Gu Lin ~ City of Unending Sorrows ~ Tim’s Realm
The Tyrant’s audit had proven both a blessing and a curse in equal measure. Utterly incorruptible and devoid of anything approximating mercy, the auditor performed sentencing ruthlessly. They gave no face nor leniency for title or political connections. Even going so far as to extend judgement toward those that attempted to interfere.
Powerful men and women, entire clans and guilds had been ‘exiled’. They were banished to a Secret Realm that served as the Tyrant’s prison. A prison where the auditor claimed they would be offered a final opportunity to pay for their misdeeds before death claimed them.
There was no recourse, no bargaining nor threats that could sway the auditor from his duty. However, it had not stopped the powerful or connected from trying. For all the good it did them.
Which had all been perfectly fine, until the auditor’s attention had shifted from Gu Lin’s rivals and toward her allies.
Lin had never held delusions that her allies’ hands were clean. Politics was a dirty business at the best of times, and Cultivators obsession with status and the accumulation of power had a way of rotting men and women from the inside out. Corrupting even the purest and noblest souls over the centuries.
Even so, losing her carefully cultivated alliances left Lin and her Dynasty in a dangerous position.
The auditor had seen fit to provide meat and grains for distribution to the citizenry and had decreed that such provisions would be supplied throughout the transition. However, he had also been incredibly blunt regarding enquiries regarding the Tyrant’s expectations for what would come after.
Complete self sufficiency within a week, and surplus within a month.
It had been centuries since Lin had worked a field, but even she was not so far removed that she had forgotten basic crop cycles and the importance of the seasons. Even if the soil was ready for planting, which was doubtful, it would take months after the first sowing before the first fields would be ready for harvest.
Which had led Lin and her hastily formed council to believe the Tyrant’s expectations bore a broader context. That they would continue as a production powerhouse, or perhaps transition into the mining of raw resources to trade for the required foodstuffs to achieve self-sufficiency.
Reviewing the maps and accompanying reports on available resources within the lands bequeathed to her by the Tyrant, supported their earlier assumptions. The lands would not make her rich by any stretch of the imagination. However, the constant threat of the miasma had been lifted, and there was nothing stopping her from trading with the Tyrant’s other tributaries either.
Concerns regarding the wild Beasts had been met with a somewhat cryptic insistence from the auditor, that, “-none could enter these lands against the Tyrant’s will.” Leading many to believe the wild Beasts had been purged from the majority of the territories or otherwise corralled into a number of limited locations.
Uncertain which of the abandoned cities should be selected to serve as the base for the new capitol, Lin had received permission from the auditor to review the prospective locations in person. Of course, only those who had passed the audit and sworn Oaths of fealty would be allowed to accompany her and there had been several rules regarding the limits of their activities.
Chiefly, they were not to stray beyond the lands assigned to them. Similarly, antagonising the neighbouring nation states was also expressly forbidden and would carry severe consequences.
When the appointed hour arrived, Lin and her cadre of ministers were abruptly teleported from the throne room of her fortress and into the abandoned market square of an empty city, only to be immediately overwhelmed by the Tyrant’s oppressive aura. Instinctively falling to her knees for fear of incurring his wrath, Lin kept her gaze firmly fixed on the flagstones beneath her hands.
After several minutes of absolute silence, Lin risked a glance to try and gauge the Tyrant’s state of mind. Only to discover he was not in their vicinity at all.
Cautiously tracing the aura to its source, Lin realised she had been wrong from the beginning.
As strikingly similar as the aura’s signature was, it did not belong to the Tyrant. Lin knew this because she could sense the Tyrant’s aura in the same general vicinity. Only he was making no efforts at advertising his presence. Just the same as when they had first encountered one another.
There were others as well, similar to the Tyrant yet ever so slightly different. Their strength was unknown yet carried the primal essence of apex predators.
Then, there was the source of the aura Lin had mistaken for the Tyrant. Radiating power that rivalled the sun itself. A gargantuan tree whose branches dominated close to a tenth of the sky and roots that had all but devoured an entire mountain range, save for a rocky peak near the base of the trunk.
Without referencing the map, Lin ‘knew’ that mountain range was off limits.
This was the Celestial Treasure she had been searching for. The sirens’ call that had led herself and others to almost certain death.
