AN: This has bloody gore, so forwarning! If no gore, then don't read the bold!

Small mention of blood after bold, but nothing drastic.

"I crouched in front of our small fire. Stick in my scaled hand, I redirected a log back into the inferno and away from the mud.
Spits of rain and bursts of wind continued to threaten to kill our source of light and heat.

A bone was chucked into the fire, the leftover boar burning to black. I had looked up at my partner.

The large Snapping Turtle Recta had gnawed his way through the hind leg up to the spine.
'You better save some of that for the cargo.' I had suggested.
'Grk! Who cares? They already had their dinner.' He had said with a grunt as he took another bite of the pig.
'But who knows when we are going to find food again! Out here we know the territory and layout of the swamp, but not in there!' I had pleaded as I thrusted the ember-tipped stick at the darkness behind my comrade. The small lights had faded, making the wall even more menacing.
I felt eyes were watching me from within it.

'The Barrier? There has been tons of the Seven go in there and never returned. The main reason why they didn't come back was that it was paradise.' Grotho looked back at me with a laugh, believing his theory.

'Have you seriously not listened to the legends? The Fogglenars are in there, capable of ripping us apart!' I had shouted in anger.

'Are you doubting my plan?' He had replied. There was a small growl of sorts at the back of his throat.

'On many factors, Yes! The only reason I am here is to make sure that the youngest Royals aren't sacrificed this time. A low-life would suit it just as fine.' I argued , wanting to solidify my purpose for being here. Grotho had the same goal as I, making us perfect partners even without all the time we had been a team.

As if on cue, a small cry came from under the nearby tarp. From one of the seven crates we had to be exact.

'I'm going to get some more firewood before the storm grounds us. You go check on the infant.' I had said, standing up.

'Fine, but bring back enough for the night. I got a bad feeling about this storm.' The red turtle remarked as he chucked his leg into the fire.
'The Skull-Crushing Grotho is afraid of a storm, this night gets weirder and weirder.' I had commented. If only I had realized my mistake then.
'I don't get this feeling often, but when I do. Somethings going to happen.' He snorted with anger in his voice, grudgingly standing up and turning towards the tarp.

Grotho, the greatest fighter he was, wasn't a fan of superstition or the Slithering Serpent or the Marching Mastodon. In fact, he full out ignored it and his instincts.
Him being concerned about the storm should have been my first sign of what was to come.

By the time I had gathered enough wood to last us a week, the lightning and thunder picked up. The thunder was beginning to sound louder the closer I was to the camp.

"Grotho! I'm back with wood! You better have those kids buckled down for the ride tonight." I called out to what could hardly even be called a proper camp.

The whispering of the wind was my only response. Darkness had settled on the land, making the dying fire a beacon. Dashing over, I hurriedly got the fire up and going again, not wanting to risk the night without it.

The fire now burning strong, I made a small torch to find my partner.
A foul wind hit me from the North, from the Barrier. The grass by my knees were drenched in water, making it hard to see the mud beneath it.

I wandered around for as long as the torch could stand, which was about 5 minutes.
No sign of Grotho.

A loud cry from the infants sent me running towards the tarp, torch dying in my hands.
But what I saw would haunt me.

As I ran, I tripped onto a large boulder that wasn't there before. With the dim light, I spotted something shine.

An eye, drained of life.

I had tripped on Grotho's mangled body. His blood, still fresh, clung to the leather that I wore. The blood was beginning to mix with the mud, making a gruesome pallet for a devil. I spotted a ripped hand to the left of me, the leg not far behind. His dead eye, his decapitated dead eye, looked at me, sending chills up my spine.
And his shell.
His shell that I have seen deflect arrows, halt swords, break walls of steel, stop maces dead in their tracks: was broken in half. It opened like a cruel letter into his organs. His stomach acid was leaking onto his liver and diaphragm. The lungs were popped, the intestines wrapped around what was left of his neck. A few feet away was his head, torn straight off his body. The final shock was his ever slowing beating heart.

Nothing of the Seven Tribes could do this damage so quickly. And so effectively.I thought as I looked at my partner in crime's body. The image still haunts my dreams each and every night."

The Rock Moniter in front of me started a coughing fit.
After five or so minutes he finished, his blind eye trying to focus on me again.

"Where was I?
Oh. Yes.

My state of terror was broken with the squawk of the Avari Princess. I ran to the infants, desperate to do anything to safe them.

But I was too late.

A perfectly timed lightning bolt showed me the danger and halted my pursuit.

Standing over the crates where the infants were kept was a creature more evil than the Shallawa of old. Its scaly hide alloawed it to blend into the mud and slush with ease. Blood was still dripping its razor teeth as it growled at the young Peacock in its clawed hands. Standing below it was the other princes and princesses, all terrified what was going on around them. I could see something on its back, thin and leathery.

The thing, no, the demon swivled its head towards me. Its dark eyes stared into my very soul. The horns sprouting from its face were that of the devil itself.

The after image was gone, leaving me with only a vague understanding of where the monster was. I ran back to the fire in fear, only to be dragged back out with another torch by pride.

I was going to kill the monster and save the royals. I was going to return to the Tribes and be proclaimed a hero after I show them the unharmed infants and the beast's head.

But it was like it was never there. The demon vanished into thin air, taking the royals and my companion's shell with it.

I sank to my knees in the mud in shock, for I did not have the strength to rise until the guards found me the next morning.

Now, it's been twenty years since this happened. And you probably don't believe me. But it happened. Those royals? They've been dead since the demon took them.
Thanks for listening to the last words of a dead lizard. I hope I get to see Grotho again after I am executed.
Now don't be sad. Take my story as a lesson for you and your family."

"Beware the Barrier and its demons."

The old blind lizard coughed again, the guards ready to take him away.

But I got everything I needed.