Eons of slumber cast aside, my senses open to the cosmic skies,
Whispers of stars and celestial melodies, where eternal wisdom lies.
-Thoubose
THE FREDRICKSONS
“You feel that, Al?” Thomas Fredrickson, the oldest son of the Fredrickson line called to his brother as he felt the runic call from Gerald. They were at the edge of their property backed by dense cypris forestry, tending to a broken fence that was actively allowing their livestock to escape the boundary. Alfred the larger in height of the two by a significant margin, took more after his Valarian blood than his Montu in that aspect, unlike his brother. Regardless, both men’s frames were almost fashioned to be dominant warriors on any battlefield.
“Gerald’s been compromised beacon?” Alfred, a paragon of unwavering determination, drove the final pole into the ground with precision, despite the cascade of sweat trickling down his bald head. The well-maintained brown goatee stood as a testament to his meticulous attention to style, untouched by the perspiration that enveloped the rest of his form.
“Aye, summon wolf pack.” Thomas nodded, the thick curly locks of his red hair rebelliously defying gravity in all directions, especially unruly under the grasp of early spring humidity that reached its zenith in the evenings.
“Aw man, we’re going to lose most the cattle for sure now.” Alfred begrudged, drying his sweat drenched caramel skin with a towel, a characteristic him and his brother did share.
“These things have been spooked since the afternoon. Ger has a way with animals, we can have him help us gather them all when we get back.” Thomas suggested, hastily trying to block the open gap from the earlier break out, hoping to deter the remaining spooked cattle to stay in the boundary.
“Let’s ride then. He’s sharing his location now, it will cut off soon.” Al confirmed as the two men ran towards their horses.
“Yeah, feels like he’s on the move in our direction, towards Bendville. He always says he would travel in a straight line when using the call. Last time was when we were getting flanked in the Leandro incursion, that death canyon claiming issue.”
“Aye, I remember” Alfred nodded.
“You got anything for a battle?” Thomas questioned with a wry smile.
“Like I’d ever be without all of my toys.” Alfred said as he mentally reached into his gem, a small portal opening up before him. Grabbing a pair of bracers and equipping them before cutting off the extra dimensional storage, he then teleported into a sitting position on top of his horse.
“Show off.” Thomas grunted as he hopped up onto his horse. Both men riding as quick as their steeds would take them. “I need to start letting you hold some of my things.” He yelled.
“Then you would actually have to LET me hold your things.” Alfred quipped, moving too fast for the response to catch his brothers’ ears.
…
Thomas and Alfred stealthily made their way towards Bendville’s city center. Where they cautiously approached through side alleys, away from the main street that was full of men dressed in black with Skull insignias over their chests.
“Don’t use any essence, it might be too late to activate anything passive, and we need the surprise factor if they have any Gemini or essence users.” Thomas cautioned his brother. “Big enough operation they could have a Gemini and it should take a lot to nab Ger.”
“This some kinda base of operations?” Alfred asked as they both started drawing similar conclusions. “These are foreign soldiers or very organized thugs. Are we at war? Where’s all the guards or people?”
“I have no idea, this is becoming more alarming, let’s try to stay out of sight. We might have missed some urgent messages while we were out of the keep today.” Thomas whispered as they continued to move.
Finally, they got into range where they noticed two men towering over a prone form from their vantage in the alley way. They were viciously kicking him as they interrogated the man in the middle of the town square. A score of men in black cloaks standing nearby and the towns people of Bendville, nowhere to be seen.
“I was telling ya, I just thought yous were strange folk and I wanted to see what y’all were up to, honest I tell ya, I can forget everything I saw.” Gerald walled in agony.
“So you had us chase you for hours?” a man with dreadlocks yelled as he planted a boot firmly on Gerald’s chest.
“It’s not what you saw, it’s what you heard. The people we are working for don’t like loose ends.” A man encased in metal shouted from his side.
“Bro, they got a mithril walker. Gotta have two gems, what is it water and fire or earth and fire? I forget. Remember seeing those things against us in our tribal hunting campaign?” Al whispered as the two men kept slinking towards their injured friend.
“I remember perfectly, and the move that worked. Ger the bait has trapped our mouse and he even got him to exposed himself in a vulnerability with that confidence. You can’t give them any of those speeches you love so much, please just down that one quick. It’s too dangerous otherwise.” Thomas cautioned sternly.
