Storm and Stone Ch. 03

Shortly after the creation of humanity, a race of shadow beings appeared on the scene, seemingly from out of nowhere. They befriended the early humans and taught them much that even the Nithraski could not, or in some cases, would not. Before long, these shadowy beings that the humans now called Jinn, began to interbreed with humans and their offspring were incredible. There were giants as tall as those found on Terrock, men and women who could tame beasts with just their gaze, there were those who could channel mystical energies through their bodies as if it were their own blood, and so much more. It terrified the Nithraksi and they attempted to stamp them out, but not before The Nine had acquired specimens of giants for study, and humans for labor because they were easy to breed quickly. The hostilities on Earth would escalate into the Nephilim War, and it would not end until it had resulted in the final extinction of the Nithraksi on Earth, and the Great Deluge that so many ancient civilizations speak of. It was assumed that the Jinn also lost the war, as their offspring ceased to appear among humanity.

The Nine would never know of Earth's fate. The hostilities on Earth launched a mere fifty thousand years after the birth of homo sapiens, which actually occurred nearly three hundred-thousand years prior to modern times despite what the humans of that planet tell themselves. At the same time, on Terrock, Dagrethon made himself known and initiated his plan. The giants that had been sent from Earth had been transformed into the dwarven race, and the humans were basically well-tended slaves that were happy to be led by the nose. While the Elders had been so focused on creating their pets, Dagrethon the Malicious had quietly corrupted and possessed Uldakka and made an attempt to kill the remaining eight Elders in order to unite their power in Uldakka's body and free his master, Maeliferrak. The attempt was an utter failure and war was the result.

For ten years, the conflict raged across the heart of Athul and left it a barren wasteland. The loyalist forces were pushed out of the middle of the continent and scattered in all directions. It only served to leave Uldakka, now known as The Betrayer, and his army which called itself the Vaszul, surrounded. Emboldened by their position, the loyalists made a final push to end the threat for all time.

It was here that The Betrayer unveiled his own creation, The Pale. With the seductive whisperings of Dagrethon to empower his words, he had convinced the Elgoniyth... a race of fair skinned elves, to allow him to give them a gift of power in exchange for service. He waited until the loyalists had pushed back his forces almost to the heart of his territory, and on the night of what was to be the final battle... The Betrayer unleashed his new pets. A wave of twisted, vampiric caricatures of waxy elven flesh swept over the camps and slaughtered the allies. Many were able to escape due to the screams of pain and agony that rang out everywhere, but the losses were enough that the allies were the ones who were pushed back. Before the retreat, however, the eight Elders made a decision.

In an act of desperation, they sacrificed their lives to cast one final spell: a spell that would send Terrock into a pocket dimension and break the harmony of the planets in the Sol system so that Maeliferrak might never receive the power being gathered by his herald, and erect a barrier over the continent of Athul and the minds of it's people in order to keep The Betrayer from ever reaching Dagrethon's prison. To free the Herald of Maeliferrak would be the end of all, Dagrethon would easily place Terrock back in its proper home and finish what he began.

In closing, Arawn explained that the only way to end this would be to break down the barrier completely and free Dagrethon, then kill him. That went over about as well as a fart in church during the altar call.

"This human has gone mad!" General Yezzat tag-Shabrat, leader of Clan Shabrat and commander of the orc military roared. "He wants us to release this creature that was the downfall of the Elders because he thinks that we can kill it?"

"Not you, me." Arawn countered, with a calm he had no right to feel. "We have to kill Uldakka so I can unite them the way he wants to. The only one capable of killing Dagrethon is the one who releases him. I'm not ready for humanity to die, and I quite like it here. So, which one of us do you think is going to be most likely to do that when the bastard gets released, and that part is guaranteed to happen. The barrier is fading, that's why they cast the spell that dragged me here in the first place. Also, all the strife and suffering caused by Uldakka in the millennia since, has slowly fed Maeliferrak. When Dagrethon rises to free his master, he will awake that much more quickly."

"Why are you so sure that Dagrethon's release here, means your race's demise on Earth, young human," Matron Hepassia Aravanthas questioned.

