“I’m fine, let’s just go before anything else happens.” Sydney sighed, accepting Esmay’s hand.
As the group carried on through the woods it began to get thicker and thicker until the only thing they could see was the path in front of them. Sydney crossed her arms tightly across her chest as she mumbled to herself. They hadn’t been in the game for very long but already she was tired, on edge and really just ready to punch someone just because.

Suddenly a cloaked figure stepped out in front of the group and turned towards them. It was a long black cloak with gold trimming and it was so long it touched the ground and then some. The hood was up and completely covered the figures face so the players couldn’t see any of its features. The figure stood there for a few seconds before turning and walking down the path, pausing only to beckon to the group. Sydney hesitated for a moment but when she noticed everyone else’s curiosity she decided why not.

The figure led the players down the winding path, never stopping to make sure they were still following or even ever looking to the sides to check for danger. From Sydney’s view the figure seemed to know exactly what it was doing, she just hoped it wasn’t a trap. Soon the figure stopped and turned back to the players who also stopped in return.
“Where did you take us?” Sydney asked the figure, who simply pulled back a few branches to reveal a small clearing.
Inside the clearing as a large chest which Sydney took no time running over to and snapping open.
“Guys, it’s full of swords!” She called as she pulled out a large sword, lightly touching the tip to see if it was actually sharp.

Strauss got a little nervous as the woods started closing in, he didn't like the sense of confinement it gave. When a strange figure stepped in front of them Strauss jumped a little and held his knife a little closer. To his surprise the cloaked figure turned around walking down the path and beckoning them. Unsure of the idea but figuring they had no where else to go he followed. Once again the figure surprised him by leading them to some sort of clearing with a chase in the middle.

Obviously his first thought was that the chest was some kind of chest but Sydney blindly ran ahead and opened it revealing it was some sort of weapons chest full of swords. He turned to face the figure, "Who are you, and why are you helping us?" Strauss asked curiously. Perhaps it was another player, or some sort of friendly NPC. Of course he would grab a sword but first he wanted some answers.

Glad for the years she had spent hiking through the local woods, Esmay felt almost at home in the forest.
As the trees and plants grew thicker, she spied a good-sized dead branch nearby. Without straying too far from the others, she picked it up. Letting herself fall back into the group a bit, she began whittling one end of the stick into a point, careful to keep an eye on the path growing ever more treacherous as well as the sharp blade in her hand. Satisfied that the tip would at least do something, she sped up to walk alongside Sydney at the front, using the make-shift weapon as a walking stick.
Esmay shouted when a figure in an elegant cloak stepped in front of the group, its face hidden in the shadows of its hood. Gripping her spear in both hands, the knife carefully held against the wood, she pointed the carved end at the figure.
“So who’re you now?” she asked, trying but failing to sound threatening, her heart pounding ferociously in her chest. And where the freak did you come from?
When the figure only turned, silently beckoning them to follow, Esmay’s brows furrowed and she cocked her head.
“Alrighty then,” she muttered. With a quick glance around the forest, then at the others, she, too, hurried after strange figure.
When they finally stopped and he revealed the clearing and suspiciously placed chest, excitement flooded through her. A hundred things that could be inside ran through her mind.
With a quick double-take, her attention snapped to Sydney as she all but charged to the chest. Partially not wanting to let her go head-first alone and mostly not wanting to be left out of the surprise of what the chest held, Esmay jugged quickly after her.
She reached Sydney as the red-head opened the chest and declared its contents.
“Yes!” Esmay happily dropped her knife and poor excuse of a spear near the chest and reached for the first hilt she saw. She pulled the weapon free from the others with the slight shing of the blades sliding together.
It took her a moment to adjust to the weight. She examined the sword, a grin spreading over her face as the sunlight glinted promisingly off the long, kriss-style blade. She eagerly stepped away from Sydney and swung the sword experimentally, the weight satisfying.
She looked back to the way they had come, Strauss’ questions floating through the clearing.
In a motion not quite as fluid as she wanted it to be, Esmay carefully rested the flat of the blade of her new weapon against her shoulder and stepped back toward the figure.
“That would be nice to know, wouldn’t it?” She stopped just to the side of the opening so the others could pass through, the figure in her line of sight. With a decent weapon, she felt a sense of empowerment. “As grateful as I am, what’s the catch here?”

