The unforgiving desert sun beat down on them with the relentless fury of a hammer blow. The air shimmered with heat, distorting the horizon into a shimmering mirage. Each footfall on the scorching sand felt like stepping onto a bed of hot coals through their boots. Sweat, slick and salty, beaded on their brows and trickled down their faces, leaving trails in the dust that caked their skin.

Despite their water bladders constantly at hand, a persistent thirst clawed at their throats. Rory grumbled the most, his normally booming voice reduced to a hoarse rasp. Even Lucian felt his lips crack and his tongue swell. They resorted to rationing their water intake further, a decision that left a constant, nagging dryness in their mouths.

The landscape itself was a monotonous assault on the senses. Endless dunes of ochre sand stretched out in all directions, their peaks sculpted by relentless winds into sinuous curves. There were rocky outcrops dotted all over the desert almost as if the sand was not normal and placed here on top of a rocky range. The silence was broken only by the sighing whisper of the desert wind and the occasional mournful cry of a scavenger bird circling high above. 

Navigation was a constant challenge. The map Elara had provided turned out to be more of a suggestion than a definitive guide. The dotted line leading to the Sunken Temple meandered across a vast expanse of blank space labeled simply "The Desolation." With a healthy dose of skepticism, they relied on the map's cryptic markings and the position of the sun to steer their course.

As they marched through over another sand dune a sight broke the monotony of the endless sand. In the distance, a jagged range of mountains rose from the flat expanse, their peaks clawing at the merciless setting sun.

“See those mountains?” Lucian pointed.

“Yeah so what?” Rance retorted.

“Look here.” Lucian pointed at the map. Desolation is completely hemmed in by mountains. The fact that we can see those mountains and…” Lucian turned and pointed behind them, “... and the mountains we came from means we are somewhere in the middle.”

“And…” Rory questioned.

“The Sunken temple markings are in the middle of the map!” Kainith exclaimed.

“Exactly! Now we need to trek a little more north I think to try and head even more central.” Lucian pointed.

The party shifted their direction and started heading more north into the desert. But as they drew closer, the treacherous nature of the desert revealed itself once more. The solid ground beneath their feet shifted, the sand giving way in patches as they walked. A low tremor vibrated through the earth, sending shivers down their spines. Rory, his hand instinctively tightening around the shaft of his great axe, squinted towards the horizon.

"Did you feel that?" he rasped, his voice laced with a newfound urgency.

Lucian exchanged a worried glance with Kainith.

“I guess that short and stubby swirl on the map near the temple makes more sense now.” Kainith stated.

“The swirl was near the Temple?’ Rance asked.

“Yes. That means we are close.” Lucian said. “I would prepare yourselves though.”

The tremor grew in intensity, a low rumble that resonated through their bones. The once-placid dunes around them began to ripple and churn, sand cascading down the slopes in miniature avalanches. Panic surged through Rory, a primal fear taking hold.

"Sandworm!" he roared, his voice tinged with desperation. "We gotta get outta here!"

Lucian remained calm despite the rising tide of sand. "Scatter! Head for the rocky outcrops!" he shouted, already sprinting towards a cluster of smoothed boulders jutting from the dunes in the distance.

Kainith, his cloak billowing behind him, bolted alongside Lucian, his lute bouncing precariously on his back. Rance hesitated for a fleeting moment, his eyes darting towards the shifting sands in panic. 

“Rance run now!” Rory shouted back at Rance.

Rance snapped out of the fear induced freezing.

The ground beneath them lurched violently, sending them sprawling. Lucian scrambled to his feet, a stinging pain lancing through his ankle. He glanced back, his heart hammering in his chest.

A monstrous form erupted from the sand, its segmented red and brown body as wide as a horse and seemingly endless. Its maw, lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth, gaped open in a silent scream. The stench of damp earth and decay filled the air, a sickening counterpoint to the relentless heat. The sandworm thrashed its serpentine form, sending plumes of sand spraying in all directions. A deafening roar echoed across the desert as it lunged towards the fleeing figures, its massive body leaving a deep trench in its wake.

