Savage Awakening 374. The Undying Cliffs (II)

It was as if the herd were some great slumbering beast coming awake. All around him, Rhinos exploded into their Annihilation Charges, step by thundering step. Their auras built and built.

Zane was getting going too. His fists were wrapped in Chains. His hammers soared behind him, rocketing with Solar Flare.

It was growing into a full stampede now, gaining incredible momentum. His heart thumped faster and faster. All he could hear was the stomping, merging to an earthquake rumble. In seconds, they were just a few miles out.

He began to load his hammers. The Rhinos dipped their horns as one.

It felt in that moment like the herd had gained its own spirit, had gained a greater kind of life. And as the bellows of the Rhinos rolled over the Plains, they seemed to come together; if you listened closely, you could hear in the sound new echoes—the bellows of the Rhinos of old.

Gray, bulky shimmers surged between the Rhinos—the figures of past great Rhinos, charging with them. Coming together to make a single titanic force.

Zane’s Asura state was skyrocketing. His breaths came faster, heavier, his blood pumping as fast as it ever had. Surging with the rest of them.

He found himself roaring too.

There was the Barbarian Sage, charging near the head with a wild grin. The white-streaked Horn, taking the shape of a great horn as they came, and the Rhinos behind, giving support—their heartbeats roared in their ears; THUMP-THUMP-THUMP, coming to a single sound.

Above them all reared the mirage of the Titan Rhinoceros. Head held proud.

Then came the moment of impact. Zane threw. The Rhinos struck.

The boom nearly blew his eardrums out.

The Undying Cliffs absorbed it all, unflinching. Then—

CRACK!

A shudder went through the cliff face. Shining lines rippled out where they’d struck, making a jagged circle. Then—

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

The lines scaled the cliffs, racing up the sides, arching back together, circling a mighty chunk—a single silver fist rearing out of the mass.

It all came crashing down.

Not a Rhino moved from where they stood, even as the shadow fell over them. Even as stirred as they were, there was no panicking them. They could all see it would tumble just over. They watched placidly as it fell and landed just a few hundred feet away; the thud of it nearly pitched that patch of plain out of orbit.

But the asteroid wobbled back up. And there was their prize.

Chunk of the Titans [Transcendent (E)]

An otherworldly meteor, gleaming hypnotic in the pale light.

The Rhinos padded up to it, coming around it—no jostling, as though they were simply lining up around the day’s dinner bowl, as solid in peace as they were fiery in war. Then they began to graze.

There was much munching—on the fingers, on the knuckles, on that plinth of a base.

Zane joined in. He had to work in some Solar Flare before it came loose. But he got quite a bit of it down.

He ate until he felt he’d keel over.

Level up!

Essence Level 484 -> 485

The essence came fast. The digesting would take a little longer.

He took a moment to look around mid-feast, just taking it all in. Bathing in whirlpools of chaos, grazing calmly on the fury of Titans. That was how the Titan Rhinos came to be.

It explained a lot, he felt.

The Barbarian Sage came over after they’d finished it off, patting his belly. “You eat your fill, lad?”

Zane nodded.

“How’s the Titan Form going? I’ll bet you’re damn near there!”

“Nearly,” said Zane. He yawned. “I’ve got all the steel.”

He couldn’t eat more if he wanted. He was pretty sure it was enough for a few levels in his second Titan Form, after he took in his new Bone, after he digested it all. It really was great quality stuff.

All that was left to do was to work it off in the furnace of his belly. And he knew just how he’d do it.

One Prince down, two to go. He didn’t expect it’d take long.

The longer he waited, the more his thoughts came back to that mysterious million-year Bone. The more he felt that burning in his heart grow.

A herd of sleepy Rhinos plodded back to camp near sundown—or what passed for sundown in the Plains of the Ancients. Most started turning in pretty quickly, settling down and snoring.

But Zane found a surprise waiting for him near the bonfire. It was that elf messenger, Arien. Looking about as pale as the first time he’d met Zane—maybe paler. But Guri had set him up with a tub of stew so big he could barely hold onto it. He was trying to get it down and chatting with the old Rhino, who nodded patiently at him.

Some color was coming back into his face. He leapt to his feet as soon as he saw Zane. “Consort Zane, sir! Message—I’ve got a message from the Mistress herself!”

There were dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

“…Are you okay?”

“Yes, sir!” squeaked Arien. “I think I might be mildly traumatized, sir, but otherwise I’m just fine! Here you are.”

He handed Zane the letter.

