What Lurks in the Sand

Asteria continued her walk long into the night, kicking up sand and pebbles as she went. The scorching heat of the day was fading out of the sand, but her feet were still worn raw after days of trudging upon the coarse sandy desert. Coming across another group of those skeletal bushes, she realized suddenly rather than plants, they were the spindly remains of dead corals in ghostly whites and grayed tans, poking out from golden sand.

A quiet rustling from the sand drew her attention, and Asteria turned from the coral to survey the moonlit surroundings. She dismissed it when nothing moved, but before she took another step, it came again, and she tensed. Rustle, rustle. The sound grew louder, rustle rustle, until it was far to close, yet nothing was visible on the surface until—

BURST! A giant form flew out of the sound, mandible-lined gaping mouth spread wide revealing a bioluminescent gullet glistening slimily in its own glow. Large plated scales encased the form and long, thick antennae spread out from below its huge, beady black eyes. A sickening, putrid stench filled the air, the scent of rot and the acrid odor of venom hanging heavily.

Asteria gaped at it mindlessly for a second, as it loomed over her, blotting out the dim light of the moon. She shuddered, staring up at it as it towered on its back legs, revealing two more rows of slick, shiny limbs with bracketed joints and the grimy glistening of its brown chitin exoskeleton. Its long body squelched and popped as it wriggled to its standing position.  Holy Hades, Asteria thought blankly.

It seemed to stare at her in contemplation for a second before it reared back. “SCREEEEEEECH!”

It shrieked as it lunged forward, and Asteria would swear she felt her soul leave her body as she gaped in shock.

In an instant, she was dodging out of the way, tumbling into the sand. Jagged teeth caught the hem of her skirt, and Asteria heard a loud ri-iip as the monster flew past her. It stumbled into the sand behind her, shaking sand off and spinning back to her once it realized it was merely holding a scrap of fabric. It lunged again, and she ducked, spinning around in time to see its jointed legs vanish under the sand. She stared, hesitantly moving into a tense crouch. Was it some sort of giant sand flea? It’s possible they could have evolved from the desertification of the area, and the remnants of divine energy saturating the sand from whatever ritual had caused the water to vanish—but that would imply millennia, not centuries, that she had been gone.

Asteria swallowed heavily, watching the sand carefully. It was perfectly still and silent, but she didn’t trust it. Reaching around her wrist, searching for the energy of her trusty daggers, Asteria could feel her mageia flickering. She frowned as it responded weakly. She steadied herself as she surveyed the sand, eyes catching on a glimmer of movement, as some sand rippled from vibrations under the surface.

Sure enough, it popped out of the ground with a hiss, fangs bared. Asteria thought she should move but swayed, staring blankly up at it as another wave of dizziness rolled over her, accompanied by a strange pain in her mageia core. She stumbled forward, falling onto the giant monster's chest, preoccupied by the way her mageia wasn’t properly responding. She spread her palm against the creature's chitin, thinking forcefully, burn. Nothing happened.

The monster tilted its head, looking at her curiously.

Asteria laughed nervously, backing away. Reaching deep inside, attempting to force her mageia out caused more throbbing pain to race through her chest, and the scarred skin where she had been stabbed burned fiercely. She froze under the heavy feel of eyes on her, like something was watching her, wrapping shadowy chains around her domain and tightening them until they began to suffocate her when she tried to access it.

Releasing her focus with a deep breath, Asteria winced, straightening to meet the sand flea’s gaze once again. It had lowered into a crouch but seemed to be waiting for something, and Asteria hesitated as she stepped backward, wondering if it would let her go. Instead, the sand crumpled beneath her, as her foot sank below it and landed on something hard and slippery.

Rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle, RUSTLE.

Asteria’s eyes widened, realizing why the sounds had seemed strange. She gritted her teeth, gaze flying across the flat desert —they were coming from all around.

She stumbled away as the sand collapsed into aerated ground, revealing the lumpy upturned forms of more sand fleas. Asteria froze as the popping, slithering chorus of sand fleas filled the desert air, and they began emerging in hordes from the ground, leaping through the air and rolling around like boiling water. A writhing flood of the monsters raced toward her, kicking up sand that filled the night air like thick smoke, obscuring the fleas until the only thing visible was their gaping, glowing maws.

Asteria ducked past another monster and spun around, racing through the sand, stumbling as the slippery grains gave way beneath her feet. A sand flea snapped at her heels, close enough for her heart to skip a beat. Lunging out of the way of another, and then quickly flipping past one of the giant fleas as it screamed past, Asteria relied on instinct to guide her.

