Island Of Exiles And Uthgoliant

This is the Island of Exiles. The island where nations from all over the world sent exiles who committed crimes, real or imagined. On this island, to the west of Erathel, existed the largest source of Uthgoliant's Brood ever known. The Brood of Uthgoliant possessed a hive which existed as an entire mountain. This entire mountain side WAS known as Shelob's Hive. Shelob laid down in his lair, looking towards the assembled demonic hordes and their negotiators.

Uthgoliant's deal with the demons was simple, the spiders would not hunt down the demons, so long as the demons would placate the self proclaimed spider goddess with riches beyond imagining. Uthgoliant was content to be brought meals of Human flesh for her children, diamonds and other gemstones the size of boulders, or hills of golden coins. The Spider Queen looked among the gathering of demons before her. Over the years the demons have brought many great meals of cattle, Humans and occasionally demons who have failed their missions before Uthgoliant. Uthgoliant was content to feed on the shadows, rather than people, however Shelob on the other hand was greedy and gluttonous for mounds of flesh. The eldest of Uthgoliant's Brood looked towards the skittering spiders. Some the size of large dogs, some the size of horses, some yet the size of elephants, the Spider Queens, and he then looked towards the strange demonic horde bringing their peace treaty.

Shelob licked his mandibles with one towards the other, as if dagger sharpened dagger. He then looked towards the negotiator.
"This is not enough!" Suddenly, the rather large hive of The Brood turned towards the demonic menace. "Did you think we would give second chances? These meals are barely enough to feed one of our small hives. This is Shelob's Lair!" Horse sized spiders began to devour the small army of demons. "You'll never leave this Hive alive!"

"The Sleeping City" Toth

Thu-mmmok considered himself a very friendly, and welcoming god, he was one of the few people who considered Yiggzavath good company, he could see the beauty in most things, and all in all he was a kind, respectful person. But even he had his limits, and coming back after many years of waiting, to find out that the hero, that you entrusted your dearest friend and patron to choose, the hero that had the entire weight of Thu-mmmok's plans on his shoulders, was a camel...Well that was most certainly breaking that limit.

That is what Thu-mmmok thought, as he let loose a flurry of swears that would make the most fowl mouthed of sailors blush. After a couple of hours of doing this, he eventually calmed down, well, as much as one could when all of their plans were destroyed in one swift motion. "Okay, okay, I can work with this." The desert god lied. "A camel, that's fine, I can go the angle of anyone who passes my test is chosen, it might make me look good." Thu-mmmok lied some more. "I can make up some stories, about how my champion is undefeated, and a monster in disguise." Thu-mmmok said in a panicked tone, before looking back at the camel. "I don't suppose you're secretly super intelligent, are you?" The camel proceeded to attempt and eat a brick, for several minutes, before eventually giving up.

For awhile, Thu-mmmok simply stared at the camel, before eventually exhaling, a long, painful sigh. "Come on camel, I need to go strangle my good friend Al Sabbath."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"The Endless Desert" K'num

Al Sabbath continued to wait in the sand, convinced his god would appear to him eventually, all of the other creatures, sentient or not, had left by this point, only an old Djinn in a chair remained. The wise old Djinn exhaled, as he looked at the sky. "Any minute now." He said knowingly, he knew his god would appear to him soon. What he wasn't expecting, was how his god arrived.

The ground shook, sand exploded from under the Djinn sending him onto his back, the sand danced in the air, like a snake, like a dancer, and like the fury of a thousand men, all at once, Before it settled. Standing in front of the old Djinn, who had waited for years, became the eldest Djinn alive, and attempted to keep the faith of the desert god alive, infront of him was his god, yes, his god and a camel eating oats from the god's hand.

Thu-mmmok looked at Al Sabbath, a face of resignation, and frustration, somehow at once, and spoke. "We need to talk."

They rode on the edge of the desert of K’num, with more men and more horses than they had days ago. Their leader was at the frontmost point, pressing his corrupted steed to move faster and faster. There was something wrong with the animal however - apart from the very obvious, terrible sludge seeping from its orifices, as well as the gaping wound along its neck - it was stumbling every now and again. The man riding it seemed to look quite irritated, gritting his teeth, hitting the horse’s neck repeatedly.

