Bred For Extinction

Words of Worry

The winged messenger flaps frantically, searching out the entrance he has been told exists, but difficult to find. The nights in this land were so dark... a far cry from his world of nightly illuminated cities rich with activity and prey. Here was barren, isolated...no lights, no prey, no sounds, with only the stars and moon to guide. Still, the colossal mountain he searched over had been easy enough to locate. Even after the long journey, its shape was undeniable. Those who knew its presence called it "El Cielo de la Silla" in local lore, and truth laid in its name, for shaped as an enormous horse's saddle was it indeed. Finding the mountain was no great task, but now to find the entrance that should be somewhere close to the saddle's crest. Again and again the messenger flew .... searching ... searching .... searching ... until it struck him. There, the slight darkened patch, where no man could ever reach. Wings flapped with excitement as he dove, knowing his journey was close to an end. The opening was not much...perhaps a man could fit, but how would he ever get this high and why would he ever wish to tread into this region of hell. The cavity flowed down as the bat followed each twist and turn, deeper and deeper into nothingness. Forever it seemed, unquestionably far below the earth's surface now, until a glow pulsed dimly below him, and he had arrived.

Streaking for the redden luminosity, the small tunnel exited into a great chamber, gigantic in its own right. The floor below was what he sought, wings tired and heavy from the journey. Once there, he allowed the change to take place, morphing to his human stage. His eyes glared about the chamber quickly...three walls roughly cut from the earth's interior, the fourth housing a massive wooden split door that's height was immeasurable. So mammoth was the door that it bewildered the messenger to the point of never realizing it had guardians, until voices shouted down inquiries as to his presence here.

"What do you here?" The voice rumbled the chamber with authority.

"Speak, quickly...or be banished," The second voice boomed with the same strength.

Widened eyes flowed up, finally spotting the winged guardians. Their forms hovering at the door's circular metal handles, halfway up the chamber's height...bodies strangely contorted with a mixture of both human and batish features. While their torsos seemed mostly manish, their arms coupled with vein-laden wings. Legs dangled low as they hovered with elongated feet, ending in razor-tipped claws. And the bald heads, with their flat nostrils and expanded ears, showed eyes that burned like huge black orbs against their reddish, vein-streaked skin.

"I wish an audience with your Lord and Master," words flowed cautiously from the messenger as the situation seemed precarious.

"Our Lord does not grant audiences...begone."

"Wait, I bring word...a message from my master to yours, from the new kingdom....there are concerns, problems regarding wolves....a great wolf."

"And who is your master, hatchling?"

"He is Elion, descendant of the sixth house of Roudantrey."

No answers boom back from the guardians as they hover, until finally one reacts, "Wait..." With that does the one who has spoken grasp one of the door's metal handles that hangs high in the air and heave outwards, as the sound of the ancient timbers creak with an almost unnatural moan. The guardian slides in, disappearing quickly beyond the door's barrier as it splits, leaving the other to stand guard.

Tense moments exist for the messenger as he waits, the other sentinel paying no attention to his presence, only hovering on monstrous wings as black eyes stare straight ahead. Again the door splits and creaks outward, the heavy scent of ancient decay oozing through the opening as the sentry returns. "Enter...but be warned, our master shows no favor to any." The messenger decides not to speak, showing his acceptance with only a nod as he steps through the entrance, wishing he had never been sent here.