by J. Carrarn
Tirella herself continued speaking, her voice becoming fast and energetic.
"When I woke up, I had changed. I was more powerful and fleshy! I also knew things. Could do things. With my new powers, I searched the battlefield a final time, managing to find one more orb that had eluded me the first time, and then I left. I continued traveling the eternal sands, and I traveled for such a long time that I don't even remember most of it. The days just blurred together. That changed when the dust trails appeared."
Solus perked up his ears because this was the part that held the most significance to him.
"The flat area sloped up, and in the distance, it flowed up and down. More sand, red and yellow now, flew through the air. The wind began battering me. It increased until all I could see were walls of red and yellow dust. When the churning mass of sand finally dissipated, I stood on the top of a sandbank. In front of me, an enormous mass of bone-white Kaots streamed down a tall hill. They were pouring out of black rifts, some so large they seemed to stretch from the sands to the moons. The Kaots charged toward a small settlement of yellowish structures, round and oddly shaped, tipped with pointed horns that reminded me of those on the heads of wanderers. A line of defenders stood in front of the buildings. They fired pulsating yellow and red balls of sizzling energy at the incoming horde, blasting many into bits, but for each one they ended, dozens more were spat out by the rifts."
Tirella fell silent for a moment, looking confused and uncertain.
"I did not know what I know now… Had I known, I would have turned and fled. Instead, I stayed and watched how the Kaots overwhelmed the undead that had tried to defend their town. They ripped them apart, tearing their heads open and fighting over the round orbs. Some didn't even bother with that, devouring their victim's heads whole in their haste. When they had finished and moved into the hills beyond the town, all that was left behind was rubble and unmoving bodies."
Again Tirella fell silent, and her voice was weary and tired when she continued.
"I saw this many more times during my travels through the sands. Settlements far bigger than the first, buildings as tall as those we saw in the city of the ancients back there," and she waved over her shoulder.
"None stood a chance..." She fell silent again, her gaze on something only she could see.
"As time passed, more rifts opened, and smaller groups of Kaots roamed the sands. If there were few, I would end them and take their orbs, but more would always come. I traveled as far as I could until I came across more undead like me. They had been searching for awakened and asked if I wished to come. They were traveling toward a place called Bastion. The last safe place. I went with them. Again, I knew nothing... Later I would find that there were no safe places left."
Tirella stared at the sky, her black eyes glowing from within.
"Bastion was incredible! An enormous city of bone with towers stretching to the heavens! Its walls were twenty times as tall as I am now and just as thick. Inside were more undead than I had ever seen, many as powerful..." she turned to Solus, her eyes blazing. "As powerful as you!"
Solus had heard her say the same thing before, and just like those times, he felt fear. Fear of what she would say now.
"But as before, the Kaots came… first a few, then many. At first, the inhabitants of Bastion harvested the orbs, using them to make even more powerful undead, but as the Kaots numbers grew, nobody could leave the city to take the orbs. Watching from the walls showed only a sea of Kaots, a sprawling mass of movement, as far as the eye could see. They fought amongst each other and grew stronger as they did. Then came the time that the Kaot Lords arrived. They roamed around the city, attacking its walls, trying to find a weak spot. A group of them finally did and broke through."
Tirella sounded sad, a far-off look in her eyes.
"As I said, I didn't know much back then, just that many of the undead of the city had helped me and they seemed to care for each other. Now they were ripped apart, ended for their orbs. The Kaots flowed into the city, destroying all in their path. I was lucky. Together with a small group of powerful and fast undead, I managed to scale one of the walls. Jagged, our leader, created enormous walls of bone to hold off the pursuers long enough for us to get through their ranks. He didn't make it."
Tirella looked down, seeming to remember something. She continued after a few moments.
"We that remained split up as soon as we made it out, and I remember running and running in the hopes of getting away. Eventually, I alone ran into the endless sands. The Kaots were everywhere, and it didn't take long for them to corner me. They came at me from all sides, and there was no place for me to flee… except through a rift."
