Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 253: The Justice of Beasts

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Chul Asclepius

The dirt crunched beneath my feet as I marched forward, stalwart in my resolve. Around me, the children of men laughed and played with the frivolity of youth. I kept my eyes alert and focused, wary and ready for any kind of cowardly assault from our vicious enemies. Suncrusher rested leisurely on my shoulder, the glowing mace ready for any wayward strike.

None showed their corrupted faces as we walked along the trail, hundreds of feet stomping and plodding on their way to promised salvation. Yet I would not let my guard down, for that would be tantamount to forsaking my sworn duty.

When I had left the Hearth a few months back, I had not known what direction to take. The sky was so vast. It was impossibly great and large and expansive. I had barely seen the sky, trapped as I was within the confines of stone and nature that was the Hearth for all my life, but once I let my wings kiss the breeze, I wondered even more how my family could intern themselves for so long. How could they deny themselves the sweet taste of freedom?

I frowned darkly. They fear the Vritra more than they love the skies, I thought with disdain. I was no coward. It was they.

Beside me, one of the human children stumbled as a rock proved too great a challenge for their balance. They flailed their short arms, crying out in distress as they fell in slow motion to the ground.

I would not allow it. With a quick shift of my feet and a deft scoop of my free arm, I interceded, denying gravity her prize. I caught the little human before they could taste the earth, ensuring that they remained safe.

The little human looked up at me with big, brown eyes. I thought that was strange. Eyes should be orange or red. Or perhaps blue or purple. But these humans all had strange colors.

I did not voice my concerns. Instead, I made sure to set the young human down, ensuring they had their feet beneath them.

"Do not let your steps falter, young one," I said, my voice rumbling as I tried to keep it hushed. Mother always said that I needed to be quieter when speaking, lest I scare away my prey. This young boy was not the object of a hunt, yet he shivered and acted like those things I hunted so long ago with my Mother regardless. "Ensure that your stance is steady and strong, and no rock shall rob you of your balance."

The little human shuddered slightly, his mother rushing over. I turned away as I saw her, unable to look. Too cowardly. Instead, I patted the young human on the head once. "Try not to fall again, young man. We will not always have our mothers to pick us up."

The boy nodded in a daze before his mother smothered him with worry and affection. Though before I had kept my senses out and beyond, now I stretched them yet further so as to avoid hearing the words of the woman beside me.

"You are a very strange mage," a familiar voice said from not so far away. "I do not know much about mages, Lord Chul, but I do not think they are all like you."

I readjusted Suncrusher from where she rested on my shoulder, ensuring the sunlike-rays from the burnished cracks along its head would not blind the kind elder. "I do not think it strange, Mayor of Men," I said. "My Mother taught me that all children are sacred. It is law where I come from, and surely you see this."

The Mayor of Men was a short, squat, and thin human. His arms could wield no weapons, and the aged complexion of his skin told me he could not fare on the battlefield. But when I had found his great city under assault by the rabid, corrupted monsters of the Vritra, he had stayed strong.

The Mayor looked up at me, squinting as he observed my face. I looked back down. "That is not really what I meant, Lord Chul," he said after a moment. "But I do not think it matters."