The Anak Chronicles Chapter 1: The Slimes in the Desert

Exploring a desert ruin, Kira get a very unfortunate run in with the regions dominate race: The Anak giants! This is chapter 1 of a 6 chapter series! I'll slowly release more chapters as I finalize them. 

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It was a cold, starry night in the vast Anak desert of Arcadia. Among the endless sea of sand and rock, a simple ruin sticks out. Having been sunken into the sand, inside is a vast, hollow, underground cavern with traces of an old civilization that used to be there. Used to be, as now the place is home to monsters of the oasis. Breed to live and thrive in the desert.

“Orey!” The crème slime yells at Kira, who dodges an attack from a sand serpent. The beast resembled that of a normal snake, but the size of a whale with rock covering its upper body. It lurks back after its quick strike as it reels in for its next move. Kira lands away from the beast, exhausted and covered in sand. Grabbing her mallet, she stares up at the monster that’s been chasing her through the ruin in the past 20 minutes. While she is used to fighting monsters on her home island, Kira has never dealt with the desert’s climate or its monsters.

“Ok so my hammer has no effect on it. Huff…” Kira talks to herself. Analyzing her fight so far with the monster. “Its too big and covered in rock to be harmed directly. If I want to survive. I’ll have to…” Kira pauses, as she looks over at her creamy companion hiding in a nearby pillar. Kira then gets an idea based on the decrypted state of the ruin. “You can do it Kira. You can do it.” She takes a step forward, looking directly towards the primal eyes of the snake monster as she calmly prepares herself for her next attack. Her body radiates, her purple slime horns on her head glow with the tips of Kira’s hair.

“Get out of my way!” Kira yells. The snake jolts towards Kira, mouth wide open exposing its impressive fangs. Quickly, Kira leaps out of the way before doing another leap onto the creature's torso. Bouncing on the snake and parts of the ruin, she leads the monster towards Orey as he is weakening the pillar that holds up part of the ruin. Despite Kira’s speed, the monster is faster and nearly has Kira in its grasp. Without a second thought, Kira’s human body suddenly morphs into a purple slime blob. Making a greater leap than before.

Reaching the pillar, the creature makes one last attack on Kira. Who is in a weird state between looking like a slime and having a slime-looking humanoid form as she clings to the pillar. She jumps right above the creature, narrowly missing the snake’s mouth. In her brief moment in the air, she spots her companion and makes her next jump to catch her friend and get away from the creature.

THUD!

The snake collides with the pillar, breaking it and causing a cave in. Bringing down the weight of the desert onto the snake and crushing it alive. Kira quickly rushes into the ruin, hoping it is stable enough to not collapse on her. Making another powerful jump, Kira and Orey narrowly avoid the cave in. She lands with a thud, having lost a lot of slime in her fight but able to move. Orey meanwhile, quickly jolts up and looks around the area. Before he rushes to a nearby hole to throw up.

“Orey, you don’t have a stomach.” Kira laughs at Orey’s overreaction. Which helped lighten up the mood. The slime then got up, as she quickly shifted back into a human-ish female. Looking like her young 20s, with long brunette hair and pure green eyes. This form was not a natural form for the slimes but one she learned to make through magic. It was enough to trick humans if it wasn't for her slime horns and her mouth looking very slimy. As such, her being a slime was the reason for her quest into this ruin. She has been on a long adventure for the past few months trying to find out the past of her race and any signs of her family and or surviving slimes that still exist in Arcadia.

“Much better. Now, Orey. Can you help me out?” Kira asks Orey, as he hops in her hands. Before she shakes him up, making him light up with a warm glow. Orey smiles, happy to be of help to his master. Kira gets off her butt, though gets irritated. She is simply not used to the hot, dry climate of the desert. Finally having a moment, Kira takes off her purple jacket and ties the sleeves around her waist. Exposing her thin body with her bra strap and giving her body some relief. Though she refuses to get rid of her favorite scarf that protects her neck. She suddenly realizes just how… thin she was. “Huh. I guess I’ve been losing weight here in the desert. I’ll have to fix that when we get home.”

Orey nods in agreement. As he and Kira venture into the new environment, seeing the old site of where the desert slimes used to live. This was Kira’s first time seeing a place that the slimes lived in, hosting strange architecture that looks to only be usable by slimes. Small rounded chairs, holes in the wall, and a strange carpet that seems to point in a direction.

“Well it's obvious where we should go next.” Kira said, smiling at her life-long companion.

“Ore Orey!” Orey happily agrees.

