2035, Egypt, Sahara Desert

“Welcome!” the strange creature beamed a sharp-toothed smile seen clearly despite the insect-like mandibles on both sides of their human-adjacent mouth.

There was a buzzing quality to their voice.

Although, that could’ve been from the four insect-like wings that moved in a blur of motion as the creature fluttered from one side to the other of the rocky platform that shouldn’t have existed. Which itself was in front of the massive building-like formation that definitely shouldn’t have existed.

The harsh glare of the rising sun peeked out over one corner. It wouldn’t be long until they would no longer be protected in the great shadow of the immense structure.

This part of the desert should’ve been nothing but sand dunes as far as the eye could see.

Khamaseen studied the blend of human and insect with intense concentration from the back of the gathered crowd. She trusted in the cloth wrapping to conceal her features in the same way that it protected her from the hot wind and sand.

“First of all,” the creature continued, “we come in peace. Now, with that out of the way, I’d like to tell you about this magnificent structure behind me,” they gestured chitinous arms with a flourish toward the structure that dwarfed anything Khamaseen had ever seen before.

She had visited the Burj Khalifa once as a child. The tallest building in the world. This reminded her of that as she craned her neck back to take its height in. However, unlike skyscrapers, the structure was just as massive in width.

“How wide do you think it is, Khamaseen?” Marwan said.

“Quiet! Watch and listen,” she hissed.

“This is Shalindren! The first of, hopefully, many Faeran dungeons on your world. Face its challenges for the chance at great rewards! Defeat monsters! Solve puzzles!” the creature said.

“How the fuck does that even work?” a bearded foreigner said.

Khamaseen pitied the man. Many foreign soldiers had been stranded when the spires had appeared. What she didn’t have sympathy for was the soldiers, foreign and domestic, that had turned into marauding banditry. Those had forced her to bloody her hands on many occasions.

“Simple, you enter the dungeon and succeed or fail on the strength of your abilities.”

“Yeah, but… details, bro. We’re going to need more. Like, what do you… things… people? Whatever you are… get out of it?”

“We are the Faeran. The rules will be laid out to all that enter the dungeon. I will add that it is integrated with the spires, so you don’t have to worry about tricks and falsehoods, aside from the sanctioned challenges within. Success means Universal Points, items, mundane and magical, and perhaps greater answers to questions that we’ve all grappled with once the spires appeared. Guaranteed!”

“Right, I got that, but what do you Faeran get out of it? I’m pretty sure this dungeon isn’t going to be non-fatal.”

“Correct. Death is always a possibility within. As for us… we will gain from your failures.”

“So, that means we’ll be fighting you people?”

The Faera alighted in front of the bearded soldier. “Enter and discover the answer.”

“Oh… crap,” Marwan whispered.

Khamaseen blew air out of her nostrils like an angry bull.

A gust of wind suddenly swept across the entire group.

They cursed at the stinging sand it brought.

“Calm down, Khamaseen!” Marwan hissed.

The wind died to unnatural stillness.

Several eyes in the disparate crowd narrowed as they scanned each other with suspicion.

The Faera’s multiple eyes joined the search. A pair of human-like eyes and another set that resembled an insect’s.

“Look normal!” Marwan urged.

“How does this work? Does the difficulty scale? Will you adjust the challenges depending on our Levels? The number in a group?” a veiled woman said.

“I am but a simple herald. Enter the dungeon. It will tell you all you need to know. If you find it not to your liking then you can simple turn around and leave,” the Faera said.

“Let’s do it, Captain,” a second bearded foreign soldier said. “At least check it out. See what the rules are.”

The first bearded soldier chewed and spat a foul brown goop on the sand before nodding. “Carver, Jackson, Ramirez, Evans you’re with me. The rest of you keep an eye on things out here.”

The group climbed the stone steps toward the marked entrance to the dungeon.

“They even got the name carved into the rocks,” Marwan said.

“I do not think it is made out of rocks.” Khamaseen regarded the immense structure. “The surface almost looks like a hive.”

“The Faera does look like a wasp mixed with a human. Is it wearing a helmet? Or is the carapace part of its body? Like insects, you know. I don’t think I see hair underneath. I’d bet it’s part of the body. Weird that its got pointy ears like an elf. You think they have magic bees inside? Magic bees means magic honey.”

“Shut up, Marwan. Now is not the time. This cannot be allowed. Not in our land.”

“No, please Khamaseen, not now! Let us wait to find out more, yes? Perhaps, these Faeran aren’t so bad.”

“No. Not when I have power now.”

Marwan groaned before hurrying away to a stout rock formation fifty meters away.

The wind gust returned with sudden violence.

Khamaseen walked toward the Faera, untouched by the wind and sand.

The others in the crowd stopped their discussions on whether to try the dungeon as the sand began to swirl around them.

“What is this? I sense no magic,” the veiled woman said.

“It’s her!” another pointed at Khamaseen.

“What the hell are you doing?” one of the foreign soldiers snapped.

“Flee if you do not want to get hurt,” she said flatly.

The Faera landed and folded four transparent, veiny wings flat against their back to protect it from the sand and grit. “We come in peace. There’s no need for this.”

“Lies. Generations of foreigners have come to these lands. To take what is ours. To make us bleed for the privilege.” Khamaseen said. “I see you. I see the faces of the British, the Americans. I hear your words. I hear their lies. No more.”

