After Venamo had been running in the hilly landscapes of his homeland of Uhmakas for longer than he could keep track of, he found a road. He recognised the sand and the pebbles of the road, and knew he was where he needed to be, and he knew where to go. His limbs were exhausted, despite the blessing that Leri had given him, but he knew he was close, and he couldn't slow down now.
"I shouldn't enchant my own body further. I'd pay the price later..." He murmured to himself in exhaustion as his legs were melting under him.
"But I don't know how quickly the Vastus will get here. The quicker I get home, the greater of a head start I can give my folk. I must get there." He said to himself and touched his thighs with his hands.
He made the choice, and enchanted his body. Suddenly he felt new strength inside him. He began running along the familiar road. As the day was dimming, a familiar curve came to his vision, and he sped up even more, and when he passed the curve, he saw familiar houses. He ignored the hill where Nofa's hut stood and ran straight to the front door of his family's home. He stepped in, and saw his aunt Suiv sitting by his grandfather Vaino and attempting to spoonfeed him hot soup, but the old man was barely even responsive.
"Suiv, gramps, you and everyone here need to flee to the mountains as soon as you can." Venamo announced seriously while standing by the doorframe
Suiv turned to look at Venamo and put everything down. She stood up and hurried to Venamo.
"Vena! You came back! Where's Varma? Did you get her the medicine? Is my dearest all good?" Suiv asked in rapid fire and ignored Venamo's command.
"Is Varma not here?" Venamo asked while standing by the doorframe.
"What do you mean? She came with you because she needed the medicine! Did you forget her? Did you send her back home? She's not here!" Suiv asked in panic.
"She was with us for the longest time but... well, she gave up and left. We assumed she'd return home." Venamo explained.
"You let her go? Why didn't you stop her? Now she could be lost somewhere out there with nobody by her side and... and..." Suiv ranted and covered her mouth with her hands.
She began walking around the room with her mouth blocked and eyes wet while mumbling something incomprehensible.
"We couldn't stop her from leaving. We couldn't have possibly kept up. But you need not worry about her. She has something that should keep her safe from danger. But what you should worry about is what is about to happen. The forces of Vastusar have full intention to take these lands by force. We saw how our brothers on the other side live, and I fear the same fate might await us if we do not flee to the mountains. Take anything you can, and get going. I will warn the others." Venamo told his aunt.
"I can't flee if my dearest is still out there and lost!" Suiv clapped back with.
"Varma has wings on her back and she can fly. She'll be fine." Venamo sternly reminded.
"What?" Suiv asked.
"She inherited the Fire Feather, and now she has her wings. She can fly away from all danger, and she also has a powerful weapon that she got from the Holy people. Nothing is a threat to her." Venamo explained.
Suiv only mumbled and stuttered something that Venamo couldn't understand.
"So get going." Venamo reminded again.
"You're only telling me those lies to make me feel better. None of that is true." Suiv accused.
"Look, even if I lied and Varma was a lost girl wandering the wilderness somewhere out there alone and scared, you wouldn't find her. It's a big world out there and we were far from home when she left us. But believe me, she is just fine wherever she is. She loved the Fire Feather and come the end of next winter, she'll want to make the same journey around the world to bring summer into the created world. You'll see her then, if not before. Now please, save yourself and Vaino." Venamo reasoned.
"Your mother didn't raise a liar. I have to believe what you're saying." Suiv quietly said to Venamo and desperately wanted to believe Venamo's story.
"Great. Start preparing." Venamo replied with.
"Do you still have the beakmounts?" Suiv asked.
"They are now in the bottom of the Kemioe lake. Things happened. No time to explain." Venamo said and left the house.
After he had left the house, he knocked on every other door in the village, except Nofa's. Being a local hero has benefits, and the folk of the village didn't doubt his warnings. Some showed hesitance to leave behind their big and fertile crops and trees, but after Venamo had convinced them that he could make the mountains fertile, even the most stubborn agreed to pack their belongings. Fortunately, some of the villagers had carriages that could fit all the folk of the village.
"Pleasing to see such togetherness. I hope they keep that up once they get there. But now I have somewhere else to go. The King of Greater Vastusar has to die, and his throne left empty. And nobody else is going to do it now." Venamo said, and got running west.
