I Became My Healer Elf Character - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Serpentine
Kahleem came from a long lineage of ninjas. She learned from a young age that her ancestors were connected to the vampires. It explained why she was born with those ruby eyes.

Her clan was tied to the rulers of Saladiin. If they needed to perform espionage or an assassination, her clan was called upon. They had no last name, yet many called them the Sands of Death.

If your stars crossed paths with theirs, your fate was written in the sands. They were ruthless, effective, and quick. If a name made a list, the target would be found dead shortly after.

Kahleem was no different than her brothers and sisters. She endured harsh training from a young age. She watched her siblings die from the torturous drills. However, the organization never killed their emotions. She was free to grieve for the lost souls, and the faceless honored them.

Kahleem had amassed her own strengths and weaknesses, and out of all of her birth siblings, she stood with only 3 others. When she turned 16 years old, she was given her own opportunity to join the ranks of the faceless.

The task changed every year. For her exam, the examiner only gave one task. The head of a desert worm.

These worms were beasts that drilled through the earth. Their holes were often found if one wandered around in the sands. These tunnels ranged in width, but even the smallest adult worm could create holes the width of a shed. The larger ones could cover an entire street in the dunes.

While the heat bore down on Kahleem, she was dressed in brown, sandy cloth that covered her skin. She walked in the dunes for several hours looking for a worm hole.

Her clan adhered to strict rules regarding water intake. In order to awaken to water magic at a younger age, they were deprived of water. A few drops a day, followed by visualization of the flow. They had to picture in their minds the water that would quench their thirsts. It was similar to the god of the oasis. Many thought that the ones who awakened to it quicker were blessed children, but even some of these couldn’t face the later trials.

All of this served to strengthen her resolve when she finally found what she was looking for. On one of the tall rolling desert hills, there was a huge gash in the earth. She had to look high up at the ceiling which could easily fit three of herself lined on top of each other.

The width was the same, forming an almost perfect circle. As part of her training she acquired tons of knowledge related to the sand worms. The face of the creatures were distinguishable from their rears by an elongated snout with whiskers. It was determined that the creature must have poor vision, using the snout as a sensory organ. The eyes of the monsters were pearly white, making Kahleem think that their deduction was most likely true.

For this mission, Kahleem was given a curved sword, several vials of poison, and other standard tools such as rope, knives, and a small food supply.

In Saladiin, there was a growing merchant who’d formulated a recipe that the ninja clan ordered several bundles. It was a bar of nutritional food that could be stored for several months without rotting. It gave anyone on a mission vital nutrients for undergoing harsh conditions.

Kahleem crossed into the trench and sat next to the entrance. She would not willingly venture down in the creature’s lair if she could avoid it. Instead, she covered some of her body with the sand from the outside.

This served three purposes. It could hide her from travelers or monsters outside, but there was a chance it could mask the scent of the worms. The fact that one hadn’t showed itself meant they were occupied or otherwise Kahleem was out of their sensory range. Lastly, the sand inside of the cave was cooler than the outside, providing her with a small bit of comfort.

The ninja checked her supplies once more. She gripped the rope and flexed it several times making sure it wouldn’t snap. Part of the training ensured that she would always test her equipment. Several of her siblings were killed because they didn’t check intentionally faulty equipment.

Next, Kahleem looked over her knives and checked the edges. Satisfied with their sharpness, she moved onto the food. She opened the wrapper, and the earthy smell reached her nose.

Just in case, she put two of her fingers together and casted a spell at the same moment. “[Poison Detection].”

A green glow permeated around the bar, indicating that there were no issues. Green was the only color signifying that food was free of poison. Yellow meant that if one ate it they’d likely develop mild symptoms. Red was a hazard, and black meant death.

Kahleem took a small bite of the bar and stowed the rest away. She waited with her detection skills on high alert while inspecting her sword. The steel blade had a sharp curve to it, and it was double sided. The sharp side which usually faced opponents was serrated towards the hilt. This brought her a small amount of confidence that if the worm’s skin was too tough, there was the possibility to work through it like a saw.

However, to Kahleem’s chagrin, there was no rumbling. There were no worms showing up, and darkness began to descend. Not only that, but on the horizon there was a sandstorm brewing. She could tell this one would be bad.

Kahleem took the option in front of her. She couldn’t sit at the entrance, sand would storm in like crazy. It was better to dive deeper while also still being able to fulfill the quest. The worst case scenario she would fail and join her brothers and sisters in the oasis.

The ruby-eyed ninja stood up and clung to the walls as she went down. The further she went, the darker it became, but this was no problem. Her sight was not hindered by darkness. Those red jewels made sure of that.

Every step of her soles were silent. The gradual descent brought about a cool breeze. It didn’t take too long for her to reach an inner chamber.

Her training prevented her from making a gasp or other sound, but the sight before her was worthy of one. The whole place was lit up by shining blue light that clung to the walls like slime. It sparkled and glistened in the large crevice.

It was like a hub of tunnels. They stretched out on the ceiling, through several holes in the floor, on the rocky walls.

Kahleem made a deduction. It was likely that the worm had nested there curled up, but she couldn’t be certain of the blue slimy substance. Her poison detection gave a green result. When she stuck her fingers into it, it was gelatinous and slightly sticky.

She wondered if it was part of a mating routine. Kahleem never read about this in the documents related to worms. Was it the clan hiding it? Or did they even know?

Kahleem couldn’t know the answer, but it didn’t matter because a rumbling signaled her investigation time was up.

She sensed the worm coming from the left, so the ninja fled into a tunnel on the right and stayed hidden in the shadows, watching the cavern.

A beastly snout snaked it’s way out of a tunnel from the left. It’s body was covered in thick leathery blue scales, and more of the slimy substance secreted in its wake.

Kahleem watched as the beast sniffed where she had been just moments ago. The monster seemed surprised. It reared up and looked around the caverns. To the amazement of Kahleem, the beast did not have glazed eyes.

Instead, there were sharp blue eyes forming into a slit. The mouth of the beast opened and a forked tongue lathered the air. What happened next would shock Kahleem to her core.

“Ssssomeone intrudessss into my chamberssss,” the snake said. It’s voice was like thunder, rumbling the earth.

Kahleem covered her mouth and began moving away from the cavern. She slowly traipsed down the wall, but it was useless. The snake peered into her exact tunnel. It was then she realized her deathly mistake.

“Ssssilly sssneeaky sssupicious…I sssmell it on you.”

Indeed, the ninja looked down at her fingers. As she stretched her hand, the substance glimmered. She might as well have stuck a wooden sign in the ground pointing to her location.

However, as her heart rate increased, she didn’t panic outright. She doubted a ferocious monster like this one would let her live, so in that moment she ran. She sprinted down the tunnel. She activated a spell in her feet allowing her to stick to the walls. She ran down in a spiral, quickly picking up speed.

As the Earth rumbled behind her, she tied a rope around one of her small knives.

But before anything could happen, the tunnel collapsed completely. The dust storm outside had reached its peak, and the harsh wind and rumbling from that massive snake brought a mountain of sand down on Kahleem’s head.