Chapter 52

“Eve, don't open your eyes,” Jenna shouted at the older woman. She hoped this assault wouldn't last long; it arrived in the form of an advancing surface of sand and debris, which may be miles wide and several thousand feet high. It blows with little warning, making venturing conditions hazardous. Blinding them, and the choking dust was reduced to their vision. Sandstorms last only a few minutes, but this was a different storm altogether. They could barely breathe, and they snuggled together. They prepared to die. But as suddenly as it began, the storm stopped. It crossed over them. They coughed, sputtered, and panned out the dust and dirt from their clothes. “Eve, are you okay?” She asked again as Eve looked around. “Shit!” Eve grumbled under her breath. The storm had not actually passed them by. It was now all around them. They stood on a swirling surface and circled the mayhem like an enormous corral.

"This is probably the eye of the storm," exclaimed Jenna. She had heard of such a thing but had never experienced it. As if they were at sea, this cyclone of sand had a centre of comprehensive stillness, and they had entered it. All around them, there was an unfathomable curtain of cyclonic storms and dirt. The trio snuggled in a circle of complete tranquillity.

Eve glanced up at them all with amazement. "Oh my goodness! It's wonderful."

“I know, it looks remarkable.” Jenna agreed as they turned to look at an incredible wonder. Not too far from them stood a massive ancient tree. They looked upwards. They could not see where the tree ended. It just faded away into the clouds of sand and debris. The tree was gigantic; it was not only very high but at least a hundred feet around. Its tangled slab of roots was no doubt anchored deep into the ground. It could not move with the storm, yet it confused them. How could it be in the centre of it? Eve rubbed her eyes. “Am I seeing this?”

“I don't think so, Eve. This is my first time seeing the ancient tree as well. I heard stories, but never in my life have I expected to see them in person.”

“Was this a hallucination?” the old inquired with a furrowed brow.

“No.”

“It could not be,” the old woman replied.

The others saw it as well. Were they under some kind of spell? It must be an enchantment or something else. Powerful illusion? But it felt so real. Are they on the other side of the devil's now?

Out of nowhere, they heard a whoosh of the leaves in the wind. Whoever prowled there had a hunter's skill for blending into the natural background. Eve suddenly summoned her fire, and without a doubt, it alerted her inner fire. They heard a soft growl. The fiery glow of her eyes reflected the firelight from Eve's outreach hand. Pair of eyes all around them. About five. The biggest male creature trudged and glided out behind the tree. It concentrated on Eve's fire, seeming to recognise its equal.

Jenna speculated that it may be related to the storm of sand, as it appears from nowhere, yet they emerge as shadowy ghosts with no individual pattern, but it has two eyes and two ears. It was an odd creature that none of them had ever seen before—a Sandjinn, a hybrid combination of several animals. And was about twice the size of a human. However, their bodies had been concocted and forged out of two different species. A serpent-like creature with scaly wings rises from its shoulders with enormous horns on a grossly, disproportionately broad eagle head. Though it has a human-like body with flaming eyes. It seemed like they came from the sand as they buried themselves together.

"Careful everyone, those creatures can strike fast with venom on their saliva and kill their prey," Jenna announced as the creature showed no fear of its target. It seemed to hardly size up how the event would be taken. It growled.

"What kind of beast is that?" Henry asked in utter panic behind the witch; he had never seen such monsters of this kind.

"They are the Sandjinn, the guards of the entrance," Jenna rolled out Henry. She had never seen one before, but she identified them from stories. She acknowledged she could tame this thing with a whip of her sword, but five of them? That was another tale altogether.

"What entrance? I can't see any entrance," Henry asked surveying the cyclone.

"Only a seer could see it," Jenna added. Glancing towards Eve, she hoped that this time the seer would choose the right path. “Can you see it, Eve?”

“Yes but—”

Her words halted as the smallest creature approached them. Jenna took her silver dagger and planted it in the ground, followed by her golden dagger and her serrated knives at closer intervals. The smallest Sandjinn saw her approach, and it immediately launched for her, propelling itself at her as though thrown by an enormous hand. But it rolled over the dagger in the scrape, which cut morsels of sand out of its body, and at that very same moment, Jenna disappeared. Henry and Eve gasped in surprise. Henry shifted into her wolf and roared at them, but the monsters roared in return, louder and scarier than his. “Holy hell!” Eve muttered under her breath.

