Chapitre 6: Chapter 5: Recognition
-PoV Valeria-
One month has passed. As a result of that night, Anders has begun to set aside a a couple hours of the day to training. Both for himself and for his band of mercenaries. The results have been marginal at best, but Valeria's heavy gaze has become a little lighter seeing it. Even if their skills were lacking, at least there was some effort to improve.
Now, they traverse the sands of Sargon as they press ever closer towards their destination. Boots have changed for sandals and cloth has been wrapped around their heads to keep off the blistering sun.
Currently they are waiting a distance away from a small village set besides large orginium crystal outcrops that towered tall above the land. A few of their numbers were sent in to trade for supplies while the rest stayed back to avoid the villagers thinking they were a raiding party sent by a rival Lord Ameer.
Despite being next to such large amounts of originium, no one present seemed disturbed by it. After all, this was solid crystal. It wouldn't effect anyone unless they decided to shove a chunk down their throats. The real problem is active originium dust since that can get into your lungs, but none of that was present.
Anders stared up at the sky, the clouds above them were turning gray causing the light around them to dim. He couldn't help musing at the sight.
"Didn't expect to run into rain in the desert, but I suppose they wouldn't be able to build a village out here otherwise."
His musings were only met with silence. Raising an eyebrow, he turned around only to see Valeria staring intently at a scorpion scurrying away.
"You see something interesting?"
Valeria kept her eyes on the small creature as she responded.
"That was the seventh one in the last half hour."
"What?"
"That was the seventh scorpion to run by us in the last half hour."
Confusion etched onto Anders' face.
"So? they are probably just looking for shelter before the rain hits."
Valeria shook her head with a grim expression.
"No, scorpions are burrowers. Their shelter is under the sand. If they wanted to escape the rain they would climb to high ground. Except instead of climbing up the orginium crystals, they are fleeing."
Anders turned serious and took another look at the clouds above his head. They were gathering quickly and would turn into a storm soon.
"...The catastrophe messenger said there wouldn't be any originium storms on our path."
Valeria's eyes settled on the originium crystals embedded in the sands nearby.
"Messengers can be wrong."
"I'll send a couple people to grab the few inside the village. We'll head out when they get here."
Valeria just shook her head and spoke with a heavy voice.
"The storm is gathering too quickly. There will be no escaping it. Just contact your people and bring them here."
****
-PoV ???-
In the small Sargon village a young woman was perusing the marketplace in search of ingredients for her next meal. Her skin was tanned due to the desert climate and short flaxen hair hung from her head. The long scaled tail that protruded from behind her denoted her as an Archosauria, a people displaying reptilian features.
She hummed to herself as she picked out various local delicacies. Tonight would be snake soup. As she was paying for her snake, the vendor who sold it leaned in towards her and began to whisper in a low voice, motioning with his head off to the side.
"Nadeemah you should be head home quickly. There have been a couple Sarkaz wandering about today, and even more are set up by the originium field outside the village."
Following his indication Nadeemah looked off to the side, and sure enough across the market a few Sarkaz could be seen. One bartered with a vendor while the two others had bags thrown over their shoulders heavy with their gains.
Nadeemah's face scrunched up. Sarkaz were not an abnormal sight in Sargon. Many different Lord Ameers hired them as mercenaries to fulfill various tasks. However, most of those tasks involved striking out at other Lord Ameers. The various settlements across Sargon would usually end up as targets in their power struggle. While these ones were seemingly just buying supplies, who knew if it was just a cover while they scouted out the village.
"I appreciate the warning. I'll make sure my door is locked tight tonight."
The vendor nodded in satisfaction, but before he could speak a commotion broke out. Two more Sarkaz barreled into the square not caring about who they knocked down with sweat dripping down their brows. After a quick scan, they locked on to their companions and ran over to them uncaring about the anger of the locals around them who were helping up their fellow villagers. The Sarkaz could be seen speaking quickly and one pointed up towards the clouds above. The group became agitated. They grabbed what supplies they had and all of them began to run out of village ignoring the shouts of the market guards telling them to stop.
