A Strange Desert where the Sandstorms are Acidic

Today marks the first anniversary since the day I found myself in a strange desert. A strange desert where the sandstorms are acidic and the bipedal draconian children of Grendel live in caves. I remember that day fondly, for the most part. It was a strange, exciting, and yet frightening adventure all at once. I think it’s definitely worth commemorating. I took a trip to the Dead Sea and along the way, I stopped to admire the nature of the desert, not far from Qumran. I’m sure everyone’s heard of that place – where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. There’s a unique beauty to the Judean desert. One unlike anywhere else in the world.

Perhaps it’s the ungodly heat of the region that makes it all so unique. There are places hotter than the Dead Sea, but what makes it so hot is the fact it is the lowest point on the surface of the earth. Maybe the area around the Dead Sea has that special feeling because of the contrast in heights. Imagine yourself standing some seven hundred meters above the lowest point in the earth looking down, it is a sight to behold. I’ve been there a few times myself.

Anyhow, I’ve roamed around these hilltops for a while, losing myself in the beauty of the whole area. Who would’ve thought that a desert could be so alluring? Well, yeah, the desert can be a lovely place to explore and travel around.

I am digressing, however, I ended up making my way into some cave on the side of the cliff. Not one of the famous Dead Sea caves, one completely unrelated. There isn’t even much of a road in that part of the mountains. If I had to explain how to get there, I’d say one has to get off route 90 just ahead of Kalia and turn left and continue until you’ve reached the middle of nowhere on the Judean mountains. Honestly, just leave your car before the climb gets too stiff and then continue by foot if you’re interested in making the trip. Also, I think this is worth mentioning but I feel like this one was man made, some of the caves in Qumran aren’t natural. This one, it’s definitely a special cave, a special place if you ask me.

Once I stepped into this cave, I felt a hot and thick stream of air and dust brush against my body. So thick I felt the dust make its way into my nose, causing me into a fit of sneezing. My lungs started itching and my eyes immediately welled up. I coughed up whatever dust made its way into my mouth and brushed my face before jogging out of the cave. I thought there was just a build-up of desert sand particles in that cave and bolted out of there. To my surprise, I found myself standing on a completely different clifftop. The desert in front of me was completely different. The sand, it wasn’t typical sand, it was almost glistening in a golden tint under the bright sun.

I turned back to the cave, and much to my surprise instead of one cave there were several of them. I stood there for a few moments, wondering if I had missed the other cave openings, when I climbed up that mountain. My thoughts were cut out by a blast of blistering hot wind hitting my face. I looked to my north and noticed a titanic cloud of dust making its way towards the mountain. I was going to turn into the cave and hide in it until the storm passed, but something caught my eye. Someone, rather. Actually, it was a group of people and some kind of animal in their possession.

Or so I thought. I saw a bunch of human figures running up the side of the cliff, they ran faster than humans should be able to. The whole scenery felt a little surreal. Everybody knows you better lie low if you can’t find shelter in a sandstorm. The storm was growing ever closer with each passing second and before I could even notice, the group nearly on the clifftop. One of them fell down, and the storm caught up to that figure.

I couldn’t tear off my eyes from what came next. The winds tore the clothes and chunks of flesh off of the figure like they were acid. The howls of pain echoed throughout the entire area and within a couple of seconds, they were nothing but snorting and gurgling sounds that barely reached my ears.

I was so focused on the grotesque sight before me. I didn’t even notice the storm about to hit the side of the cliffs. Good thing a hand grabbed my collar and pulled me into a cave before I could be smoked too. I turned around to thank whoever it was that saved my life. Then I realized I was surrounded by a group of humanoid entities clad in all black who spoke in syllables and clicks I couldn’t understand. At that point, I’ve noticed their pet was something akin to an over sized wolverine without the excessive aggression of one.

Clearly, they weren’t local, but I was grateful regardless, albeit taken aback a little by the entire ordeal. I was somehow stuck in a sandstorm that melted people and came out of nowhere. On top of that, they were covered in black cloth from head to toe, leaving only their strange eyes visible. Their eyes were weird because their sclerae were some sort of dark brown color, however, these eyes seemed fairly human.

They were talking amongst themselves in what seemed to be like an ever-increasing tone. One of them started pointing and waving its arms in my direction while the other was defending me, I think. Not wanting to escalate the situation even more, I decided to resign myself and at that moment I noticed that the cave we were in was actually a cavern. I told the creatures who probably didn’t understand me I’m going for a walk and made my way into the dark unknown.

I roamed around the cavernous tunnels for a while. My watch was still functioning, so I could monitor the time spent in the cavern. It turns out I was walking around the dark, ever increasingly moldy tunnels for over two hours. In the depths of the underground system, I found a luminous mold. The whole tunnel was lit up with a bright green and blue lights, it’s a sight I’ll never forget. It was truly otherworldly. The whole time I could hear the wails and moans of the acidic sandstorm outside. The idea that I could hear the wind from within the ground made me shudder whenever a particularly loud wail reached my ears.

Without noticing, I’ve ended up making a full circle and returning to the large space near the exit of the cavern. The clan of strange nomads was seated around a makeshift fire. They were eating something, one of them feeding pieces to their equally strange pet. One of the creatures called out to me in a series of squirrel-like squeaks I couldn’t understand. I mentioned not being able to understand it. Once we both finally concluded that there was a language barrier, the creature motioned to me with its arm to sit beside it.

I sat there, and it offered me a piece of whatever they were eating.

Some sort of meat. It was probably the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. If I had to compare it to anything, I’d say it’s like eating the hide of a walrus in structure. It also had a taste reminiscent of what a new boot would smell like. I couldn’t complain though, as I was still stuck with this clan in the middle of a deadly sandstorm. We were eating all together around the fire and the storm seemed to subside.

