Chapter 942: Damn, why do we only ever find more problems?

Samira did not wait for official orders.

After feeling that hot, dry wind coming from the southeast, the decision simply became too obvious to ignore. The three of them could still return to Asgard, deliver the vial of sand to Frieren, warn Monica, wait for reports, maps, authorizations, and the entire irritating sequence of procedures the city now possessed. But the smell coming from the desert did not seem like something that would politely wait for documentation. And if there was one thing Samira hated more than problems, it was discovering too late that a big problem was coming because everyone had been busy trying to give it a name.

She looked at Cassandra and Daniela.

"Let us see it with our own eyes."

Daniela raised an eyebrow.

"Strax will complain if we discover something dangerous and do not warn him first."

"Strax complains about everything."

"Monica will complain more."

"Monica complains with documents. That is worse, but it takes longer."

Cassandra looked at the vial with the contaminated sand, then at the southeastern horizon. Snow continued falling around them, but the warm wind had left a strange sensation on the skin, as if an invisible hand had pushed winter back for a single second.

"I agree with Samira," Cassandra said. "We need to see the source. If it is only an abnormal migration, we return quickly. If it is something worse, we send a message before getting too close."

Daniela released a sigh.

"When someone says ’before getting too close,’ we are usually already too close."

Samira smiled.

"Then try flying higher."

It did not take long.

The three of them moved far enough away from the clearing to avoid their transformation destroying what little still remained of the nearby trees, and then they released their true forms. Mana exploded around them in powerful waves, raising snow, dead leaves, and frozen dust. Samira’s body grew first, her bones lengthening, scales taking the place of skin, and enormous wings opening against the gray sky. She assumed a robust and imposing draconic form, made for impact, strength, and presence, with horns swept backward and a warm glow running between the plates of her chest.

Cassandra came soon after, more elegant and sharp, her draconic body forming long lines, pale scales with cold reflections, and wings broad enough to glide with precision. There was a sense of calculated control about her, as if even her draconic form had been designed to observe before attacking.

Daniela, finally, transformed with swift violence, beating her wings before the change had even fully finished. Her form was more compact than Samira’s, but agile, with dark scales, fine claws, and attentive eyes that shone like blades beneath the weak winter light.

When the three took flight, the forest below trembled.

They pierced the low clouds and headed southeast, leaving Asgard behind. At first, the world was still white and gray. Snow-covered hills, partially frozen rivers, new roads opened by Monica’s teams, and small watchtowers scattered like dark points across the landscape. After some time, winter began to thin. The snow became finer. The earth appeared in dark patches. The trees grew smaller, more spaced out, and the wind changed scent.

Asgard’s cold was left behind.

Dry air took its place.

Daniela flew a little below the other two, examining the marks on the ground. From time to time, she saw tracks far too wide for ordinary animals, confused lines of movement, and groups of smaller beasts running in the wrong directions. Some headed west. Others north. None seemed to be hunting. All seemed to be escaping.

"More tracks," she said, her voice carried by magic to reach the others. "Many."

Cassandra tilted one wing, descending a little to observe better.

"It is not a single horde. They are different groups. All leaving from the same direction."

Samira looked ahead.

"From the desert."

The transition came abruptly.

An almost perfect line separated the dry vegetation from the first dunes. It was not natural. Even from above, it was possible to see that the desert seemed to begin as if someone had cut the world with a blade and decided that, from there onward, there would be only sand. The ground changed from brown to pale gold, then to a scorched yellow that reflected sunlight in an unpleasant way.

But the sky above the desert was wrong.

There was no storm.

No clouds.

Even so, the light seemed crooked.

Samira slowed down.

"Are you seeing this?"

Daniela flew beside her.

"Unfortunately."

Cassandra did not answer immediately. She watched the horizon with narrowed eyes, trying to understand the scale of what lay before them.

The desert was not still.

The dunes were moving.

Not like sand blown by the wind, nor like an ordinary storm. The entire dunes breathed. They rose and fell at slow intervals, like the chest of a colossal creature sleeping beneath the surface. Dark lines ran between them, forming circular patterns that slowly reorganized themselves. From above, they looked like veins.

And at the center of that vastness, there was something even worse.

