"You know, brother of mine, since you made your own weapon all enchanted and powerful, wouldn't it only be fair and kind if you also did the same to mine?" Yilka asked his brother as they were walking across the bumpy and uneven brown land.
"Why are you speaking like that?" Varma asked Yilka.
"I don't even know myself if I actually enchanted the weapon. I haven't really had a chance to try it myself yet. I see nothing here to test it on." Venamo replied to Yilka.
"Well, in the meantime you can check how your hand looks by now." Yilka suggested.
Venamo checked the palm that was punctured by a spear the other day. The feign flesh that Nofa had given him had now completely become one with his own hand and the hole in his hand was fully patched.
"It's fully patched, even though she said it'd take ten days. I am certainly blessed with something." Venamo said.
"Heyyyyy... That holy lady was about to touch my forehead as well but Yia snatched me out of the way! You fool! I could have also been blessed with Holy magic but you didn't let it happen!" Varma complained to Yilka.
"I didn't know that it'd have that sort of effect and I wasn't going to let some stranger lay a finger on you. Literally." Yilka said in his own defense.
"As if I need your protection." Varma said bitterly.
"A spider is climbing your leg." Yilka said to her.
"Where? Where? Where?" Varma repeated while slapping her legs all over.
Yilka only chuckled to himself. When Varma realised that she had been tricked, she angrily picked up speed and got ahead of the others.
"Where is she going?" Venamo asked.
"I don't know. Most likely nowhere so far that we lose her out of our sight." Yilka answered and felt unbothered.
Another screech could be heard up in the skies. Both brothers looked up at the direction of the screech.
"That was weaker than the ones we heard earlier. The Fire Feather is close to dying." Venamo stated calmly.
"It's still able to fly, so it must have some strength left." Yilka said.
Right then they both saw a fast and screeching flame fly across the sky. When they looked at it more closely they saw that it was the Fire Feather, and it crashed somewhere in the direction where the brothers were headed. Ahead of the brothers Varma had stopped where she stood. Once the brothers caught up with her, she was still just looking into the distance and processing what she just saw.
"She fell down." Varma simply said.
"Her time had come to an end, and something new will come to her place, as the cycle goes." Venamo said calmly and continued his trajectory.
Yilka had nothing to say and only gave Varma's upper back a consoling little pat, and carried on walking behind Venamo. Varma once again rushed ahead and passed both of them, eager to see where the Fire Feather landed.
After some travelling Varma, who was ahead of the others saw a tower of smoke rising to the skies. She ran over the hill ahead of her and at the top of it she looked down the hill. There she saw the Fire Feather laying on its side, with sparks flying and smoke rising out if it. Around it was a small crater and the grass around the crater was charred and burnt. Varma ran down the hill without caring if she tripped and fell. At the bottom of the hill she felt the hot air coming out of the crater and burning her face. When she felt the hot air hurting her face, she had second thoughts about coming so close to the Fire Feather. The bird let out a sound that was more like a defeated whine than a pained screech. Varma felt too sorry for the Fire Feather, and jumped into the crater. The closer she got to the Fire Feather, the hotter the air got and the more it hurt her face. She pulled her hood over her head and face to protect it as she got closer. Once she was by the Fire Feather, she knelt down by it. The massive bird saw Varma, and at first it seemed threatened. Its feathers flamed brightly for a fleeting moment before returning to the weak simmer that they were burning with before Varma came to it. Varma tried to put her hand on the neck of the Fire Feather but before her hand could even make contact with it, she had to pull it away because of the burning heat coming from the feathers of the bird. Varma pulled her hand away and wrapped it under her coat because of how it hurt.
"H-hello. No need to be scared of me." Varma said gently and noticed that breathing with her mouth was very unpleasant in the heat.
"I heard that... you might not have much... time left." Varma said to the Fire Feather and took pauses between words.
The Fire Feather let out a threatened noise and and its feathers flared up again for a second.
"I-I don't mean you any harm." Varma promised and showed both of her bare hands.
The Fire Feather calmed down and laid its head on the dirt.
"I hope you're not in terrible pain." Varma said sympathetically.
The Fire Feather simply let out some clicking noises from its throat without opening its beak. The bird sounded like it was in a peaceful state of mind.
"I just thought that... you know... ever since I was small enough to fit in a fruit basket I had been amazed by you. In way I'm... glad to finally see you this up close, but also... sad that it's in these circumstances." Varma told the bird.
The Fire Feather gazed its black eyeball at Varma's face and didn't seem threatened anymore.
Varma coughed a few times before carrying on her speech.
