Aténn sank gently from the sky like a feather. His wings, which shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow, let him touch the ground lightly.
He wore a long, shimmering cloak, which was fastened to his loosely robe on the shoulders under the heavy metal plates that protected the clavicle and shoulders and part of the upper arm. Above the red robe, he wore a shiny silver armor on the upper body, which was decorated with arcane runes all over. At his side hung a thin, longsword made of the same material as the breastplate. The hilt was wrapped in gold wire. Aténns face was invisible below the red hood of his robe. He had pulled it deep down into his face. He looked around, although he did not have to look around because he could see, smell, hear and see everything in a wide area around him, even without turning his head in the direction, even without opening his eyes at all. His head turned slightly to the left. There they were. He felt their fear. Good. They would not resist for long. He hated slaughtering the locals who fight against him out of misunderstanding. Aténn felt the great heat around himself. When he sank to the surface of Erania, he saw that several red eyes had already formed. Huge craters from which magma erupted, flooding the world around, burning and burying everything under it wherever it went. He had seen this several times in the past. He was annoyed about it every time. Janun and Shora had not looked after their realm very well. Like many of their kind, they had simply enjoyed their status and absorbed the reverence that the Eranians had given them.
But it was their duty to watch over Erania. They should have prevented this chaos from happening. This was a world on the brink of power and it was not only possible or even probable, but inevitable that such worlds would break apart at some point if this development was not countered. He sighed in his mind and thought: "Well then, let it begin." With supernatural speed, he moved to the group of beings that were slightly northeast of his position. Obviously Janun and Shora had already prepared their followers for their world to be "haunted" soon. Such irresponsible leaders throw those, who should be protected by them, into a hopeless struggle, even when their inability to face their fate became apparent.
Aténn's path led him across a largely burned field. Brown and yellow ears tentatively stretched up to the sky and the ground was covered here and there with lava that had already cooled. Black clouds moved across the sky and the horizon was bathed in a dark red. "This world is truly on the brink," thought Aténn and quickly came to meet the light deciduous forest. This must once have been a huge forest. There were charred stumps everywhere, branches, ashes of burnt brushwood and bushes. They were waiting for him between the trees. He increased the pace and felt the growing tenacity of the crowd with a blink of an eye, he grasped the physiology of the beings. They were feline, cat-like, with short noses, slanted cat eyes, more or less covered with thick fur, from white to all shades of brown to black. Their paws were delicate. The various weapons they carried with them, showed that they were good at using tools. Their legs were powerful. Aténn entered the beings' thoughts and felt their fear growing with every meter he approached. He learned their language, understood their culture and religion and saw what drove them and made them afraid. They called themselves Azash. Their life consisted of hunting, work, fighting and their families. They lived in small groups of 3 or 4 families and only exploited their world as much as necessary. Honour was a central principle of masculinity, but they almost never killed each other. Weakness was not a blemish, just a lack of training and was not punished with dishonour but encouraged to improve one's skills. Aténn was amazed at this sophisticated understanding of honour. He began to show respect for these beings and decided to make them suffer as little as possible. He had already decided that he would prefer the Azash over the Pluton. They were more suitable to lead than the dumb fish people who were only interested in food and reproduction.