“Ah, fine. Gonna zip behind him and give him a plasma arm through the head, super dishonorable, but the turds are kicking ma man while he’s down and I love Ger like a father. Can you lava pit the ground, drop the guy down a bit in case I miss?”
“Aye” Thomas agreed, his focus extending into his Valarian vassal ruby gem, Züle. With deliberate precision, he summoned the required essence, orchestrating the formation of a molten pit that would swiftly envelop the metal man. “Three, two, one...” Thomas murmured, synchronized with his brothers’ actions, a result of their years of rigorous military training and the innate camaraderie that had developed between them over their lives. Their gems seemed almost to blend together in thought, a testament to the profound bond nurtured through years of their shared experiences.
In an electrifying moment, as the lava trap's fiery jaws instantly closed in on the metal man, Alfred executed a seamless teleportation maneuver, emerging right behind their formidable adversary. With a calculated precision that kept Alfred clear of the molten inferno bubbling at the foe's feet, he delivered a swift and immaculate execution. In a single sweeping motion, Alfred's arm, ablaze with the raw purple power of his opal gem, morphed into a searing plasma beam that cleaved through the enemy's neck, severing it with unparalleled finesse.
With no time to react, everything was still for a moment as the men around tried to figure out what had just happened and where the enemy came from, seconds from their leader beating a defenseless victim with no worry in sight. The tactical brilliance of the single near traceless move left most around the attack stunned. Panic only erupting as soon as the man’s head dropped off his shoulders, the once flowing metal hardening instantly.
“SKULLPIN!” the dreadlocked man screamed as he reached down to catch his former masters head, the dead weight of the metal man’s body pinning the screaming man to the ground as the metal corpse toppled onto him.
“Paralyze turd nuggets!” At that, Alfred blasted a shock wave that dropped everyone within twenty yards of the men, then he began sending purple paralysis blasts to every man not stunned by the area of effect, a maniacal grin plastered across his face, the man pinned beneath the statue being stunned last. For good measure, he sent a few longer-range bomb type paralysis blasts that further shocked the various areas they detonated.
“You had to didn’t you” Thomas said to Alfred, a slight smile on the usually serious man’s face.
“Gerald, we need to roll. What have you gotten yourself into?”
A gargle came from Gerald as he worked to regain composure.
“There are a lot of guys here. What the Krom is going on? I mean if your into that stuff its cool, but you gotta tell us.” Alfred continued to press as Gerald found his words.
“What I just heard…” A look of terror visible on Gerald’s eye, the other currently closed shut with a nasty welt. “What yous got like four to five minutes on the paralysis?”
Alfred nodded in recognition, seriousness taking over. “Maybe over ten to the non-essence imbued or weak willed, only one to two if they have a defense.”
“We can’t waste time, we need to get out of here!” Gerald slowly made his way to his feet. “The dreadlock one has a tracker on me, we gotta break it or he’s goin to come find us pretty quick and we need to throw caution aside. State level thingys here.
“Aye.” Thomas quickly looked over the man until he found the man’s rune book clutched tightly in the man’s grip, snapping the active targeting one as he found it and pocketing the rest. “That’s one less problem.”
“Knock him good, he might break free the quickest.” A wicked smile formed on Gerald’s face as he watched Thomas’s boot descend on the man, adding a knockout to the paralysis. “Uh, maybe one or two more, as good as you can!” Gerald looked hopeful, as Thomas obliged for his friend.
“This is no simple operation, that guy had two gems!” a serious look crossed Thomas’s face as he exchanged looks with the two.
“You think we can get those unbound gems off this corpse?” Alfred asked excitedly. “Krom, they are what’s making my back itch something fierce right now.”
“I don’t think we have time and that is mithril. I know you had to use thirty or so percent of your gems power on that plasma beam through the mithril, then sixty or more on paralyzing the lot. As much as I want to rid enemy of bobbles, we have to get Gerald out of here before these guys start coming around. He’s in rough shape and they have numbers on their side. You are low on power and it would take me longer to melt the mithril.” Thomas stated, matter of fact. “You can’t do another jump can you?”
Alfred looked down a bit embarrassed. “I might have gotten a little carried away.” He paused before getting enthusiastic about the thrilling last few moments. “We haven’t gotten to use that kind of essence in years! Did you see that!”
