Operation Desert Storm <Void Quest — Gate in the Dunes>

[Enel]

Holy Me. What time is it?

I moan and roll over, burying my face in Emerald’s bust. “Bht toim ij it?” I motorboat.

“Jusst passt eight o’ clock,” she hisses. “Lord, you’ll burn if you don’t summon a cloak.”

I look down upon my bed sheets. I find it highly annoying that they didn’t bring a change of clothes for me; I suppose I didn’t specify that when I summoned them, but it seems like common sense. I sigh.

A few minutes later, I have a new set of clothes and a white cloak that covers my neck with its golden-furred hem. It wouldn’t do to be mistaken for some commoner, even a very strong and well-courted one. I stand with my arms crossed while my attendants change my clothes and fasten my new cloak about my shoulders.

“Well then,” I boom. “No time like the present.”

We resume our journey. The snake women are fast enough to keep up with me on mount; just like myself, they’re naturally quick. I send them off to hunt for breakfast, but when they return almost an hour later it’s scorpions and sand ferrets they haul in tow. By the looks of it they’re as mutated as the freaks from the power station. I idly wonder where those ‘paladins’ are now, and what their leader, Carmine, looks like under that armour. It’s unbecoming of a female to keep herself covered up so. Not for long, anyway.

Disappointed in my new charges, I decide to summon my own breakfast. As punishment, they must eat what they caught. To my mild chagrin, they wolf it down as though it were my South Bird Eggs Benedict with Sahasrahlan Mayonnaise. I suppose lizards will be lizards. Crispy licks his lips as I feed him the scraps before discarding the plate.

Another day sets and no sign of any tower. No sign of anything. Even my Godly patience has limits. When I rise the morrow, I shall have to change my strategy.

My dreams are disturbed. The women with which I lie grow larger, more monstrous. I awake and I am up to my neck in the mouth of Copper, her mouth distended unnaturally. I struggle but my muscles are weak. It feels as though I’m sapped of my energy. I feel a great gaping hole beneath my feet and I begin to fall down into the depths of her cavernous stomach.

I awake with a shock. It’s still chilly though the morning sun has begun to rise. My charges look to me.

“What is it, my lord?” Copper asks of me with seemingly innocent eyes.

“Stay there,” I command. I stand up and take five paces before turning. I raise my hand.

“El Thor,” I rumble.

The beam from my hand erupts and envelops them in a blinding light. They scream as their scales blacken and burn in the heat. A second later and they are wiped from the surface of this desert. A black stain marks the place where my bedding once was.

I take my coat from the saddle on Crispy’s back and tuck it around my shoulders. You can never be too careful with women.