054 - The Great Hunt

The Griffon!

Magnus clutched his head and rolled around on the ground, wailing and groaning. It felt like his head was fit to burst open, an immense pressure building up inside and ready to thunder out right through the top of his skull . .

Crack!

Above the Griffon the blackness tore like a ragged wound, brilliant white light spilling out. Magnus heaved and spasmed wildly, his body taut.

oooOOoooooOOoooo . . . A deep rumbling, like the throat growl of a thousand unseen beasts all at once.

Up in the black void a red eye blinked open, larger than the Griffon by a hundred times. A red pupil turned in the blackness, following the Griffons every move. ooooOOooo . . A second eye appeared, and another, the throaty growl louder and louder.

The entire black expanse shuddered, red eyes blinking open one after another. The white fissure spread in the black void, expanding at incredible speed all the way until it met itself on the far side of forever, joining in a strange loop. A thousand smaller fractures burst out in every direction, expanding endlessly around the Griffon.

Magnus felt he was inside the blackness looking out . . and that he wasn't. He felt that the he was floating helpless right beside the Griffon, but at the same time he was on the outside looking in; looking at the beast through a thousand red eyes all at once.

The Griffon moved slower and slower, finally freezing in place. It hung still in the air, wings outstretched, beak wide open in a perpetual final silenced shriek.

White light spilling in from all directions from the ever expanding crack, like a giant glass egg seen bursting open from within. Fragmented black shards broke off, countless pieces flying away in all directions and leaving the red eyes hanging on a white void.

A deep soul wrenching anguish welled up in Magnus . . as if the skies themselves had cracked open and let in a heavenly light. Anguish . . helplessness . . no, not quite . . something beyond his grasp, beyond his ability to understand.

It felt like a massive pit had opened up inside, a hole whose pressing desire was now to be filled. Hunger! A relentless desire to swallow everything, to drink oceans dry, to chomp and chew and feast on the flesh of every living creature!

The frozen Griffon sparkled like a glistening morsel of food in the countless red eyes.

Fuuueeee . . .Fuueeee . . . .SooooOOoooooOOO . . an incredible rumble, beyond the broken black shards a white light poured in. The red eyes all blinked at once, then began to fold in on themselves, growing brighter and into a deeper red, all the eyes becoming one - a single blood coloured eye.

Magnus saw this from within and from outside all at once, looking out from the single red eye and down on the void as if from a great height.

An enormous white hand, barely visible against the void stretched out from the nothingness. On its open palm was the single blood coloured eye, staring fixedly at the Griffon.

The hand was incomparably large, many thousands of times larger than the Griffon.

Eat! Consume! Devour!

The deepest of instincts, like a newborn desperate to suckle at his mother’s teat. Magnus felt the incredible need rise up once more, the desire driving him to reach out with his whole being.

The giant hand responded to this desire, stretching out across the void and closing on the Griffon, the massive fingers squeezing into a fist.

Like a drop of liquid dye into water, the whole of the white arm exploded in a rainbow of colours, flashing gold and red, a network of lines like spread up every finger. The colours flashed, then faded, leaving a pale tint around the red eye.

Not enough!

Not nearly enough!

oooOOooooOO!

A deep growl emerged once again, the rumbling of a ravenous stomach.

***

Ring! Ring!

Kujata crossed the shrine and quickly peered into her brass telescope, her notebook open on her lap.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

The bell on the window rang frantically.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

"Whats going on? This . . . this can't be!" Kujata stared, her face a mask of confusion. "Impossible! Impossible!"

“Awoooo!” Outside in the shrine courtyard Sif covered its head with both paws.

***

Beneath where the Empire swamp had once been, far below the ruins of the city and cracked earth a giant lizard opened the corner of its eye.

Danger!

Its whole body trembled. In an instant it burrowed down into the depths of the earth, the land above shaking.

***

All around the world a frantic fear descended, every living thing feeling like they were suddenly caught in the gaze of a terrifying predator.

The forests and mountain fell silent, every beast and creature shivering and running wild or burrowing into the ground. People in every city, in every town and house found themselves shaking uncontrollably.

South of Jute, in the land of Baron - Two armies halted in their tracks. Warriors and knights, hardened veterans who had been charging and hacking at one another suddenly found themselves unable to keep a hold of their swords or shields, unable to stop their teeth from clattering.

All around the Horn every hunter and hero stopped in their tracks, some were unable to control themselves - madly rushing or simply falling to the floor, paralyzed by terror.

This scene repeated countless times all around the whole planet, every living creature overwhelmed, only able to tremble helplessly.

***

In space, far above the planet of Aquilonem . .

Five solar systems were arranged in a five pointed star formation around a giant white sun. Orbiting the white sun was a single planet with a single moon. Above the planet were three white towers, each of them made from countless revolving segments.

From the white sun innumerable blue threads extended out, stretching across the void of space and connecting the five solar systems to this white sun.

The blue threads joined with each of the five stars in an intricate pattern, forming a vast blue sigil. They divided up space into isolated regions, within the regions were thousands of massive beasts caught like flies in an interstellar web.

The many creatures trembled, shaking fiercely, their bodies twisting and thrashing, as if suddenly waking from a deep slumber. They all stirred into life, the blue threads buzzed, blue electric sparks frantically shooting in all directions as innumerable roars filled the heavens.

***