“I was right here, of course I did. What kind of stores are you left with?” he asked again pointedly, keeping him on track.
“I got like five percent or so left maybe on my gem, plus my bracer stores. Gotta hold off for a bit for Gurt to build back up.” He patted his gem proudly. “I guess you’re right, like dad used to say a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, and Ger is our bird here, worth losing out on a few actual gems!” Alfred grabbed Gerald in a bear hug before inspecting him over. “You’re not looking good at all little birdy.”
“I be fine, I tell yous. Nothin broken.” Gerald spoke up in his defense with a raspy tone, massive welts of deep purples were already visibly covering the man. “This is serious business, these guys are involved in killin an Acolyte, and we have a baby Acolyte, we need to get to my hideout, get Roman, and get out of this country!”
“You can’t kill an Acolyte.” Alfred stated with confidence.
“Ozouf did, so did that man apparently, you just served some justice for Thoubose. Ozouf is in cahoots with this Skull faction” Gerald pointed to the men before him.
“The Acolytes, Roman, and Norrænns? Did you say you had a baby acolyte?” Alfred’s face stricken with horror.
“This is getting deeper by the minute! I would think you were crazy if I didn’t just see a full-fledged mithril war walker in the middle of Bendville.” Thomas stroked his thick red beard.
“I’ll explain on the way, I sure hope yous have some horses I can’t move that quick right now.”
The men got to Alfred and Thomas’ horses and galloped furiously out of town, Thomas stopping to blow up the gate with a massive fire burst, while Alfred took to freeing all the pent-up horses in the stable near the town entrance to prevent a quick pursuit. The gate, toppling into a heap of granite stone, blocking at least that entrance.
ROMAN
“You can’t believe how relieved I am that you two weren’t in the city!” Roman grasped each of the brothers tightly with the sincere relief two of his best comrades were still alive, Theo wide eyed in curiosity at the new comers in his opposite arm. As soon as Roman sensed the approaching party with his assisted heightened senses, he dashed to greet them, Theo in grasp. Worry had gnawed at him while Gerald was away, leaving him to just his own thoughts.
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“Ah you know we don’t do well at those kinda events and luckily Vlad never presses us on it.” Alfred quipped. “Let’s get inside Gerald’s with haste, we can fill you in. Ger’s in rough shape.”
…
“My word, look at him!” Roman exclaimed as the Fredrickson’s assisted Gerald into the hideout and the full extent of the injuries were visible in the dimly lit cabin. “It’s great to see you all and I am so glad you all are alive. I didn’t know the extent of the danger I sent Gerald in. But those are some serious allegations you were talking about on the way back.”
Even with only his one good eye, the reverent stare Gerald was giving Theo had not relented since he returned, unable to articulate words as he came to realize who Theo was. A relatively simple nature loving man looking upon an Acolyte of Thoubose.
“Oh, look at this! This guy had some good healing runes. Dang he unlocked a lot of essence types, he’s going to be formidable, especially if he gets his bosses gems.” Thomas flipped through Ranjoon’s deck, activating the fully charged heavier healing spells on Gerald’s deeper issues. Gerald visibly eased in tension as they took effect. “Sadly, the runes don’t grow teeth back Ger.” He noted as he inspected the remainder of the runes.
“Yeah, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but they had that mithril dude just bashing Ger with his boot. It was nasty business. We got there a bit late.” Alfred said as he grabbed a seat next to the small fireplace centered in the cabin. “Sorry Ger.”
“Look at this, it must be what the guy used to keep up with Gerald’s haste.” Thomas threw a rune to Alfred for him to inspect.
“Dang, he has purples too?” Alfred caught the tablet.
“Appears that way.”
“Oh, nice Thomas, this isn’t in my gem’s codex!” Alfred focused for a second as a purple light flashed between the newly acquired rune and his opal gem Gurt, secured on his belt buckle. The rune regaining full strength in the process. “Got it now! Here Roman, might be handy. I know you always have trouble keeping up with me when we spar.” A cocky tone in Alfred’s jab followed with a challenging smile.