The leader of the monster hissed. Its snaky-like tongue tasted the air that carried its essence. It backed up a bit into the tree. "A seer," it whispered, suddenly aware of Eve's spirit.

The eyes of the others moved scarcely forward, dropping off and gliding into the sand, and they prepared to attack. When the leader, Sandjinn, squealed as it jerked its tail from behind, something or someone pulled the creatures into the tree out of their sight. Its outcry was cut off in a squeal of injury. One of the surrounding sandjinns jumped out of the sands towards Eve and Henry. However, unexpectedly, Jenna leaped through the air, blocking the Sandjinn. She met the creature with a crunch, and they rolled out to the surface with a considerable bang. Then Jenna stood up triumphantly, her blade leaking with Sandjinn's dark blood.

Eve suddenly summons her fire as she lets her fire engulf the other creature that was about to attack Sean in the back. He stood surprised as he attacked the creature and hoped this could save his life, but he doubted it as another squeal cut through in front. Another Sandjinn flew out of the tree and settled in the dead mound for all to see. It snarled its teeth, and eventually, Jenna plunged from nowhere and touched down on the other side of the now headless creature. Four down, and one to go. Eve had no time to sort out what was happening.

"Bloody hell, that was epic. But it could have been nicer if I had some weapon with me, you know!" Eve complained. "Can somebody give me some swords or something?"

Jenna agreed and took something from the ground. "You can have my knife from the smaller Sandjinn,” she said, throwing it away towards the old woman. “Take it, now! Be quick!"

“Thanks.” Eve answered with renowned enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, the remaining Sandjinn pounced and attacked Henry’s wolf. He rolled out into the ground as the Sandjinn was about to pounce him back. Suddenly, Eve ran and leaped towards it and used the knife as a spear, poking out its eyes and slicing its throat. She stole a glance at Henry, then she spun and sliced more into his throat furiously than she had ever been. She was tiring and getting sloppy. Slaying a crossbred creature was one thing, but these creatures were massive. Its peculiar nature resulted in frightening and unforeseen revolting behaviour. She was not a warrior anymore; old age had taken a toll, and she had been catching on quickly. Finally, giving it a perfect slice through its neck, she severed it, and it rolled into the sands. But unbeknownst to her, the monster's blood went onto her wound as well, poisoning her blood as her head heaved and her eyes blurred.

The burning sensation was hurrying from Eve's heart to her palms. It wanted out. She felt it running towards her outreach hands. Her seer blood was fighting it, and it was so strong. The poison was weighing her down and taking all her power from within. Her fire couldn't fight it. “I don't think I can heal myself this time, Henry,” she muttered, looking into the alpha's eyes.

A fiery glow covered her arms, so brilliant that Jenna wanted to cover her eyes, but suddenly it stopped. “Eve? What happened? It's gone.”

Disappeared.

Eve nodded her head. It was the most startling and worst experience of her life after so many years of playing with her fire. She was losing it. She knew she was dying. Her eyes hazed for a while, and she was losing her senses when a thick and heavy tear escaped them. She blinks to clear them off. Henry watches her in fear for her life, but it doesn't work. She wanted them out. Instead, she used her shaky hands to wipe them clean. The substance leaking was sticky, alive, dark, and moving. She squinted for a moment harder, forcing herself to see anything, and she saw the outline of her fists, Alpha Henry and the cyclone still covering them, yet the dark tar-like entity coating them. She wanted to scream for fear, yet none left her throat. It was choking her. “Help!”She opened her mouth to cry out, but suddenly, her throat closed up again.

The sudden instinct to cover her ears was imminent. "Henry, my fire is coming out now! I don't wish to burn this terrain and this mountain. I don't know if I could hold it any longer, or this fire inside me will flare, and it might make an avalanche, and I don't prefer that to happen," Eve asserted. Henry stared at her. She changed into her human form. The chaos in his mind overwhelmed him with its mess. Then he saw Eve collapse to the ground.