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THE SCRIPTURES OF ODDCLAW

Twelve: A Battle for the Soul

"I knew then that they had been men, neither gods nor demons.

It is a great knowledge, hard to tell and believe.

They were men - they went a dark road, but they were men."

Stephen Vincent Benet

"P-please...let my family go-"

"They are coming to your door. We can only hold them off for so long but even we cannot protect you from all of them."

"I-i don't, please, p-please DO NOT DO THIS!"

"F-father...my Father shall protect us, He shall...save us-"

"How much do you TRULY trust Him?"

"I...I-i-i-"

"He has not saved your neighbours, nor your friends not even your city."

"I will NOT...abandon His grace-"

"But will you abandon hope? Your family? What even awaits you beyond this life, do you think He will save you by letting you die?!"

"N-NO, NOOO! HE WILL NOT ABANDON US!"

"But YOU will abandon this life, abandon your family?"

"N-no...I will not...abandon anyone a-and neither will my F-father-"

"Then prove it. Accept us. Become one of us and if He truly loves you...then He shall 'save' you from our fold yes?"

"I-i-i...I-..."

"If you truly believe in your almighty father, then you have nothing to fear. All you are doing is protecting your family, surely that...is worth His grace alone."

"I......I-i-i must-"

"No, no DON'T DO IT!"

"CHANOCH! NOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO!"

"Chanoch? Chanoch!"

His eyes bleared open towards the cavern roof.

"Are you awake?!"

He said nothing, turning his head towards a portly-looking lizardman in ragged crimson finery.

"We are leaving, we have to leave."

The beast rose up from his slumber wordlessly, his armour clinking and scraping its parts against each other to his fullest height a good foot-and-a-half above the one who woke him. Both lizardmen looked at each other as the shorter one muttered with pointing fingers and a hand to his tympanal cheeks that had them more resemble iguana-beasts.

"U-uhhh, yes, leaving Ch-chanoch, are you ready?"

"Yes," said the tall one bluntly.

"OH, good then um l-let us go?!"

Checking his broadsword was still in its sheath againt his thigh, he followed his robed accomplice into the dark passages of some unknown cavern. Clawed feet echoed into the abyss as their eyes glinted red, the armoured one keeping his sword in hand for any disturbance. The passage wound itself into a coil as a deep wind echoed throughout the place, a howling cry of ancients lost that shrieked past their ears as they descended further. The husky lizardman in front pulled his red foppish gown whenever it caught against the rock, whimpering towards the bleak infinite black.

"Th-thank...well I would have said thank the Lord for my eyes but that was not HIS 'gift' was it?"

He turned to look back briefly at Chanoch who walked in pace with him, his heavy steps causing trembles through the earth beneath that made the shorter lizard stop and flinch occasionally, his head twitching in every direction as if fearing the walls would collapse on him. There was a faint sound of a river in the distance that lured them towards it, but the cavernous echoes made it sound closer than it actually was as ten minutes passed through the empty darkness of coldest blue and black streaked walls. Clawed feet scraped against the icy ground as they came through the narrow passage fully into a more open space, the squat beast heaving his gut in to push himself through.

"HNNNNGH...a-aaagh mercy, this feels colder than France in the winter!"

Chanoch pulled himself after with a hard scrape of his armour as fragments of stone crackled around him in a slight widening of the gap. A few more passageways could be seen around them, none of which looked distinct as the red-coated beast spun in a circle frantically.

"Wh-...where are they?! They were supposed to be here!" He grabbed at his head and whimpered. "We can't have taken a wrong turn, I know north is THAT direction but what if they...if they did not know that ohhhhh GOD help me this is a disaster I-i cannot be blamed for this, how are they supposed to know what direction to even go in in the subterrane without me?!"

He looked at the reptile behind him and gestured desperately with his hands, wildly gesticulating to every wall before he stomped up towards Chanoch.

"Can you not SAY something at least?!"

He gave no response.

"I could have left you behind, I could have run off ahead but Karam insisted I stay behind to wake you when we were ready!"

"Behind you," the knight muttered.

"What?! Are you offended I went out first, I know the way!"

"Behind, you."

"Wh-what are you talking abou-OOOF!"

The soldier pushed past him and walked directly towards the other end of the cave where he peered around its cragged edges. A strand of yellow string hung against a sharpened point.

"Gregory, here."

"O-oh, YES of course!" said Gregory slapping his head. "Ravinder left us a thread, of course the lady is the cleverest of us."

"She is."

They headed onwards through the crevasse, the sound of water starting to rush through their ears until it became a surging force that overpowered the sharp echoing winds. A wider passage than before led them to the riverbank, a large flowing brook of murky crystal blue that seemed both pure and unholy at the same time. Gregory stepped towards the riverbank to see hands floating through the abyss as he pulled back with a shudder at the whispering brook whilst Chanoch sat himself down on a rock and pulled out a cloth to polish his blade.

"I hate this damnable river, the fact it runs underneath this monster's castle is testament to his blasphemous ruin. ...you do not think they went ahead do you?"

He peered all around the river's edge for any sign of life in the eternal darkness. Nothing but black and frigid azure reflecting across the stone walls amidst gentle ripples on the water that crept closer to his foot.

"You...d-did they abandon us?! If they left us behind I SWEAR I will make them pay by God's wrath himself! Have I not done enough?! Have I not been a good Christian, d-do they have something against me, against US?!"

The swordsman looked up with a weird squint at his words before continuing to clean his blade.

"What if they consorted together, these...th-these non-Christians, to make a fool of me?! You and I we are practically brothers, we are both of Christ's flock but those other three are a heathenous sort from whom I cannot tell what! Do you not agree?"

But Chanoch said nothing, his fingers gripping the cloth as he dug carefully into the holy script imbedded into the blade's central groove. Gregory threw his hands and spun in a slight circle closer to the water's edge.

"Does it hurt for you to talk or...because I am trying to reach out to you brother, but you keep shutting me away, truly, have I offended you in any manner so as to warrant such cold reception? If you simply tell me then I shall reprimand mysel-A-AAAAH, O-OHHH GOD HELP ME!"