Apparently, everyone else thought they were in a video game. That was an utterly absurd notion. Their mass, converted into raw energy would be enough to wipe out a city. It would power the entire internet for a day. Surely she'd been kidnapped and doped up on LSD. She was probably still in Sydney's apartment, lying on the floor. That made a ton more sense. Still, she doubted anyone else was interested in her hypothesis so she just followed along.

Sarah had been about to protest when Sydney just ran into a clearing and opened up a chest at the behest of the peculiar spirit but at that point the redhead had already opened it. Sarah had cringed, half expecting it to release deadly gas, stick her with a poison needle, or have the chest filled with a pair of angry goblins or something otherwise deadly.

The fact that nothing happens was even more of a shock.

"Oh good," Sarah said sarcastically to nobody in particular, rolling her blue eyes, "Swords that nobody knows how to use. It takes years to learn how to use one of those."

She paused a long moment, considering. Then again, this could be a good find. They could use the swords to cut into the local foliage. Then they cut turn the small knives into spears by lashing them to long sticks. Spears were way easier to use then swords. That was why the Romans used them for their legions.

Actually, it was Strauss' question she was most interested in an answer to. Just who was this figure and why was he or she helping?

Alex huffed as Simon seemingly ignored him, but Esmay's response amused him. If she actually enjoyed doing such a thing, perhaps being stabbed wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. He'd never been stabbed before, and he might as well try it at least once, and nonetheless in a game such as this one, who even could say there was a punishment for dying in such a world.

Alex could feel himself walking with a bit of a hop to his step as he tailed along the seemingly miserable members of the group. He scanned the looming forest, searching for any foes who may pop out again. Another encounter could be fun. But it wasn't until the cloaked figure appeared that he'd finally obtained a smile that lit up his face. What will you thrust upon us now, I wonder? When it beckoned them, there had been hesitation in the others, but alas everyone went along.

A chest, filled to the brim with swords was apparently their next destination. He leaned over Sydney as she inspected the blades. "Call me crazy, but I don't trust this person," he spoke, lightly chuckling. "I mean, what's the point in giving us knives, introducing us to an opponent, then giving us new weapons? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense if this were to be a trap?" He looked over to Esmay who already held a blade in one hand before picking up her knife and placing it in his belt loop. Strauss's question had begun to arouse suspicion among the others, and the questioning gazes that looked over the figure would likely not miss what Alex planned to do as he gingerly skipped over to the figure, grabbed hold of the cloak and yanked, aiming to pull the cloak off of the figure in one swift movement.

As the hood of the cloak fell off it revealed a very calm faced white wolf. Only she was standing as if it were human, not how she had looked before. She had long fluffy black and red hair like any normal human but instead of skin she still had snow white fur. The white wolf sighed before stepping back away from Alex and tilting her head.
“My name is Yang, I am a creation of the game and I’m helping you because I am tired of seeing players come in and die from unfairness. The game maker is not one for even playing fields and many times he will kill off players just because he can.” Yang shifted from one paw to the next before glancing at Sydney and the others near the chest.
“These swords were made for you to find if you had a keen eye. I have yet to see someone actually find the chest on their own since the first attack is made to disorient the players and send them running for the nearest exit. I cannot promise you I will be able to help you this much again since I’m sure Jigsaw will be keeping an eye on me. Just remember young players, keep your eyes open and understand that not everything is what it seems.”

With those last words Yang turned and disappeared back into the shadows, pulling her hood back over her head. She needed to make as much distance between her and the players as she could before Jigsaw seen her, god knows what punishment she and the players might receive. She was glad that she could lead the players to the chest but she knew that with those weapons Jigsaw would make the monsters even harder.
“Please let them at least clear the forest.” She signed before transforming back into a full wolf and taking off in a run.

Sydney stood up and tucked the sword into the provided sheath.
“Well that was a little weird.” She said as she turned to the rest of the group, most of who probably had the same thoughts she did.
“I guess we should get a move on, since I’m sure the game maker won’t be quiet for long.” She let out a half hearted laugh but shook herself before starting off toward the path.

It wasn’t long before the group exited the dark woods and found themselves in a large open desert area with nothing but sand in sight.
“Oh, this is lovely, very welcoming.” Sydney mumbled as she stepped out onto the warm sand and as if something had flicked on a light switch, the sun brightened and started to beat down on them.
It wasn’t long before the group began to sweat and started to grumble and moan as they trekked through the deep sand.
“This is horrible.” Sydney groaned as she shook her leg once more to try and clear out sand.