Meanwhile on the surface…

Near the ruin site, a small group of humans are walking towards Kira’s location. All three look human, but with wide legs and bulky bodies. Consisting of a male in armor, a male with only pants on, and a female, these humanoids seem to be tracking something. One of the humans, a warrior from the looks of things, looks down towards a tiny trail.

“Hamlet, what do you think this is?” The warrior Tartarus asks one of the men.

“I’ve seen this kind of trail before… humans.” Hamlet responds. Slightly grinning at the possibility of humans.

“My thoughts exactly, but how did humans get this far into the desert without our notice?!” Tartarus asks the group. Dumbfounded by the appearance of humans.

“It can’t be the elves as they would have used their magic to fly around. But it can’t be humans from the southern nation. The group would have used horses or been in greater numbers. My only guess could be this would have been a human group from the west.” Hamlet suggests, implying he knows of how humans would have traveled into the desert based on his experiences.

“The west? Humans aren’t as dominant in the west. They could be from the adventurers guild as the trail seems to lead into those ruins.” The warrior suggests. The pair’s argument is broken up by the female warrior.

“It can’t be humans. Look again at the trail. What is the deal with that round footprint? Never seen something like it before.” The female points out the obvious. Before any of the others could say their piece on the matter.

Boom!

The noise of the ruins collapsing on itself can be heard as a sinkhole forms around the site. As quickly as it started, the sinkhole ends. This got the attention of the trio who quickly picked up their pace to investigate the very active site.

Back in the ruin, Kira manages to slither her way past a small hole into a large room. Using Orey as her light, she spots a strange room with a large platform in the middle with small rooms on the sides. Kira approaches the center platform, spotting remains of comforters and pillows. Along with an assortment of jewels and other valuable materials. This quickly leads Kira to the realization of where she is.

“Oh so this is the throne room! Woah.” Kira states as she takes a step back. As she looks around in awe, she imagines how the ruin would have looked back then. “Think about it, Orey. Back then, this place would have been full of happy slimes. Playing with each other, eating food, and making their queen very happy. Do you think we can-” a pebble bounces off Kira’s head. Making her quickly change her mind. “Yeah maybe we shouldn’t move here.” Kira jokes.

For the next few minutes, Kira would explore the massive room. Finding weird artifacts, rooms, and other strange needs that the slimes would have used. Until Kira notices something is out of place. Hearing the sound of running water, she finds a small fountain. She is confused. Kira is in the middle of the desert with no water for miles. Yet there is running water in this old ruin.

“So, you want to solve a mystery, Orey?” Kira asks her companion as he happily agrees. She sticks her hand over the water, finding the strange source of the water. With just a finger, Kira makes a small drop of slime to hit the water and up the pipe. Her eyes widened, as suddenly she tasted the water. “Wait. Is this water? Or does it taste like.” Kira gets a handful of water into her mouth. “Tea?! How is there cold, sweet tea in the desert!?” She looks over to Orey, face first in the water as he gulps down the water. “You got the right idea buddy.” Without a second thought, Kira puts her face directly into the water. Finally happy to have something refreshing to drink.

As the slimes drink, the small slime droplet swims through the pipe. Until reaching a room just beyond there. Kira notices this discovery and stops drinking. Unaware that her stomach has bloated out a bit with all that water in her stomach.

“So over there huh?” Kira makes a note of this as she tries to pull away Orey from the fountain. “Come on buddy! I need you! Oof!” Kira stumbles back, landing flat on her butt. “Alright. I’ll go check out the next room and get you in a bit.” She walks towards a mural. Closing her eyes, the droplet clearly is on the other side. Without a second though, Kira grabs her hammer and…

Bonk!

In one swing, Kira loudly enters the room with little fanfare. Before seeing the structure before her. A massive fountain with channels going in different directions, all based around a strange cup. Kira quickly hops onto the fountain and retrieves the chalice. While it was dusty, it looked strange for a cup.

“All the water came from this… thing? Wait… there is a name. Bountiful chalice? That's a weird name.” Kira examines the cup before she notices something bizarre with the relic. “Woah um Orey. This cup has a large magic aura around it!” Kira is worried as she had just drunk whatever was in that cup. “Ok Orey I think it's time to g-”

Stomp!

Suddenly a massive foot lands in front of Kira, nearly stepping on her. She falls back as her scarf falls to the side. While Kira shakes off the sudden attack, a massive arm appears near Kira as the room collapses around her. She quickly tries to hop around to find Orey and leaves her favorite scarf behind.

“Orey! Hold on buddy I am coming!” Kira yells, leaping to get him before a hand grabs Kira and drags her out of the ruin. She rises up before seeing a giant, face to face.