The shorter beast felt a slimy hand grab at his heel as he struggled to pull away, looking down at the horrid ghoulish thing that crawled out of the murky water and lumbered towards his frantic stumbling body. A ragged fishbeast whose flesh had since decayed to a brown mulch as its claws scraped against the stone as it tried to pull harder at Gregory's leg. Slowly it began to pile on top of him and much to his horror he saw four more of them emerging from the river.

"A-AAAAAAGH, GOD, PLEAAAAAASE!"

The fishmonster opened its flabby lips wide with fiendish teeth and dead pale eyes gleaming upon the Christian. A sword drove through its head in a straight horizontal skewer only seconds later as Chanoch grabbed Gregory's neck and pulled him away before standing in front of him, facing the mermen's wretched husks that shuddered with drooling teeth. Kicking the first one's head off his blade, the swordsman swung towards them with threatening stance as the second beast attacked with lumbering swipes in a desperate charge as the warrior grabbed its arm and wrenched it free from its socket with a vicious crack, before thrusting his sword hard into the corpse's chest to crack the ribcage in half and even splinter it out its back. The monster hissed with a wretched shriek to crumple to the dirt as the third fishman attacked.

Lunging like a wild wolf towards Chanoch it landed on top of him as he pushed his blade like a crossbar against its throat, cold drooling spit from its maw slathering across his face as he drove his gauntlet-covered fist straight into the back of its throat and forced it to choke. Stuttering with gasping coughs it pulled back to give Chanoch some breathing space as he swung for its legs to sever them in half, screeching horrid agonies before he cleaved its throat wide open to silence its suffering. The last two came at once in pincer formation, gasping howls of hunger and rage as the lizardman stepped back sharp to evade them both. He watched their distance from each other until they were just equal in step, moving around both sides of him before they striked.

"OHHHH, M-MERCY!"

Gregory shut his eyes tightly with fearful fingers across his face, shivering for what his mind had hoped would never come as he heard the gargling shriek and the sweeping weight of a greatsword whooshing through the air. He opened his eyes once more just in time to see his protector have his blade straight out behind him after a half-spin cut, shredding through the corpses of the two fishmen that now slumped into four as Gregory stood back up shaking.

"H-hoh, thank, thank you sir Chanoch, I thought those things would have ended me!"

"Hmm." He wiped his blade clean of blood and sputum before sheathing it into its scabbard. "I hate fish."

"Hah, w-well you would yes, you are uh-"

"Shut up." He looked over his shoulder towards the shorter beast. "Do not go near the water."

"Yes, yes of course, h-how foolish of me. But where do you think the others are?"

"HOOOOIII!"

A voice from the dark came as they could see a light glinting faintly on the water. Slowly the light grew to reveal it was a lantern swinging from the bow of a small boat creeping across the river. An old man in a cloak of silver with bulging pupils ready to fall from his loose sockets, gnarled skin of palest milk that had long since curdled with thin wretched fingers like the yew tree.

"Good to see you arrived hmmm?"

"A-ah, ferryman!" The robed lizardman stumbled forwards but then stopped a few feet from the river with wobbled legs. "H-have you seen three lizard-well, beasts such as us?"

"I have indeed," said the ferryman grasping his oar, "they told me to expect you coming, they already have paid for your passage."

"OH, thank the Lord."

"Won't do you good to thank him in this place."

"Can you take us, now?!"

"Of course, just hop in it's what I'm here for."

The lizardmen stepped into the boat with Gregory almost falling from his lack of balance before he sat himself down in his seat whilst Chanoch stood impervious to the boat's rocking motions. The ferryman pushed his boat from the bank and began to row his way back through the eternal river of the dead. Hands would grasp plaintively at the sides of the vessel making Gregory flinch and slap them away as Chanoch kept vigil towards the abysmal horizon. The cold sloshing against the oar made a soothing sound in the deep black that soothed the swordsman, his eyes closing briefly for a moment as the tender swaying of the creaking wood calmed his soul. He almost forgot where he was until Gregory's voice shattered through the peace.

"SO, uhhhh ferryman, how goes the morn?"

"Well enough if there WERE a morn," said the oarsman, "you have not been here long have you?"

"L-long enough...how long have you been here?"

"My lad do you not know the River Styx?" The old man swept his hand out across the water. "It is but my kingdom and I am both the judge and king of this small realm."

"Ah, I um...I have not heard of it no."

"Did you never read your Greek?"

"I-i did not care for such heathendom...their practices and...such."

The ferryman gave a wry smirk and tapped his fingers along the pole without another word in silence. Time passed to an aching crawl with the odd merman trying to lumber up at the boat only for the driver to crack his oar across its face. Soon they reached their destination and a trio of familiar faces greeted them with cheerful waves.

"AHHHH Gregory at last!"

"WHAT TOOK YA SO LONG FAT BOY?!"

"DON'T you mock my visage you filthy little beggar!"

They hopped off the boat to be welcomed by one lizardman in a yellow sash and white undergarments, one with a mustard cloak and ragged blue dress, and lastly one in a surprisingly loud outfit of green top, golden scarf and cyan pants with silken shoes that claws poked through.

"Thank you again for your assistance," said the one in the sash.

"Tis nothing, an old GREEK such as me knows that kindness is its own reward." He turned towards Gregory who blushed with shame. "But a few coins never hurt hmhaha. Take care good sirs and madames, I wish you luck in your excursions."

He pushed himself off from the dock and rowed himself back towards the darkness. The smallest lizard sauntered up in her silken shoes to pat the swordsman on the back.

"Sleep good big guy?!"

"No."

"Aww, well, yer up now!"

"Where do we go now Karam?" said Chanoch turning towards the sash-worn lizard.

"Well," stated Karam, "we must traverse down to the old mines and then make our way to the teleporter within. Our mutual friend's gifts shall help us alter its route to allow us a chance of freedom by sending us out of this castle's reach."

"Hopefully," said the female beside him in blue dress, "we do not know if it will even work."

"Ravinder please, let us have some hope in this dismal place."

"I am being realistic dear," she crossed her arms firmly, "one must always prepare for futility."

"Agreed," said Chanoch rubbing his chin, "I will lead, Zhao follow me."