"Because there are four true gods in all of existence, Matron. Three of the four, Lady Nyx, Tetragon the Architect, and Lady Nemesis the Judge, protect and shepherd life in all its forms. Maeliferrak, the Lord of Horror, is the fourth... he is the end of everything. His hunger is more boundless than the universe, and when he has devoured this one he will move on to another. He is the undoing of all creation, and he will devour us all."

Before the Matron or anyone else could respond, a breathless courier broke through the door with a shout.

"Matrons! Matrons! Forgive the intrusion but I bring dire news from Ebonshard Pass! The Vaszul march on Lake Home with an elder wrathling!"

Arawn roared in anger. "Fuck, fuck, fuck fuck fuck! God dammit, not now! We don't have time for their bullshit! Wait, what the fuck is an elder wrathling and why does it feel like I should know what it is?"

"It is a behemoth of muscle and flesh," Dakkrig explained, "born from the Pit of Wrath in the Seven Hells. The elder wrathling is wild and untamed, an ancient among it's kind that has won it's extensive lifespan through brutality and bloodshed, and it makes Kord look like a human by comparison."

"Oh. Now I remember, they have spines too, lovely. Fucking Nithraksi shit in my head."

The wild-eyed human spun on General Talsinar, "Get a map, we need to plot this shit out right here and now while everyone is together. Someone pull up a table."

Amevina and her brother were left stunned by the fact that people sprang into motion without ever giving thought to who gave the orders. They did not dare mention it, however. They almost laughed when Arawn immediately assumed control once everything had been set up.

"Okay," the human began, "how long until they reach the borders of the forest?"

"About three weeks," Grok volunteered to much confusion on the part of his father, the High Warsmith.

"Can we get that up to four with delaying tactics?" Arawn continued.

"If we support Captain Dakkrig with enough Wardens to form archer squads for each unit he has at the fort, then we might make it five," Grok told him. None objected.

"Then we need to get him reinforced yesterday, we need all the time we can get in order to get the Vaszul into position."

"Into position for what?" The High Warsmith questioned.

"My surprise," Arawn declared with diabolical glee. "Now, I want every available soldier each of your kingdoms can field without compromising border integrity, brought here and ready for the march to meet them. Amevina and I can arrange the transport to Lake Home."

Amevina walked up and placed her arms around his waist from behind. "Rawn, after everything that has happened to you... how can you be so unaffected and focused? Everyone else is adrift with uncertainty after what you've just told us."

"Because we don't have a choice anymore, honey."

*********

Just before sunrise the next morning, Arawn dressed in his armor and sat down with Vorsah to chart a course through the city for his daily parkour workout.

"It's time to get my ass back in shape after all this time sitting on it," Rawn explained to his brother-in-law-to-be.

The path the human chose was confusing to the elf, it was as if he had lain out an obstacle course for a monkey. There were obstructions everywhere, and he could see the value in some of them, but others made no sense; the human could not run through a wall without destroying it nor could he climb one like a spider, yet he had charted the path directly through a wall as if he actually could perform one of those miraculous feats. When Vorsah questioned him about it, Arawn just smiled.

"It's parkour. You'll understand when you see it. There is nothing mystical or unnatural about it, it's just a different way to run."

He first led Vorsah through his stretch routine. After that, they began at a nice, leisurely pace for what Arawn called a warm-up and the elf began to believe things might not be so bad as he had originally thought. Vorsah relaxed further into the run when they came across two stone benches and Arawn simply vaulted over them from behind then continued on. The elf's unease returned, however, when his running partner approached the next bench from the front and sped up. Vorsah slowed and watched Rawn step up on the seat with his left foot, then on to the back of the bench with his right and launch himself into a double-front flip. He had stopped running at this point, and he watched the human finish the flip with a perfect landing, all without a loss of rhythm.

They do this for fun on his world, Vorsah thought to himself. I worry that his whole race might be mad.

It only got worse from there, Vorsah struggled to keep up. Rawn reached the perimeter wall of the park at a dead run and Vorsah was left bewildered again when the human ran straight up the face of the wall in four steps and launched into a spinning backflip that left him aimed back the way he came. To further compound things for the elf, the human tucked into a roll instead of making a foot landing, and came back out at the same speed at which he hit the wall.