It gave. It messed a step, fell forward, and tumbled on the sands, sending the leader rolling as well. He arose quickly, stepping towards the struggling horse. He yelled, kicking its side, and then drew his serrated blade. He swiped and stabbed at the horse several times, causing more and more of the fetid blood to pour out on the scorching desert sand, along with the creeping, crawling things that inhabited it. They shriveled up as they touched the ground, averse towards the heat.

The leader’s inverted pupils twitched as he looked down at the horse, something in his throat making a clicking noise. Suddenly, he built up an angry, terrible yell, that surrounded the expanse around the corrupted party.

He turned to one of his men, who’d all stopped as his horse gave out. He pointed at the closest one’s horse and yelled, “GIVE ME YOURS.” Almost immediately, the man dismounted his horse and left it for the leader to use. The corrupted man deigned to ride backside with someone else, as the leader saddled up and called out, “MOVE.”

The party resumed their journey through the desert’s outskirts, on the way to… somewhere, for no pleasant reason. Anyone who could see the dozens-strong band would probably do well to avoid them.

They left the fallen horse stretched out on the sand. It still twitched occasionally, steam rising from the corrupted black blood as it and its inhabitants shriveled up, one by one, and died.

---

Somewhere out in the waters

Hagers.

Hagers.

Hagers.

Nahargu’ul couldn’t get it out of his mind. Hagers. After all this time, he thought the damned place would have eroded into obscurity. He had no eyes on the mainland proper, just the waters at the coasts. The Silence caused this - the Gatekeeper punished the Pantheon for the Cataclysm by seeding another one? The bastard. Five centuries to freely fester, grow, and corrupt.

Hagers.

The name played in his thoughts over and over again as he sat on the bedrock of the ocean, doing nothing worthwhile with his time - like always. His intention was to come back and breath awe, fear, and servitude into seafarers once again. But now, he was so clouded by the thought of this one past mistake blowing up in such a manner that…

He wondered how well he could keep the truth from his siblings, obviously besides Del Sombra, the omniscient cur. Hagers’ downfall was Nahargu’ul’s unintentiomal doing, but the story behind it all - a mistake. Worse yet, an embarrassment.

Hagers.

Could Vorris handle this task on his own? He had no idea what the destination possessed in terms of forces on the land. It could be any number, with all the time it’s had to spread. Maybe it would be a proper idea to request assistance from the other gods, have them send their own champions to assist the Mariner and-

“Oh, Nahargu’ul, God of Vast Waters…”

The Sea-Fiend’s head perked up as he heard the words spoken to him. He looked skyward, towards the water’s surface - an angel stood on a raft of light, staring down into the deep, calling for the attention of the god that lies below. And Nahargu’ul’s immediate thought was - damn it, they’d found him out already. The thought after that - no, no, this is unrelated. What was going on?

“Yes, messenger?” The waters replied to the angel.

“Good lord of the seas, the Everqueen beckons you and yours for an audience within the Sweetwater River delta.”

“For what reason?”

“There is a demonic blight wrought upon the land, by the hands of what is believed to be a demon lord. A remnant of the Cataclysm. He and his have corrupted the land, and the Everqueen is seeing to the rectification of the matter.”

“This is a matter for the mainland, messenger. The waters, they… hmm…”

There was a moment of pause. The angel asked of the god, “Yes?”

“Perhaps… I am being too dismissive… yes, yes, tell Kalla I will answer her summons.”

“Yes, Nahargu’ul. I thank you for your answer to the Everqueen’s request.”

“Hmmm…”

As the angel departed, Nahargu’ul paused for thought again. Evidently, Hagers was not the only problem the mainland was suffering from - why would it be? Perhaps, this meeting would provide him with the assistance he desires. Although, it seemed safer to say Kalla would hold the demonblight in much higher alert. But Hagers was on a track to pollute all the waters of the world - something had to be done. The least he could do was ask.

He made for Sweetwater immediately.