One of the felines came before the others. He carried a 2.50m spear with tips on both sides. In his mind Aténn read that his name was Mirmir. Although Mirmir was expecting his death from this winged two-meter figure approaching at the speed of the wind, he was not afraid. With a thundering voice that could be heard for miles, Aténn began to speak: "People of the Azash, you are damned. Janun and Shora do not protect you. You are homeless. Your world is burning! The liquid fire will soon have consumed all forests, all game will be killed and the last Azash will be driven up to the highest bare mountains. They have let you down! I'm here ... to relieve you of your suffering. "
With these words he drew his sword and held it upright in the sky. A red ray shot out of the sky, struck the sword, and shrouded it in dark red flashes. Then Aténn turned to Mirmir. A hot gust of wind swept the hood of his coat back, revealing the ivory white face and sparkling blue pupil-free eyes that sparked little white flames. He took up a fighting stance and stared at Mirmir steadily: "Come on!", and not a second later the athletic cat-man jumped towards him. During his tremendous leaps, he tore the double-pointed spear from his back, changed the weapons hold several times as he stormed up to Aténn and attacked with a powerful thrust. Aténn whirled around its own axis and parried the blow with the sword. More strikes came down on Aténn, but he fought them off easily, without taking a step back. Then, as he slid a blow from above against his head on the blade, he took a quick pounding step forward and his shoulder crashed into the unprotected left side of the cat's champion. Mirmir was thrown 3 meters backwards by the force of this attack. He rolled over backwards and got out of the fall with a flowing movement. For a fraction of a second there was surprise in the spearman's eyes and for a few seconds the two were only 6 meters apart and looked at each other. Aténn felt the fear of the rest of the Azash had increased. Some of them began to recite silent prayers and others only stared at Aténn with wide eyes and muttered 'Droigi'. In the Azash language this meant demon and Aténn sighed in his mind. This was not the first time that he was called like that, and how could he blame the ordinary mortal. Their gods let them call everything that did not belong to their own followers a demon. Again Mirmir swept up with great agility and Aténn shoved his sword into its scabbard with one movement and rushed towards Mirmir. He fought off the spear's attacks with his hands and increased the speed of his own strikes. Soon Mirmir could no longer ward off the attacks with his spear and Aténn pushed so close to him that Mirmir had to concentrate fully to fend off Aténn. He further increased the speed of his attacks, combined punches with kicks and became more and more acrobatic by combining jumps and deep attacks on Mirmir's legs. The cat struggled and avoided it, turned around and jumped up. Mirmir was not considering attacking at the moment, he noticed how his strength was waning after a few hits and the demonic figure seemed to know no fatigue. It´s strength was enormous. The fists pounded like the worst maces he had ever been hit with. His courage sank as he dodged in a trance and accepted himself to the fact that he would die soon.
​Around the two formidable fighters, smoke shot from cracks in the earth and a formidable rumble in the depths of this tortured world heralded an impending lava eruption. Not far away a colossal tree that was charring, collapsed near the stump with a loud crash. Dark swaths moved across the sky and it started to rain. Heavy dark drops fell to the ground and the Azashes who watched the fight with the fear of death held umbrellas made of woven leaves or linen fabric over them, which were already greasy black from the soot-drenched rain of the past few weeks.
​Aténn ended a wild combination of multiple punches finished by a powerful jump kick against Mirmir's chest. While landing on the ground, he reached towards the destroyed tree and made a sweeping hand gesture towards Mirmir, whereupon the glowing 14-meter-long tree trunk, spinning around like a windmill just before the storm, propelled at Mirmir. The exhausted warrior ducked under the tree by a hair's breadth, but when he crouched, the ground began to sag under him. Startled, Mirmir leapt into the air. At the same moment Aténn poked his hand in the air and Mirmir was hit by a devastating blow, flew back seven meters and crashed heavily against a tree. He tried to get up. Three of his ribs were broken, he was bleeding from his nose and his fingers were trembling with effort and pain. It was difficult for him to breathe. His field of vision narrowed more and more, he felt the strength leave him completely and slumped to the ground with a groan.
The Azash stood there as if struck by lightning and stared down at their champion. He had been unbeaten for 6 years. A great master of Atuhl-Kaaz, spear fighting in combination with punch and kick techniques, a philosopher and sage, a great healer among his family. Everyone had admired him and even if he was challenged again and again, everyone had always had great respect for him. He was the master. An azash with black fur and particularly bright green eyes sobbed towards him and leaned over him. Aténn's voice thundered through the grove of tree ruins: "He lives, and you shall live too, I ..."
