Folk Metal

The watcher followed Kyrie as she flew to the south. The bridge to Korhak had been heavily fortified. Like almost every other structure on that planet, these walls and towers had been destroyed and rebuilt countless times over. The guards let her pass without incident. The beast and rider passed between the stone spokes, becoming enveloped by yellow light.

The Thylacon stopped flapping its wings, riding the pulse of light as it left the atmosphere and shot them through the space that separated the two worlds. Off to her right the sun shone naked and bright, contrasted perfectly with the solid wall of inky black nothing on her left which marked the edge of the universe. Karrie looked over her shoulder, Luknanuk got further away, the grid of teetered moons became visible. Korhak rapidly got closer, the tiny blue dot expanding until it was the only thing that she could see.

A sharp dark metal disk ran around the equator, struts led from this to the poles, where spikes pointed down at the ground. The surface was blue with hints of black and purple, along with the white of scattered clouds.

The pulse skirted the atmosphere as it circled toward the other side of the bridge. Beast and rider reached the new planet. The Thylacon started flapping its wings again, as Kyrie plotted a course for her target’s last known location. Below her, miles of blue rock dotted with little hamlets and towers sped by.

As the sun sank, she maneuvered her mount to the ground, deciding to let it rest for the night. Experience and training helped her find a good campsite, one that was close to running water. She laid out her bedroll and set her little shelter up over it.

A wave of relief washed over her as she removed her oppressive helmet, started stripping off the heavy metal and hard leather. Now she felt free, liberated. It wasn’t right that she had to wear such garments. It wasn’t right that a lot of things were the way that they were.

Kyrie grabbed her poleaxe and got to work gathering firewood. She had a cloak in her pack, but she didn’t bother putting it on. She could ignore the planets chilly air. The area was mostly free of lose branches. But that was okay, she had her axe. After several minutes she had built up a nice sweat and a decent pile of wood.

She went to the water. Ignoring the chill, she settled down. Creatures which were like chubby little balls of fur hunted in the tall grass and ferns. The glowing eyes of predators glared at her, but none would dare strike.

How long till she could be with her people again? The hunt was lonely; the biggest danger was often a wandering mind. Her sacrifice spared others, that was what made it worth it. Clean and relaxed, she settled down into her sleeping bag.

Mal Gehen had been on the wrong side during the war. He and so many others had surrendered after Gaulrӓth’s defeat.

Now that all of the worlds had been secured, they could start purging threats. Maybe that was why he finally decided to run, he was afraid that they would come for him. But this was unlikely, he had still been useful, helped research the arcane. And just as importantly, he had stayed in line, kept his mouth shut.

Karrie drifted off to sleep. Her dreams filled with visions of a strange people that wielded bizarre weapons. She awoke well before the sun had rose. After feeding her mount she downed some rations and put her armor back on. It was time to get back in the sky.