---

Southern Erathel, in a roadside settlement

Yigzavath had sent Isabella to begin seeding the rebirth of the Acolytes, and the seeding was going well. She’d taken a worm-brained horse out into the field, and rode through two settlements, now on her third. She knew the locations of a good few villages, not exactly wallowing in filth and illness, but good enough to form a skeleton crew within the course of a few days.

Isabella came as a pale woman bearing a cure-all for those with sickly spirits, and for that she was beginning to be lauded. The Healers Guild heard none of this yet, and it might be an issue when they do. But that was a matter for later. As she offered the placebo worm to a disheveled man seated against the wall of the dirtied establishment, she heard talk from the other passersby.

“Demons?”

“Yes, demons! Samuel’s gone and seen them out on his routes! They’s comin’, and we’s all dead when they get here!”

“Well, bloody - we go with Guillard then. He was talkin’ with that girl in the purple, looked awfully chipper. And his leg looked a good lot better from his marrow sickle.”

“Marrow sickle, that’s goin’ around. Gettin’ out of town seems like a damn good idea, it does.”

People were eager to leave, it seemed. Maybe that would make things easier for Isabella. She had to wonder, though - about the demons. She had not personally encountered them, but she had heard plenty of talk. They never attacked Pecher’s Valley when it was still inhabited. Why? She couldn’t make up a reason. Didn’t matter though, whole place was burned down into the darkness of the miles-long crack it was built in. She did her best to stop thinking about it.

Demons… they could be a problem as well. But if she took her time, did things subtly, and quickly, then she could simply lie low in the Infested Workshop alongside Yigzavath. Wait for the right time to strike at wherever needed striking first.

For now, however, she had people to ‘cure’. And then she had to get the hell out of here. Demons or no, she had a schedule to keep.

Fortress city of Hazufel, 'Hubbons'.
The life of Hakon had taken a turn for the better. Sure, right now he was more of a glorified maid for mr Hubbons living in a room full of scrap, but at least he had a future now. He was getting to learn the art of blacksmithing, later on he would move over to learn the finer points of smithing, like blade smithing, until finally going into armouring.
He was hyped, so many things to learn.

They were gathered in the workshop of the rather big house, it had two small furnaces and one bigger where mr Hubbons worked. It was obvious that only two students were supposed to be schooled here, since there were two identical workstations for them.
Hakon worked with Evan, the nicer of the two students. He was nice by default since Johan was such a dislikeable arse for lack of more descriptive words.
Johan constantly made remarks of how he could have gone to Meisters, but his father decided that Hubbons would be a good way to show the poorer people their superiority.
It wasn't that Evan was much of a paragon of friendship, seeing that apart from smithing they had nothing in common. But they had found common ground in the fact that both found Johan to be a proper bother.

Evan and Johan were much further schooled than Hakon though, sure he had done a few more complex shapes, but both of the others were much more skilled and were making complex twists and decors. Evan particularly was making nice things.
Hakon struggled with making a nice bend for a hook, it didn't help that he needed to work on his poor old mire anvil.
The lesson had reached a natural pause, all of them had finished their respective tasks and mr Hubbons had gone away to get some more coal for the furnaces.
-"Nice brick you got there, did you make it yourself?" Johan crossed his arms after pointing at Hakons anvil, the smug expression on his face expressed his besserwisser attitude.
-"No... my father got it for me." Hakon told, a hint of melancholy surfacing in his voice.
Johan walked up to the anvil and glanced on it, then spat at it.
-"I could make something better than that in my sleep! HAH!" He humoured, then smashed his hammer into the anvil making an ugly nick in it.
-"HEY!" Hakon expressed, trying to shove Johan away to save his treasured tool, but Johan being much stronger just pushed Hakon back so he fell on his rump. Then smashed the hammer into the anvil again.
-"You shouldn't be doing that, 'if you nick the anvil five times..." Evan began to quote, but was interrupted by Johan.
-"..Ha will put five nicks into ya' yeah, sure. Gods don't exist you know! Father told me that!" Johan laughingly quoted the rest of the old saying, followed by smashing another nick into the mire anvil.
Hakon for a moment considered to tell what he saw back in his village, but decided better not to.
It was not like it was believable, he didn't believe it himself after all. He looked at Evan, who didn't really care about the fate of the crappy little anvil.