"Alrighty," the green-sleeved Zhao hopped up alongside him with a height of two feet between them, "how's the wea-"

"Say that again and I will feed you your teeth."

"Ooooookay, SOMEONE woke up the wrong side of the bedrock, haha!"

The swordsman rolled his eyes and stepped out in front with Zhao pulling out a twin set of knives to twirl deftly round her fingers. No one was impressed as they left the cold damp caverns to enter a new region of the castle, one much drier and mustier to almost chap their lips. An ancient quarry of sorts, with walls coloured like maize and carefully-hewn rock chipped and smoothened over time from the countless pickaxes that had toiled through the place in histories past. Moss had grown in this environment upon ledges, soft and crunchy beneath their feet with a strange warmth that soothed their heels. The only way forwards was down into the earth itself, the mineshaft yawning like an ancient beast as Karam pulled out a rope from his satchel to tie around a stone column.

"Ladies first?" he gestured towards his wife.

"Why thank you good sir," she replied with a hot kiss, "don't wait up my love."

Ravinder went first, testing the firmness of the rope as she scaled down as far as it would go. The sight of a buried temple could be seen from the large jade pillars with winding serpents that ended in a monstrous snake's head that crowned the top of them. A mockery of some Eastern lore indeterminate that made Ravinder grimace with contempt.

"ALRIGHT, IT'S SAFE!" she cried up echoing.

"My turn!" shouted Zhao as she swept onto the rope and slid with the speed of a thief.

"D-do not shove you wretched child!" blusted Gregory.

"I will go last," said Chanoch carefully.

"Well I hope it will take your weight good friend."

"If it does not, then at least you all are safe."

"It will hold," assured Karam patting the armoured shoulder, "I have tested it myself, you have nothing to fear."

"I only fear one thing Karam."

"I know."

Gregory went next, slower than the others with fidgeting panic and stuttering claws that tried to hold on too much before slithering down the rope. Karam went next and lastly Chanoch would test its fullest strength by scaling down the tightening cord. All of them landed on the next ledge without incident as a hallway unveiled itself before them, long and arched triangular like an Egyptian tomb as the warrior stepped out in front with sword at the ready. No enemies could be heard, seen or smelt which somehow disturbed them far more than having to face unearthly fiends.

"It's too quiet," murmured Zhao, "I don't like this."

"Yes," muttered Chanoch, "keep your guard up, use your eyes."

"Got it."

She gripped her daggers tightly whilst darting her eyes across the hallways. Everything seemed normal, not even a trap was in place but her sense of paranoia increased as sometimes she would have them stop so she could check one of the walls carefully. Nothing. They went on and soon found their destination in the form of a single dead-end room with one grandiose mural set flush against the wall.

"G-god...in Heaven what IS that?!" gasped Gregory.

"That, is our way out," said Karam clapping his hands, "alright, Chanoch keep an eye on the doorway whilst we figure this thing out."

The reptile in yellow sash began to examine the giant carving. Two gladiators wielding spears stood brazenly naked on either side of a pillar where a giant snake's mouth opened wide as if ready to strike, directly above an enormous keyhole-shaped portal that shimmered a rainbow of colours amidst a pale void which sat on a purple plinth crowned by two beastly faces. Karam felt along the sides of the keyhole seeing a golden indent that upon closer inspection revealed the faces of many animals, some humanoid but most of them not.

"What do you think THOSE are?" asked Zhao pointing at the stone beasts.

"Look like cockatrices to me," murmured Ravinder bending over the purple stone base, "see the quiffs of hair they have?"

"Is the plural cockatrices or cockatrees?"

"I do not even know, I hardly knew about them before I came to this place."

"What about theeeeese big boys eh!?" Zhao pointed lewdly at one of the gladiator's well-detailed flaccid cock. "Bet he'd be fun on a night like this."

"Thank you," she said tittering with a smirk, "but I have a big boy already."

"I've seen bigger." They all looked towards Chanoch who stood at the door. "What? I have."

"Alright, gather round everyone." Karam gestured with his hands as if inviting them to the market. "Now, from what Zhao told me concerning the books she read about this place, the architecture of the teleporter correlates to the Zodiac, is that correct?"

"Yep," she said stepping forwards to feel along the ornate rim of the gate, "they got that big snakehead up there buuuut the real prize here are all these little figures round the portal itself. So these uh, teleporters they're all basically cut from the same magic stone SOOOO if we just rub these holy relics onto 'em, they'll react!"

"How does that even work?!" mused Gregory scratching his head. "Are they not different forms of magic?"

"Did you...not listen to the whole plan we had about this two nights back?! Like before we sent off that Scissoraptor thing to fuck up literally everyone?!"

"I-i was busy prostrating myself to God, I cannot always be minded to engage in your shenanigans!"

"Ugh...alright look, THIS is a teleporter." Zhao pointed with both hands to the giant carving. "It's made from a special jade that comes from the Henan Province, Nanyang specifically. All of this, the big gate, that snake, even the purple base is made of jade because it's the second-most famous jade in all of China!"

"Why would the master use only the second-most famous?" pondered Ravinder holding her chin.

"I dunno gee you wanna ask him?!"

"Maybe he just liked the colour, I admit it is very pretty." She tapped the lucrative stone before stroking it. "I have rarely seen a shade of violet so strong as this."

"Anyways," continued Zhao, "this stuff is over five-thousand-years old, my ancestors were using this for like EVERYTHING so it's got a lotta history! The reason for this is the same reason why the Henan Province is the birthplace of all Chinese civilisation, two-hundred empires over twenty dynasties-"

"I don't CARE about your history!" barked Gregory. "Just tell me what is so special about this damn stone!"

"IT'S MAGIC ALRIGHT, IT'S FUCKING MAGIC IT GOT BLESSED BY THE FOUR SYMBOLS SHEESH!"

She sat on the base in front of the giant keyhole and grasped her head with a shaking frustration. Karam stepped forwards with a tender hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you for enlightening us miss Lihua, it was most helpful."

"Nnnmnhhh-"

"Now if you will observe along the rim here that there are many zodiac patterns, both from the western AND eastern. Normally these should just be ornamental BUT in the presence of these four holy relics they react with a strange presence."

