The train slowly dropped to the ground as the residual energy from the jewel was depleted, and the Aetheric Lift was no longer capable of being sustained. Sudden violent tremors started shaking the ground underneath the train, which started to rock from side to side, as the lights fixed to the side of the carriage began to flicker and wane.
Pious looked back again towards the train, as Nochuros leapt from the side of the carriage. An instant later, a massive explosion of rock and debris was sent into the air from underneath the train, causing the train to derail and break apart and smash into a blast of debris.
Nochuros landed on a huge mass emerging from beneath the earth. It was a frightening sight – an Atrox emerging from below the ground as it shrouded its Aetheric form in soil and stone.
The Atrox broke forth completely from the ground and started running along the ground with its large, muscular stone legs, drawing in rock and dust to further increase its form. It kept pace below and alongside Takshakhan, running on all fours and staring at the Naga high above.
Pious turned to look at the beast below and saw the Atrox hurling a large boulder towards them. Takshakhan darted to the side as a huge boulder, almost the same size as Pious, flew over the top of them. “Shit!” shouted Pious, as he looked towards Landsbeach far in the distance. Pious looked back towards Angra, just as a boulder struck Takshakhan, hurling them both sidewards, and Pious fell over the side of the Naga. Pious didn’t know what to do, say or scream. He just fell, knowing that a fall from this height would only spell death for him.
As they fell downwards, Takshakhan grabbed hold of Pious and curled him underneath his arm as the Naga crashed into the ground with force, crushing the soft grasses of the Elysian Prairie underneath. Takshakhan pushed himself off the ground, limping heavily. He walked towards Pious, seeing that he was lying motionless in the grass.
Takshakhan started pushing Pious with his claw, but Pious remained completely unresponsive. Pious’s eyes were wide open, and he stared coldly into the distance. Blood trickled from his nose and ears.
Takshakhan turned to see Nochuros, high atop the back of Angra, slowly and menacingly heading towards them. Takshakhan double backed on himself and coiled himself like a spring, ready to defend Pious. Thunder rumbled in his belly, and static electricity crackled down his body from the head to the tail.
Angra and Nochuros started to make their way towards Pious. Takshakhan exploded, striking at Angra lightning–fast, slamming against the solid stone body of the Atrox. Takshakhan returned to his defensive position, his body showing open wounds from the impact, which had barely moved the large Atrox. It had only caused some rubble to fall from its chest.
Takshakhan maintained his defensive position, constantly staring at Angra and Nochuros as they prowled around Pious like hungry Rapax, trampling the prairie grasses beneath them. Pious lay motionless on the ground, whilst Takshakhan continued to nudge him with his tail, and Angra continued prowling around a perimeter bounded by the limitations of Takshakhan’s reach.
Angra charged again as Takshakhan struck as well. Angra raised an arm to protect Nochuros. The impact was strong enough to send Nochuros falling off Angra from his perched position into the grasses of the prairie.
Takshakhan was covered in many wounds and grazes from his impact with the jagged stones that constituted the body of the large Atrox. Golden glowing liquid bled from its wounds.
Nochuros picked himself up from the long grasses of the steppe and began wading through the grass towards Angra, brushing the dirt and grass from his red skin with his hands.
Angra and Takshakhan were locked in a staredown, as Nochuros climbed up the side of the Atrox with the aid of Angra’s arm. Nochuros grabbed hold of two handle–like protrusions on the back of Angra’s neck.
Groaning in frustration with the deadlock, Angra raised one of its hands and slammed it down as a fist, sending tremors through the ground. It continued to bang the ground in a similar fashion.
Realising what Angra aimed to achieve, Takshakhan immediately let out a thunderous roar, sending a shockwave of wind through the air and blowing the grass flat momentarily in a shower of static discharge.
In the distance, across the Hydraen Ocean and towards the storm mounds, lightning and thunder erupted from the Sky–Fields. Bolts of lightning began to progressively strike across the sky, darting back and forward through the clouds.
The sky above exploded in a storm of light, and the ground erupted with tremendous force. As more Atrox arose from the ground in an explosion of soil and rock, several Naga descended from above, pelting down upon the rapidly forming Atrox with a tremendous downpour of rain and hail.
