The Mother of Monsters

The trees had begun to thin as they entered their third day of travel. The space between the trees grew wider and wider while the canopy thinned. Long streaks of light broke through the persistent daytime twilight and made the whole forest seem to glow. Teyva and Azrael had been walking side-by-side for a while, Elat hung back a little to examine some of the local plants they passed. He was followed up by the lumbering form of The Marble who could have eyes in the front and back and had taken the role of watching their rear.

Teyva walked in comfortable silence, scratching at Nephral’s chin while Azrael browsed through her Journal. She stopped when she stumbled upon something and glanced over at Teyva, “What’s this about a Party?”

Teyva nearly stumbled, her nail scratching Nephral a little too close to home. The Sphinx let out a disgruntled yowl and took to the air, fluttering away to land on a tree and glare down at his mother. She shot a look at him apologetically and then glanced over at Azrael; “I completely forgot!”

She pulled up her Journal. She rarely used it for more than examining things these days. Prompts were enough to keep track of her own progress. The Journal split itself into several menus when it appeared in front of her. From left to right they were: CHARACTER, INVENTORY, ABILITIES, SKILLS, QUESTS, and PARTY. She selected the sixth option and it showed an empty screen with a simple plus sign inside a vague rectangle. Getting the picture, she selected the plus sign and a prompt appeared.

She did as it instructed and it was Azrael’s turn to stumble. She frowned at open space before turning her eyes to Teyva and back again. “I see.”

There was a pause and another prompt appeared.

The first thing that Teyva noticed was another set of status bars just within her peripheral vision. Above them was Azrael’s name as well as a few symbols indicating various passive buffs. She selected Azrael and another menu popped up. This one giving a series of options. They were standard fare from what Teyva remembered from her past life, there was a trade option as well as a kick-from-party option. The one that caught her eye though was the private message option. Teyva selected it and a tone rang out in the back of her mind like a prompt but closer to a bell. Azrael glanced her way again and a second chime rang.

“Hello?” Teyva thought.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Azrael’s voice came back through the link.

“Want to keep the channel open?” Teyva asked, glancing her friends way.

Azrael nodded and cleared her throat. “I can only imagine how a full group would be able to use such a thing, I wonder what the range is.”

“No idea, it doesn’t say,” Teyva said, scratching her chin before looking up at Nephral leaping from tree to tree. Behind him the Mockeries swarmed this way and that, darting into foliage in search of something to eat. They would stop now and then and consume various plants when they had to before clinging to the trees and watching their mother’s passing. Some of them had even begun to play among themselves or fight when the opportunity arose, their little legs cracking against eachother as they rolled about on tree limbs. Among them all, the largest of them lingered apart from the group; watching.

Teyva called the big one over while Azrael centered herself. It landed on her palm and folded its legs back into its body, its eyes opening wide to look up at Teyva with curiosity. She ran her finger around the rim of the large coin and tilted her head towards Azrael; “So what’s it like?”

“What’s what like?”

“Osan. You never filled me in on the details. What kind of city is it?” She’d never been to a proper city in this world, the closest to any sort of gathering of people being the small orcish settlement. She could only imagine how large Osan was. Did it have big buildings? How many people were there?

“I’m curious too,” Elat chimed in from behind them. Teyva glanced back and saw him hastening to catch up.

Azrael let out a breath, “It’s not a city, not in the way you might be imagining one. It is not a collection of buildings packed together in a single geographical area,” She explained, “It is one single building. There are some external structures but they are dwarfed by the main one.”

Teyva raised her eyebrows; “That must be one heck of a building.”

“Yes, it’s very old. I’m told it used to be a fortress from a long time ago but over the years my people settled in its walls and formed communities. That isn’t to say that there aren’t communities of Azar outside of Osan. In fact, it’s pretty sparsely populated compared to the four major tribes,” Azrael explained.

“I have heard of the tribes,” Elat said, “They are named after cardinal directions.”

“Yes, centered around Osan as the focal point. By tradition our capital is the home to the King and no lord lives there unless they are recognized by the other four tribes. When there isn’t a ruler the Four are in charge and meet there regularly to talk,” She added, putting emphasis on the word ‘four’.

“The Four?”