The Tyrant’s daughter…
Gathering her Chi, Lin leapt onto the roof of a nearby multistory building and surveyed the lands surrounding the city.
The rolling hills of wild grasses thrummed with otherworldly vitality, possessed of vital energies normally reserved for low or even medium tier medicinal herbs.
Withdrawing a handful of dried peas from her Storage Ring, Lin cast them into the wind and into the distant fields.
The moment the peas contacted the soil, they erupted into riotous growth. Stalks rapidly raced toward the sun while vines, leaves and flowers bloomed to life. The first pods began to appear minutes later, the prospective yield already standing to return the initial investment dozens of times over.
Suddenly, everything began to make sense.
To achieve self sufficiency, all Lin needed was to organise and assign a sufficient number of labourers to work the fields. A lack of experience and expertise would doubtless cut into the prospective yields, but it simply wouldn’t matter. The sheer volume of raw vitality permeating the soil and air would guarantee bountiful harvests for untold generations.
It also went without saying that the vitality shed by the Celestial Tree’s aura was a treasure unto itself. Capable of accelerating and strengthening the development of Cultivators. To make the most of the opportunity, Lin decided that the prime location for the capitol would lie as close to the Celestial tree as possible.
Referencing the maps that had been provided, Lin led her ministers toward the Celestial tree from atop a small formation of Flying Swords.
As they drew closer to the central mountain range, Lin discovered that they were not the only ones to have such aspirations.
From the vantage afforded by her Five Winds Fan, Lin could see a large troupe of intelligent apes waging war against the Beasts of the forest and fortifying a wooden fortress near the base of the mountain.
On the opposite side of the mountain, a large tribe of tigermen appeared to be doing the same. Albeit with far less speed and a great deal more caution.
Neither group was alone. Both had small groups of human Cultivators that were ferrying supplies from beyond the forest but did not appear openly affiliated with one another, bearing different heraldry.
Circling the mountain to the south and east, toward the tigermen, Lin discovered a city being built further to the east. Like an agitated hornets nest, the city was positively swarming with Cultivators.
Unfamiliar with the heraldry flying from the city walls, Lin was tempted to interrogate one of the Cultivators to determine their allegiance. However, with the auditor’s warning still fresh in her mind, she quickly thought better of it.
Returning to exploring the lands of her new kingdom, Lin was surprised to find that new towns and villages were undergoing development a short distance from both her eastern and western borders. Focusing her senses, Lin could see cities undergoing similar development. Expanding beyond their existing walls and raising new walls a considerable distance further afield.
Observing these development projects for quite some time, Lin realised that her situation was by no means unique. Already aware that her long term trade partner Jayesh had surrendered and accepted Vassalage just like herself, and was also undergoing an audit. It only made sense that the Tyrant had taken other Monarchs as Vassals as well.
Given the Tyrant’s previous low profile, it stood to reason that he had begun taking Vassals very recently. Otherwise, the gains in land and subjects would have made his presence known in the rankings long ago.
As if to prove her point, Lin watched in awe as her western border was torn apart, as if by the hands of an unseen deity. Separating her lands from those of her existing neighbours and injecting a salt sea archipelago more than several times the size of her current lands in their stead.
The islets and strands already bore stone and wooden towns and villages, and strange ships plied the sea and skies with equal measure.
Again, the precise heraldry was unfamiliar to her. However, Lin recognised the general designs. It had been a long time since the white-skinned raiders had occupied a place in the top hundred rankings. But their bloody reputation was remembered even now.
Utterly fearless in battle, they would fight to the last man, or woman, seeing their death as the ultimate reward.
Lin had fought such raiders only once before, and she had no intentions of doing so ever again. The gains had simply failed to outweigh the losses, and one on one combat was only begging for a crippling injury.
The prospect of being neighbours with the raiders made Lin incredibly uncomfortable. Even assuming they were bound by the same Oaths, there was no guarantee that the raiders would care if their Cultivation was stripped from them. Since, presumably, they would act under the assumption that they would be dead anyway.
Lin’s sole source of consolation was the Tyrant’s intentions behind the Oath being taken in the first place. Assuming the Tyrant didn’t want to deal with the infighting that was otherwise prevalent amongst different factions of Cultivators. It stood to reason that he would exact more severe punishments.
