Matthew's dreams that night were horrible, he saw himself die a hundred different ways.
A pale mountain of rotting flesh ripping his soul and flesh from his bones.
A set of claws ripping into his chest.
A pack of hungry mouth ripping him limb from limb while he was alive
Black talons ripping into his chest, while a pair of golden eyes stared into him.
When he woke up, he was alone and alive thankfully. He took a shallow breath and joined Parker's group who brushed their teeth with a weird paste made from pine sticks.
"I got it from my grandma. The forest has some pine trees, or at least things similar so we just manage that. We go there to bathe sometimes, but not everyday."
He personally just used some wood ash which was easier to make, but he accepted the paste which had a minty taste and smell.
The walk through the tunnels to the dunes was strangely peaceful, this group could obviously fight most beasts and better than that they knew when to avoid the colossal White ants.
"They come out once a day, about two hours ago. They mostly hunt in the dunes for some reason and don't hunt Sword demons. They don't like each other, but they generally stay out of the way." Parker explained quietly.
The group's vibe was quiet, but weirdly energetic. Matthew hadn't expected them to be so eager, the challenge of the hunt and the admiration of the other people of the temple may have fuelled it.
Their path took them through the central cavern, Matthew had heard there were many entrances into the dunes, he impatiently followed them as they seemed to walk to nowhere.
All of them stopped just between a jagged crack in the ground as tall as him, Jamie turned to him. Eyes hard and warning.
"You don't tell anyone about this."
They led him through the labyrinth of cracks in the earth, tight dusty spaces with a narrow slit above their head like a river of white light.
Beyond a certain turn was a path into the earth, Parker grinned as they began to walk down the slope.
"We found it after someone got grabbed by a Black knot, they dig upwards for their nests. This one dug all the way up here from the dunes."
They walked in the absolute darkness, voices calling out every once in a while to warn about a tricky slope or a low ceiling.
Matthew wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but the thought of running through the tunnel to escape something filled him with dread. The press of bodies, the stampede over anyone that fell and the scramble in the darkness.
He shuddered, walking a bit faster.
Finally they reached the exit, people waited to jump out and try to scare him.
The calm gaze he gave back soured their moods.
"Geez, live a little."
"Cmon, that was a little scary."
It was. He was just used to controlling his facial expressions, in his head he ran around in a panic and punched everyone in the groin.
The dune cave was flat, a long and twisting cave. A mess of rocks and rivers of sand that defied the laws of gravity. A rising crescendo of caves and sand tumbling and flowing like an actual river.
The flow of the sand caused a perpetual dust storm making seeing what was in front of him hard. The bare outline of the cavern wasn't exactly a cylinder like the Dark forest, it was a flowing and twisting tunnel. A honeycomb of caves in the walls and strange paths.
It felt like a human structure, made by aliens that didn't understand how walking worked. The river of sand was especially concerning. The weightless flow, whispering so light it crawled up his spine.
It was like it wasn't even really moving. A hand clamped on his shoulder solidly, Matthew realised he had been approaching the river of sand. Parker's hand stopped him, warning.
"It's a lot faster than you think, it'll burn if you touch it."
Matthew nodded, drawing his eyes away from the river. The peaceful, white moss glowed above them, it could hardly chase away the tight darkness of this place.
Parker tied a piece of cloth around his face for the dust, Matthew had Old cat over his face so he didn't worry.
The boys of the group placed a hollow slab of stone against the secret tunnel and began pulling out their tools to set up the hunt. Jamie called out to him
"Over here, we have a different job"
He followed immediately, allowing them to keep their methods for hunting the Sandworms secret. The path up to one of the tunnels required some climbing, then you could walk down a sloping path carefully into a dark tunnel.
Many of the tunnels were collapsed deadends or barrows of ancient monsters. They were dug by a monster called Hive beasts, they occasionally dug tunnels for almost no reason.
Parker glared into the darkness of the ominous tunnels, lighting a long stick they would use as a torch on fire.
"It's not ideal, but most times we can hear whatever's coming first."
Matthew summoned the lovely doll and clear justice, fusing them to create a wandering spirit. The skill name being 'What?' was a tragic mistake made when he was trying to name the skill.
Nevertheless the spirit form, this time it didn't take his form since that was just a mental trick that helped him visualize. Now it was a round ball of light, fast and untouchable.
