Valterra

CHAPTER NINETEEN

     El'Athan sat in the middle of his cave, half clothed in the dirt. He had smudged soil over his body to strengthen his will. His arms, chest and face were filthy brown as he sat cross legged with his eyes closed; searching.

     Outside, the moon's glow at full peak was hidden by darkening clouds, but still offered the best time to dream delve. El'Athan had entered a few minds already but did not find what he was looking for. He sent dreams of lost crops and drought to the random people he touched. He sent them dreams of dried up wells and loved ones dying of thirst. He knew all to well how to spread fear; barren trees, rotten fruit, decaying meadows and glens, surrounded by death. He spared no one. Women, children, men, animals - all with putrid decomposing flesh.  Soon there would be enough of those he touched that word of his coming would spread. Fear would build and the Great Dark would be replenished. It grew more powerful when panic resided in the hearts of the living.

     El'Athan soon grew frustrated with his search. He was looking for the other initiates in a thought, an image, anything that could be a clue as to who they were. Since being reborn and resurrected for a second time,  he had grown tired of toying with his own initiate.  He was still too weak to delve into the mind of the man he knew could give him the answers; the man who had ended his search for initiates and who had pierced his heart with a brazen pine stake. 

     Marcus Thane. 

     The thought of his name and acknowledging his existence fueled a rage inside El'Athan. Why should he not leave this place now and end him? Why not snap his neck and be done with it?

     No.

     He needed him alive and this newly resurrected but reanimated body was not ready to face him. He needed more time. He needed his Usurper to bring him more souls. He was not even sure himself if he was still truly Primordial. That body had died. It was only through the Great Dark that he had managed to survive. He did not want to test his immortality just yet. He would no longer put himself in needless danger.  He would let others do his dirty work until his restoration was complete.

     He closed his eyes once more and then slammed his fists down beside him in the dirt. He began to delve again.  This time it was not dreams or thoughts he searched, it was Valterra's earth essence. A power he could tap into and wield, or use to gather strength, but it was slow going. Especially in the Scourge where so much of the earth essence had been drained. 

     A quicker way to full restoration was to drain the soul of a living creature. All living things were connected to the five elements of the Universe.  If it was a human who was drained, he could manipulate them and create a Bringer. Though once killed, he could reanimate them as Soulless, an endowment he was given by the Great Dark. 

     He already had dozens of dead Bringers waiting for reanimation inside these catacombs. They were fatalities from his last battle with the Light. His zealousness had gotten the best of him and his first premature attempt to raise them had failed. No matter.  He had grown a new patience and had a new Usurper to bring him his meals. Where was that blasted woman?

     He delved for Lucinde. He was able to communicate subconsciously with her as he would with any of his Soulless, though a draug was guided more by images than words. 

     "Return to me." 

     As he sent the order to his Usurper, he tested his control over her mind. He was able to see what she saw, feel what she felt. He could smell her human scent and also caught the scent of those she was with. Two more males; their minds trapped within a dark fog placed by the Usurper. She would release them to him upon their arrival. He tried, but could not delve any feelings or thoughts from the Usurper herself. She felt nothing, she was nothing. It was no concern to him.

     He opened his eyes and came back to his own reality with a mouth watering thirst. She was more than an hour away. Perhaps he should consider moving from the Scourge after this meal. With access to more people and animals he would be able to build his army at a quicker rate. He felt the grasp on his patience waning from his need for power, for control. The only reason he allowed himself to reconsider was the fact that his current secrecy gave him an advantage. For all he knew, not even Marcus was aware of his survival. He was so very eager to see the look on the Chancellor's face when he reached through his chest and tore out his heart with his own hand. He saw it now, beating still in his grasp as he kept Marcus alive to witness. The image of it made him smile. Yes, he could wait just a few more days. After a dozen or so more feeds, after he unleashed his first round of Soulless into the world, he could make his move. 

     What a game that will be.

     He closed his eyes again and searched for another creature to quench his need. A beast he had met all those years ago, an ally of sorts; The Black Shuck. Created by the Great Dark to feed on lost souls after their death, the Black Shuck hid in waiting for his next meal as well.  El'Athan felt a connection to it. If he could delve into its mind, perhaps he could convince the creature to join him. If not, at least he could use it as a means to satisfy his thirst for a hunt.

     It was a bit more difficult to find the beast compared to creatures of the Light. Being one of the only other Dark creatures on Valterra that he was aware of, it meant closing his mind off to all other Light essences he felt. It was a slow process, though it helped that he knew the area where the Black Shuck called home. Some thought it was bound there, but in reality,  it was territorial. It was a battle born creature of habit and it took comfort surrounding itself with lost souls. 

     "Come out and play, little doggy." 

     Slowly, in El'Athan's mind, as each light dimmed out, he began to see what he thought could be the beast. A faint glimmer, a wave of energy where there shouldn't be one. A few more lights out, and ever so delicately a silhouette formed. There was no mistaking the huge bear-like creature,  canine to its core. It was often described as half bear, half wolf, but it was full demon, straight from the underworld. His storytellers were not far off. 

     When El'Athan was finally able to connect to the Black Shuck, it reached out to him first.

     "Dead Earth Builder, brought to life."

      El'Athan could not hear the words, but a series of images were transferred to his mind's eye and he made a rough translation. 

     Just as he was about to send his response, he was sent something he wasn't expecting to see. An image of Marcus, and he was fleeing on horse with someone else. It looked like a young man, following behind him who then turned around to look him straight in the eye. It was a memory of the Black Shuck's previous encounter at Shuck's Pass. A closer image of this young man again was sent. The Shuck wanted him to know this face. Then another image flashed, an ancient symbol he recognized immediately.

     "Rain Maker."

     Then one last series of images; a city, a Citadel.

     "Bolster."

     El'Athan smiled. "You're mine."