watched Jack and his goddess being chased by the destruction behind them. Jasper ran to the passage at the left side while carrying Hiroki on his shoulders. Jack tried to go into that passage but it collapsed and gave him no choice but to go to the opposite passage. He landed on the ground with a blast but the ceiling of that passage started to collapse so he ran deeper into the passage. He used his jetpack to fly through the passage and avoid getting buried as the collapse is gaining behind them. He carried her in his arms and he flew the fastest he can but then the passage ahead of them already collapsed and the floor below them collapsed too so he went down and followed where this passage leads to until he saw a glow at the end of the passage at the distance that turns to the left. He burst into speed and walked on the wall to stop his speed and continued to fly to the left. The collapse gained on him and large debris hit the exhausts of his jetpack. It disabled him to fly and he protected Sayuri as they crashed on the floor and rolled until they bounced up and he got separated from her.
At the moment they are in the air, under them is a c***k in the earth with glowing hot lava below. Jack managed to grab her hand with his left hand and used his uncontrollable jetpack just to bring him closer to the cliffside. With his right hand, he anchored on it and stopped slipping while keeping his broken jetpack pushing him against the wall. Then above, a large boulder fell so he made his jetpack thrust harder and he leaned closer to the wall while keeping in mind his unconscious goddess below him so that they could avoid getting dragged by the large boulder. It barely missed them by an inch and he discovers that it's not all of it but more sand and large stones came crashing down everywhere.
He pulled her to carry her on his arms again. He jumped to the other side of the cliff to avoid getting crushed by an incoming rock. He walked on the wall to dodge another. Then jumped back into the other side. He continued doing this to dodge every single debris and they all fell to the fiery chasm below. Jack realized that he has descended deeper into this c***k and the air started to feel hotter. Then an eruption occurred on the lava below. The debris disturbed everything and destabilized this fault in the earth. The cliffsides began to tremble in anger and the lava below boiled. Jack quickly jumped up side to side to climb up. The chasm erupted and blasted molten lava hundreds of meters up and Jack used all he's got to get to safety until his jetpack failed.
He saw a cave, just a jump away at the other side of the cliff. "POWER JUMP!!!" he commanded his system and his legs glowed blue and made a wheezing sound.
Then in an instant, he jumped to that cave before the hot lava reached him. The cave is very small and he has to stoop down to fit. He checked the surroundings and confirmed that it's safe so he put Sayuri on the cave floor. He turned on the light on his palm and checked her if she's injured somewhere. Her left ankle has been dislocated. He grabbed it and popped it back into place then she woke up with a scream.
"I'm sorry, my lady," he said. "Your ankle has been dislocated." She just panted and watched the glowing chasm before them then she fainted again. He then checked his body, he finds out that he has burns, scrapes, and bruises all over his body, save his hard alloy limbs.
On the other side of that passage they entered from, was Jasper sitting on the floor and his body full of mud as his sweat mixed with the sand. It is very dark, but he can sense Hiroki lying beside him, unconscious.
Jasper panted as he mutters, "What a day..." He has bruises and scratches all over his body and they sting because of his sweat. "Well, we gotta get out of here. Hiroki!" he tapped Hiroki's cheek with his hand. "Wake up if you're still alive!"
He opened his eyes and says, "Wha-" Then he groaned in pain. "Crap, my leg hurts!" Then he spat the sand from his mouth. "Pwehh!! Where are we?"
"I don't know," answered Jasper. "I just ran and ran carrying you to avoid the collapse and we just ended up here. Well, let me rest for a while. Damn, I transformed into a mythical creature many times. I can't even stand." He lied down and the rustle of his body against the pebbles on the floor echoed within the place. "And you're freakin' heavy, Hiroki. You should lose some weight."
"Just shut up and rest." Then Hiroki realized something that he sprang up into a sitting position. "Where's Jack and Lady Sayuri?!!!" His voice made a very loud noise that hurt their ears.
"Calm down, for goodness's sake. We got separated from them and I don't even know if they are still alive."
"Don't say that, I know she's alive!"
"How can you say that?"
"I just.... just...," he stammered. "I just know!"
"Well, I think so too. Our lady and Jack are strong people unlike us."
At the cave where the other two are, Jack brought Sayuri to a stalactite - a spike that formed from the top of the cave for her to drink the water dripping from it. The water is not that plenty but she just opened her mouth and let the water drip into her mouth until she got satisfied. Jack drank a little bit.
"I'll find a way to get us out of here, my lady," he said and went to the cliff where the lava below is radiating heat. "Argh!!!" he screamed in pain when his face got burned by the hot air after he tried to look down. If a second more, his face would've swelled but thanks to his reflexes, he managed to pull his face as soon as he felt it.
He went back to Sayuri, knelt, and said, "The air is too hot there, my lady. I'm afraid we'll have to find a way deeper into the cave at the same time, conserving our strength."
"We will find those two first, alive," she said panting and frowning in pain as she sat on the ground. "Even if it kills me."
It inspired Jack when he realized how much she values those two more than herself. Jack stood up and said, "All of us will escape out of here, alive, my lady. I am sure of it!"
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