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After running days and nights, and enchanting his body several times, Venamo reached the city of the poet. Quite a chaos was on the streets as the natives were packing caravans and carriages. Those who didn't have carriages were leaving the city on foot while carrying bags and sacks, all while city guards controlled the chaos. Venamo was the only one coming into the city.
"I won't be able to walk past this chaos." Venamo said to himself and simply leapt over the crowds of townsfolk and made his way to the empty port.
There he saw what the townsfolk were fleeing from. Over the lake were some more of Vastusarian airboats. A whole fleet of twenty of them all coming closer. Venamo walked over to a blacksmith's abandoned market stand and took a piece of armour that covers his torso. He took off his leather armour and replaced it with the metallic armour. He enchanted it, giving it the white glow of Holy magic.
"Let them send as many as they have." He said to himself and unsheathed his Defiance.
But before anyone from any of the airboats could shoot at him, a sudden and tall wave swept all of them away. Nobody could have seen it coming due to how sudden it was, and Venamo was taken aback, as was everybody who stopped their fleeing and watched.
"Lapis will do what he can to protect the land from this side. Good. I trusted him for a reason." Venamo said to himself.
Then from the lake a large bucket came sailing down, as if intentionally guided towards Venamo. It was large enough for a grown man to fit inside, and Venamo looked at it with consideration. A small whirlpool spun the bucket around invitingly.
"If this is what he can offer, I have no better choice right now." Venamo said and stepped in the bucket.
Once he was inside the bucket, the flow of water began moving the bucket towards the east across the lake. The speed kept increasing, and soon the bucket was sailing the lake faster than an airboat. Venamo kept his sword in his right hand and kept his left hand on the front wall of the bucket the entire trip. Along his unorthodox sail across the lake, every airboat that he spotted was wiped out by precisely aimed waves. Eventually, the lake was crossed and so was the river that flows between the Capital Province and Haimana. During the sail on the river, the skies above the surrounding lands were still black with smoke. That is how Venamo knew that he was in deep Vastusarian territory. After the river was behind him, the flow carried Venamo's vessel northwest. There Venamo began seeing what he knew must be the destination. Under the black horizon one city shone brighter than anything. A city where just the port was wider than the entire town of Laukiv. Behind the ports, the city was built on a hill, with the architecture getting grander and more beautiful the higher he looked. As Venamo was guided closer to the ports, he noticed that the port had tall watch towers, and the waters by the port were overlooked by airboats carrying burning ropes. Venamo knew that he would be spotted, and so he jumped into the water and swam to the port. He avoided lights, as well as fishing boats and merchant boats. The current carried him through a route that allowed him to avoid detection and collision, and soon enough he landed on a quiet part of the port where he climbed on dry land.
Now that Venamo was officially in the city, he saw in detail how the immediate area around the port was a bustling trade hub, and higher in the hill city were white and tall stone houses, and in the high end of the hill city were towers and temples, also made of white stone, but a polished type. And then at the very top of the hill city, was a grand palace. Surrounded by four towers was a white polished palace with coloured glass windows and a middle tower that had a mysterious black tip.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ25qzkZl7O
Venamo knew that the palace is where he needed to be. He began walking across the harbour with his sword on his back and a serious look on his face. Ships were being loaded with cargo and soldiers. In one ship, a trebuchet was being loaded onboard. Venamo understood that this city was the beating heart of the Kingdom. Right as Venamo had gotten out of the port, and entered the market district of the city, he began hearing the ringing of alarm bells. Everybody in the bustling streets stopped what they were doing.
"Wave! Massive wave coming this way!" A roof guard shouted and then blew into a horn.
Suddenly everybody on the streets began running the same way, further away from the coast and up the stairs that led them higher into the city. Some unfortunate ones got trampled by the stampeding citizens, but Venamo only jumped on a roof, figuring that nobody would notice him in the panic. From his vantage point, he looked into the port and saw that indeed, a big wave was rolling towards the city.
"Lapis, you have crossed a line now. But I will deal with you later." He said to himself and began hopping from roof to roof to get higher up the hill city.
