How Gods Bleed

by Shane Porteous

The bear continued to growl for a moment or two longer but then suddenly stopped. It was almost as if the bear realized that its roar was not enough to make the group leave. It seemed Zova had killed the creature before the bear had had a chance to. The bear went down on all fours but remained a large presence as it looked upon the group. The accounts of it were true; the Moelekke bear saw the world through pink eyes. It continued to growl but much softer than before as it seemed strangely reluctant to charge the group. This did not fit what the records said about these bears, they were meant to be highly aggressive and territorial. The bear then stopped growling completely and simply stared towards the group. Eerily it was not looking towards Zova or her bow and arrow, but directly into the eyes of Cada Varl. Mesmerizing pink stared into powerful red for only a moment before the bear quickly ran away from the group, disappearing from sight.

  Zova lowered her bow, for whatever reason she had decided not to kill the bear (or at least tried to). No one said anything about it but clearly the bear had run off so suddenly because of Cada Varl. Perhaps it could smell that there was something not right about him, instinct often made things weary of the unknown. In any case the group was now free to claim the carcass of the unknown creature for their own.

  Hazum Ka-te carried the dead creature across his shoulders as the group continued moving until they found a good spot to make camp for the night. Dusk was perhaps an hour away from falling but the group had more tasks to be done than most other nights. As Zova prepared the carcass to be cooked the other Helluvans emptied out their packs and took count of what supplies they had. Their time in the Mukinia flats had taken a great toll on their rations, more than anyone of them could have predicted. It had now been a number of months since they had left the Helluvan border and the journey all up had taken a lot from them. The Esigo Highlands had already proven to be fruitful, but the group was still a considerable distance away from their destination. They all knew that there was much terrain still left to cover and they were unsure of what, if anything they could gather beyond the highlands.

  Still the group did not wallow in despair, instead they bore two fires with one to cook prime pieces of the slain creature while the other was used to cook dry foods, forged from ingredients the group had carried with them. It was now a matter of maximizing their minimums. Certain slabs of meat from the creature were not cooked but salted and preserved as best as possible. Cada Varl helped where he could but by gathering fuel for both fires, apart from that there was little that he could do.

  The whole process took a number of hours and it was well into night by the time the group sat for their evening meal. Judging by how quickly the Helluvans were eating, the meat of the creature was delicious. The evening meal served as a small comfort after a long time of nothing but discomfort.

  As they finished the last of the cooked meat they each noticed how brightly the moon shone even though it was not quite full. The stars had also returned and several Helluvans were surprised just how much they had missed them. There was silence for some time after the meal had been eaten, but unlike a lot of nights this silence was not thick or heavy, it was peaceful.

  The group took the time to merely admire the stars and the purity of the highlands before the silence was calmly ended.

  “Cada Varl,” Hazum Ka-te said gently yet with a firm conviction in his tone. “May I ask how we will enter the underground chamber?” The question brought every Helluvan out of their own heads and back into the real world. Though opening the chamber had been a major point of this journey Cada Varl had never once been asked about the actual chamber itself. The question did seem to come out of nowhere but as the Immortal thought about it for a moment it did not seem so wild. The group, in a way of dealing with the deaths of their companions had refocused themselves upon the whole reason why they were in the west in the first place.

  Cada Varl did not hesitant in giving answer. “The chamber will open when a specific word is said upon it, a word that must be spoken in one breath without hesitation and every syllable must be correct.” Briefly Cada Varl glanced into the fire before looking back at Hazum Ka-te. “ That word is Najukuiomysserlnemcoraskasmeatonevaaaasagofuiklefdoyedamuzoxxqoolergufellnaratubentemensiadogkullfanusattreelmbianatajullonnmentearacovensakullogoraisisisisiszzzbauta.”

  As soon as this bizarrely long word had left his lips a wind was summoned from places unseen blowing upon the roaring fire so harshly that it almost blew it out completely. The wind then vanished almost as soon as it had been summoned; it left a strange smell in the air one that told the group that it was not entirely natural. Everyone including Cada Varl looked away from the fire for something that they were not entirely sure about. When only the darkness of the night could be seen around them they looked back to Cada Varl who said, “That was strange….”