A gigantic crater occupied the heart of the desert, wide enough to swallow a small city. But the sand did not fall into it.

It rose.

Thousands of tons of sand slowly lifted from the bottom of the crater in thin, silent columns, floating upward like rain in reverse. The grains rose to a black point suspended in the sky, a dark sphere, too small to justify that horror, but dense enough to make the light around it bend. The sand vanished into it without sound.

Around the crater, ruins had emerged from the dunes.

Broken towers.

Impossible arches.

Walls covered in inscriptions so ancient that even Cassandra felt discomfort just looking at them.

And among those ruins, beasts walked in circles.

They did not attack.

They did not flee.

They walked.

Hundreds of them.

Some were of the same kind Samira, Cassandra, and Daniela had just killed near Asgard. Others were larger, more deformed, with legs too long, opened carapaces, or horns covered in black sand. All followed the same circular movement around the crater, as if obeying an order no sound transmitted.

Daniela went several seconds without speaking.

Then said, with absolute sincerity:

"What the fuck is this?"

Samira did not answer.

Because she did not know.

Cassandra descended a little more, but stopped when the shadows of the three dragons themselves projected over the dunes.

The shadows did not obey.

While their bodies remained in the air, the shadows on the ground continued moving. First slowly. Then with intention. Samira’s shadow turned its head backward, as if looking directly at her. Daniela’s opened wings that did not correspond to the real movement of her body. Cassandra’s crawled across the sand until it touched one of the dark lines between the dunes.

The instant it touched, Cassandra felt something pull at her mana.

She beat her wings hard and rose immediately.

"Do not get any closer."

Samira turned to her.

"What happened?"

"The shadows are connected to something."

Daniela looked down and saw her own shadow still moving with a delay, as if trying to go toward the crater by itself.

"I hate deserts now."

Samira growled low, and the sound vibrated in the air.

At the center of the crater, one of the ruined towers moved.

It was not a tower.

It was a finger.

Sand began to pour off a colossal structure buried beneath the ruins. First came something like a hand, then part of an arm made of ancient stone, fossilized bones, and corroded metal plates. The structure did not rise completely. It merely moved one finger, slowly, like someone awakening from far too long a sleep.

All the beasts stopped at the same time.

Hundreds of heads turned toward the three dragons in the sky.

Not with hunger.

Not with rage.

With warning.

Cassandra felt a deep shiver run down her spine.

"They were not fleeing from an ordinary predator."

Daniela kept her wings open, backing away a little.

"Then what were they fleeing from?"

The answer came before anyone could speak.

The black sphere in the sky pulsed.

The sand stopped rising for a single second.

And, in the absolute silence that formed over the desert, a huge, low, broken voice crossed the minds of all three at once.

"Go back."

Samira widened her draconic eyes.

Daniela nearly lost altitude.

Cassandra clenched her jaw, trying to block the mental presence, but the word had already entered too deeply. It did not feel like a threat. It did not feel like an invitation. It was something worse. A warning given by something that did not need to explain why.

Then the sand fell.

Not all of it.

Only a small part of the column came undone, crashing back down over the crater like a golden waterfall. On impact, a wave of dust spread through the ruins, and the beasts returned to moving in circles as if nothing had happened.

Samira beat her wings, slowly rising.

"We are going back."

Daniela looked at her.

"Without arguing?"

"Do you want to land there and ask the name of the buried hand?"

"No."

"Then we are going back."

Cassandra was still staring at the crater.

"We need to warn Strax."

"Yes," Samira said, her eyes fixed on the black sphere. "And Frieren. And Monica."

Daniela let out a nervous laugh.

"Great. Something strange enough to need Strax, Frieren, and Monica at the same time."

Samira turned her body in the air, but before leaving, she looked at the desert one last time.

At the edge of the crater, one of the ruins had changed shape.

The ancient inscriptions lit up for a few seconds, forming a symbol none of the three fully recognized. But Cassandra saw enough to understand that it was not just any mark.

It was a seal.

A cracked seal.

She stored the image in her memory.

"Let us go," she said.

The three dragons beat their wings and began flying back to Asgard, faster than they had come. Behind them, the desert continued breathing. The sand continued rising into the black sphere. The beasts continued circling silently around the crater.

And, beneath the ruins, something very ancient moved another finger.

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