Once he had made it up the part of the city where the pretty white houses were, he saw the masses rushing up via the steps that have been built along the city. Venamo also spotted that in this part of town, men with silver masks walked around boldly with their masks on their faces and their maces on their belts. He also saw how airboats were picking citizens up from the streets if they hadn't made it high enough yet, which gave Venamo an amount of respect for the men who operate the boats. Despite everyone's best efforts to save themselves and others, not everybody could make it to the middle district in time, especially the old and injured. The ones who made it only watched, as the massive wave crashed into the commercial district and the port. Any ship that was in the nearby waters of the city was swept away and crashed into the city with the wave, and anyone who hadn't made it high enough faced and unfortunate fate being crushed under masses of water.
After the wave had hit the city, what remained was wrecked buildings and cracked streets, and things where they shouldn't be. Where just a moment ago was a wave of scared citizens rushing higher, was now nobody. It left the observers stunned and silent.
"I thought the waters were ours! That's what they told us!" One voice shouted from the crowd.
"Did he lie, or did he do this?" Another voice shouted.
"Silence and order! This is a time of distress and we need your cooperation!" A guard shouted.
As guards began dealing with whatever unrest arose, they didn't even have time to go search for survivors. Venamo saw it as a good distraction, and once again began jumping from roof to roof. Unfortunately for Venamo, he wasn't as slick as he thought he was, and a roof guard spotted him hopping from roof to roof, since the glow of his armour stuck out in the darkness where he stuck to, far away from the light bearing airboats.
"You there! Down from the roofs if you're not on roof duty!" A roofguard shouted at Venamo, but he ignored the commands.
On a moment of great uncertainty, the roof guard did something he wouldn't normally be allowed to do. He shot an enchanted crossbow bolt at Venamo, and hit him square in the back. The enchanted arrow colliding with Venamo's enchanted body armour caused a shockwave that knocked Venamo down from the roof and into a dark street. He landed belly first on a flat paved bit of the unlit street. The armour protected his torso, but his cheek hit the ground hard and did a number on him. Fortunately for him, nobody came to look after him as he laid on the dark street for a long moment. Even more fortunately, all the light bearing airboats were at the place were the masses had gathered.
After taking his time, Venamo stood up, using his sword as leverage.
"A little bump won't stop a tribe warrior." Venamo murmured and spat a tooth out as he began walking again towards the nearest steps up.
"I'll take the steps if they won't let me use the roofs. Loyal to a soon to be dead king until the very end. The fools." He then said to himself.
"There he is! He's walking!" Came a shout from behind.
"Stop and return your stolen armour. Civilians are not permitted to have enchanted items!" A different voice shouted.
Venamo slowly turned around and saw another airboat carrying five men, all pointing their crossbows at him.
"Drop your armour piece and sword on the ground and stay where you are!" Came a threat from the airboat.
Venamo noticed that the enchantment he gave his own body had worn out again and his legs were weak. He gave his own body another enchantment and leapt forwards. So long was his leap that he landed in the enemy's airboat before anyone in it could realise what just happened. He then chopped the head off one of the city guards, and then cut one of the four ropes that connect the rope to the balloon that carries it, while holding on to another rope. Everyone in the boat fell down to the street, except for Venamo who hung on as the airboat slowly descended down to the street. With his body enchanted again, he began sprinting up the streets and the stairs.
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Venamo ran up all the stairs in the grand capital, facing no more opposition since all attention was on the damage of the great wave. At the top of the hill was his destination. The gates surrounding the royal palace. All the gates and spiked fences around the palace's vicinity were tangled in burning rope, and lots of burning rope was also hanging on the walls of the palace itself. Big burning flames were on the tops of the four towers surrounding the palace, and the mysterious black tower at the centre of the palace looked even stranger up close. It was a shade of black that Venamo had never seen anywhere in his life. As he approached the gate, he was met by two guards of the gate.
"The changing of the guard isn't due yet. You can go back." One of them told him.
"There's no going back now." Venamo said and simply leapt over the gate.
He landed on the courtyard where there were torch poles positioned in a way that they form a pathway to the front door or the palace. Along the torch poles were statues of past kings and queens, and on the left side of the courtyard was the royal graveyard. Venamo didn't stop to admire any of it, he sprinted forward along the path as a horn was blown into somewhere behind him. Sharpshooters shot their enchanted crossbow bolts at Venamo but he was too fast to hit, and only a trail of missed bolts were left far behind him as he sprinted towards the large wooden doors ahead. Bells were now ringing across the courtyard, but that didn't make the tribe warrior look behind. Once he reached the door, he stuck his blade between the doors and pried one of them open using his sword as leverage.
