The Sakazin
Before Akamori tumbled into the river, he pumped a heavy amount of void into his spell armor, arresting his momentum. A massive water aspected amphibian whose tongue was stuck to Akamori emerged from the water. Its large webbed feet pushing rocks forward as it struggled in vain to pull him in. Akamori frowned, not wanting to injure the creature, but needing to disengage.
“I wonder if I can portal without hurting it.” He thought aloud.
Do not shed tears over this beast. You are merely a meal to it. Extricate yourself from the situation how you see fit. Thanaton hissed.
“I’m not trying to maim the wildlife.”
I doubt it is showing you the same courtesy. End this beast be gone. We have work to be about. Thanaton said.
“You want me to kill one more innocent?”
I prefer we remain neutral in regards to any sentient life-form. Your decision to assist them or slay them falls within your purview as a Reaper. But whatever you decide, do it now, and act. This dithering is unbecoming.
Akamori channeled the fire magic in his chest, radiating the heat outwards, raising his external temperature to uncomfortable levels. Eventually the creature’s tongue let go, the adhesive side peeling free as the water wildling retreated below the river’s surface. He packed his gear back up, deciding to stick to the ground. Moving for the plains, he followed a trail that took him down a rolling slope. Direction and distance were relative this early on his journey and wanted to explore a little. Since he wasn’t on a time crunch and the purpose of this trip was to kill him, the rules were extremely lax.
He was wandering through what looked like grasslands when something caught his eye off in the distance. Something different from anything around it. It was shaped oddly but was familiar looking enough. His eyes picked out two small dots among all the larger dots in the sky above it. He floated off the ground using his void magic to fight gravity. He studied the dots with folded arms, peering curiously at the arrangement.
“What am I looking at Than?”
A sky chart it would appear. Primitive mapping magic. There is both Fire and Mind magic mixed in this illusion, anchoring it to the land.
“Who would have anchored it here?”
A wildtribe, most likely. Beastman with a more primitive grasp of magic. This lacks the flavor or feel of magitech, or magic the dragons and their riders use.
“You said it was a map, right?”
Yes.
Akamori copied it to his armor’s hud map. The armor’s intelligence then computed a route from the map designated to him. It charted a course through the plains for him. With no where else better to go, he opted to follow the path laid out. Eager to see what else this world had to offer. And maybe he’d find some decent grapes along the way.
He feathered his thrusters with some void magic and flew forward at a leisurely pace. Taking in the landscape as it passed him by. Rolling plains and grasslands. This far away from the dragon city and the land looked untouched by civilization. Not that there was much to be seen, anyway. Mostly rolling hills dotted with scrub trees that looked like bushes to him. No buildings or structures stood in sight anywhere. He felt like he was flying over an alien planet rather than another part of the continent of Anazi Prime. A few creatures poked their heads up briefly curious about the strange black armored figure moving across the sky before scurrying back down into their holes.
As he approached a line of mountains that rose above the plain, it became clear something lived in a valley at its base. Coincidentally, that’s also where the map was guiding him. He reduced his speed and altitude, deciding to approach on foot. He contemplated making his armor shift back into its storage mode, but decided against it. If he was ambushed or treated as hostile, he wanted to be as ready as possible. No more giving the bad guys a free shot.
He stopped short of the small settlement as he felt the massive thrum of magic in the distance. It sang to him like a siren song. Equal parts magic and will. He’d felt this before. They were summoning an Icon.
We have to stop them. Thanaton insisted.
He sighed, knowing Than was right. “Yeah. We can’t just leave that alone.”
Reluctantly, he reached back and seized Thanaton’s hilt, drawing the spell blade free of its void anchor on his back. The sword hummed with power and promise. There was an eagerness from the blade. It was ready for the coming fight.
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“Be very careful if this is the path you choose to walk, cousin. Icons are notoriously corruptive influences.”
“I’ve got a ward for that.” Akamori said to the disembodied voice of Astri, who was somehow still keeping up with him. He didn’t know she could fly, either. Unless this was a different kind of spell. Questions for later. Time to focus.
He advanced towards the wild tribe settlement. Huts built from simple materials like wood, straw and thatching rimmed a path that led into small village. They erected a modest wood fence with pointed logs facing away from the perimeter to keep beasts out ringed the perimeter. A handful of warriors stood guard along the front gates armed with bows and spears. They had pale blue skin and patches of thick white scales. Most wore rough sewn sun faded leathers. They eyed Akamori as he floated overhead. Several of them had a look in their eye that told him they weren’t going down without a fight. He sighed, settling down before them. No words passed between the warriors and himself as combat erupted.
He kept his spell use light, relying on his combat skills more. His speed and air magic use made deflecting arrows easy as he advanced close enough to engage the ones holding spears. While most of his attacks were designed to do little damage to flesh or bone, he also included some spells to hamper their willpower if needed. He used all of this sparingly to conserve energy until it was time for his real power play. With a quick flurry of blows, three warriors fell dead at once, giving a good chance for two others to take advantage of the opportunity presented by their allies falling around them. The remaining five split and ran for the safety of the gate.
