Equian surveyed the end of the impromptu dock from atop the ramp leading down on to the shore. The sea slapped the bottom loudly as only it and the seabirds could be heard. He motioned to a man on his right. The ramp lowered slowly onto the beach. The onlookers following its descent with their eyes. Besteb’s voice echoed in the minds of each of the conspirators that morning. "You gotta give em the slow ramp! The slower the better; they will think your too powerful to rush."

The ramp hit the sand with a dull thud, the weight of the thing forcing it to sink deeply. Slowly he walked down towards the ever-growing mass of onlookers. The closer he got to the crowd, the wider their eyes got, the lower they stooped to the ground, and the more intimidated they looked. The guards were so entranced, they barely acknowledged their weapons leaning at the ready nearby. He stopped at the edge of the ramp, making a show of the step onto dry land. The crowd gasped and fell prone, averting their eyes and whispering between themselves.

A commotion rose as an important looking Neander and her cadre of followers materialized out of the streets behind the crowd. The people nearest to them unable to jump out of the way in time were kicked or pushed by the guards. The crowd was torn between revearing Equian and avoiding the wrath of this figure. The closer the figure got to shore, the louder and more animated she became, hurling insults and threats at the bowing crowd and the interlopers on the shore.

“A false god who is nothing more than a misshapen ape!” she accused.

Pushing forward through the crowd, her guard pressed on. “Monster from the waves, you be not a god. You are a trickster sent to deceive us!”

Gesturing wildly toward the crowd, she continued, “Don't you see? This not even be ‘Thal. How could it be one of our gods?”

Equian squared his shoulders, in his deepest voice possible, and in practiced neander he spoke.

“Enough!”

He froze the advancing Neander in their steps. Her guards were so shocked they dropped their weapons. He pointed his trident at the Official, singling her out and then with quick measured steps he walked until he towered over her. His looming figure blotted out the morning sun as Equian looked down over his cheeks. Almond eyes blazing with fury he drove the forked trident directly into the barely covered chest of the Official. The Neander crumpled to the ground, her last breaths bringing a red foam from her mouth.

The crowd came to an immediate silence, everyone’s attention was locked on the very imposing, very much real , God.

Equian’s eyes traveled over the crowd, never pausing on one individual but somehow locking eyes with them all.

“I have come from the water to punish you all for corrupting the word of the gods! You enslave your brothers and sisters, treat them like lesser beings. While the small few who are wealthy live lives of spoiled certainty.“

With this, Equian bent and hefted the dead Neander official by her hair with one arm.

“Do you not see it? It's in her clothes, her shiny metal adornments. She earned these not of her own wit or measure or the sweat of her own brow. She earned these by making those under her suffer. Those under her labor. She acted like a god, and for that I am here to punish you all…”

With that the crowd wailed and cried out as one to the black clad figure, drowning out the sea and the birds in their cries for mercy and leniency. Collectively the crowd pushed towards Equian but never coming close enough to make contact with any part of him. Like the roiling seas he came from, he stood among the fury with a far off stare and a set jaw. Striding forward, the mass of people parted in front of him. They wailed and reached up from their positions kneeling on the ground, the tips of their fingers mere centimeters from him.

Once Equian’s boots thunked on stone, he stopped still and turned to face the sea. He lifted his Trident into the air, thumping it butt first firmly onto the stone, making a deep hollow ringing noise from the three tines. The crowd hushed while this figure continued about his strange ritual. The thumping increased until you could hear a distant cry from on the ships. A high-pitched screeching noise could be heard over everything.

Upon the furthest boat, behind the light created by his men, a tremendous beating could be heard. The sound was even louder than the deep chest-rattling hum of the trident's resonance. The sound was like a rumble of thunder beating on like a heart. No one but Equian knew where to look, as he stared intently off into the light of the morning sun. Following his gaze, the crowd looked up in time to see a massive shadow emerge from the light. The source of the beating erupted from the light in golden glory. Massive wings spread wide, creating the thundering sound with each muscular flap. The shadow screeched so loudly, it felt to all like their ears may begin to bleed. The Eagle was so big, it did not land on Equian, it landed next to him. An audible gasp rose from the crowd who could scarcely believe their eyes.

