The Hunter's Song II: Lost Blood

Ch 2: Matriarch (Mourning Crow)

"Five cycles of their pestilence!" Oru punched her fist into the table, cracking the black glass-top panel.

"We've made significant progress in purging Graven contamination on numerous planets in nearby star systems," Lor's eight-foot-tall holographic image stood proudly opposite the Supreme Elder as I entered Oru's office.

I knew the Forged warrior was predominantly navy blue with vibrant azalea pink highlights, but in the soft glow of the blue monotone virtual figure, I only perceived her slender pointed horns atop a sleek muscular figure armored in a lustrous metal two-piece.

"But not from anyone living," Oru seethed under her breath. Her sleek blue and orange striped body was adored in pragmatic silver armor and a long red loincloth.

"No, Elder," Lor, Oru's Third, dipped her head. "That technology is still beyond us."

Oru nodded for me to enter while she completed her debriefing. Her black barbed mohawk was spiked up in an irritable state.

I arrived dressed in full red and black armor, befitting a private audience with Jahaa's Supreme Leader.

"Know that my upset is catalyzed solely by the tenacity of the Graven," Oru exhaled her agitation. "The strides your team has achieved on Darbek Monastery are exemplary. Jahaa sees you. Your efforts bring us all great honor."

"My honor for Jahaa," Lor intoned respectfully.

"And what of the catacombs?" Oru redirected the conversation.

Ah, this explains why Oru scheduled me to arrive during her holo-com with Lor.

Oru's Third had worked tirelessly to thwart the expansion of Graven corruption into Nexus territory.

First, as the Alpha to an anti-Graven taskforce and then shortly after Menthla joined the Nexus, Lor expanded the operation into an inter-clan anti-Graven agency designated as the Entente.

They never found the ruins of Thorngate, only fragments of ruins on a barren world and a faint trail through more than a dozen star systems that eventually led to the rogue planet containing the remnants of a long-dead society.

Darbek Monastery was the epicenter of the planet's demise and the current focus of Lor's excavation team.

Occasionally, her team would send me ancient carvings and manuscripts to translate. My most recent assignment was a series of murals documented in the monastery's catacombs.

"Thanks to Mourning Crow's timely turnaround on translations, we've determined this site to be a significant vector in Graven activity." Lor turned to face me directly. "However, we've encountered countless setbacks."

"Dormant minions," I inserted.

"Yes," Lor concurred. "Unearthing and liquidating Graven relics always involves a certain level of retaliation. We've come to learn there's nothing the Graven loath more than the destruction of their holy records."

"It's their failsafe," I folded my arms. "They worm their way into an otherwise bland religion then contaminate the scriptures with instructions on how to revive their dead and dupe the clergy into imprinting a permanent Graven presence on the planet. Either opening a gateway providing easy access to a food source or spreading an invisible net to snatch up and steal an entire city."

"And should unsuspecting colonists move in centuries later, believing they've discovered the means to eternal salvation, the entire parasitic cycle begins anew," Lor added.

"Or," Oru interjected. "If the new arrivals mean to destroy the site, like we are, an army of hidden sentinels awakens in a frenzy."

"I thought the Entente's security forces were trained and armed to repel minion attacks," I flexed my ears quizzically.