“I don’t have many purple runes; I’ll take that advantage.” Roman equipped the rune passively, a purple pulse emitting as his essence connected with the rune, Alfred mentally relinquishing his bounded hold on it like the exchange happened every day. “Good thing you didn’t mess around with the walker, remember we used to have to take a Gemini squad if one of those showed up with a proper battalion. You guys could have been shredded up if they had any support.” Roman cautioned, worry evident for his oldest friends.
“Element of surprise, while they had a convenient distraction.” Alfred looked guiltily at Gerald.
“Imagine the trouble we must be in now. We should abandon this place and try to find somewhere safer.” Roman, worrying about his friends shocked state, scooped Theo up, and placed him on the man’s lap. The only thing that seemed to daze the man back to the present.
A few moments of silence passing, the group staring in reverence at the man’s awestricken reaction as Gerald finally came to.
“In all me life, never did I think I’d be in the presence of such a being.” Gerald’s voice cracking as he let out a gasp, slowly massaging his fingers through the infant’s silver stricken, jet black hair.
“Gerald, pretty sure you wanted to throw him to the wolves because he was terrified of all your stuffed trophies when we first came in, but I suppose perspectives can shift over time.” Roman’s genuine belly laughter eased all the others from the tense situation.
“That confirms why it was such a high pitch. Had to lock them all away in the cellar.” Gerald paused, looking toward Thomas. “Sloan has to be on her way.” A slight hesitation in his tone.
Thomas flinched at the name, an old romantic love interest that ended in a passionate breakup. A tragic case of mixing dangerous work and pleasure. “Why’d you call her?”
“I panicked. I hadn’t used that card in almost a decade, always kept it because I knew yous two were decently close, but never took the time to re-write and re-scribe the thingy. She has to be within two hundred or so kilometers if it actually sent a message to her, which it did.” Gerald explained.
“What’s done is done. Hopefully she brings news. If a tsunami wiped out Caesar, that’s a large garrison of the Valerian legion. If the king lives, he will have to call his banners and it’s going to be too slow of a response, especially with these bandits already swarming.”
“They are bandits or an army?” Thomas questioned. “I didn’t get a good feel for them since they didn’t have a chance to react.”
“I think their trainin is too poor to be an army, but maybe just poor leadership. Yous guys turned the tide on twenty some men in an instant” Gerald grumbled.
“Ger, they caught you mate. That’s what, the first time?” Alfred said in astonishment. “They couldn’t have been all that bad.”
“That’s the first time since being a near babe, but I learned good today. Did yous know anything about that rune time sense? The guy was lookin at me while I was runnin in dang near stopped time.” Gerald questioned.
“Purples are always tricky because they are more mind and time oriented.” Alfred explained, being the resident opal gem expert with a keen understanding of its essence. “There are some to counter offensive spells, like what you saw. It must allow a caster to watch you in slow time, should you be in their line of sight, like you mentioned. Other ones can even make you keep up with the time displacers, but that’s a lot of power and not many runic vessels could hold that type of energy. My gem will passively do that around your time distortion from now on since I added its capabilities, and it might have been able to notify me before I received that new enchantment.”
“Well, that might have been good to know ahead of time.” Gerald grumbled.
“Rare that you can use purple, that’s pretty astonishing seeing you have no formal training.” Alfred looked at Gerald in a bit of amazement. “It takes very specific mind focus to channel essence that way, the others are much easier to master, which is probably why you haven’t run across many purple essence users outside maybe Roman. Shoot, I couldn’t do it without my gem I bet.”
“I picked some empty runes in some backwards card games down at the shallows of Caesar, may that place still stand.” Gerald silently bowed in respect. “Took me a lot of fiddlin, but eventually I just cleared me head one day by that stream yous passed comin in.” Gerald pointed towards a direction they came before getting to Roman. “I just focused on the sound of the water, energy of life flowin in me head, all that business don’t yous know, then it started to slowly light up when I reached out with me mind. It took a long time I tell yous! But once I saw the faint purple glow, by golly I rarely have been more excited!”
“Ger, no offense mate, but people spend their lives trying to achieve what you just stumbled on, and with full training support.” Alfred’s face plastered with a dumbfound look, a new deeper respect forming for Gerald.
“Knock, knock.”, a female voice came from the entrance of the hideout.
“Sloan?” Roman said, “You made it!” the men all stood in courtesy to greet the new arrival. A small-framed Valarian woman greeted them, no noticeable feature about her that would make her stand out in a crowd, but that was the illusionary art of her profession at play. She was Vlad’s top agent of espionage or at least had been for some time.