Akamori paused long enough to allow the Sakazin warrior to make it through the opening. The man didn’t get a step past him before a line of red slashed across his throat. Two more men managed to run in with weapons drawn, but found themselves impaled on sharpened wooden stakes in seconds flat. A fifth attempted to turn and flee, only to have her legs ripped out from under her when one of Akamori’s arms came sweeping over her head, taking her clean off her feet. She rolled several times with the impact and landed hard against a rock wall behind the entrance. He took the opportunity while she struggled to recover to finish the job he started. Without a word, he pulled the spear from the corpse and then stabbed the woman again before resuming his march deeper into the village. He could feel the pulsing siren song of magic being generated by the vast amounts of worship and aether. The Icon had been born. The center of the village had been cleared out to make an arena like area large enough for the Icon and the ritual that gave birth to it.
Standing before its supplicants, the Icon unfurled large brown and white feathered wings. It had a torso like a man, wings and head like a hawk, and feet like a dragon. The icon sucked in a deep breath, its chest quaking.
“All hail Garuda!” the icon roared. Gusts of magically aspected air radiated around them. All around the icon the sakazin fell to their knees. With his increased aura senses he could see the flow of magic billowing up from the worshipers and flowing towards Garuda. The air elemental icon flapped powerful wings and spun in the air, savoring the worship. Then it turned its baleful gaze on him. Contempt practically tainting the air.
“Alas. We have an unbeliever in our midst. Children. Do show this one the error of his ways.” Garuda commanded.
All the Sakazin rose as one. Akamori took a hesitant step back. Thanaton held ready as he assumed Bahumet’s Stance, ready to attack. They charged at him with spears, bows and arrows, and he watched. Akamori lifted his hands and spread out fingers and thumbs, and unleashed a blast of void magic at each of the five charging warriors. He regretted the expense of aetherpool, but it had to be done. The void blast carved a straight path through rows of warriors. Not hesitating, Akamori sprinted through his canyon carved through bodies. As he moved, his sword arm flicked about like it had a mind of its own. It claimed a limb here, a head there, opened a few necks and generally did its job to reduce the population of anyone not on Team Akamori.
A bow twanged off Akamori’s armor and Thanaton countered by severing the man’s head free from his shoulders in one quick movement. He ran into the center of the arena where Garuda stood surrounded by several high priests who were busy chanting spells in their native tongue while others began casting protective enchantments upon the creature itself. The wind blew around him angrily. Writhing tentacles of air appeared around the edge of the clearing, lashing at him like whips or claws as they sought to tear him apart. He augmented his reflexes with his latent air magic and leaned free of a lunging stab from one air whip. He watched as it sliced a few strands of hair free as time slowed down. When time returned to normal, Akamori jumped, twisting in the air to avoid several more air tendrils and landed squarely at Garuda’s feet. The icon glared down at him as air magic roared around them. An arcane and sickly glow pulsed from the Icon, crashing first into Akamori’s aura, and then harmlessly against the ward attached to his soul.
Garuda roared and tried again to enthrall him. The magic bursting to into mana shards that winked out. Akamori looked down, biting back a smirk. Garuda was genuinely confused. None could resist its siren call. “How can this be?” The icon boomed in confusion.
“I get it. Performance anxiety. It happens to everyone. You get your first unbeliever and suddenly your magic is impotent. The good news is that they make magic pills for that. Or if you prefer you can go to Eryn and see a light mage.”
“Silence!” Garuda roared, a blast of air shoved Akamori back on his feet.
“You want me gone? Fine,” he said, settling his stance, ready for the fight. “But I’m going to take some of these sakazin with me when I leave.” He grinned wickedly.
Unhinged by his sudden display of depravity, Garuda surged forward on a gale of air, the draconic talons of his feet lashing out like whirling dervishes seeking to unburden Akamori’s head from his neck. Akamori evaded with his augmented defenses and lashed out with Thanaton, the first blade cutting the icon’s leg cleanly through the dragon scales. A piercing hawk’s cry wailed through the air and it focused on him as though it were about to devour him or feed him to its young. Garuda’s wing cut through the air in a slashing motion and a compressed blade of air lanced right for Akamori.
Reflexively, he brought his arms up to protect himself but felt nothing save the subtle passing of a breeze. Behind him, the ground bore a scar of cleaved stone. He looked down and noted the armor rippling like a cup of ink that had been disturbed. It must have done its teleportation trick with the attack. That had to have cost it in mana. Garuda flapped both its powerful wings and smashed him to the ground before vaulting off high into the air and banking quickly to make a pass at him.
Whatever the icon was up to, he had a feeling it wasn’t going to be any good for his long term plans. Struggling back to his feet, he intended to meet death upright if he could.