Chapter 4: The Savior Beast

Ballan frowned as he watched an airship with black flags careen away from Ruebenberg at high speed. That was not the leisurely pace of someone out for a pleasant skysail - he'd bet what little money he had left that someone had just stolen something. Kahya followed his gaze and frowned as well.

Holgith, however, heartily ate the meat pie that had been provided for him, while Boots simply sipped a pot of tea.

Upon reaching Ruebenerg proper, Boots had declared that the first order of business was to find something to eat. A local bakery had been more than happy to supply them with various sweet and savory pastries in exchange for their commerce. They now sat at a small table just outside that same bakery. Ballan was not very hungry, as Boots had been conjuring meals for them seven or eight times each day... When Ballan asked why they didn't just conjure more food, Boots gave him an affronted look and insisted it was ‘important to stimulate the local economy' and ‘besides, there's no substitute for the real thing!'

Ballan was forced to wonder - if the food Boots had been conjuring wasn't real, what exactly had he been eating all this time?

Banishing that thought from his mind, he watched the airship fade into the distance. It was headed east, towards the no-man's land known as Craven's Cross. Pirates, no doubt. Some supernatural event had caused the earth in Craven's Cross to shatter a long time ago. When whatever it was sent massive chunks of stone and earth careening into the air, they had subsequently refused to come down. As such, it was a densely jungled area dotted with floating islands - the perfect sort of place to hide an airship. Along with the pirates, there were the occasional intense magical fluctuations, and the hostile fauna besides.

Needless to say, the Cross was well outside the protection of the Wards.

"Do you sense it too, my young apprentice?" Boots asked casually, setting down the now-empty teapot. Ballan turned his gaze away from the distant airship, wondering what he was supposed to be sensing. Boots nodded in the direction Ballan had just been gazing. "The crystal was aboard that vessel."

"The Arcanum Crystal?" Ballan blurted out, aghast. It was supposed to be here, in town! Not aboard some pirate ship headed directly into one of the most volatile and dangerous locations Ballan had ever heard of.

"Oh yes." Boots continued, unaffected by Ballan's shock. "Its presence was shielded from my incredibly sharp magical senses - until recently. Whoever removed it from its hiding place..." Boots raised a large paw, pointing towards the now-vanished airship. "... did not take pains to conceal it again."

Ballan almost shot to his feet, but seeing Boots reach for a scone instead of reacting gave him pause.

"...Well, are we going after it?" Ballan asked, keeping his voice casual. He noticed Kahya giving him a sideways glance, but kept his face carefully neutral.

"Not before lunch is over, certainly." Boots replied, upending a jar of honey on his scone. "We'll need to keep our strength up if we're going to be butting heads with pirates."

Ballan drummed his fingers on the table, attempting to hide his nervous energy.

"And... you don't believe that requires any urgency on our part?" Ballan prompted the bear patiently. Boots blinked with a honey-covered scone halfway to his mouth, before devouring it thoughtfully.

"No, I'm sure we could just pay them for it. They are pirates." Boots concluded. "They probably have no idea how to use the Crystal - though they certainly will know how valuable it is." Boots shrugged. "Why else would they steal it?" Ballan could think of many reasons why someone would steal an Arcanum Crystal - none of them involved money. They had certainly not been stolen with the intention of being sold - and it appeared as though stolen again. Or at the very least, hastily relocated.

"...For the sake of argument." Ballan continued. "Let's say that they weren't just stealing the crystal because it was valuable."

"You think they intend to cause mischief with it?" Boots asked doubtfully. "That would require... well, a working knowledge of spellcasting first and foremost. Not to mention the desire to do something besides strike it rich. Odd for pirates, no?" Boots licked honey off of his claws. "Lastly, they would need something they wanted to do with it. One doesn't need that much mana unless they plan to cast some grand spell!"

Ballan and Kahya shared a look, while Holgith leaned back in his chair and burped loudly.

"With all due respect, why is that outside the realm of possibility?" Kahya asked simply.

Boots harrumphed.