“What should we do?” One of Lin’s councillors asked with a hint of fear. “To have the barbarians at our very gates…We must take swift and decisive action!” He drew a short straight edged sword from his hip in a show of exaggerated bravery. No doubt hoping to incite those who were more competent into taking up the call. Moments after making the call to arms, the councillor’s grip on his sword weakened, causing it to tumble to the ground below.
Extending her senses toward the councillor, Lin was shocked to find his meridians were in a state of absolute chaos. Causing his internal energy to fluctuate wildly, and stripping the advanced Cultivator of his enhanced strength in the process.
Considering the sudden onset of his distress, Lin realised that the Oaths they had taken had extenuating criteria. Intention appeared to matter as much as the act itself. Allowing the Oath to exact varying degrees of divine punishment.
Lin’s theory proved true when the counsellor eventually regained control over his internal energy. He had lost a decade, or perhaps more, from his Cultivation and would need to spend a year to reestablish his foundation. A painful and expensive warning for a Cultivator whose best years were long behind him.
“This is to our benefit,” Lin stated firmly, pinning her councillors in place with a hard glare. “Even as we are bound, so too are our potential rivals,” she waved expansively toward the barbarian villages and back toward the reconstruction efforts being made upon the distant cities. “With the Oath protecting our backs, we have no need to fear the hidden knife concealed behind duplicitous promises and treaties. We stand now in the dawn of a new era of growth and prosperity! We need only embrace it!”
Toiling beneath the ever present threat of the cursed lands miasma had taken a toll on the moral bedrock of her subjects. Excusing even the most heinous crimes under the convenient pretence that there may not be a tomorrow to award consequences on the heavens behalf.
Glancing briefly at councillor Cho, Lin accepted that would need to change. She almost felt glad for it. Remaining on high alert against the endless scheming of the guilds, clans and merchant associations had left Lin feeling as if she wore a coat of chains.
To shed even a tenth of that weight would have felt beyond liberating. As it stood, Lin felt an unexpected seed of optimism take root in her heart.
This was an opportunity for change, for growth. To leave behind the mistakes of the past and boldly charge into the dawn of a new future full of possibilities.
The new city would only be the beginning. It was time to forge a new future for herself, and for her people.
***** Orion ~ Legosa City ~ Legosa Labyrinth *****
Resting in the shade of the balla trees, Orion slowly chewed at the stem of sweet grass pressed between his lips. A minor indulgence to better pass the time without compromising his vigil. An important detail given the strange behaviour of humans of late.
The humans had been pushing closer to the clan’s territory. Making excuses when caught and sent back to their village.
The clan elders were engaged in a fierce debate as to what the clan should do.
On the one hand, trade with the humans had brought considerable prosperity to the clan. Securing metal weapons and tools had allowed the clan to move beyond day-to-day survival and into an age of prosperity.
The first trades had been performed generations before Orion took his first breath, and he had assumed such a state of affairs would continue for many more.
Despite their seemingly endless numbers and their cleverness, the humans were ill-suited to hunting the Beasts of the great forest. Requiring dozens of armoured warriors to bring down Beasts that a single hunter could kill without risk of serious injury.
The humans’ numbers explained their voracious appetite for Beast flesh and other raw materials, but they never revealed where their metal came from or what lay beyond their village.
A hunting horn peeled a warning in the distance, announcing another human incursion.
Frowning dourly, Orion looked to his fellow warriors to confirm that they too had heard.
A second hunting horn sounded from the East but ended prematurely, abruptly cut off before it established the cause for the warning. Moments later, the same horn called out for a second time, though seemingly from unpracticed lips. Repeating the same warning three times before abruptly falling silent once more. “Humans. Humans. Humans-”
“Protect the village!” Orion snarled, waving his warriors back as he leapt into motion, headed in the opposite direction and toward the source of the alarm. “Heed my call!” He roared, forcing down his mounting fears with adrenaline and fury.
Orion swiftly navigated the underbrush with practised ease, his cloven hooves tearing at the earth as he raced through the gathering shadows of the forest. This was his home, and he knew it like no other.