All of a sudden the ground began to shake and Sydney staggered forward.
“What the hell?” She growled and as she looked around, creatures began to emerge from the sand. They were black creatures that looked like a mix between a porcupine and a rodent of some sort. Their faces were opened like flowers with yellow and green highlights down each side. As they pulled themselves from the sand their bodies shook and huge spikes shot out of their back, each tipped with yellow. Sydney looked around and couldn’t even count the number of the creatures that had appeared before them.
“Well shit.” Sydney growled as she pulled out her sword and widened her stance. “Guess it’s time for a fight.”

The creatures, known as Quinox, hissed and bared their sharp fanged teeth before lunging forward at the group. Sydney dodged to the side just in time as one of the sharp quills flew past her face. She swung her sword and caught a few of them but the Quinox only seemed to shake it off. She narrowed her eyes and turned to try and see the rest of the group and how they were doing. From her view point the only person she could see clearly was Press who was slashing his sword back and forth in front of the face of one of the creatures. It was hissing and spitting at him and before long it finally lunged and crunched down on the sword. Press staggered backwards and lost his footing, Sydney jolted forward to go help but before she could even take a step the creature had landed on top of him and began to tear into him with sharp claws. Press screamed and cried out in pain but was quickly silenced with one last deep blow from the Quinox. Sydney was horrified and didn’t notice that a Quinox was running right at her.

She was slammed to the ground by the impact and felt the breathe leave her lungs. She looked up to see large black empty eyes staring down at her. She felt herself pale and waited for the impact that never came. She opened her eyes to see the Quinox dead on the ground and a sword lodged into its skull. Nathan looked down at her and smiled before giving her a hand up. Sydney thanked him and went to go say something else but was interrupted by a sharp scream.
“MIA!” Nathan shouted to her twin but as he turned he watched a Quinox snap it’s teeth down on her arm.
Terrified for his twin’s life he took off toward her but just as he reached her the Quinox pulled her under the sand, kicking and screaming the whole way.
“NO!” Nathan shouted as he dropped to his knees and began digging into the sand.
“Nathan stop, it’s no use!” Sydney said as she reached his side.
“She can’t die!” His face was already flowing with tears and there was nothing Sydney could say or do to help the older twin.

She lightly touched his shoulder before rushing off into battle to high the rest of her friends. It wasn’t long before she heard Nathan’s voice once more crying out before being cut off. He was lost, he was broken and he had been an easy target for the attacking creatures. She closed her eyes only for a brief moment before slashing her sword down through a Quinox’s skull, killing it. She continued to do this until Simon came into sight. He seemed to be growing tired of the battle and she noticed his swings were getting a bit slow. The Quinox he was fighting on the other hand was not slowing down, it kept lunging out at him with claws and teeth. Sydney ran over and stopped by his side, immediately swinging her sword at the creatures’s face.
“Thanks.” Simon said, panting for breathe as Sydney nodded at him and took the creature down.

Taking a moment to breathe Sydney turned to face Simon and frowned.
“There are so many, I hope we can take them all.” She panted, Simon nodded and sighed.
Suddenly his eyes shot open and his face paled.
“Sydney watch out behind you!” Sydney spun on her heels and let out a scream as one of the Quinox charged toward her.
Simon wasted no time as he scooped Sydney and threw her sideways out of the path of the angry creature. Just as he was about to jump out of the way the creature lunged and blood flew through the air. Sydney screamed as she watched Simon get pierced over and over by the quills of the creature. Blood splattered the ground as each point pushed it’s way through his body and out the other side. By this point he was already dead, Sydney was pretty sure the first strike had killed him and for that she was thankful he didn’t have to suffer the rest of the strikes.

She finally got her brain working against just in time for the creature to turn around and for her to behead it. Her friends continued to fight until finally they killed the last of them. Sydney staggered over to her group of friends and collapsed on the ground, feeling tears sting her eyes.
“Guys we lost 4 people, they were actually killed. Press, Mia, Nathan and Simon are actually dead and this is supposed to be a game.” The tears began to run down her face.
“This is sick, this isn’t fun anymore.” She sobbed.
Usually she hated crying but she had just watched four of her friends been killed and she just couldn’t continue herself as her body shook. How were they expected to win this game when the odds were against them, if this one attack had just killed four of them.