Solus let out a breath, and he saw Sig look behind them, far in the distance to where Skulltown should be. He could guess what the other was thinking. If a great city like Bastion fell, how could Skulltown possibly hold out?
"And then you came here…" Tatjie said with a sigh, her orange eyes gleaming as she stared at Tirella. "I wish you could tell it again."
"No."
Tatjie sighed. "Too bad, I love hearing you tell that story."
Tirella smiled sadly here. "No, I mean that I didn't end up here."
"Wait. What?" Solus stopped and looking at her in confusion. "But you did come through the rift?"
Tirella laughed, looking at him with an intensity that worried him. Her gleaming black eyes showed a fuzzy reflection of himself while she smiled.
"After jumping through the rift, I arrived in another sunless world, but this one had no moons to provide light. It was dark, and all I could see was specs of weakly green-glowing sand blowing around, giving a slight illumination to the world. Rifts crowded the sky and a landscape ravaged by some major cataclysm. Besides the small clearing, deep crevices lacerated everything, creating a labyrinth all around me. A harsh wind blew around everything, and as I stood there, I saw Kaots move from many of the small entrances and cracks and jump through rifts. When a group ran toward me, I sprinted to another rift, smaller and away from the Kaots. Jumping through it, I landed on a rocky black outcrop beside an immense ravine. A large but dull red sun hung to the side, and all I could see were black mountains, jagged and sharp. There were no moons, just stars."
Solus shook his head, shocked at what he heard. "How many rifts did you cross before you came here?"
Tirella looked at him; her orange lips curved and eyes sparkling.
"More than I can remember. Most worlds had dozens of rifts close by, and if I saw too many Kaots, I would jump through another without waiting. Other worlds were just empty, aside from the rift I came through."
"You found no other cities or towns?" Sig asked, staring at her in shock.
Tirella opened her mouth, then sighed and shook her head. "None with undead. All I found were ruins, both ancient and more recent."
"Ruins from the ancients?" Solus asked.
"No, I have never seen anything like those. What I found were ruins similar to Bastion. Some built from bone, others from stone, and even a few build from a black, glossy material I don't know the name of."
"Say…why couldn't you speak when you came here? If you were with the undead in that big city, Bastion?" Derin asked. He had been quiet until now, watching Tirella intently.
Tirella walked forward, forcing the others to continue after her. "I couldn't speak any better when I was in Bastion. According to Jagged, some undead just couldn't speak properly. He said it depended on their drawings, what you call patterns."
"If you enter the same rift you exit, do you return to the same world?" Solus asked, not interested in why some undead couldn't talk. He was thinking about the undead Uran had tossed into the rift.
"Yes, but a rift directly beside might go to an entirely different world… That is, if you can find one."
The others looked at Tirella, who shrugged. "I've been to many worlds where no matter how far I wandered, I couldn't find another rift. I had to return through the rift I came from and con
tinue my journey from there."
The others continued asking questions about what the other worlds looked like, but Solus wasn't listening anymore. He increased his pace so he could walk in relative peace and quiet ahead of the group.
So many worlds… and all empty, he thought.
Fear laced with anger surged through him as he thought about the rifts that were popping up everywhere—First Silt and his aggression and now this?
Wait, why are there some worlds with only so few rifts?
He was about to turn to Tirella when he stopped himself. She probably didn't know. From what he had understood, she hadn't been that bright before. Taking a quick look at her, he wondered what the makeshift pattern he had made for her did. She had significant parts of his pattern, something Drys would marvel over. Most of the rest came from something called The Conjurer Initiate. In hindsight, he wondered how smart it was to give her such a powerful pattern. Tirella looked at him while talking with Derin, and her lips curled in a smile again. Solus frowned, turning his gaze back to the dusty wasteland.
Why does she keep smiling like that?