“Gerald, she just snuck up on us. Can you activate some alert systems?” Roman asked patiently.
“Sorry Roman, me head is all scrambled. Haven’t had time to reactivate since gettin back.” Gerald channeled to a beam in the middle of the cabin that served as the main support for the structure. The beam had carving upon carving of intricate runes that glowed, many connected to each other with various runic chains of weaving network lines.
“I haven’t gotten that ping in a long time Gerald, I wouldn’t have come if there weren’t already a lot of issues happening. We can’t lose another.” She pointedly looked at Thomas as he looked away with guilt. “Things are crumbling for our empire, and I knew I needed to try to save Gerald if he was in a tough spot, hoping that we could build up specialists from there, one at a time. Worth a shot for starters.”
“What has happened in the last day? I fled from the city and made it out of the path of the tsunami. I know Caesar has fallen; I could see the storm barrier fail almost immediately. The palace entrance is right on the coast.” Roman asked, worry plastered on his face and the others around him.
“I was in Valtè, my assignment was counter espionage on a group of clerics the kingdom thought was planning an assassination but, probably no need to worry about that anymore. King Vlad is said to have fallen.”
The others gasped in the acknowledgement of what they dreaded they already knew.
“By the Acolytes.” Alfred inhaled.
“He was vacationing in his palace in Caesar with just about his entire court. Most of the military was stationed for a parade, right on the coastal parade grounds. They must have had the best plan, or the luckiest odds.” She paused, anger in her glare as she continued. “The Armory was ransacked by Erik Ozouf and his children. He has an army beaching and marching as we speak.”
“What kinda army?” Gerald asked in shock.
“An army the size that hasn’t been seen since he first waged war on the non-acolyte nations. It is said to stretch across the horizon, like locus, as they make it to the shore. They are more deadly now and they seem to have a heavy foothold from their banishment lands.”
“No Acolytes to enforce the five-empire accord. That which balanced Acolyte nations from waging war on each other.” Roman’s mind racing.
“I also have reason to believe they are coming this way. The Skulls are a blood for gold mercenary operation that deal in the shadier dealings, drugs, illegal gambling, prostitution, murder, people trafficking, you name it. They have a pretty vast underground network throughout the continent. They emerged from those committed to Erik’s values, but rarely donned the skull motif. They are extremists on this side of the world, left here when the split happened.”
“Things are starting to click into place it seems.” Roman pondered as Sloan continued.
“I captured one, a group tried to ambush me on the road to search me and whoever came after that. Either way, I was able to graciously gather what the remaining man knew, after I took care of his comrades. They plan to try to find some baby who is rumored to have extraordinary abilities. Maybe Erik is after that as well, but he didn’t seem to know why they needed the baby. Just a lowly grunt. Where in Thoubose is Ignis, she should be here protecting her favored people! And how did Flo let a Tsunami even beach the shores?” Recollecting to moments before, she turned to Roman. “What do you mean no Acolyte to enforce the five-empire accord?”
Roman cleared his throat and looked at the baby still being coddled by Gerald as Sloan’s eyes went wide.
“Roman, don’t tell me that is the rumored baby, and you are tangled in the center of this?” Sloan said in alarm.
“My Grandson, Theo!” Roman proudly interjected with a nod in agreement. “Heir Prince with the news you just brought, more than likely the King if the city was lost. My little weasel of a son in law loved those brothels by the narrows as of late, could have more than likely been there in the early morning, sleeping off a rough night.”
“Yeah, we also found out its actually a lot bigger than just an invasion. Flo and Ventum are dead.” Alfred paused as he let the news sink in. “Erik found a way to subdue and kill the Acolytes and he managed to get them all in one shot apparently. The others are still trapped, we are guessing.”
“Aye, that’s what I heard when I was scouting out those Skull fellows.” Gerald added, his wounds looking much better than a few minutes before, almost no remanence of any bruising and his eye had returned to normal size. “Then get this, this little cutie right here is reincarnated Ventum and a loose end in some done did master plan. Probably why they didn’t kill any more of the Acolytes.”
“It’s a bit too late to question anything as insanity right now, with an army that size marching down a defenseless peninsula. If what you are saying is true, we need to leave; we need to get as far west as we can. I bet if they don’t have luck right away, they are just going to extend a patrol line through the entire forest if they have to.” Sloan’s hazel eyes widened in terror as the cogs in her brain started to turn.