Esmay inhaled through her nose and raised her sword as Alex’s actions revealed the lupine face of the figure. Much like the game master they had encountered upon their arrival, only all in one piece as far as she could tell, a white, human-like wolf stood in front of them. She addressed their questions, introducing herself.
“Yang… Don’t suppose there’s a Yin we need to watch out for, is there?” The wolf seemed nice enough… at least, she had not tried to attack them. Yet.
“Hey, wait a minute!” Esmay lowered her sword and made to follow after Yang when she turned to leave. “Who’s Jigsaw? The guy--or whatever--who greeted us?”
Esmay gave a growling sigh when the wolf disappeared into the shadows. “Fine. Thanks, anyway.”
“Well, that was a little weird,” Sydney observed as Esmay returned to the clearing.
Esmay shrugged as she continued toward the chest. “And everything else that’s happened so far falls under your definition of ‘normal?’” She bent over and dug around in the chest. “Besides. It was helpful.”
She laughed triumphantly when she found a sturdy belt and sword frog. She quickly attached her sword’s sheath to the belt and looped it around her waist as she followed the others back to the path. Taking her place near the lead with Sydney, Esmay pulled her sword out, did a quick lunge, then sheathed it a few times, trying to get accustomed to the weight.
Bit heavier than fencing rapiers, she thought as she sheathed her sword again for the fifth time after just as many lunges and parries.
When they came to a desert, Esmay groaned. “Great. Sand.”
As soon she stepped from the shade of the forest, the light intensified, bringing with it a summer’s heat.
Esmay quickly lost track of how long they had walked for, the grains of stone shifting beneath her feet making more work of every step. With a silent thanks to the hair tie keeping her hair in a high ponytail, she wiped at the beads of sweat glistening on her forehead from the heat of the sun.
She stopped and staggered back as the sand began to shift beneath and around the group. She drew her sword, her fatigue all but forgotten as creatures emerged from the desert ground. As they shook the sand from them and porcupine needles sprouted from their backs, Esmay couldn’t help but marvel at the almost beauty of the odd creatures. Familiar and even on the verge of cute, with their mouse-like faces, and yet so different from anything she had ever seen. But the look in the creature’s eyes and snarls on their faces diminished her wonder.
“Guess it’s time for a fight.”
“Oh, really?” Esmay bit, before the first of the monsters charged.
The screams of her friends--both in fear and pain--merged with the snarls and screeches of the Quinox. She fought alongside the others, looking for any kind of weak point or tender spot the monsters might have as she dodged and fended them off with a few well-placed blows.
Seeing one of the creatures charging toward Sarah, Esmay lunged into it with a guttural cry, her sword swiping against its hind leg. As her sword met its mark, the sand shifted beneath her, and she shouted as she slipped
The creature screeched and spun around, murder in its large, black eyes.
Esmay scrambled to get to her feet, using the sword to help her up, as the beast changed its course to her. She moved to jump out of the way, but the sand shifted once again, and she fell back to the ground.
Her eyes wide and heart pounding in her throat, she raised the sword over her as the monster lunged, its claws stretched for her and teeth bared.
She let out a scream and closed her eyes as she thrust her sword up.
She felt the blade pierce the beast’s body as it fell on her, a fiery pain running through her shoulder as its claws dug into her skin.
It gave an earsplitting screech as the weapon went through its soft underbelly, the sound defining and echoing in her ears long after it stopped, the creature’s limp body pinning her to the soft sand. After a couple minutes of digging her way out from beneath the heavy monster, she finally managed to free herself of its weight, pulling her sword with her. The beast’s blood stained her shirt and ran down the sword, bits of sand clinging to the sticky red substance.
When I get back, Esmay thought as she shakily got to her feet, stumbling a couple steps as her mind still tried to register what, exactly, just happened, I’m starting fencing lessons again. Trying to shake off the pain running through her left shoulder, she held her sword up and hurried around the carcass.
Her eyes widened as looked up in time to see Simon rescue Sydney.
“Simon!” She screeched, running toward him and Sydney, but it was too late. She tried to look away, but the image of the Quinox’s quills and the blood that now stained the sand seared into her mind. She felt like throwing up.
A snarl from one of the beasts reminded her that now was not the time. Unless, of course, she wished to join Simon. She aided everyone else in eliminating the remaining monsters, trying to banish the image of her friend’s murder and ignore the fallen bodies of her other comrads.
When all the monsters were either dead or had fled, Esmay slowly walked to the others, the tip of her bloodied sword dragging against the sand. Red soaked into the tears of her shirt around her shoulder, and sand caked her hair, which had mostly fallen out of place.
Sticking the sword into the sand until she decided to wipe the blade off, she reached out to the nearest shoulder to steady herself as Sydney spoke.
“Maybe…” Esmay began slowly once Sydney had finished speaking, her voice quiet and mouth dry. She tried to swallow, but there was nothing there to choke down. “Maybe it’s like being K/Od.” Even as the words left her mouth, she doubted them. “Maybe there’s a way to revive them or something. Like Phoenix Down, or whatever.”
She patted the person beside her on the shoulder in a gesture of thanks for letting her lean on them, grabbed her sword, then sunk to the hot sand beside Sydney, unsure how to comfort the sobbing girl.
They can’t all actually be dead, she tried to convince herself, but a single quick glance around at the lifeless bodies of their friends and the blood soaking into the hungry sand told her otherwise.
Esmay took a deep, shaky breath. "But either way, we need to keep going. Or at least get out of this wretched desert."

