As K’Roll patiently waited for Mizu and the probe to gather more information about the exoskeleton beast beneath the sand, the sounds of thunder grew closer and the louder they became the more of his focus was disturbed. This time, a loud thunder was more than he could ignore and he chose to climb up the large dune before them, one that blocked their view of the upcoming storm, as his curiosity had won. When he reached the top of the dune, his eyes went wide and his pupils narrowed to sharp slits as he saw how close the storm was.

While he believe they still had at least a few hours left, he knew for certain that it had picked up speed and it was going to hit the city ruins much sooner than the simulations had predicted. He could see how constant the lightning was that shot all over the entirety of the storm from random points of the dark clouds. But that was not what concerned him. It was the fact that the storm was so dark, so immense, that the light of the lightning was all that would illuminate the massive wall of sand that moved at unimaginable speeds.

K’Roll did not wish to stay here by this exoskeleton for much longer, as he made his way down the dune as quickly as he could, as he did not want to lose his footing and end up as a roly-poly rolling down the hill. As he made it down to the base of the dune, he accidentally kicked up sand that may have landed over the exposed bone and some over Mizu’s lap.

“Hey!” Mizu exclaimed but she smirked at him, to indicate that she was not entirely mad and that she was aware of what he had been up to. “How bad is it?”

“Bad.” K’Roll exclaimed. “We may need to finish early and return to the shuttle.”

Ruby was in the process of cataloging an object with his tricorder before he heard a loud thunderous boom across the sky. He stepped out of the worn down home, to look towards the western horizon and see where the boom had come from. He could not believe his eyes, of how close that storm had come in so little time. He closed his tricorder and shoved it into the holster as he made his way to the shuttle.

Once inside the shuttle, he sat down in the pilot seat as he began to bring systems out of standby. He closed all the open hatches and began to run a scan on the storm. At the same time, he had that information fed into the computer to formulate a simulation in real time of when the storm will arrive. It did not take long for the simulation to indicate that the storm’s arrival was imminent and less than an hour.

“I’m sorry, but I will have to come back for you two later.” Ruby said out loud, mainly to himself, as he looked towards the temple, where his words were directed to. He powered up the engines and quickly lifted the craft off of the ground before he spun the craft around and made quick haste towards K’Roll and Mizu. He knew he had to get to them first, the ATV was not nearly fast enough as the shuttle was and if he can pick them up before the storm hits, he then can get Riov and Elidia.

In matter of seconds, he past the two obelisks that shadowed over the western entrance and will soon be able to reach K’Roll and Mizu, and pick them up before the storm reached them.

The sky around them had begun to grow dark as the edges of the storm clouds had reached them. The thunderous booms from the constant lightning show in the storm was like a never ending rave. It was also a terrifying thought, that if all they can hear is the thunderous booms of the storm, it only meant that it will reach them in a matter of minutes.

“Mizu, come on!” K’Roll said to her as he headed for the ATV but as he climbed into it, he noticed that the shuttle was on its way towards them. “Ruby is almost here!” K’Roll said as he stepped back out of the ATV. In a situation as this, he did not believe they had time to save the vehicle before the storm arrived.

“I am just getting the probe back!” Mizu told him, where he can see her input commands into the tricorder.

“Hurry!” Said K’Roll. “Because as soon as Ruby lands, we are leaving!”

Suddenly the ground began to shake, softly that soon became violent. K’Roll was unsure if it was the storm or the shuttle but he tapped his badge in hopes that he can communicate with Ruby. “Hurry, Ruby!” But all he got back was static. The ground began to shake more violently. Was the storm on top of them already?

“I got it!” Mizu shouted as K’Roll could see her grab the probe and pocket it. They both looked up when they saw the shuttle fly over them, only to make a full turn around so that it faced them from the west, just over the dune that K’Roll had climbed not so long ago. They could see Ruby just through the front viewport of the craft. “What is he pointing at?” Mizu asked.

K’Roll knew, as he quickly climbed back into the ATV. “It’s in the way of the only safe place to land!” K’Roll told her but before he could begin to move the vehicle, the unthinkable happened.

There was a violent eruption from the ground just past the dune but right underneath the shuttle. Massive amounts of sand was thrown in every direction but that was not what shocked them the most. It was the colossal, chitinous leviathan of a sandworm that had come out of the ground beneath them. K’Roll could only imagine that it was at least 30…maybe 40 meters in diameter and it’s mouth was wide open.

He saw the most terrifying, rows after rows of teeth that encased the inside of its mouth. Three massive, overlapping chitinous ‘lip plates’ surrounded the shuttle and as it did, K’Roll saw the teeth retract inside as if the worm had no intention of chewing it’s food but to swallow it whole. Which is exactly what it did as the three massive lips closed around the shuttle, where it was completely gone from sight before the worm wilted back into the ground.

“RUBY–!!” K’Roll heard Mizu scream.