"This will work better,"
They put out the fire and followed the spirit through the dark tunnel. It was damp and sticky, most likely made by some creature. It wasn't long as they explained, but they were all prepared to attack.
"Matthew? Where are you?" Parker suddenly asked.
Matthew had Old cat on and had naturally shifted to a more silent state to watch his surroundings. He sighed, "Right beside you."
Parker jumped a little and mumbled something about how creepy he was. They escaped the tunnel and immediately got into trouble.
A large lizard was on the path in front of them, its body black and red. It was the size of a large dog and had a wide, strong body. Hooked claws scratched against the stone floor as it hissed at them.
Jamie paled, "Might have to run back."
"We can't kill it?" Matthew asked, he had heard of this variety of lizard in the dunes. It was the infamous salamander.
Parker stepped back slowly, he summoned a bronze shield with inscriptions of a dragon with ten heads.
"Path's too narrow, and the tunnel back just makes us an easy target." Parker answered, "We run back now, it'll have a straight shot at our backs if we run down the tunnel."
He stepped forward confidently, wearing a blue overalls and brown safety boots. Matthew had thought the outfit was strange, but he saw its utility now.
"I'll take the fire spit. Jamie, make sure you kill it." Parker ordered.
Jamie summoned a red spear, moving behind Parker as they crept towards the beast. Matthew recalled the wandering spirit to change its protocols and shape.
The salamander struck first, it hissed harder as they approached and opened its mouth to shoot out a molten ball of fire at them.
Parker blocked it, but the ball splattered around him, setting his blue overalls on fire. Jamie flashed out from behind him turning the spear at the salamander, the spearhead shot off like an arrow.
It soared straight for the head of the black lizard, but a hurried dodge made the spearhead stab into its stomach. The enraged lizard hissed sharply, opening its mouth to attack again.
The wandering spirit swooped down behind it and cut into the neck of the creature.
it was a little cut, Matthew activated Clear justice's ability immediately and a slash exploded onto the neck of the salamander immediately.
It's blood sprayed over the stone walls steaming like acid.
The creature fell over breathing weakly. The group of seven boys gingerly surrounded it, pikes raised as it died.
The three spirit coins dropped beside it not long after, their ethereal blue glow washing over them. Parker picked up the coins smiling.
"Nice work Matthew."
The others grunted in agreement, eyes tracing the soft flight of the wandering spirit.
One of the boys, Joey asked. "So you can attack through that?"
"Yeah. it's kind of like a flying sword," He answered.
They all stared in awe for a couple moments before Jamie barked, "No time to waste staring. Matthew you know the plan, find the creatures we want to kill. Make sure they're isolated before calling us with your spirit."
He nodded, caressing Old cat as he left the group. Sliding down the sloping path and jumping to the ground. No sand storm here, just thick and still darkness.
The strange nature of the dunes, the river of sand and its powerful creatures. He wondered which creature would work best for him, he could take the salamander and its fire powers or the Sword demon since he had a lot of experience with sword-fighting.
The sand worms interested him though, the creature that swam through the eerily river of sand. They couldn't be normal, Matthew could bet they had some strange ability.
A skill that would show itself at level five or a trial like the Pale maw that would grant some mystical power.
He could hear something approaching him, so he silenced his thoughts. Emptying his mind and stilling his soul, he became a part of the wall just watching.
A cricket like creature stumbled by, one leg missing. It was midnight black with a powerful looking exoskeleton with curved green spikes. He had about these fast monsters, its mandibles clicking and moving menacingly even as it ran for its life.
A tall figure chased after it half-heartedly, its strange armor red like blood. It had a human upper body and spider-like lower body with four narrow blocks for legs. It had four arms, two blades and two normal hands.
It had a strange helmet with six twisting horns that shone periodically with psychedelic lights. Through four holes in the helmet, four eyes green with an unnatural shape followed the prey.
It stopped suddenly just in front of him and he barely held his breath from escaping.
Then it looked up at his wandering spirit which was floating above it, it waved its arm blades at it comically for a second. Then the blades began to glow a blazing red and it released an X shaped slash of sword light at the spirit.
Matthew didn't have to worry as the spirit was programmed to avoid attacks, he simply signalled it to get Parker after it dodged.
He waited for them to come, satisfied with watching the creature hunt the cricket.
Then all of its four alien eyes turned towards him.