Strauss evaluated Yang cautiously, she didn't seem to be a threat and the swords didn't seem to be any sort of trap. Perhaps they did have some friends here, even if they didn't stay around for very long. By the time he had thought of more questions to ask Yang had already left, "Thanks!" he called out after the already vanished creature and turned to grab a sword from the chest. He picked it up and swung it experimentally somewhat surprised by the weight. He had always imagined swords being a little lighter; still after a few practice swings and decimated tree branches later he had gotten used to it.

Not taking the time to grab a sheath as the group was already moving on Strauss quickly made his way onto the path, the last thing he wanted was to be here all alone. As they kept moving forward it got hotter and hotter, as the trees eventually disappeared he could see why. They were headed straight into a dessert, and given how the game had been so far there probably wasn't an oasis waiting for them.

As they trudged through the blazing dessert, the shifting sands making even the simple task of walking more difficult: Strauss began sweating and wishing this sword wasn't so heavy. The sand was just about everywhere, he halfheartedly shook himself knowing that more sand would come on regardless.

Just as he was about to propose that they turn back and look for some other more friendly path, the sand shook even more than usual nearly throwing him off his feet. Strauss regained his foot to realize they were surrounded by strange creatures, they had oddly vibrant faces and terrifying quills, normal porcupines were strange enough but this was ridicules.

Strauss hefted his sword and waited for the creatures to strike, he assumed everything wanted to kill them until proven other wise. His thought proved correct as the Quinox quickly rushed forward as a group attacking from everywhere. Strauss focused on the one charging headlong at him and took a deep, steadying breath, before throwing himself forward and sliding underneath the beast as it lunged, sticking his sword up and disemboweling the beast, some of the gore landing on him. Holy. Shakily, but moving as quickly as he could, Strauss stood up and saw that the group was quickly losing. Though they were fighting as best they could they could barely match the creatures. Preston was on the sand, not moving at all.

Strauss blindly ran forward to help, only seeing the another Quinox charging him at the last second and he raised his arm to shield himself. The Quinox's spined tail slammed into his arms sending hundreds of shafts of pain lancing through his air. Strauss howled in pain and struck the creatures tail off and while it screeched in a painful cry of its own he stabbed it through the head. Breathing heavily he saw that though they were whittling down the creatures, the stupid beasts were doing the same to them. Strauss hefted his bloody sword and moved to meet another one, using his sword like a spear and receiving the beasts charge with it as he let out a roar of anger.

Finally for a brief second nothing was moving. Not the Quinox. Not his friends. His clothing was in disarray, covered in dirt and gore, his once vibrant red hair now a dull faded color. His one arm was covered in blood and still full of quills though most of them had broken off. Strauss was unsure of whether he should even try pulling them out, doubtless they were barbed and pulling them out would cause even more bleeding. He stared at the dead bodies of friend and foe alike sinking his sword into the ground and leaning on it.

What kind of sick game forced people with no combat experience into a life or death situation? They had hardly gotten anywhere and they had already practically lost. How were they going to get out of here. Esmay's comment revived his attention, they had to try, and sitting here would do nothing. Shaking his head vigorously he stood up and simply said, "Come on." He couldn't muster the spirit to say anything else, so he grabbed his sword and one laying on the ground and kept moving forward, hoping they would find something or someone or anything to help them in this hopeless mockery of a quest.