However a moment later, their shouts were cut of by the loud crack of shattering wood. Silence momentarily took over the market as all eyes shifted towards the source of the sound. There a wooden stall stood bearing a new hole about two feet across. The owner of the stall was shocked. Looking around for the cause, he reached into the hole and pulled out a originium crystal the size of a fist. Looking into the crowd the stall owner bellowed with a reddened face.
"Which one of you threw this, hm?! Which one of you is trying to ruin my stall?!"
He never got an answer. Before anyone could even speak a crystal slammed into the head of someone in the crowd. Their head exploded into a gory mess showering those nearby in crimson. The witnesses were shocked, but that only lasted a moment. Shock turned to fear as screams rang out through the once jubilant village.
As if called by the screams, more crystals started to pepper the area. It was then Nadeemah knew that the projectiles were coming from the sky. Catastrophe had come.
Her body moved quicker than her mind. Nadeemah ran. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to run. Panic and chaos gripped the village as everyone ran save for those unlucky few frozen by fear. More orginium fell. Some as big as a person's head, and some as big as an entire person. As she turned her gaze up, she could feel her blood run cold. Suspended in the clouds were colossal monsters. Originium as large as houses or even bigger.
Pain and death echoed through the village. Sandstone homes crumbled to ruin and and people smashed into bloody paste. Screams, calls for help, and prayers echoed throughout the land. The only answer to their calls were the thunderous booms of descending crystal. As the larger pieces smashed into the ground the encased energy inside exploded out in flame setting the village ablaze.
Nadeemah wrapped a cloth around her face as she ran to block out both the orginium dust that was being scattered into the air and the smell of burning flesh. Her mind churned as she desperately thought of some way to live. She didn't know what to do. Nothing in life could have ever prepare her for this.
It was then that her mind recalled the Sarzak in the market. The way they interacted made it seem like they figured out this was coming. If that were true maybe they had a plan. Maybe they had a way to survive. With no better options, Nadeemah shifted her course towards the originium field outside the village.
The ground shattered around her as she dodged various people and jumped over burning debris. She ignored the cry for help from the local baker that was trapped under a collapsed wall. She ignored the old lady messing half her leg that crawled along the ground. She ignored the crying vendor she had spoken to just moments ago as he cried over his wife's corpse. She just ran.
After what felt like hours and all the luck she has ever accumulated in life, she approached her destination as the land shook from the unstoppable impacts. Through the sand and dust filled air, she could see it. Her salvation.
-PoV Valeria, just before the storm-
Valeria glared up at the sky as the dark clouds rolled and rumbled. She knew what was coming. After living for so long how could she not. If it were a couple of months ago, perhaps she would have allowed the storm to send her into oblivion. However, things have changed. She has an answer she must seek. She will not stop her march until she obtains it. Not even if nature itself aims to deny her.
Shifting her gaze, Valeria approached the largest orginium crystal nearby. It towered thirty feet up into the air and probably even deeper into the ground. Looking into its sleek surface she could see a soft orange glow buried within. Taking a deep breath before letting out a long exhale, she steadied herself.
Anders and the surrounding Sarkaz watched her, not daring to disturb her. She said she could save them, but all barring Anders couldn't help having doubts. How could she save them from catastrophe? However, what other choice did they have? They could not out run a catastrophe of this size, especially one that formed right over their heads.
Feeling the desperate and pleading eyes on her back, Valeria's own eyes grew sharp. Her own shadow crawled up her body while condensing around her left arm and the arts unit attached to it to form a sharpened black claw. Reeling her arm back, she then drilled it forward burying it halfway into the crystal before her.
For what she was about to do, she would need much more energy that what her arts unit's storage could hold. Siphoning originium energy right from her new battery, she held her other hand out towards the sky. All around them, the shadows on the ground writhed and contorted before surrounding them in a perfect circle of darkness fifty feet across. The circle then began to stretch upwards towards the sky enveloping the mercenaries in a black dome.
