Chapter 62
Paralyzing Pain
Frank watched from his hidden chamber, all around him was a layer of stone. For some reason he felt stone was the best conductor for the element of earth. Also, stone was the most abundant resource available.
Well, the most abundant resource that could be molded and easily keep its form once strengthened.
For all intents and purposes stone was an intermediate step along the path of the use of the element of earth. The first and most basic step was dirt, loose uncompacted and easily disintegrated by water. The next step would be clay, slightly more durable, still just as malleable with a hint of resistance to water. Next came stone.
To Frank stone was the easiest building block to create and bend to his will. The reason for this was the fact that stone was best when layered and then compressed. This formation was abundant in sedimentary rocks and other forms, but the one thing that was never noted was that the layers in rocks could be individually polarized and then compressed to form a more perfect building block.
With this new understanding, one that only came from first using the new element he had been gifted and then trying to work out why the element he had been gifted worked as it had, only now could he begin to see the next steps of earth energy manipulation.
With the repeated and alternating layers of earth protecting Frank, he had multiple layers of protection all before he even began using and moving the reserves of metal out away from his core. That is what he considered the stone cocoon that he had enveloped himself in, a core.
A perfect sphere that could take in outside force and pressure and disperse it around his body, negating its impact on him.
This structure seemed to be most prudent, especially as the primary attack vector of the flying were creatures was lightning, meaning the metal that had been pushed out to the outer layers around his realm of dominance attracted the lightning, before dissipating it all around.
For a moment, Frank let his expectation of survival succeed in giving the worse type of thought. Namely for a moment, he thought he was safe.
That all ended the moment the invading avian shaman truly committed their mind and attention to the conflict that was unfolding around them and struck out.
KRAABOOOM!!!
Lighting the size of pillars struck down with such intense ferocity, that Frank’s heightened perception only had a matter of seconds to take in everything that was happening around him.
First the blast landed, shaking and vibrating the stone structure he found himself in. Next those pillars of lightning slammed down over and through the structure, crumbling layer upon layer of dirt. While the breaking of layers did slow down the overall force of the blast,
Then finally the blast erupted through the protective stone, arcing around the capsule that held Frank and proceeded to burn, tear, and blister its way through his skin and body.
For a moment, Frank’s mind blurred with the intense overtones of power. For a moment his mind worked and processed energy as quickly as it came in, then the speed and intensity of the current became too much for his over worked mind.
There was an odd echoing sound of pain that seemed to resonate from the very stone around him. Little did Frank know this was his mind and body actually achieving a state of oneness with the stones he had just manipulated, for the stones themselves seemed to vibrate and echo his intense overwhelming pain.
Then finally, just as Frank could take no more, his brain shut down, as his pain receptors overloaded from their intense barrage of electrical impulses finally fried out. Making it so Frank’s overclocked mind could finally begin self-preservation processes, as it began shutting down everything that wasn’t necessary. Until finally, even the components that were also necessary began to shut down.
Fortunately for Frank, he was not aware of what unfolded next.
***
(Ravena)
Ravena paused.
For a second, Ravena made the grave mistake of thinking that she might just make it out of this moment alive. This was the problem with hope, it blinded you to the facts. It gave you courage and confidence where prudence might be more impactful to survival.
For her part, Ravena could only look on in a sort of morbid fascination of the many horrors and levels of power she was seeing being put on display.
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At this moment she had seen many wonders, today alone.
Ravena had seen stone come to life and impale the teratornis invaders, the sacred enemy of her tribe.
She had seen the moment the teratornis shaman almost lost heart.
That had been the most crushing blow to Ravena, for in that moment, one where withdrawing and tactical retreating would have been optimal as both sides suffered losses. That was when the avian shaman seemingly called forth the largest pillar of violence Ravena had ever seen. A blast so intense that for a moment the night sky appeared to be brighter than midday.
A burst of light and photons that were so intense that they glowed and refracted off the pooling puddles of water and blood, creating bursts of light that shone directly into Ravena’s enhanced and sensitive wolf eyes. Eyes that were unable to adapt to the glowing horror of death that loomed over the entire pack.
SKA-BOOM!
The pillar of lightning crashed and landed at the heart of the sacred mountain that had appeared out of nowhere. A mountain that had caused nothing but destruction and greed to her people, particularly with the way the members of the teratornis tribe coveted the structure so.
Shocking burst!
A pillar of lightning shot through the mountain, rattled around the cave that had served as Ravena’s protection for the moment, before shards of rock and debris erupted out from the wall piercing Ravena and hurling her body into the far wall.
The blow was intense, not fatal, not enough to kill her now that she was in her wolf form, but enough to leave her mostly useless for a time as her body sought to repair itself from the sustained injuries.
Collapsing on the floor, Ravena found that all she could do was barely raise herself to a sitting position. Even that was mostly caused by the way she impacted the far wall and mostly slid to a stop at the base of the wall.
There she paused and looked on, waiting for inevitably to strike. She waited stoically for death to take her.
Then a miracle happened.
“YOU FOOL!” The blaringly powerful words of Prentip, her own shaman blasted out in a burst of energy. Energy that plunged its way directly into Ravena’s cerebral cortex and vibrated just enough to draw everyone’s attention.
