I notice members of a panicked audience watching a pair of shooting stars collide. They collide again and again and again.
I avoid joining the audience clustered between the buildings of the town and take a detour around obstacles, which may have proved to be a mistake.
Through the clouds above rush waves of magenta and honey, and an aura of destruction ensues.
The blend of their blinding colour distracts my navigation and I drop to my knee.
The villagers share an equal distraction in their hurry toward safety. The collapse of buildings and shifting terrain doesn't help.
The vault is designed for storms. One as powerful as this? What's the comparison?
As the wind is knocked out of me, I can't help but stare helplessly at my failing against this ambush from the world itself.
A small group of mages hurry outside to protect the people from the hazardous environment, setting up magical barricades above to ensure safety. In addition, the knights on-hand rush to help those in need.
Species of all kinds had to work through this one together. Elves and Dwarves - even greedy goblin merchants and otherwise selfish residents were assisting the helpless.
However, those such as Gnomes cared only for themselves. They hustled their way to protection - careless of anything in their path.
The mayor of the town, a Satyr, kneels near the haven with his familiar - a type of oversized bear. He casts magic similar to the barricades of solid air, and it circles the shelter in a whirlwind, breaking before the entrance.
Sprouts spawn at the corners of the dome and branches swim through the swirling air, providing additional support to the structure of their shields as well as forming a guard over the sanctuary.
However, the onslaught was too powerful for the most powerful in the village.
Lightning shatters the barricades cast and buildings crumble due to earthquakes. A cyclone begins to emerge from the Lake of Healing, the waves clash against each other until reaching monstrous heights - spiralling upward slowly but surely.
Pure panic.
I focus my eyes on the dimming light of the two stars that had taken their battle back above the clouds.
The star of red resembled a figure sitting atop a red cloud. It seems to be something of a warrior - with armour covering half of its body and chains hanging down from the cloud it sat upon.
The other of gold seemed to be something of a magician - appearing with the head of a giant sphere atop a formless body within a loose fleece as it flew above.
A massive crater is forced into the ground just outside of the village - which is shortly followed by a heavy shock-wave pulling many to the skies.
The dread of the community continues to carry them toward hope within the emergency vault. Some were fleeing, scattering around to get away from it all, and some stand frozen.
A towering figure of rose emerges from the crater, finally standing as his cloud gathers its form once more.
The warrior donned with an eagle-like helmet crested tufts of hair in three lines from the back of the head to the forefront.
Equipped with its half-bodied armour parting diagonally from one thick shoulderpiece. A band of cloth where the armour crosses to skin and presents a more monkey-like form.
The blood and scars earned from this battle are tended to with its tail, and the cloud completes itself at its arm - providing a shield.
A much more confident figure hovers above, levitating with a proud stature while squiggles of light emit from its radiating body.
Mars, the god of war stands off against Ra, god of the sun.
The Titans spend time eyeing each other.
Mars bends his knees to a crouch and, in a sudden movement, leaps valiantly toward Ra - leaving pits in the ground below.
The overhead celestial allows him to make his attempt before spitting a weight of pellets from the centre of its face, which I notice is an eye reminiscent of altars in some churches.
As if from the sun itself, the pellets leave dents in the world and cause mass explosions on impact, sending its opponent back to the ground.
Mars regains composure rather quickly and uses his cloud as a shield, similar to the magicians of our village.
The two run around, causing constant death and quaking. The village is torn to pieces during this titanic battle, and many perish in the crossfire.
While tragedy engulfs the land, it's fortunate I sight a caravan still near the entrance to the village. With nobody around it, I can assume safely that Keita was united with his friend from out of town.
Looking back toward the vault, I see people clawing their way inside and villagers attempting to shut them out - an occasional soul attempting to help in any way.
I continued rushing, frantically scaling the morphing land around him, attempting to avoid the battle shattering his world.
In the corner of my eye, across the lake, I notice smaller stars heading away from this battle as well.
A rough shaking returns my attention to the present, and with a rush of adrenaline, I make my way over the many hurdles that lay before me.
As I'm nearing safety, Mars is thrown into the ground nearby. The immediate shock of the ground causes me to buckle downward, while the air forced from underneath him rushes my way. It throws me into the air.
My energy is drained. I can't do much else. I can only shut my eyes and accept death. But for the first time in a while, I force myself to keep them open.
As I struggle into a squint, I notice the star of honey blast Mars my way, with a point-blank burst of magma. I can only feel the immense heat of whatever that attack was. My vision fades to black as the deity's body is thrown into mine.
I feel myself thrown far from my desired destination.
I'm dead. I feel myself fading.
Quickly, Mars pulls off his shield and throws it around Ra. The cloud stretches to its limits and provides a large screen to remove Ra from our vision, and, ultimately, remove ours from Ra.
While the two of us flew across the air unseen, Mars accepts his offer to escape.
He pulls a mystical orb from his pouch and tosses it to the side. Mars is transformed into a similar-looking orb but is wholly absorbed into me with great haste - so much so that it alters my trajectory and sends me directly downward.
I'm sent spinning downward, I can notice Ra rushing to the orb Mars had thrown. Ra holds the orb between his index and thumb before dissolving it into a fine powder with a squish.
I grow cold.
Nothing could answer my confused swarm of questions. Not that it matters.
I think back to what I'd done in my life. I think back to what I'd done with my life.
What a waste.
Author's Notes |
~ Glossary ~
Goblin: a grotesque and ugly person of a dirty greenish colour, likely to become a merchant that will charge ridiculous prices and still have you paying for it. They are very clever and cunning, but not necessarily evil. (plural: Goblins) [French]
Mage: a noble magician, that fights for kingdom or clan. (plural: Mages) [Latin]
Knight: a noble warrior, that fights for kingdom or clan. (plural: Knights) [French]
Elf: typically represented as a tall but delicate, elusive figure in human form with pointed ears, magical powers, and a capricious nature. (plural: Elves) [Norse]
Dwarf: a short, stocky person who is generally skilled in mining and metalworking. (plural: Dwarves) [German]
Nymph: a spirit of nature imagined as a beautiful maiden inhabiting rivers, woods, or other locations. (plural: Nymphs) [Greek]
Satyr: a person with a goat's ears, tail, legs, and horns. (plural: Satyrs) [Greek/Roman]
Gnome: a small, ugly person that only cares for themself. A person beyond selfish that hoards treasure underground. They are often at war with Leprechauns. (plural: Gnomes) [Latin]
Shoulderpiece: a piece of armour at the shoulder. (If chestplate is one word, shoulderpiece is a word.)
~ Happenings ~
Jun refers to one deity as Mars, the god of war.
The orb and why Ra ended his rampage after crushing the marble to a powder.
How did Jun survive the storm even before a deity mixed with his soul?
~ Characters ~
Phistas: a Satyr built as big and tough as a bear, with vines as tough as concrete. The oracle of Kistern is often found with his familiar.