The desert stretched out endlessly in front of Solomon.

Golden sand dunes rolled like waves as far as the eye could see. This was Solomon's eye, of course, meaning it was much stronger than that of a human.

Above the dunes, in a cloudless sky, a ruthless sun scorched anything that walked beneath it. The surface of the sand was boiling hot to the touch and dry as a bone. Any moisture had long bean rinsed from this place.

Beneath the roiling waves of sand, creatures shifted and tunnelled through the ground. While animal life may have been chased from the rest of the world. Ironically, here, in this desert, it thrived.

The movements of these creatures were hidden from Solomon who ran across the surface of the sand at blistering speeds. He resembled a stone being skimmed across a lake.

Although he had said he wasn't in a rush to attack the Shrike. That didn't mean he could afford to walk around with his thumb up his ass.

Since he didn't know where the nearest settlement of natives would be, all he could do was run towards the north as fast as possible so he would lose time.

The burning hot sand didn't really bother him because hell was much hotter anyway. Still, it wasn't exactly pleasant to be scorched dry by the sun so he hoped to find shelter.

As he made his way northward, his thoughts turned towards Hyde and Fike. 'I wonder how they are doing. Knowing Hyde, he's probably itching to start fighting. Hopefully, Fike can curb this impulsiveness a little. I'd rather not have to rescue them later.'

Little did Solomon know, his careless words had just raised a mighty flag above the distant pair.

...

Standing atop the massive sand barrier that ringed the desert, Hyde peered off into the surrounding jungle.

For some reason, his nose wasn't working the way it usually did. 'Could it be all the strange pollens in the air?' He thought.

Whatever the reason, this spelt bad news for the pair. Hyde, who was meant to be their tracker had his most powerful sense taken from him.

He still had his sharpened hearing, which was better than nothing. But, he would rather not go into the forest with one eye covered. Not that he really had a choice.

When he explained his situation to Fike, he said this.

"That's probably how they dealt with a lot of the animals that used to live on this planet. Confusing their sense of smell would make them much easier to deal with."

Hyde groaned. Just because what Fike said was reasonable didn't mean he liked it.

Just in case, Hyde tried to discern the smells coming out of the forest. It didn't work. He couldn't separate them into their individual components. Every other smell was being overpowered by the thick irony smell of blood.

Fike snapped Hyde out of his malaise by speaking up, "I think we should get down from here. We may be safe on top of this dune, but that doesn't mean we can't be seen. If the Shrike set up an ambush we are finished."

"hmm, can plants even see?"

"I... don't know actually."

"Why don't we just get moving anyway. I don't believe a tree could outrun me even if we couldn't beat it." Said Hyde, before taking off down the side of the enormous sand dune.

Not wanting to be left behind, Fike set off in hot pursuit. The two looked particularly small and insignificant compared to the Mountainous sand dune and towering trees on either side.

The further down the sand they ran, the more humid it became and they began to see occasional specks of green poking out from beneath the golden sands.

As they got closer to the foot of the dune and the forest, both of them began to realise just how enormous the overgrown vegetation was. Everywhere they looked, the ground was blanketed with some sort of greenery.

Each tree was crawling with ivy that fought to reach the sunlight blocked by the canopies above. On the forest floor, moss and mushrooms thrived in the dark damp atmosphere.

The mushrooms were particularly striking as they stood as tall as a man and were covered in vibrant purple and yellow spots. They were practically screaming 'I am poisonous'.

Hyde had finally reached the boundary between the sand and the forest. Shortly followed by Fike. Behind them was golden sand, and, if they took one more step, they would walk into the forest.

Until now they hadn't noticed how eerie this forest actually was. But, when Hyde finally took that final step into the undergrowth. He realised something.

"It's too quiet." He whispered.

Despite how quiet he had spoken, the noise sounded deafening in the silent forest. It made sense that a forest with no life in it would be quiet, but still. This was really creepy. Each breath they took was deafening and their own heartbeat could be heard clearly.

"Shit! It's going to be so easy to find us if we are the only ones making noise." Whispered Fike. Not that the act of whispering did any good. he could still be heard clear as day from a hundred metres away.

If there is no background noise, the sound will travel much clearer and further than it normally would. Combine that with the fact that they would be walking over fallen leaves and branches, it was practically a burger alarm for the shrike.

"Do Shrike have ears though?" Whispered Hyde.

"Good question, I wouldn't expect them to have organs so probably not." Replied Fike.

"How do we not get caught for making noise then? I don't want to get swarmed," Complained Hyde, He was impulsive, not suicidal.

"What if..." Said Fike before pausing.

"What? if you have a plan then spit it out."

"What if we make loads of noise, But we go to the edge of the forest. Then we can lure them to us without them being able to sneak up behind us," explained Fike.

"Hmm, a fisherman would come up with a plan that involves luring something to him. As expected of you," said Hyde thoughtfully.

"Aside from that though, do you think it could work?" Asked Fike frustratedly.

"Well, I think we might end up luring a few Shrikes too many, but at least this way we won't be overwhelmed and surrounded."

"Exactly! At the very least, we can get out of here. I really hate how quiet it is here. It's unnatural." Added Fike

With a temporary plan, The pair backed up until they were at the divide between forest and desert again.

"How would we make noise?" Asked Fike

Hyde didn't respond to this question. He turned his head towards the forest and opened his mouth wide.

"Wait! Don't do..."

Before Fike could finish, the deafening roar of a dragon tore out of Hyde's mouth and rippled across the forest for miles.

