Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Ra of the Yeti Kind

Long ago, on a world in another reality, a people came into being. They evolved as many such as they had. From smaller organisms, evolving and changing until they became the apex species of their world. Their struggles and growth shaped them, as all races are shaped by their past.

For the Yeti-kind, who had struggled against a harsh world filled with danger, ruled by cold, that meant putting their trust in the select few individuals who had the vision to guide the others through it all.

Those with the talent, with the knowledge, with the sheer bravery or madness to see the most of them survive.

They were called the Ra. A title, added to their name, it was the greatest honor one of the Yeti-kind could achieve in life. But as time passed, as their race evolved and the world grew smaller as the separated tribes came together through exploration and advancement of their craft, so did the requirements for the title change. At the time when the entire world was explored, when a device could connect two people from across the world, one could only be given the title for a feat that impacted their entire people.

A hard thing to achieve.

The coming of the Framework, the awakening of Aspects, changed everything. It made the universe different. What was once an inanimate object, now had a voice, and it could offer power. The world itself was alive.

The Yeti-kind civilization fell as they battled among themselves, wielding the power granted to them through contracts with the Aspects.

Until someone rose, a yeti who was afraid. Azel Equinar was born weak. He was born as part of the lowest of castes, with no future in front of him. He lacked the strength to fight, lacked the acumen to wield weapons and kill his enemies.

But he had his mind. And in the deepest reaches of his thoughts, he plotted. He saw what others looked on as the enemy, as the invading force—the Framework—and he saw the power.

He took hold of that power, he accepted the offer of a Guidance, a profession granted by the Framework, and he learned the language of the reality itself. He mastered many arts, and invented something new.

Runesmithing, he crafted tools that could do things for him that he himself could not. That could fight his battles. And with his creations he turned the tide. He forced peace on his kind, and in time bonded with the Aspects.

For his efforts in bringing about peace, he was granted the title of Ra. But deep down, he had always done things for one simple reason, to survive.

Now, Ra’azel found himself blind and deaf, unable to look upon the world around him. But his Soul, that was burning brighter than it ever had. He had spent too much, but he was facing something new, again.

Stolen novel; please report.

And that frightened him more than even True Death. The unknown was death, it was the killer in the dark, one that wielded a weapon he knew nothing about. And he hated that more than everything else in the world.

His Soul could feel the three Souls in front of him changing, he could feel them expanding in ways that he didn’t even know was possible. In ways that he didn’t understand. And fear returned. The elation he felt when he felt the power of his new body, when he saw how he had fended them all off, slipped away. And the thing that had made him a Ra rose up again from the depths of his mind—Survival.

Ra’azel carved a rune, and a shield blossomed around him. He carved more runes, quickly now, spending his Soul faster. Space trembled as he added to the string he had already laid down in it.

His shield shattered and weapons pierced through. Attacks hit him and his body hardened, his scales heating up as the formations carved beneath their surface worked to defend him.

He moved, trying to evade. But then a massive form was on him, a Soul, and existence, that engulfed his own. His body was borne down to the ground, and he smashed against it hard, the breath exploding out of his lungs.

Claws pressed down on him and a massive maw opened above his head.

“END”

It spoke, no longer an Aspect of True Death, no longer a chosen, something else that made Ra’azel shiver.

The word wasn’t a condemnation, it wasn’t an attack, it was a belief spoken into being. He could feel his body’s function stopping, his heart halting, his muscles twitching. He was going to die, to end.

His mind surged, faster and faster, and he grabbed hold of his Soul. Of the piece still remaining in his cutoff arm, and he burned it entirely. A blast of force exploded out of him, his body spasmed, and he threw the Reaper of him. Then he reached for his leg and cut a piece of his Soul out—a dozen tendrils carving runes into space. With a thought he finished the long string and the world screamed around him.

A crack appeared, shattering like glass, it spread and then caved in breaking through this domain into a Realm beyond. Into the Infinite Realm. Ra’azel threw himself through, his tendrils grabbing hold of the edges of the portal and pulling it closed behind him as he hit the ground roughly and rolled, unable to use his legs.

He came to his back, pulled himself on his still good arm, laying on his elbow looking at the closing cracks.

Then something smashed through, a paw, followed by a maw and then an entire head. His Soul tendrils strained, pulling at the edges of the portal, trying to close it.

“NO!” The Reaper yelled, its voice shaking all Essence. Its claws gouging the ground, its maw snapping at air with enough force to send shockwaves in all directions.

“THERE IS NO ESCAPE FOR YOU!”

Ra’azel carved a rune and felt his entire body go cold. The tendrils of his Soul separated from his being, and the added piece of Soul fueled them, the cracks started to close, to push the Reaper out.

Ra’azel didn’t stay to look, he turned around and crawled away, pulling himself with one good arm. The world shimmered around him, vistas changing, helping him move faster.

“RUN RA’AZEL! RUN! I AM RYUN NACHT, I AM THE REAPER—THE ASPECT OF TRUE DEATH, I AM THE ASPECT OF OBLIVION. I AM THE END. I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN ACROSS THE INFINITE REALM. UNTIL THE LAST SUMMER, UNTIL ALL ESSENCE WITHERS AND DIES, UNTIL THE END OF THE EXISTENCE ITSELF, UNTIL THE END OF ALL. I AM YOUR END.”

The portal snapped shut behind him, pushing the Reaper out, and Ra’azel fell to the ground, exhausted. He knew that he couldn’t allow himself even a moment of rest, so he kept moving, kept crawling away. But inside he seethed, he carved the name into his mind, into his very Soul. He would remember, and once he had recovered, he would find and end the threat to his existence.

He was Ra’azel, the Runesmith, and he defied the Heavens themselves. There would be no end to his story.