But the alluring fantasy of the Gobi Desert was far too captivating and too much of a
temptation that Tony wandered off unknowingly, and found the sand moving peculiarly like the
ground would sink the next minute.
“Be careful, it’s—” Before Arslan could continue, the trio were stuck in quicksand, unable to
extricate themselves from the whirl of movement too forceful to resist.
“Help, Arslan!” Anna yelled as grains of coarse sand filled her mouth. “I can’t get…”
The more they struggled, the more they sank. Anna watched the small hole above her closing
fast and they found themselves submerged into the sand. As she felt hopeless and helpless, a loud
thump rang around her ears and she landed on all fours on sandy soil.
“Is everyone alright?” Arslan asked while dusting away the sand on her deel and on the scroll.
“Apparently not!” Tony gritted through his teeth and dusted away the sand on his clothes.
Anna looked up and saw a tiny portal on the ceiling, showing the bright blue sky. The
environment here was noticeably cooler and more comfortable compared to the outside. As she
shivered with her tense muscles, she made her way to Arslan, and examined things around her.
The objects glinted and revealed themselves to be most men’s desire.
“Now these are what we need,” Tony grinned and bent double, down like a sprinter, only a few
inches away from the sparkling items.
“Don’t touch those things!” Arslan warned airily while immersing herself into the scroll.
“They’re jinxed and most likely to bring troubles.”
Anna backed away with immediacy, the cowardliness in her exhorted her not to touch it. But
the lust in Tony’s soul was far too irresistible to abandon - he slowly picked up a gold coin but
accidentally dropped it. The coin tinkled and gave a piercing high pitch, warning everyone about
the approaching danger. Anna stared at Tony, who was spellbound and overwhelmed by a surge
of eager anticipation, finding it hard to recognize her friend. Tony looked alarmingly numb as if
he had been hypnotized. Arslan’s hands were trembling madly as she tried to read out the blurry
words on the scroll.
“The moment you touch the jewellery, you will awake the legend … ” Arslan muttered slowly.
The legend? Before Anna could imagine anything related to it, the ground shook drastically
and sand started sprinkling all over her hair. Not far from them, a low growl echoed and a shadow
was drawing near.
A dark red scaleless serpent thick as a man’s arm and tall as two men appeared in front of the
trio. The intestine-like beast had no visible eyes or mouth but razor teeth in its sucker and whip-
like whiskers around its sucker, slashing the air. The beast breathed out a sandstorm and faced
them menacingly.
“Arslan, what’s that?” Anna asked, dazed with horror.
“Mongolian Death Worm …” Arslan stammered with her teeth clattering, “ … instant death …
upon touching it…”
Anna backed away slowly as the worm inched towards her. Tony clutched the girls’ shoulders
and nimbly dragged them away just at the moment it struck. Though Anna considered herself a
skilful sprinter, her feet were stiff and heavy to lift. She dragged her legs with huge effort and
caught up with her company after running through some tunnels and ended up in a chamber.
“What should we do now?” Tony asked.
Anna managed to catch her breath then glowered at him.
“It’s all—” Anna paused, realizing that it was never the time to argue.
