KING OF BEASTS (Hiatus)

The landscape ahead was dusty bronze and rusted gold. The earth was hard and cracked. There were sprinkles of trees that littered the land, alone and withered. It was the sight of death, and Ares couldn't help but feel that the sun, with its heavy rays that blazed against his skin, was rather cool to his skin. His stomach cramped and he struck it with the side of his fist.

 

Ozondo led the group along a canyon, following the open earth for a long ways.

 

Ares didn't enjoy moving so close to the side of the canyon. Though he could fly, there was something about an open mouth in the earth that made his stomach churn. Even his wound stopped bothering him, as though it too was afraid of the drop.

 

Ares took a chance and peered over to notice that the hole within the canyon was actually slanting upwards towards them with each moment. He looked off into the distance and saw that the canyon indeed came up to the top where they were riding.

 

"Ozondo?" Ares asked quietly.

 

"Yes?"

 

"Are we going down into the canyon?"

 

"Yes."

 

Ares turned to face Orndu and then to Torak. He sighed as he continued on, silent. Torak rode up beside him.

 

"Is something the matter?"

 

"No, not really…"

 

"You can speak to me."

 

"I just don't like the idea of heading down into a canyon is all," Ares said as he drank some water from the palm of his hand. Then his thoughts fell to Ezak, who was almost lying down on his front against the pony.

 

"How are you holding up?" Ares asked.

 

Ezak sat up straight but then slouched. "I am well," he said with a raspy voice.

 

Ares motioned with a hand and Ezak held up a bowl. Ares filled it up and Ezak started to slurp the water down, and once again Ares filled the bowl.

 

"Don't be afraid to ask me for water," Ares said. "You are a Bitan, water is your lifeblood, even more so than ours. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, don't be ashamed." Ares drank from his palm once more.

 

Zika was the only member who was enjoying herself, with the harsh sun beating against her skin. She would sometimes flick her tongue into the air with joy, as though tasting the heat. Even their horses were growing weary of the heat, and by the time they had appeared where the canyon met together and formed a slope, Ares created some long walls to allow the horses to cool off and rest.

 

There were still some vegetables from the buffalofolk, which Ares fed to the various horses. He would also feed them whatever grains he had stored within his ring. He had quite a bit and so they needed worry about that sort of thing. Sometimes he'd even feed the horses some flatbread.

 

"Anyone need any water?" Ares asked.

 

"If you would be so kind," the dwarf said as he held out his bowl and Ares filled it.

 

"Excited to be near home?" Ares asked.

 

"As much as I enjoy the overworld, a dwarf's home is under the earth."

 

"I can't wait to return home either," Ares admitted. "I'm sure my wife will appreciate a return sooner rather than later." Ares winked.

 

Ozondo chuckled.

 

Once the horses were fed and rested, they continued onwards. Ares brushed his hand through his horse's mane. He was still thinking of a name for her.

 

Sky.

 

That was his current offering but he wasn't sure as of yet. He had a few other ideas too, but that was his best idea. The others were Cloud, Whitey, though he felt it was a little racist, Shine, and Lightfoot.

 

Lightfoot was quintessential fantasy, so he wasn't sure if he should be that on the nose with her.

 

Soon the long shadows of the canyon covered them in translucent darkness. It was lonely at the bottom of the canyon, though Ares could spy some spires off in the distance.

 

"Who made those?" Ares asked.

 

Ozondo looked back to Ares and then to the spires once more.

 

"I'm just wondering why there are a bunch of ruins down here."

 

"Those are no ruins," Ozondo said. "Those are bones."

 

"What?"

 

As they grew closer Ares could see just how big they truly were. They went up about thirty metres into the sky, the curved bones standing still in the darkness. There were rows upon rows of these curved bones, Ares counted at least thirty pairs that sank into the ground, which could have easily held many more in its depths.

 

"My god…" Ares whispered.

 

What manner of creature had these bones belonged to? Ares couldn't imagine. It seemed to be a giant snake, a…

 

Leviathan?