"I remember when the librarian told us this," said Ravinder sitting herself down on the jade plinth, "he said that they could not take these relics through these teleporters due to a sacramental fluctuation...at least what is what he called it."

"In other words Gregory, these relics react very strongly to these gates and if we use them then they shall send us away."

"To where?!" asked Gregory spreading his hands wide. "You have not a single clue where we could land!"

"Better than our bondage in this place," said Karam shaking his head with a formal shrug, "if you wish to remain here then by all means return back to the fray, I'll even pay you the toll for the ferryman should you wish!"

"Don't you patronise me you sodding mahound!"

"DON'T call my husband that!" The lady in blue and yellow stood up with a threatening finger pushed against Gregory's snout. "We are Sikhs, for the last TIME if you are not even going to attempt to remember our origins then you would do well to keep as quiet as a churchmouse!"

"I-i-i was merely-"

"You have had all this time to not be mistaken, we are almost at the gate to freedom and STILL you insist on being wrong, like it is a flag of pride for you to be such you pathetic miserable Saxon!"

"H-how......DARE you!" The lizardman in red was taken aback with timid steps. "I-if you were not a lady I would-"

"Oh spare me your false chivalry," she bantered back with a sudden shove to his gut, "speak to me like a man, I am not some wilting flower, I grew up in the desert do you THINK I am so weak I will fold like paper to your barbed words?! I accept that our plan might fail, I accept there may be consequences, but at the very least I'm not WHINING about it out of fear and cowardice!"

"Th-those are the same thing!" he stammered trying to get a foothold.

"No it's not," said Chanoch tapping his sword's pommel, "fear is natural, cowardice is not."

"Wh-what are you talking about now don't take her side!"

"Fear is what one's heart feels in the presence of great evil. Cowardice is what one's body chooses to do."

"Exactly," said Ravinder bowing to him, "thank you Sir Jarogniew, now we all accept fear as a natural mortal affliction, but cowardice is a choice Gregory and I will not have you trying to sway us on that."

"I-i-i am not a coward," bleated the red-robed lizardman, "I am...j-just, fine, let us do this."

"Do we have our items?"

Four of them pulled out from their satchels a container that each carried a different grotesquely-preserved item of human flesh. Ravinder held the tongue of a small child, Karam held the dried brain of a human adult, Zhao carried the hands of an old wizened man and lastly Chanoch held the heart of an infant. Zhao Lihua stepped over first to the portal and pulled out a thing piece of wire to stick onto a dog, and a man carrying a waterjug. Then she tied the holy man's wrists to suspend it before the keyhole's void, causing a sudden reaction as the symbols glowed with the hands.

"YES, okay it works!" she cried. "It matches up to the dates!"

"Oh thank the heavens," muttered Karam, "alright let's do this."

Karam and Ravinder started to bind their spools of thread in turn. The husband suspended the brain with the surprisingly-strong wire to connect to an ox and two identical human twins, whilst the wife tied the severed tongue to a scorpion and a dragon motif. Chanoch however stood confused looking over all of the zodiac beasts.

"Where do I put this?"

"What do you mean?" asked Karam.

"We do not know when this child was killed. He was massacred during the birth of Jesus yes?"

"Yes?"

"When was that?"

"...oh, ohhh no." The lizardman clasped his face and breathed hard. "Hhhhhhuuuaaaaaaah, when was it?!"

"I thought you knew!" cried Zhao raising her arms.

"I-i-i, I assumed Chanoch knew!"

"Why would I know that?" asked the swordsman.

"Well that was quite rude of you to assume dear," said Ravinder crossing her arms, "especially when we have a more obvious personage, GREGORY!"

"Ohhh no."

"Gregory we have a question for you."

"Yeeeees?" He replied warily whilst leaning against the wall.

"You're a Christian yes, surely you would know when Jesus was born?"

"Of course I would!" Gregory stood up aghast at the notion. "I have studied many of the verses and I know the Gospels back to back!"

"Alright well we need your help."

"Mmmmm...not until you apologise."

"What?!"

"You have all been immensely rude to me," began the Christian, "and whilst I am willing to help you in this endeavour for my own sake, I would like to be respected."

"Maybe if you didn't talk such horse shit all the time," said Zhao picking her teeth.

"SEE, NONE OF YOU RESPECT ME!"

"Because you are rude to us." Chanoch stepped forwards to loom over Gregory. "You keep getting things wrong, you call us names and boast about things you will do but never will like a coward."

"I-i...see here, Chanoch I respect you-"

"No, you fear me. You never speak back to me because I frighten you. I am going to ask you once. Please." He bent his head down towards the lizard's face until he could see his wattled neck. "What is the exact birth date of Jesus Christ?"

"...I...l-let me think."

The Christian started to walk back and forth in moderate pace sorting out various arithmetic in his head. Pebbles scattered round his feet as he muttered to himself.

"Matthew and Luke mention Herod now he died around...so that puts it before then...the census can't have happened so Luke must have made an error, have to discount his word and focus on Matthew...shepherds working in the fields put it around the harvest season, and then we have John the Baptist's father with his service around......alright."

He finally stopped and turned to them.

"I have compiled the best I could and I have surmised that Christ could have possibly been born around September of 4 B.C...as odd as that is to say, in Julian."

"Okay how many years ago is that?" asked Zhao. "Cuz I don't use the same calendar as this B.C. stuff."

"Neither do we," said Ravinder.

"Or me," said Chanoch.

"Alright alright uhhmm let's see," muttered Gregory rubbing his head, "that would be about fourteen-hundred-and-fifty-six years ago."

"Sooooo that iiiiis," Zhao made some quick calculations looking up towards the ceiling, "the year of the snake!"

"And in September that is Virgo," said Karam, "Chanoch if you please."

The swordsman handed the heart over to him as Karam tied up the string to a serpent motif and a small image of a woman in plain clothes. Once the relics were in place the portal started to thrum with potent energies, the dappled rainbow void fluctuating wildly with immense power that surged throughout the room. Pebbles started lifting from the dirt as an aura grew to consume them, blinding the five fugitives in a brilliant light.

"Yes, y-yes," gasped Karam, "YES IT'S HAPPENING!"