"Well, they've taken the crystal outside of the Wards." Boots explained. "Its power would be nigh unusable outside of their stabilizing influence. Anyone attempting to harness the mana within would find it wildly outside of their control. Why, it would take an Augmentus like myself to harness such a power!"

"Are there no Augmenti in Craven's Cross?" Ballan asked. The only two he had met were Boots himself and Pythogoras, though he had heard tales of strange and powerful animals that lived outside the Wards. Before Boots had introduced the concept to him, he had assumed they were just that, though - tales.

"Not anymore!" Boots declared. "Not for quite some time, actually. A good friend of mine used to live in the jungles south of there before he nobly sacrificed himself to thwart the efforts of a group of rogue magi. Otherwise, they may have destroyed the very Ward we currently dine under." Boots gestured to the enormous pylon looming over Ruebenberg. The 200-foot crystalline structure towered over the surrounding rooftops, its gentle blue glow visible even in the light of day.

"Dah." Holgith chimed in, leaning forward. "He speaks of the sacred bones."

"I... beg your pardon?" Boots gave Holgith a strange look, though the orc just nodded.

"Holgith's tribe guard..." He paused. "Guarded sacred bones of savior beast. Long ago, savior beast gave his life to protect our home. Holgith's tribe watched over the bones, savior beast foretold time when evil men would come for them." Holgith shrugged. "Tribe was killed by forces of Zagaroth. Foretelling was true! Holgith pleased to learn this. Very proud tribe gave life in service to the savior beast." Holgith thumped his chest once, and said something in a language Ballan did not understand.

There were several beats of silence, then, Ballan, Boots, and Kahya asked a different question all at once.

"You lived outside the Wards?" Ballan blurted out.

"You served an Ancient?" Kahya wondered.

"The guardian tribe of Mortrunk has been destroyed???" Boots' voice boomed, sending birds flying into the air and causing several passers-by to stop in shock.

Holgith looked between the three of them.

"Yes." He answered. "Was few moons ago. Tribe attacked in the dark of night, from ground and sky. Minions of Zagaroth.Men with guns and blades. Tribe fought well - gave all in the defense of the savior beast. Well - most gave all. Holgith was ordered to flee by wise woman, and so he did. Not before priest of Zagoroth came with foul magic. Priest thought Holgith would be stopped by such thing. Ha!" Holgith puffed out his chest. "Nothing stops Holgith! Priest surprised when his head cut from body - Ha! The look on his face!" Holgith opened his eyes and mouth wide in mock shock, before sticking out his tongue and pretending to die. Afterwards, he laughed uproariously.

No one else laughed, but he did not seem to notice or mind.

Boots stood up.

"I will not stand by and let some cult sully the grave of my dear friend." Boots stated tersely, then he looked at Ballan - for perhaps the first time, grave and serious. "Though it seems, my apprentice, that you were correct - there is more going on here than I had first surmised. We must pursue that ship at once." Boots tossed his meal - dishes and all backwards over his shoulder, where it disappeared mid-flight.

Ballan was happy to be correct, but his mood was soured somewhat by the idea that they would need to step into the Wilds - again. And... apparently to do battle with the cult of Zagaroth.

He glanced at Kahya, who wore a look of grim determination, and Holgith, who seemed... excited. His scarred face was split wide in a toothy grin.

"...How are we going after it?" Ballan asked, repressing a sigh. In response, Boots clapped his hands together, and behind him appeared an enormous... rug. It was spun with gold, blues, and purples, and almost seemed to move beneath the sunlight.

"All aboard!" Boots declared, and stepped atop the rug, plopping his giant rear-end toward the front. Holgith followed immediately and wordlessly, while Kahya only gave a minute sigh before following suit. Ballan stared at the rug dubiously.

"It's a flying carpet, isn't it?" He asked.

"Of course!" Boots replied, waving Ballan onto the rug. "Now, let us be off!"

Hesitantly, Ballan sat on the rug. As soon as he did, it jerked into the air, spiraled in a quick circle, and then took off at speed in the direction of the floating chunks of earth that was Craven's Cross. Despite the speed, there was little more than a pleasant breeze blowing past Ballan's face. His stomach nearly dropped out of him, but it never felt as though he was going to fly off the rug. All things considered, it was a remarkably stable... magical flying carpet.