 

"What was it?" Ares asked.

 

"An earth snake," Ozondo replied. "Killed by my ancestors centuries passed."

 

"How many centuries?"

 

"Beyond millenia."

 

"That's a long time."

 

Ozondo nodded. "We were once plagued by earth worms, but no longer."

 

"Did you kill them all?"

 

"We killed a great many, but some were driven away. The last we saw of an earth worm was a few centuries ago, in the time of my great grandfather."

 

"Did you kill it?"

 

"We did."

 

Ares hummed, impressed. "How?"

 

"Our machines."

 

"What kind of machines?"

 

"You may be able to see them yet."

 

Ares chuckled as they continued their way through the floor of the canyon, followed by his echoing laughter which bounced off the walls and created a dark symphony.

 

Ares shuddered.

 

They rode a little harder now as the canyon seemed to level out and so they could move into a canter, and sometimes a gallop. Ares would still call for a rest now and again, keeping at a pace where they could still travel many more miles on the horses than on foot. Sometimes the canyon would curve this way and that way, and sometimes they would need to slow as there were a handful of areas where there was a small drop, like elongated stairs.

 

Finally they could see in the distance the end of the canyon, though the wall was covered in the haze of heat. It was near evening now and they had ridden the entire day. They had travelled along the canyon, which was many miles across, and so everyone was feeling the heaviness that came with such a task.

 

“Finally,” Ares said as he pat the side of his horse. “We’re so close now.”

 

Ares hopped off his horse and then looked out to the ground ahead of them. There were large rocks that jutted out from the bottom for a few hundred metres and so they would need to leave their horses behind.

 

“Torak, Beor, keep an eye on the horses,” Ares said.

 

The pair nodded as the others followed Ozondo and Ares forward. Ares couldn’t help but admire the giant wall ahead of them and as they approached, the haze seemed to dissipate and then they could see the giant wall in all it’s glory. There they could see a design that had been carved into the mountain, definitely from the touch of an artisan.

 

Against the giant wall was the shape of a face, a dwarven face Ares could see, in the shape of a grimace. Teeth near the bottom, a bear that flowed out like flames, an angry nose, and eyes that were squinting at them.

 

“What a sight,” Ares whispered aloud as they continued to walk along the path, trying to not fall between the cracks.

 

Ezak was panting and Ares offered him some water.

 

Then the ground shook, as though a giant had tread upon the land. Ares looked up towards the wall and saw the eyes had opened, or rather the earth had disappeared.

 

Ozondo stopped and looked above as well, confusing marring his face.

 

“Ozondo?” Ares asked.

 

Ozondo looked back to Ares with furrowed brows, shaking his head. “I don’t know,” he said.

 

Then where the eyes once were, there were two large ballistae, at least that’s what Ares could see. Within those ballistae were giant bolts of silver and green.

 

“Ozondo?” Ares asked once more.

 

Ozondo stared up, breathless. Then he exclaimed something in his tongue, “It is I, Ozo-”

 

An explosion rocked through the valley, the ground shaking. A single bolt approached the group and Ares raised a hand, trying to shift the bolt away. The bolt pulsed with great energy and shuddered for a moment, yet it stayed true and then struck merely a metre away from Ozondo, who dove aside, with Ares stepping back too. A shower of rocks covered them for a moment.

 

‘I can’t shift the bolt away.’

 

Then the ground shook once more, the explosion echoing.

 

“Run!” Ares exclaimed as he watched the second bolt. It was veering to his left and Ares caught a look at Ezak on his unsteady legs, staring down at the cracks where his bident was currently caught.

 

Ares didn’t understand what was happening.

 

He looked out to Ezak, who had fallen aside and felt a shower of red against his neck and face. His hand was on Ezak’s side, but there was something hot at his.

 

Ares looked down to see the large bolt buried deep beside him in the rocks, and crimson painted the nearby area around him. He reached down and touched the giant hole as his side, not understanding yet that the bolt had buried through his stomach and had taken up much of his side and thigh with it.

 

He passed out before the pain rocked his body.