He shook his head, about to call Sig, when he noticed something on the horizon to the left. Where there was nothing at first, there was now a long, curved line. He had seen those things before. Usually, it meant there were mountains or large hills.
Staring at it, he felt the urge to investigate but pushed it down. He had more important things to do, like reaching Scathia and figuring out a way to stop those rifts. Trudging forward, he tried to ignore the constant prattling behind him.
They didn't stop this time, walking forward in the darkness. At first, the stars lit their way, but the light became weaker as they continued onward.
When Solus estimated it was the middle of the night, he saw a soft red glow on the horizon to the left, at the line of mountains. He stretched his senses, trying to pick up what was there, and he felt vibrations and irregular tremors.
"Sig, do you recall seeing that when you came through here last time?" Solus asked, his voice shattering the silence.
Sig followed his gaze, shaking his head, the hairs floating around airily.
"No, but we took a large detour to that Wyrm city, so we are now approaching Scathia's city from another angle..."
Solus nodded and continued onward, keeping an eye on the red-lit area.
The closer they got, the more intense the red light became, and even the others began to feel the tremors. Solus finally stopped when a single shock caused stones to bounce up and down. Staring at the now bright red glow, he frowned. What if there was an enormous rift there or some massive undead like the Crusdon? His concern warred with his desire to find Scathia and lost. Removing the stone pack from his back, he handed it to Sig.
"I am going to see what that is. Just keep going forward. I'll be back soon."
"Are you braindead? How are you going to find us?" Tatjie grumbled, glaring at him and interrupting Sig, who seemed about to say something.
"Remember how I found the Wyrms? Just keep stomping with those big flat feet of yours and I'll find you," Solus said, wondering how long she was going to stay mad at him.
Taking a look at Sig, he caught the Wraith frowning at him. He didn't seem to agree but held back his comment. Although he still followed Solus's lead, Solus had noticed that ever since evolving, Sig had started disagreeing more often. He didn't mind it much. Sig usually had unique insights to offer. He wondered if there would be one now.
"If you reach the city, and I have not returned, hide and wait for me," he said, staring at Sig intently.
Sig pursed his lips but just nodded, and Solus shrugged. No insights today.
"Don't worry. I can always just tunnel my way back below ground!"
Before anybody could comment, he turned around and marched toward the red glow, enlarging his steps until he was running. Soon he pounded across the wasteland, leaving a trail of craters and small stone outcrops in his wake.
As he sped toward the mountains, the glow intensified until it was a bright yellow, almost white in its center. From the rumbling and shaking coming from the earth all around, he was pretty sure it wasn't some massive creature.
Something new, perhaps? he thought, increasing his speed in the anticipation of discovery.
Even at his top speed, it took a long time until he got close enough to make out the individual mountains ahead. By then, the glow had changed to bright red lines running down the largest of the peaks, while a black cloud of acrid smoke billowed up from the top. Glowing red and orange embers floated beside it, slowly falling to the earth and fading as they did. The shaking was enough to make him stumble at times.
An image popped into his mind, along with a word.
"Volcano!" he rumbled as he slowed down to a walk.
There was a long stretch of open wasteland still between him and the mountain range that extended far to the east and west. They looked like giant crooked fingers. The sharp edges didn't match the image in his mind of gentle slopes toward flat peaks.
Continue onward or head back? Although he had an image and name, he had no idea what volcanoes were or if they were dangerous.
After hesitating for a while longer, he moved forward, speeding up until he was zooming along once more. Now that he was here, it would be better to make sure nothing bad was happening. The air he breathed took on a sharp, tangy quality. Feeling his throat start to hurt, he stopped breathing. As he didn't actually need the air, it was better not to take any risks. He only really needed it for his roar skill anyway—that and because it felt good.