The door opened, and what Venamo saw ahead of him was a group of six spearmen charging at him across the hallway that had a polished floor and a staircase at the end of it. Venamo knew that six spears all coming at him would be beyond his skills to block, so he leapt up and grabbed the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. While hanging on it, he stuck his blade to the ceiling above and easily cut a circular hole in it while the guards could only watch. He then threw his sword into the hole that leads to the second floor, and then climber there himself.
"After him!" Came a shout from the lower floor, and Venamo knew that he had to get on the move quickly.
Right as he was getting himself up, he got a vase smashed into his skull. Not with great force however, and the vase that he was hit by didn't even shatter. Venamo held his head and turned around and saw a scared palace maiden holding a vase in her hands. Venamo hit the vase with his sword and shattered it, and then pointed the blade at the maid.
"Where is the King?" He asked seriously.
"Everyone in the palace has a duty for the King and..." The maid began answering.
"Either I find him with your help or after everyone here is dead. I'm not above using human shields." Venamo interrupted with.
"Same place as always. At the stone." The maid nervously answered.
"The stone? Argh. I don't have time for this. You're coming with me!" Venamo said and grabbed the maid by the collar of her uniform.
"Get off me, intruder!" The maid protested.
"I will, once I find what I'm looking for." Venamo replied while dragging the maid out of the room.
They both left the room where they "met" and found themselves on the hallways again.
"Where to from here?" Venamo asked.
Before he could get an answer, the spearmen had just finished climbing the stairs and spotted Venamo.
Venamo got behind his hostage and held her firmly. The spearmen stopped their charge and looked on.
"Lead me to the stone." Venamo told his hostage.
"F-from the front entrance... first door on the right and..." The maid struggled to speak as Venamo's arm was around her neck.
"Forget the worthless servant! Get the intruder!" A command came from the ranks.
"You've served me well." Venamo said to his hostage, let her go and fled again.
He ran to the very back of the hallway and jumped through the window at the back of it. He landed back on the courtyard, and then realised something.
"I don't need to find a way to the "stone" when I know where it is already." He said to himself and looked at the large, circular, colourful window at the front wall of the palace.
He charged forwards and made a great leap, flying through the large window like a boulder launched from a trebuchet.
As he laid down among shards of glass and pried them out of the skin of his neck, he heard heavy breathing coming from the end of whatever room he was in. He slowly stood up and saw that he was in a large room with lots of space, a large round negotiating table in the middle, golden lamp poles spread around, and a massive bright semi-transparent stone at the back of the room. If the stone wasn't interesting enough on it's own to Venamo, what was attached to it made it even more so. A gruesome looking tall and broad-shouldered man, with no hair on his head or face, no lips, and only the torn remains of a red robe covering his lower half was attached to the bright white stone with what seemed to be a rope of the strange man's own flesh and bone. An extra limb, almost like. Next to the stone and the man attached to it was a man that Venamo recognised.
"I didn't think you'd actually come all the way here." Vakevata said as he stood there in black armour while holding a two-handed battle axe enchanted with Holy magic.
"You even speak to me in their language now. So be it. I came here to find the King, and end his rule, and prevent the rule of anyone who may succeed him." Venamo replied as he walked closer.
"There... will... be... no... successor!" The man attached to the stone grunted in a harsh voice that sounded like it was painful to speak with.
"You are right. There won't be. Vakevata, I will deal with you later. We can avoid conflict if you tell me now, where the King is, and what this stone is." Venamo said to his betrayer.
"I... am... the King!" The man attached to the stone grunted loudly.
"You look like you need to be put out of your misery. I shall do exactly that." Venamo said and came even closer.
"You... will do... no such thing!" The King replied.
"Ah the trouble of being an heirless monarch. Our noble King had to resort to this in order to avoid a succession crisis come his death." Vakevata commented.
"Make himself an abomination?" Venamo questioned as he looked at the King.
Venamo noticed that the King's eyeballs were made of the same material as the stone he was attached to, and that he had spikes growing out of his head and body and limbs, and that the spikes were also made of the same thing.