“If you own this land then we can come to an equitable agreement. I speak no falsehoods. The spires attest,” the Faera said.

“I am the desert wind, the scorching heat of the dry sands. I will scour the land clean of all invaders.”

Khamaseen thrust her arms toward the Faera and the structure.

The team of foreign soldiers hit the ground as flat as possible to avoid the biting sands propelled by her wind.

The Faera buzzed. Their mouth moved and mandibles clacked together urgently.

A bright yellow shield of translucent interlocking hexagons sprang to life in front of them. “I insist you cease this at once. I have given no offense. I will be forced to defend myself,” they pleaded.

“You do not have permission to be here. To set up this… perverse game,” she roared as the wind did.

“Crazy bitch!” the captain aimed his gun at her. “You’ll kill us all!”

The veiled woman had conjured a shield to protect a large number of people. The rest huddled low to the ground doing their best to cover their faces against the hot, swirling wind and sand that had already torn red streaks in some of them.

“Perhaps you should leave us out of your quarrel with the Faeran?” the veiled woman said.

Khamaseen gave a curt nod.

She tightened the wind. Compressed it into a smaller area. Created a narrow tornado.

The Faera took the opportunity to drop their magic shield and fly away on four buzzing wings.

She sent the tornado chasing with a gesture.

“Captain! What do we do?”

“Get in the dungeon! The rest of you take cover! And wait!” he called out to the other half of his team.

They sprinted across the desert toward the same rock formation that Marwan crouched within for safety from the sandstorm.

The rest of the gathered crowd split in two directions.

Some rushed up the stone steps to the dungeon entrance on the heels of the soldiers that had just disappeared inside while the rest dashed toward the rock formation.

“Foolish girl,” the veiled woman shook her head in disgust.

“You fall for honeyed words. Your greed blinds you. They dangle the promise of reward… but think! When have they ever given more than they’ve taken? It is ever the way of the invader. They are here because they want what we have and they believe that it will cost them less to gain greater profit,” Khamaseen snarled.

The veiled woman held her head high. “I will take from them.”

“Just like the elite. You’d sell everyone else to enrich yourself.”

The veiled woman gave her once last disdainful look before disappearing into the dungeon.

“I do not know what you intend to accomplish.” The Faera uttered words she couldn’t understand. A coruscating spiral of magic zipped out of their outstretched hand. It cut into the tornado.

She strengthened her efforts. Now that the rest of the people were no longer in the immediate area she could attack freely. She whipped up a sandstorm buffeting the Faera as it struggled to stay in the air.

The chitin covering their body appeared to be proof against the scouring sands, yet they still had to cover their eyes with their arms.

The Faera tried to yell something at her over the roaring winds.

She didn’t care.

Let the wind provide her answer.

It struck at her command battering the Faera across the sky.

Skittering things crawled out of the sand.

Beetles, scorpions and other insects.

Biting, pinching, stinging at her boots.

She blew them away and rose up into the air.

Thousands of insects were shredded by the whirling blender of sand around her.

The Faera fired a spell that splashed against the wall of wind protecting her.

She responded by aiming a thin stream of sand at the invader’s face.

They whirled away in dismay. Turning and abandoning the fight. Flying toward the dungeon.

She sent several lance-like streams of sand after the Faeran.

Only for them to be dashed upon several of the hexagonal magic shields.

Three Faeran descended from above.

It was difficult to discern their faces through the swirling sandstorm but she thought they looked identical to the first one.

They sent spells in unison threatening to break through her wind wall.

She responded by surrounding them in a separate sphere of air. She changed the flow drawing the desert’s heat into the sphere. The temperature rose rapidly like a convection oven.

The Faeran tried casting magic shields but they were flat panes, useless. They tried to attack the bubble with spells but she redoubled her efforts to keep the wind circling. Finally, they tried to push through physically. They failed.

The three fell unconscious in quick succession.

She let them drop out of the air to crash into the sand.

Whether alive or dead… she didn’t know.

She scanned the sky for the first Faera and found nothing.

They must’ve made it into Shalindren.

She regarded the massive structure.

What could she do?

Destroy it?

People had gone inside.

What would happen to them?

Could she even destroy it?

Her sandstorm could scour rock though it’d take time and stamina she didn’t have.

She turned her focus toward the three Faeran.

Better to take them, dead or alive, for study.

Learn about her new enemy.

A new foreign invader.

Just the next in a long line.

The only difference now was that she had the power to do something about them.

She eased the swirling storm.

She heard it then.

A loud buzzing.

She realized what it was split-second before a great shadow descended over her.

“Marwan!” She gathered the three Faeran in a small tornado pulling them behind her as her wind carried her to the rock formation. “We must leave!”

Marwan scrambled up to the highest point just as she flew overhead.

He jumped into her wake.

They soared across the desert with a great cloud of Faeran in pursuit.

Good, she thought, come after me and die.

The Sahara was vast. Its dunes endless.

The searing desert heat and wind would cook the invaders alive if they followed her too far.

It seemed they realized the same.

They gave up and turned back.

“Khamaseen! What are we going to do with them?” Marwan gestured at the three Faeran.

“If they are alive… we ask questions.”

“They might be dead…”

“Then we study them. Find weaknesses. They cannot be allowed on our land. Our planet. That dungeon is a trap. If they create more…”

It needed to be destroyed.

She knew that with certainty.

Let the foolish be lured in with the promise of rewards.

She would never be taken in by strangers bearing gifts.