"If what Vena said is true, I don't... think you'll be taking flight anymore. And I don't think there's anything that I can do to nurture you back to health." Varma said.
The Fire Feather was so weak that it didn't even try to get up anymore. It had stopped fighting, knowing that it would only be a waste of its remaining energy.
"I just don't think... that you should be alone at a time like this. Being the only one of your kind... and being deadly to approach at your full health... must have made you very lonely." Varma said.
She gathered the courage to put her hand on the feathery neck of the Fire Feather. The tips of the feathers were burning with weak flames and the feathers were hot as is, but Varma just gritted her teeth and petted the neck of the bird that she admired so much.
The Fire Feather let out clicking sounds from its throat that sounded comfortable, so Varma petted its neck some more. As Varma was doing that, she noticed something on the side of the Fire Feather. A thick, fully metallic arrow glowing with white light. Varma looked horrified when she saw the arrow and what it implied.
"Somebody shot you down on purpose. I knew that you wouldn't just suddenly start dying after flying over the land with such grace." Varma said and felt a mix of heartbreak and boiling fury.
This time The Fire Feather didn't make any noise. It didn't move any part of itself, and when Varma listened closely, she couldn't even hear breathing anymore. The weak fires that remained on its feathers extinguished and all that remained was just a lifeless carcass whose feathers had been charred black and gray. The feathers were no longer hot, and the air was also starting to cool down.
Varma kept her emotions inside of her and stood up. She wiped her ashy hand on her jacket and looked at the glowing metallic arrow. She looked at it with seething hatred, and walked over to it. She put her palm around the arrow and felt that it was still a bit warm. She yanked the arrow out of the flesh of the Fire Feather and screamed her lungs out in anger. She stabbed the arrow into the dirt repeatedly while mentally cursing whoever shot the arrow.
But then she was surprised by sudden heat and brightness. The carcass of the Fire Feather lit on fire and burned brightly with flames that shot high. Varma had to protect her face lest it be melted off. A blast of hot air knocked her down on her back and the flames burned even higher and brighter. When Varma was knocked back, she couldn't protect her face and ended up inhaling lots of smoke and ash, making her cough wildly on the ground. One more pulse of hot air came out of the burning bird, and then the fire went out, leaving behind only a pile of ash that the wind was playing with. Varma had inhaled so much smoke that she couldn't manage to cough it all out. She felt weak in the head and powerless in her body. She stayed in the crater, lying down in the ashes as she watched the wind twirling the ashes around at the bottom of the crater before she passed out.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLJf60V5f2
"She's still breathing!" Varma heard Venamo shout.
She then felt herself raised on her feet and her back slapped multiple times with heavy hits. With each hit she coughed until she was fully conscious.
"Agh, I'm awake, I'm awake!" Varma complained.
She saw that Yilka was holding her upright by hanging her from her arms, and it was Venamo who had been slapping her back.
"It worked!" Yilka exclaimed and let go of Varma.
"What were you thinking? The amount of smoke that came out of your mouth must be dangerous. And look at your hands too. They're all red." Venamo lectured.
"I feel all fine." Varma argued.
"Smoke still comes out of your mouth when you speak!" Venamo pointed out.
"I don't feel any worse than usual. Let me be already!" Varma said and looked down into the crater where she had been earlier.
All that remained in the crater was ash, which Varma also slapped away from her clothes.
"If you need to rest a bit before we go on, I'd have no problem with that." Yilka suggested.
"No. We don't need to slow down. I just want to get away from here already." Varma insisted.
"If you insist, but once we have the permit seal, we'll have to take you to a town and find a doctor to look at you." Venamo added.
"I already told you that I'm fine. Let's just get moving already." Varma insisted and began walking.
"I mean, if she really is fine." Yilka said and shrugged, and then began walking as well.
"Wait. Both of you. Somebody's coming." Venamo said when he heard something.
Rapid steps could be heard coming closer from beyond the hills and everyone stopped.
"I suppose someone else also heard the Fire Feather crashing down." Yilka pointed out.
As they gazed up the hill, they saw five mounted men with silver masks and black cloaks up there. With their beakmounts they leapt from the top of the hill and landed to the bottom of the hill gracefully and slowly, almost as if hovering. They were now within talking distance from Venamo, Yilka and Varma.
"What did you see?" One of the mounted men asked from under his mask depicting an emotionless face.
Venamo was the only one of the three who understood the question.
"We found the crater full of ash. We came here because we saw a tower of smoke coming from here." Venamo casually lied.
Yilka and Varma did their best to look calm, but that proved difficult in the presence of the mounted and well armed men who had the number advantage too, and not understanding their words didn't help the matters.
