The wind shrieked. The ground tossed and turned like a pair of human mates caught in the coital act. Lightning flashed in the intense gloom of the sky. Arcs of plasma burst up from the fissures cleaved through the dirt.
It's true that expansions were violent, but none of them were anything like this. No one was certain of what the outcome was going to be, and especially not when they came as far west as the coast.
Lucein and Tensten stopped. He glanced back, and to his relief, Ashenzsi and Rollond were covering his rear. Somewhere in the middle was Rah'ii and Ielase, Marqisian, Allondt, and a few others who guarded his flanks. The lot of them had come this far, but there was no means to go father. The oceans were tossing like a pair of brazen teenagers, bubbling, boiling, gushing up into the clouds in great bursts of steam.
The ocean bed must have torn open, and the volatile energy from the planet's core was swiftly turning the water into gas.
"What now?" Tensten shouted. His voice barely reached his brother.
"I don't know." Lucein's response wrought desperate and ghastly looks on the faces of those who could hear him. They had put their trust in him and come this far, only for him to not know what to do.
In short, they all perceived their imminent doom.
"The Alyi said to go west, and here we are. I don't think Dyiij would give direction only to have her obedient ones perish," Lucein said. He kept himself upright, flat-faced, calm. Because he knew, almost instinctively, that if he lost his composure, the lot of them who had come this far would scatter like startled insects.
— You are precisely right. Her timing was impeccable. The state of panic transformed into stunned awe, as from the dark clouds descended forms of iridescent light, like translucent tentacles. I wanted to show myself in connection with you, the same as I revealed myself when I had first chosen your father, to the end that everyone living may know by whom you are appointed.
"What is it that you ask me to do?" He cast his glance skyward, until the writhing colors descended over the water.
— You must exercise wisdom and justice over your people, and love them with a strong yoke and light burden. Because to your bosom I am driving all living intelligent flesh who are distraught and weary from oppression and Mokallai's stupidity. In the midst of your kingdom I will raise my Champions, and until the time arrives, you must swear to protect them at all cost.
For this reason he was born. How he knew was an internal matter, something that he couldn't quite explain, but the sensation of knowing was there. He balled his fist and held it before his chest, breathed in, solemnly nodded. "I swear, or else let my blood be on my own head, that everything you ask of me, I will do. Everyone whom you send to me I will receive as if of my own flesh, and whomever it is that proves to be yours I will guard is if they were mine."
In her present state, he couldn't make out whether or not she gave him any gestures of approval. Then her body flashed.
— Enter into the land that I have promised you. The moment the words became manifest to the collective hearts of them all, a section of the violent waters became a glossy, smooth surface, like a road that was also a mirror. To the left and right of it, stretching out for about a half mile on each side of the road, the bursts of steam became great, shimmering crystals.
The reflective path connected with the sand, and although the expansion of Dyjian was happening all around them, silence prevailed and calm stilled the wind.
Lucein dismounted Tensten. He set foot on the road, and shivered. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, as he took the first few strides down the path.
Soon enough, those who had come with him followed.
By the time they reached the other side, the noise and the tremors had ceased. Rain poured down, and the fresh scent of dirt wafted in the wind. To his surprise, there were kysuoakin already dwelling on the land, and at the first sight of him, they came out from their huts and flattened on their bellies.
"We heard the voice of the Alyi, even out here," one tyiha said.
"Tsche, we have," said a shojen with a nod.
Excitement, at first, rattled his ribs. That sensation soon subsided as he peered into the various makeshift dwellings. He had thought, when all this began, that his mother and his brother had gone ahead of him. Now here he was, and he hadn't seen them yet.
He turned to the tyiha that greeted him. "Who all is with you?"
"Just what you've seen here," she said. "Ashenzsi sent us, and slowly we have been preparing this place for eight years."
He tried to think of how to specifically ask her about his mother and brother, but he didn't know what Sanci's titles were to her offspring. Except for the times he heard Ashenzsi call her Fa'ahmetiidha, but he suspected the etymology wasn't what he wanted to imply.
After a small bit of frustration, he shook his head. "Is there a place I can rest for the night?"
"Tsche!" She gestured for him to enter.
Deep into the night the gloom subsided. The stars flickered, and for once he was elated to see them. Eight ears took their sweet time to go by, and tentatively, he wished he could turn back the clock, to his tenth year.
He wished it because, as he stepped out of the hut, he spotted his father and his uncle sitting around a glimmering fire pit, and the desire to run up to Rollond and call him 'Papa' like he had as a child almost brought tears to his eyes.
He went over to them.
Rollond thudded his fist to his chest and bowed his head. "My lord," he said, his voice rich and solemn.