Alexander could feel the hilt of the knives resting in the palms of his hands as the group set out, leaving behind the chest of blades. Despite the white wolf's apparent desire to aid them, he still could feel a distrust for the blades echoing in the back of his mind. He 'd decided to lag behind in the back of the group, trailing behind the large frame of Simon as he observed the foliage surrounding them. However, it had not taken long for the once dense forest to begin thinning out as the group pressed onward.

The setting the group had found themselves in had begun to take a rapid change in direction as the -now thin- forest cut off abruptly, the moist soil abruptly turning to sand as the desert ominously stood before them. While the rest of the group continued onward, Alex couldn't help but stop to look along the edge of the forest they had wandered through. I think I'd actually have preferred that we'd stayed in the forest.

The sun was all he could feel, heating his entire body to heights he'd never experienced, accompanied by the sand that seemed to slip under his feet with every step. His typical happy-go-lucky attitude seemed to have dissipated as the group trudged wordlessly through the empty, barren land. However, things began to change in a way that seemingly brought vigor back into his being. After all, what he saw as he peered over the large frame of Simon was something that would only make an appearance in the strangest of dream, for what he saw was the hell spawn of a mixture of rodent and porcupine nature, but possessed a vibrant face of varying colours.

It hadn't taken a moment for others to appear, surrounding the already fatigued group. However, Alex could feel a smile draw upon his lips as his adrenaline began to push through his being, bringing forth a wide array of emotions. He could feel the warmth of the daggers in his palms once more, driving him forward as the group began their defense.

Alex let one of the Quinox approach him, eyeing him up before charging head-long at him. He immediately went low, expecting the creature to target his legs, but before he knew what was happening he'd already ended up on his back, gasping as the wind was knocked out of him and the large creature stood atop him, pressing hard against his chest with one of its legs. He brought both his hand up, aiming to push the beast off of his body, but what occurred had been much more satisfying. His daggers slit open two thin gashes in the beasts underside, spilling blood onto his black coat. The beast drew its claws in, pushing with more force as it cried out in pain. Alex drew his arms down to the lower side of the creature, smiling, he jammed the daggers into its body, and pulled his arms upwards as he tore open the beast from it's stomach to it's neck.

Alex quickly realized he made a mistake as the heavy body of the creature fell on him, covering him in blood and trapping him in its remains. He could hear loud cries around him, but he was completely unable to move, and with each passing second he could feel the thin quill-like hairs of the beast's underside sink further into his skin. However, the cries had abruptly stopped, and he heard something that scared him more than the monsters that had suddenly appeared. "But either way, we need to keep going. Or at least get out of this wretched desert."

He could feel himself begin to panic, and by sheer force of will he dragged himself through the wet, gore covered sand that gave him no resistance as seemingly hundreds of needles buried themselves into his chest. He managed to work himself up to the head of the beast, narrowly avoiding the deadly, long quills that rested on either side of the creature's lifeless body. He pushed both his arms up, pushing the head of the creature off of himself. He looked over to what remained of the group. "Oy! Wanna give me a hand with something before you all leave me behind?"

Esmay’s upper body spun around as Alex’s voice called out through the relative quiet that had settled over the desert. She hurried to her feet, kicking up a bit of sand, and looked around, trying to find where his voice had come from. She saw one of the beast’s bodies moving, and grabbed her sword before she realized what, exactly, had caused it to move.
She let out a sigh of relief and ran toward Alex. She slid on the sand, intentionally letting herself skid to the ground. She stuck her sword into the sand far enough so it would stay up, then clapped.
“There, I gave you a hand.” She gave him a small, relieved smile.
Careful to avoid the dangerous quills of the monster and ignoring the stinging in her shoulder, she started to dig at the sand around Alex, hoping to create a trench to be capable of pulling him free. She gasped at the blood coating much of the sand surrounding him, the color staining her fingers and wetness making the sand pack easily.
“Please tell me that’s not yours.” Her voice shook slightly in anticipation for the worst, her face twisting in panic and concern as she paused in her digging to look at Alex.

Struass turned back surprised to see Alex still alive. He quickly made his way over and debated internally between trying to heave the beast off of him or digging at the sand. Deciding he stuck his blades into the beast as a form of leverage and to avoid impaling himself, and lifted it up high enough that with Esmay digging at the sand and the weight lifted from him that Alex should be able to get out. "Hurry." he said in a somewhat strained voice, these things weren't exactly light.