"You young man there!" One of the men shouted at Yilka.
Yilka only gave a confused look back, not understanding the language.
"What is that on your back?" The man asked, referring to the metallic arrow that Yilka had picked up from the crater and tied to his back.
Yilka didn't understand the question. He looked at Venamo for help but Venamo knew that speaking to Yilka in the Uhmak Language would only get them all sent to the caves. The mounted man came close to Yilka with his mount and forcefully snatched the arrow from his back. He looked at it and then looked at his comrades.
"They know." He said to them and they all pulled out their steel maces.
Venamo pulled out his sword, Varma pulled out her bow and Yilka pulled out his cudgel and an intense staredown followed.
"Get rid of them." One of the mounted men said.
All the mounted men charged. The mace and armor of the man at the front glowed with bright light. Varma shot an arrow at the man on the front but the arrow bounced away from his armor and ricocheted far away. She had to dive out of the way when the man swung at her as he rode past her. Neither Varma nor Yilka had a good thrusting weapon with them, and so all they could do was avoid being attacked by rolling, spinning and diving. Venamo managed to defeat one of the riders by getting the blade of his Defiance in the armpit of his opponent, causing him to fall down. Venamo defeated another one by hitting one of the beakmounts in the leg, and to his surprise, the leg of the animal was cut in half easily. The animal and the rider both fell down. A third rider charged at him and was prepared to hit him with a hard metallic mace, but Venamo swung faster, and hit the rider's armored torso. Despite the armor, the man was cut clean in half and his mount ran off with only the waist and the legs of the man still riding on its back. The two remaining riders now both looked at Venamo, seeing him as the biggest threat. They both rode towards him and readied their maces for a swing. Venamo kept his eyes on the mace that glowed with bright light, and when the riders were both close enough, he swung his glowing sword and hit the glowing mace. A bright flash lit the area and a shock wave knocked down everybody who was standing. When the white light that filled the immediate area had faded away as white golden sparkles, everybody shook their heads. The head rider picked up his mace from the ground and got up, and Venamo picked up his Defiance and also got up. The two then charged at each other, ready to duel, but before their weapons could touch, Yilka smashed his Beast Slayer to the back of the head rider's head. He fell down to the ground and didn't move.
"In a battle, always pay attention to your surroundings, right?" Yilka asked Venamo.
"Very good." Venamo replied seriously and nodded.
"These two others are trying to crawl away." Varma pointed out calmly.
The brothers looked at the scene of the battle. One of the men was writhing on the ground and suffering the blow he got to his armpit, and the others who got knocked off their mounts were indeed trying to crawl away without causing noise. Yilka picked up the metallic arrow that had fallen to the ground in the heat of battle and walked over to one of the crawling men. Similarly Venamo went to the other crawling man with his sword ready. The brothers put their sharp weapons to the necks of the riders.
"Why did you try to attack us?" Venamo interrogated the man under his blade.
"You knew too much. You can't go on living!" The rider defiantly shouted at Venamo.
"Ask them if they shot this arrow at the Fire Feather." Varma said to Venamo.
Venamo presented the question to the rider in the Vastusarian language.
"You should have just stayed away from what doesn't concern you. I see that arrow you pulled out of the Fire Feather's flesh. Are you trying to save the Grand Beasts? For what? To keep the relationship of the Sisters from falling apart? Well, too late. We already killed the Fire Feather, and we'll kill the others ones too, and the ones that replace them. Once that's done, we can carry out our work to its finish, and make the Sisters destroy each other. And the only true ruler of the world will be Man. Defenders of the old guard will lose this war, and their efforts in protecting the old power structure will only get them a pointless untimely death! Pick your side carefully." The rider said to Venamo.
"Tell us where the rest of your kind are, and then we'll go give them a pointless untimely death." Venamo demanded.
The two riders trapped under blades looked at each other and nodded. One grabbed the blade of Venamo's sword and the other grabbed the metallic arrow that Yilka was holding, and they both shoved the weapons to their own necks, piercing them easily and even puncturing the ground under the men.
Venamo had a look of frustration on his face, and Yilka had a look of shock on his face, never having experienced somebody dying by a weapon that he was holding. Varma saw everything and all the gruesome details, and looked away, only to see more blood and severed parts around. She couldn't help it, and vomited on the ground.
"So these men have a plan to kill the Grand Beats that the Sisters have agreed to leave alone? And they think that will drive such a wedge between them that they will destroy each other?" Venamo asked himself out loud.
"What? Why did they try to kill us for figuring out that they shot the arrow, but then revealed their plans to us anyway?" Yilka wondered.
