I Don't Like Sand

Saizomaru gave a small smile. “Run? Yeah, of course. Blood Rubies are prized by many people—researchers, crime lords, and even the military. You could say it’s a type of all-natural performance-enhancing drug, though heavily mandated and regulated. Doesn’t stop most of it from being sold on the black market.”

As the pair travelled, Saizomaru kept his eyes open for any more of the creatures. Even in the darkness, he saw clearly, his robotic eyes giving him perfect vision. His eyes flashed in different hues as he switched between night vision, thermal vision, and electromagnetic vision. They revealed nothing out of the ordinary, especially any other lifeforms, hostile or not. The only thing he could see were the trails that led from different directions and trailed back to their location. He could sense the lingering power of Blood Ruby corruption.

That power grew more and more as the two of them approached the western facia of Skull Mountain. Prim was the first to sense it from within the landmark, and Saizomaru silently agreed. He paused for a moment, staring into the wall. Once more his eyes flashed to a deep red hue, and his vision shifted to pitch black and deep, dark purple. Several figures contrasted in mixed shades of dull oranges and bright yellows, some standing straight on two legs and others hunched on all fours.

“Oh yeah,” said Saizomaru as his eyes and vision flicked back to normal, “we’ve definitely got some people in here, including more of our big doggy friends. Just gotta find a way in now.”

Saizomaru scanned along the walls of the mountain, searching with sight to find no opening as he walked close to it. His hand gently pressed against the cold, rocky surface, searching with touch to find any sort of unnatural gaps or cracks. It took a few moments before he stopped at a particular spot where a crack was, long and perfectly straight going vertically up the surface. His eyes dulled to a grey-white, and he could see the trails of electricity running through much of the area inside the mountain. Some of it trailed where the crack was, running down the surface and across in the shape of a doorframe.

“Well, I’ve found the entrance,” he called back to Prim. “Looks like they’ve got a hidden gate here that’s powered by a large generator further in.”

He gave a little smirk, and then knocked three times on the hidden entrance. He waited, but there was nothing, no answer. He hummed for a moment and then looked upwards. He couldn’t see any sort of electrical devices on the outside walls. Whoever was inside must have been confident enough that they were well hidden to not place any surveillance systems on the outside, and one would assume that there wouldn’t be any inside, either.

“Ah… no answer. Maybe we need a password. Maybe… ‘open sesame’? Nah, too cliche. Maybe ‘take me to your leader’? Nah, that’s something Arcosians would say. Oh! Wait! I’ve got it!”

He pressed his fingertips straight against the gate. Then, with a sharp plunge of his arm, shaped his hand into a fist and punched against, and through, the gate. An explosion imploded into the mountain, showering the immediate area with rock fragments and dust. “See? Works every time.”