It did not take long before Orion’s sensitive ears picked out the panicked cries of humans and the savage snarls of wild Beasts. Homing in on the humans’ position, Orion also heard voices shouting and crying out words he didn’t understand.
Slowing his pace, Orion prioritised concealing his presence within the shadows.
Cautiously slipping through the underbrush, Orion’s experienced eyes picked out the fresh tracks of Razorclaws and Goreboars headed toward the direction of the humans. Shortly afterwards, he laid eyes on a massive human hunting party engaged in a fierce battle against a handful of Goreboars.
In the past, such a numerical advantage wouldn’t have amounted to much, and the humans would take serious injuries while holding the line. However, the humans were not alone. Large heavily built figures in metal armour and carrying metal axes and spears were hacking the Goreboars apart before they even had a chance to approach the humans’ lines.
Instinctively, Orion recognised the heavily armoured figures as monsters, and after a few moments of observing them realised they were the source of the words he did not understand.
Observing the human hunting party, a chill swept down Orion’s spine upon discovering one of his fellow clansmen amongst the ranks of the humans.
Badly beaten and bearing a strange metal collar around his neck, the young hunter was shivering and shaking, swaying to and fro as if beset by invisible enemies. Foaming at the mouth, his bloodshot eyes settled on Orion’s hiding place. His body jerked violently and blood erupted from his mouth. “RUN!!!” The young hunter roared in warning, consuming the last of his strength and collapsing to the ground.
Springing into action, Orion drew back his right arm and hurled one of his short spears at a lightly armoured human.
His aim was true and the metal head of the spear tore through the human’s neck, sending him tumbling backward and into two other humans behind him.
Before the humans could react, Orion hurled two more short spears at the humans before turning to flee.
Racing through the forest, Orion pulled the hunting horn from his hip and blew a warning for the clan. He had no idea why, but it was clear that the humans had betrayed them. The hunters and warriors of the clan needed to prepare for battle.
More hunting horns called out the same warning shortly after as other hunt masters investigated the danger for themselves.
Running as fast as he was able, while also obscuring his passage as much as possible, Orion ignored the confused and agitated Beasts left in his wake.
Already on alert, Orion’s ears alerted him to the danger just in time to leap to one side and avoid the metal head of a human arrow. Five more arrows flew after him in rapid succession, forcing Orion to continue on his altered path or risk being struck in the back.
As a huntmaster for his clan, Orion knew the as-yet-unseen enemy was deliberately leading him into a trap.
Sure enough, a trio of hulking brutes in light armour, carrying heavy axes and spears, raced out of the underbrush ahead of him. Heavily scarred and much taller than a human, the unidentified monsters’ bodies were packed with muscle, making them incredibly fast while charging in a straight line.
Drawing one of his few remaining short spears, Orion continued racing straight toward the approaching monsters, making it appear as if he was committed to facing them head-on. Of course, Orion had no such intention. The raw strength advantage possessed by the enemy would make such a move practically suicidal, especially with their numerical advantage.
Fortunately, Orion had several advantages of his own. The greatest at this moment was that he was faster and many times more agile. Capable of radically changing course at incredibly short notice while losing only a small amount of his established speed.
Just as Orion entered the striking range of the enemy spear, he leapt forward and to the unoccupied space to the enemy’s right. Driving his short spear through a gap in the enemy’s armour and into their kidney.
Twisting the short spear free, leaping backward and to the side, Orion spun on the spot and raced away into the forest.
So long as the bowman remained hidden, he couldn’t afford to remain still.
The enemies roared and cursed in their strange language, tripping and skidding through the underbrush as they attempted to correct their course and give chase.
Glancing over his shoulder, Orion was surprised to find that the trio of enemies behind him all appeared to be wearing metal collars that matched the one that had been worn by his clansman. What came as an even greater surprise was the injured enemy matching the pace of his comrades.
If the injury was treated right away, there was a chance that he might staunch the bleeding and live to fight another day. Instead, the enemy was ignoring the injury outright, accelerating the rate of blood loss.
Circling back toward the general direction of the bowman, Orion quickly discovered the limitations of the bowman’s skills.