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“I am The God of Death and I am here to punish you and every single Neander in existence. I will wipe the earth clean with a flood that will cover all the land.”

Equian turned to gesture towards his Eagle companion, a mighty thing he had tamed from a chick. He bent as if to tell the bird something, when finally someone spoke up.

“It wasn't us!”

That simple sentence was all it took for the crowd to erupt again, denials and finger-pointing rained down upon him.

“Please, what can we do to stop this? We are simple people who did nothing wrong.” One person called out, “Please spare us!” Still more called.

Equian smiled, and it was not a smile of warmth or happiness. This was a smile so terrifying, the few Neander mothers in the crowd covered their children's faces.

“If you are not to blame for your people’s corrupt ways, then who is….who deserves punished for corrupting your beliefs?”

The crowd looked at one another, and slowly one by one they all started to point towards the largest building in the city. What appeared to Equian to obviously be a palace or other important civic building of some kind.

“If they are the ones to blame, I shall spare you. I expect you to cleanse corruption for me. Do you understand?

“Go and make the Neander clean once more, raise all those who are oppressed and used to fight by your side. It is up to you to cleanse your people. No more will it be acceptable to the gods to enslave your fellow Neander for personal gain.”

With a flourish, Equian gestured, and the Eagle took flight once more, flapping to gain altitude. The strong wings knocking some of the closer Neander to the side. The crowd followed the enormous bird of prey as it slowly flew towards the opulent building in the center of the city.

Kai stood at the start of the main wooden plaza Equian had strolled down, watching. His mouth hung open, and in that moment he was glad no one on the shore could see his stupid look. What Kai had just witnessed with his own eyes was nothing short of a miracle. While terrified and afraid of the show Equian put on,it never once occurred to him that it would actually work. Besteb’s plan had worked!

The whole of the journey, he and Besteb spoke of his journeys as a young man. The things he had seen as a trader, and most importantly, what he had witnessed among the Not-Neander. Over the many days above deck and nights sleeping below the stars, Kai was left to imagine what his life meant now. He had time to think about his next step and not his next meal. He knew he never intended to go below the earth again, and if he was forced to smell that damp ever again, it would be too soon.

He followed the rabbling crowd with his eyes, watching them merge with the buildings and streets until the landing area was empty. All that was left on the beach was the churned ground of hundreds of ‘Thal. The only sound left was the waves and his breathing. Before he could move, every person on the ship dropped their shields and doffed their armor. Besteb rose from his seat to the right of Kai, shaking from the effort of keeping his balance while using a cane on….

“A Booo-aat,” Kai said out loud without realizing it. Besteb looked at him and smiled ruefully.

“I knew you be no slow, simple slave. Young one.” Besteb said without looking at him. “They don't feed you on purpose. They be scared. You are many, they be few.”

Kai’s eyes grew wide at that, having not even realized how much clearer it had been to think since coming to this new place. His head hurt from all of the new, but it never felt like before. The lost and confused thoughts and the hunger so painful he would cry himself to sleep some nights.

“It wrong what our own kind does to us. How they use us and trick us just for a rock. Just to have every ‘Thals riches to keep for themselves.” Kai huffed and walked forward to the railing to watch the……..”Hu-Mans” rush off the boat, making an arrow straight path for the city's grain and food storage. Smoke already started to rise from the far off palace as a din could be heard even over the waves.

“Boy, this be bigger than just stealing food to survive a season. What we do this day, not even Mother Earth and Father Mountain can stop the change. We are the water washing the old away.”

Kai looked again with fresh eyes and a clear mind and witnessed the death of a way of life.