“That’s what they said.” Gerald confirmed.
“Where is there to run? Without Vlad and our men, our kingdom’s gems, this kingdom will get torn through very quickly. There will be no organized front.” Roman tensed as he further realized his career, his kingdom, his men were all gone in those same moments the city fell.
“Oh no, our barony!” Alfred complained before Thomas jabbed him in the rib cage with his elbow nodding a no gesture with his head.
The sharp agony stopped, as an idea began to take shape in Roman's mind when he absorbed Thomas's statement. “Your barony.” He paused as he thought deeply. “It’s positioned far enough west from here to serve as a strategic next step”, it also is the key to the west for Valaria. He thought back to the history of the keep. “Do you have a well-stocked armory?” Roman questioned as he stumbled from his thoughts.
“Aye, and we also possess our family’s secret vault within the manor. If the worst comes to pass and the estate falls, at least we can equip ourselves for whatever challenges lie ahead,” Thomas confirmed. “Only our kin can open it.”
“I hope for our sake that is true.” Roman replied with worry on his brow. “We need to move then, at haste.”
“I’ve got some bug-out bags ready, and we can be geared up in ten minutes or less,” Gerald chimed in, a hint of pride evident in his doomsday-preparedness. “Always better to be over-prepared, I say!”
The group moved into action, each person silently readying themselves for the task at hand. After a moment, Roman found his voice, mustering both courage and clarity for something he had to say. “As the fragments of our world crumble around us, a notion is taking form,” he began, his words carrying a sense of urgency and gravity. Pausing, he grappled with the swirl of emotions within him, strengthening his resolve to address the unknow, he continued. Grabbing Theo to cradle him in his arms, Roman turned to meet the expectant gazes of his companions, his expression a blend of determination and purpose. “Theo represents the future,” he declared, his voice a fusion of conviction and desperation. His words hanging in the air like a charged current, sparking a shared purpose that resonated within each heart present. With unwavering resolve, Roman met the eyes of those who stood by his side, seeking their affirmation, their unified commitment. “Engrave my words onto the very soul of Thoubose,” he continued, his tone becoming an oath. “I dedicate my life to rekindling this world’s flame, a flame that will never falter as long as Theo draws breath.” He turned his gaze to Theo, the embodiment of their fragile hope, a beacon against the encroaching darkness. “The alternative is a world cast into abyss under Ozouf rule if their nefarious scheme succeeds. But we, my comrades, can stand as the bulwark of resistance, the sentinels of a contingency plan forged from our unyielding determination.” In that charged moment, Roman’s words sliced through uncertainty, igniting a fervor within each heart that mirrored the flames of his own resolve. United by a shared purpose, they stood on destiny’s threshold, bound by a promise that their defiance would be etched into Thoubose’s very fabric.
“There’s no need to ask if we’re with you, brother,” Thomas’s voice resonated with fierce determination, his gaze unwavering as he locked eyes with Roman. “Before us stands a living embodiment of the Acolytes, a guardian of unveiled power. I, too, pledge my essence to this noble endeavor – to the sanctity of Thoubose, to Theo, and to the very legacy of the Acolytes themselves. Destiny guides our return, for it was our lineage that once helped quell the Ozouf threat. We might be outnumbered now, perhaps, but we are never outmatched.”
“Aye, he be our baby Acolyte. It would be faithless to say farewell when the road darkens around us. Thoubose knows, I pledge myself to this little‘in and to restore Thoubose. If we can’t do it, he will when he’s grown.” Gerald’s eyes watered at his words.
Sloan and Alfred then acknowledged the oath in return.
“To restoring Thoubose and our Acolytes!” Roman lifted his gaze.
“To restoring Thoubose and our Acolytes!” The others all proclaimed, before the baby acolyte’s eyes shifted to a brilliant white light that blinded everyone in the room. The immense surging light escaping from the hideout kilometers in all directions. Clearing after several moments but leaving the five chaperons’ eyes blazing with a bright white glow, before the light dissipated internally into their bodies.
In this pivotal juncture, as the echoes of their oath reverberated within and without, Thoubose herself stirred from her confines, responding to the resonance of their unyielding devotion.