For the first few miles, the Wastelands was little more than desert. I urged my horse through the sand, occasionally stopping to give it some water from the flagon I filled up in town. I set up a campfire the first night I was there, but found myself unable to sleep. The night was full of screams. Men's screams, women's screams and even the sound of children screaming, as if the Wastelands were warning me off with the replayed sounds of its claimed lives. The second day we found a region deeper into the Wastelands that looked like a huge battle was fought there. Skeletons still wearing their bronze coloured armour were partially covered by sand, while their swords and spears were still sticking out from the ground, their tips embedded in the sand. The sight of all those bodies chilled me to my core. Never before had I seen such carnage. It was then I heard something rustle through the sand behind me. I tensed up, filled with fear. I let my horse go for a moment, and it too was frozen in fear. I drew my sword and whipped around to face the sound that was rustling behind me, only to see nothing there. I felt a bead of nervous sweat trickle down my face. "Who's there?" I called out. An angry snarl filled the air, followed by the rustling of sand. My grip tightened around my sword's hilt. A wrinkled brown tentacle lashed out from the sand and wrapped itself around my leg before tugging me off my feet and dragging me through the sand. I looked up at its source, and a form rose from the sand. It had no eyes, at least none that I could see. The tentacle that had my ankle was one of eight long tentacles around what I assumed was its head. In the center of all the eight tentacles was a huge gaping maw, filled with drool and razor sharp teeth. The body behind it slithered like a massive snake, although it was still mostly underneath the sand. "Good God!" I shouted in fear as it reared up, bringing me at least five meters above the ground. The creature was massive. I clenched my teeth and swung my sword, hitting the tentacle that was wrapped around my ankle. I severed the end of it, causing the creature to cry out in pain, and causing me to fall back down to the sand. The impact startled me, but I was just happy I was alive. The creature thrashed around, its dark blue blood dribbling from its severed tentacle. It snarled at me before it let loose a loud bellow. Spittle rained down around me from its huge mouth, and it vanished back underneath the sand. I heard rustling all around me and knew I was in trouble. I started to run, but two more tentacles lashed out and grabbed my ankles. They hefted me up into the air as the creature emerged from the sand. The tentacles dangled me over its gaping mouth, and its jaws gnashed in front of me, as though to say exactly how I would die. Then I saw it. For a second I thought it was sand in my eyes, but I shook my head and tried to get a closer look. Right above its mouth, directly in front of me, was a tiny, black beady eye. I suddenly hoped that this creature's anatomy was like everything else I'd ever encountered, and its brain was right behind its eyes. It snarled at me again, and I twisted my sword around so I could use it was a stabbing weapon. "Even if this doesn't kill you, you'll know not to attack Inekwar!" I shouted, before driving my sword into its tiny, beady eye. It howled in pain as I drove it deeper into its flesh. I pushed the blade into the eye socket until the only thing keeping it from moving was the hand guard on the hilt. I must've guessed right, cause the massive creature stopped thrashing after I did so, meaning I punctured its brain and killed it. As it started to fall, its grip on my ankles slackened and I fell to the sand again. "Hah!" I shouted in victory. I surveyed the creature before turning my attention back to where I'd kept my horse, but it was nowhere to be found. It must've ran off during the fight. I cursed to myself, and started trudging through the sand away from Dreamland again. The horse had run off with all my food and water. I only had three days to find my father or shelter before I was dead, and another victim of the Wastelands.