After all that with the adventurers, Im feeling more motivated than ever to make the fight with the Maw a quick and decisive one, if at all possible. The adventurers probably would prefer a bit more of a fight, but Id rather have them disappointed and all coming ho. The frustrating part is that theres probably not a lot more I can do to try to influence that particular outco.
Ive done a lot of planning, and my denizens, scions, and dwellers have been doing a lot of executing on those plans. Theres a few last minute things to do, and who knows, maybe the final bit of scouting will reveal so fatal flaw to exploit in the Maw, but I doubt it. The Maw is big and old, so if it had so fundantal flaw in its defenses, sothing would have gotten through by now, Id imagine. Maybe itd be sothing only I would notice and be able to exploit, but I feel like magic makes having any weakness like that difficult to sustain over a long period.
You ok, Boss? squeaks my Voice while in the middle of a shortcut.
Hmm? Oh, sorry. Im just
Just running around in circles in that big mind of yours. Try to relax or sothing, Boss. Everyone and everything is about as prepared as we can make them now. Dont go stressing out over sothing you cant really do anything about.
I take a deep ntal breath and nod. Yeah youre right. Its just easier to say than to do, you know?
Teemo barks a laugh at that. Yeah, I know. Go watch the delvers or sothing. Im gonna check and see if Rezlar is available for a eting later. Go unwind, Boss. Waiting is hard, but its all we can really do right now.
I let my attention wander over my territory, watching everything going on. People are mining, gathering, fighting, looting, chatting, crafting the life just makes happy to see. I dont focus on anyone in specific, and instead just kinda soak in the atmosphere. My attention eventually drifts towards the ratkin enclave, where I notice Aranya with a mixed group of dwellers around her.
Usually, thatd an shes giving or about to give a sermon, but the mood feels a little different for that. Its like just before a movie starts, rather than right before the pastor cos in. Aranya smiles as my attention falls on the group, and speaks up over the murmurs of the crowd.
It feels like Lord Thedeim is interested in todays legend, too.
The murmurings shift to have a mix of surprise and reverence, but Im feeling a bit more confused. Shes been telling legends? About what? The red kobold smiles as she feels my confusion.
Kobold legends, passed down from before the Maw captured us. Today, Im going to tell our creation legend.
Oohh, a creation myth? Those are fun. I settle in to listen, and Aranya takes a few more monts to prepare herself for the tale.
At first, all was still. The earth, the waters, the air the mana. Nothing moved, and though it was very stable, there was no life. Then, there was a disturbance in the mana, causing it to ripple like a tapped bowl of water. The movent was slight and small compared to all the mana, but the movent was still there.
The ripples expanded, bouncing, reflecting, until finally chance brought enough of the ripples together to coalesce. This coalescence was the First Sanctuary, born from the confluence of still and moving mana. The First Sanctuary marveled at everything around it, observing and examining everything it could sense.
The earth was hard and unmoving, stable and secure. It had interesting shapes and structure, but it didnt hold the Sanctuarys attention for too long. The air and water held its attention for even less ti. This is partially because the mana was so much more interesting. The mana moved. The ripples were there, creating interesting and intriguing interactions as they moved, as fascinating as they were fleeting.
It looked out and saw that so mana wasnt moving. In truth, most of it was still and boring. There was so much stillness, with such a small island of motion. It started to fear the ripples would stop altogether, but looking closer relieved the First Sanctuary. It was helping move the mana, sending out its own ripples to keep the mana interesting.
But is it fair for the mana to be the only interesting thing? If the Sanctuary can move the mana, can it move the earth? It tried, but earth is stubborn, far too stubborn for the Sanctuary to move. Perhaps it should start with sothing easier? The water is probably easier to move, but the air would be even easier still! Water likes to sit in its ponds, lakes, and oceans, but air seems to be happy anywhere. Not wanting to be anywhere in specific should make it easy to move, right?
The Sanctuary tried to move the air, tried to use mana to make it react. It succeeded! Making the air move was easy! It moved the air for a ti, enjoying how it could even coax the water to move at least a little. It even enjoyed how stubbornly the earth would stay still as the air moved around it. But there was a problem: the air would only move when the Sanctuary would do it itself. Can it make the air move on its own?
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
This was far more difficult. Air doesnt mind moving, but it also doesnt mind being still. It needs a will, a reason to move! And so the First Sanctuary wove mana into the air, trying to make it understand how much more interesting movent is! The mana slipped away from the First Sanctuary, and it thought it had failed, but then it noticed a small swirl of air, moving about on its own. It worked! The First Sanctuary had created the first air elental!