The divine forge.
Ha walked around with a sizeable piece of blueish ore, his left hand rubbing his 'chin' as he patrolled his workstation.
Starmetal, sky iron, it fell from the heaven and crashed into the soil. He remembered Dormammus, or was it Iuppiter calling it a 'meteor'.
He had made things out of it before, swords, shields. Even a cup. He knew the usual qualities which he could draw out from the sky metal, right now he was trying to figure out a much more interesting use for the rare metal.

-"Divine lord!" The voice interrupted his train of thought, Ha turned his head to see an angel standing in his work area. They were getting more common... Ha didn't really like it, but at least it meant things were happening.

-"What?" Ha boomed out.

-"Lady Kalla has a message for you. Until next time." The angel handed the forge lord a scroll and left as he excused himself.
Ha put away the meteor on a bench, then opened the letter and read.

So she wants to fight deamons? He'd heard of far worse past times so he read the letter to the end. Then tossed it in the everburning furnace.
Corruption, that was something he himself hadn't noticed when down on Erathel. Although as usual the cursed wench had chosen a completely remote area in the middle of the wild, typical for a nature goddess. Not considering how he would get there.
This was gonna mean that he had to.....

*CLING!*
His train of thought was halted as the 5th strike echoed through his mind.
It was close... he might as well.

Fortress city of Hazufel, 'Hubbons'.
-"See, five times! No 'forge lord' here, HAHAH!! It's just a myth. I might as well do it some more." Johan smashed the hammer into the anvil several times, grinning.
Until the ground shook once, mr Hubbons furnace visibly heated up to far beyond usual temperature as one word echoed through the halls.



The black clad gauntlet began to claw its way through the glowing coals, Evan and Johan gaped in horror as Hakon just screamed.
-"NOT AGAIN!" Evan gave him a puzzled look, as Ha stood himself tall in the room.
With his right hand, Ha slowly pointed 'Ember' at Johan who had frozen with a raised hammer over the small anvil.

-"You! You desecrate the sacred tool of my being! You defile my name... HA!" The forge god boomed into the small workshop, Johan dropped the hammer on the anvil as he began to back away from the black steel giant.
-"You... cannot... escape!" Ha mocked as he threw 'Ember' sideways at him. Johan was felled by the massive weight of the artifact blade even if he tried to catch it. All while Ha walked up to him, wielding 'Ha'mmer' in his right hand.
Johan was now screaming, Evan backed into a corner frozen with fear as Hakon sat on the ground next to the door as mr Hubbons entered.

-"What is going on in...." Hubbons didn't finish his sentence, he dropped the coal sack and just stared at the scene in front of them.

-"Remember! Do not ruin thine anvil, strike five nicks into it..." Ha boomed out while lifting Johan by the arm, dragging him to the large anvil of the main workstation.

-"...and I shall strike five nicks into thine self!" Johan was panicking, but couldn't free himself from the grip of the forge lord as he placed the poor humans arm upon the anvil.
-"That, is my decree!" Ha's helm flared up with flames as he boomed this right into the face of the screaming Johan.
With that, Ha'mmer fell.
*CLING!*
The strike left an unnatural vee shaped nick in his arm, it was not squashed by the force, but reshaped to fit Ha's vision.
*Cling!*
Johan flailed and screamed, Evan and Hakon stared with fluctuating eyes at the horrible scene as mr Hubbons fell to his knees in shock, gaping in awe.
*Cling!*
Ha had the same expression as when he worked metal, he raised Ha'mmer, then struck the material.
*Cling!*
Hubbons whispered the word.
-"Ha...."
*Cling!*
Johan slumped to the floor as the steel god let loose his grip. He turned to the rest and looked upon them, then looked upon the little mire anvil on its little stump.
He took in his hand a piece of steel, put the anvil in the furnace with the steel. Then he raised his palm to point at the fire, which raged ever hotter as Ha's eyes spew fire.
The anvil now red hot, was grasped with Ha's gauntleted hands which fizzed with the heat, as he stood it upon the primary anvil of the shop.
With a calm, waving motion, flux was rained upon the top with silver swirls.
The red hot steel was lain on top after that, and with a few well placed strikes of Ha'mmer, was forge welded into place.

