Koronos awakens mid-day on the cold, damp black sands of the unfamiliar beach. Shelove is lying snuggled against his back for warmth, her eyes open when he stirs. Strange and unrecognizable animal calls echo from the nearby dark and foreboding forest. Far inland in the distance, there is a huge mountain shrouded in mist. “We are on a distant shore, Shelove, we must be cautious and vigilant here. We know not friend from foe in these lands… If there be friends at all.”
She expresses concern through their mental bond. Unfamiliar smells in the area, a predator's territory, danger. So, he pets her, to sooth her, “we have little choice, we have nowhere else to go. We need to figure out where we are, then find out how to get back home and look for any other possible survivors of the shipwreck.”
After carefully searching the area, they find a puddle of fresh water that doesn’t look too dirty and drink liberally because they are parched from having nothing to drink all night in the open ocean. He finds a straight enough stick that is strong and sturdy, from this stick he fashions a spear using his belt dagger for the pointy end. Then he continues to address his animal companion, “by my estimate, given a whole night of being tossed and blown by the storm, they could be scattered over a hundred leagues, assuming the kraken didn’t get them. That’s an area the size of the Octavian Empire… we may never find them. And after three days in the churning maw in the storm, being carried by the high-speed winds in a roughly westerly direction, we could be 500 to 1000 leagues across the sea, far from our home on Titans. If there is no civilization on these lands that are seafaring, we may never get back home, Shelove.” As an alarming animal call echoes through the forest, sounding like a low baritone rumble, so low in tone that they can feel the vibrations all over their bodies.
“I know not what animal could create such a sound, but my intuition tells me it’s something very large, and whatever it is, I believe it has caught our scent.” The Kazarian senses that the call was a warning to them, that it is the lord and master of this area, and they are unwelcome intruders. Somehow, it knows that the scent of Shelove is the scent of a rival predator, and it doesn’t like her, it hates her. Shelove scans the treeline with her bright yellow eyes, she’s afraid.
About 200 paces away, it emerges from the treeline, it looks like the cross between a flightless bird and a lizard, standing two men-and-a-half tall on two legs, covered in feathers with stripes and patterns adorning its body, looking like it weighs about 2000 stone. Its mouth looks big enough to bite the body of a horse in half or toss it like a toy. Koronos manages to utter quietly to himself, “by the gods.” Closely followed by, “it’s time we move. Quickly, into the forest.”
For the rest of the day, until darkness encroaches, they make haste, and go further inland, climbing higher and higher in altitude up the misty mountainside into the vast, ancient coniferous forest where the trees grow into giants towering far overhead, and the trunks as big around as houses. They are able to easily out-pace the beast, leaving it far behind, but how far will it pursue them, where is the edge of its territory? They cannot be certain, so they push on unto the darkness, it’s difficult for Koronos to see, so he uses his bond with Shelove to help guide him in the dim light of the towering, black forest.
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They push on until they grow too weary to continue much farther, when they come across a small nook in the rocks and under some giant roots of a tree that can provide a modicum of shelter for the rest of the night. Making a fire is unwise and likely to provide a beacon for the beast, if it is still tracking them. So, they huddle in the cold darkness, silent, and try to sleep with one eye open for the few remaining hours before daybreak with bellies growling from hunger pains. If they can’t find proper shelter and food soon, they will perish, because they can’t keep this up for much longer.
Once daybreak comes, they continue, but the mountain is getting too steep to continue upwards, so they start to work their way around the mountainside in the highlands, until they encounter a wall, a crude wall constructed of tree trunks that stands at about the height of four men. It appears to be a settlement of some kind. Who resides within these walls? After thinking it over, Koronos decides to approach, because they can’t continue out here as things are, and he needs answers as to where they are. Perhaps the ones that reside here have answers?
There is a small clearing around the structure, and a place that seems to be the entrance, with a heavy wooden gate or door structure. So, he stands in the clearing in front of the door, in clear view, standing relaxed with Shelove next to him, she is sitting on her haunches. Here they wait, giving the denizens within time to assess them, hopefully seeing they are not there to cause harm. There are slits in the walls and in the door, eventually someone will look out and see them, and they do.
After about 30 minutes, there is a commotion behind the door, until finally, the door opens. A strange sight steps out, it’s a great white gorilla adorned with tribal beads and feathers to display his importance in the community, holding a decorated spear with a finely knapped obsidian spearhead. He looks like he weighs about 300 stone of power and muscle and is as tall as the Kazarian. Four more white gorilla warriors come out and flank the chieftain on each side of him, each nearly as impressive as the chieftain and holding spears of their own. Youngling gorillas peak over the top of the wall, to observe the strange sight of a blue-skinned man with a giant black cat. They have never encountered a Kazarian or anything like Shelove, nor have they even heard tales of such creatures.
Koronos and the gorilla chieftain immediately sense each other, the chieftain doesn’t understand what it is and is confused. His warriors have never seen their chieftain display uncertainty and begin to look at each other, looking to see if the other warriors notice it, searching for affirmation of their unbelievable observations, but the Kazarian knows what it is, he’s felt it many times before. The gorilla chieftain is Everliving.