"Arawn, stop!"

The human turned to his friend and offered a wry grin.

"What?" he drawled.

"What in the hells was that? The humans of your world do this for fun?"

"That, my elvish friend, was a backflip, with a twist."

Rawn took off again and Vorsah hurried after him. It only got worse from there for the poor elf. He ran along the edges of retaining walls, he leapt up and grabbed the branches of trees... only to flip forward and keep running. It all finally came to a head when they reached the dead end that Vorsah had wondered about earlier and Arawn took the two corners from left to right in a diagonal wall-run and leapt back across the alley from about eight feet up to hang from the lip of the roof on the left side of the alley. Vorsah could contain himself no longer.

"Damn it, man! Are you insane? It is as if you are half monkey!"

Arawn pulled himself up and laughed down at Vorsah. "Dude, just come on. You're an elf, you got this!"

"What in the hells is that supposed to mean," Vorsah asked, incredulous.

"It means that you... are... an... elf! You've got more grace and finesse in your little finger than I have in my whole body! Now man up and get your ass up here just like I did."

There was not a single elf on Terrock that would stand idle in the face of a challenge like that. Vorsah steeled his spine and ran, he planted his right foot and stepped up onto the left wall with his left foot, then slipped and fell... almost on his head. Arawn jumped down to check on him while Vorsah cursed under his breath.

"You make that look too damned easy, Arawn," the elf grumbled.

Arawn stifled a chuckle, "You'll make it. Back up a little farther this time so that you can get a little more speed, then make sure you commit fully to the run. Don't hold back, either, or you'll fall from higher up next time."

Vorsah nodded and tried again, and again he failed to stick the first step. Fortunately for him, he didn't come near his head and only landed on his ass.

"If you step a little higher with your left, and kick as hard as you can with your right, I think you'll make it," Rawn coached. "Give it one more try?"

"I agree. Yes, again."

Vorsah was off, he stepped higher and kicked off just like he was told, and he leapt for the edge of the roof before he even realized he had ran across both corners. With a shout of victory, Arawn followed his friend and his hands grasped the ledge just as Vorsah stood up and turned around. Arawn wore an ear-to-ear grin when Vorsah helped him up and patted his elven friend on the back.

"Told you that you had that shit, man. Are you ready for the next part?"

Arawn pointed to a series of tree limbs that wove an aerial path through the park and back around to the council hall, then took off running. The elf wanted to scream when the human leapt the gap between the roof and the first branch, then caught it and swung up into a crouch on top of the branch in one motion. Vorsah cursed again.

"Damn the stars! The man really is a monkey!"

*********

Arawn strolled through the doors of Amevina's home two hours after his departure that morning. He was sweaty underneath the armor, but otherwise fresh as new-fallen snow.

"Welcome back," Amevina greeted. "I thought you took Vorsah with you..."

"I did, he's right behind me," Rawn answered as he poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher at a refreshment table.

When Vorsah staggered through the doors, he looked like a man fresh off a three day bender. He headed straight for the refreshment table and lifted the pitcher to his lips and poured it down his throat and over half his body in the process. Vorsah sat the pitcher back down and glared at Arawn.

"That man belongs in a carnival! He leapt and flipped through the trees like a monkey and made me do the same!" He turned to Arawn, "How did you even know that path through the treetops would be there?"

Amevina was thoroughly confused, so she chose to listen for the moment.

"I saw it on our way in yesterday. How are you feeling?"

"Better, now that I'm not running anymore. How do you do that?"

"Good, and I can do it because I practice every day. Now go get some rest, I'm taking you up on those swordsmanship lessons and we need to start today."

Vorsah groaned and staggered back through the door toward his home.

Amevina gave her brother a concerned look as he left, and turned to Arawn.

"Ok, what did you do to my brother?

"Parkour. Like the video I showed you that night in the tent after we got rescued."

"In the trees?"

"Well, the roofs here may be sturdy enough, but I figured the inhabitants would not appreciate listening to me stomp across the roof of their homes, so I took to the trees. Back home, the places we run are either empty or the roof is too thick to matter to anyone below you."