It made more, and eventually the air elentals learned to make more of themselves. The First Sanctuary watched them dance and frolic, their movent even disrupting the still mana! Now the First Sanctuary could truly enjoy movent without having to make it all on its own. With its success fresh in its mind, the First Sanctuary set about making a new elental. It learned with the air how to make movent, and though water was more resistant, the First Sanctuary could get the waters to make waves, to move in rivers, to fall from clouds.
And with it now used to motion, the First could weave will into it just like with the air. This ti, the mana didnt slip away at the end, and instead flowed smoothly into the small drop of water. The air elentals welcod their new brethren, and the two groups worked to keep their elents moving. The First relished in the camaraderie, and wished to bring in the earth as well.
With all the movent, even stubborn earth would sotis try to move, though it found it much more difficult. Sand would ride the winds, but rarely moved on its own. Rain could move so of the mountains, but once it had slid down far enough, the earth went still again. This would be much more difficult to move.
The First worked hard to make the earth move, and though it didnt seem against the idea anymore, it still refused to move! It tried harder, and even created an earthquake, but the rumbling quickly subsided. Perhaps the Sanctuary should try making the elental and let it work on making the earth move?
Making a single piece of earth move quickly seed to be impossible, as any large rock would shatter instead of flow like the water or air. The First was concerned, but the broken bits of earth didnt seem to mind. Uncertainly, it tried again, gathering the broken bits to suffuse with will and mana, and to the Sanctuarys surprise, it worked!
The small earth elental was happy to move, though it didnt move like the other two elents. They would dance and glide, while the earth would rumble along. The Sanctuary tried to ask it why, and the earth elental was confused. It was moving, as was its elent. Wasnt that what the First Sanctuary wanted?
Of course, but the earth wasnt moving at all! Then the small earth elental told the Sanctuary to just pay more attention. The earth all around was moving, inspired by the air and water, but moving in its own way. It moves slowly, deliberately. It doesnt need to move at the speed of the others. It will take its ti with the movent.
This was strange to the First Sanctuary, but after watching for a ti, it ca to appreciate the earths movents, as well as those of the air and water. And yet it felt like there could be more to move. But what else was there? The mana? Its already moving that. It thought as it watched the elents moving, and eventually noticed sothing interesting.
The airs movent brought cold air and froze so shallow water. Can ice move? It feels very different from regular water, so perhaps? The First tried to make the ice move, and imdiately felt like sothing was wrong. It was very different from the others, not really stubborn, but missing sothing. What could it be?
It thought and observed so more, until an earth elental brought sothing interesting it had found deep below: liquid rock! Very hot liquid rock! The earth elental called it fire, but didnt know what it was. Once it left the liquid rock, the rock beca regular earth again. Seeing the fire inspired the First Sanctuary, and it realized what the ice was missing. It needed sothing to move with! The other elents might be happy to move with each other, but these two would need an opposite to move properly!
It still needed so of the other elents to move well, however. The ice needed water, and the fire needed the stone, but stone is so difficult to work with! The First Sanctuary tried to get the water to take both of the new elents, but while it didnt mind the ice, it refused the fire. Air, however, was eager to be included, and so took the fire and burst into a brilliant orange color. The Sanctuary was happy at that, but could see it needed to work quickly. The fire and ice were suffused with will and mana, each opposing the other, yet also sohow bolstering the other. The First Sanctuary released the two, and they spun off in a beautiful dance across the earth, the air, and the water!
The First Sanctuary reveled in the new movent, seeing so many things moving, and coaxing more of the mana to move with it. The endless stillness was being beaten back. After a ti, a water elental ca to the Sanctuary with sothing new. It was a lot like water, but green, and could move on its own, despite not being an elental! The water elental left it with the Sanctuary, and the First Sanctuary watched. It saw the green move towards the light, and away form the shadow, and saw another pair to release into the world. At this point, it was used to creating the elenetals, and so the first light and shadow elentals were created.
It continued to watch the green with its strange movents, and eventually saw so of it stop moving. Sothing about its movent, and lack of movent, felt fundantally different than the difference between moving and still mana, and after watching closely, the First Sanctuary saw another pair to unleash: life and death. While the other elentals created so motion with their release, the life and death elentals created the biggest difference of all!
New green appeared across the land, so standing tall to get more of the light it needed. Things appeared to eat the green, and things appeared to eat what ate the green.
Aranya finally pauses the legend and smiles at the gathered dwellers. And that is how everything ca to be. Mostly. The creation of kobolds and thinking life is a different legend. Her smile grows mischievous as she glances towards my core, despite the buildings, caves, and stone between her and it. Maybe Ill tell that one tomorrow?
Aw, but I wanna hear it now!
User Comments
0 comments from readers