“Well hello chump.” Hamlet  introduces himself to Kira. Kira’s eyes widen as is stuck in the grasp of the giant's hand and can’t flee without using her power. “Oi lads, I found one!” Kira looks back, seeing two other giants walking towards Hamlet.

“That's it? I could've sworn there are more humans in there!” The woman giant speaks. She grabs Hamlet’s arm to pull Kira towards her. “Alright human. Spill the beans on your human party and then we will eat you!”

“Don’t you mean or?” Tartarus corrects the female giant. Annoying her.

“Fine. Spill the beans on your human party OR we will eat you!” The giant threatens Kira.

“Eat me!? Why would you eat me!?” Kira panics.

“Because you are a juicy human with…” Hamlet switches hands. Instead of grabbing Kira by her body, he holds her up by her hair. Noticing her bloated stomach. “Fat?”

Kira’s arms are free, as she leans over the chalice as an endless stream of water goes out of the cup. Catching everyone's attention.

“Give me her!” Tartarus grabs Kira, but now allows her to stand. “They are the south western patrol squad of the Anak empire. I am the king’s war chief. And you humans are not allowed to be in the desert. Any who is caught, will be eaten upon sight as stated by king-”

“Human? I’m not a human.” Kira clarifies it as she transforms into a slime. Before suddenly shifting back into a human.

“What is your name… creature?” Hamlet leans in on Kira.

“I’m… Kira Owel.”

…

Kira sits alone. In a large glass jar as she is being carried through a desert city. Having lost track of where she has been, all she can see now are giants. Each giant looks taller than the last. With the tallest looking to be 4 times her size. Never hearing of the city, Kira is scared for her well being as the giants never explained what they would do with her. Simply shoved her in a jar and took her away. She is not even sure if Orey followed her or went back to Tarri for help. Regardless, she is on her own.

Hamlet, with Kira in hand, walks into the city center. In front is a massive building. Once inside, Kira can’t see anything that is happening, only brief talking from the giant and the guards around them. Before not to long, she can hear the sounds of music as she is suddenly thrown out of the bottle and onto a platform in the middle of a crowded room. On her knees, Kira looks up to see a massive giant sitting upon a throne with two chubby women on her side.

“Behold my king. The Owel of Tarri!” Hamlet presents Kira before the king of giants as he graphs his hand upon his chest. The king stares at the slime girl, observing Kira with eyeing everything she has on her. Kira can follow where his eyes are going as it looks below Kira’s line of sight. Giving her a bad impression before the king smiles.

“Kira Owel!” The king pronounces Kira with a voice of authority and strength. “Slime bird of Tarri. Member of the Crimson raider… and loyal minion of Golyath.” He stands up during his brief statement, intimidating Kira immensely. So frightened, her arms give as she falls onto her chest.

“HA! Ma ha ha ha! This is definitely that slime girl I have heard of. Well done Hamlet. Beatrice, reward the scribe and his group for their efforts.” The king orders one of his aids, a larger woman who looks surprisingly human. Despite being a giant. She gently bows as she leads Hamlet out of the room. Despite this moment of calm, Kira feels very uneasy being surrounded by giants.

“Slime girl? Why is the king so happy about her?”

“She looks too skinny for my tastes. Maybe the king likes his meals to the bone.”

“I heard a rumor about the slime girl working with the dragon of the west-” The king nods to his subordinate. Visibly distraught about hearing about the dragon.

“Silence!” Tatarus commands, having regained his spot as the king's right hand.

“Thank you Tartarus” The king waves his right arm out, ordering calm in his throne room. “Good. Allow me to introduce myself. I am King Anakim the 5th. Supreme ruler of the Anak Empire! And now, you're captive.”

“Anak empire? Why does that sound familiar?” Kira whispers to herself as the king leans in, expecting a response from her. “Oh my apologies sir king majesty giant… sir. I am Kira Owel from Tarri-”

“Oh I know who you are. Slime girl.” The king leans into one of his mistresses, “I like this one.” Kira gulps. Still immensely nervous. “I will make this quick. Normally, my men would devour you without a second thought. However, all in the empire has heard of you because of your fight against the Elves of the north. Then you suddenly pop in my territory, alone. You are either the bravest monster to have ever lived, or the stupidest creature alive. Answer me this: Why were you investigating the ruins? Your response will determine your fate. Answer truthfully.”

