tale of the godslayer | ze_kraken x moffnat

"Oh, you don't?" Elwyn questioned. "We get all sorts of types that use magic, and they all talk of grand universities and royal court wizards. I always imagined ivory domes and columns, like the drawings of old temples Sister Luhan used to let me look at as a girl."

Radagon's next statement gave her pause.

"Wait, if I need rest, what might you do then?" She asked, before shaking her head. "I suppose gods don't need their rest like we do."

Gods, or wizards. But which one are you?

Elwyn's shake became a nod, and she slipped off her dress. Growing up bathing in the river around the other villagers had stripped her of much of her shame, though how Radagon had been eying her and the burn of her own questioning passions left the red flush in her cheeks. She was thankful for the relative darkness of her bedchamber as she slid into her covers, leaving Radagon to find a seat in the corner of the room. Sleeplessness kept her tossing and turning, excitement and dread in equal measure keeping the release of slumber just out of reach. Every echoed footstep sent pangs of panic jolting through her spine, and when the panic died down her mind buzzed with questions better left addressed on the morrow.

Radagon's presence still alarmed Elwyn when she awoke. She did not remember falling asleep, and judging by the lingering pain and slowness behind her eyes it had not been a fruitful rest. Part of her still believed that perhaps all of yesterday was simply a waking dream, but a pinch to her wrist and a deep breath confirmed that she was not caught in the world of dreams.

"Did you rest?" She asked, stretching and standing up.

Panic seized at her heart. Had she woken before the wake-up call? Elwyn rushed to dress herself, unsure if Radagon had answered her first question.

"I need to report for my daily tasks," she explained as she laced her shoes. "You should stay here, stay out of trouble for the both of us. We can discuss my learning when my day ends at sunset."
 
Radagon nodded at Elwyn's request. "I shall remain here," he said. "Please, call for me if you have the need."

To pass the time, Radagon busied himself with Elwyn's books and tomes, scanning through every page no matter how irrelevant. He absorbed each scrap of information like a parched beggar desperate for thirst. He paced the room, twirling a discus of light around his fingers to distract the depths of his mind, and once he was bored with that, he took to people-watching out of Elwyn's little window. He observed townsfolk of all walks of life in all manners of activities, and he learned from them, listened to them, as much as his confinement allowed.

But Radagon did not stay confined for long.

The ground shook beneath his feet. This was not the natural quaking of the earth; Radagon could sense the rage within each tremor, the unbridled hate beneath the stone. He threw open her chamber door, heart pounding with fear as he raced down the cobbled hallway. The shrieks of devilish creatures ripped through the city beyond.

"Elwyn!" he called, weaving his way through the hoards of nuns and sisters fleeing whatever catastrophe had occurred. "Elwyn! Where are you?"
 
Elwyn stood, brushing dirt from the knees of her dress as she glanced about the main hall. Other sisters were likewise picking themselves up, and her mind drifted irritably towards Radagon. Fool girl, she chided herself. You let him in to the temple, and now he's tearing it down with magic! A cold sweat broke out across her brow at the thought of discovery, and what her punishment might be. A repentance march at the least, with her head shaved and her clothes stripped. Banishment would be likely. Execution was a far-off possibility.

Shrugging aside questions of was she alright, and where was she going like that in such a hurry, Elwyn hiked up her skirts and darted down towards her chambers. The rumble of aftershocks made her knees weak, and she felt as though she was walking knee-high through jam. Elwyn paused to rest along one of the walls, huffing from the exertion when screams echoed from the main hall. She whipped around to see her fellow sisters breaking from the center of the hall, and noted that patches of sunlight now pierced through massive holes in the temple's roof.

"What is..."

A sister initiate elbowed her way past Elwyn, knocking her to the ground. She barely had time to crawl to her knees and shift out of the way as half a dozen more and a handful of solicitors rushed by.

"What's happening?" she called after them, to no answer. "What's going on?"

Shadows flickered from the main hall, and suddenly Elwyn's legs felt sturdy as iron. Brute instinct wrenched her to her feet, and she turned and ran following the others down the hall. Terror flooded her veins with adrenaline, and her vision narrowed as she fled.

