Doomsday Pillars

Eridu. 

The most ancient city on Earth. According to the official scientific version, this city was founded at 6500 BC, around 8,500 years ago. It was part of the Ancient Mesapotamian civilization and currently it was located within the borders of Iraq. It was bordered by Saudi Arabia in its south, Turkey in its north, Iran in its east and Israel as well as Egypt in its west.

In the Sumerian's king list, Eridu was named as the city of the first kings. The grandeur and magnificence of the city spreaded wide and far in its time, until many of its legacies were gone, swept away by the great flood. Right now, of the once glorious city only a ruin in the middle of the yellow desert was left, abandoned in the river of time.

D-day #496

In the middle of a vast yellow expanse, two cars were seen driving fast towards a location. It appeared the two vehicles were approaching a location 7 kilometer south of the old ruins. Alex was inside one of the cars together with Ardeth and a few of his Medjai warriors..

Ardeth glanced at Alex, who sat beside him and was looking at the surroundings, "Mr Alex, do you believe all of this desolate desert was once a beautiful tropical paradise?"

"Yeah, I've once read about it in history books." Alex answered, without turning his gaze away.

Upon hearing Alex's answer, which sounded unsure about the fact, Ardeth said, "It's all true, Mr Alex." Alex turned his head towards Ardeth, his expression looked interested, "Oh?"

"We, the Medjai warriors, were entrusted with ancient wisdom. Hence, we know for sure. There was indeed such a city in this desert."

"Hmm, is that so? No offense here, but does ancient wisdom mean an old tale passed down between generations? Is that what you mean?" Alex asked with an intrigued expression.

"No, Mr Alex. It's more like relics and symbols."

"But… from what I know, there are dozens of different symbols in Egypt alone. How and where did you learn all of this?"

"Well, I actually have a bachelor degree in Archeology from Cambridge University. I'm pretty proud of it." Ardeth said with a smile.

"..."

Alex would have never imagined Ardeth, a guy with a bizarre-looking tattoo on his face, the chief guard of an ancient warrior group, had a degree, let alone in archeology. Imagining the fierce-looking Ardeth with hiking boots, military-issued pants and a fedora quietly study in a library, Alex really didn't know what to feel.

"Are you surprised, Mr Alex? After all, we are here protecting history and legacy, not only just stones and sands."

Alex found a new respect for this guy named Ardeth. A great wind spirit enhancer, a chief warrior and a scholar on top of that. "Then, I think you will be a good friend with Cindy."

Confused expression appeared on Ardeth's face before turning into a shocked expression. "The blonde girl that can turn into a human cat? No, no, no, Mr Alex. I don't think she's right in her head." He said, while waving his hand rapidly.

"..."

The conversation ended with the unexpected statement.

-

When they were not that far from reaching the ruin, the group suddenly found a group of locals on the road. It looked like they needed some help.

"What happened here?"

The group of people was about a dozen, all men. From their demeanor they didn't look like fighters. The clothes they were wearing suggested they might be workers of sorts. However, the weird thing was that these people looked terrified. They had half dried blood covering all over their clothes.

At first, Alex thought they were a group of people who were attacked by roaming critters or hellhounds from the nearest Abyss pit. However, he noticed Ardeth looked shocked by the words spoken by these people.

"What happened to these people, Ardeth? Why do you look so shocked?"

"This… Mr Alex, they said they were attacked by a flying beast."

"Flying beast? Did you say a flying beast attacked you?" Alex asked, while staring at these people. "Tell me what it looked like."

The man was too traumatized and terrified by the event and he could not describe the beast in detail. However, from the rough description he gave, it looked like the flying beast was a huge bird-like creature. Its size was around the same size as the Garuda. This got Alex interested, so he asked Ardeth to question these people.

After several minutes of questioning, Ardeth and the other Medjai warriors had extracted any valuable information from these people. Apparently, these people were hired for an excavation of a ruin for almost two months now. The project went smoothly until yesterday, when a flying beast suddenly came and killed hundreds of employees and soldiers at the excavation place.