Lucian, his ankle throbbing, pushed himself harder. He wouldn't outrun the sandworm on foot, that much was clear. But to his left he saw a massive rocky outcrop. With a burst of adrenaline, he scrambled up the side of the rocky outcrop, the others hot on his heels. They huddled together on a narrow ledge, their chests heaving with exertion. Below them, the sandworm writhed and twisted, its frustrated roars shaking the very rock beneath their feet. It slammed its massive head against the base of the outcrop, showering them with dust and debris.

Rory's voice, usually a booming battle cry, cracked with raw fear. "What now?!" he shrieked, his eyes wide with terror. The monstrous sandworm below them churned the desert floor into a frenzy, its frustrated roars vibrating through the very rock they clung to. Lucian scanned the scene, his mind a whirlwind of frantic calculations. The rocky outcrop offered a temporary refuge, but it was a flimsy one at best. The sandworm, a leviathan of the desert, wouldn't be easily deterred. His gaze darted to Kainith, who stood apart from the others, his weathered cloak flapping in the dry wind. A silent exchange passed between them, a flicker of hope sparking in Lucian's steely blue eyes.

"Kainith," he rasped, his voice barely audible over the sandworm's bellows. "Can you...?"

Kainith didn't reply with words. Instead, with a swift movement, he unclasped his lute from his back. His fingers, usually nimble and practiced, flew across the strings with a desperate urgency. A haunting melody, unlike anything they'd ever heard, poured from the instrument. It wasn't a song of triumph or joy, but a mournful lament, a dirge that echoed the desolate beauty of the desert itself. The sandworm, its monstrous form momentarily stilled, turned its massive head towards the source of the sound. For a breathless moment, an unnatural silence settled over the scene. 

Then, with a deafening roar that seemed to split the sky, the sandworm reared back, its body twisting in an impossible contortion. Just as it did like a flash Rance jumped down the worm's gullet daggers glinting in the setting sun.

“No! What are you doing, Rance” Kainith shouted.

Rory, to save his friend, jumped off of the rock axe held out in front of him striking the worm as he fell. Lucian shouted a string of expletives as he rapidly started flinging fire that exploded and singed the worms scales with each hit. Kainith kept playing his golden stringed metallic lute to try and keep the worm subdued. As soon as Rory hit the ground, ignoring the pain because of adrenaline, started hacking at the worm with fury and aggression, his axe bouncing off of the scales doing little more than scratching them.

Lucian shouted towards Rory. “Get away Rory! We aren’t doing anything to the worm. Your axe just keeps bouncing off.”

Rory, entering a full rage, ignored Lucian and just kept swinging. The worm roared again, this time knocking Kainith and Lucian. The worm now seemingly broke out of the trance Kainith had put it in turned down to Rory and right as it was about to devour him it reared up again screeching with pain.

“Wait, is that Rance?” Kainith asked, pointing at a sickly green geyser of blood pouring out from the worm's body. Just as the geyser started Rance kept cutting down until his body could fall out of the worm. As Rance fell out a geyser of sand erupted from the worm's maw, spewing forth not only sand but also a glint of something metallic. The object arced through the air, landing with a heavy thud at the base of the rocky outcrop.

The sandworm, its monstrous form shuddering,let out one last roar and fell lifeless and still to the sand below Kainith and Lucian near Rory.

Rory, breathing heavily shouted, “Rance what the hell!”

Rance, covered in green slimy blood, smiled at Rory. “Well how was your assault out here going? Seems like it was better to slice away at the inside. You know. The soft squishy parts.”

Kainth and Lucian scrambled down the rocks to meet up with their two friends.

“You have to warn us next time you decide to try and die.” Kainith joked.

“You’re right. You definitely would have let me do that had I given you a heads up.” Rance joked back. 

“Here let me help you out a little bit.” Lucian muttered some magical words and in an instant Rance’s leathers became clean and the green blood disappeared.

“Thank you! That was really going to irritate me if I would have had to deal with that until we got to water.” Rance smiled.

Lucian cautiously approached the object the sandworm had dislodged. It was a dented metal canister, covered in sand and grime. With trembling hands due to adrenaline, he brushed away the debris, revealing an inscription etched onto its side that looked like a floating pyramid.

“That must be the Sunken Temple.” Lucian showed the party.

“We must be getting close.” Rance stated ominously.