In the illumination of a lightning strike, Takshakhan struck out at Angra, wrapping himself around the stone beast and pulling the mighty Atrox to the ground, and hurling Nochuros earthward likewise.
Angra raised one of its mighty forearms and smashed it down, pinning down Takshakhan’s tail as it bit down on Takshakhan’s back. Takshakhan let out an agonised roar of thunder. A lightning strike smashed into Angra's back as another Naga grabbed hold of Angra and pulled it back off Takshakhan.
Takshakhan pushed himself from the ground and hobbled over to Pious, who still lay unmoving. Takshakhan raised his tail high into the sky, and a large charge of electricity built up on his tail.
While you were away
“The Epitomes exist in two states – material and immaterial. When immaterial, they move at unknowable speeds – yet they cannot interact with the material world. When they take form, material form, they are a limited in speed and action – but they can interact with the world. However, they cannot exist in both states – they must live in one or the other. Interacting with the world is something they enjoy – but it is also a risky endeavour, as, in material form, these beasts can surely die.”
An excerpt from a lecture on the Epitomes,
Franix Halabard, Master Shadefiender.
Unknown date of record.
Pious stood in a daze, mesmerised by Serana’s beauty, unable to utter a single word. “We really must talk about our last meeting. It’s important, but it can wait until we are alone. Make sure you come and see me as soon as you can,” she said with a flirtatious smile. Her hand gracefully left his face, before turning and heading down a long, dark corridor.
When her fingertips left his skin, it felt as if a painful and burning arc of lightning cracked between them, and a tremendous feeling of loss and longing filled his heart. His skin itched, and he began scratching at his body.
Pious sorrowfully watched Serana’s petite feminine figure walk away down the corridor and out of sight.
“Wait!” shouted Pious, clawing at his skin. He didn’t want her to leave – she didn’t have to – but Serana kept walking.
“Don’t leave me!” Pious shouted again, begging for her to turn around. Serana stopped and turned, and fear overtook Pious. Her eyes were black, and her face was distorted as if it were vibrating at an incredible rate.
“Wake!” she screamed, before launching towards Pious as a streak of burning lightning.
Pious sat upright and gasped deeply in shock and fright, covered in cold sweat and panting heavily. Dazed, he tried to visually absorb as much of the carnage around him as possible, trying to understand what was happening. Takshakhan’s tail rested on his chest as Takshakhan stood above him, protecting him from the heat of the battle.
Amidst the brawl, Pious saw Nochuros walking towards him. “I didn’t think that your brother, the Blaide, would fall so easily! You were always the most tenacious of your tribe – it is not a surprise you still stand when he has fallen,” said Nochuros. He stopped and unfastened the spiked sphere from his wrist, letting the heavy ball fall the ground and partially bury itself in the moist soil.
Pious picked himself up and stood next to Takshakhan, who was bleeding heavily and looking quite exhausted.
“Come, Ursarion! Let us end this,” shouted Nochuros. He grabbed the chain that conne
cted the sphere to his wrist and launched the sphere into the air, spinning it in a circle above his head. Pious ran at Nochuros as Takshakhan blasted as a streak of lightning towards Angra.
Nochuros brought the steel ball overhead and slammed it into the ground, barely missing Pious, who evaded it with a well-timed sidestep. Pious grabbed the chain with his left hand and used it to pull himself forward, launching himself towards Nochuros fist–first and connecting with his face. Pious threw punch after punch into Nochuros, dodging and constantly ducking to avoid the punches, the kicks and the spinning weapon of carnage attached to Nochuros. Some strikes connected with Pious, some missed; the main thing to Pious was that the crushing sphere had not hit him– yet.
Fist for fist, Pious and Nochuros duelled, as Takshakhan and Angra also fought a bloody and furious combat. Nochuros grabbed Pious and rolled to the side, rolling Pious with him, as the giant back foot of the Atrox stepped into their previous location, leaving a massive footprint in the soft soil.
Pious broke free from Nochuros’s grip and took several paces backwards. He was covered in mud from the rain-soaked earth. Nochuros stood a few spans from him, silent and menacing. The hail falling from above melted as it hit Nochuros, causing steam to rise from his body. A blast of lightning travelled horizontally behind Nochuros and into an Atrox, turning Nochuros into a dark silhouette.