"You are my father," Lucein said, sitting down with them.
"And Dyiij has made you Neisam this night. That's not something to be ignored."
"I like to think that being a son comes before being Neisam."
Rollond arched his brows, keeping quiet.
Lucein knew what that meant. They disagreed. Only the major difference this time was that his father didn't feel inclined to state why, perhaps out of a sense of reverence. Perhaps it was better to change the subject:
"Still no sign of mother?"
"So long as Gnyovante is with her, I wouldn't worry. They're probably scoping out the land, or maiming something for food. Give them some time, they'll be back."
"What does he look like?" Lucein lowered his voice. "I haven't seen him in years."
"I think it's better for you to see with your own eyes," Rollond said. "You really should be resting."
"I'm Neisam, I'll do what I want."
"Yes, my lord," Rollond said, purposefully.
Melvas, the 11th day in the month of Kannodei;
During the remainder of the summer in the Third Epoch of Dyjian.
For certain, the simplicity of the kyusoakin wasn't without its benefits. Lucein straddled the back of Ashenzsi's neck, near where his head met his nape, while his uncle strolled in his bestial form to the north side of the island. Eight years wasn't long enough for the trees to be all that mature, the ones that were transplanted among the towering, broad-trunked meho-oshyabpi trees.
"You could turn these things into apartment complexes," Lucein said, running his hand along the smooth, tawny wood.
In his alternate form, Ashenzsi didn't speak. At least, not with words. He snorted at the awe and wonder of his nephew, and after Lucein had his feel, he leisurely strode onward.
Eventually they stopped at a waterfall. An extraordinary one, as it had an expansive semi-circular shape that seemed to stretch on from the eastern horizon to the west. Water poured over in great slabs, forming a uniform sheet.
Lucein tilted his head back, sizing the waterfall's height. He envisioned something like jetties, protrusions to break the waterfall's uniformity. On these jetties he saw gardens, and the possibility of other structures as well.
Before he could think to dismount, Ashenzsi poked his head down. A chasm separated the waterfall from the plot of dirt they stood on. Without Lucein's say-so, he scaled down the cliffside.
Not that Lucein minded it. It would be different if he were on a beast
of burden, something that could be harnessed and saddled, ridden about the same as one would a land katt. But when on the back of a Kyusoa, one had to allow for their freedom. Fact of the matter was this: katts were faster, but kyusoas were smarter. The latter had very few accidents.
The water drained down into a basin that ran through a channel of chasms under the mainland, and out into the ocean.
He had thought his uncle had gone down into the basin so that they could get a better sense of the area, and how the water flowed. But when Ashenzsi stopped, Lucein stole himself from his thoughts and peered ahead.
"What's the problem?" he asked, knowing full well that his uncle wasn't going to respond with speech.
"Problem?" A terribly familiar voice resounded within the damp walls at the mouth of the chasms. "Well nothing, except that my mother just happened to have thrown a wing out of socket. She refuses to become anything other than what she is, and we've been surviving for the past couple weeks on fish alone. Raw fish, at that. I wouldn't be surprised if we were chocked full of parasites."
At once Lucein dismounted. "Gnyovante, is that you?" he asked. The noise of the water's downpour was muffled, almost quiet down here. He was careful to approach the curtain, thrusting an arm in high to part the water just enough so that he could see.
Those blue eyes, like brushed steel, hadn't softened in all of eight years. Just like Lucein had thought, Gnyovante had developed a muscular figure. He wasn't as defined as their father, because he was taller than Rollond, as they both were. Still, his rugged appearance was fitting, especially for the depth of his voice.
Lucein's heart stopped.
The sensation was mutual.
With widened eyes, his brother rose from their mother's side and they embraced one another. Lucein hopped until Gnyovante gripped him and pulled him up off his feet. He twirled around with his brother in his arms.
Only after he put Lucein down did the three of them, that is, Lucein, Gnyovante, and Ashenzsi, come over to Sanci. Her wing was still out of socket, and like Ashenzsi, she couldn't speak.
Lucein turned to his uncle. "Please go and get some others. We need to extract her."
Ashenzsi growled, nodded, and climbed out of the chasm.
"Hello, mamaaa,~" Lucein cooed with that old, boyish cheer. She couldn't smile, because her maw wouldn't allow it. Still, he sensed that familiar vibe she'd give off, the same one as when he was little. The one that he registered as the warmth of love.
How good it felt to have finally reunited with them all.
Small Fry.
Lurovas, the 8th day in the month of Syvan;
About one of the long-awaited champions;
Withering of the 3rd year of the 8th Epoch of Dyjian.
The Kingdom of Ecstasy Page 18
