Bonded Summoner

His people were spotted over the ridge, and the creatures turned towards his people. The creatures were mostly raptors being ridden, but there were dimetrodons and more lizard like giant auril beasts capable of climbing.

The dozens of creatures stopped a distance away from where Vesuvius, Roxo, Darris and Jarrix were standing in front of their army on the ridge. In the front, was a larger dimetrodon, with two fins at angles on top instead of one, allowing the large man to sit in the middle.

The man was a large lizard beastkin, his scales the color of red. His amount of god’s blood must have been high, because he was very much like Vesuvius, with the face of a lizard. Vesuvius could feel the man’s taint, but he was certainly at the auril hero level. He wasn’t sure who was stronger between the two of them, but he knew it would be close.

The man didn’t start with the beastkin greeting. “Greetings! I am Cronus. What are you doing in the world above, brother? Don’t tell me you were clearing a rift?”

The man’s words felt like knives on his own heart. He could tell his brethren felt the same thing, their songs wary.

Vesuvius said, “I am Vesuvius, Chief of the Tribe of the Sleeping God, and we were. The unliving were spilling from it, destroying our land, our world.”

“The Tribe of the Sleeping God? We were just headed for the Tribe of Roxo, what are you doing so far north? Well, I come bearing good news. You mustn’t worry about that any longer. Our gods have returned! I have received a divine message, and I am bringing it to all Tribes, our brethren in hiding. We must rally together and serve our gods once more!”

“You have seen our gods? On Highlands?”

The man smiled. “I’ve seen them. They require us to rally, and kill the beastkin living above ground once and for all! We will reclaim our homes, and the sky will be covered with our gods, just like the foretelling! They will rule, and we will serve them for all time.”

It was just as seen on the murals. But the wrongness in the man’s words made Vesuvius know that he was lying. There was something missing, that the man was not telling him. Vesuvius could see that Roxo and his people showed doubt, but his own stood firm, denying the man’s lies.

They were already serving a goddess, what do they care about another?

Vesuvius slammed the butt of his spear on the ground, his heart singing a hymn of righteous retribution. His people’s hearts began beating in the cadence of his song, and they prepared for battle. Roxo looked confused, but he drew his blades.

“We serve our goddess, Fhesiah. She showed her flame, and our hearts know that it was true. We will not fight against the other beastkin, but beside them. Our hearts remain pure, able to serve both the world and our goddess. Your people are tainted, and you serve a false god. You should join us, instead. We have joined the Framework, and we cannot die. Join us, and you may be spared.”

“The Framework? You fool! Now there is no saving you!” The man made some clicking sounds, the mounts forming up and preparing for battle, and an arrow blazed from the side of Vesuvius, the attacker unseen.

But his people had long since been prepared for battle. Darris manifested a shield of water, blocking the arrow, and Vesuvius roared, as he finished growing to his full height once more.

He took loping strides at his enemy, who leaped off the dimetrodon and began doing the same. Vesuvius was worried, as the many auril beasts would be difficult to kill without significant losses. With few healers among his people and being only the out of combat sorts, many would die here. The enemy only had a single auril hero, but many of the auril beasts they had were of that level.

Vesuvius and Jarrix went out to meet the man and his large mount, while Darris and Roxo moved to aid, defending the weakest of the tribe from being overwhelmed with ease. Vesuvius met with the tainted man, him having a bone glaive of his own.

His auril was filled with black taint, his swings vicious. Vesuvius matched his swings, and while he was stronger and larger, he was slower than his enemy. He brought his glaive down with his superior weight, and used his tail to spring forward unexpectedly, to try to knock the man off balance.

Jarrix had cut into the dimetrodon, but it bowled into him, trying to bite him despite its wound. Jarrix was filled with green auril, his cuts vicious. But the creature healed its wound quickly, its skin sturdy besides. The cuts would not be very deep.

Darris and Roxo protected the weaker beastkin as they rained attacks on the creatures, but the tainted beastkin were able to get ranged attacks through. They wielded wicked bows and arrows, that while they didn’t have auril, pierced through his people’s defenses just the same. The raptors wore armor, and were a challenge to best with their tainted red auril.

Vesuvius was about to be quite worried about his people and himself being able to make it out of this alive, when he heard a howl of wolves from the right of the battlefield.

Many howls joined the first, before Vesuvius was sure he heard hundreds. Before he could even see what caused the howl, dozens of arrows rained down on their enemies from the trees.

The arrows were filled with auril, and cut deep into the auril beasts and tainted beastkin alike. Some auril beasts went down, and a few of their riders were taken out.

The leader made a few clicks with his throat, and a tainted auril filled himself and the rest, the beasts becoming more fierce and filled with rage. They became stronger, and the taint pulled in auril from the surrounding area and twisted it into their purpose. At the same time, their enemies became sickly looking, as if a price was paid to accomplish this.

