The Chronicles of the Red God, Year 4

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The Chronicles of the Red God, Year 4

Post by Xar »

Seboma and Ukinnu sat together beneath the tattered tent, glancing at the burning sands around them, and the many other tents set around their ward. The Impis had been stationed there for months, while sages studied the strange discovery; to Seboma, though, it all seemed a great waste of time, and that... thing... made him uneasy. Heh, he thought, I've seen friends laying on the ground in a pool of blood, their viscera spread around them like necklaces, shattered ribcages through which one could see a heart still struggling to beat... and I haven't flinched. And now I am uneasy? Yet, he could not shake the feeling. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought he was afraid... but that was ridiculous.

"... and rumor has it that Bel's forces are pushing hard to eradicate our ally from Noptae..." Ukinnu continued to drone on. Old loyalties ran deep, and it was well-known that Ukinnu would have wished to fight in the war against the so-called "god of peace", no matter how it was going. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, he somehow managed to get fresh news from that front - no small feat, that. Normally, Seboma was interested in these news, but not today. There was something... different... about today. A current in the air, like the quiet before the storm.

War, Seboma thought. he felt his blood afire with anticipation. He was familiar with this feeling... the stillness, the excitation. Had the goddess of light finally decided to war against uKulwa? Perhaps Vashitva's erstwhile followers were seeking to wreak havoc in their mad grief? Maybe another deity sought to carve a homeland from uKulwa's own plains? It would not matter. Who could hope to best the soldiers of the god of War? Seboma's weapons were sharp and well-kept; he was not afraid. Instinctively, his gaze ran to the horizon, where he half-expected to see the shadows of an army slowly approaching... but no, nothing was there.

Yet something was coming, he felt it in his bones. All the little scars he bore were burning; he had always heard of old men complaining that their wounds hurt when the weather changed, but to him, they had always hurt when war was about to come. Finally, then, we might see some action, he thought. I wonder if someone figured out what we're doing here.

Something caught his eye, a gleaming that should not be there. Scholars had gathered to discuss their latest findings, yet their faces looked worried as they glanced at the object of their studies. What was going on there? Ukimmu droned on, "... can still turn the tide of battle, I think..." but Seboma did not pay attention. There was something there, he now noticed. Something had changed.

Continues...
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Post by Xar »

Flicker... a man walked through gray plains, his face determined and ageless, his eyes unfocused, muttering beneath his breath, seeking something. Flicker... the same man knelt on featureless ground, tears streaming from his eyes, hand outstretched in a pleading gesture towards an unseen figure. Flicker... an indistinct figure stepped through a wall of mists. Flicker... amidst the chaos of battle, the shards of a spear clattered on the floor, but the light was too bright to observe what occurred. Flicker... something dark and ruined crawled out of a hellpit, crumbling into exhaustion on golden sand. Flicker... by a searing forge, a shadowy blacksmith forged a runed sword, each blow of his hammer leaving behind glowing green runes. Flicker... three indistinct figures stood side by side, two holding swords, one holding a mace. Flicker... flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker...

Continues...
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Post by Xar »

"Gaaah!" Seboma clutched at his head, squeezing his eyes shut in an effort to get rid of the visions; he heard whimpering and cries all around him, but he did not understand what was going on. An ethereal wailing rose all around him, desperate and agonizing, but he did not know if his voice had joined that chorus. Something warm flowed out of his ears, but he did not care. His head hurt as if something tried to come out of it, and though he held on, he could not keep the visions away. A deep, powerful humming had taken hold of him, surrounding him, so mighty that he felt his teeth rattle in tune with it; the air seemed to grow thick like molasses, and he gasped for breath. It was the end, he knew - death...

The pressure ceased, the pain in his head slowly receded, until he finally opened his eyes. His hands were covered in blood, like his clothes; an eerie silence surrounded him, until he realized the blood had come from his ears - he was deaf. Yet next to his feet lay the unmoving body of Ukinnu, who had clawed out his eyes in agony and whose face was raked with bloody gashes, marked by two pits of blackness. He was dead. All around Seboma, all throughout the camp, every single living thing was dead, corpses lay in the sand, arms outstretched, faces twisted in agony. Numbness receded and he found himself horrified. Who could have used such foul means to wipe out an army?

Then he turned, and he saw the item they had been sent to protect...

Seboma's body lay in the sand, near his friend Ukinnu's; his mind was gone, his muscles twitched. He muttered three words over and over again, frantically... "Yeye afanya ulimwengu!"
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