The closer he got, the more the ground shook, and he wondered why the mountain didn't crack apart. From what he could sense, the ground below the volcano was under immense stress, and any attempts at manipulating the stone below him were met with tremendous resistance. He stopped again on a hill, feeling small hot particles strike his skin. A thick column of black smoke surged up from the largest peak, the red glow creating dancing shadows in the billowing smog.
In front of him was a thin red stream of slowly moving goo. Lava, he knew, and with that came the knowledge that it was molten rock. Rock! Curious, he stretched out his senses, feeling the chaotic, quick-moving energy inside the molten rock. Unlike most solid rock, it wasn't very pure. There were lots of metal and other contaminants inside that he had minimal influence over. Unlike solid rock, however, he could clearly feel the distinction between rock and other things. Trying to shape the rock, a glowing red stone hand rose from the lava. The action caused his energy to drain so fast he could barely stop himself when he realized what was happening. Without his will forcing it to stay together, the glowing hand oozed back into the stream while a series of pings came from his status.
Taking a quick look, he saw no changes. Perhaps something is wrong with it, after all? he thought as he quickly closed the status window.
Gauging his energy, he realized he could probably create four lava hands before his entire mana-field would be depleted. A small outcrop at the mountain's foot seemed close enough, and he decided to see what was beyond it before turning back. It took him a few jumps to reach the outcrop, which had a clear view of a small lava river that ran through a gully.
More lava oozed from the top of the volcano that was still rumbling. It was a thick stream that flowed downhill and would intersect with the larger lava river below the mountain. Thin plumes of smoke swirled up from the smaller peaks and from within cracks in the mountains' sides. A sense of building pressure emanated from the whole area.
It's dangerous, Solus realized. He hadn't felt it as clear before, but there was no mistaking it now. He had the feeling that the whole place could explode at any moment.
Something bright moved in the corner of his eye, and he leaped backward. An orange ball of crackling energy shot through the air in front of him. Turning to the side, he saw a group of three black beings glaring at him with burning red eyes. Leaning with their long and thick arms on the ground, they had two black, cu
rved, and cracked horns running down the sides of their heads. More of the crack-lines ran across their faces and arms, orange light glowing from within. There was no nose or mouth below their oddly square eyes, but a multi-voiced whisper came from all around, hissing in Solus's ears.
"Leave. Ours!"
The beings raised their hands, crackling balls of orange energy forming atop their four-digit paws. An aura of malevolence emanated from them.
Solus slowly backed up. There was too much danger here already to risk a potential attack from these strange volcanic beings. Quickening his backward retreat, he was about to turn and run when something struck him in the back. Pain, bright and flashing, made him roar in anger. The burning particles in the air rushed away from him, and a loud groan came from behind.
He turned around and saw another two of the black beings emerge from a lava stream, with a third lying on its back a short distance away. It seemed stunned and was probably the one his roar had hit. Lava was flowing steadily from dozens of cracks in the ground that hadn't been there moments ago, and the thin stream behind him had grown into a large lake of molten rock that oozed down.
As he spread his senses outward, Solus could barely make out the tremors of heavy feet coming toward him through the constant shaking of the earth. Before he could dodge, more projectiles started hammering into his back, the pain growing to excruciating levels. Howling in agony, he jumped as high and as far away as he could.
Spinning in the air, looking for a place to flee, he was greeted by a dozen more of the blazing projectiles flying his way. Below, more and more of the jet-black beings clambered up out of the ever-growing pools and streams of lava.
Need to get out of here, Solus thought. The pain in his back didn't diminish. Instead, it grew more intense, and with it, his anger grew more intense.
Landing on the ground, precariously close to a lava stream, he shaped the rock below him, raising a circular pillar with him in the middle. The heated rock was difficult to control, and his mana levels plummeted, but the pillar rose a dozen yards up into the air. Without looking, he rummaged in this belt container, taking out a wyrm orb. The tower shook and rumbled, and he felt the stone crack as a barrage of energy balls struck the sides of the pillar.