While seemingly content to loose arrows in rapid succession, the bowman’s aim was relatively poor. So long as Orion remained mobile, and frequently used the trees for cover, he was confident that the arrows would continue to miss their mark. However, he became aware of something else as well. The enemy’s bow was incredibly strong. Which meant a single arrow could prove enough to inflict a fatal injury or potentially outright death.
Tucking his chin against his chest, Orion narrowly deflected another arrow with his right horn, absorbing the transferred energy with his powerful neck muscles and reinforced spine.
Even without a body of water to provide a reflection, Orion knew that the arrow had scored a deep mark in his horn. Proving his earlier deduction regarding the bowman’s strength to be correct.
Rapidly closing in on the bowman’s estimated position, Orion dodged another arrow by less than a hair’s breadth and could feel fresh blood running from a light cut on his left thigh.
Ignoring the pain, Orion burst through the underbrush on what he believed to be the bowman’s flank. Luck was with him and Orion found himself less than a dozen feet from the enemy.
Desperate to end the battle as quickly as possible and return to the clan, Orion activated the Hardened Tip Ability and drove the head of his spear through the bowman’s light armour, through his ribs, and into his heart.
Sparing only enough time to retrieve his spear, Orion raced back into motion once more.
The trio of surviving enemies were still hot on his tail and he did not want to lead them back to the clan.
Very nearly caught off guard, Orion barely threw himself to the side in time to avoid becoming impaled on an enemy spear.
Using his decades of experience to quickly regain his footing, Orion seized a loose stone from the ground and pelted it at the enemy’s head to buy himself time to gain distance between them.
Pumping his legs hard, Orion bought as much ground as he could in as short a time as possible while also using the opportunity to regain his bearings.
Rather than risking another head-on confrontation, he decided to lure the enemy into the plethora of hunting traps that littered the forest.
After several long moments, Orion was prepared and began luring the lead enemy into the hunting grounds.
Deep carvings in the trees, made by the first of the clan, marked the position and nature of each trap. Learning their meaning was taught to all young hunters and warriors of the clan before they participated in their first hunt.
Slowing his pace to serve as bait, Orion made his way toward the first trap. Feigning fatigue to encourage a more reckless pursuit.
Sure enough, the enemy took on a fresh burst of speed after noticing Orion’s stride beginning to falter.
The lead enemy’s right ankle tore through the cord trigger of the spiked pitfall trap, removing the support and priming the trap just in time for the enemy to tumble headlong into the pit. There was a brief cry of alarm, but it was abruptly cut off as the enemy impaled themself on the spikes lining the bottom and sides of the pit.
Skirting the pit, the second enemy spared no time for their fallen. Chasing Orion with single-minded determination.
The enemy Orion had fatally wounded at the outset, and was continuing to give chase but was also growing weaker with every passing moment. Extreme exsanguination rendering them incapable of anything more than placing one foot in front of the other. Attempting to navigate around the pit, they lost their balance and tumbled to their death.
Continuing toward the next trap, Orion was momentarily distracted by distant screams echoing from deeper within the forest. Uncertain if they belonged to the treacherous humans or his embattled clansmen, it took everything he had to stay the course and see his current enemy dead.
Nimbly navigating the forest floor with a series of short high leaps to avoid the concealed netting, Orion took a moment to look back to make sure the enemy was going to trigger the trap. To Orion’s immense surprise, the hulking brute was nowhere to be found.
Forcing himself to remain calm, Orion raised his ears and slowly panned his gaze across the wall of trees surrounding him. Besides the distant screams and the pounding of his own heart, he couldn’t make out anything. Orion took a deep breath through his nose, scenting the air for traces of where the enemy might have gone.
After spending more time than he would have liked, Orion caught the enemy’s scent and discovered it was headed toward the sounds of battle still carried on the wind.
Taking only a few moments to make up his mind, Orion took up pursuit.
Intimately familiar with the forest surrounding his home, it did not take Orion long to catch the enemy up. Unfortunately, they had joined hundreds more of their kin and actively engaged in chasing down the remnants of the clan’s fifth hunting party.
With little thought for his safety, Orion hurled his spear into the huddled ranks of humans lingering in the rear.
The human fell with a pained shriek, giving his kin a handful of seconds as a warning before Orion surged into their midst.
Hacking and slashing with his hunting knife, Orion swung his head like a club, smashing his horns into the faces of the panicking humans before trampling them beneath his hooves. Without the monsters to support them, the humans fell with little resistance.