"WE DID IT!" Zhao grabbed Ravinder as they jumped in excitement. "WE'RE GETTING OUT, WE'RE GETTING OUTTA HERE HHHHA HA HA HAAAAAAA!"

"OHHHH I knew this day would come!" whimpered Ravinder hugging her back. "Praise the heavens for this!"

"Finally," Gregory sighed merely with exhausted relief, "finally we shall be free from this...godforsaken castle."

"Wait..." Chanoch saw something glint in the white. "What is that?"

"Wh-what is what?!"

"That thing there...what is it?"

They tried to squint closer at the soft twinkling fuchsia in the midst of the portal's gleam, a shocking neon pink that grew with a burning roar deafening all of their ears. They fell to the ground howling with screams as their skulls vibrated powerfully, every bone in their body starting to sing with anguish until the light itself was crushing them with the sheer weight of magic force.

"A-AAAAAAGH, AAAAAAAAAAGH KARAAAM!"

"R-RAVI, RAVI N-NOOOOO PLEASE!"

"WHY DID I FOLLOW YOU DAMN HEATHEEEENS?!"

"_N-nnnngh, h-HHHHHRRAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAARRRRGH! _"

The last thing they heard was Chanoch's scream. The world turned silent, frozen as the portal shut itself off with the four relics suspended still in front of it. Five lizardmen now kneeled before it like statues, paralysed in time with gaping mouths and transfixed eyes of suffering as a single black feather flew across their faces.

"Now what is this?"

The feather whisked itself towards the doorway to land upon the floor, before exploding into a cloud of blackness from which dozens upon hundreds of feathers now multiplied to form a gaunt-looking beast. A tall crow-demon whose wings wrapped round himself like a cloak.

"And here I thought my task as artificer would be dull to make certain none but the master's family would use such devices...did you think that you lizards could just slink away in the night?"

His voice was hoarse as he walked in and caressed a bony-taloned hand across the scalp of Chanoch.

"Even after your friend became a warning for precisely this, you chose to defy me still? Is this but your insolence as an epilogue or your ignorance revealed from how little your reptilian minds can comprehend my mercy? No matter. It shall not matter either way for you..."

He walked back out of the small room and faded into darkness as his body began to moult.

"You shall pay for your treacherous deeds."

Feathers dripped behind him onto the floor and started to creep into the cobblestones like insects. His laughter echoed throughout the mines with a breathless cackle as his shape crumpled into brittle dust like shards of bone on the winds of a battlefield. He already knew their fate.

Sunscreech cracked his neck muscles with a wretched yawn as he woke to the new dawn, shivering in delight from the warmth of a well-feathered nest, formed from the skins of mammals that formed an immaculate insulation. He was not used to the cave however, the sight of the stone roof making him feel claustrophobic as he pushed himself up with his head and rolled onto his feet taking care not to press on his crippled limbs.

"Are you awake?"

He looked towards where usually a green lump would be snoozing beside him. But he was alone this morning as he sighed and dragged himself out of his new home, past the myriad of other dotted caves where raptors slept and ate. All of them had strange mechanical implants such as the shining blue spines on the back of the neck and tails that separated into chained links. But there was one thing Sunscreech did share with them and that was the small metallic stub that clamped to the side of his chin. He left the residential quarters in a huff before seeing a yellow-backed raptor preen himself at its entrance.

"Ahhh good morning Sunscreech."

"Hmm? Ah, good morning Sulphide."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Mmmm...somewhat." The raptor smacked his lips and blinked his remaining eye. "Have you seen my mate?"

"Methyl went to hunt an hour ago," said the jaune-skinned reptilian, "surprised she did not wake you."

"I know why...she despises me clearly."

"Still? And here I expected you to prove yourself to her already by now."

"She does not forgive easily for something I never ACTUALLY did."

"Well...regardless are you off to hunt?"

"Yes," said Sunscreech making his way out.

"May I accompany you?" Sulphide asked chewing between the links of his tail. "Nnnngh, I need to loosen my joints."

"Fine, if you wish."

The yellow beast nipped at the bits of bone and gristle that had gotten trapped between the tail's jointed chain before he stood up and stepped alongside Sunscreech into the open forest. The full-grown families had their nests dotted around the woods, braying and squawking as they ate their food and practiced fighting each other amidst the younger beasts hitting their first steps of adulthood. Strangely the youths themselves had the same accessories as the adults such as their whip-chained tails and nanoscaped claws of gleaming cyan death. Some of the hunters joined them as they moved through the forest into the deeper reaches. The canyon surrounded the forest like an emerald geode, trapped within rock as high walls made a perfect vantage point where guards kept vigil across the sea.

The hunters said nothing as Sunscreech joined Sulphide in creeping through the trees and snatching up beasts, rodents primarily that had been spawning all over the place the size of housecats. A simple food, but fast and difficult to catch for the unprepared as Sunscreech came upon a small family of them. Sulphide assisted in trapping them to a small pit as they were swiftly slain, but five of them managed to escape that the crippled raptor chased after. Sulphide followed after to find a trail of dead twisted necks, leading to the raptor that feasted upon their leader in two gulps.

"Impressive!" cried the yellow beast with softest voice. "How did you manage that?!"

"Every step is important," said Sunscreech licking his bloodied lips, "the perfect stride and where you place your foot matters everything, to push yourself off a stone or a log, to avoid the ground itself as much as possible as if one were leaping through the air, but not too much. The air can slow one down if up there too long."

"Hm...aerodynamics, fascinating you understand that."

"I do not know what you mean."

"Regardless I understand what YOU mean, who taught you that?"

"My sister." Sunscreech began to eat the next rodent. "She is the cleverest of my family, she...she was the one to plan all of our hunts."

"I see. Let me carry these back to their family."

He politely picked up two whilst Sunscreech took up the other two, returning to the pit where the massacre had ensued. They had their fill of three rodents each, with six left to split them up between each other.

"I will have three," said Sulphide, "for Riptor of course. The other three are yours."

"Alright." Sunscreech sat himself down to rest his legs. "Are you Riptor's mate?"

"Hahah, no no she is...she is family to me."

"Ahh, your sister?"

"It is...complicated to explain."

