In the land beyond the Kurayamiya, beyond a border called the Glass Curtain, there is an area of land covered in sand. This area that had once looked like a village but now appears to stretch as far as your eye can see as a city that is in ruins.
Houses that were once standing in this area are now mostly sunk into dunes and have been wiped away as time and wind have eroded them. The area beneath the vast dead land had sounds of screams.
"Run!! Do not stop! Run!!!"
Individuals were running across the sand, their footsteps quickly disappearing with the shifting sand. Each of them wore black robes over form-fitting combat gear, bound by thick sashes at the waist.having a large sash around their waist to hold their garments in place had an insignia stitched into it that was either being illuminated by a flashlight from above or the dark sky from above in a storm, and they all had a mask on for protection.
"Oh no, please…help!"
As a man fell to the ground, the sand gave way and he fell into a hole in the ground.
"Where is the ride?" one of the service members yelled above the wind.
"It should arrive within the hour!!!", another service member responded back to him.
In the middle of the chaos was a woman who lifted her mask and bared her face to the wind.
The storm blew through her jet black hair, her eyes remained fixed upon the storm's fury, bright, white, and without so much as a flicker. This was Sanae Yaktine, commander of the fourth squad of the dark division.
She coughed and felt how lethal the air was here; ten breaths would completely rot your lungs from the inside out if unmasked; without further thought, she placed her mask on again. Sanae's eyes scanned from side to side as she surveyed the battlefield and saw all of the dead; a few were half buried, some were torn apart, and some were… missing.
"We lost too many." The mutter of one soldier.
"Commander!" The voice of another soldier rang out with urgency, "The creature is coming back. We need to retreat!"
Sanae took a moment to respond to the call for retreat; she gripped her sword tightly in her left hand and her eyes darkened.
"We are not running," she said coldly as steel blades cut through flesh.
The soldiers stood immobilized.
"They made their choice to be here and face the wrath of the storm and die in it," she concentrated her sharp tone with contempt.
Sanae took a step.
"If we retreat now, their deaths would be meaningless," she said to them quietly.
The remainder of the soldiers were silent; they had originally started this mission with five hundred soldiers and had reduced to ninety-one when the unit arrived at the battlefield.
Fear would come for all, and she could see the fear growing in the eyes of the remaining soldiers; for that instant, she could feel and know their fear; then, she stood erect.
"Fear is hesitation and hesitation… gets you killed."
Blades were pulled out in order; Katana, Swords, Spear, if we're going down, we are not running this time; they all have a grin on their face.
Sanae smiled faintly
"…Yes" she said as she faced West to the setting Sun.
"Then, you will stand with me,"
The sand shifted—first a ripple, then a sudden surge. the ground was moving toward them like a wave. The ground covered a great deal of distance in seconds before stopping.
As soon as the ground stopped, the sand began to rise up out of the earth's surface, and a huge segment upon segment mass emerged; its reflective exterior looked like glass. Its large spiral mouth contained teeth the size of large buildings which moved like clockwork.
This was not an everyday animal; it didn't eat flesh; it ate time. When some soldiers saw what brought them here they became paralyzed, while others took a step back or ran away out of fear.
As for Sanae, she didn't move.
"Fear is nothing but a distraction." She spoke with much calmness inside.
When the sandworm lunged at her and the soldiers, they charged back at it with all current force.
Everything became still, The worm stopped moving abruptly. Its body spasmed as...
A part of its body was visibly decayed and rotten throughout the length of the worm body. The decaying process continued, slowly progressing towards its upper body section.
At first the worm did not respond; however, as soon as the death reached its upper body the worm screamed.
The scream was an out-of-this-world sound. Then, the worm writhed violently, burrowed into the sand, used the sand to jump, and tore through the sand dunes. Eventually, nothing was left of the worm.
Someone whispered, "what was that?" Soldiers began to look around for answers; confused, unsure where to turn for what it might be. They began to celebrate that the horrible event had happened. Some soldiers fell into a state of shock; others just stood there as if frozen.
Sanae was the only one still standing…
"It didn't move until it was too late"
"Gosh, that was close!" came a very soft and feminine voice, which was unusually aged.
One of the soldiers turned around quickly.
"Commander, we have an intruder,"
Sanae followed his gaze and eventually saw the intruder.
The woman remained still upon the sand despite the storm, the wind and the weather. She was dressed in a long black-and-brown abaya with dark embroidery and a shadowy sash tied loosely about her waist making her seem ancient and out of place. She also had the body of a young girl but contained the height of a grown woman.
Her eyes were those of someone who had seen too many years pass and most importantly, she had nothing on her face to protect herself from the elements of danger. She seemed to breathe in that noxious gas as though it were normal.
"So at least you are here alive, unless I am incorrect?"
The soldiers looked to Sanae, waiting for any further orders.
'Who… is she?'