Pious grasped at his ribs and bent over slightly. “What do you want with me? Leave me be!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, making sure he would be heard over the background noise of the conflict.
Nochuros smiled and ducked, as the huge tail of a Naga swung over the top of his head, causing the long prairie grasses to bend in its wake as he stalked towards Pious, dragging the steel ball behind him.
“Why will you not tell me…?” said Pious, confused, as he tried to stand. The pain in his ribs made it difficult to breathe.
“Because the guilty should already know their crimes,” said Nochuros, as he paced towards Pious.
Pious tried to move, but his legs would not respond to his demands on them. He dropped to the ground on both knees from pain and exhaustion. Behind him, Angra and Takshakhan remained locked in a furious battle. Takshakhan noticed Pious kneeling on the ground with Nochuros approaching him and tried to break free from his melee.
Nochuros stood in front of Pious and gently kicked him backwards, causing Pious to fall into a pool of mud and rain. The rains kept pooling in the eye sockets of Pious, which he pathetically kept trying to clear by blinking and moving his head side to side.
Nochuros knelt above Pious, the heavy rains running off his red skin and saturated hair. He just stared at Pious, in a calm yet unnerving manner. Nochuros gently kept pushing Pious’s head under the rainwater that was soon to cover his face entirely. Pious continued struggling against the fiend, with the last of his strength – trying to push away Nochuros’s hand and to raise his head out of the drowning waters.
The taunting creature picked up a stone from alongside Pious’s head, which would have weighed close to 10 shot and wielded it with the greatest of ease. He raised it above his head, readying himself to smash the rock directly into Pious’s face.
Nochuros sat this like this for some time – before he lowered his hand and dropped the stone into the rainwater with a splash. Nochuros put his hand to the back of his head and took the steel mask from his face. Pious stared as the face of Nochuros. It was a frightening sight, not frightening in the sense of horrific or disgusting. It was disturbing. Disturbing, because of the similarity in his appearance to the races of men.
“You know, it’s a shame Ursarion. I would have liked to have truly had you as my quarry. To have actually hunted and killed you with my bare hands, that would have been a grand sport,” said Nochuros, as he gently slapped Pious on the cheek.
Nochuros laughed to himself quietly. “And then, there were none,” said Nochuros with a smile, as he slowly placed his steel mask over Pious’s face, pushing his face deep into the mud and water. Pious wanted to struggle, but no muscle would move, and the fiend was overpowering.
“Farewell, Slayer of Ůrsa. I am avenged,” said Nochuros, as Pious felt the weight of Nochuros’s hand release and Pious sprang upright from his muddy, soon to be grave. Pious looked around frantically for the red fiend. There were no signs of his presence, besides a hovering patch of mist which dissipated into nothingness.
Pious rolled over and crouched on his knees, plunging his hands into the waters where his head was submerged. He pushed his hands deep into the mud, searching with both hands for the fanged mask, which was nowhere to be found.
Angra released its bite on Takshakhan, its stone–filled mouth covered in the golden blood of the Naga, as Takshakhan ripped a rain-soaked arm from Angra in a defiant roar of thunder. As he did, Takshakhan darted towards Pious, clutching him in his hand and taking to the sky.
Takshakhan climbed rapidly into the sky, as the tremendous conflict between the Nagas and Atroxes raged below.
Two Nagas took to the sky, trailing not far behind Takshakhan and flanking him as he headed towards Landsbeach – with an Astrawhale swimming into the sky above, its fluorescent markings distinguishing it from the obscurity of Tenebrae. Pious collapsed with the utmost exhaustion, into the protective arms of the Naga.
Landsbeach
“I think it is of note that a little south along the Aecorian coast, southeast of Sanctuary, is a township by the name of Landsbeach. Landsbeach, by the way, is the first place that our Astrawhale landed and we first set foot. Likewise, it is the first place that the Astrawhale landed on Aurania.”
Extract from “On Aurania: Chronicles of the Geography and Provinces of the Illumined Elysia”,
Lan’Tsa Nichon, 1st Emissary of the Red Empress to the Elysian Concordat.
