R
ReaperOfFlames
Guest
Whatever had happened, it happened far toof fast for Castigarian to comprehend. One minute he had been helping the blacksmith away from the edge he'd been teetering on the edge of and the next the poor man was actually being dragged over it. It seemed that his conventional methods of arrow placement wouldn't be enough to fell this beast...at least not in the one or two shots he was used to; whatever this thing that used to be Arcantos was, it would take far more from the lot of them to handle.
Reacting quickly, the hunter rushed to the edge of the small cliff with his bow drawn, but by the time he could see the commotion below, there were already too many people grouped around the beast to make firing a shot off safe. He was a good archer, this he knew; he could probably hit the creature if he fired...but that was only a probably. Part of being a marksman was knowing when to gamble on a chance and when to hold back...and there was far too much movement and the sakes too high for him to act rashly. "Move yer damn hides!" he bellowed, hoping his booming voice would clear some of the cluster, but the fighting was so vicious now that his call fell on deaf ears. Time was quickly waning and with Ilsa now pinned down, there was an even greater sense of urgency welling up in the large man.
Out of options, he began to call to Kreinn, hoping that some added vision would help him, but the words never left his mouth as he was bowled over onto his face as a grouping of ice shards slammed into his back. The minute he hit the ground, he felt the same white hot fire from before begin to engulf his brain as ancient knowledge flooded through him. Thoughts, feelings, and emotions overtook the hunter and flowed freely through his veins, filling every part of him with an intense feeling of sadness, pain, and regret; he knew in that moment a life that had been in every intimate detail, as if it were his own come and gone before his eyes, even though he knew from whom the these feelings were coming.
With a new sense of purpose, Castigarian stood to his full height and with an almost melancholic sadness to his quicken stride, made his way back over to the sarcophagus. His world was in a haze and his mind was nothing more than static noise following one objective...to end the pain of the one calling him. He stared intently at the sarcophagus below him for only a moment before drawing the hand axe he'd been left with and raised it high over his head. A small prayer for peace was whispered under his breath before the weapon came crashing down into the endoskeleton, his strength easily smashing the ancient construct apart before a large voltage of electricity began to flow through him, numbing the large man before he was blown back off of his feet and back onto the ice.
Sounding almost akin to a pained scream, the noise around the cavern of grinding gears and moving machinery came to an screeching halt, leaving everything around the caravan in the same, eerie silence that had held a grip over this place since they'd arrived, leaving only the noise of their own actions floating in the air. Castigarian lay still where he'd fallen, his breathing slow and his body crackling with trace amounts of electricity as the current moved through him, sparking off the flecks of snow that had fallen on his body. Every nerve on his body slowly coming back to life with a slow burning sensation creeping underneath his skin. It wasn't at all painful...it almost felt as if his whole body had become aware of itself while his mind remained blissfully blank to the experience, the only thought beyond the warm white haze wondering if his actions had somehow accomplished what he'd set out to do.
Perhaps he'd find out after he woke up...he was tired and the weather seemed so nice here. The rolling grass and the warm wind across his face invited him to a deeper sleep as he heard his mother singing a pleasant tune in the background...a day to eat outdoors, his father would call it. His lips curled into a small smile as he nodded off with his back to a large oak, his mind settled on more peaceful things like what manner of animal he'd track next, or partaking in some of the Red Antler's famous Shepard's Pie. Yes, that sounded like a fine plan to him...today, he told himself, was a perfect day as he felt his heavy eyes finally close as sleep soundly took him.
Reacting quickly, the hunter rushed to the edge of the small cliff with his bow drawn, but by the time he could see the commotion below, there were already too many people grouped around the beast to make firing a shot off safe. He was a good archer, this he knew; he could probably hit the creature if he fired...but that was only a probably. Part of being a marksman was knowing when to gamble on a chance and when to hold back...and there was far too much movement and the sakes too high for him to act rashly. "Move yer damn hides!" he bellowed, hoping his booming voice would clear some of the cluster, but the fighting was so vicious now that his call fell on deaf ears. Time was quickly waning and with Ilsa now pinned down, there was an even greater sense of urgency welling up in the large man.
Out of options, he began to call to Kreinn, hoping that some added vision would help him, but the words never left his mouth as he was bowled over onto his face as a grouping of ice shards slammed into his back. The minute he hit the ground, he felt the same white hot fire from before begin to engulf his brain as ancient knowledge flooded through him. Thoughts, feelings, and emotions overtook the hunter and flowed freely through his veins, filling every part of him with an intense feeling of sadness, pain, and regret; he knew in that moment a life that had been in every intimate detail, as if it were his own come and gone before his eyes, even though he knew from whom the these feelings were coming.
With a new sense of purpose, Castigarian stood to his full height and with an almost melancholic sadness to his quicken stride, made his way back over to the sarcophagus. His world was in a haze and his mind was nothing more than static noise following one objective...to end the pain of the one calling him. He stared intently at the sarcophagus below him for only a moment before drawing the hand axe he'd been left with and raised it high over his head. A small prayer for peace was whispered under his breath before the weapon came crashing down into the endoskeleton, his strength easily smashing the ancient construct apart before a large voltage of electricity began to flow through him, numbing the large man before he was blown back off of his feet and back onto the ice.
Sounding almost akin to a pained scream, the noise around the cavern of grinding gears and moving machinery came to an screeching halt, leaving everything around the caravan in the same, eerie silence that had held a grip over this place since they'd arrived, leaving only the noise of their own actions floating in the air. Castigarian lay still where he'd fallen, his breathing slow and his body crackling with trace amounts of electricity as the current moved through him, sparking off the flecks of snow that had fallen on his body. Every nerve on his body slowly coming back to life with a slow burning sensation creeping underneath his skin. It wasn't at all painful...it almost felt as if his whole body had become aware of itself while his mind remained blissfully blank to the experience, the only thought beyond the warm white haze wondering if his actions had somehow accomplished what he'd set out to do.
Perhaps he'd find out after he woke up...he was tired and the weather seemed so nice here. The rolling grass and the warm wind across his face invited him to a deeper sleep as he heard his mother singing a pleasant tune in the background...a day to eat outdoors, his father would call it. His lips curled into a small smile as he nodded off with his back to a large oak, his mind settled on more peaceful things like what manner of animal he'd track next, or partaking in some of the Red Antler's famous Shepard's Pie. Yes, that sounded like a fine plan to him...today, he told himself, was a perfect day as he felt his heavy eyes finally close as sleep soundly took him.