Expecting their monstrous cohort to return and surround him at any moment, Orion prepared to sprint back into the cover of the forest. However, as he cast a wary eye in their direction, he found that they were making no such attempt.
Instead of chasing him down or continuing after the hunting party, they had stopped in their tracks and were staring at the fallen humans.
Uncertain how long the unexpected reprieve would last, Orion slowly backed away into the bushes.
One of the brutes raised his axe high and roared a string of words Orion couldn’t understand, receiving a chorus of savage cries in answer.
As one, the brutes began to charge. Only now, they were headed in the opposite direction to which Orion had first found them. Headed away from the clan home.
Once he was certain the brutes had left for good, Orion retrieved his spear and searched the fallen in hopes that one of his clanmates had survived their grievous injuries.
Unfortunately, his hopes were in vain. Inachos, Kekrops and Carenos, each blooded in the last cycle, had succumbed to horrifically brutal injuries. Their bodies were broken and abandoned on the forest floor.
A reminder that his eldest, Demos, was likely facing the same danger.
Growing increasingly agitated, Orion began cautiously making his way back to the clan home. Balancing the need for speed against the possibility that he may be pursued, all the while hoping that other hunters had met with greater fortune than those he had encountered already.
Frantic horn calls peeled through the forest as hunting parties engaged and retreated from the advancing human forces.
Sacrificing discretion for speed, Orion redoubled his pace, racing through the underbrush as fast as he was able, only to stop abruptly as another horn joined the chorus.
Icy fingers clutching at his heart, Orion turned to the west. He knew this horn’s voice. He had made it himself and gifted it to his eldest son.
For a moment, Orion remained still. All but crippled by indecision. Unable to decide whether he should continue to the clan home or see to his son’s safety first.
Taking only a handful of steps toward the west, Orion grit his teeth and forced himself to turn away. Theo was already grown and had a mate and children of his own. As much as it hurt him to admit it, Orion knew that going after Theo, while his mate and children were unaccounted for, would be a mistake.
As Orion drew nearer to the clan home, he found he was not alone. Hunters were returning bloodied. Ragged amalgams of different teams and the warriors that had gone to their rescue.
Passing through the gates of the outermost walls and the inner walls shortly thereafter, Orion hurried toward his den. Slowing only enough so that he wouldn’t knock down or trample those who got in his way.
“Father!” Aegeus, Orion’s second eldest, was standing watch outside the den. The deep cut on his arm was being tended by Euridice, his youngest.
Before Orion could say a word, his vision was obscured by a wall of darkness and a string of indecipherable symbols. A phenomenon he had not experienced since his Choosing day as a child when he became a hunter for the clan. However, the vision stolen by the darkness at that time had been less than a tenth of what he witnessed now.
An ominous silence spread through the clan home, suggesting Orion was not the only one afflicted with obstructed vision.
The silence was broken by the near-deafening call of a distant horn.
Momentarily too stunned to do much more than blink in confusion, Orion was surprised yet again when the wall of darkness obstructing his vision receded. Shrinking in on itself and skulking in the periphery of his field of view like a scared Beast driven to ground.
Then, Orion felt it. A primal rage stirred in the depths of his soul. A call to violence and war, driving his focus toward the distant human village.
“STILL YOUR HEARTS!!!” The booming cry drew Orion’s eyes away from the trees circling the clan home and toward the clan chieftain, Erastus. Broad-shouldered and packed with slabs of hardened muscle, Erastus had the strength of his three closest rivals combined and was not shy about reminding his critics of that fact.
Orion disliked Erastus on a personal level, but even he would admit that in such a crisis, he could think of no other better suited to lead them.
“WE WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE READY OUR DEFENCES!!!” Erastus roared, staring down members of the clan seemingly at random, searching for signs of dissent. “WHEN OUR HUNTERS RETURN, WE WILL CLOSE THE GATES AND WEATHER THIS STORM AS WE HAVE ALWAYS DONE!!! UNITY THROUGH STRENGTH!!!” He thrust the head of his axe toward the sky, eliciting a chorus of agreement from the clan.