Fike put his head in his hands. "That was way too loud."

"We don't have time for moping, get ready for a fight." Said Hyde commandingly, like it wasn't his fault.

Right when the two were about to start arguing, A ripping sound reached their ears. It sounded like a root being pulled from the earth.

Hyde was the first to notice it and his head snapped around to look at the direction of the sound. Before long, more ripping sounds could be heard.

"Right, Hyde I've had another idea." Shouted Fike. "We can't fight loads of them at once. So what if we do this..."

"But is your rope strong enough?" asked Hyde doubtfully?

"It will have to be," Fike affirmed.

The sounds of ripping couldn't be heard anymore. Instead, crushing and snapping noises echoed throughout the forest. Something huge was crashing through the undergrowth. And it wasn't moving slowly either.

Once he heard the sounds growing nearer, Fike frowned. Just from the sounds of destruction being created, he could tell the Shrike were massive. All he could do was pray his Rope would hold out.

Taking a final glance at the forest, He turned around and ran 30 meters up the sand dune. Behind him, Hyde growled lowly from his throat and walked slowly into the forest again.

Each step Hyde took was accompanied by a snap of a branch or the crunch of a leaf beneath his feet. His hearing was particularly sharp and he could not only pick up these sounds clearly, But he could also roughly judge how far away other noises were.

For example, He could tell that the nearest Shrike that was tearing its way through the undergrowth towards him was only a few hundred metres away.

He readied himself by jumping on top of a nearby tree and crouching low, ready to spring an attack at a moments notice.

Beneath him, the ground started to rumble and he could see movements in the distant undergrowth. These movements grew clearer as smaller plants were snapped and the giant mushrooms were crushed by whatever was passing by.

Hyde's heartbeat slowed and his muscles tensed up as the Shrike grew close. The light was blocked by the dense canopies overhead soHe couldn't see it clearly. All he could get was the sense that it was very large.

Suddenly, right in front of Hyde, A tree was smashed to pieces and an enormous creature came into view.

He didn't have time to stop and stare. Hyde immediately released his tensed up muscles and burst to life. He flung himself like a torpedo at what he thought was the Shrikes body and tore at it with his claws.

Before he could land more than a couple of hits, a branch flew toward him. Hyde barely managed to jump back and dodge the pointed branch that had speared the ground where he had originally stood.

Swearing internally, Hyde turned and ran back the way he had come. He had mapped out a path without any instructions and he wasn't very far from the sand, to begin with.

Despite this, as he bolted through the undergrowth, ducking under branches and jumping over gigantic routes, he regretted not staying even closer to the desert.

The Shrike was hot on his tail and was clearly angered by the damage Hyde had done to it. More than once, Hyde felt a rush of air past his head and a nearby shrub was smashed. He thought he caught glimpses of roots that coiled like whips back towards the Shrike.

Just in front of Hyde, golden light appeared. He felt like he had gazed upon something holy and put on another burst of speed to make it out of the forest.

He didn't slow down as he ran out into the desert sand, but the Shrike did. It clearly wasn't stupid and knew that it would be disadvantaged if it walked out into the desert. This was pretty scary to think about on its own.

However, this wasn't Hyde and Fike's first rodeo. They had prepared for such a scenario. The evidence is what happened next.

When The Shrike came to a stop at the border between the desert and forest, Hyde finally got a good look at it.

Standing at almost 15 metres tall, it was the height of a bus turned on its end. The trunk of the monster was twisted and curved sinisterly. At the bottom of the trunk, roots stretched out like legs. Although it was a tree, it didn't have any leaves. Instead of leaves, the branches were adorned with thorns like brambles. Each branch stretched out into a vicious point.

The skeletons of various creatures were hanging from the branches like gruesome ornaments, swaying with each move the tree made. Dark green I've wound around the bones to keep them in place.

Now that the Shrike had stopped moving, Hyed came to a stop as well. Not wanting to turn his back on the monster, he held up his hand and shouted.

"Do it!"

A silver harpoon shot past his head. It gleamed in the sunlight as it continued on. Tied to the harpoon, was the rope Fike had made out of the snake monster they killed.

With a thunk, the harpoon sank into the trunk of the tree. Although the tree had no mouth to make a sound with, It twisted madly after it was stuck, flailing to try and get the harpoon out. When the tree flailed like this, It was accompanied by the rattling of bones from the corpses hanging off it.

Hyde grabbed the rope that was above his head and yanked on it. Fike joined him and they both pulled on the roped that bound the Shrike.

Not wanting to be caught, The Shrike dug its roots into the ground and fought against the pull of the rope.

Although the Shrike was indeed strong, two demons were not to be underestimated. After a brief tug of war, a sickening tearing sound came from the Shrike.

The Shrike was dragged into the sands and its remaining roots couldn't get any traction. From then on it was easier and the Shrike was slowly dragged up the side of the dune.

From then on, the question became what would give out first. The Shrike's roots or Fike's rope.

After the Shrike was dragged 20 metres up the slope, The rope snapped with a twang and FIke was sent flying backwards.

Still, their efforts weren't for nothing. Now that they were both out of the forest, Hyde could get a clear view of the Shrike. He could finally let loose.

Hyde opened his mouth wide and looked at the Shrike as it struggled to crawl through the soft sand towards the forest. He took a deep breath and then... Roared.

Violent red flames poured out of his mouth like the deluge from a waterfall and blanketed the Shrike. The Shrike was a lot of things, but fireproof was not one of them.