"What is so complicated about family, she is either a sister, a mother, an aunt?"

"Simplest put she is like a mother to me." The pale raptor bowed and rubbed his head against the walls of the shallow pit. "She is mother to all of us."

"All of you?" asked the red-backed beast. "Did she birth all of you?!"

"No, no it is...hhhh, my apologies I do not mean to be evasive, it is hard for me to explain."

"Hmmmm...alright, I understand family can be odd, I have told you of my brother after all."

"Hah, very true, families are confusing."

"So, you are the beta to the alpha?" asked Sunscreech leaning forwards. "Yet you do not call her alpha, everyone calls her Riptor."

"Alpha?" Sulphide turned his head placing his cheek cool on the dirt.

"The leader, the one who commands the tribe."

"Aaaaaah, I see. Yes, I am her beta then."

"Is there a reason for that?"

"The same reason I do not have a family, I have a better purpose unrestrained by such duties."

"What do you mean?" asked Sunscreech.

"Well..." Sulphide stood up and bent over in front of him with his tail raised. "Smell me."

"Wh-what!?"

"Go on, smell me. We are all friends here."

The raptor made a careful sniff leaning close beneath Sulphide's tail. To his shock there was a strange underlying scent of something feminine where the male scent had faded.

"Th-that...that...you are a female?!"

"No," he said, "I am a male, but my vent is female. My penis never developed enough."

"That...th-that makes you a male that can lay eggs?"

"HAH, no no I cannot even do that for I lack a womb to keep eggs." He stood back up to full height and turned back to Sunscreech. "I am a male with a female vent that cannot even lay eggs...sounds absurd doesn't it?"

"I-i...I have never heard of such a thing!"

"Well your snout cannot lie can it? But that removes me from having to deal with the whole breeding mess of family and focus purely on keeping the tribe strong as Riptor's 'beta' as you so call it."

"I...I see." A look of torpid confusion twisted the one-eyed face as he struggled to understand. "Your tribe are...the most odd beasts I have ever seen and yet you are exactly like me."

"I will take that as a compliment," said Sulphide smiling, "at least more than your degenerate brother who looks nothing like any of us."

"Hah, exactly, the filthy wombsmear he is, you know he has a cock the size of THIS thing?" He nudged one of the rodents as Sulphide cackled.

"HAHAHA, really?! That tiny?!"

"YES, and the worst part is it is ALWAYS out, he cannot even put it back in himself, it just hangs there limp like a disgusting worm!"

"Hmhmhmhhaahahaha...you ever been tempted to rip it off?"

"Constantly," said the red raptor with a huffing sneer. "It looked so weak, whenever he ran through the trees like some rodent I hoped at least once that a branch would just CATCH on his cock and rip it from his body, that would at least stop my family from becoming weaker if he ever managed to breed."

"Would any female even WANT something that little?" the yellow raptor kicked one of the rodent corpses, "I mean something the size of THIS I wouldn't even feel up my own vent!"

"HAHAA, if my brother tried to mate with you I think you wouldn't even notice, you would swat him off your back like a smallwing!"

"Hhhmhmhahaha...ahhhh...well, I am glad we have such a strong hunter with us, now let's head back."

They gathered their food with three tails dangling from each of their mouths as they returned to the deep cave of the forest. They soon separated to their respective chambers as Sulphide headed towards another passage whilst Sunscreech went back to his new nest, the gold-tinted raptor approaching a large sea of furs on which an amber shape sat still as the quiet mountain. Riptor was silent with eyes closed as she rested on her rump, sitting up in a strangely human posture with hands pressed against her steel-crossed chest. The visitor said nothing and sat waiting to the side, dropping his food for her and watching his leader meditate for the next five minutes.

"Yes?" she spoke at last.

"Good morning, Riptor."

"Is it?" She did not open her eyes but turned her head to him. "I have not left the cave yet to see."

"It is a glorious sunny day and the prey is out relishing the last day of their lives without even knowing, my goddess."

"Hmhmhmhm...never going to stop calling me that are you?"

"Only if you permit me to," said Sulphide bowing with a fawning chirr, "did you sleep well?"

"Indeed I did." She nodded sagely before licking his scalp. "Did you?"

"Very well thank you."

"How is Sunscreech?"

"Doing well! I have to admit his hunting skills are remarkable for such a primitive."

"Hohohh really?"

"We hunted a pack of twelve rodents, but five of them escaped and he slew each and every one of them in mid-chase."

"Impressive!" She flexed her feet with gentle scrapes on the floor. "Mid-chase you say?"

"Yes, without losing a step, five in a row."

"Good. I want you to have him teach you how he caught the greatfish that brought him here. We need to expand our territory and find more sustainable land."

"I agree," Sulphide rubbed his back against the wall to tend to an itch, "this island is pleasant and perfectly safe but there is not enough food for all of us to last a year."

"Tell me when you have convinced him, I will set up some measures for our emigration."

"Yes Riptor."

During this discussion Sunscreech had found his new nest to be occupied by a green ultraraptor curled up on the furs.

"Ah, you returned." He dropped his three rodents to the side. "I have brought you food."

"I already ate," she said flatly not even looking at him.

"I would hope so being a hunter. But I thought I would save you the trouble of hunting later by sharing you my food."

"Why? Because you think I'm weak?"

"Wha-..." he gritted his teeth with a fierce restraint. "No. I am just...TRYING to be kind."

"If you wanted to be 'kind', you would let me have my mate instead of usurping him." She raised her head with a cold sneer and shivering blue spines down the back of her neck. "Instead you rob him of his life, you rob him of his home and you rob him of his FAMILY."

"I do not have time for this," snorted Sunscreech turning to leave.

"Oh yes, run away coward, the coward who killed my mate can't even look at his prize."

"SHUT UP!" He stomped towards her with flinching teeth. "I am tired of explaining, I DID NOT kill your mate, your alpha did!"

"She would have NO REASON to kill him, he was strong, he was GOOD TO ME!"

"WELL HE WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH WHEN HE FELL FIRST!"

"RAAAAAAAARGH!"

She flew at him suddenly with a hard shove of his body, kicking him back against the wall before he ducked and lunged for her throat, twisting her down into the fur-blanket nest. She did not struggle, falling limp as soon as his teeth touched her flesh whilst his snarls rumbled through her neck.