"To someone like you, he may seem like an abomination. What he really is, is immortal. Gifted with Leri's blessing, and not only that, he chose to attach himself to the source of his endless power. Our King Pushkrilleri is a man whose entire skeleton is made of this Leri stone now. The only stone of its kind. Our King has made himself immortal, and unkillable, and he will never have to worry about an inheritance crisis, nor any pesky attempt on his life. He and his kingdom have been useful allies." Vakevata explained.
"Useful allies to whom?" Venamo asked.
"To us Sons of the Fifth. But that's all you need to know." Vakevata answered.
"So be it." Venamo said.
Rather than continuing the conversation any longer, Venamo swung his enchanted sword at Pushkrilleri's neck. However, the blade only cut the skin, but was stopped when it hit the neck bones that were indeed made of the Leri stone. When the enchanted blade hit the neck bones, the shockwave it created sent Venamo flying several feet away while Pushkrilleri remained steadfast where he was.
"Vakevata Vinia! Deal... with... the intruder!" Pushkrilleri commanded his right hand man and enchanted Vakevata's black armour.
"As you command." Vakevata said and and put a silver mask on his face.
Vakevata walked over to where Venamo was picking himself up from the ground. The right hand man raised his heavy battle axe and swung it down. Venamo rolled out of the way and picked up his sword from where it had fallen. He then stood up and took a battle stance.
"What are you even fighting for? To defend a plot of land that you happened to be born on? To defend an archaic order of divines that has outlived its usefulness?" Vakevata asked and swung his big axe sideways and hit Venamo in the ribs that were covered by his enchanted body armour.
The resulting shockwave sent Venamo flying again, while Vakevata himself was taken only a few steps back, due to him being prepared and heavy. Venamo got up quicker this time and readied himself again.
"You know what I'm fighting for. I joined the Road of Blood for a reason. My brothers will be free, and men who play gods will be forgotten to time!" Venamo said and attacked with a thrust of his blade.
He aimed at the exposed opening at Vakevata's elbow, but Vakevata knew where Venamo was aiming, and merely moved his arm just enough to make the blade collide with the enchanted armour piece on his forearm.
Once Venamo and Vakevata were once again in fighting stances, Vakevata raised his axe high and swung it down where Venamo stood, but once again Venamo ducked. Vakevata's axe got stuck on the floor and as he was yanking it free, Venamo aimed at Vakevata's exposed neck and took a swing.
Vakevata was quick to react however, and let go of his axe to put his forearms up to block the hit. Vakevata then charged at Venamo and threw a punch aimed at his face, but Venamo moved his head in time. Vakevata kept throwing punches at Venamo who kept ducking them. Every time Venamo tried to take a swing at Vakevata's neck, he blocked it with his forearms, but Venamo was prepared for the shockwaves that the impacts created and was no longer knocked back by them much.
"The Road of Blood was for gullible fools like yourselves. Fools who have affinity for a piece of land just because you happened to be born there and love for a tribe that you happened be born into! I saw beyond that! I saw something greater than that! A new day for mankind that is worth fighting for! Two worlds shall be under the watch of the High Sender, the Grand Beast who the Sisters cast out!" Vakevata shouted while throwing punches.
The next punch that Vakevata threw landed on the chest of Venamo's armour and knocked him far back.
As Venamo was getting up, he saw that Vakevata was running to retrieve his axe from the floor. Venamo sprung up and ran after Vakevata and spotted that the backs of his knees were unprotected. Venamo thrusted his sword into the back of Vakevata's knee, and the right hand man's scream of pain echoed through the hall. Vakevata fell on one knee. Venamo then aimed his blade at his foe's neck, but before he could land the finishing blow, he fell under his own weight and dropped his sword.
"No. Not now." Venamo murmured to himself and tried to move his hand enough to make it touch any part of his body, but his arm was simply too powerless from all the enchanting he had done to his own body, and the cost it had come with.
And then, he felt his back and abdomen pierced by a strike from behind. He looked down, and saw a long spike made of Leri stone bursting through his gut. He then felt as he was being raised higher and higher, until his feet couldn't touch the floor anymore. When he was as high as he could be raised, he got flung through the hole that he made in the window, and flew all the way to the same water that he travelled by to arrive to the city.
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