TWO3DELTA

"What am I doing out here John?" I asked my comm, trying to figure out the reason I was in the middle of Nylas Desert. I held my cloak tighter against my body as the sand drifted across the ground and sky, the grains flying into my eyes. I stood still and coughed, although it was rather pointless as more sand flew in. "Mute your comm if you're going to cough man! It sounds gross!" I rolled my eyes in annoyance at John's tone.

I've known John longer than I've known myself, if that says anything. We've had each other's backs since Day 1, the day we left the United World Front and decided to become lone explorers. We had found many different places, and if you looked hard enough, you would probably find our names at the root of all of it. John had heard from his sources that there were cites that had been built onto the eight different legendary creatures on one of humanity's world's, Lyran. It was a planet mostly desert, and mountains, and yet somehow these creatures survived.

We had found most of these creatures, all except two. John and I had personally found six of them, and we were looking for the last two, but they had proved to be elusive. We had found pieces of history at each city, and we needed the last two to figure out who made such majestic sites. It had been harder than we thought, and time wasn't getting any longer.

"You know why we're here David. I've heard rumors of another hidden creature." I sighed unknowingly; this job was getting increasingly tiring every second. It wasn't even that the job was hard; it was the travel time and danger of such travel. The year was 2133, and even now bandits existed. I was ex-military for the United World Front, so I knew my way around firearms, as was John, though he had been an intelligence officer in the UWF. We had left after there were signs that the high-ups had some shady dealings with other governments focused on ulterior motives that led to more war than peace. Namely, it was the Siken Dictatorship, who focused more on ruling with an iron grip, and the Werben, who were trying to rule in the Pre-Space Era version of communism.

"...David! Come in David!" I shook my head, my thoughts dispersing as I heard John's voice. "Yea, I'm here, just was zoning out as I keep walking..." I looked forward, keeping my eyes open for any signs of this creature that John had heard about. "Were you thinking about your family again?" I squinted my eyes in annoyance again, as if I could see John in front of me. "They'll be alright David, you got them to safety. Trust me, they'll be fine. You'll see your son Sammy, and your wife Verah. Don't worry man." I silently thanked John for his reassurance as I thought about my wife and son, who were on the planet Yrm. Recently, there had been some hotshot group of raiders that had started a multitude of riots across the planet.

Storing my negative thoughts away, I returned my attention to watching cautiously for any raiders while I explored. I had long since started to feel hot, my entire body soaked in sweat, while I rubbed at my eyes repeatedly from the sand entering, my mask not covering my eyes as best as it could. I checked my wrist computer to see the map, seeing how close I was. "What do you think we should name it once we find it?" John's voice resounded in my eardrums, as I pondered the thought. "I guess it depends on what it looks like, we'll see when we get there." I continued walking, my ears finding a deep sounding drum-like beat as I took step after step. I looked around, wondering what the sound was. Turning, I saw nothing but desert, and a giant mountain of a boulder, sitting amongst the waves upon waves of tan sand. I thought I saw it move, but figured it was the heat and sun messing with my vision.

Although it wasn't what we were looking for, I decided to drink some more water before running towards it, my cloak bouncing and becoming stuck to my body, the sweat making it so. I could only widen my eyes in amazement as it continued to grow larger and larger. I thought about how if I moved any closer then it would cover my entire line of vision. I looked at the tip of the mountain, where instead of being pointed, it was roundish. Almost like a turtle's shell...then it moved.

I stepped back in shock and awe, watching the sight before me in complete disarray, my hand reaching for my comm. "Hey John?" I waited for a few minutes before John answered. "Hey man, I see you got closer too it, I wonder where it is." I stared at the giant turtle that bore a city at the apex of its body. "That's because it's in front of me, right now." I wiped away the sweat that had formed on my forehead as I stared. I heard John gulp at the new information as I spoke one again.

"Oasis."