"Ah. Well, don't kill him. I only have one brother."

Arawn laughed, "No chance of that. He's tougher than he thinks, I proved that to him today. Everybody starts out like that, so did I. Just wait till you see him in action once we've been at this for a few months, he'll be the quickest and most deadly elf on Athul."

She smiled and nodded, "That will be something to see. Very well, are you ready to begin our lessons?"

"Absolutely."

*********

It was just before noon and the pair had finished Arawn's lesson an hour ago. Amevina made notes in one of her many grimoires while Arawn busied himself with arcane practice, and experiments with his new abilities. It was one such experiment that produced the explosion that hurled Arawn across the room and nearly took her off her feet as well. She ran to check on her lover and found him dazed and mildly scorched, but otherwise okay.

"Arawn! What in the heavens was that? Are you okay?"

"I.. Ig slebbi do summit," in that moment, even Arawn was unsure of what he wanted to say.

She ran to her supplies and came back with a vial of smelling salts. Like clockwork, he snapped to his senses. He blinked hard a few more times for good measure, then focused on Amevina's eyes.

"Oh hell, periodic table just kicked my ass. You alright, hon?"

"I'm much better than you, thank you for asking. What did you do?"

"I made water. I just didn't expect it to have that much kick."

"Arawn, you are making no sense whatsoever. One cannot make water."

He laughed, "Oh yes you can. Especially if you understand Earth science. See, we've got this thing I just mentioned, called the periodic table of elements..."

It took him a little while, and the staff brought lunch in during his lesson, but Arawn was successful in his attempt to give Amevina a basic understanding of atoms, molecules, and how the hell he nearly blew the two of them up.

"...so, I extracted hydrogen and oxygen from the air around us in a two-to-one ratio, compressed it into a ball about the size of my fist, then popped a tiny spark of lightning right in the center."

Amevina listened, completely enthralled by now, as he finished his explanation.

"Allow me to check my understanding here, you combined your science with magic and nearly killed us both?"

Arawn groaned, "Well, I wouldn't put it quite like that, but it was the end result... yes."

"Well, I am glad I made sure no sound could escape my laboratory. Otherwise, that explosion would have brought half the city guard here to investigate."

"Ouch. Yeah, that would not have been fun."

"Not in the least. Alright, off with you. It is time for you learn proper swordsmanship from my brother."

He could not help but laugh, "Yes dear."

Arawn picked himself up, grabbed his gear, and headed out. On the way over, he gave Raiden a call before his friend could panic. Ray picked up on the first ring. His voice was so loud that it drew odd glances from passersby on the street.

"Ray, Ray, calm down. Please... I kn... yes, I know. It's been more than a month here since I called you. Yes, you're right. Just listen... well, if... Ray, if you're not going to let me answer the questions, I'm going to hang up..."

Arawn sighed and hung up the phone, then leaned against a wall while he waited for his friend to call back. The phone rang once more, and he answered it with a roll of his eyes.

"Yes Ray, I know I hung up on you. Ready to listen now? Yes? Alright..."

He explained everything that had happened in the past month and why he had failed to call. Raiden was not pleased.

"Listen Ray, you need to calm down and stop freaking out. Yeah, I get that you're listening to me now, but you are still freaking the fuck out. You're mated to a succubus now, go get laid or something, but whatever you do... make sure no one tries to come here! Got it?"

He extracted the desired concession from his friend and sighed.

"Good, now, here comes the real shitstorm, now that I have your promise to keep everyone on Earth, I can tell you the rest. We're going to war in a couple weeks and I am going to be fighting."

Arawn had to hold the phone away from his ear in order to prevent permanent damage by Ray's thunderous outburst. When the voice lowered in volume, he brought it back to his ear.

"You done, mom?"

Arawn laughed at Ray's smart-assed response, "That's better. Now that your thong doesn't have your balls in a headlock... I'm going to be okay, brother. Seriously, whatever the ghosts were that did this to me, they had some major mojo. I'm pretty much superhuman, now. They boosted the gift, too."