As they all approached the fallout of their previous fight, Jacob noticed that there was something wrong. He could see all the dead infant beasts, but the body of the elder beast was nowhere to be found.

’You can’t be serious. This can’t be happening.’

He sprinted over to the largest pile of blood he could find, calling out Lidia and Slimo’s name as he ran. He decided to risk taking out the cloth from his ears since the spirit deemed him unworthy to kill. Eventually, he finally heard a faint call of his name coming from a small sand dune. The voice sounded extremely weak and fatigued.

Jacob sprinted over carrying everyone on his back, until he finally saw Slimo and Lidia laid on top of each other.

’Shit.’

Slimo’s face looked extremely sun burnt, his body was mangled beyond recognition, and he seemed to be hardly conscious. Lidia was in no better shape. Her clothes had cuts all over her body, her hair was a complete mess, and there seemed to be a thin layer of dried blood encasing her whole body. Slimo looked up at Jacob with hope in his eyes. On his back were the broken shards of their water barrel.

"Jacob. You all made it back alive. I never thought... "

Slimo had passed out before he could finish his sentence. With no food, no water, and Doc out of commission for a while, there was only one thing left for Jacob to do. He grabbed on to the rope that was around Slimo’s back and wrapped it around his whole group before tying it to himself. Using most of his strength, he started carrying everyone while continuing to walk north through the desert.

The heat was unbearable. There was no doubt that those on his back would be horribly sun burnt like Slimo when they woke up. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Come on Doc. Please be okay and wake up."

There was no response. All Jacob had was himself, the vast lifeless expanse in front of him, and any deadly creature waiting for him to come close enough to attack. It was all maddening. However, Jacob never complained.

’This is just like my training back at the palace. Just keep walking, Jacob. One step at a time. Just one more step.’

Jacob walked for more than twelve hours straight before disaster struck. A small pack of three infant beasts surround him and his group. Jacob lightly put his friends down behind him before preparing to protect them with his life. The sun had long set in the sky, allowing for the surrounding wasteland to turn into a frigid landscape.

The creatures in front of him looked like oversized bats that couldn’t fly. They had dark red eyes, a long snout, a hunched back, and sharp teeth poking through their maw. They seemed to be laughing as they all bounced around him, preparing to strike either him or his group. Jacob was almost completely out of energy in his reserves, but there was no way he was going to let simple beasts finish him off after he’s made it this far.

One of the beasts pounced at Jacob, trying to close its mouth around his shoulder. Jacob dodged at the last second and threw a punch at its throat. The sounded echoed through the sky from the force, but it only stunned the creature for a short while.

’My arms aren’t strong enough.’

An idea formed in his head. He had a few options he could try, but both of them were risky. Therefore, he decided to try both of them at the same time.

Two beasts jumped at him simultaneously. Instead of dodging, Jacob threw his torso sideways, sending a powerful kick right into the jaw of the beast on the right. The force was so powerful, it completely shattered its mouth, allowing shards of teeth to fall on to the ground. The one right next to it was sent flying from the force.

Without wasting any time, Jacob picked up one of the shards in his hand. Part of it cut deeply into his palm, but he ignored the pain and held his stance. Suddenly, one of the beasts tried to attack Slimo in the group of people, before it could reach him, Jacob sliced the shard through the brain of the beast, making it go limp.

The remaining two pounced at Jacob, taking advantage of their brothers sacrifice. One of the creatures was able to bite right into the side of Jacob’s torso, leaving a huge a chunk missing from his side. Jacob grunted through the pain and shoved the shard through the creature’s neck. Right when he did, the second one got on his shoulder and tore out another chunk using its teeth.

Jacob dropped the shard, used broth his hands, and threw the beast on the ground in front of him. Before it could jump away, he pounced on it and wrapped his thick arms around its neck. The beast squealed trying to free itself, but it was too late. Jacob twisted the creature’s neck as hard as he could, causing it to snap and go limp.

He laid on the ground, heavily panting while staring at the stars above him. In a fit of gluttony, Jacob started eating the beast laying on top of him. The day had been cruel, and he had little to no sustenance to sustain himself. This was his only chance at survival. Jacob eventually ate the entire creature whole, only leaving its bones behind on the stained sand. The creature’s blood also seemed to satisfy his maddening thirst.

’One step at a time. Just one step at a time.’

Newfound power flowed through his veins as he prepared to help move his comrades. It almost felt as if something deep inside of him was changing after consuming the beast. He ripped more and more cloth off himself to bandage his wounds. He was slowly starting to run out of clothes for his use.

Grabbing a large piece of bone left by the creature he ate, he pulled out another sharp tooth from its skull and began sharpening it. After around ten minutes of sharpening, Jacob had made himself a sword out of the bones of the creature he slayed. He tucked the sword through a small spot in his waist band. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he grabbed hold of the ropes once more, heaved his friends forward, and continued walking.

Three more hours had passed. Jacob was starting to doubt if he would ever make it out of the desert alive at this rate. It felt like he had been walking for years. The sand under his feet felt unnatural. He would do anything to be back on a grassy field at this point. He reached the top of another sand dune and scouted the area in front of him when he saw it.

"Finally."

Way out in the distance, there was a giant field of green. Trees were everywhere he could see, indicating the start of a massive forest. He was almost out of the desert for good. Right as he prepared to step forward, a massive sword-shaped arm penetrated right through his back and out of his stomach.

Jacob looked down at the shape in horror before turning around to see something that made his heart stop. It was a creature similar to the beasts he had just fought. However, it towered over Jacob, had a human-like stature, dark black eyes, and a thick furry torso. It was, without a doubt, an elder of the same species.