What a pleasant surprise, thought Zane, and started to read. It was a note about the bees—the Scourge Prince he expected would be the most finicky.

He mulled it over and nodded. It was her plan, so he knew it’d work. It relied a lot on his ability to pull through in a dicey situation. But she seemed to have total faith in him.

He wrote a few lines back. He included one of Shaman Guri’s leaf treats in the letter and a neat lightning crystal he’d picked up on his way back from the Ghol fight. He liked the look of it—it was quite neat and orderly, clean geometries. Nice design. She’d be into that kind of thing. It could look nice on a necklace.

That done, he handed it off to Arien.

“Thanks for coming all this way again.”

“It’s no trouble, sir!” said Arien. The messenger puffed up at his words. “I was honored to be chosen for such an important mission, sir—n-no trouble at all!”

He paused, blinked.

“Err—if it’s not too much trouble, might I stay for a little? Just for the night?”

He looked about to pass out on his feet.

“Of course, dear,” said Guri. “Any friend of our Zane is a friend of the Rhinos.”

“Oh, thank heavens!”

The old Shaman horn-bumped him onto his butt and got him some tea.

The fellow collapsed; he looked on the verge of tears. Zane got the sense he’d been through a lot on the way back.

He thought about it, added one more thing to the letter. He recommended the poor fellow for a promotion. Maybe to a less dangerous post.

Personally, Zane was quite enjoying the Desolate Wilds, but he could see how it wasn’t for everyone.

Then he asked Guri for a map of the Western Plains, where the Scourge Hive would be. She handed him a scroll with her mouth. He scouted it out, asked some questions, and nodded.

He’d spotted a few good spots. Any of them would do nicely, he felt.

Then he yawned and turned in for the night.

The Barbarian Sage ambled up as Guri tended the flames—by now most of the herd had gone to sleep, including Zane. The lad was snoring a few paces off—he seemed quite full.

The Sage settled down beside her.

“You see anything funky in those flames of yours?”

“Of course, dear,” said Guri, poking in a branch. “But most of the time with these visions, you only get a good look once it’s too late to do anything about it. These prophecies have got a way of fulfilling themselves.”

She let out a wheeze and turned to the Sage. “Put like that, it doesn’t sound very helpful, does it?”

“S’pose not.”

“Well,” said Guri. “Some folks still like to know.”

She paused.

“One vision does flicker, again and again,” she said. “There’s a great fire in the heart of that one.”

She nodded to Zane. “A fire that could burn through all of Dragonspire—and into the broader universe…”

The Sage nodded. That was his boy, alright.

“But winter winds crest the horizon,” she said. “Just as the flame grows. It’ll fan the flame to greater heights, like nothing this galaxy’s ever seen… or put it out entirely. Whatever happens, his life won’t be peaceful.”

Then she snorted. “But you didn’t need a vision to tell you that, did you?”

He laughed. “S’pose not!”

Sighing, he stared into the flames with her for a while.

She took a glance at him.

“Well, you seem pleased.”

“I am,” said the Sage.

The Shaman seemed a bit puzzled. “He’ll be in great danger, Jogo. His life could very well end.”

“I know.” He put his hands behind his head. “But some men wilt in high winds… never in all my years have I seen a lad more built for winter.”

Might be the single thing he liked most about Zane.

He grinned. “I’d be more scared for the monsters.”

The next morning, the Barbarian Sage was up before anyone else. He’d donned a fur-rimmed leather tunic, dragonhide boots, and a giant belt bubbling with flasks.

His grin seemed a touch fiercer to Zane than usual. And in his hand was his Spirit Weapon—Skypiercer.

Zane had seen it only once before, and it’d blown him away then. Especially its spear tip, where the bulk of its Bone power lay. He hadn’t known what kind of weapon it was back then, but now he was sure it was at least a million-year Bone. It didn’t lose out to even the Forgotten Bone.

“I’m heading out early,” said the Sage. “This’ll be some hunt, I’m expecting. Finicky beast, that scorpion Monster King. Empyrean beast. Likes ambushes.”

He scowled. “That was some poison it put in Old Nog, I tell you. Would’ve killed a score of lesser beasts! But it’s Old Nog we’re talking about, and it’d take a lot more than that to kill that stubborn old bastard.”

He crossed his arms. “I’ll have to get it back.”

With a wish of good hunting and a hearty slap on the back, the Sage headed off.

Which left Zane to head off on his own hunt. Off to the Question-Mark Woods.