Book 4 Chapter 14

As the red eye slowly started to glow, Tirr felt as if his heart had stopped. He watched, his blood like ice, his lungs burning as he forgot to breathe. Dun and Maria tried to ask what was wrong and Garm pressed against his side, issuing a low growl. Still, Tirr didn’t move, his eyes glued to the eye as the dull red glow grew brighter and brighter.

Soon it was a bright cherry red, like the steel he used to watch Bren heat all those years ago. Tirr could already hear the rumbling terrible groan that the one under the sea near Lutel had let out as it struggled.

At the time it had taken all his strength to put the wounded titan down. And that was with the giant pillar of ice Selene had left in it. This one seemed to be almost entirely encased in the mountainside, but how damaged was it really?

He shook himself, his Blessing bursting forth and flowing through his cold veins. He prepared to charge, throwing caution to the wind before stopping suddenly. There across the plateau, the red eye had slowly started to dim. Its brightness fading away almost to nothing before slowly once again growing brighter.

He calmed himself watching now and notice the eye light up and go dark several times. By now Maria and Dun had noticed what he was looking at. Maria had an expression of shock on her face as she watched the red eye blinking “Tirr is that...” she started, unable to even finish the question.

Dun also looked at the stony face with a confused expression. “Its eyes… Are blinking? If some of the other clans knew this, they’d be even more eager to call this a holy site. This statue has been here longer than the tribe, but I’ve never seen it do something like this…”

Tirr, feeling more relaxed, released his Blessing, examining the blinking eye. He took a few steps forward when he noticed the tugging he had felt had grown stronger. He stopped again, this time examining the tug that he felt so deeply.

His mind crawled over his own body and self and as he focused on that tugging sensation, he felt an instant of shock and fear. The tugging sensation came from his faith, usually kept dormant until he activated his blessing. But right then… He could feel it. His faith was slowly being drawn away from him.

And as to what was draining it, he looked over towards the face of the titan, eye still blinking silently. Tirr eyes wandered around the plateau, across the husks of withered trees and the dried remains of what grass and brush once grew here. He even glanced back, noting the way the decay had progressed down the mountain. It was no wonder the Beasts had started to flee, bumping into the Tribe on their way.

If it was absorbing not only faith but the life energy of the surroundings, was it trying to repair itself? To reactivate like the one below Lutel? Tirr thoughts spun, his mind racing. Then is it better to just attack it now? While it’s still weak?

He activated his blessing again, once more preparing to charge towards the Titan. Yet even as his faith circulated through his body, he felt the tug grow stronger, and the rate at which his faith was being drained increased. Across the plateau, the titan’s eye flared brilliantly for a moment.

Tirr stopped his Blessings immediately, he reached down and picked up Garm before grabbing maria’s hand as he yanked her back, pulling her away and back down the mountain path with Garm in his arms. Behind them, the eye dimmed once more going back to its slow blinking pattern,

Dun was left looking perplexed as he followed after, “Are you planning to explain what’s going on?”

“We have to leave…” Tirr said hurriedly, “In fact, we should never have come. Us being there might have only sped things up.”

“Sped what up? Dun asked as they continued scrambling down the mountainside. It was only after getting them far away from the plateau that Tirr stopped, releasing Maria as he glanced back from where they had come.

“Tirr?” Maria started when she felt exhaustion overcome her. Her body suddenly felt drained, as if she had been up for days without sleep. She hadn’t been this tired since after the incident in Rasor.

Dun suddenly noticed the same, his body failing him as he almost collapsed onto the ground, “What the…?” he started his confusion clear.

“That thing…” Tirr murmured, pressing his hands against Maria’s back as he channeled his Faith to her. “Is consuming anything it can. And once it's eaten enough…” He left the words unsaid. And after helping Maria back to her feet looked back at Dun seriously, “We’ll do the Clangang, I’ll need any and everyone to beat that thing…”