Expecting the chieftain to delegate responsibilities amongst his immediate kin and closest rivals, Orion was surprised when Erastus singled him out from the crowd.
Orion knew better than to defy the chieftain. Sparing only a handful of seconds to confirm the health of his mate, Orion joined the gathering of elders and the warriors of the chieftain’s inner circle.
“This betrayal will not go unpunished!” Erastus growled, gnashing his teeth and pawing at the ground with his hooves to make his anger known to all. “Every death will be repaid tenfold!”
The chieftain’s closest supporters nodded and muttered to one another in agreement.
“What of the reaping?” One of the elders interjected. “The Beasts will claim them before our warriors have the chance…”
“The reaping will not defeat them!” Erastus curled his lips in contempt, reserving only a modicum of respect for the elder’s position within the clan. “Those stories made that detail only too clear!”
Orion frowned. The reaping was nothing more than a story told to scare children. For the elders and chieftain to speak of it as if it were real made him feel incredibly uncomfortable.
The reaping was an apocalyptic tale of Beasts gone mad and the annihilation of everything…
“You!” Erastus waved Orion forward and parted the crowd with a single crude motion of his axe. “Spawn of Gaius, you will spy on the human village!”
Orion’s frown shifted to a scowl but he was sensible enough to hastily adopt a more neutral expression before Erastus could take offence. “What of the Beasts, Chieftain?” He asked warily.
“What of them?!” Erastus sneered contemptuously, earning a chorus of jeers in agreement from his closest supporters.
“Our chieftain speaks true, son of Gaius,” one of the elders interjected while watching Erastus nervously from the corner of his eye. “Until the reaping is done, the Beasts and Soulless will give no thought to your presence.”
The other elders nodded sagely in agreement, easing Orion’s misgivings, even if only slightly.
“Go!” Erastus growled, swinging his horned head toward the door with an open threat of violence.
Orion bowed his head submissively and did as he was commanded. Erastus was not cruel or particularly malicious, but he would not tolerate anything that might be seen as a challenge to his authority. Especially with so many witnesses.
Such a confrontation would see Orion dead, or at the very least, crippled. For all Orion’s skill in hunting Beasts, Erastus and his cadre of warriors specialised in fighting the Soulless.
While most in the clan outright refused to acknowledge it, there was little anatomical difference between them and the Soulless. Making the warriors of the clan incredibly adept at dispatching Soulless and troublemakers alike.
Stopping by the clan armoury to restore his stock of throwing spears, Orion made his way toward the outermost gates.
The warriors securing the gate were on high alert and agitated.
As Orion discovered, it was with good reason.
Beasts of all sizes were streaming past the walls in a river of flesh, teeth and claws. Tos Orion’s continued surprise, small groups of Soulless moved amongst them. However, in a complete reversal of all his past experiences, of everything he had known, the Soulless paid him no more mind than a discarded stone.
If Orion had not seen it with his own eyes, he would not have believed it was possible.
Pushing past his confusion and surprise, Orion gathered his courage and cautiously stepped out beyond the gate.
Contrary to his expectations, the Beats and Soulless continued to pass Orion by. Paying him no more attention than the upturned earth beneath their hooves and claws.
Emboldened by their indifference, Orion cautiously picked his way through the stampede, seizing progress where he was able.
As he was on the verge of leaving the walls behind, Orion’s vision was abruptly stolen from him for a second time. Blindly seeking shelter in the hollow of a tree, he took a moment to calm his heart.
Suppressing the primal urge to panic and flee back to safety, Orion realised that the symbols obstructing his vision matched those he had seen before. They were very nearly identical.
Warhorns bellowed in the distance, restoring Orion’s vision.
Only this time, they came from the direction of the forbidden grove.
The Soulless and Beasts had been thrown into complete chaos, crashing into one another and knocking one another down as a full half of their number abruptly shifted directions. Now headed toward the forbidden grove.
Despite working at counter goals, the Soulless and Beasts made no attempts at deliberately inflicting permanent damage upon one another. Only incidentally.
The chaos presented new dangers for Orion, both slowing his pace through the forest and exposing him to greater harm. After nearly being trampled by a pack of Razorclaws, he almost wished the Beasts would return to their original bloodthirsty nature.
Almost.
Following the familiar trails leading to the human village, Orion could hardly believe his eyes.