Ballan thought to ask why they had not just been using this the whole time, and where he got his paws on such a rare artifact, though he quickly decided against it. Undoubtedly, Boots would give him some disarming excuse that would brook no further argument. Instead, he settled in for the flight - and began to strategize.

"Holgith..." Ballan hesitated. The orc had not recounted the destruction of his people with much sorrow, though Ballan still did not want to upset his new companion. "Why would the wise woman tell only you to flee? Did she say anything else?" Holgith shook his head.

"No. Nothing to be said. Holgith was tribe's Strength. So long as Holgith lives, so does our Strength." Holgith nodded once. "Dah. Holgith unsure what to do, but knew that hunting minions of Zagaroth would lead to right place. Strength must protect the weak, and punish the wicked, so wise woman said." He gestured to the skyline around them. "Holgith follow tribe's teachings. Holgith follows the wise woman's orders. And now - Holgith returns to tribe, with allies! For vengeance!" He threw his head back, and roared into the air, raising his arms.

Ballan found himself envying Holgith's jubilant surety. He had never been so confident in himself, nor his choices. He had thought Holgith simple, but now he was beginning to think the orc was wiser than he was.

"What do you mean, that you were your tribe's ‘Strength'?" Kahya asked. Holgith's eyes flashed, and he nodded.

"Ah! Holgith chosen of sacred medallion. See!" Ballan blanched as Holgith spoke, and sure enough, the orc produced a Destined medallion, plain as day. He had never gotten a close look at Kahya's, and she kept it hidden, but Holgith held his out proudly. Etched upon its face was the visage of an elephant. "Wise woman said so long as bearer of medallion lives, work of protecting the savior beast may continue."

Holgith put the medallion away in his pouch. Kahya seemed shocked, though when she and Ballan both looked at Boots, the bear simply shrugged.

"It is the way of the Destined." Was all he said.

Ballan sighed heavily. That... that it was, he supposed. He was not so sure about this endeavor, however. Noble as it was, perhaps, to fight the cult of Zagaroth, avenge Holgith's tribe, and protect the gravesite of an Augmentus... could they even do something like that? Boots' overconfidence had not gotten them killed yet, but surely it was only a matter of time. There were things even an archmage couldn't do. Looking at his companions, however, it was clear that their course was set.

Ballan took a deep breath.

"Alright, Holgith." Ballan said with more confidence than he was feeling. The orc looked at him expectantly. "I need you to tell me everything you know about where these bones are, and the people that attacked you. With so few of us, we'll want to infiltrate rather than risk a headfirst assault, and you're the only one with knowledge of the lay of the land."

Holgith nodded.

"Dah. Good thinking, wizard boy. Now, listen close to Holgith..." As Holgith began to explain what he knew, Ballan put the anxieties of failure out of his mind and instead focused on how best to make all of this succeed.

Boots, with his back turned to the three of them, allowed himself a small smile.

***

As it turned out, the bones were housed in a subterranean chamber beneath an active volcano. Boots informed them that this was due to several factors not materially important to their current objective, and had declined to explain further. Holgith told them there was one way into the chamber by ground, but that - luckily - the ceiling had an

fantastically large hole in it, where sunlight poured in. Too small for an airship, perhaps, but plenty large for their carpet. As long as they weren't spotted on the approach, they could enter the chamber itself and see exactly what was going on.

Not being spotted would be easy - Boots simply cast an invisibility spell. The hard part would come after. They didn't know what, exactly, the cult and the pirates that were assisting them were doing in there. As it stood, they assumed Mortrunk's prophecy was coming true - that people would use his bones for evil. Ballan had to admit, there was a considerable amount of evil someone could get up to with an Arcanum Crystal and the bones of an Augmentus, but even Boots was unsure what, specifically, that would be

"Necromancy of some sort, no doubt." The bear had said with an arch sniff. "Whether they simply seek to extract the might of ol' Morty or animate his bones, I cannot say."

That was more or less how they had found themselves underground, invisible, atop a flying carpet, and peering down at a gathering of ruffians and robed figures. Notably absent, at least as far as Ballan could see, were any bones at all. Instead, the gathered figures were standing around an enormous, tapered pillar in the center of the room.