Holding it by the base, Ha lowered the top of it into the oil trough nearby, oil spitting and going aflame from the severe heat, after a few moments ha stood it upon its stump which began to burn and blacked from the still red hot base of the anvil.

-"Care for thine tools..." Ha said looking Hakon in the eyes. Then he took Ember and left through the door.

Once more there was this eerie silence after the forge lord's passing, mouths gaping with awe and confused looks all around them.
Hakon, the one mortal most used to Ha walked over to Johan and tried to help him.
This made mr Hubbons leave his trance as well and they both carried Johan to his room.

Streets of Ha'zufel
Many stared at Ha's two metre tall form as he marched through the streets, he didn't care, what he cared about was the current state of the society.
Rubbish along the streets, the stones had lost their shine and the people ill clothed and dirty.
He would need to return here, he shook his head as he thought.
But it would need to wait, now it was time to march east, to the delta...

He silently cursed Kalla again, a nuisance she could be, never having meetings in proper civilized places, oh no, in the middle of nowhere.
Bloody nuisance...

Ludgar aimed towards the boar. Usually, a hunter wouldn’t even dare to take down such a savage beast with just a bow. Men used spears, traps and a courageous but stupid heart to take down such a beast. Yet since he was gifted the Shenhun, his arrows struck harder and true. For a few days he had it now, and every time he looked down his bow he somehow saw sharper. The world around him came alive with bright colors as he focused his vision down the shaft of an arrow. Time itself felt like it was slowing down, allowing him to align the bow perfectly. After that: ssssssshhh.

Ludgar reached the boar, but the beast was still alive. If not crippled. “Quiet now, quiet.” The huntsman eased the animal. “You’re going back to your mother. You’re going back to Kalla.” With the little prayer, he stabbed the beast, releasing it from its suffering. But he didn’t pick it up immediately. No, he stabbed it right in an artery. Blood sprayed over him, as well as the ground. “Asivar, lord of the hunt. God of slayers. Please accept my offering.” It did get accepted. The Shenhun on his arm was first just an arrow. But it had grown now. Elegant lines crawled up towards each other. Now the space between those lines were being filled up with marks of animals he killed. Right now he could feel the familiar itching and burning. Until the small boar-like mark filled the final bit of space between 2 of the 5 lines. He still had a lot of hunting to do. But with every other kill he felt how his power grew. His mind sharpened as his body got stronger. And after every kill, he felt the pull to hunt down another creature.

This was the fate of the Marked Hunter. Ludgar carried the boar back towards his village, where his wife looked at him with disapproving eyes. He had been gone far longer than she wished and far more often. But the tribe was thriving. The excess meat and fur made good trading goods in the inhospitable north. Many other tribes visited, hoping to trade bone, flint or wood for the meat. At first, some had dared to try and steal from Ludgar’s tribe. A fool’s mistake, as Ludgar was still home. He shot the thief in the dark, killing the man with an arrow through the head. It didn’t earn him another part of his Shenhun, but if felt very satisfying. Since then newcomers were shown that Ludgar carried the sacred Mark. Now none dared to do anything bad to anyone or anything in the village. At least amongst the tribes.

---

Huin made a mistake. He should have never traveled this late northwards, towards the Yellow River. The Caltrops lumbered through the endless steps. The land was getting dryer every year. Once there was lush grass here, but now only a few stubborn bushes remained. The heat here was scorching. Especially now. They had to reach the Yellow River to let their pack animals graze and drink in peace. Without having to scavenge every bit of green wherever they walked.