But before he could speak, a silver crack in the air appeared. It seemed like a slowly spread crack in an infinitely large mirror. It widened with a clinking sound that obviously caused great pain to the Azash, because they all fell to the ground and held their paws to their ears, pounding their heads on the floor and shouting: "Zuikzi, Zuikzi, Zuikziiiiiiiii! " And out of the crack gracefully stepped a 3 meter tall feline man in silver armor, armed with a bow and sword. Behind him followed a second figure, in long flowing robes, made of fabrics shimmering in all shades of blue. Her head was covered with a jade green crown and she was followed by the roar of the sea. She had the shapeless face of a fish and plate-sized eyes that dominated the entire head. In her hand she held a horn from which water was flowing out.
​Aténn, had to smile inside about this skillfully impressive performance by Janun and Shora. Janun strode between Aténn and the Azash. Aténn felt the felines regain courage. Their gods had heard their prayers. This time, yes, to destroy the supposed demon. The Azash did not understand that theÃr gods let the whole world and all life go down. How could they?
​Janun spoke. "Do not be afraid, you of the Azash people. We have noticed the intrusion of this devil and will not allow him to harm you. We are here to protect you as we have been doing for eons. You have sprung from our love and your fate is not indifferent to us. As strong as your belief in us and your reverence is, so mighty our protection for you will be. And you ", so he turned to Aténn" Demon - lift yourself away to hell, from which you crawled out. You will not haunt our people with your evil spirit and your poisoned thoughts. Turn back to your master and tell him that these beings are under our protection. This is the world of the holy twins of water and wind and we have stopped you. " With the last words, Janun drew his sword and pointed it towards Aténn. Shora had stood there silently all the time. Aténn knew that in order to really liberate the Azash people, it was not enough to kill the gods, but he also had to show clearly that their powers were far inferior to his own. He could not grant a quick death, even if the world screamed for rescue with every breath and the damage increased. With a jump Aténn rose five meters into the air, a roaring approached from all sides and hurricanes quickly approached this bizarre dawn of the gods.
Thunder rumbled and lightning struck Aténn and his voice, which sounded from 1,000 different pitches at the same time, echoed over the world that even the Pluton, 3000 km away, could hear him. He drew his sword and pointed to Janun: "You, both of you, have caused Erania doom by your inactivity. You have sunbathed yourself in honor of these noble and unsuspecting beings. You used your power to maintain your status, enjoyed the nectar of their faith, surrounded yourself with beautiful things, rode on the wind and swam with the whales like careless princes and princesses who do not know the responsibility of their status. You have condemned these beings to doom. You have caused Erania to be torn to pieces. This wonderful peaceful world was given to you, free from darkness and evil and you only played with it like a ball that finally fell on a rusty nail and burst." Lightning flashed in Aténn's eyes and he saw that the two were trying to control the elemental forces, but they disobeyed them. Aténn held all power in his hands. "And now," he said, his voice rumbling as deep as the ocean and as high as the screeching of fingernails on a board surface, "now everything will be taken from you. Your time is up. You have failed. The power of faith has been taken from you. Heaven and earth no longer obey you.
"Cayero de Arende de tanos di otoiyas
nunuuni asita wur kerop anto di ternoy"
"Given to protect, tarnished by failure is taken eternal power, pushed down into the dark oblivion."
With these words Aténn darted down from heaven towards Janun.
"Your arm is weak!" and Janun's bow dropped to the ground.
"Your eyes are blind!" and Janun's eyelids grew together and he cried out in anger.
"Your mouth is closed!", and Janun's lips grew together so that no sound left them.
"Your heart is broken! ", and Janun trembled to his knees.
"And destroyed are your dreams forever!"
With these last words, Aténn landed over Janun, thrusting his sword deep into the earth through his back and turning it over. Shora looked at Aténn with fear of death but she did not move a bit. He sensed that she had always been guided by Janun. She was not a leader. She had taken care of the pluton because Janun led the Azash and the pluton did not yet have a patron god. Aténn looked at her:
"You are not directly to blame for this misery and yet you have also done nothing. Your inaction is also to blame for the end of this world. I will kill you graciously and painlessly."
