The End is Nyye

‘’Aah..., honoured guest please be at ease, my house is your house, yes yes. Come sit sit,’’ the man that took the elixir says gesturing. ‘’I am Mbulawa son of Xanti son of Lloyd, be at ease,’’ he says in passable Common indicating for me to join him for a drink. I nod and sit at the comfortable chair out of place in this cosy but traditionally bare mud hut.

He joins me and we share a pot of the local fermented ale in silence for a while, ‘’you have done a great thing for me traveller The End is Nyye, a great thing! My sons are fools, I have many unmarried daughters still and was worried of the legacy I would leave behind. I am grateful for this potion you have supplied,’’ he admits with a bow.

I nod, ‘’it was nothing selfless. It is my hope that I can travel through these lands when in these parts and even have a reasonably safe place to rest my head.’’

‘’Of course, I will ensure word of your description and your status as a friend to the tribe is known to all. My influence isn’t as great as it may seem, but my voice will add weight to your will in these parts.’’ He signals for the girl standing outside the door and she runs off.

I nod in acknowledgement and again we sip and pass each other the vase in silence. Eventually I feign fatigue and my host leaves me be in the warm hut once I emphasise that none of his daughters needs to keep me company. The sleeping mat is clean and there is a bowl of fresh water on a stand. I sit on the mat and meditate, restoring myself to a state of quiet calm while assimilating what is happening in the world.

The sight of the storm of dust and thunder that ravished the forests west of the Alderman borders comes to mind, the feeling of this lands claim being tested. Such power I have never felt before, such destruction I have never seen before. I’m going to have to go to Tiba to check on things eventually but be it now, a year from now or 10 years there is very little I can do about any situation I find there. For now let me get this young man’s family out of here with as little bloodshed as I can manage.

‘’On the morrow I will need strong slaves and some horses if you have any,’’ I send to my host two huts away. He stiffen, scowls but nods to himself entering a hut and I lose ‘sight’ of him.

*

Eragon, Sleeping dragon of The West

I yawn heavily, woken by the twisting energies activating the portal from the other side. I haven’t been able to properly sleep since the troubles started and I’m now annoyed. I open my eyes and slowly stand to my full height stretching out tight ligaments and muscles, it feels particularly good to expend my wingspan to such an extent, when last did I take flight anyways?

My long neck twists as I look around the forests and lakes around the territory and for the first time I notice the multitudes of quaking beasts witnessing my awakening but not nearly enough of them are running for their lives. Mhmm, have I lost my reputation as a destructive force of nature?

I shake the rocks and soil off my back, shaking my tail from the ground it was buried under and open my mouth wide to roar my challenge to the world. Trees shake, birds abandon nests, a few of the animals close by faint, the stronger ones locked in place unable to move in their petrified state. Seems I’ve still got it, so then why am I surrounded by all these dumb animals?

I take a sniff of the air around me, worse! Some of the humanoid animals have mastered the courage to get within 20km’s of my resting perch. I roar my displeasure, the youngest prey animals closest to my position die with bursting hearts, the furthest disappearing beyond my sight. Mhmm, beyond my sight?

I hop up into the air fanning my wings once, twice and look out over the forest and hills of the Western lands I have had full dominion over these past 2000 years. South, west, north, east I survey the whole territory as far as my eyes can see. Over a thousand km in every direction, not much gets past my sight when I pay attention but there is a hazy mist that I can’t see beyond leagues away in every direction around me. This is new and disconcerting though it seems to start at the very edge of the gates territory.

My attention is brought back to the pulsing portal that woke me and I watch as 1, 2, 3, 4 .... 16 humanoids step out and gawk at me disrespectfully as I land with a slight shaking of the ground. We watch each other with no one making any moves, they may be tiny but I can feel the power in them as clearly as I can feel the wind over my scales. Not much power in the greater scheme of things but enough to be a nuisance if my oaths compel me to destroy them.

One of them decides to bow at the waist respectfully and maintains the pose, the others hastily follow suit. I blow a breath through my nostrils enveloping them in my essence lest they try to resist me.

All these years I’ve been in this lower world I’ve been compelled by my oaths to guard this gate against intrusion by those I deem unworthy of entering the living worlds of the upper planets. A whole realm above what this sleepy rock calls energy levels. I watch the bowing humanoids whilst my essence cycles around them, tasting their own energies and their intent.