I was enjoying my time in the company of the alien clan. I almost managed to forget they were practically a bunch of strangers. As we sat there, enjoying our meal, one of them ran out of the depths of the cavern screaming bloody murder. The panicking creature fell right between one of the clan’s members and me. Face first into the fire. Motionless. A metallic-looking rod sticking out of the back of its throat.

I recoiled back, in shock, and I swallowed the piece of meat in my mouth hard. I stared at the fresh corpse at my feet for a few moments. At that point, my stomach turned, and I could sense a bit of the gastric acid making its way up my throat. The other clan’s members shot up to their feet, pulling out daggers and other makeshift weapons they had on their person from the pouches draped across their legs.

A shadow crept closer and closer from the depths of the cavern. Slowly it grew in size. With each passing moment it grew a few inches before its presence devoured the entire space. Casting a frigid carpet of darkness over all of us. Nearly snuffing out the warmth and the light created by the fire in our center.

The animal tensed up and started growling angrily at the source of the shadow. It sounded like the mix of a few dogs growling in tandem. The shadow kept on expanding over us until there was nothing but sheer darkness all over the space. The fire wasn’t sufficient at this point, and a cold sweat made its way across the back of my neck and down my back. The hairs on my body stood up.

From the darkness emerged a creature, clad in all black too, dressed in some sort of gas mask. I couldn’t make out its facial features, but I could clearly see the eyes. They glistened in the as a result of the light of the fire. It had the eyes of a deep-sea fish. Those weren’t human-like eyes. These were eyes suited for the darkness.

The thing made its way slowly. Each step clearly calculated. It was taking its sweet time with us. I swallowed hard again, unable to handle the tension in the air. One of the clan’s members rushed towards the creature attempting to stab it, but their weapon didn’t do much. In fact, it didn’t even butch the monster.

One of the nomads grabbed me by the arm and pulled me upwards and behind them as if to show they were going to protect me. I complied, not thinking too hard about it all. Even though in my heart of hearts I knew we were doomed. If a knife couldn’t harm this thing, none of us really had a chance.

The monster grabbed the hand of the one that assaulted it and then punched them so hard across the face that their jaw flew out of place. The monster then cranked the hand it had seized, forcing a disgusting sound out of the mouth of its victim, one that made my insides twist in knots. It forced the poor nomad to their knees, and then the beast just tore their head off. Orange blood sprayed all over and my vision turned blurry as my heartbeat skyrocketed.

The pet of the clan’s members ran up to the monster and bit it by the leg, the monstrosity didn’t even register the bite. There was a flash of light and the beast convulsed and fell down. The furry creature let go of the leg and ran up to its owners. The beast lay there motionless for a few long moments before anyone dared approach its carcass. My head was spinning, and my senses were all over the place. I was sure I’m hallucinating the whole thing and was about to collapse from a heat stroke.

Finally, one of the nomads approached the fallen beast and removed its mask. I stood up and join in with the group to observe the grotesque thing beneath the strange mask. Its head was something draconian, scaly, and thick. It was gray like a stone, and the features were fairly reptilian. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t human or even remotely close.

Its luminescent green eyes shot open, and the beast pulled itself back up, startling me. Before I could register anything, I felt someone tug at my arm. One of the nomads pulled me out of the cave and dragged me with them towards another cave. I didn’t even notice how the sandstorm ended. The whole commotion in the cave completely blocked me off from the outside world. All the while they were dragging me, I could only focus on the god-awful screaming and shrieking coming out of the cave. These unearthly sounds took over everything, time moved so slowly, I was entirely sure I’m suffering through heatstroke, or worse.

It had already gotten dark outside by the time the nomad shoved me into the other cave. I looked back only to find the nomad being lifted off the ground, their eyes tearing up and a trail of orange blood leaving their mouth.

The beast was right behind me.

The next thing I know, I’m sneezing and coughing again as bits of dust prickled in my chest causing an irritating itching in my rib cage. I rub my face only to realize I am once again being showered by the heat of the sun. My sun. I was back at the cliff on the mountains overlooking the dead sea. I let out a deep sigh of relief. That wasn’t the end of my troubles, however. I stood there soaking in the rays of the sun and feeling good about escaping my worst nightmare. That's when a cold and ever expanding shadow crept up from behind me. Not thinking too hard, I ran down the hillside and back to where I had left my car.

Then I made my way back to route 90 while my heart was pounding as fast as my car was going. I remember staring at the watch and noticing that only half an hour had passed since I’ve made my stop. This didn’t make any sense at all.

Good thing I saw someone driving by me, so I signaled him to stop. I asked the man what was the time, and he asked me how could I not know the time before affirming what my watch was showing. My heart sank as the man sped by. I didn’t even have time to digest the whole thing then as I noticed a massive, inhuman creature make its way, slowly, toward my car.

No idea how it even got this fast to me with its slow strolling, I just cursed and switched gears. A car had flown by me in the opposite direction before I pressed the gas pedal. I saw it slam into the thing in my wing mirror. The draconian creature fell down, but its weight crumpled the front of the incoming vehicle, forcing it into a violent halt.

I sat and stared at my wing mirror. Watching attentively as the beast rose back up to its feet. It stood up and proceeded to pull the bloodied driver out of the car that just hit it. Not wanting to see the ending of that encounter, I sped the hell out of there. Honestly, if I had stayed there another moment, I might’ve suffered a heart attack from the sheer stress.

I didn’t see the bipedal dragon since, but I know it’s out there, somewhere.

Better be careful out there, because dragons do exist and they seem to enjoy killing for sport.