Yet Huin had been forced to set up camp longer than he wished for. His wife was pregnant and the babe was soon to be born. While his wife was happy, the nomad clan understood that they had lingered for too long. None could harbor any ill will towards Huin, but still. He himself did. Along their trusted path, he suddenly saw a stranger sitting on one of the very few rocks he, his father, his grandfather and every generation before him used as a marker of the landscape, to know where they were exactly. Surprised and confused to see another human being, alone, in the steppes, Huin carefully approached the stone with his horse. “We don’t see many strangers around here.” He called out to the figure.
Asivar had been waiting for them. The Nomads. He knew the stone was used to map the way. They did it even back before the God Wars. He looked down from his stone and smiled. Once the Nomads had been rich and dressed in fine leather over silken gowns. Like he was dressed now. Bright yellow and red flashed underneath his cuirass of hardened, grey Caltrop leather. With several chains wound around his chest, waist and on a hook on his back, where he also kept a circular shield. At the end of the chains were hooks used to claw themselves in either the ground or in the flesh. “I wish to see the Nomads. I’ve traveled a long way to meet these mysterious people.” He told Huin.

“Well, you have found them. We are a Nomad clan. You look suspiciously well-armed, master…”

“Rasiv. I go by the name of Rasiv. I can assure you, I harbor you no ill will. But the steppes are a dangerous place. Especially with the mountains nearby.” It was true. The mountains have been a nesting place for dragons for many ages. The wayward stone Asivar was sitting on wasn’t just any jutting rock. It marked the boundary into their hunting grounds. Huin had led his people here because only here there would still be green at the shores of the Yellow River. But he did risk being attacked by dragons. Even though the threat was still minimal, the though was a heavy burden.

Master Rasiv was welcomed within the Nomads. Initial suspicion was soon shoved aside for admiration. The man had a clear talent for animals. He could calm Caltrops easily. And along the way, he even tamed a wild horse to ride upon! “Tell me, Master Rasiv. Why no swords? Why chains? Why are you dressed like… a Beast Masters of old?” Huin had to ask. He had heard too many stories of the fabled Beast Masters. Fearless warriors that did not just kill mythical monsters. They actually rode them.

“I haven’t given up on that legacy just yet. I believe that the power of the Beast Tamers is still in this world.”

Huin did not share that belief. With the vanishing of the Yui, the Beast Tamer’s mark, their power faltered. First, the monstrous animals broke free. Later the normally wild beasts disobeyed their masters. Finally, the Beast Masters couldn’t use their mark to break a Caltrop’s will. The failing of their will breaking power broke them.

And thus the Nomads continued their way into dragon hunting grounds. For the most parts, they were left alone. Sometimes a shadow in the distance was seen flying. But not once were they attacked. Of course, until they were.

A savage Long, probably hungry came down roaring. He landed in the middle of the caravan, destroying a cart in the process. “Humans! You have entered the territory of the Fang Len dragons! This transgression cannot be allowed! I demand a tribute. Your lives!” echoed through the air as he began to devour a child. Of course, Huin, leading the front turned around and raced towards the Long. Fully realizing he was probably racing towards his doom. No human could dare stand against a Long. The dragons were fearsome and powerful. The Long’s connection with their spirit was unmatched. But maybe, just maybe he could buy his people enough time to run for safety. Behind him, Master Rasiv raced towards the Long as well. His wild horse galloped faster and faster. As if it was thrown in a frenzy. It got there faster than Huin. Master Rasiv jumped off it with unprecedented grace. As if the silken gown did not block his movement in the slightest.

“A Divine!? Impossible!” Yelled the long when he eyed Master Rasiv. Fang Len expelled blue spirit fire from his mouth, fully intending to reduce this mere human daring to pose as a Divine to ash. The flame burned so bright that it outshined the sun itself in intensity. You could hear the wind roaring towards it as it consumed the oxygen. But when the flame eventually withered down, Rasiv still stood. With his round shield up and smoking. In his right hand, he held a chained hook, swinging it in circles.