"Oof!"

She glanced up, startling until she recognized the familiar build and height of Radagon. Terror melted away to fiery anger, and she rounded on the pretender god.

"You!" She howled. "I leave you alone for not even a day, and you-"

Radagon cut her off.
 
"Behind me," Radagon asserted before Elwyn could speak more. He took her by the arm as gently as he could and led her through the parish, making sure she was always behind his massive form, protected and safe as long as he drew breath. The outside air was stale and biting. "Something is unnatural here, Elwyn. I have an uneasy feeling. I want to--"

A great boom cracked through village, shaking all to its core. The flapping of wings stirred a hurricane of wind, and before Radagon could take Elwyn to cover, a monstrosity landed on two scaled legs before them. The creature bore a lion's head, an eagle's body and a serpent's tail, and it glared at Radagon with deadly intent.

"Leave this place!" Radagon shouted above the howling wind. "You seek me, do you not? Leave these innocents in peace!"

The beast took a deep breath and roared with such ferocity that the ground beneath it split open. It charged forth with its fangs bared and a motive Radagon could not guess. He shoved Elwyn toward the parish behind him and rose to meet the beast, his right hand glowing gold, the ring of light he'd conjured once before growing larger, larger, larger still until Radagon threw it forward. It circled through the air like a discus before slicing through the creature's chest with a burst of golden stars. Blood splattered and spilt upon the grass, and a warbled cry preceded the creature collapsing to the ground, it's flesh seared asunder by Radagon's sacred light.

"I cannot stay," he called back to Elwyn over the throngs of screaming citizens. He rushed to her side, kneeling beside her, smoothing her hair from her pale forehead. "As long as I am here, these people are at risk. I sense more danger is near. Come with me if you wish, but I will not put you or your people to harm."
 
"Something unnatural?" Elwyn asked incredulously. "I dare say so! I let you into this parish and not even a day later you-"

Elwyn stumbled as gusts of wind swung her legs out from under her. She grabbed on to Radagon for support, and gazed up. Silhouetted against the sunlight, a violent shade of red framed in dark and moody clouds fit for a thunderstorm, stood a beast she could not recognize. As the sister steadied herself, the creature let out a roar that sent Elwyn's world careening into cacophony and violence. Her ears began to ring, and she hurriedly felt to determine if her eardrums had ruptured and begun to bleed.

Her perception wobbled again as a sharp shove sent her back towards the temple, and she stumbled and fell once more to the ground. The sound of her own grunt of pain as she struck the paving stones below was muted, as if through a layer of stone and brick. She twisted about to face Radagon and the now-diving creature, letting out a piercing shriek she could not hear herself.

Then what perception of the world she had vanished.

Eyeballs searing, Elwyn lifted a hand to block the sudden burst of radiant light and prayed to gods known and unknown for protection. Had she perished? The world felt numb, her ears heard no more, her eyes remained dazed with the afterimage of Radagon's outstretched hand seared in negative across her pupils. Then a sudden splatter of warmth broke through the numbness, and gradually the afterimage faded. Blood streaked her shift, appearing to steam in the sun still flanked by angry thunderclouds. Elwyn retreated inward, arms and legs folding in tight to her chest as she rocked back and forth.

Radagon's touch barely registered through her shock. It was only when the curtain of hair shielding her from the sight of the slain beast and her own body sprayed in blood was parted that she looked up.

"Danger?" She asked.

Yes. Danger. That creature. Her eyes scanned the creature's corpse, rent in twain as if by the precision of a butcher after a choice cut of meat. Had Radagon done that? The light could have gone from nowhere else. Only, had he not been the one to bring it to her? Or the other way round?

"I... Yes, it would be dangerous here."

She sounded conversational and polite, tone perfectly suited to the graces of a nobleman's court.

"Yes, we should leave, shouldn't we?"

Yes. Leaving was a good plan. A nice plan. The screams of the dead or dying were but background noise to her as she examined the courtyard with the passivity of a child looking for an ideal spot to play. What would the sisters think of her, she wondered, as Radagon hauled her to her feet. That's why she must leave, she supposed. Only...

"Radagon? Where are we leaving to?"
 
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