Gila

With each day, the journey to the desert became more amazing, and more dangerous. Spotting the Gila off in the distance topped everything that had come before. He knew he would travel to the desert when he laid eyes on the sarcophagus that had passed through his town. The gleam of the gold and the unparalleled beauty called to him. The creepy, ashen, mummy within, only deepened his fascination. He took his first chance to head out. He had almost not made it here. The encounter with the sand creature was a close call.


Now he was here and in the presence of the fabled Gila. Little was known for certain about them, but rumor abounded. All the stories said their bite was poisonous and that they were solitary creatures. After that the variation seemed endless. Some said they wise and smarter than any man. Some said they had a lizard brain, no smarter than their smaller cousins. A few stories attributed mystical powers. In some stories they were stealthy assassins, in others they rescued desperate men stranded in the desert. In these stories, the reasons for their actions and how they chose who to aid were never given. All this urged him to approach the creature and learn the answers to these mysteries. Seeing the razor like claws and beaded skin gleaming like armor, he thought better of it.


King Tut (with mummy inside)


Sand Elemental