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Chapter 53 - Repudiation

Thrall gritted his teeth in anguish, as he tightened his grasp on the flaming sword in his hand; summoning every angstrom of strength in his legs to stand under the herculean pressure forcing against his wings, and threatening to wrench him bodily out of the path of that apocalyptic landmass. He buckled his knees under the impossibly titanic forces exerted from his peculiar status of flying in direct opposition to a falling meteor—the likes of which would make the pressure necessary to form a carbon lattice into a diamond look like child's play—and still managed to climb to his feet despite it all.

He raised the blade overhead, and only then did he allow the pressure against his back to affect him; using that incredible momentum to thrust the artifact mightily into the platform of stone underfoot. Given the force of a hurricane gale against his back, and the pressure of the asteroid's terminal velocity in front of him, it was almost a foregone conclusion to see that weapon disappear within the swath of rock before him, up to the very hilt.

"Finally...!" He sighed, bathing inexorably in temperatures great enough to turn iron into molten slag. "I have enough of a handhold to really let loose!" and without a moment's notice, his black eyes began to glow with a power that had gone unnoticed in nearly six-thousand years of existence. There was no time to summon words. He only had his own natural skills to rely on, so he cried with a fiery voice that trembled the heavens, and rent deep fissures into the breadth of the celestial body that was his target.

The entire surface grew dark with a series of deep cavernous cracks that greatly increased the surface area of the object, and like a parachute it slowly began to decelerate. It wasn't by much, but it was enough to allow Xantheaa to finally catch up.

A glowing form rocketed into his vision to the east, followed by a violent band of fractured space which was torn free within her wake. She dove to join him in the path of the falling star, and screeched at him, "What the hell are you doing?!" before being caught in the exhaust summoned by his wings like the thrust cone of a decelerating rocket, which whisked her away like a leaf in the path of a tornado.

He scowled, thinking it rather obvious what he was trying to do. He was too focused on the task at hand, to even think of talking to her, so he simply cried again, with a terrible voluminous crack replying through the surface of weathering crag in anguish for the tremendous wound inflicted upon it.

But she was loved by the very breath he was summoning to force back against the falling body, and soon regained her standing in the middle of the air. Then, dodging the oncoming rush of winds that rocketed from his six great wings, she returned to his side, and again summoned Ruach in a volume that could only be described as divine. All the atmospheric pressure in Egypt lowered by nearly half a bar, as all the winds answered her anxious call.

Winds rushed overhead and gathered in a spot beneath them so eagerly that a massive thunderstorm condensed in the sky beneath them and the encroaching stone, for all the moisture within the dry arid waste was readily condensed in such a small space before piercing through the atmosphere, and slamming powerfully into the canyons Thrall had so thoughtfully prepared beforehand, as a foothold for her great miraculous feat of atmokinesis. The great invisible arms of Ruach then eagerly wrapped themselves against the entire surface of the falling object, igniting its surface with an intensity that drew its former radiance to an abject shame, as the friction increased to unimaginable levels.

Still, this was not enough to slow its procession toward the ground, she found, as it crushed her body against its encroaching face with its unbelievable velocity. The winds curled around her ankles like footholds to keep her from flying off into the sky again, but it could do little to diminish her discomfort as it continued to accelerate toward the ground, due to the force of gravity. It was only a matter of time until it slammed into the golden earth a few fathoms away, now. With their powers drawn so thin, it wouldn't be a question of how they survived, it would be how many atoms would be left in contact after the explosion. She could only hope Thrall had a good reason for risking everything like this—and resolve that if he was to perish in a severe lapse of judgement today, at least it would not be all by his lonesome.

Fortunately, he did have a plan. As if on cue, the mass slowly fettered away beyond the narrow field of view that they could register from their vantage point on its southernmost tip. He smiled widely once he realized it was all over, and finally released the breath that he had been holding to sustain such a long, tortuous note. Xantheaa looked at his expression quizzically, for she couldn't notice anything different except the encroaching distance to the ground as it rapidly approached. Confusing his smile of relief with one of resignation, she reached over and clutched at his ankle with an outstretched talon; as that was the only form of comfort she could manage; being stuck to the ground as she was.

It was to serve as an encouragement, that they would not be departed so soon. She wanted him to know how little she regretted that sort of ending, as long as they were together, and that there was still a chance that they may emerge whole, on the other side! She wanted him to know that he had already saved her life once—no, seven times!—and this was a small sacrifice to the balance of that debt. His face registered an alarming expression, nevertheless. It was an impression of complete remuneration, as he wasn't ready to die, of course.

No, He knew that Ma'at had both the will and the power to remove this hex; no matter what form of wordplay was used to create it. She was the great Judge of Egypt, and her was could overwhelm the willpower of any she deemed unfit. Ghurab 'Aswad was a newly formed sorcerer, and would not oppose so mighty an incarnation as herself without great training. The hex would be undone. They only had to delay it until the time came.

From atop their skyloft spire, Ma'at narrowed her eyes as she forced more energy into her quail-headed was. It wasn't enough to simply reduce the mass of the retreating object by thirty, fifty, nor even eighty percent. She would be satisfied by nothing less than complete atomization. It was a race between gravity and the power of the crow's willpower.

Sure, she could leap down there, and smash the thing to bits with her own might, but the shrapnel from such a collision would leave such collateral damage that the entire idea would only be used as a last resort if at all necessary. 'Aswad strolled obliquely as he focused his gleaming yellowed eyes on diminishing that great retreating fireball.

Each fleck of matter wicked off its massive brunt was drawn away with much care and focus through his proclamation of the former refrain. He didn't know how, he didn't know when, and he definitely didn't know why, but he felt suddenly inspired to make this take place like it was everything he had desired through his entire life. It dwarfed even the calling of stopping that damned spider, which didn't make sense, but he didn't have time to think too hard about it. All he had time for was forcing his new set of values upon that rock as it worked its way through the atmosphere.

Of all the things he had ever desired in his life, this was the most unquestionably natural desire of all. He had to get rid of that meteor! The creature who had spoken the attack into existence was, for all intents and purposes, a different animal. He had nothing in common with that figure. How could he have ever wanted something so unjust to take place?

The seconds ticked by like hours, and eventually it got to the point where the flakes that had so blissfully blown away into the atmosphere like the tail of a comet had drained away enough matter from its body that its form—a reddened, glowing, molten lake in the middle of the sky—finally slowed to a complete stop. Xantheaa, finally noticing the difference in her momentum, slowly relaxed her hold on the Ruach over Cairo. The winds calmed their rapidity, and cooled the lava back into its regular state of solid stone, before meeting the effects of the crow's counter spell. Before long, Thrall's sword was completely exhumed.