"...Where are the bones?" Ballan whispered, brow furrowed.

"Most of them are buried." Boots whispered back. "The pillar they gather around is the tip of Morty's tusk."

Ballan blinked, aghast, and even Kahya muttered some sort of prayer or oath. What Gods may be, it was monstrous. The Augmentus must have been half the size of a mountain when he died. Ballan wasn't sure why he was expecting a normal sized elephant.

"Dah. Savior beast had strength enough to shake bones of earth." Holgith murmured. "And so, savior beast became bones of earth." He pointed down at the gathered figures, indicating several of the robed ones. "There. Priests of Zagaroth." There were nine of them, and as they watched, they began to fan out around the pillar in a wide circle. With a sharp order, a black-feathered Kurkrai ordered everyone else out of the chamber besides himself and the priests, with a single orc staying behind at the entrance, guarding it. The Kurkrai glanced about, and Ballan caught sight of his face. He was wearing an eyepatch, which tickled something in the back of his mind.

A black feathered Kurkrai pirate, missing an eye...

"That's... That's Kills-the-Joke!" He hissed with a start. The most infamous sky pirate captain in the south - his tales of terror were told far and wide. He had risen to prominence due to his ruthless predation on only the most wealthy and well-guarded shipments of goods and gold. What was more, there were rumors that he was also a powerful Warlock - that he had traded something important to him in exchange for magical might. That would explain how he managed to find the crystal - though it did not explain why he wanted to use it. Ballan outlined this briefly to his companions.

"Oh, so he took a shortcut to arcane mastery..." Boots grumbled. "Using magic and deeply mastering the fundamentals of magic are very different things. Poor Reaktarion... he was permitted into the Arcanum, and one day he attempted to conjure from scratch for the first time. You know, without the aide of his boilerplate incantations? Well, he quite literally tore himself apart. A tragic accident."

Ballan did not see how that was remotely important to the matter at hand, but he supposed he did not care as long as Boots was invested in taking the pirate down. Speaking of the pirate, Ballan returned his attention to the scene below...

Just in time to see Kills-the-Joke staring up at them, his eyepatch discarded, his left eye glowing with a baleful green light. Wordlessly, he pointed his pistol directly at Ballan. On instinct, Ballan ducked, and there was a crack of gunfire followed immediately by the sound of the bullet ricocheting off the ceiling above him.

"He can see us!" Kahya hissed.

"Now or never, then!" Boots cried, and sent the rug careening into the cavern below. The invisibility spell melted off as he did so, no use wasting precious mana if they were discovered. Holgith, caught up in the moment, bellowed a war cry. The cultists were quick on the uptake, and while several of them began chanting, others began to fire bolts of black flame at the descending rug. Boots dodged them ably while Ballan scanned the room.

Kills-the-Joke gestured to the orc at the entrance, then turned and ran down the tunnel.

"He's going for reinforcements!" Ballan growled and looked over at Kahya. "Bring him down!" She nodded once, and did a leaping somersault off the rug, sprinting at blinding speed after the orc. Ballan heard Kills-the-Joke swear as she sped out of the room, though he pointed his freshly reloaded gun at Kahya's back.

"HOLGITH DENIES YOU!" The orc roared as he leapt off the rug, forcing Kills-the-Joke to flap backwards and ruining the shot. Where the pirate captain had been standing, Holgith's axe crashed into the stone ground, splitting it. "HOLGITH RETURNS! COME, TRIBESLAYERS! FACE HOLGITH'S STRENGTH!"

"Ballan!" Boots swerved around another bolt of flame as the rug finally landed on the ground. "Assist Holgith with the pirate, I'll deal with the cultists!" Another streak of black flame arced towards them, and Boots dispersed it with a wave of his paw. Then, he raised his arms into the air, his eyes flashed blue, and every cultist in the room found themselves standing upon a bright, glowing blue glyph. Immediately, arcane chains rose from the symbol to shackle the cultists around the wrists and neck, silencing them. Boots kept his arms raised, a look of concentration on his face. "Go!"