“Ok. I heard from the adventurers from the south about the desert and some ruins that belonged to the slimes over a hundred years ago. I… wanted to know if I could learn something from my people’s past.” Kira said humbly, never really gotten a chance to explain why she would adventure into dangerous lands. “I did have a party, but we splitted up. They should be back in the human nation by now. But I didn’t come because Golyath or the guild told me so. I came on my own wishes. Even though they tried to stop me.” After giving her answer, Kira looks up to a dumbfounded king.

“Wait so you… just came here for a history lesson?” Anakim asks bluntly. Kira shamefully nods. “Pfft… HAHAHAHA!” At that point, the king with his congregation laughs hysterically. “Oh that is hilarious. Here I thought you came to spy on me, but you are just here to learn about the slimes that died off.” The king calms down and resumes his professional manor.

“So… I’m not in trouble?” Kira foolishly asks.

“Oh! Oh yes you are. Little slime, you are quite literally in the middle of a desert with human-eating giants all around you. Normally we would eat you up as punishment.” Kira starts to freak out, with tears starting to foam up. “However, I have three reasons for why we won’t eat you.”

“Sniff three?” Kira wipes the tears off her face.

“Yes, three. First, You clearly are an enemy of the elven hierarchy. My empire has been at war with the basters for the past 30 years, so any enemy of the elves is a friend of mine. However, that leads to point number two. According to rumors, you are connected to both the pirate fleet and the dragon Golyath. So it makes sense to have you a captive here to lure them here for… negotiations. Muahahaha.” The king states his intentions with Kira.

“Oh… and the third reason?” Kira asks.

“You look cute, and I like the cut of your jib. It's rare we have human captives, if we don’t eat them we would enslave them. However, I have something special for you in mind. Guard!” Anakim snaps his finger as a giant walks towards Kira. “If you are smart slime, cooperate with me. Do not try to escape. And in exchange, I will make your… ‘imprisonment’ here comfortable until your leader arrives… eventually. Do we have a deal?”

The guard giant lowers his hand towards Kira with an open palm. Kira nods, agreeing to the terms and quickly getting in the guards hand without any disobedience.

“Smart girl. Guard… Take her to the guest room. Someone will be with you later today. I hope you don’t see this as a form of… intimidation. We both have a grudge with the hierarchy, and this could be a way to build a bridge. Then to go into another war. Thank you for your… cooperation, Slime girll.” Anakim says his piece as the guard takes Kira away, as she looks back the king is back partying with his mistresses. Hoping she didn’t make the wrong mistake.

“My king, are you seriously gonna spare the slime?” One lady asks Anakim.

“I might. That depends on… if she survives.” Anakim teases.

“Oh? Are you going to treat her to something… devious master?” Another lady makes a remark as the king pulls her close.

The king doesn’t give her an answer. Looking towards Tartarus who had approached the king.

“Was the girl truthful and did you find anything else on site?” The king asks.

“She was expecting one thing. She had a small slime companion, however it posed no threat to us my king. Shall we try to apprehend him?” Tartarus explained.

“Let him be. Rumor has it, the slime has a loyal creature that never leaves her side. So his loyalty, will bring us what we want.” Anakim explained.

“The Tarri dragon.” The warrior responds.

“Bingo. What else did you find?” The king asks. The warrior doesn’t give an answer and instead hands the king a small cup. His eyes widen, as he understands the importance of the relic. “Where did you find it?”

“The girl found it. Though she doesn’t seem to know what it is.” The warrior explains.

“That is excellent. Because I do…”

…

“GASP!” Orey manages to break free from the sand. Popping out cartoonish, he spits out some sand that he accidentally got in his mouth. The small slime looks around the now ruined ruins, searching for his companion. Hopping around, he only sees nothing but sand and stone, though finds something of note.

“Kire!” Orey yells, as he dashes over to Kira’s favorite scarf. He picks it up, hoping his friend will also get out of the sand. He was out for a few hours and now lost his friend. He starts to get sad when he notices a strange human in armor looking at him from the distance. Orey tries to follow, but by the time he gets out of the sinkhole, the man is gone. He did see a trail and tried to follow before falling into yet another hole. He drops Kira’s scarf, getting even more sand on it and dashes to clean it.

Jumping out of the hole, he notices the sand pit he was in was shaped… weirdly. As he looked around, all he saw was large, shallow holes in the sand. Shallow holes or giant footprints. Suddenly, Orey remembered what happened. The pair battling a giant snake, Kira splitting up to explore the ruins, and finally seeing 3 giant humans that destroyed the ruin. Orey didn’t know what was going on but he knew one thing.

Kira is in trouble…

To be continued…

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-Google doc of Chapter 1: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ll444NOMwNtjSv_kMT2bTV0CuoDpTUwDKAhKstLeh_A/edit?usp=sharing