The dragon, suddenly realizing this might not be an imposter, tried to fly up. But Asivar managed to throw his hook into a front leg and pulled it down. The sudden jolt down made Fang Len crash into the ground, while Asivar yelled: “Grab your chains people!” He locked his shield back on the hook of his back, while with his now free hand he grabbed another chain and threw it over Lang Fen. “Release me, you mortals! I am a dragon! I am the kin of Kilgarrah himself! Release me!” the dragon yelled, as it tried to breathe fire around. But the Nomads had not forgotten their legacy as much as they though they did. With rolls and jumps most managed to evade the fire. Some had some burns, but they managed to run away quick enough. “Kilgarrah… is not here.” Asivar said, with a fire burning in his eyes. As his chains wrestled with the Long, mortals threw theirs over the Long now two. The more chains that covered it, the more Fang Len tried to burn the mortals.

Until Asivar wanted to put an end to it. Confident that the mortals would hold the dragon down for at least a moment he dropped his chains, grabbed his shield and charged forward with it. Lang Fen, of course, saw this. As he broke free he began to breath and roar his fire against Asivar, who blocked it with his shield. The humans could not see what battle against the awesome power of the dragon against that of a god. But eventually, Asivar managed to push through. With his shield, he bashed the side of Lang Fen’s head. Staggered for a moment, the dragon stopped breathing.

“Enough!” Yelled Asivar, as he lifted his right hand high in the sky. A myriad of different colors filled the sky as his Yui Mark appeared in full. He put an open palm on the dragon’s head. “Obey.” The god commanded. His divine will overpowered that of the mighty dragon and Asivar felt how Lang Fen bowed to him in his mind. “Sit. Still.” A second command and Lang Fen was forced to comply. He seized all struggle. “Return to your nest.” The mortals released their grips on the chains as the Long flew up and back towards the horizon.

“Master Rasiv!” yelled Huin, who was one of the holders of the chains. “Master, I… How did you. The Yui. You have it! By Asivar, you have the power of Yui!” he exclaimed, gazing upon the afterglow upon Asivar’s arm. “Yes. The power of the marks is returning, Huin. The gods… are returning.”

That night Master Rasiv gave the first part of the Yui to Huin. Two chains entwined across his arm that opened in a noose on his palm. Just like the Shenhun and the Arvat’Nar, it would grow. But with every beast Huin would ‘tame’. The ink Asivar used was a mixture of blood and grounded Caltrop horn.

The vampire known as Riskel Drabek now awake from his 200 year slumber, looked at the dark tomb he was placed in and saw that the dark god was no longer there. "I have been gone from this world for far to long, i miss the taste of mortal blood, with that he walked over to a alter that held his dark vampiric armor with his sword and battle claws, dawning his old armor and weapons forged in the depths of the underworld he walked to the entrance and saw that the sun was setting and he laughed as he started to run at the entrance and turned into a swarm of bats leaving the tomb and flew into the night sky.

The Death god walked out of the shadows of the cave to watch as his hero flew into the night sky. He smiled and turned toward the mouth of the cave, raising one boney finger and tore a hole through the fabric of the mortal world and entered the Underworld, walking over to his throne of flesh and bones he sat comfortably in his throne and raised his hand to reveal a giant pool of black ooze that bubbled with fear. This very ooze is the blood of a creature slain by his scythe. He knew the blood of the Demon Nighmar would be useful to him so he grasped a glass bottle, filling it with the black ooze that swirled with a dark purple glow, he then floated up to his collection of dark evil brews and placed the bottle in his collection, he then floated back down and filled up a tube and corked it and flew over to his mirror and waved his hand over it. "Kilgarrah, i wish for you to see something, please come to the underworld as soon as you can. It is vital that you see this." Showing the Demon blood vile and smiled. "I forgot to mention before hand and i thought i would bring it to your attention."

"The Endless Desert: K'num"

The desert was silent, and still, there was no creature scuttling, no man talking, the only two figures conversing were a god, and his old friend. They talked for many hours, calmly, and reasonably. Until a decision was met. "I'm glad you've finally calmed down my lord, your temper was worrying me." The old Djinn spoke. The desert god inhaled, and exhaled. "My hero is a fucking camel Al, I think I have the right to be a little pissed off." Thu-mmmok breathed in, and out. "Tell me there's some good news, anything really." Al Sabbath stayed silent for awhile, deep in thought. Several minutes passed.