The Sarkaz widened their eyes at the display of power, but before they could think on it anymore the storm began. The debris started small, but eventually grew and grew in size. Crystal slammed into their barrier before shattering into dust and and fire. With each growing impact the land trembled and the inferno grew. After a few minutes, five Sarkaz ran up to the barrier from outside. Before they could even start banging on it, a hold opened allowing them access. Rushing it they panted, but soon couldn't help falling into a trance like their brothers and sisters. Watching the full wrath of nature bear down upon them only to be denied by a single person. Valeria stood there unmoving, unwavering. She glared at the heavens in defiance and heaven rose to the challenge.
The falling calamities grew larger and larger. The size of a person, the size of a car, the size of a house. The Sarkaz could barely stay standing from the impacts. If it were not sand under their feet they were sure the ground would have cracked open and swallowed them. It was then that Valeria felt something impact the side of her dome drawing her attention away from the sky. Casting her eyes sideways they landed on an Archosauria woman. To avoid the distraction of someone banging on her dome, she didn't think much of it and opened a hole on the side. A black tendril quickly pulled her in and the gap closed.
Devoid of distraction she returned her attention to her foe. The storm was about to hit its apex. High above originium crystals hundreds of feet long began to descend towards Terra while promising destruction to whoever stood in their way. Valeria began to siphon more and more energy out of the crystal before her. Her barrier became thicker and denser. Shadowy tendrils shot out of the ground and wrapped themselves around her body, anchoring her in place.
As the first colossal threat barreled towards them, Valeria let out a cry and her fingers formed a claw as if they were gripping something. After pulling on the air, A wave of black shot out of the ground outside of the dome like a sea serpent breaking through the water. It bent and contorted through the air and slammed into the side of the falling destruction. Chunks of originium broke of as they battled for dominance in the sky. With another shout Valeria pushed forward and the shadows heeded her will. The darkness pushed harder on the crystal deflecting it off course.
The mighty colossi impacted 20 feet away from the protective dome, defiling the land. A giant plume of sand and dust briefly blocked out the sky and a torrent of flame swept through the desert. The sand below melted into glass before being broken by more falling crystal. The ground shook with the force of an earthquake throwing the Sarkaz around like rag dolls. The only one who still stood was Valeria as her shadowy tendrils held her down, yet her gaze never left the sky for she was preparing for her next opponent.
A second came. Her shoulders began to sag. A third, she dropped down to one knee. A fourth, she coughed up a mouthful of blood. A fifth, her eyes began to bleed. Even so those eyes never turned away. They never wavered.
At first, the eyes of the Sarkaz who witnessed this event had their eyes focused on the calamity around them. Then their focus was on staying standing. Now though? Their focus was on her. Shadow arts. An uncommon type of arts, but it was not unheard of. However, there is only one person they have ever heard of that had taken it to this magnitude of raw power. A single person crossed all of their minds. Her name was long forgotten and instead she went by various titles the world had given her. General of the Kazdel army, King of the Alecto royal court, The Mad Dog of Kazdel, and the most well know; The Queen of Ruin. If anyone had asked, there was no doubt in their minds that this was her regardless of any argument. Regardless of that fact she had been declared dead around two hundred years ago.
The catastrophe began to slow. The bombardment became smaller and smaller until eventually it died out completely. Standing back up to her feet, she allowed her dome to descend after the dust settled and revealed her sanctuary to the world. A perfect patch of unharmed land amidst a field of glass, sand, dust and crystal. The clouds began to pass and sunlight was let in once more illuminating her figure. Ripping her arm free from its crystal cage, she turned towards the mercenaries behind her and was met with fervent eyes blazing with an unending fire. All she could do was sigh.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
CrunchyCouch
CrunchyCouch I was in a writing kind of mood today.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone