We beat a hasty retreat to the treeline, though I didn’t and couldn’t hold back my rage, even after venting it on the three Misti Hawar. I gestured for so of the swarm to gather up the corpses left behind from our fellows and victims, since we didn’t know how easily we could find prey in the next leg of our journey. The disgust I once would have felt at the thought of eating my fellow kind or a sentient creature was nowhere to be found. Instead, I found myself still seething with frustration at the idiotic actions of the “Misti Hawar” Atik. Eleven of my swarm dead for his pride. His three supporters, dead for nothing. My anger continued to crescendo and a part of that I was pretty sure wasn’t purely khatif simply wanted to rip him to pieces and make him suffer even more than he already was, but I cald myself enough not to break my promise to Drolick.
Instead, I busied myself with finally acknowledging the flashing [System] notification.
[Organ: Fathomless Sonilphon has revealed its evolutionary requirents. Current Organ: Fathomless Sonilphon; an exceptionally advanced version of the rare magic manipulating organ, Sonilphon. This organ is developed by those who have moved past elentary understanding of what sonic magic can do, and are understanding what sonic magic is. The Fathomless Sonilphon’s reserves for magic are expanded greatly from that of the Profound Sonilphon, and the Fathomless Sonilphon’s rate of ambient magic conversion to sonic attributed magic within the organ is enhanced beyond that of the Profound Sonilphon. Additionally, any developnt of a new Skill related to sonic magic and the Sonilphon will be rewarded with bonus Stats. This organ can evolve. Requirents: Evolve two Sonic Magic Skills beyond their initial tier of power. Progress: 0/2]
Good news. It was good. I knew already how to evolve all my sonilphon-related [Skills], and simply needed to redouble my focus on evolving them, so that I could see what additional paths were laid open to after so doing. With an idle thought, I paused before sending my magic literally thundering down my arms to my hands, where the vibration shuddered to life and sent my fingers into reverberations. A more manual activation of [Quaking Claw]. This was one of the very few of my [Skills] whose evolution thod was nebulous to , but I found, sohow, a certain peace in using the [Skill] without any intent to kill.
My fingers thrumming and leaking magical power, I touched a claw to the trunk of a sapling as I walked past, and with a creaking crack, the sapling began to crumble and shatter where I’d lightly pressed my fingers. With a force of will, I held my claws within the disintegrating trunk and attempted to pulse the destructive waved deeper into the wood. I subconsciously expected a [System] notification to flash, letting know I’d gotten an evolution to the [Skill], but apparently this was just a further deadly application of my magic, not an upgrade.
Nonetheless, a smile spread across my face. Finally, I could see a little of what the [System] detailed as [Developing a more complete understanding of sonic waves and how to influence them while they are not directly in contact with the Skill holder’s body.]
“... Kill you…”
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My pleased musings were interrupted by Atik’s weak voice. I glanced down at the rousing moron as he continued, “You… should kill … I’ll kill you… if you… let survive…”
Sohow, his cocksure attitude didn’t infla my anger, but instead dampened it, giving rise to mirth. I couldn’t hold back the chuckles as I got my face low and close to Atik’s. “You really want to make sure that the rest of Shandr cos after us, huh? Enough to sacrifice yourself?” In his addled state, Atik couldn’t hide the surprise. “What a misguided, self-righteous, ignorant, deluded idiot.”
“We are your–”
“‘We’??” My emphasis on the word was punctuated by a subconscious layer of sonic magic that served to blast his fur back. “Make no mistake, Atik, the Misti Hawar cretin. There are no more ‘we’ in your group. You are the last one, the rest slaughtered and made ready to be eaten by the swarm. You will survive solely because only I between the two of us has so sort of a functioning mind. Your death is a sacrifice I am willing to make to ensure that Drolick, an apparently wiser leader than you, doesn’t follow .”
“Chaska, Kuna, and Qispi have sacrificed their lives to further our divine purpose. Nothing you would understand.” Atik spat the words at , his large canines garbling the speech as he attempted to look down his nose at .
My amusent rose and expressed itself in a sneering peal of laughter. “Then riddle this, you speaking cesspool. Your three friends will be eaten by your supposed prey, their strengths added to our own. They have so ‘nobly sacrificed’ themselves for what? The deaths of just a few of my rabble, those whose nas I never knew and wouldn’t have known. These three friends of yours followed your commands, trusting in you. Now they lay prepared on my dinner table. You, a practiced warrior lay shad and crippled in your foes’ arms, stripped of your magical armor and your pride. Have your gods given you sothing I’m missing? Because it seems that your furthering your divine purpose did nothing more than inconvenience while behanding you. Nievtala guides us to victory, while yours forget you.”
I could feel Atik’s body stiffen in rage as my tirade beat down on him relentlessly, and I knew he was about to lash out at either verbally or, more likely, physically. With a laugh I threw him forward, his back smashing into a thick tree’s trunk and knocking the wind out of him as he slumped painfully onto the ground.
With a grunt I sat back on my haunches as I lowered myself to look into Atik’s eyes as I firmly gripped his muzzle and held it closed. He lashed out with one arm, forgetting his lack of hands in his rage, and did nothing more than smash his bloodied stump of a wrist against my armored shoulders. A whimper of pain hissed out of his nose as I finally began speaking again.
“This,” I said, dragging a vibrating claw across his snout’s width, “is so you always see . Your hands are gone, but you will get used to that, eventually. You will ALWAYS see this scar, always be reminded of your friend’s ‘noble sacrifice’, always rember that you were weaker than .”
I lifted my hand away from Atik’s bleeding face, his spirit nearly broken, and began to walk away. With a mont to rouse his courage, he called to my back, “I swear, I will kill you.”
Looking back, I grinned with bloodlust obvious in my eyes. “You couldn’t when you were whole. What makes you think that crippled you will be able to do what whole you couldn’t?”
Sohow, I knew that those final words broke sothing inside Atik, and walked away proud… and still unsure if I could call this sothing that the khatif in had done.
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