"Soldiers?"

From the men's description, Alex and Ardeth were almost sure this excavation project was the product between the Heavenly Gate and Ahnenerbe organization collaboration. The location stated by these people was quite different compared to the information Ardeth had received, but Alex decided to check the place stated by these terrified people first.

After giving these people enough supplies for them to survive until they reached the nearest settlement, Alex and the others swiftly boarded the vehicles and went to the said location.

When the group arrived at the vicinity of the described location, they found dozens of dead bodies on the ground, each of them were too gruesome to look at. Some of them seemed to be Caucasian. These bodies could possibly be the Ahnenerbe organization's fighters.

The group immediately came out of the vehicles and readied their weapons as they didn't know what kind of dangers still lurked around.

"Be careful everyone." Alex said, as there were only him, Ardeth and 5 other Medjai fighters within the group.

Seeing the situation, Ardeth ordered his subordinate to call for reinforcement. However, it appeared the radio was not working. Hence, they couldn't call any back up.

Alex proceeded to check the bodies laying on the ground. From the wounds on their bodies and parts of their bodies strewn around, Alex assumed they were attacked by a beast. But from the look of it, the attackers were not critters or hellhounds.

"Ardeth, have there been any recent sightings of mutated flying beasts around this area before?" Alex asked, as he continued checking the other bodies.

"No, Mr Alex. there should be only mutated rats and snakes in this area. Nothing that can fly and nothing that could mutilate these people to such extreme extents." 

Alex imagined the Garuda, as a tier 4 beast, could easily do this deed. The claw marks seen on the dead bodies also showed the possibility of this. But, he found it hard to believe that Tiffany was involved in such a massacre.

"Mr Alex!!!" One of the Medjai warriors shouted, attracting everyone's attention.

Near the shouting Medjai warrior, a man was seen laying on the ground with severe wounds on his body. Surprisingly, the man seemed to be still alive, but it looked like the man was on the brink of death. Realizing that, Alex swiftly ran to them. When he reached the wounded man, Alex quickly casted [Light Wound] spell. 

As he healed the man, Alex asked him a question, "Who are you? What had happened here?"

"To...o… strong... We... didn't… stand… a chance... against it." The man muttered with great difficulty, he then threw up a mouthful of blood.

"What beast was it? Was it a bird?" Alex urgently asked again, as he could feel the man was losing his consciousness.

The man appeared to be confused for a second before saying, "Not… a..beast.. the.. the… Girl."

"!!!" Alex was shocked when he heard the man's words, "Girl?! What girl?"

The dying man passed out shortly after mumbling some words that could not be understood. However, Alex clearly heard the man said the culprit was a girl. A flying beast and a girl, there was no way this could be a coincidence, right?

After sweeping and checking through the area, Ardeth told Alex about the situation.

"There are 40 dead bodies, 32 of them are high level fighters that I assume at least Sky realm level."

Alex fell silent as he wondered what could kill 32 Sky realm fighters into such condition.

Seeing Alex was silent, Ardeth asked, "Mr Alex, should we call for backup? I can send two of my men to return and get reinforcement."

Waking up from his contemplation, Alex nodded his head. "Yes, Ardeth. That's a good idea."

The two selected Medjai warriors then quickly drove one of the cars. When they had been only driving for a few hundred meters, Alex suddenly sensed a powerful aura approaching from the sky.

Looking up at the sky, Alex noticed a dot diving towards the moving vehicle. Narrowing his eyes, Alex spotted a flying beast. It flew incredibly fast and quickly stomped its claw on the moving car. Receiving the sudden impact, the vehicle stopped in its tracks. It then took the car into the air and threw it back to the ground.

The speed of the beast was much faster than the gargoyles or any beast Alex had seen before. And no, it was not the Garuda. The beast was a ferocious lion with wings and a human-like face. Alex seemed to have seen this creature before. Rummaging through his memories, he finally found what he was looking for.

The beast had a similar look to one of the mythical creatures mentioned in Egypt's myth.

The Sphinx.