1089th Revolution of the Grand Míngxīng.
Lightly sleeping in the Boarding Yards were two tremendously sized Astrawhales, each with the boarding bridge of their Astral Barge lowered. B’Ast and the remaining Scythians were waiting at Landsbeach, boarding as many Scythians as they could into one the Astral Barges, while many Sanctuary officials and Militia were boarding the other. The deep song of the sleeping Astrawhales created a gentle background ambience, and their luminescent markings waxed and waned in brightness with each breath.
“Look!” shouted a Scythian, pointing to the sky above. B’Ast turned on the spot, and Tana looked to the sky from her crouched position over a wounded Scythian. They saw three gently glowing blue lights heading rapidly in the direction of Landsbeach from the south.
Tana stood upright, trying to adjust her night vision from the torch fire to the darkness above. “Are those … Naga?” said Tana in curiosity. She placed her hand on B’Ast’s shoulder. “It must be Pious!” she said with a smile, pointing to the Nagas above.
Her smile turned to one of concern as the middle Naga plummeted from the sky. She stood motionless for a moment, watching the Naga fall from the sky. “Look out! It’s heading right for us!” shouted Tana. She grabbed B’Ast, pulling her to her feet and running to the side. The other Scythian picked up his wounded tribesman and pulled him in the opposite direction.
The Naga crashed into the ground almost exactly where they had stood, sliding along the ground for some distance and leaving a disturbed trail in the lightly tamped soil of the Boarding Yards.
A mighty Naga with tremendous antlers lay on the ground, holding what appeared to be the figure of a man under its arm. Tyr ran forward from one of the Astrawhale Barges, pointing to the Naga as he ran alongside B’Ast. The two Nagas in the sky above blasted downwards as strikes of lightning, landing a few spans back from either side of Takshakhan, sliding to a halt in the dirt next to him.
“That’s Pious!” shouted Tyr, as he sprinted towards the Naga.
Tana’s expression turned to one of concern as she pushed through the crowd and caught up to Tyr.
Tyr, Tana and B’Ast stood solemnly. Neither the great Naga nor the figure unde
r its arms was moving. “Come and help me,” cried Tana, as Tyr, a Militiaman and a Karajaner came up alongside her. The two other Nagas sat by Takshakhan, observing intently every move the humans made.
Tana reached under Takshakhan’s arm, and Tyr and the Karajaner lifted the arm enough for Tana and the other Militiamen to pull Pious clear. Tana dragged Pious a few steps away from the Naga, so that his body was fully clear of its arm, while Tyr and the Karajaner placed the Naga’s arm down gently.
Tana let go of Pious as he suddenly sat upright, looking around frantically and appearing confused and agitated, not recognising any of his friends around him. Pious’s breathing slowed as he looked around more intently. Upon seeing Tana, he stood to his feet, groaning in pain.
“Damn that infernal creature!” cried Pious, punching the air in frustration. He grimaced in pain, clutching his ribs again.
“What creature?” asked Tana. Pious shook his head in disbelief and began pacing back and forth. His pacing slowed as his face started to show signs of concern and sudden clarity. He surveyed the scene around him, spotting corpses from all sides of the conflict, combatants and noncombatants strewn intermittently around the Boarding Yards.
“Nochuros, Sylfaen – who else?” replied Pious, looking back at Tana as if she were an idiot.
“Pious!” shouted Sincerus, distracting Pious from his sombre thoughts. He ran towards Pious, with K’Reorh and R’Argh alongside him.
Pious looked back at Sincerus stupidly. “Who?” replied Pious, looking around at all the faces – strange and bizarre faces, obscured as if from a dream. Sincerus stopped and stared, thoroughly confused, as Pious gave an incredible amount of scrutiny to the face of Sincerus. Pious’s eyes looked confused as if he had no faith in the validity of anything around him.
“Sincerus!” shouted Pious suddenly. The face of Sincerus was beaten heavily, and he was holding his right arm, wrapped in a sling as if he was supporting a dislocated shoulder.
Exhumation: An Epic of Existentia (Acts of the Sojourner Book 1) Page 37