The humans and their allies had been slain in their thousands, their corpses torn apart and left to rot. Inspecting the bodies from the vantage of a low but sturdy branch, Orion felt a mounting sense of dread and overall unease.
He had hunted these forests all his life and knew the Beasts’ capabilities so well that he could recreate a hunt by the traces left behind. Orion had learned to identify them by the faintest scent, fragment of fur or even partial prints left in the dirt.
Whatever was responsible for the carnage before him, was unknown to him.
It moved like a Beast but also appeared capable of wielding weapons like a clansman or human.
Arrogant, yet oddly feminine laughter echoed through the branches of the tree above him, providing Orion’s first and only warning that the creature had not moved on as he had first assumed.
“My, you are a brave one,” the voice hissed with obvious amusement.
Terrified, Orion fought his instincts and stiffly turned his head to try and face the danger. However, he quickly wished he hadn’t.
Staring upward into the higher branches of the tree, Orion found himself captivated by a pair of unnaturally bright blue spheres that were steadily drawing closer. Horrified, he realised too late that they were the eyes of a Beast and that it was no more than a handful of feet from his face.
The eyes drew in the light, all but blinding him.
“Interessting…” A feminine voice hissed inches from Orion’s left ear. “Terrified…Yet it doess not flee…Insstead…” The voice paused for a moment and Orion felt something moving by the left side of his head, though he dared not look to see what. “It was headed toward the encampment…Interessting…”
There was a sound like snapping bone which caused Orion to flinch. All at once, he became aware of his surroundings again.
The unnaturally vibrant eyes were now framed by an almost human face scattered with pale blue scales and a mane of thick hair. A long slender neck connected to a female torso which supported four large scaly arms ending in wicked clawed hands. Stranger still, instead of legs, the torso was supported by a thick serpentine tail.
Following the length of the creature’s body, Orion found that the creature had him serounded. Should it have a mind to do so, it only needed to clench its coils, binding him in place before he could so much as think about jumping to the ground.
The smug predatory smile on the creature’s lips made it clear that it was just as aware of this fact as he was and appeared to enjoy that knowledge was causing Orion distress.
“Are you going to kill me?” Orion asked, already far past the point of terror. “Because I won’t lead you back to the others!”
The creature’s eyes narrowed slightly and it gave an almost imperceptible nod of what might have been approval. “No, I will not sslay you…” The creature replied with a hint of amusement. “Ssuch an act iss forbidden…” It narrowed its eyes briefly and projected an aura of killing intent, “Forbidden asssuming you behave…”
With his heart hammering in his chest and blood rushing in his ears, it took Orion several moments to process what the creature had said and several more to come to terms with it. “Y-You won’t k-kill me?…” The question slipped out before he realised what he was doing.
“Not particularly bright…” The creature observed with a snide hiss, darting its thick and altogether too-long tongue between its lips before retracting it again. “No, I will not sslay you,” the creature repeated somewhat irritably.
A warbling howl sounded from the ground beneath them but was abruptly cut off as the Arboreal Leaper was struck from behind. Its spine shattered by the casual flick of the creature’s tail.
“I will allow no harm to come to you while in my charge…” The creature commented, whipping its tail at another Leaper, decapitating it mid-leap as it approached the tree. “I have planss for you Ssatyr…I would see you live a long and productive life…” The creature’s smile widened, splitting its lips to reveal a pair of large venomous fangs and rows of smaller hooked teeth. “I am the Tyrant’s herald…Mistresss of bladess…” A silvery mist spread from the palms of the creature’s lower pair of claws. With a bright flash, the mist forged itself into a pair of swords. “And you…” The creature leaned in close, leaving only a palm breadth of distance between its face and his own. “You will call me, Senn…”
Although the creature had spoken no louder than before, the word crashed and echoed through Orion’s mind like a frenzied Gorefiend. There was something about the name that made it different. Something that made it IMPORTANT.
As if to prove it was so, a section of Orion’s vision was stolen by a small wall of darkness and more of the strange symbols.
“Impossible…” Orion muttered incredulously, unable to believe what he was seeing.
He could not understand the symbols, but he recognised them, most of them, well enough. They were the symbols that had appeared on the day of his Choosing ceremony…
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