I do not own Dragon Quest 11 or any of the characters.
Exploring
Kai smiled as he leaned back against the wall of the sauna. It was relaxing, but he'd need a bath after. Not that he minded. He was due for one anyway. Just then, the door slid open and Erik walked in, the loose shirt and pants he'd changed into leaving his blue hair and his face exposed this time. His hair was swept back, similarly to Kai's but more messily and standing up higher.
"What the..." Erik gaped, staring at Kai. "How did you...beat us here?"
"What are you talking about?" Kai asked, closing his eyes indifferently. "Do I know you?"
"Really?" Erik asked, tone unimpressed. "I broke you out of prison, and then you got swarmed by guards because you were too stubborn to run."
"Doesn't ring a bell," Kai dismissed, standing. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go bathe before I head out."
He walked out of the sauna and down a stretch of porch to the bathhouse, scrubbing himself clean quickly before heafing back to the changing room and getting dressed. As he walked out, however, he spotted Erik and David speaking with a short, blonde girl with a red dress over a white blouse, a pair of braids, abd a pointed, red hat on her head. She looked eight at most, but the red staff in her hand, tipped with a red crystal sphere, betrayed her as a mage, although he couldn't sense any magic from her currently. He ignored them, walking past them in silence, only for David to catch his arm.
"We could use your help," David said. "We're trying to rescue someone, but they're being held hostage by monsters."
"And that's my problem, how?" Kai asked. "Unless you're offering to pay me for it, I have no reason to help you."
"What's your problem!?" the young girl demanded.
"Currently, it's that someone's touching me," Kai growled in warning.
David released him, but the little girl stepped in front of him.
"My name is Veronica, and I'm-"
"A mage who was stupid enough to exchange her time to protect her magic when someone was trying to steal it," Kai interrupted. "Forgive me if I don't bow down and take you orders as gospel."
He stepped around her, continuing out of the village. He turned west, heading in the general direction of Gallopolis. It was about a day's walk, half a day through the Hotto Steppe and half a day through the desert. Finally, however, he reached the Sultanate of Gallopolis, the city's guards pulling the gate open for him, then closing it behind him. He headed for the inn, renting a room and dropping off to sleep within minutes.
Kai rolled his eyes as he glanced at the door to the circus tent, seeing David, Erik, Veronica, and a blonde girl entering the tent with the prince of Gallopolis, Faris. Kai turned back to the front, ignoring them, and enjoyed the rest of the performance. Then, once it was done, he left, heading back to the inn. He'd decided to stick around for the circus and the horse race in the morning. While he was, a few of the merchants were gathering supplies he'd payed for and he'd be on his way.
Despite wanting to watch the horse race, however, he left early when, instead of Prince Faris racing, David was, instead, dressed in his armor. And besides that, one of the other competitors had to withdraw, so The Great Sylvando, the main act from the circus the night before, had taken his spot. So, David had left. He wandered out into the desert, once again heading toward Gondolia. It should be getting close to time for their annual competition, so he was toying with the idea of competing. As he was heading for the checkpoint out of Gallopolis's territory, several screams rang out from his right. He turned just as a massive, centipede-like monster with a yellowish exoskeleton, four pointed legs, four arms tipped in large scorpion claws, two arms ending in praying mantis blades, a long tail, and glowing red eyes burst up from the sand behind a pair of fleeing soldiers from Gallopolis.
It lunged, a claw slamming into one of the soldiers and hurling it, then reared back to attack the second, only for Kai to leap over the fleeing soldier, lashing out with his Cobblestone Sword. The creature shrieked in pain, retreating from Kai, then hissed before turning and burrowing under the sand. A trail of raised sand sped away from Kai and the soldier began to pant out a "thank you".
"Don't thank me," Kai said, sheathing his sword. "You should warn your people about it."
"Yes, yes of course," the soldier nodded. "But, what about you? Will you help us hunt it?"
Kai considered for a moment. "I'll do it for a price."
"How much?" the soldier asked.
"How much do you have on you?" Kai asked.
The soldier felt his pockets for a moment before pulling out a coin pouch. "Fifteen gold."
"Good enough," Kai shrugged.
The soldier handed the money over and Kai turned, walking after the creature.
"Are...Are you serious?" the soldier asked. "You'd hunt the Slayer of the Sands for such a measley price?"
"I have nothing better to do," Kai shrugged.
The soldier stared after him for a minute, then picked up his wounded friend and hurried toward Gallopolis. Kai reached into his burlap sack as he walked, withdrawing a knife with a gently-curved, black blade and a reinforced, wooden handle that curved at the end. He attached the knife to the left side of his belt, then drew the knife in his left hand, holding it in reverse grip as he drew his Cobblestone Sword. As if on cue, the sand before him burst upward, a massive, four-legged, horned, keletal creature leaping out of it with a small, orange-skinned, black-clothed humanoid mounted on its back. It brandished a scimmitar, but Kai sidestepped the slash, then swept his sword upward, slashing the mount and killing it, then spun, his dagger decapitating the child-sized monster atop its back. Then, he continued to walk forward at a calm pace.
After a few more minutes, and a few more battles, he passed through the checkpoint into the Celestial Sands, where the checkpoint guard had said the creature usually resided, the creature very rarely attacking in the main section of the desert. Within minutes of arriving, the creature burst from the sand, shrieking. He narrowed his eyes, but before he could kill it, a massive dragon-wolf hybrid suddenly crashed down between them. Its head was that of an orange-furred wolf, as was its tail, and it had fur across the entirety of its back, it had fur along the blade of its wings while the webbing remained leathery, and its legs and underside were yellowish scales. Other than its ability to breath fire, its main means of attack were enormous, black claws, and a vaguely lightningbolt-shaped horn growing from its head the length of a sword.