The energies blocked the auril-filled attacks, and the creatures moved with greater fervor. The man in front of Vesuvius became more bestial, going straight for his vitals with speed and power. Vesuvius could barely keep up with blocking and countering Cronus, stirring all his auril for matching his attacks.

“This is the power of our god! You will regret not joining us!”

Vesuvius breathed a cone of flame at him, but the man’s auril slashed through it like a swipe of a tail. Vesuvius tilted his head just in time, or he would have lost his snout. The dimetrodon swiped its tail at him from the side as well, only to be blocked by Jarrix’s glaive performing a wicked slice filled with green auril.

Vesuvius saw several of his daughter’s javelins had struck the creature, her vicious poison weakening and damaging it. He knew it would only be a matter of time before the creature fell.

The creatures swiped and leaped at his people, Darris barely being able to hold many of them back with a wall of water. Dozens of javelins pierced into the creatures, and rather than healing, their tainted auril merely kept the creatures from succumbing to their wounds.

Roxo’s waves of blades sliced into the creatures and knocked them back, giving their ranged attackers more time to land more attacks on them. While the enemy had started with nearly a hundred beasts, close to two dozen were already defeated.

More howls came from the trees, and from it emerged dozens of wolf beastkin warriors, among others. They held a wide array of weapons, but one that stood out was a large warrior wielding two axes and a bow on his back, with four auril wolves running alongside him– an auril hero.

The man fit the description of Rookard, who was supposed to be joining them prior to their assault. Vesuvius had fears that the man would reject his people, even if he knew the Framework wouldn’t allow him to attack. He still worried about his people being accepted.

Rookard’s wolves now flanked the enemy, and the tide was turning. Rookard’s song was added to the four auril heroes, his wolves biting into reptile beastkin riders, and his axes severing legs of beasts.

Vesuvius roared as his auril built, swinging his ancestor’s glaive with greater fervor. He used his superior size and strength to knock the enemy beastkin back. His heat built, and when he was ready he used his auril manifestation, he performed a piercing thrust at the enemy’s torso.

Instead of blowing them out his chest, he channeled them through his bone glaive. His enemy blocked the thrust, but flames shot forth like from his breath, blasting the enemy. He screamed in pain as he was thrown back and engulfed in flames, his auril fighting to smother them.

Vesuvius pushed the attack charging, but was rebuffed by other raptor riding beastkin. He cut them down swiftly, the creatures unable to match his size. Still, Cronus had recovered and returned to the fray, just as Rookard’s wolves arrived.

The wolves nipped and bit his legs and tail, one leaping for the throat. This disturbed his momentum, even if an auril tail swipe cut through the one on after his throat. Vesuvius was able to stab him in the shoulder, Cronus shouting in pain. He cut through another wolf as he retreated, calling his ailing dimetrodon with several clicks, as he surveyed the field of battle.

The creature was already on its last legs, but it leaped to Cronus’ call. Jarrix and Vesuvius chased, but he felt something deeply wrong. The man pulled out an idol, of what looked to be one of their gods: a dragon. The taint in the area twisted as he withdrew it from his pouch, and he shattered it on the ground.

“You fools! You dare defy our gods? You will suffer!”

The tainted auril in the area was pulled into him, even from the dead auril beasts and reptile beastkin. The ones remaining living were drained of their life force, all of them appearing to age and become skeletons within seconds, what remained of them falling to the ground.

Cronus began to grow and morph, as his skin and visage shifted. He grew wings on his back like that of a lizard– No, like that of their gods. His face grew wicked teeth, and the evil auril filled his body.

He was still growing when Cronus laughed. “Don’t you see? Your god was here, just as I promised. Bow to me, and you can still be spared torture and torment!” When he was done growing, he was nearly ten meters tall.

Vesuvius could feel the power wafting off of Cronus, and while evil and tainted, his heart nearly stirred. One of his people’s gods was in front of him, and if not for meeting his goddess, he knew his people might just bow down to this creature.

Rookard laughed. “You, a god? I have met stronger than you, and without the need to sacrifice his own people. I can feel the taint in you, the world itself wanting you gone. We will not bow. There must be blood!”

Rookard’s tribe all chanted for blood, their auril building, filling their weapons, preparing to fight. Vesuvius saw that the auril wolves that were destroyed were already back, Rookard somehow replenishing them. His people joined him in his chant for blood, and Vesuvius joined as well.

Roxo and his people looked distressed, witnessing the god in front of them. Their bodies wanted to kneel to their god, but they felt it was wrong. Instead, they all joined in the chanting, and the auril stirred in the valley, coming to the call of the auril heroes.

