Eternal Beasts

Tammen Gall

Jared paused in his scanning a number of hours into their flight to lean back slightly and rub at his eyes, both of which, strangely, were tired. How a ball of magical gold could be tired, he didn't know. Still ...

Abruptly the sound of a gong within his mind pulled him sharply back into the situation. Just in time for his senses to be suddenly assaulted by a multitude of sights and sounds. The big man came erect in the saddle just as Samantha flew through a low cloud of foul-smelling fumes, forcing the magic in his hood to work hard to filter the fumes out or run the risk of having them burn his face and eyes. Then they were through and Jared leaned over to see if he could catch a glimpse of a roaring sound that, with every wingbeat forward, grew louder to fill the background all around them.

There, a massive river rushing through a deep gorge. As Jared followed its path with his eyes, the gorge cut sharply to the left before abruptly disappearing as if swallowed by the earth itself. There, at the point it plummeted out of sight, the river threw up a massive cloud of mist as the river raged around the corner, plowing into the sides before tumbling into oblivious.

There was something about that that tickled Jared's memory. Something he remembered reading about in the book, about unique rivers of Corlest. Then it hit him like a runaway locomotive.

Below him raged none other than the River Synn, the greatest torrent of water in the northeastern territories. It marked the southern borders of the lands the Harbingers had claimed over ten millennia ago as their homeland, lending its name to it: Synnland. Appropriate, all things considered.

That was when, as he focused his golden left eye to penetrate through the mists and clouds of fumes, he saw the massive encampment on the river's northern bank. Jared's face immediately tightened as he noted the size and strength of the camp, sprawling like some sort of grotesque creature across the blasted landscape long the banks of the river.

The Legions of the Harbingers, ready to begin their crossing of the Synn and their assault on the scattered territories of the races of Light. It was their traditional muster point, according to the book. Which made the gorge the Synn was churning through, Land Breaker. And that meant ...

Jared peered intently up river, tearing his eyes away from the bloated strength of the Legions to do so. Yup, there it was.

It was a black cone that loomed above the fog-shrouded lands at its feet, its obsidian slopes covered with a coarse lave sand along with the occasional vent that spouted strange colored fumes and vapors, some of them rising to make up the fume clouds dominating the territory around it. And seeing it, immediately tightened Jared's expression. Because they had finally arrived where it would all begin.

Tammen Gall. It was the ancient volcanic seat of government for the dark kingdom of the Harbingers, the masters of Darkness. Here, the forces of Light had been summoned now three times to hear the forces of Darkness declare war against the universe. It was a place where so much misery, death, and suffering had started. Because of that, he could feel the ill intent the place oozed with even from the height they flew at, as they circled the massive volcano.

It was hard to comprehend even the size of the place. It was as if a large ball had been dropped from the heavens to fall into the ground, creating the perfectly circular cone, its black sides rising from the ground with astonishing abruptness to climb several hundred meters to the peak, the land all around it polluted and dying, the fumes rising from its many vents to choke the life from the very ground.

That, of course, made it the perfect spot for the seat of a government belonging to perhaps the most wicked collection of creatures ever assembled on Ethaeron. Intent on yet again sending forth their legions in an attempt to snuff out the Light and let Darkness reign supreme, the Harbingers summoned the remaining races of Light here to make their declaration of war against them.

Again the gong sounded, pulling Jared's attention down into the darkness within the cone. With a silent request to descend sent across the bond, Jared urged Samantha to circle lower. But, instead of immediately dropping into the darkness, she slowed to focus her own powerful senses down into the depths.

- I sense many creatures of powerful evil down there, my Jared, - she tightly warned. - Are you sure you want to go down there? -

- Not particularly, - he answered rather honestly. - Nor do I wish to be ripped apart by primal forces. -

Hissing with her own determination, Samantha turned on her side and began to wheel down into the darkness, keeping all of her senses alert for danger. As did Jared, using his left eye to scan through the darkness, wary of ambushes. Because, if such a thing was going to happen, it would be in this foul place.

As they descended, the two had to pass through several more noxious clouds before they even reached the rim, Jared's hood working extra hard to keep his air breathable. Then, with the abruptness of a sword slash, they were in the dark interior, filled with sulphuric stench and malevolent evil.

As the rim of the volcano cut off the pale sunlight, Jared found it being replaced by a dim red glow. Looking down with a frown, he felt his insides knot at the sight he now beheld. Which appeared as if someone had covered the entire floor of the vast chamber below, just inside the cone, with blood. Blood that was rippling with corrupted fire.

The glare and heat rising from this seething maelstrom was enough for Jared to pull up the collar on his jacket. As the soft leather protected his face, and the hood's magic provided clean air for him to breathe, it allowed him to see the bridge of black that appeared as first a thin threat stretching across the burning ground like a spider's web over a brazier's glowing coals. And as he dropped lower and lower, it slowly transformed from a threat into a broad bridge that reached out over the seething caldera, growing until it was at least a hundred meters at its most narrow point.

It didn't take recalling its details from the book to recognize this span for what it was. This ... this was the Arch.

Dropping even closer, Jared spotted a series of arches and pillars built roughly on the Arch's center, just off to the side where Samantha was aiming to land. And it didn't take long before the big rider could also see two groups of people gathered beneath those pillars and arches, the light still too dim to make out any further details.

But, in a rush of filth and disease, he sensed corrupted Eternal Beasts down there, somewhere. As did Samantha, the griffon immediately hissing, this time the sound menacing and angry against the burbling sound below. As they continued their descent, he spotted them: three massive, reptilian creatures, furled leather bat wings on their backs, long tails and scales amongst other things, the Beasts hunkered down just beside the columns.

- Dragons! - Samantha naming the creatures even though Jared had identified them some time ago. He felt her body tense beneath him in readiness.

For a good reason: dragons, once friends, were now enemies, corrupted by a powerful Harbinger prince to turn against their purpose, and their very nature to slaughter the comrades they had flown beside only hours before. It would be a long time before their betrayal was forgotten, if ever.

But now wasn't the time to continue that ancient conflict. As Jared used subtle touches of his feet and suggestions over their bond to guide Samantha to land beside the assembled people opposite the ones he was mentally classifying as the races of Darkness with their proximity to the dragons, the dragons themselves lifted their heads and hissed warningly at her, causing Samantha to hiss back, her hackles rising.

- Filthy traitors! - she snarled over the bond. - I will see every one of them shattered into a thousand pieces!! -

"Steady, Sams," Jared murmured out loud as he dismounted and scratched her under her chin in an attempt to distract her. "There'll be time enough to deal with those filthy bastards!"

"Quite right, griffon rider!" someone called out from the darkness, causing Jared to look around in surprise. "And that time, Darkness willing, will be soon!" it went on to say, the voice strangely echoing and carrying in the hot, stifling air. And while Jared could hear it speaking Qaysho, there was a strange echo as if some sort of magic was at play to ensure all within earshot heard the words in their own particular language. Then a tall, dark-cloaked figure stepped into view from the other side.

"Come!" it boomed, revealing itself as the speaker.

"Come and let us speak of war!!"

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