Enmity of Atlas

“You were just sitting on that this entire time? And here I thought you were helpless,” Urime said, cautiously approaching Leo now that he’d calmed down.

“Yeah…not quite,” Leo responded, still trying to internalize the moment in his mind.

That feeling, the anger, the hatred, the power, he needed to remember what it felt like. He needed to be able to summon that type of strength when it really mattered. Leo left the room, still contemplating what had just happened, his mind more resolute than before. He could do something. He just needed to know how. Leo started to make his way back towards the banquet hall to meet up with everyone, Urime letting him out without much else to say, but got stopped halfway, the most peculiar man just sitting there, waiting. When Leo approached, the man looked up, his eyes a rolling mass of the deepest crimson with a slight glow to them. The continuous motion was unsettling, unlike anything Leo had ever seen before. Leo stopped a little ways back, unnerved by the man.

“Say, you’re a newcomer here, aren't you? Part of that refugee group Urime brought in earlier?” The man asked, his voice surprisingly deep. Leo simply nodded, his own voice catching far back in his throat. “I figured. Here, I’ve got something for you. It’s a little gift we give to all of the newcomers, something to make them feel welcome,” the man stepped forward.

He was clutching something in his fist. Leo instinctively wanted to take a step back, but he held his composure, keeping himself still. He held out his hand, accepting the gift, but the man didn’t give it to him. Instead, he opened his palm, revealing that it was a plain looking silver necklace. Without asking, the man stepped forward to slip the necklace onto Leo’s neck. Without thinking, Leo jumped back, his heart nearly beating out of his chest. He didn’t know why, but something about the man was really rubbing him the wrong way, not just the way he looked, the way he acted, too. It just didn’t feel right.

The man stopped, the smile dropping from his face. He was glaring at Leo now, his whole face contorting from a thinly veiled rage bubbling plainly to the surface. Leo’s intuition was right. This man had ulterior motives. He wasn’t to be trusted. They stood there for a minute, neither one of them moving, the man still staring daggers into Leo. It felt like the very air itself was on fire, an aura of wrath emanating out from the man in waves, gripping and grabbing at Leo with vigor. It hurt to even breathe, Leo’s lungs burning as he heaved to try and take in whatever oxygen was left in the air. What was this feeling? Leo felt like he was burning alive, but his skin was cold. His whole body was wracked with fear, stunned, frozen, burning. The man stepped forward, his hands now limp at his side.

“Leo?” A voice from afar called out. It was Trenton. He was on the far end of the hallway, boldly approaching the two of them. The man turned around, his iron gaze now boring into Trenton instead, his anger redoubled. But Trenton didn’t seem to be bothered in the slightest, his breathing normal, his stride confident. He walked right up to the man, looking down on him with his superior stature, his own gaze steely. “Something the matter?” Trenton said in a low voice. The man didn’t make a move, locking eyes with Trenton for several seconds, neither one backing down. Eventually, his body still stiff, the man smiled.

“No, of course not. I was just about to give your friend a gift. A token of my goodwill. But on second thought, I’d like you to have it,” the man spat out, his voice tense. He held out the necklace to Trenton, offering him to take it.

“Leave,” Trenton demanded, his own anger creeping into his voice. For a second, somewhere far back in Trenton’s eyes, Leo thought he saw a faint yellow glint, a subtle flash, but when he blinked, it was gone. What was that? Had he imagined it? Without another word, the man simply walked away, no argument, no last glare, nothing. It was almost too easy. When the man disappeared from view, Trenton walked over to Leo, wrapping his arm around Leo’s shoulders, a smile returning to his face. “What a weird guy. I wonder what that necklace was. He seemed really intent on giving it to us.”

“Yeah. Maybe it was magic,” Leo said, all the energy in his body draining away..

“Probably. How’d your sparing go? You look a little beat up.”

Leo shrugged, “It was alright. I’m tired, though. I’ll probably head to bed early,” he said, trying to get out of a lengthy conversation.

“I’ll go see if I can get us a room. Since we’re in such a massive complex, I imagine we can loosen up a little bit.”

“Right.”

They wandered around for a little while, retracing their steps back to the dining hall, where they found everyone else packing up, getting ready to head to their own rooms. While Trenton and Leo had been gone, they’d already been given room assignments. Trenton, Leo, and Garrote were in one room, Kiva and Millie in another. They were led to their separate rooms by some more knowledgeable patrons, the many twists and turns confusing Leo’s already muddled brain. The encounter with the crimson eyed man was bugging him, his skin still crawling from the memory of the man’s glare. It was unnatural. When they got to their room, a simple little suite with 2 beds, an opened window, and a wooden chair and table, Leo immediately flopped onto one of the beds, succumbing to his weariness.

