Not much was known about the oasis, it was far too dangerous for any one person to investigate thoroughly. What was known, was that thirty-two territories existed, and each territory held a different authority, they were like small nations that would aid each other when attacked by another territory but in times of peace they would often fight amongst each other.

The lamia and the medusa near, the Trinity mountains, was the most known conflict to the other Gods, but even more terrifying was the elemental war the raged on to the northern edge of the oasis.

During the night slayn's troops would hear howls in the night that caused them to become anxious and unable to sleep. The army was clustered close together, no one team further than thirty feet apart.

On the outer edges of the northern army, under the cover of night, many silent slithers arrived. Twelve, two-hundred strong teams slowly encroached on the restless soldiers. They were the Lamia a race of proud warriors that had formed an alliance with the God of monsters. A week prior, he had come to speak directly with the lamia and had convinced their queen to aid him more aggressively.

They were not required to fight, they were not even required to kill. The God of monsters had asked them to keep the soldiers awake during the night and to make sure they would feel as if a gargantuan force was always at their doorstep.

“how do you propose we do this?” the queen had asked with a wry smile on her face.

“at irregular intervals across a wide space, an arrow volley can be rather terrifying even if no one dies. They are in foreign land and have preconceptions of this place, it shouldn’t be too difficult to stir them even if they are trained warriors.”

The lamias all cocked their bows and waited for the signal to shoot. A large howl echoed throughout the trees and at its sound, thousands of arrows flew across the sky and onto the tents. The lamias quickly resupplied and shot for a second and third time, creating the illusion of a massive force.

The lamia queen herself had planted a rather clever trap. All around her territory she had ordered her soldiers to plant arrows into the ground, this would further cement the idea of a massive force. She would not have done this if not for Scitus who had used his god energy to create thousands upon thousands of weapons for them, they were all of low quality, but they were good enough for his plan.

Screams and shouts were heard all across the army as they panicked and moved into formation. Their minds were tired and their bodies sluggish from the days' journey, but they grabbed hold of their weapons and moved in deeper into the forest night. By the time the soldiers had gotten ready to move, the lamias had already fled far away,

When the force returned, they saw the anxious faces of their comrades. “what’s going” one squad leader asked another, “they’ve been finding arrows deeper into our lines”

They were attacked three more times that night and by daylight, those at the outer rims hadn’t rested a wink. Those affected numbered two thousand and Slayn noted the sluggish movements of the back and frontal force.

“Those that can’t keep up will be left behind” Slayn gave his orders to Albot and Alcon. As the day went by, they would lose over three hundred men who simply couldn’t keep up with the others. They had been sleep-deprived and had been forced to march sixteen hours without rest. Some simply collapsed and others just couldn’t keep up the pace.

"I need water." One soldier exclaimed as he quickly grabbed his waterskin. With him were six of his comrades, those he had fought countless battles with. They too were tired, they had been close to the edge during the night attacks and had even lost a friend from the attack. The army had moved far ahead of them, he and his team had hoped to take a short rest and then catch up later but after only an hour, everyone had disappeared.

The small team marched forward, occasionally finding a fellow soldier, after an hour they numbered thirty. All of them were incredibly exhausted when they heard a sudden scream so terrifying that for a moment, they felt wide awake.

“HELP!!! HELP!!! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!!!” the voice screamed in terror and then suddenly, it was quiet again. The thirty men drew swords with their right and drank some water with their left.

The leaves crunched as several footsteps grew closer to their position. Suddenly an arrow shot out and hit one of the soldiers, and then three more shot out, and another three a moment after.

"COME OUT YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!!" a soldier screamed as he snapped the arrow that had managed to go between his armor.

From among the many trees appeared several women with bodies so tantalizing that even in their situations they couldn’t help but gulp. They wore thin pieces of clothes that barely covered their skin and wore black cloth the covered their eyes but their hair hissed as it floated above their heads and appeared to sniff at the thirty men.

“Medusa.” One man said as he lowered his sword. “what the hell do you think you’re doing.” His friend silently shouted as he grabbed hold of his arm and forced it back up. “look around you, do you think there’s a point?” his voice quivered as he spoke.

The friend scowled but looked around him at his friend's request and then he too lowered his weapon. From among the trees he spotted more of them, their black clothing was easily seen among the trees and for a moment he swore to himself that they outnumbered the trees, but that should have been impossible. Medusa formed tribes no larger then five hundred, this had been a fact to them for generations so why was it that he and his men were surrounded by thousands.

“So this is the place monsters call The Oasis.”