"What?! What's wrong, you can't kill a female?!"

"SHUT UP!"

"You were so strong to kill my mate like the COWARD you are but you don't even have the guts to kill ME NOW DO IT! DO IT YOU FUCKING SHIT!"

"SHUT! UP, YOU PATHETIC WHINING SHITFACE!"

"KILL ME YOU BASTARD! KILL MEEEE! KILL ME SO I NEVER HAVE TO LOOK AT YOUR FILTHY CRIPPLED FACE AGAIN!"

The raptor male pulled her hard to throw her head against the wall, cracking a good shard of bloodied spots that dripped out her skull as she looked up at him smirking through the pain.

"Hhhhm hm hm hmm, hhha ha hahahaha ohhhh look at you little raptor."

"You, are an empty-headed SHIT whose mouth stinks like the nest of the skyflesh!"

"Wha-ha-hat does that even MEAN you disgusting savage, why don't you shove a bone up your vent or whatever you fucks do to get off?!"

"I AM YOUR MATE NOW, I HAVE HUNTED AND FED YOU FOR A MONTH AND STILL YOU DO NOT RESPECT ME!"

"I CAN HUNT FOR MYSELF, I DON'T NEED SOME CRIPPLED PRIMITIVE TO FEED ME!"

"FINE, THEN DIE ALONE IN YOUR WORTHLESS CAVE!"

Sunscreech stormed out of the cavern amidst the shrieking confusion of infants in the other tunnels, shouting back at them to be quiet and further frightening them before he staggered out into the forest light. He marched towards one particular tree and started to ruthlessly kick it with all his might, violent scars shredding down its bark as he screeched and ranted with occasional biting fury when he tore the wooden flesh apart. He spent the worst of ten minutes gouging the tree until he felt it start to bleed the sap, turning gooey in his claws and smearing across his feet before he stopped.

"Problems at home?"

He turned towards Sulphide's gentle smirk and banged his head back against the tree.

"She continues...to blame me for the death of her mate when it was NOT MY FAULT?!"

"She's foolish like that," said Sulphide leaning up against a nearby tree, "headstrong and stubborn. But you will reach through to her in time once you have proven to be the best hunter for her."

"How can I prove myself when she barely even acknowledges my skill!?"

"Give her time. In fact, I have an idea that will help you prove your greater worth to Methyl and the pack in general!"

"Hmm?" He pricked his head up and turned fully towards the grinning Sulphide. "What exactly?"

"Well, you mentioned to us when you first arrived how you came to this island by catching a greatfish."

"Yes?"

"Could you teach us how you caught one? Riptor would gladly appreciate it."

"But there is plenty food to hunt."

"No not as food, the same reason you caught one before, to roam the seas and explore new lands."

"Oh...hmmm alright, but a greatfish can probably only carry one hunter at a time."

"Don't you worry about that, just teach us how."

He headed to the shore far beneath the canyon ridge whilst Sulphide went to confirm the news to his leader. He hadn't had the chance to visit the beach as he found a but thin shoreline stretching out around the island base. Sunscreech waited with his tried but true tactic of catching a crab and killing it carefully to leave it on the beach. Other raptors watched and waited in silence at his insistence whilst he buried himself partly in sand to hide his scent. Riptor and Sulphide arrived shortly with a long rope made of several vines twisted together in their dexterous claws. Two hours passed before something leaped from the waters to grab the bait.

"NOW!"

"WHA-A-AAAAAAARGH!"

Sunscreech leapt upon his prey and immediately pressed his toeclaw against icthyosaur's eye to force her into submission. She struggled to flop and resist but before she even realised they were not alone, Riptor came with her rope and wrapped it round the female fish's body.

"HOLD IT STILL!"

"N-NNNGH!"

"L-LET ME GO, NOOOOO!"

STOP MOVING OR I WILL RIP YOUR EYE OUT!"[/i]

Screams of sobbing panic came from the greatfish as Riptor looped the rope round her belly, with Sulphide at the other end of the rope he tied to a tree using disturbingly human methods of careful claws and pulling teeth to make a knot.

"You can get off it now," Riptor said.

"What?!" barked Sunscreech.

"It won't be leaving. Let it go."

Moving off the icthyosaur he watched as she immediately flumped her body hard towards the sea and just managed to reach the water. But the rope trapped her to within 7 feet of the shoreline as the greatfish smacked the water with her tail in desperation.

"WH-WHAT, WHAT DID YOU DO?! LET ME GO, LET ME GO PLEAAASE!"

"EXCELLENT!" cried Riptor. "We now have a greatfish of our own."

"You can use vines?!" gasped Sunscreech. "Only my brother knows how to use them, how do you know to do that?!"

"Because I am your leader now shut up and listen. MY CHILDREN!" She turned towards the crowd of raptors. "We are about to embark on the first steps of our new conquest to find a perfect home that shall sustain us for years to come, where our children shall grow strong and perfect! But first, we must construct a vessel. Take down some of the trees, the more isolated ones and build rafts that our new slaves shall drive."

"WH-WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!" screamed the greatfish. "PLEASE, P-PLEASE LET ME GOOO!"

"Pyroxene keep an eye on the fish. Sunscreech, find us another fish."

"I...a-alright?" He was confused but the look in her eye forced his will.

"Today shall mark the true dawn of the ultraraptor," continued Riptor strolling up the beach to walk through her people, "an age where our kind shall find true peace and our purity shall spread to the farthest reaches of this beautiful ancient world. Now, BEGIN!"

The next few days became a hive of activity on the island as raptors started to work in their construction scheme. Sunscreech was aghast at how the tribe managed to slice down trees with their acid breath and razor-bladed tails to send them tumbling down before starting to break them up into logs with the same methods. Ropes were formed from vines and tightened round the ends to form makeshift rafts that could each hold up to four raptors in testing. Sometimes the rafts would break when too much weight was upon it, and so the ultraraptors would start again with reinforced fervour beneath the eyes of their leader watching with pride at her people. She also assisted herself in developing ropes and chopping trees next to Sulphide whilst Sunscreech trapped another five greatfish over the course of the week, tethered to different parts of the shore whilst Pyroxene the greenish-yellow raptor fed them with food to placate their fears. At one point Methyl was called on to do the same as a means under orders from Sulphide.

