The day had passed uneventfully with me and the men. Chopping wood in the rain. There was no midday lunch to make the food last as long as possible. Miserable soaked people came from the woods with roots and mushrooms to add to the pot. Eventually after midday though the rain became too great for any work to be done and we all gathered inside.

The men stripped out of their soaked clothes and put in fresh ones where they could but some poor sod only had spare undergarments and the women giggled at him. He seemed unperturbed though and even flaunted his nakedness.

The children all began to berate me as I changed into my minstrel clothes and begged me to begin the story. But I waved them off, not yet ready to begin. I’d have to embellish the story as Boneshaker had always been sparse on details when I asked her what happened. I spent some time with the men of the place and gathered a man who played a pair of drums and one who dabbled in pipes. Together we played that night as I began my story.

Boneshaker was angry, the lesser ones had figured out how to destroy the elementals before she had. Still she believed she could have shattered them into nothing but rubble and snow. However their solution was more elegant and controlled. Still she was frustrated nonetheless.

She climbed down the treacherous mountains and began to open up her senses like they had taught her. It was a brief and vague lesson that she would have to try and interpret the best she could. Now down below the clouds the air was thick enough for her to take flight.

She spotted the wildlife of the lands in their peaceful herds, grazing on the tall grasses. Her eyes were sharp enough to spot the camouflage that predators used to blend in and sneak up on their prey.

Boneshaker stopped and caught a thermal updraft and began to lazily spin around it staying high in the sky. Again she stopped and centered herself. What was it those blasted two were saying? She had never had the need to tap into this “inner energy” they spouted about.

Boneshaker could not gain or wield it easily and struggled upon gaining the sense. Though she began to be able to smell something on the wind. The cries of animals echoed from far far below. Her eyes snapped to the ground below and she could see a wave of earth and dirt begin to swell like the shores of the sea she had visited so long ago.

A form began to form from the dirt. A great lizard like being that crushed animals beneath its feet and jaws made with rows of sharp rocks snapped at those that escaped its feet. Boneshaker tucked her wings and began to swoop down like a scaled bolt from a crossbow. As she approached another elemental burst from the earth. With a titanic slam she scatters the dirt of the creature in a shockwave.

Now that she was close she could smell a foul corrupt stink in the air. She had smelled the decaying corpses of animals and man. This was different. It burned Boneshaker’s nostrils like inhaling the scorching heat of the desert. With a tinge of rancid waters.

As she pounced upon the second one and tore through it with her talons scattering great handfuls of dirt. She became aware of the sounds of moving earth and glanced back seeing the dirt collect back into a central body. With the most powerful swipe of her tale Boneshaker crushed and blew through the reforming torso.

The second one clamped its false teeth on her front leg but failed to penetrate her powerfully tough scales. She pulled it back and wrapped her other front leg around its waist and ripped it in half throwing the two pieces to the side. Returning her sights to the first target she noticed it pulled itself slower than before. The powerful scent was less pervasive now.

With a forward charge she shoulder checked and blew the thing apart. Rooting herself in place a thought occurred to her and she beat her powerful wings causing a gale of wind that scattered all the dirt apart. The smell faded as tiny clumps gathered to a small mound in mid air but soon fell apart.

Turning to the second it was built back onto its complete form and Boneshaker jumped into the air and sunk her talons into its false skull and lifted it briefly into the air. Her muscles ached as she raised them higher before letting it go. The elemental beast crumpled below her as it fell apart beneath her.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

A single clump of dirt started to collect itself together and she snatched it out of the air. It was where the scent was coming from. She could feel that energy now. Instead of sniffing it out with her own she instead tried to breathe it in and as she did the clump disapaited. Boneshaker felt that roiling power in her lungs and how potent it could be. An instinct in her knew that assimilating it would be impossible but that the energy was from the earth. Raising her hair she let the breath go straight into the air and the power fell apart.

Now she knew that she could destroy the beings with claws and power. It would be draining physically but she could live with it. She turned to the corpses of the animals the beings had killed and the herd that scattered and ate greedily. The bones could live in her stomach for now.

Boneshaker’s muscles ached from the battle that had taken place. So she closed her eyes and felt her inner power swell inside her as the bones joined her. Eating them would be a temporary boon of strength but she had learned early that it would heal her quickly. It would rejuvenate her so she relaxed as it flowed through her. The quaking in her muscles faded as she lay down and felt her body stitch itself together and her scales thickened slightly. Boneshaker ate two more corpses and took to the air.

Flying lower in the air this time she began to scent the wind. She then heard the cry of beasts far away from her. The elementals seemed to be targeting herds of animals to snuff out their lives. That would be the threat. These things hated the living. It was bad for them though that she grew more powerful surrounded by death.

This time she was surrounded by three of the beasts. They resembled massive tigers made of grasses and plants wrapped together. Vines created bulging muscles. Boneshaker slammed two together. They were made of something alive, that made them weak to her breath. As she pinned the two down the third pounced upon her back and raked its claws ineffectually against her. She could smell that stink again and inhaled the air she needed for her breath and exhaled her billowing cloud of destruction and rot down on the two and they fell apart below her crumpling and turning to mulch as the plants they were made of rotted and died. Snapping her arm back she gripped the one on her back and hauled it over her shoulder.

Boneshaker began to tear it apart faster than it pulled itself together. She didn’t need her breath but her muscles struggled soon and the beast healed faster than she could destroy it. She bucked and threw it away and scooped a body in her hand and stuffed it down her throat for another boost in strength. The elemental surprised her as it went to flee. A deep predatory instinct bid her to chase it and stop it from gathering more plants and maybe allies. It stood no chance to run from her successfully as it stumbled with a leg falling apart below her. Boneshaker was upon it instantly and ripped it apart. It healed slower and slower beneath her constant assault.

Panting she gathered the bodies she could fit in her stomach and ate. She could do this, she could continue this cycle of fighting and eating the animals the beings had killed to regenerate. If needed she could return to her collection and eat from it. Only if she was desperate, maybe one of these made of stone would give her pause and force her to use this inner energy the others spoke of.

So for a week of battles she flew a giant circle around the central mountain. She went to the defense of dozens of herds that these creatures targeted. Boneshaker could not rest because in her sleep she was ambushed repeatedly. No elementals of stone or water came for her. She looked to the sky and hoped the others were being as fruitful in their battles.

Too exhausted to continue she returned to her collection and grew more powerful. Little did she know the radiating power she gained from it warded off the elementals for the threat she became was too much for them to handle.

For a year she would fight for entire weeks and then return to her collection to recover. She would vomit the bones she gathered into her collection and feel her power swell. All this death served to make her strong but she knew she needed to keep the beasts alive. Her strength would stagnate easily should they all die. So she struggled on. The fights grew easier and easier when she learned to flow her inner strength into her talons and it destroyed her enemies. This is how she won. The others would have to do their parts. Soon she had no more enemies and spent days patrolling for battles. Boneshaker succeeded, doing her part to save the world.

The group and I stopped playing as the story wrapped up. The children that had been so focused on the story had fallen asleep and their parents collected them and brought them to their cots.

A man brought me a small cup of powerful spirits. We toasted silently and I tossed it back. It was potent and burned pleasantly down my throat. I could taste hints of the wood in the liquor and smiled at the man.

That night I slept soundly.