Kai rolled his eyes as the Slayer of the Sands retreated again and the Spitzfire roared and shot forward. Kai dove into a roll, avoiding its horn and claws. As it circled around, it roared, unleashing a collumn of flame at him. He leapt into the air over it, and the flames ended just as he fell at it from above. He spun himself, his sword whipping around, and it tore into the Spitzfire's torso. It shrieked in pain, rearing back, and he leapt forward, spinning again, and slashed its throat with his dagger before slashing it down the torso with his sword. It collapsed, making a choking sound for a moment before dissolving into a cloud of darkness and fading.
He shook his head, continuing through the desert. A couple more Spitzfires attacked him, as did a lot of small, yellow creatures with furry, orange hoods over their heads, these creatures wielding large mallets. He fought large, blue and yellow serpents with wings in place of hoods, humanoid creatures that wielded magic and wore black robes with only their hands and feet exposed, creatures with the heads and wings of vultures and bodies similar to fat serpents, living cactus balls, and then even more of all of them.
Finally, after nearly an hour of carving his way through the various kinds of monsters inhabiting the desert, he finally reached a dead end. It was a large, open area at the end of a tunnel he'd passed through, then a cliff on the far side of the open area. The ground was still covered in sand, and as Kai walked out into the open area, the massive creature burst up from the sand once more, except that this time, there was nowhere for it to run. It shrieked angrily at him and lunged, striking with one of its massive claws, but he leapt over it, slashing with his dagger. It barely managed to get through the creature's exoskeleton, but it was enough to make it recoil.
The Slayer shrieked angrily again, and shot sideways, circling him rapidly, Kai's head turning to track it while his body remained facing forward. Then, suddenly, its head dipped, scooping up a mouthful of sand before turning its head and blowing the sand back out, forming a thick cloud around Kai. He squinted to keep the sand out of them and waited. A moment later, one of the Slayer's sickle arms lashed out from the sand. He ducked, deflecting the blade over himself with his own blade, grunting under the force of the impact. However, before he could consider retaliating, the other sickle blade lashed out. He avoided it, then the other. A claw flashed out, opened so that the razor-sharp interior was poised to bisect him, and he leapt over it. Then, he crossed his arms before his torso just before the Slayer's tail exploded into him, hurling him backward out of the sand cloud. He flipped, landing on his feet and skidding backward, but instead of chasing him, more sand suddenly burst out of the cloud, expanding it to fill the entire area just as Prince Faris and several soldiers slowed to a stop around Kai.
"Who are you?" Prince Faris asked, just as a pair of massive, glowing yellow eyes appeared from the sand.
Each eye was roughly the size of Kai's torso, and as they all watched the eyes rose, then swayed first one way, then the other.
"It's...so big!" Faris panicked, falling to his knees in dispair.
Kai narrowed his eyes, then spun, darting past the soldiers to his left in time to ram his entire body into the side of the Slayer's tail, stopping its strike. He spun, waving an arm, and a tornado swirled to life, sucking the sand out of the air around them and spinning away, revealing the Slayer in all its glory. The glowing eyes had been marks on its back, but as the sand was blown away, the Slayer turned on Faris, who shrieked in fear scrambling backward away from it.
"Up and at 'em, Princey-poo!" a flamboyant male voice called out. "Show that filthy thing what real knights are made of!"
Faris cowered even more.
"Oh dear," the voice sighed as David's group stepped out of the tunnel, along with Sylvando, who was speaking. "Looks like poor Faris has been struck down with stage fright. You soldiers, be dears and look after him, will you?" He turned to David's group. "Come on, gang! This little drama needs a hero or two!"
"Beat it, circus clown!" Kai called out. "And take your side act with you! I've got this handled!"
He charged, and the Slayer turned on him and lunged, striking with both of its praying mantis blades. Kai leapt over the strikes, slashing it down the face with his Cobblestone Sword, then stabbed his knife into its back, flipping and setting his feet on ita back before wrenching his knife free and leaping off again just before its tail crashed into its back. It shrieked in rage, beginning to turn, only for Sylvando to pass in front of it, his silver rapier slashing it across the abdomen. The cut was shallow, but it got the Slayer's attention for long enough that it didn't notice David and Erik charging.
David leapt onto its back, slashing with his own Cobblestone Sword before leaping off again. As the thing began to turn, Erik leapt at its face, pulling his dagger back, only for the thing's claw to slam into him, hurling him backward. As he bounced across the ground, David's newest companion, a blond in a white and green dress with long hair and a white wand with a single, feathered wing attached at the top, raised a hand, then swung it toward Erik, a ball of green light flashing across the distand before enveloping Erik, healing him.
Veronica formed a ball of fire in her free hand and hurled it at the Slayer. It errupted against the thing's back, but besides blackening its shell, it did little else. The Slayer hissed angrily and turned toward her, only for Kai to fall in front of it, his blade splitting it down the front. It shrieked in pain, the blade forcing its body down also, allowing his right foot to flash up, slamming a devastating roundhouse kick into the side of its head, cracking its exoskeleton and knocking it into its side. It shrieked in pain, beginning to rise, only for Sylvando to sprint past, slashing it several times. It reared up, shrieking in pain, and Erik and David passed it, slashing it across the front and it reared up, shrieking one last time before collapsing to the ground, unmoving. Kai huffed, sheathing his sword and dagger, then turned, heading back toward the tunnel.
"Thank you, Darling!" Sylvando called after him.
Kai ignored him entirely, continuing to walk calmly through the tunnel.
Leave a review.