T E M P E S T

My feet landed on a moving Deimos, bending slightly to absorb the weight of the fall.

Riding him was easy, like second nature. His movements were erratic and the turns he took were strong but I could feel where he was going through the ripples of his muscles. For Astra however, this was probably the worst day of her life. She hung loosely on his back, her body jerking with each turn.

The only thing keeping her on him was her tight grip on Deimos's saddle. Her eyes were closed tightly, trying to keep the rushing painful sand out of them. I was able to adjust the feathers on my hairline to cover my eyes, but she was not as lucky. "You good curly?" I called out over the loud sound of buildings crumbling beside us, the dome falling and the sand rebuilding. She didn't reply me, only holding on tighter which made me chuckle.

Walking past her, I swung my legs over the saddle and took my seat before wrapping my fist around Deimos's leash. I patted his side firmly before tightening his leash. He let out a loud shriek and jerked as if to try buck us off, but I held strong. I was now in control.

I directed Deimos, making sharp turns but overall keeping us both safe until I saw a clearing in the sandstorm where the smaller buildings had finished building and the ground was calm. A shadow from above us had me looking up and seeing a piece of the dome heading for us, large enough to crush us and hurt the beast I was on.

I leaned back to grab Astra's shirt and yanking her closer to me before I dug my heels in Deimos's side and yanked his leash upwards. On command he began to dive into the ground, taking us in with him and saving us form being crushed by the falling piece of debris.

Astra's shrieks were swallowed as I'm sure she now had a mouth filled with sand and I pressed myself tightly against Deimos to avoid myself from getting my head torn off as we moved at high speeds underground. When I felt that we'd travelled far enough I bucked against Deimos again and soon we were shooting out of the ground.

Funny thing about Deimos, when he comes out of the ground, he goes vertically upwards for a couple of meters.

Something I probably should've mentioned to Astra that I remembered now that I was watching her slide down his ascending body.

Sighing, I let go of Deimos's leash and felt all my blood rush through my body as I began falling. The world flipped as my legs tucked to stable my landing in the sand. Astra was on her knees, clawing the sand out of my mouth. "I think that's the worst thing that's ever happened to me," She coughed, before snapping her fingers desperately at me, "Water," Her fingers trembled, "Do you have water?"

I knelt, "I don't drink water, curly."

She wheezed, a sound coming from her mouth that I was certain meant she was about to die. I let her clean herself up, hearing her ramble under her breath about how she should've just let 'them' take her, but I chalked that up to her being very dramatic. After she was done, she fell back on her bum, letting out a sigh before bringing up her left hand to stare at it.

"You missed it huh?" I asked.

She wriggled her fingers, "I'll never take it for granted again," Her right hands rubbing the large scar that was now cutting from the bottom of her wrist all down to just after her elbow. "This is such a mess," She commented, looking at the storm of sand we'd just left. "Did you know it was going to do that?"

I shrugged, getting to my feet, "I was kind of just hoping it would," I admitted, gesturing my hand for her to take before retracting it last second to see her grab at nothing, "But look around you, isn't this so much better?"

Structures made from sand surrounded us, forming the city I'd once loved and known. The once empty sand was lined with patterns that marked the streets and homes were scattered around, all built to be surrounding the tower that had all the information needed for Martians to live.

A paradise without it's people.

"Mars was once beautiful," Astra admitted, finally getting to her feet.

"It will remain beautiful," I assured her, taking the crossbow off my back when I saw a group of people running in the distance. "Just as soon as I finish with this planetary cleansing," I aimed the weapon and Astra jerked away from it's eye, startled before turning to see what I was about to shoot.

"They're still alive?!" She sounded shocked.

"You'll learn," I chose the tallest one out of the group then moved the shot to where he was about to run too, "Humans are very very difficult to kill." A sharp sound rang through the air as the arrow made its way to it's target. I looked away to reload the crossbow, not needing to see if I made the shot considering Astra's gasp soon after told me all I needed to know. "I'll assume you still don't know how to fight," I commented, raising the crossbow to aim again, a smile breaking my lips as the humans were now looking at us.

Astra shuffled on her feet, "I promise I just need a glass of water."

I gestured to the building next to us with the nod of my head, "Get in there, I'll deal with this and come get you later." She nodded her head and rushed off whilst I continued to hunt down the humans. There were now about seven of them, but they were spreading out from each other and separating to hide in the city that was forming.

The city I grew up in.

I followed the slowest one first, the one whose panting I could hear a mile away and their heavy footsteps left evidence in the sand. My arrow caught them in the neck before they could try escaping into a building. Two others had tried to climb one of the towers, one behind the other probably trying to aim to get to higher ground.

The arrow pinned one's hand into the building making them lose balance and fall, tearing their hand in two whilst the second arrow when into the back of the other one's head, leaving their body to slump onto the ladder. I approached the screaming human, tearing the arrow out of the wall before wiping their blood on my pant leg.

"Please," They begged, trying to shuffle away from me with their uninjured hand blocking their face. "Please!"

I shot them through their second hand too before tearing the arrow out of them to stab into their chest. I was about to get to my feet again when the air shifted around my feathers and I had to roll away to avoid an attack to the back of my head. It was the last three humans who were smart enough to try the three against one.

I fumbled with my arrows, trying to insert them but it turns out I didn't have too because in the next split second a wave of sand hit the woman who'd tried to attack me. She was blasted a few feet away and when her peers turned their heads to see what had hit her they were blasted in the face too.

I stood up, trying to wave away the dust cloud and see who it was when "Boo!" Sol came up from behind me and laughed her ass off as I jumped in surprise. Her arm was bleeding and her nose still had dried blood, but she didn't seem to mind as she cackled, exposing the sharp lower canines that were now long enough to curl out of her mouth to her upper lip when her mouth was closed.

"Fuck, the look on your face!" She squealed. She was now taller, a lot taller actually and her skin had swelled to a richer green with it pulled tightly over her now larger muscles.

"You look," I gave her a once over. "Cleaner than you should."

She looked down grinning, "You want?" She took a step toward me, putting her palm on my shoulder and like magic the sand on my skin and clothes began to fall off. I looked at her shocked, "I almost forgot how good it feels to be me," She admitted before facing the humans who were recovering from her blast. Her hands lifted, her palms facing the ground before she moved them down slowly.

On cue the ground began to sink the humans, not caring that the clawed at it trying to stop it as it swallowed them only leaving their heads above ground. Sol dusted her hands together, "Where's Astra?" She asked, looking behind me.

I slapped my head, "She was literally just looking for you, I left her in a building."

We both stood with our arms across our chests as we took in the empty house we were standing in, staring at the dips in the sand on the floor that almost looked like someone had been dragged. "I swear I left her right here," I promised.

Sol sighed, "It's fine I think I have an idea where she is."

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