Mana, like most beings here they have mana. At least 5th tier with a few of them 4th tiered mana users, for these parts powerful as the prerequisite for entering this gate is to achieve the 4th tier of mana or having unlocked essence. My mandate as the guardian of this gate is very clear. Many I have let through that barely qualified as 4th tier mana users, the pleasure I take from thwarting the oaths its own reward.

‘’Greetings Great One. Your august beauty shocks us to silence, surely poems and songs have been composed to extol your greatness. Your scales gleam gloriously under this world’s sun, please accept this small gift from us humble creatures as it is all the wealth we have.’’ a chest is dumped before them, opening to reveal glowing gems filled with essence.

Nothing was ever said about letting those from the other side enter though, stopping them would also be more a hassle than its likely worth. How many more years do I have to spend here aging myself anyways? ‘’Tell me creatures, what is your intent here?’’ I send to the first one to bow, my essence already thoroughly around them to limit their tricks.

‘’’Great One, we are but humble explorers from beyond the portal seeking opportunity where we might find it,’’

Hmm, could they be just random beings curious enough to come through here? I very much doubt it but still I sense no obvious lie in their words.

‘’Tell me, what is on the other side of this portal?’’

‘’We hail from the Kingdom of Andazi under the influence of the Dread Lords and the Towers of Babylon on the continent of Azaria in the world Omega. The other side of the portal was guarded by a great serpent that lets no one from the kingdoms enter the portal’s vicinity until only recently.’’

‘’What has happened recently?’’ I ask, still feeling no essence and no deceit from them.

‘’The serpent has left and we are here to explore Great One,’’ one of the creatures says trembling where it stands.

Hmm, I send a jolt of intent inside me at the oaths that bind me here and get nothing in return. I unfurl my wings again wide loosening metaphysical muscles testing whether the bindings are still there. I roar loud and hard one of the creatures makes a run for it back to the portal while 3 others scatter like broken crystals. I feel nothing holding me here.

My big old heart thumbs harder, louder. I flex my claws, my chest warms as I coalesce essence within myself, looking upwards I release a blast of Potential up into the air. For the first time in years I am free to use my power as I wish, I am free to unleash my wrath against my enemies. The blast tempers off and I close my smoking maw with a humph, a toothy grin plastering my face as I survey my surroundings for the last time.

Only 6 of the original 16 creatures that were before me are left, many of the creatures that were within my vicinity are gone. Likely driven away by the display, motes of my Potential essence fall like rainbow droplets onto the surrounding forest annihilating all they fall on. No oaths bind me here, the portal gate is no longer mine to police, I’m free!

My form shimmers, I take a last deep breath then dive forward through the gate. I have had enough of staying in this world.

*

Luthando Moya

The village is burning behind me with the fading of the sun’s rays creating a heavy red tainting the twilight with the aspect of death. The day cycle here is strange but I find myself enjoying the regularity with which everything seems to cycle, and I do admit the red twilight is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I taste the air, ashy and thin but I bet none of my cousins have noticed. Not at their current stages of power, all Initial Element I'm almost certain from what I've seen them do.

‘’Put every weapon you find in the crates,’’ I say to the team of Faceless collecting both mine and Luvuyo’s share of loot.

My cousins have gone on ahead of me to sack the next village before its completely abandoned. Luvuyo’s share of the day’s loot I have traded for my right of sacking the next village. Frankly I don’t enjoy killing the helpless as much as my cousins do, especially considering how I’m not so different from the hapless mortals being slaughtered for sport. All things considered though I’m glad Luvuyo and Luyolo are so thirsty for more blood, how else could I accumulate my wealth?

‘’Have there been any spacial items found yet?’’

‘’No Master Luthando.’’

‘’The weapons then, I only want the weapons, the rest can burn.’’ I say watching as another crate is filled and disappeared into a spacial ring. With maybe 600 crates just like it I’ll be able to purchase myself the Titan Body heavenly realm elixir. Though I will never be able to reach true heights of cultivation with enough wealth I could at least make myself more durable.

Maybe a hundred such villages sacked and looted, then careful and scattered sale of the scalable weapons and within 5 years I’ll have enough gems for the elixir. One of the bodies in my path groans and I step on it crushing the neck flat against the ground, poor fool shouldn’t have to suffer through this unnecessarily. We aren’t monsters.