Within the ring of stones, the arcs of energy increased in speed, ferocity, and power. The vale shook with the onslaught of energy. The monolith, wreathed in ozone as the arcs of energy struck it, neither moved nor shook, an implacable object. The pinprick of light in the black emptiness of the monolith's void was growing, fire radiating from its white-hot center as though it were a sun. It grew larger and larger, filling the inside of the monolith's void. The earth within the ring of stones rumbled, the arcs of energy more numerous, the energy palpable, unending, unyielding, and seemingly inexhaustible. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, the arcs of energy, sound, and vibrations all stopped as if they had never been.

No sound, other than a light wind. The ozone-wreathed monolith with the mini sun burning within its center, floating in the void, slowly turning. The glyphs on the stones around the half circle pulsed a bluish purple, the period between pulses decreasing as the color began to grow brighter, then shifting from bluish purple to red, then orange. The period between the pulses shrank rapidly until every glyph burned a hot white. The sun within the void of the monolith moved upward rapidly as if the view within the monolith had shifted focus. When the light disappeared within the monolith, a thick beam of white energy shot from the top of the monolith towards the sky. Shortly after, a crackle was heard as tiny energy arcs jumped from the monolith to the surrounding stones, followed by a huge boom, an implosion as all the loose debris and clumps of ground were pulverized by the sudden change in pressure and sucked towards the monolith, swallowed by the glowing singularity now visible at its center. Far above in the heavens, as if a portal had been opened, a bright bluish beam of light streaked down towards the beam from the vale below, both on course to meet each other high in the sky.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

From outside the vale, the beam emanating from the monolith in the sky gave an illumination slightly brighter than the two moons, the effect of the two different sources of light casting weird double shadows near the stones around the monolith. Fifteen hundred meters from the vale, the pack of creatures, inexorably pulled toward the vale, did not even slow their gait when the alpha creature lifted its head towards the sky briefly to see what amounted to a signal flare for their destination. With no more than a slight alteration to their direction to the vale in line with the beam’s origin, there was a tension to move faster when their focus was interrupted by the bellowing cry of one of their own. There was a tremulation in the pack of creatures, yet they did not slow. The lead creature emitted a sonorous sound followed by successive staccato high-pitched clicks while still traveling uninterrupted to the vale. Four creatures from the rear emitted a grumbling roar, then peeled off from the pack with a speed that belied their size, in the direction of the bellow, while the rest of the pack accelerated towards the vale as if pursued.