She spun along the flow of the wind, ducking past each wave of the scrambling creatures, airborne sand stinging her arms at the speed of her movement. This was combat, this was being alive! It had felt so long since she’d exerted herself, felt the thrum and the vivid pulse of being in danger, at the knife's edge of being snapped up and swallowed whole. A feral grin split across her face as she dodged the sand fleas.

She slid out of the path of another sand flea, which gaped in confusion as she let out a gleeful laugh, tinged with maniacal delight. In the next second, she was back on her feet, racing through the sand, feet and lungs burning as she sprinted and let the power of her legs carry her through the crisp night air—each push off the ground drove her further and faster and her blood rushed as the swarm of sand fleas chased her.

Asteria skidded to a sudden stop, cut off by a chasm splitting the desert in half like a knife wound—one dragged roughly and jaggedly as it crushed bone and tore through tendons. Peering over the edge, Asteria could not see the bottom, since the rocky surface quickly fell into shadowed darkness.

A growl filled the air behind her, and she turned to see the sand fleas slowly creeping forward, backing her up to an angled peak of the cliff face. She took a step back as they got closer, faltering as she felt sand crumble beneath her feet. Hesitating, Asteria glanced over her shoulder at the yawning chasm, and back to the fleas, their open maws glistening with frothed spit and black eyes staring soullessly down at her. One made a threatening move forward, and Asteria tensed, readying herself to dart forward and fight through the dense crowd of monsters, only to feel the sand give way.

She flailed, scrambling for balance, purchase, anything, but found none. The journey down the cliff was rough, as Asteria skidded along the cliff face, which was angled enough she bounced and slid along it instead of a straight fall to her death. Rocks dragged into her skin, tearing long scratches and beating deep bruises into her limbs as she curled up to protect her head and vital organs. With one final jolting bump, Asteria flew up slightly before tumbling to a stop with a large splash.

Squinting around her, Asteria tried to make out the details of the pit, but barely anything was visible beyond the faint glow of the water she was seated in. This was the first water she’d seen in days, likely only still present in the vast, arid desert because of the protective shadows of the ravine.

It occurred to her suddenly that though the pool was not shallow. Despite the cold water seeping into her hair and dress, she was sitting on the water like it was a solid surface. A flash of movement in the pool caught her eye, and Asteria looked down. There was a face below the water, with pale, blue-tinted skin and the faint shimmer of scales and pearls around her dark lashes. A glossy wreath of hair floated around her, shifting and bubbling like gleaming drops of water on a waxy surface. Noticing Asteria’s attention, the naiad’s eyes squinted as she smiled in greeting, gently waving her fingers.

The naiad’s dress floated around her, a halo of light chiffon and silky blue wrappings mimicking the delicate fins of fish. The naiad pressed her hand against the surface of the water, and Asteria reached down to meet the offered palm with her own. The naiad raised her hand up through the water, slowly wrapping cold fingers around Asteria’s wrist as water dripped off the shimmering, iridescent skin. Asteria’s eyes widened as the grip tightened, and suddenly, she was being pulled through the water.

For a moment, the cool crispness of fresh spring water washed over her, and the world was colored in deep blue hues; the next, she was gasping, emerging out on the other side of the water, once again sitting on its surface but now in a completely different space, lined with rocky bricks and engraved decorative patterns. Looking around her curiously, Asteria had a feeling she recognized the stone-lined pool. The quiet pad of footsteps on stone caught her attention, and Asteria raised her eyes to the hand offered to her, deeply tanned with long, delicate fingers tipped in gold.

Slate gray bandages wrapped around the palm, allowing only the tiniest peek at a shimmering gold leaf poking out from the wrappings. Asteria lifted her gaze further to meet the sharp, sandy brown gaze of the woman. Her angular face was framed by straight bangs cut short at her forehead, with curls pulled back into a long twisting braid ornamented by shiny beads and delicate golden ribbon. An angled gold headband sat above her bangs, with a spiky, sun-like crown atop. Her outfit was simple, a black chiton in two pieces across her chest, revealing more of the gray wrapping around her chest and down the length of her arm. The black fabric was adorned with a subtle sheen in a snake-scale like pattern. More gray fabric was draped around her lithe hips, gathered near the band at her waist, which met a circular pendant in the center, decorated with the simple image of a laurel branch.

Despite all this, what really drew Asteria’s attention were those eyes, the color of the sandy desert she’d been trekking in for so long. They were sharply upturned and snake-like, their severity enhanced by a high crease, lined with shimmering gold and teal kohl drawing them even further up.

They bore the mark of the Apollonian Priestess: a pattern of golden laurels encircled her irises, marking this woman as the current Oracle of Delphi, the Pythia.