70 The Spirit Bone Tribe (1/2)

The water washed over my body was crisp and fresh, it washed away the sand and sweat that had covered every inch of my body. Who knew traveling in a desert makes you so gritty, I thought bitterly to myself.

Royal quickly surfaced from the water, I sucked in a deep breath of fresh air. Looking around, I survey the area that Royal had rushed to. His body was surprisingly buoyant, his body easily floated atop the water.

The oasis was a hub of colors and plants, I saw all sorts of different plants. The waterfall was a kaleidoscope of colors as it crashed down into the pond that we're sitting in. Royal slithered around in the water for a bit, as steam wafted off the top of his body.

”I'm sorry, it was so hot out there, you did great,” I ran a hand over his back and he let out a pleased hiss as he continued to slither around the surface of the water.

My ears perked up when I heard the sound of the air being cut, turning my head around, I look towards the area that we had come from and soon enough Janus shot out of the tree area with his puppet hot on his tail.

He hovered above the water and I gave him a small wave from my seat on Royal's back. His quickly flew towards me and hovered above the water, the puppet simple stayed at the edge of the pond.

”We should be careful rushing into an area like this,” Janus cautioned as I raised an eyebrow at him.

But I quickly realized that something wasn't right, there was no sound of animals. In this burning hot area, all the animals should flock towards a place like this, there was water and obviously a good amount of food that could be found here.

Yet, I couldn't hear anything, not even the sound of a bird, I knew that Royal and even the tiny bone dragon would be enough to frighten most animals off. But I hadn't even heard animals scurrying away at the sound of our approach through the forest.

It was like there hadn't been any animals here at all, to begin with. A sinking feeling sunk into the pit of my stomach, was there something stronger here than even the dragon?

As if on cue, something burst up from the water. My head whipped towards the sudden movement, and I sucked in a sharp breath when I saw what appeared from the watery bottom of the pond.

An alligator about the same size as Royal appeared, it was bony just like the dragon and I felt my stomach twist.

Can't I catch a break!

Janus hastily swooped down and grabbed my body. Wretching me out of Envy grip and off of Royal's back, he quickly ascended.

My stomach bottomed out as we ascended into the air like a bullet. I wanted to puke, but I swallowed it down. Royal moved to curl himself around the alligator, while Envy quickly grabbed Igna and jumped towards the edge of the bank where the puppet was standing.

It was a watery brawl as Royal did his best to curl around the bone alligator, but the alligator wasn't having it. It thrashed wildly as it began to swim back towards the bottom of the pond, with Royal in tow.

I was worried for Royal, but I didn't have time as more bone animals began to appear, like a soundless phantom, they soon had the whole pond surrounded. There was all manner of beast there, I felt a headache coming on, this wasn't going to be easy.

”We should escape!” Janus' voice was strained as he glanced around at the beast. I wanted to agree with him, but at the same time, I couldn't bear to leave Royal here.

I could always re-summon him though...

But more and more monster spilled out from the forest, the pressure they let off was enough to strike fear into someone. I counted about twenty or thirty of them, this was going to be hard to fight our way out of.