Wayfarer

Providence Arc 8: Revelation

Koakiran barked out a warning as he launched himself in front of them, his skin turning gray as he rushed forward. They barely had time to roll away as a massive rotten log collided with Koa, splintering apart. The impact sent Koa back to the ground, his legs splaying upward.

"It found us? How?!" Proclus shouted as its stamping grew closer

"I don't know! Is Koa ok?" Lyra asked, looking at the crater the boy had made. A stony gray hand slid out, giving her a thumbs-up. Koa sat up, startled, as his hand met cracked stone. Despite the age and ruin, Koa could see a familiarity in the stone. He had little time to register the screen that appeared next to his hand.

Would you like to activate the Gateway?

"Koa, down!" Proclus shouted, and Koa heard another thud. He looked up to see a massive stone arm hurtling towards him. The arm was part of a living stone creature, a monstrous being that seemed to be made entirely of rugged, misshapen stone. Koa barely had time, the side of his head scraping as stone met stone.

"I will draw its attention," Lyra said, aiming her crossbow.

"No, hold," Proclus said, pointing. "Whatever the kid's planning, he's handling it. We need a better plan."

Lyra looked to him questioningly, but he didn't meet her gaze. He was looking downhill.

"An avalanche?" He grinned. Behind them, Koa yelled out as the living stone threw him against an old tree. The cracking and splintering of wood told them of the force with which he was thrown.

Lyra moved to tie her rope to another tree, standing close enough to the edge of the drop-off, while Proclus circled the pair, still grappling. The stone machine easily overpowered the boy and began to drag him away by a leg. The boy managed to kick away and saw what Lyra was doing. So he ran, dropping his stone form. The stone moved to follow, slow at first before it began to build up speed.

Koa heard the stone behind him the entire time. It gained more and more speed until Koa felt it was breathing on him. He did his best to outrun it, but between its relentless momentum and the steepness of the hill, his burning legs began to fail him. Proclus and Lyra, meanwhile, were at opposite ends of the rope, doing their best to secure it. As he was just an arm's reach from it, Koa did his best to stop, straining his legs to angle his momentum to the side.

The stone monster didn't have the time to stop or change its course. Lyra and Proclus held fast as its makeshift legs snagged on the rope, and it slowed. To their eyes, the stone might have been able to recover, but its larger upper body carried more momentum, and it toppled. Dirt flew as it hit the edge of the hill and slid down.

"You two get what you were looking for?" Lyra panted.

"I thought we could sneak up on them," Proclus replied, pale.

"Yeah? You get that from the last time one ambushed us?" Koa looked at Lyra, surprised, then at Proclus.

"You got attacked by one?"

"Yes, but we survived."

"I fell into a hole," Lyra mentioned, glaring at her Aeolon companion.

"Oh!" Koa said, recalling the details. "You had heard a voice, and were somehow taken back up."

Lyra stared at Koa with that familiar hesitant suspicion, and Koa realized why.

"Well, that was what the rumors said." He waved his hand flippantly. "Regardless, I need to show you something."

They followed him to the cracked stone floor piece. He knelt over it, inspecting the floor.

"It's polished. Smooth." Proclus noted, kneeling beside him. "Carved."