Copper.
Upon feeling the act by her shaman, Ravena smelled the all too familiar scent of copper. Copper that was coming directly from her nose.
This was dangerous, and the power that Prentip hated using the most. Mainly because this burst of power was too wild, too chaotic to wield discriminately.
The way this power was explained was that it went out in universal waves of energy. Energy that all sentient organisms could intrinsically register, feel, and somehow process. With this burst of energy, Prentip had an undeniable link to express his thoughts to everyone within range of his power. Which judging by the way many of the weaker teratornis soldiers were now falling from the sky, was pretty powerful. In a way Ravena counted herself lucky that she was already collapsed against the wall, otherwise she would likely find herself face down in a growing pool of water, spasming violently as she tried to keep from drowning in the small pool of liquid that had gathered in her cave.
“YOU SEEK TO DESTROY THE VERY SOURCE OF YOUR GREED!” Prentip shouted out once more, again his words forcefully piercing their way into and through everyone’s conscious minds.
Labored breathing.
Ravena felt the flow of energy blessedly stop after that display, which was good as any more would likely end up with Ravena passing out entirely. As it was, Ravena was still conscious, but barely.
Even now, Ravena could feel part of her healing processes being directed directly to her brain, and trying to take care of the internal swelling that was undoubtedly occurring from hearing the two messages back to back in her mind.
Silence.
There was an eerie silence that filled the world after that second announcement. Only after enough time had passed did Ravena begin to understand why her mind was drawing attention to the absence of sound.
The lack of sound signified something greater, for it meant that the conflict had temporarily been paused. With no sounds, it was clear that the devastating lightning that had been causing everyone to shelter in place had subsided. Then even more importantly, it meant that the impromptu clouds that had been used to generate burst after burst of electricity were also stopped.
In what felt like an eternity, Ravena felt the most devastating of her injuries heal up. There were still the few superficial wounds caused by rock shrapnel that had pierced her right side, but for the most part the majority of her injuries had been healed enough for her to get up.
This was when Ravena realizing that her pack still needed her got up, despite the world instantly flipping itself around her.
The mind lacerations and affects to balance were hard to overcome, particularly for those who had not dealt with such problems in the past.
Fortunately, Ravena and most of her pack were well acquainted with the unique attack patterns. For Prentip would always give a monthly test of power just to make sure everyone was able to understand the power he used, and more importantly come to Prentip’s aide as quickly as possible when the power was used.
Prentip was old, and always searching for the one who would be his next successor.
Unfortunately, his power made him uniquely qualified, as no one could mimic his power. One that directly targeted the mind of all individuals around and brought them to their knees.
This power was how her tribe had managed to maintain unquestioned access to the sacred lake that had served her people so faithfully to this point.
Now it seemed like the same power would be used to protect this second sacred structure that had appeared for her people.
Bracing herself with her left hand against the rock wall, Ravena slowly pulled herself up to a standing position. There it only took her mind a moment to adjust to the new sensations of vertigo that were throwing her senses into a loop. Fortunately, having been forced to endure such situations in the past, Ravena soon forced herself to move forward, relying on her body’s natural movements than her own mental interpretations of what was happening around her.
This meant that rather than being tripped up over her own feet, Ravena slowly but surely made her way forward. As she did, she felt more confident with each step, as her body’s natural motions took over, and her healing processes had more time to help out the immediate areas of balance.
Within what felt like an eternity, Ravena soon found herself at the lip of the cave that had grown out of nowhere to protect her. There with her hand resting at the cave entrance, Ravena looked out to see that as would be expected, many of the teratornis warriors lay in crumpled heaps on the ground. Their wings and hollow bones shattered by the sudden and intense fall from the sky.
“You fool, you almost killed him.” Prentip shouted, his body in its old but still powerful wolf form. While the form was far from ideal, it still held power, despite numerous bald patches and gray hairs that covered the muscular body he was still strong enough in his war form to both talk naturally, and pick up the oversized bird form of the teratornis shaman.
“What?” Was all the teratornis shaman managed to croak out, before Prentip turned his loose bird neck to face the smoking pillar that was the center of the stone obelisk. A stone obelisk that was even now smoking and cracked down the center.
“In there is the one who managed to create this structure. An edge walker who has not been designated for a clan,” Prentip exclaimed.
Hearing that Ravena felt waves of confusion wash over her as she had never heard of such an event. Well she had, as it was part of the origin story for all the dual natured, how there were progenitors who managed to find balance and harmony with the different elements of the world. Then from that harmony a spiritual connection was made to specific animals that would help the edge walkers survive where all others would inevitably fall to the corruption of the world.
“Impossible,” the avian shaman exclaimed, his words sounding slightly higher pitched due to his bird form, but still intelligible all the same.
GROAN!
Then almost as if to challenge his very statement, a long horse moan cried out from the smoking and cracked obelisk.
“What the?” Was all Ravena could ask, as she heard the sound that reminded her more of the way the god of earth would sound, hollow and full of supernatural power.
“Get him,” was all Prentip said.
That was all he had to say, before Ravena and a few of the other wolves that had also been first to recover all followed the command of their leader. A command that was fortunately not spoke with the same paralyzing intensity as the words earlier were.