With that he shot like an arrow at Schora, stopped abruptly in front of her and pressed his hand to her chest. Shora raised both hands in the air. The cornucopia of eternal water fell to the ground and her mouth opened in a silent scream as she froze like an ice statue. Wiggling bluish energy from Aténn's hand flow over her body, melting it like an ice statue placed on a melting furnace. The world held its breath. The hurricanes roared on the spot within half a kilometre and there was no sound. No thunder could be heard, and the lightning flashed silently back and forth in the sky. The Azash also held their breath. Aténn exhaled. It was done and, as he had thought and feared, Janun and Shora had been weak and haughty. Now the hardest part of the work was yet to come, but that wasn't his job. Aténn turned to the Azash and noticed that Mirmir had straightened up. Nuni, his wife was holding his arm. Aténn walked towards the Azash who were still frozen and couldn't believe what they had seen. Her spirits refused to accept what had happened. Janun had been killed by this Droigi. He hadn't even tried to fight back or had been prevented from doing so in any way. Its shape was already beginning to fade. What would happen next? What would the Droigi do to them? Was it today, the day that heralds the end of all days and about which the old prophecies had been speaking of? How could an immortal find death? And what did these strange words mean that this powerful spirit had said? These and another 100 questions shot through the mind of the completely confused, demoralized and intimidated Azash. Aténn walked towards them until he was only a few meters away. Then he spoke to them in a friendly, slightly meowing, melodious voice: "People of the Azash - listen to me! I am Aténn KeTahr. I am a keeper and I have come to save you and all of Erania from certain destruction. Your world is burning! Your gods have let you down and were inactive where they should have acted. I will save Erania. I will prevent the downfall of your world. You will never serve cowardly gods again and throw yourself in the dust in front of them. Your suffering has ended through me. Watch!" With a wiping hand movement, he made the storms disappear and the black clouds disappeared too. The sun shone brightly and friendly down on the countryside. "I will heal your world, your forests, animals and water will return. You will be able to hunt, live and love and only your own laws will guide you." Aténn made a lifting hand gesture and the grass drilled through the sooty ground and the ashes disintegrated into its mineral components so that nothing was left of it.
With their mouths open, the Azash saw how nature around them recovered in no time. Aténn had returned all the gods' energy to the planet. The Azash fell on their knees and bowed to him continuously and raised their voices and meowed "Praise be Aténn KeTahr. His hand freed us. His strong arm saved our world. Aténn KeTahr, Aténn KeTahr, Aténn KeTahr .... .. "
"Hear me, proud Azash people. I am not your God. And I will not guide you. I will not answer your prayers. You are responsible for your own destiny. I will ensure that this world does not break apart again." Then his eyes turned to Mirmir, who was watching him as fascinated as his families. In his mind Aténn asked him: "How important is this woman to you?" Amazed but without hesitation Mirmir replied: "She is the most valuable in my life." "Then she shall accompany you."
And so a mist rose from the ground around the Azash and everywhere on the planet and all beings, big and small, fell into a deep sleep. But Mirmir was not sleeping. Aténn reached for him and Mirmir took hold of his hand in the thick fog. His body was flooded with an unprecedented force and all his wounds healed immediately, his bones moved into the right place and his strength returned. Aténn smiled kindly at Mirmir: "Take your wife." and nodded in their direction. Mirmir leaned down and lifted his sleeping wife onto his fully strengthened arms. "You come with me and I will teach you to lead." With these words, Aténn and Mirmir rose into the air.
And the dryads emerged from the shadows and went to work. They healed trees, let new one's sprout, fertilized the animals and the land, cleaned the water, pushed the land and mountains back and forth and filtered the soot from the air. They let the lava cool down, closed the cracks in the earth, cleared the ash mountains, made forests and meadows grow, birds flew, and wolves roamed through the undergrowth. But Aténn KeTahr, Mirmir and Nuni left Erania for a daunting task.