Ballan sprinted towards Holgith, who was unsuccessfully attempting to catch the now airborne Kills-the-Joke. Almost leisurely, the Kurkrai pointed his gun down at Holgith, and pulled back the hammer. As per usual, no one was paying attention to Ballan.

Perfect.

Ballan could feel the wild mana all around him and took a steadying breath. His specialty was illusion, but that would do little considering the captain's enchanted eye. Fortunately, it was not the only thing in his arsenal. Kills-the-Joke fired his pistol, only for the shot to bounce off the ground beneath Holgith's feet because the massive orc had been catapulted through the air toward the Kurkrai.

It was a simple levitation spell, but it caught the pirate off guard. Ballan didn't know how Holgith adapted to his change in elevation so quickly, but the hulk didn't miss a beat. He swung his axe in a wide arc, forcing Kills-the-Joke back and knocking the pistol out of his hand. Silently, disdainfully, Kills-the-Joke drew the saber at his hip, his witchfire eye flicking towards Ballan. Holgith, however, would not allow him to reassess his target, and soon found himself on the defensive.

Despite this, he remained impeccably calm. Ballan did not like that. Suddenly, as Kills-the-Joke dodged another one of Holgith's swings, his saber snaked out, and Ballan felt mana gathering around it - just before it burst into green flame. That was... a lot of mana! He had no countermeasure, and if Holgith was struck...

Ballan did the only thing he could think of - he unbound the levitation spell. Holgith plummeted mostly harmlessly towards the ground, avoiding the strike.

Without any wasted movement, Kills-the-Joke sent a wave of green flame at Ballan instead. It was a trap! Ballan barely made it out of the way, the flames igniting his cloak, which he immediately rolled to extinguish.

"I do not know who you are, or what you hope to gain from this..." Kills-the-Joke called out. "But you are too late. You may have nullified my compatriots." With a powerful beat of his wings, he flew toward the exposed tusk of Mortrunk. Then, he produced the Arcanum Crystal - its red light casting the cavern into stark relief. "But they were little more than sacrifices anyway! Behold, the truth and might of Zagaroth!"

Kills-the-Joke raised the crystal into the air, and Ballan felt a colossal amount of mana coalesce around it, and emanate from it. It was the most powerful spell he had ever sensed.

"The Crystal!" Boots shouted. "You'll kill us all!"

"All according to plan" Kills-the-Joke crowed, and a column of lightning erupted from the crystal, seeking out the priests of Zagaroth. The priests cried out and crumpled simultaneously and the lightning, seeming to take on a mind of its own, began to coil around the pillar. Wordlessly, Kills-the-Joke rose higher into the air, both hands now clutching the crystal, as the ground began to shake. "Zagaroth! Take these token souls of your faithful, and render unto me what was promised! May the Earthshaker rise again, and obey my will!"

Ballan was unsure, but he swore he heard someone laughing.

Rocks fell from above, and a deep, low groaning emanated throughout the mountain as the shaking of the earth intensified. Kahya appeared from the tunnel alone, looking around in concern.

"We must away!" Boots shouted, and without a further word, made a grand gesture...

And suddenly, Ballan was on the forest floor, in the stark light of day. The ground, however, was still shaking. In the distance, they could see the peak of the volcano, now belching out large columns of black smoke. Holgith roared in defiance, breathing heavily, as Kahya and Ballan got their bearings.

"The Arcanum Crystal..." Boots murmured. "Was never to be used for something like this."

With a deafening crack, followed by an explosion, a shockwave burst from the volcano. Distant as they were, they watched as dust, smoke, and debris accompanied the mountain's collapse.

And, slowly, from the bowels of the earth, rose the skeleton of Mortrunk, crackling with dark energy, and weeping lava. It towered over everything - it was nearly the size of the mountain itself. With a great roar, the monstrosity took an earth shattering step, then another, and another, as it began a slow, torturous walk... west. Towards Reubenberg, and the city of Avony.

"That thing will destroy... everything." Kahya stated, lost for other words.

"...Not if we have anything to say about it." Boots declared, determined. The three of them looked at the bear. "Here's what is to be done..."