Dozens of his people had died already, and he nodded to Darris. He would rely on him to protect against the breath attack of the dragon in front of them. Darris’ song called on the water below, the auril heroes channeling their auril over to him.

The dragon breathed out a black flame, barreling toward his people. Darris stomped the ground with a roar, the ground shattering and water being called from the world underneath. It manifested a large shield of water in front of his people.

Roxo added his red waves of talon blades, and Jarrix and Vesuvius expended a large amount of their auril, and sent auril-enhanced attacks that sent a green and red wave against the flame as well.

They rebuffed the flame, but only barely. His people had spent a lot of their auril in order to accomplish this, but the dragon had much remaining.

Rookard and his people fired their bows, and his tribe rained javelins onto the dragon as he laughed, and began to stomp toward them. The attacks appeared almost ineffectual, or the creature’s armored scales too strong, though Vesuvius could tell his tainted auril was reduced from the sheer number of attacks landing.

When the dragon was near and about to swipe its claws, a ball of flame slammed into Cronus and knocked him back slightly with a small explosion.

Vesuvius heard a loud snap and a feminine sigh from the sky. Despite it feeling far away and the large amount of attacks happening, it was heard clearly, and even the dragon stopped in confusion.

“You know, I was in such a good mood. I had a wonderful night, then I thought I was just going to enjoy a party with my people, meeting up together with their lost brethren. But then I find this disgusting lizard, attacking them.”

Vesuvius’ heart beat with fervor. He could feel it– their goddess had arrived! He saw her floating in the sky above the battlefield holding a fan in her hand, a torch floating near, and…standing on a…large sword? Just why? The disappointment in her voice was palatable.

Cronus shouted in rage, “Lizard? I have taken on our god’s visage! You will pay for your insolence!”

Cronus began rearing back, preparing a breath attack once again. The tainted auril within the creature stirred, and Vesuvius was glad the creature’s rage was directed at the goddess– He knew that she was capable.

Fhesiah raised her hand above her head, mysterious scripts appearing. A flame was borne, the same that appeared in his cavern. It began to grow as she spoke, growing into a powerful sun, brightening the sky.

“You have taken on a dragon’s visage, true. But you are still a lizard, and disgusting.”

The sun above her head grew to be as large as an auril beast, the torch adding even more flames, before she sent it toward Cronus. He reared back and released his tainted flames toward their goddess.

The giant sun collided with the black flames, and Vesuvius was surprised to see that if anything, the sun grew in size, as it consumed the black. He could feel the power of creation, of dragons changing reality to fit their desires.

The larger ball of flame from their goddess pushed through the black flames of Cronus, and engulfed him as he screamed in pain and anguish. The dragon melted down, its visage shrinking, until eventually, the creature was dead.

Fhesiah sighed, as she floated down in front of them. “I suppose none are left alive for questioning? It would have been wonderful to know where they came from, or where they were going.”

Vesuvius said, “They did say they were hoping to meet Roxo’s tribe here, then perhaps ours. We only just arrived in time.”

Fhesiah smiled at Roxo. “I see you have joined the Framework. Welcome.”

Roxo bowed. “Our goddess! Our people have waited…so long.”

There were shouts and exclamations of happiness, of finally meeting the goddess in the flesh. Vesuvius understood Roxo’s dilemma. It was hard to find words to express just how happy they were to meet and serve their gods once more.

Rookard walked over. “I hate to interrupt, but… Some people do need healing. Are any of Clan Hart coming?”

Fhesiah nodded. “They are now, since I spotted the dragon and the fighting. It may be a bit, but I can help with the first aid efforts.”

She was brought to a wounded reptile beastkin, that was swiped by a large set of claws. The auril healers were doing what they could, but the amount of blood loss was immense. For the reptile beastkin, the most likely healers were oddly the snake. The snake parentage often used deathly venom, but would sometimes be able to inject auril healing into another’s body with a bite, instead.

The torch flared, and a golden flame shot into the warrior. Vesuvius watched as the flames burned and knit the flesh closed, as the body was restored. His people were filled with excitement as they watched their goddess save her people.

“I can only do that once every few minutes, but I have some other measures. Let’s continue?”

Vesuvius then watched as she pulled out odd scrolls and crystals, adding some healing to those that needed it. His people all looked on with fervor as she worked, their goddess restoring her people with a smile.

Eventually, Jake, Bloodberri, and Ophelia arrived. They finished up healing the remaining wounded, and to his and his people’s shock, they witnessed a miracle. The snake woman was able to resurrect those that were dead!

His people watched on with fervor, feeling something similar from her that they feel from their gods. It was different, but maybe she, too, was a goddess? Her powers were from a true goddess named Echidna, they learned.

Vesuvius was sure. Some of his people would worship Echidna in addition to the Goddess Fhesiah.