"The man most likely felt confident that we are doomed anyway, since I have this mark. I will have to cover this mark, if it makes me a target." Venamo said and cut a piece of cloth from the hood of one of the riders.
He tied it around his head, giving himself a makeshift headband.
"Now we know the power of your weapon too. Without it we would have lost this fight." Yilka pointed out.
"I believe you are right. But where did they get theirs? As if any of them would be deemed deserving by the Holy people. Did they get them from Vastusar's army somehow?" Venamo wondered.
"I don't know but we should take them. They may save our lives yet." Yilka suggested.
"You're right. Take the glowing breastplate and the mace. It's more useful than your wooden cudgel." Venamo suggested.
"No." Yilka replied.
"Pardon?" Venamo asked.
"My Beast Slayer has saved us on three occasions now. And Varma put effort into making it what it is as well. I will never cast it aside. Instead, you could enhance it like you did your weapon." Yilka suggested.
"Hmph. Since it has such sentimental value to you, fine." Venamo said and walked over to Yilka.
Venamo put his hand around the Beast Slayer and closed his eyes. The mark on his forehead glowed from under the black headband, and soon enough the Beast Slayer and the script on it glowed with bright white light.
"Thank you for trusting me with this." Yilka said sincerely.
"Of course. Now fight well, brother." Venamo wished.
Yilka then picked up the glowing mace from the ground and walked over to Varma who was still looking directly into the ground and feeling sick. He tapped Varma on the arm and got her attention.
"You need something more than a bow and arrows. Take this as protection." Yilka said and handed the steel mace to Varma.
She took it, and dropped it almost immediately. She tried to raise it up with one hand but even with all her effort she couldn't even get it to the level of her own neck.
"T-Thank you." She said with struggle.
"Too heavy?" Yilka asked.
"I-I'm just as strong as you, just... so you know." She said while gritting her teeth.
"Maybe one day you will be. You relying on that weapon would only end badly. Take this instead." Yilka said and handed Varma the glowing metallic arrow that had killed the Fire Feather.
Varma dropped the mace and looked at the arrow.
"No." She said.
"Why not?" Yilka asked.
"It was that arrow that killed the Fire Feather. I can't accept it." Varma insisted.
Yilka pondered for a bit.
"What if it is with this weapon that you strike back against the same evil men who killed her in the first place? That'd be a type of poetic justice." Yilka suggested.
Varma pondered it for a moment, and then accepted the arrow. The arrow was about the same length as Yilka's cudgel, and compared to Varma's size it was a proper sized weapon. She inspected it and saw a symbol on it. The symbol was a circle divided into four quadrants and a face in the middle that looked like the masks of the riders.
"I accept." Varma said coldly.
"Luckily for us we also have mounts now, so our trip will go faster and we can avoid nasty meetings like that much better now." Venamo said as he was mounting one of the beakmounts.
"What do we do with that man who's still suffering his arm?" Varma asked.
"Oh, right. What should we do with him?" Yilka asked.
"If we threaten him with a blade, he will just kill himself like the rest. I will never resort to torture." Venamo said from the top of his mount.
"You cowards won't execute a man on the ground!" The wounded man taunted while gritting his teeth.
Yilka gestured as he was going to hit the man with the Beast Slayer, but the man only laughed.
"Don't." Venamo calmly said.
"So we'll just let him go and tattle to his fellows about us?" Yilka asked.
Venamo jumped down from his mount and walked over to the wounded man.
"Look away. Both of you." Venamo commanded to the others.
The others looked away. Venamo ripped away the man's mask.
"What do you think you're going to..." The man was taunting but he was interrupted when Venamo shoved his fingers in the man's mouth.
Venamo pulled the man's tongue out and cut it in half with one swift move of the Fefiance. The man screamed and tried to put his hands on this tongue, but Venamo caught the man's right hand and sliced three of his fingers off with one strike. Venamo let go of the man and let him suffer his wounds on the ground.
"He won't talk or write now. Let's leave this place." Venamo said coldly and got back on his mount.
"This beakmount whose leg you cut off. It won't survive." Varma complained.
"We have more important things to worry about than it. Its leg is made of pure bone. It won't bleed out." Venamo replied coldly without even looking at Varma or the wounded animal.
"But it still won't survive with one of its legs cut in half!" Varma reminded.
"Well, we can't really drag it to a comfortable place now." Venamo said climbed on a healthy beakmount.
Yilka ripped the cape from one if the dead riders and picked up the glowing mace from the ground.
"What are you doing?" Varma asked.