“I’ll be in the room right next to you, so if you need anything, just let me know,” their chauffeur said. He was a man of average height with black hair, his body marked with dozens of scars. He looked young, but he’d clearly seen his fair share of fighting.

“Will do. By the way, we met a weird man in the hallway earlier, a guy with these rolling crimson eyes. He really wanted to give us a necklace for some reason,” Trenton said, recounting the scene as simply as he could.

The man’s eyes widened, his look more serious now, “That’s odd. Did you take the necklace?” The man asked. Trenton shook his head, holding up his empty hands. “Alright, I’ll send word up the chain. Thanks for letting me know. Goodnight,” the man hastily closed the door, leaving the three of them in silence, a dim mote of light their only means to see.

“You ran into someone in the hallways?” Garrote asked, slipping off his shirt and sitting down in the chair, rubbing his head with his hands.

“When I went to grab Leo. They were just looking at each other when I saw them,” Trenton said, shrugging.

“With looooooooove?” Garrote said, his voice swooping low, his eyebrows raised.

“Oh piss off. The guy looked like death manifest. Nothing to love there,” Leo said, rolling over to eye Garrote.

“Sure. I believe you,” Garrote replied, grimacing now. He was sweating an unusual amount, his body oddly pale.

“You alright?” Trenton asked, walking over to the table.

“Yeah, fine,” Garrote managed, his voice strained. “My heads hurting bad, a nasty headache. I think I overdid it on magic today. Trying to slow you down after all of the climbing was too much.”

“Go lay down. I’ll take your watch tonight,” Trenton said, motioning towards the bed.

“I think I’m going to go take a walk, actually. I need some fresh air. I’ll be back in a little while,” Garrote said, rising shakily to his feet and stumbling out the door.

“Make sure not to get lost,” Trenton called after him, sitting down on the simple wooden chair. Now that it was quiet, Leo was quickly losing steam, his consciousness fading as he laid on the rather stiff bed, still fully dressed. The last thing Leo remembered before passing out was hearing a fluttering of feathers and seeing a flash of iridescent green.

***

Out in the courtyard by midnight. That was what he was told. Kaf got a little carried away with preparations, but with how smoothly things were going, there was no way Horagus would be mad at him. Sure they had that slight hiccup with the Trenton boy, but that was Horagus’s fault, not his. They were just lucky that Trenton had come to Kaf instead of one of the actual base members. If word had gotten to Urime, this whole operation would’ve been over before it even began.

Kaf broke out into the courtyard, quickly sliding up next to Horagus, saluting and standing stiff. Horagus didn’t look at him, instead choosing to stare into the empty night sky, his crimson eyes seeming to absorb the moonlight shining down on them, his face wracked with fury greater than Kaf had ever seen before. He was keeping his presence held within himself, but just barely. Kaf could feel some of the residuals, the heat, the intensity, coming off of Horagus. It was overwhelming even at a distance. How Trenton managed to hold himself together like that was beyond him. Any normal person should’ve been frozen stiff just from feeling even a small segment of Horagus’s power. No meer boy should’ve had the ability to shrug it off like that. That was probably what had Horagus so furious.

“Kaf, you’re late,” Horagus said, his voice like a swarm of daggers.

“Sorry, sir. Everything is ready, sir. I was-”

“Quiet. I don’t want to hear it. We already failed to find the location of the main base, so I'm in a rather bad mood at the moment. I’m leaving the rest to you. Urime should be dealt with, so there’s nothing here that should be able to stop you. I’ll leave the troops to your command. Make sure not to lose many. And be absolutely certain that Trenton suffers. I’d like to kill himself myself, but I’m not wasting anymore time here,” Horagus bent his body backwards, his arms thrown to the side, a bounty of magical energy seeping off of his skin, the air humming, his eyes gleaming with light.

-Zenith Cast: Maw of the Elder Dragon-

Far above them, hovering easily 100ft in the air, a magic skeletal dragon’s head took shape, its form looming like a meteor that never quite hits the ground. When the skull was fully formed, black scales and muscle layered on top, forming a spitting image of the elder dragon, it hovered there, its eyes and mouth still closed, colossal, imposing. Kaf had heard the description before, but he’d never actually seen this spell cast before. It was marvelous. Anything thrown into the mouth was devoured, instantaneous death no matter who you were, a zenith cast like no other. Horagus stood upright, the light in his eyes fading back down to its normal level.

“Open,” Horagus said, the mouth and eyes of the dragon's head creaking open, revealing the blinding crimson light held within its body. “You know what to do. Let the feast begin.”