"Well, the camel is feared." The Djinn finally broke the silence of the desert. The god responded. "What do you mean the camel is feared?" Al Sabbath fidgeted. "Well err..Stories about him began to be told, about a hero so competent, he doesn't need to be human, he's become a bit of a widespread legend, my lord." Thu-mmmok let out a long, weary exhale. "So they think the camel is some kind of bringer of pain and destruction?" The Djinn nodded. "Oh god." Thu-mmmok responded.

Just as the desert god began to lose a bit of his faith in humanity's intelligence, a message arrived, from Kilgarrah himself no less, a challenge for- Oh god no, you had to be joking. The god spoke. "..A tournament, for our chosen champions." Thu-mmmok turned to the camel: it was still eating bits and pieces of dried grass. "I'll send him off." Thu-mmmok exclaimed, a look on his face that Al had only seen once before: the desert god just made a terrible plan. "Sir, perhaps that's not the best ide-" The Djinn was cut off. "Oh I see, you have a better idea of what to do with the camel." The Djinn stayed silent. "So its settled, the camel will participate in this event, if he survives, then he will become even more impressive in the eyes of the public: if not, I can claim a hero that isn't a fucking camel." Thu-mmmok sent Louis the Camel off almost immediately, providing supplies left behind in the desert, including an enchanted Khopesh. Blessing the Camel with several abilities, alas Thu-mmmok was not the god of knowledge, wisdom, or anything like that: so it was still a camel.

The ground shook beneath the footfalls of Ha, each step leaving a steaming crackled footprint, he walked with his arms open pointing towards the ground on his sides, his head held aloft.

It was great to be free, the wind singing as it danced across his armour, the fleeing birds, the screaming peasants.
The screaming peasants wasn't really great, rather a nuisance really. But humans were so dramatic when it came to twelve metre tall steel gods whom walked across the countryside.

He paid them no heed however, there was a long way to go to the sweetwater delta still.

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Gox, servant of Jadaxes, watched in silence and cover how the forge god strolled across the landscape in the distance, he knew Jadaxes had ordered him to keep track of Ha but he far from enjoyed the work.
Gox was a miniscule deamon when it came to might, about as powerful as a trained human warrior, if even that. He made sure to sneak carefully through the forest when keeping his eye on the steel god.

The forest line crept closer to the road further on, so Gox would need to sneak closer to Ha to keep good vision of him. He cursed his luck.

Ha was getting bored, as the road grew narrow he kept scanning for interesting beasts or unexpected noises.
He was surprised as he heard a twig snap in the forest to his left, he scoffed, hefted his sword to the sky and with a violent motion pointed towards the source of the noise.
-"'Ember'... Sing!" with that command word, where the sword pointed a blast of fire erupted and sent twigs, rocks and a lesser deamon flying.

Gox was understandably confused, he had been sure to be silent, he didn't think Ha would notice that twig. As he slammed into the ground in front of Ha Gox scrambled for cover, but none were to be had.

-"My my... what have we here?" The avatar of metal said while grasping the puny deamon in his left hand, Gox squirmed and screamed, but could not escape.
-"Listen, vermin filth! Tell your masters that their reign is at end. I...

HA

have returned, under my gaze no deamons may tread!" The forge god boomed out to the flailing Gox as he held the deamon closer and closer to his face. Followed by changing his pose into a throwing stance, reached far back and spoke.
-"Travel upon the winds of Iuppiter!" Then Ha threw Gox as far into the forest as he bothered, which was still a good kilometer of five.
Gox constantly screaming all the while.

Then Ha resumed his stroll, walking with a watchful gaze.
Jerked, raised his sword and struck once more, uttering the words.
-"Sing!" Blowing up a rock within the river on his right.
It was not overly far left to the sweetwater delta, after that it was just the cursed task of finding a nature goddess within a forest.
Kalla and her accursed nature...

A considerable distance into the forest, the beaten and battered Gox managed to crawl to a limp stance. He gave up on his mission and began the task of returning to his nearest base.
Jadexes would not be happy about this.