Chapter 1: The Scorched Lord Beckons
"RRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRWWWWLLLLLL" came a satanic call, vaguely similar to a that of a sabre-tooth, echoing off of unseen walls. Aris opened his eyes, only to find himself standing in the exit of a cave. It exited into a wide ravine with ancient ruins clinging to its side and in its centre were the remains of monolithic columns that once held up, what was a vast ceiling. Atop one of the few remaining intact columns, stood a malignant beast. The heat shimmers were blurring out its features and yet Aris knew its eyes were on him, staring; issuing a silent challenge, a dare to come and take it from its perch.
"RRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRWWWWWWWLLLLLLLL" declared the beast again, and the image sharpened. Aris could make out the head of a lion, with a mane as dark as midnight, horns protruding from each side of its head. It had the body of a lion too, but it had mighty black, leathery wings, and the tail of a scorpion. Alas its eyes kept drawing his sight back to its face, they were a ruddy yellow and the pupils were like that of a snakes. A strong presentiment of fear overcame him whenever he looked in them, a fear the likes of which he hadn't felt in a long, long time.
He hadn't felt such fear when he faced the ultimate lifeforms, the tyrannical lords of the
so called "ARK's": The Broodmother, Megapithicus, and the mighty Dragon. They were all the size of a fully grown bull brontosaurus and bigger; in the dragon's case, it was almost as tall as the monolithic Titanosaur. He had faced them all alone, yet he had had help from The Beast, his dark side, when fighting them all. It was Aris and The Beast that the creatures of all the ARK's now bowed before and they ruled peacefully. The only creatures that didn't obey them were the rogue individuals infected with the Alpha virus and the pesky humans, of whom had named the "ARK's" "ARK's".
"RRRROOOOAAAAARRRRWWWWLLLL" beckoned the creature again, as it landed with an earth shaking thud in front of him. "Walk through that cave," it said a deep, hoarse and slurred voice, "go and see what challenges that the Scorched Lord's kingdom holds…" it uttered, "Go and see what awaits you in my Seas of Burnt Sand" His fear increase ten fold; none of the other ultimate lifeforms had the gift of speech, or at least they hadn't seemed too.
Aris turned around and walked through the cave, after a few steps everything went dark. Looking behind him, he discovered that the cave entrance had disappeared, so he continued on. After a few minutes of walking in the near pitch blackness, a bright, warm light appeared a few metres ahead. Once his eyes had adjusted, he noticed the caves entrance and three large eggs in a nest near it. One was green, one was red and the other blue, as he got closer to them he heard a thud echo from the cave entrance. He looked up and saw a large reptilian head peer over the top of the caves entrance, the mother had returned…
It crawled along the walls into the cave and Aris looked at it. It resembled the great Dragon, but it was much smaller and its wings were a part of its front arms.
"Ggggraaawwwlll" the dragon challenged.
It opened its mouth and Aris saw fire springing from its lips. He threw up his arms and felt a heat as fierce as the sun, yet he didn't die. He cautiously opened his eyes and lowered his arms; he was suddenly surround by a vast and seemingly infinite expanse of sand dunes and was being baked alive in the suns excruciating heat.
A name sprang to his mind…
"The Seas of Burnt Sand" he uttered with fear and contempt, "I WILL CONQUER YOU" he yelled in defiance; and the world faded…
…Aris burst upright from his nightmare, for that is what it was. He had been challenged by the Scorched Lord, a challenge that he couldn't refuse.