Arc 1:
Part 2: Hunt The Wolves
We fell, thrashing about, through the sky. The air was dry, and it felt like a sandstorm that we were falling through. It took a bit of effort to find even a decent falling position as we plunged farther and farther down into wherever we were.
I was the first to make impact, then Havoc. We did not land gracefully.
Code used his ability to switch places with a piece of sand below, effortlessly landing on his feet. And Ophelia went through the ground then back up over the sand, looking a bit pale.
We were now in a sand dune from what it seemed. Around us, there were abandoned buildings and towers scattered throughout the place that the sand ate up.
"Where the hell are we?!" I yelled. My voice echoed but got swallowed up by the vastness of the place. The air was a lot calmer down here than from up above.
Havoc and I fumbled in the sand as we got up and attempted to walk as normally as we could. We dusted ourselves off, futile as it was.
"I don't know. And what was that thing earlier? It must have sent us here somehow." Code responded from a good distance away.
Ophelia looked nauseous and was moaning to herself the whole time while we conversed.
As Havoc and I walked up a slope, he slipped and fell down the slipface into some loose, shifting sand a distance below.
He grumbled as he got up again, "Can this day get any worse? Come on, man…"—dusting his pants—"What is this? Transmigration? Reincarnation? Is this 'How I Used To Be A Mage But Got Transmigrated As A Piece Of Fucking Sand In Another World!?" He checked himself, "Well I'm still me, so that can't be it... Wait a second! Did we fucking EVOLVE!?"
"You read too many Webtoons..." I said from above.
But right then, I saw the sand below him suddenly beginning to shift, slowly sinking him in. Six huge, mech-like arms emerged from the sand and surrounded him, closing in.
"Huh?" he said obliviously, before realizing they were all around him.
"Havoc!" I yelled. But it was too late.
The arms emerged completely, and they swallowed him whole into a mouth from within the sand.
Whatever it was let out an odd cry that seemed to ripple the air as it crawled out. It sounded like metal clashing repeatedly.
The thing was a mechanical puppet, or mech for short. Its humanoid head twitched as its eyes swirled wildly, locking in to random places all around itself. Its six arms also locked in and out of different positions as it fiddled its human-like hands. The thing had no legs as it floated in the air, displaying at its center another face like that of a monster.
The chest. That was where it had swallowed Havoc.
As the mouth on its chest crunched, I yelled again, "Goddamn asshole!"
I rushed it from above the slope, gliding down the slipface and went for a direct strike right at its center. But it dodged backward quickly, still fiddling its hands all the while.
It was a lot faster than it looked, regardless of its size. I juked it from the left and then sped to the right, catching it off guard there. My right fist nailed it right on the side with a wide haymaker.
But it didn't go down. It was tough too.
It spun around, and its arms crossed at its center, charging what seemed to be a beam.
It flashed and shot directly at me.
FEUUM!
I didn't bother dodging, so I crossed my arms as well and blocked the attack. When it struck, the beam spread out, leaving trails in the sand in my wake.
"Give back my friend," I looked up past my crossed arms as my jacket fluttered from the gust of wind, "you creepy asshole."
I dashed toward it again and met it where it was.
As I closed the gap, it swung a left arm diagonal to me. I dodged, flipping to my left, only to be met with another arm—a forward strike. I spun left, dodging again, then used my feet to pivot in the sand and my right arm to push it away, almost gently as the flow of motion overtook me.
Another arm from above came crashing down like a hammer. I jumped backward, another dodge, but only sideways from the mech, giving me a clean shot for a hard frontal spin kick to its chest.
BANG!
The mech fell back, flipping a couple of times.
I chased after it and grabbed one of its arms to reel it back for another punch. I punched downward, again to its center, so hard that the sand below us cratered upon impact.
Now on its back, I stood on its chest and began forcing my fingers into its mouth, prying it open, and in a desperate manner to save my friend. The sound of screeching metal perforated my ears.
It then began punching me in multiple directions as I remained and its mouth staggered to open. Its six giant arms pounded at me endlessly as I ignored them, unfazed after each hit and the damage it failed to inflict.
As I ripped open its mouth, Havoc was in there, passed out and still intact. I used my leg to keep its mouth open and reached in to grab him, throwing him above me, still holding on to his gilet, and the mech's mouth propped open below.
"CODE!" I yelled.
Snap!
Instantly, Havoc was replaced by a mana-powered grenade in my outstretched hand. I pulled the pin with my teeth and threw it inside, hopping away, and shutting its mouth.
Nearby, Code was standing atop a decently tall, abandoned tower. He stepped off the ledge without a second thought and began plunging to the sand dunes below, adjusting himself to lead headfirst. He rushed, closer and closer to the sand, patiently waiting for the right moment.
Then propping out his hand ahead of him, and fingers in a snapping gesture...
Snap!
He switched places with the mech, and from where Code had been falling, it now was, plunging to its doom.
At the same time of impact, the grenade inside it went off, causing a bigger explosion upon landing.
BOOM!
Mine and Code's silhouettes became etched within the view of the explosion as it occurred yards away from us.
It caused a small dust storm, reaching us as we covered our eyes and continued to observe if the thing was finally down.
When the dust cleared, all that remained of it was pieces. The mech was no more.
Havoc was safe with Ophelia; his head resting on her bent lap as she sat on the sand watching us from a distance.
"A plus!" she shouted trying to still be cheerful. She almost gagged after she said that.
"Alright, so what the hell was that, man? What the fuck is this place?" I crashed out, adrenaline still high from the fight I just had.
Code didn't answer, but he looked up and observed something closely…
"You see that in the 'sky'?" he finally said.
"See what?"
When I looked, the "sky" wasn't actually a sky. Well, it was, but it was more so behind it—and it being glass. Toward the middle was a gaping hole that seemed to be sucked upward. The "sandstorm" we fell through was just sand falling out from the giant hole down one large area.
"We're in an hourglass." Code concluded.
"What the fuck."