"I just feed those fish with meat?" she asked.

"Simply that," said Sulphide. "Your new mate has been catching them with great skill-"

"He is NOT my mate." She turned towards him with a bitter sting in her throat. "You know he's not."

"I am sorry about your family Methyl, you know I cared deeply about your children."

"I-i know...I know that...you didn't want to kill them."

"They were like the children I could never have." His voice became as soft as a grandmother as he stroked her head. "It pained me. Wounded me deeper than the day I was born, but you should not blame Sunscreech for that."

"Then who do I blame?!" she cried back pulling away from him. "He was the one to kill the father of my children and if not then who?! Do I blame Riptor?!"

"No no of course not, she had no say in the matter, she merely met our new companion and Jade was...was suffering." A change in Sulphide's scent came as he stuttered back tears. "He was...badly wounded in that first encounter and we tried to find some means to heal him but...it was our glorious goddess who had to end his life mercifully."

"Wh-what?!" Methyl turned to him agasp. "It...i-it WAS Riptor that killed him?!"

"No no no no I misspoke, she ended his life but did NOT kill him in the traditional sense, he was so crippled from the battle that he had no hope of living. Riptor kindly took the burden on herself to end his suffering...as well as fulfil his final wish."

"Wh-what...what final wish?"

"...no, no I couldn't." He turned himself away to hide his smile. "H-he swore, Jade swore her not to tell you."

"What, tell me what?!"

"It is too soon, I cannot say, I will not break the promise we swore to your mate, it was so you could move on with a fresh start and a new family!"

"A...a new family?" Fear crept through her with a quickening beat as she stepped forwards. "Did...n-n-no...did my...did Jade ask you to..."

"I cannot say more," said Sulphide with a cold look. "I know only this from Riptor herself. I can only say that you should not blame Sunscreech for what happened to your family, I mean had I known about all this earlier I would not have paired you with him! But it is too late now."

"No, no it's not too late, give him someone else!"

"I am sorry but Riptor's word is finite Methyl, once a mate has been chosen-"

"WE HAVEN'T BRED YET!" she screeched. "Please...p-please Sulphide don't...don't put me with him."

"...hhhhh..." He turned back to her with a tender nuzzle to her cheek. "I will speak with Riptor, and see if I can make an exception. I cannot promise anything, but for the sake of my good friend Jade's memory I shall do what I can."

"Thank you."

"BUT...on one condition."

"What?"

"Be Sunscreech's friend. I am not asking you to mate with him, I only ask that you be his companion. That's a fair compromise don't you think?"

"...al-...a-alright."

"Thank you Methyl." He gave one last lick and moved her head towards the beach. "Now look after our new slaves like they were your own children."

"Yes Sulphide. Thank you again."

She walked solemnly towards the beach whilst her superior made his way back to Riptor's nest. None of the raptors noticed his gleaming smile as a soft giggle escaped his throat before he met his leader, seated upon her throne with a live rodent squirming frantically between her toeclaws.

"She accepted my words," he began to her, "hopefully her quarrels with the new mate will subside."

"Good," said Riptor flexing her claws dangerously close to the creature's skull, "surprised you took a month to do so."

"I find it best to let the hatred stew so that her guilt is much stronger in repercussion."

"Hmhmhmhm...this, is why you are my favourite son."

"Ohohhh stop you make me blush!" Sulphide grinned until his cheeks would hurt slightly. "It is only because I have the most perfect mother. Even if the semblance is purely chemical."

"Now you are trying to make me blush." She curled her lip in appreciation. "And it is working."

"Hmhmhmmmm...ahhhh, so do you have any plans on where we are going?"

"Radium noted something to the north, we shall start there."

"Why not the mainland that Sunscreech came from?"

"We do not know what creatures exist."

She deftly flicked the screaming rodent back and forth between her feet with tender little scratches that drew its blood free.

"If we approach the mainland without a cause of action, we shall find ourselves exposed against a variety of beasts, better that we test ourselves on smaller territories so we have some place to fall back to."

"That and if one of these islands were to be compromised," continued Sulphide nodding, "at least one part of our pack will be safe."

"Exactly! You understand me so well."

"Of course I do."

Riptor released her prey as it scarpered for the exit until Sulphide trapped it again beneath his own foot. He peered at it curiously in its frantic desperation to escape, trying to bite at his claws with feeble teeth.

"Should anything happen to me," said Riptor, "you are the only one I trust to lead the pack."

"That will not happen," he said creaking his claws a little too tight to bleed the poor rodent, "I will give my life before you shall give yours."

"I know. But I want you to live. You are special to me." She pressed a hand to her cold steel chest and felt along the screw's head. "I care about all of you, I only want the best of our pack to survive and ensure our bloodline never fades."

"I only wish Jade did not have to die."

"He was weak, we both knew that. I gave him more chances than I should have let him, but time and time again he failed me. I only hope that he is the first and last of our pack that I must euthanise but we can NOT allow weakness such as his to breed and endanger our pack."

"Even if he was able to breed and I could not?" asked the male softly bowing.

"That does not matter to me," she replied in the same soft voice as him. "What matters is you were my first, and you have always been my greatest. If Jade had been as good as you, he would still have a family."

"Thank you." He smiled sweetly and eased his claws off the rodent. "So who shall lead our first expedition?"

"I shall investigate the area Radium spoke of to the north."

"Is that wise?" Sulphide asked barely noticing the small beast wrenching itself free and almost reach the light of the cave. "The open sea can be more dangerous than the land itself."

"Do not worry about me. If the gods could not destroy me-"

SHRRIIKK

"-there is nothing in this world that can."

Her eyes gazed upon the rodent now impaled upon her vicious tailtip, moments before it managed to just reach out of her range to hopeful freedom and a chance to start a new life so fatally cut short. She pulled its twitching body back towards her and twisted the tail like a serpent before dangling it over her mouth, relishing the blood that dripped down to her gullet before she reached forwards and pulled its body down with her teeth to devour whole.