It felt good to be flying by himself once more to clear his head in the crisp air of the night sky. This also allowed him to probe the beetle activity further.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t any beetle activity at all near the settlement. Perhaps they had picked it clean of any wildlife and decided to move on? There were a couple of beetle carcasses scattered about, but he didn’t think much of it. They were likely left there by Charles and his family as they traveled into Stone Wing Spire.

Malik scanned the air as well in case of an ambush from the Scouts. Thankfully, none came. Then he remembered the vision from the beast core of the Scout emerging from one of their tunnels at the base of the mountain.

Since arriving at the small valley, he hadn’t ventured off of the mountain. There hadn’t even been enough time to think about going on such an adventure. The prospect was exciting for him so he tilted his body and turned North where he thought the hole might have been based on his visions. Of course, if he was wrong, he would just need to go to the other side, but the mountain range was vast and would take time, even by flight.

Malik was struck with the beauty of the jagged snow-capped peaks, low-hanging clouds, and green pine scattering the surface. In the distance, he could see similar valleys and even a smattering of huts or other small buildings. Maybe one day he would visit them and see who else resided in these mountains. There were also packs of various animals scattered about that Malik was pleased to see had escaped the beetle infestation.

The clouds became thick, and he could no longer see the ground and began to descend, hoping that he wouldn’t hit the side of one of the peaks, which was a real danger in the thick clouds.

It seemed like the clouds lasted for an eternity, and when he finally emerged, his nerves were jolted as the ground below him was much further away. The mountain range had sloped down while he was stuck in the clouds. But that wasn’t all.

Far below, there was a massive crater, a mile across, where thousands of shapes clashed with each other. From one side of the crater, swarms of beetles emerged from tunnels. On the other side, a different creature swarmed out of similar tunnels. The beetles, varying in size, were easy to recognize even from this distance. The wind was whistling loudly in his ears, but he could still begin to hear the sounds of battle.

Some of the beetle shapes were massive in comparison to anything he had seen, but what were those creatures fighting them? They outnumbered the cursed beetle infestation at least three to one as far as he could tell.

Malik felt fear grip his heart. An unknown army that size, on top of the beetle infestation so close to Stone Wing Spire, was a terrifying thought. Although, he couldn’t help but feel glad that they were reducing each other’s numbers.

Daring to get a bit closer, he noticed that the other creatures were of various colors and appeared lizard-like. There were droves of the lizard creatures slinging rocks that harmlessly bounced off of the beetles’ backs, attacking them with short daggers, and a few even shot fire from long staffs at the beetles, cooking them in their shells.

Suddenly, Malik recalled the stories Naveck had told him of ‘Kobolds’. Their clan’s biggest enemies.

Even with the large number and the few fire-wielding magicians, the kobolds appeared to be losing more among their ranks than the beetles.

Malik used his Scout skill on one of the fire-shooting kobolds.

Kobold Pyromancer

Level 19

Vitality:

10

Strength:

5

Dexterity

6

Energy

41

Skills:

Hidden

Getting a little too close as he attempted to scout, he realized he had forgotten to activate his Camouflage. One of the kobolds noticed him and slung a rock in his direction. The creature had surprisingly good aim as it whizzed past Malik’s face, startling him into a turn. If one of them managed to hit Malik, this could end up in disaster. This wasn’t his fight yet, and he realized that he needed to get out of there. Quickly.

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Pumping his wings as hard as he could, he lifted himself away from the battle and in the direction of Stone Wing Spire. A few stone projectiles got close, but none actually struck him. He looked below and saw one of the larger beetles stand up and curl its body so that its rear end was pointing forward. Suddenly, with a loud popping noise, a liquid sprayed in a wide cone over the kobold forces. Another glance back and Malik saw that the liquid was horrifically melting the screaming kobold forces.

With a shudder, he calmed his breathing, knowing that he was out of range. The battle was concerning, but at the same time, it was a boon. The beetles would be sidetracked by such a large force attacking them, buying Stone Wing Spire precious time.

In the morning, he would inform Naveck and Charles about what he had seen. The crater would have taken a long time to reach by foot. It could even be days, considering the terrain and uphill climb, so the kobolds didn’t seem to be an immediate threat. They couldn’t even know that Stone Wing Spire existed yet and could very well be eradicated by their war with the beetles. Perhaps it was time to explore the beetle tunnels if they were preoccupied. These thoughts bounced around his mind until he eventually found himself back at his settlement. Even though he wasn’t completely tired, Malik knew that he needed to get some more rest before another busy day.

Zahid had disappeared back into the Altar so Malik decided to rest upon the peak near his beast cores and Beetle Stinger.

----------------------------------------

Malik awoke feeling parched and dirty. He didn’t remember drifting off to sleep as he watched over Stone Wing Spire. After a big stretch of his arms and wings, he jumped off the side toward the water, slowed himself before impact, and splashed into the icy water. The temperature shock never failed to jolt Malik awake.

The rest of the settlement was barely stirring out of their bedrolls, with the exception of Aisha. At the edge of the water, he spotted her motioning for him to come towards her, so he paddled over.

“It’s almost time,” she said.

“Almost time for what?” Malik asked innocently.

Aisha’s eyes clouded over in anger, “For the hatching,” she said through gritted teeth.

Malik’s eyes widened, “Ah, yes, of course. Let’s go!”

They quickly found themselves in the Incubation Chamber. The water dripped off of Malik, the spongy floor simply absorbing the excess water. The heat warmed him up nicely.

In the middle sat two eggs. One large, gray-ridged egg. Another small, yellow egg. The gray egg was much bigger since Malik had seen it. In fact, it looked much larger than Aisha’s egg had been when she was hatched, even though they hadn’t used very much blood to grow this one.

The two gargoyles crouched calmly while they waited.

“I wonder what name the hatchling will choose,” Malik mused aloud.

“I wonder if it will look like us,” Aisha said.

After an hour of the two blurting questions about the hatchling and its possible outcomes, the gray egg began to crack and wiggle. The top of the egg had the first large chunk fall off and reveal the head of the new gargoyle. There were stubby horns, not sharp like Malik or Aisha’s, but the head itself must have been twice as wide as Malik’s own.

Next, the shell toppled, revealing its face. It was similar to Aisha’s features, Malik thought. But the fangs were much longer, almost like tusks. The rest of the shell crumbled away as the massive gargoyle stood from his crouch, gray skin like the stone Malik was cut from. The gargoyle had the largest muscles Malik had ever seen, dwarfing Charles’ arms.

Malik frowned. He wished he had arms that big, but that’s not why he was frowning. The gargoyle’s wings were too small for his big body. He wondered if it would ever be able to fly like that. Using Scout to check the hatchling’s stats before it became aware of the two older gargoyles, Malik broke out into a grin.

Name

Race

Gargoyle

Class

Wall Breaker

Level:

2

Vitality:

1

Strength:

11

Dexterity:

1

Energy:

1

Skills:

Intimidate:

Unleashes an aura of intimidation for five seconds

This would be a good addition to Stone Wing Spire indeed. The first offense-focused class that Malik had seen in Stone Wing Spire.

“Hello,” Malik said to the confused hatchling. “Please, take your time to get your feet under you, choose a name, and come speak to me outside when you’re ready.”

The hatchling’s eyes seemed to focus and unfocus in confusion, still taking in the room around him.

Malik turned his attention to Aisha, “Come find me when he’s ready. I’ll make sure some food is prepared,” he winked.

As he opened the door, he could hear dwarves arguing, forcing a pained groan to escape his throat.