Yilka said nothing back, but just walked to the wounded beakmount with the cape and mace in hand. The animal was letting out sounds of great discomfort and swinging its long neck.
"Could you calm it down?" Yilka requested.
"Umm... sure." Varma said hesitantly and knelt by the pained beakmount and put her hand on its neck.
"It's alright, friend. You're not bleeding. I'm sure your leg will grow back just fine." Varma said to the animal.
"Done." Yilka said.
"Hm?" Varma let out and looked at what Yilka had done.
He had used the cape to wrap the mace around the beakmount's foot and created a sort of a metallic peg leg for it. The mace was a little too short, but it was more sturdy than nothing.
"Come on. Get up, big guy. Try standing up." Yilka said to the beakmount who obviously couldn't understand him.
"Let it discover itself how sturdy that leg is. We've done what we can." Venamo commented from where he was.
"I think you're right. The other mounts are still healthy. Let's get out of here before more of these fellows turn up." Yilka said and approached one of the healthy ones.
"I finally get to ride one of these?" Varma asked.
"No, you won't. You'll get on the same one as Yilka." Venamo said.
"Hmph. All right." Varma replied.
Once Yilka got himself mounted on the fifth attempt, Varma used all of her leg power to leap up and belly flop on the beakmount's lower back and even then she had to grab its feathers to not slide back down.
19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpXDYuxiDO
As they were riding the mounts across the hilly lands, Varma noticed something while being bounced on the back of the mount.
"Where's Leri's star?" She asked when she gazed into the night sky where the the Fire Feather's remaining flames still lit the ocean of stars and where Rari's bright red star was there like always, but Leri's bright golden star was not.
"Well, this is most curious. The Record only says that this will happen in one very specific instance." Venamo commented to it.
"And when is that?" Varma asked.
"When Leri comes down to earth for something that she wants to deal with in person." Venamo answered.
"What might that be?" Yilka wondered.
"If I had to guess, the folk who plan to kill the grand beasts and plot the destruction of the Sisters." Venamo speculated.
"How long has her star been gone? It's been a bit since I last stayed outside at night." Varma asked.
"I don't look up at the sky that much. This is the first time that I'm noticing this." Venamo pointed out.
"If we hadn't come to this side, we wouldn't have a clue as to why her star is gone. We would be living in complete ignorance of what's happening. I feel like something big is happening." Yilka said.
"I want to do something to fight against those awful men, but we have no idea how many of them there really are." Varma commented.
"Or what their connections are. They had enchanted items on them, which they could have been given by the Crown. Does Pushkrilleri's desire to conquer extend to the Grand Beasts even?" Venamo speculated some more.
"If the forces of Vastusar are working to slay the Grand Beasts, then what chance does anyone have of stopping them?" Varma wondered.
"If anyone has any answers for us, it's the Road of Blood. They may have connections that they haven't told us about. Remember, we're doing this task because the Fifth said that he'd only reveal the Road's secrets to those who earn their trust." Venamo stated.
"So are you saying that you're willing to join them?" Yilka asked.
"At this point, I must. Too much is at stake here. I couldn't just return to the homestead and pretend like everything is fine." Venamo answered.
"Guess we'll need to steal three weapons then." Varma said.
"Two. You're going home as soon as we've gotten back on the other side." Venamo said sternly.
"But I can help in the fight too!" Varma insisted.
"You don't want to go back to your mother anymore?" Yilka asked.
"I can't just stay home and pretend like everything is fine either. I need to do what I can." Varma insisted.
"I wonder if Suiv is still waiting for us to return." Yilka said to himself.
"I... I wonder too. Let's get these swords as quick as we can. Let's try to steal some from the guards at the quarry." Varma requested and sounded sad.
"We weren't planning on slacking or resting." Venamo said seriously.
A silence fell, as nobody had anything to say. After some minutes, Yilka felt like he had to bring up something that he had wanted to ask ever since they left the crater.
"You seem... angry ever since we ended that fight back there." Yilka pointed out.
Venamo took a deep breath as he frowned.
"I wished to go my entire life without ever taking a life. On some level I always knew that I wouldn't get my wish, but I am disappointed in myself." Venamo explained grumpily.
"You don't seem terribly bothered by seeing the bloodshed you caused." Yilka pointed out.
"I don't feel remorse for those who try to kill me or my family. And blood doesn't phase me. I'm a hunter. I wasn't even phased when I saw..." Venamo began to explain, but then stopped himself.
He exhaled and focused on the sights ahead. Yilka gave him a curious look but didn't speak up.
"When I saw how father died." Venamo said.
ns216.73.216.30da2