Azrael smiled broadly, her eyes sparkling a little as she looked out towards the trees; “Yes, The Four. The chosen leaders of the tribes and the king’s most trusted vassals. Each of them swore loyalty to him years ago and helped him restore Osan into what it is today. Each of them is an incredible person!”

She began to list off of her fingers; “There’s Barin Kot of the South, he is the leader of the Magi and a very wise man. He and the King worked closely together on many projects trying to make life better for the Azar. Tiisha of the North, She manages the northern reaches of the Wildlands and is the kings oldest friend.”

“Yaga Yftha of the East is someone we might run into out there. She’s the first line of defense on the eastern border and is constantly on patrol, scary woman. Finally there’s Argus Wo of the West. The western reaches of the Wildlands stretch to the coast and so don’t really require much in the way of defending but of all of the Four he is the readiest for conflict. He taught me much of what I know about swordplay and was once a Warden himself.”

Teyva nodded along, “So you know these people well? Your father must have had them around a lot.”

Azrael hesitated and then nodded; “Yes, you could say each of them played a role in raising me. Most people think of them as these untouchable paragons. They all possess the [Aspect of the Azar] as well as their own Aspect, as close as one can be to the King of the Azar himself.”

“They have multiple Aspects?” Elat asked, confounded, “How did they manage it?”

“There are other beings like Deshan out there, and each tribe has one that favors them. When they were made leaders of their respective tribes they had to be worthy of the blessing that their patron possessed,” Azrael explained, “They are mighty. I’m quite curious to find out what level they are.”

“You and me both,” Teyva said, glancing around at the trees. To think that there were people out there with multiple aspects. Azrael had said that it wasn’t impossible just something reserved for some level of divinity. She supposed that divinity meant different things to different people. But did that mean that the Four were basically worshipped by the Azar? What the heck did that mean for the King himself? How many aspects did he have?

She was about to ask that very question when Azrael raised a hand; “Hold on,” She hushed, sniffing at the air and turning her head. Her pointed ear twitched and she narrowed her eyes. “Decay and ground-oil, the scent is strong and directly ahead.”

“Wightlings,” Elat growled, drawing out his bow and nocking an arrow, “How far?”

“I’m surprised they haven’t come our way yet,” Azrael said, “I just caught the scent too, very strange.”

“Was it hiding it somehow?” Teyva asked.

“The only wightling we’ve seen that could reason or have abilities like that was the Madcaller,” Azrael pointed out. The two of them looked at each other and Teyva changed her arms into the [Grasp of the Tomb Guardian]. She sent out a mental call to Nephral and her Mockeries and they hurried back. Finally, she glanced back at The Marble and urged him to catch up. The creatures long legs scuttled across the ground making an awful scraping sound before the big creature came to a stop at the group’s side.

With Nephral back on her shoulders, Teyva fell into step behind Azrael and the three of them formed up into a tight group. They’d discussed at length different ways to take advantage of one another’s abilities. Azrael’s Warden powers depended on having someone she was protecting behind her and Teyva’s own powers had become oriented towards ranged attacks while swapping to melee only when necessary. Elat himself was entirely focused on ranged attacks. Those factors had led to them deciding on their current marching order. With The Marble at the back, it was hard to sneak up on them as well.

They crept along for almost five minutes before they caught sight of the thing sitting in the middle of the trees. Its twisted body was hunched over, legs pulled up to its shoulders and gangly arms out in front. It pawed at the ground almost listlessly, its manic eyes focused entirely on the dirt and grass beneath its feet. It was larger than the Madcaller by almost a foot and a half, bones jutting from its arms and thick plates of black flesh covering its curled spine. Its head appeared to be some sort of Elk skull that had cracked open to reveal five bloodshot eyes.

Teyva examined it.

“Level 7, way stronger than the Madcaller,” Teyva said, “We’re in for a fight here.”

“We can’t avoid it?” Elat asked.

The creature turned its head and rose to its feet, its over-long arms stretching toward the ground. It opened its mouth and revealed rows of sharp canid teeth. It raised its arms to its sides and grasped at its chest, tugging at its own flesh. Something glowed beneath, burning like a hot coal.

“No, it was waiting for us,” Azrael growled, “Get ready.”