Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 111: The White Dunes ()

NB: If you encountered the duplicate Chapter before it was corrected, please check out the corrected update in the previous Chapter. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

The sun had begun it’s descent down the horizon, it’s rays painted the sky in different hues of bright yellows, a dim pink and some other shades that seemed ever changing with each look up to the sky.

The sunset presented such a beautiful display, it left one in awe, but these lands were known for many things and though the beautiful sunsets were one,

The other displays it boasted of, ranging from the scorching sun and dry lands, to great sand storms were not as laudable, at least not to those who were unaccustomed to these lands.

In the Asvarian stronghold, there were many terrains, many fortresses governed by dragon lords and this was but one of them,

A place found at the far Northern borders of the stronghold were most dragon lords dared not take flight for fear of the sun scorching their wings.

It was already long past midday on the sand dunes at the far Northern borders of the Asvarian stronghold, a place known to be the white dunes where the second Asvarian Beacon stood.

The rays of the sun encased the vast desert of chalky white sand grains, heaps and heaps of the sand forming towering dunes that stretched for as far as the eye could see, each greater than the last, reaching as high as the sky.

A furious wind blew across the desert, upturning the first layer of white sand so the grains rose up and swirled around each other turbulently.

There was a haunting whooshing sound echoing all around as the winds unsettled the desert, resulting in the beginnings of a sand storm.

The sand grains shurtled about violently, with each passing second, more and more of the first layer of sand rose to join the swirling mass, till it became a great swirling storm moving through the desert.

It swirled and swirled till it moved far from sight and the part of the desert where it had first begun returned to calm but this was only a foreshadowing of a greater storm to come.

At this moment, a large shadow appeared overhead the desert, large enough that it seemed to block out the rays of the setting sun.

The shadow was in the shape of a massive dragon and truly, soaring over the desert was a large dragon that slowly made it’s descent.

The sound of powerful wings beating against the wind could be heard, sweeping away a mass of the sand grains as the dragon landed to the desert, it’s large claws digging into the sand and a small tremor spreading from it’s point of landing.

The beast was one of a great size and as it stretched it’s wings, it’s wide wing spans cast great shadows on either side of it, before it’s wings were neatly folded to it’s side.

A quiet grunt escaped the dragon as it’s beady blue eyes roamed over the desert, the final rays of the sun shown all over it’s gleaming scales, the shade of midnight blue, so dark it was almost as black as night.

Another grunt escaped the dragon’s lips as a stream of steam was breathed out along with a quiet huff.

One could not tell exactly what the dragon was in search for, his eyes scanned the desert closely and after a moment, a change occured and in the blink of an eye, the size of the great dragon reduced and reformed,

In it’s place stood a dashing young man, with fierce and handsome features, he looked to be in his early thirties but by dragon age, one could never tell just how many centuries this dragon had lived,

This man was a feared dragon lord and Lord of the Northern Beacon, his name was Kaideon...but the people of the North called him the Dune Lord.

There was an unsightly looking scar running down the side of his face, right over his brow and through his eyes and though one of his eyes were an icy blue shade, his other eye was completely white with no pupil in sight.

He was dressed in a gray colored tunic and leather breeches, with leather boots and a sword belt around his waist.

His hair was trimmed short and there were just a few bangs brushing over his forehead.

His gaze was fierce as he scanned the desert just as he had done in his dragon form before he crouched down, pulling off his gloves, he placed a palm flat on the ground, his eyes fluttering closed.

His head tilted to the side slightly and his ears twitched, whatever he was in search of, he seemed to pick up a trace of it as his eyes snapped open, a fierce glow shining in them,

A snarl escaped his lips as his hand clenched into fists, his claws digging into his flesh.

Behind him, the sun was once again blocked out as three more dragons made their landing, shifting into their human forms as soon as they touched solid ground, they hurried over to the scarred man.

"Dune Lord, you took off and broke flight path! The patrol team was caught off guard! What do you sense?" The first of the three, a young man with rusty brown hair asked. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Coran is right, My Lord. You would not break flight path all of a sudden, you must have sensed something." The second, Orin, a thin male with inky black hair said with certainty.

The one called the Dune Lord, Kaideon did not respond or acknowledge the presence of his comrades, instead he lifted a hand to quiet them and they fell into silence immediately.

Kaideon frowned slightly, a moment ago, he lead a flight patrol down their route but then he had sensed something, a kind of dark aura that seeped out and left a terrible stench in the air.

It was only for a fleeting moment but Kaideon trusted his instincts more than he trusted anything else in all his centuries of existence,

His instincts had saved him from many situations in which he would have otherwise found himself dead.

So Kaideon had broken flight path without hesitation and flew out alone in search of the source of that aura, he had not even realized his subordinates chased after him in concern.

"I have told the others to wait behind, if you sense something off, we will go with you to check it out." Coran said in a low whisper.

Kaideon again gave no response, for a moment he just stared ahead of him, he had chased that dark aura for the better part of an hour and only landed after losing it’s trail.

The trail had disappeared right around here and so Kaideon was certain there was something off somewhere...

He had never once fallen behind in a chase before, whoever or whatever he was after had done something to throw him off.

Now Kaideon could only scan his surrounding and hope to find a trace, otherwise if he returned without understanding what had triggered his instincts, he would be unable to rest easy.

There was a deep frown settled over Kaideon’s face, try as he might, he could not pick up on the trail he had lost.

The air was clear, that terrible stench had disappeared completely which should not have been possible but that was precisely the reality.

Kaideon grunted quietly again, just as he had in his dragon form. He would have exclaimed in rage, but that was no longer possible for him, he had long lost the ability of speech, Kaideon was not certain he still remembered how to form words.

Other than the occasional grunts of annoyance and quiet huffs, Kaideon spoke no more than that...it was not that Kaideon could not speak,

So many years before this time, he had sworn not to speak another word and had kept his vow to this day.

"Kaideon...we have patrolled the dunes everyday during the patrol hours, if there is something out here, we would have seen it during flight."

" A sand storm is approaching, we do not want to be caught up in it." The third of Kaideon’s subordinates who was yet to say anything finally spoke, his name was Rodvan.

Kaideon grunted again as he strode ahead, he was one that could not let go of suspicion once it had taken root, if he was to return, he still needed to make certain there was nothing out here.

With a shake of his head, Kaideon lifted a hand and gestured for his subordinates to spread out.

They did as asked with no further questions, heading off in four different directions, they scanned the desert, Kaideon taking the direction he found most suspicious.

As he walked forwards, there was an unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach, and when he sensed nothing out of the ordinary, it only made him more uneasy.

"Over here!" Rodvan called out from a distance.

Kaideon turned immediately and hurried over to Rodvan, as did the other two, arriving to find Rodvan staring down at a large foot print...so large, it rivalled that of a dragon.

Something gigantic and terrifying had passed through this desert, and though the sand storm had swept away most of the foot prints...it left just this one evidence behind.

"Dragon?" Coran asked hopefully but they all knew better.

"This was no dragon, Coran." Rodvan said in a grim tone.

"If not a dragon, what might it be?" Orin asked, all gazes turning to settle on Kaideon.

The dune lord knew of all the beasts prowling the dunes better than anyone, both great and small...if anyone could know what it was, it could only be Kaideon.

Yet all where disappointed when Kaideon shook his head to signify he himself did not know, and if the Dune Lord did not know...then it meant trouble.