The Relistar

The Relistar | Ch. 10

A frozen morning came and went. The hours before noon blurred away into his continued, uneventful march. Though, to call it uneventful might discredit the strangling stress hanging in the air.

  When the sun finally reached its zenith, he pulled through the edge of the forest, and nearly plummeted down a sharp incline through jagged rocks and icy shards. The snow-covered plains seemed to stretch on forever beneath him, speckled with hundreds of glowing frost cacti, and scattered, towering pyramids of ice that seemed to glow and pulsate a burning blue amongst the horizon, filling the sky with a shifting aurora of purple and blue dancing lights.

  "The frozen desert of Abadhar... I wonder how many layers of snow cover the sand?" he muttered in awe. "A few hours more, through the tundra beyond, and we'll end up at the glaciers of Kylinstrom's peak. That far out, there's no coming back."

  The distant echo of a powerful roar shook the world. He quickly recognized, amidst the clutter of colors and lights, the two towns of Nesamus and Jiza, completely engulfed in ice and covered in snow. The clustered colonies and tribes around this end of the continent have likely shared the same fate. These towns... they must have been thousands strong each. All that progress after what Tovas did...

  He turned away. What does it matter? They're slaves to the wilderness, slaves to a government of Hunters... to Kasian. And now they send the scraps of their dead culture to us, to Dreslon. We're all dead men here.

  He lowered himself over the precipice and began a careful descent, firmly planting his boots on each sharpened edge to ensure that he wouldn't slip, or he might have met a cold fate at the hands of the spiked ice clawing up toward him.

  The ground trembled when he finally stuck himself into the knee-deep snow at the base of the cliff. A heavy roar stole the wind's voice. He could hear the great wings of dragons beating the air into submission from above the violet clouds, like the gentle beat of a war drum from this far off. Not only have those northern dragons passed by, some may yet remain.

  DRAGONS?

  "You're not thinking this is Llestren?" he continued to plod through the heavy mounds of ice covering the ground.

  The voice was quiet.

  Cedric groaned, but continued onward.

  A second, more furious roar shook the world as a massive, ice-white dragon, coated in a layer of azure frost, plunged through the foreboding clouds ahead, followed closely by powerful rays of glorious sunlight. Cedric gasped in awe and hope. The crystal in his pocket reverberated with much of the same at the deistic sight.

  And then a spark of discomfort. A twinge of fear.

  Algirak is here. But... how do I know that?

  He turned and shuffled toward the western village without hesitation; Nesamus. I'll hide there for now. If I can get there before they spot us...

  A red glow came from within his jacket. The Relistar began to hum.

  "What are you doing?" he cried out, trying his best to sprint through the thick snow.

  BECKONING TO LLESTREN'VATIS.

  A black, swirling entity suddenly slammed itself into Llestren'vatis' spine, tugging him out of the sky. Rain poured around them as the acidic body of Algirak revealed himself through the clouds. His black wings bore horrible rips all throughout, and his body had enough loose skin to drape down around his unhinged jaw. His eyes burned in mesmerizing amethyst. His arms danced like vicious tendrils.