[Eastern Gauthrel] The most real of challenges

[Aeon]

76th Ymiden

In the same spot as the trial before, the boy stood waiting. He was there before Fridgar, which was odd, considering the lothar had the power of teleportation. Perhaps he got there too early, and not in the same time as the trial before? Still, he stood with extreme patience, for not one nerve in his body was looking forward to what they were planning on doing. Killing two Lurkers of the Plains, that was no easy task, and certainly not one should be looking forward to.

When the lothar did arrive, whether it would be in a bit or in a break, Aeon's face would turn into a small smile, but his eye would show signs of worry. He wasn't terribly afraid, per se, but he was worried. Last trial, they only went after them to get their scent, and barely made it out alive, this time they were going to be fighting them all out, how were they supposed to expect to survive. Whole raids were placed on single Lurkers, he had learned since the last trial, and the two of them were going after two all by themselves. But he wouldn't give up, definitely not, Aeon was, after all, a thrill-seeker, as he had recently learned. One who enjoyed danger.

"You said you wanted to tell me something, back before you left, last trial?" Aeon would simply say, without complicating things further. He wanted to, as they say, get straight to business, so he had his trusty companion and mount, Sohr Khal, tied to a nearby tree. Not because he thought the beast would escape, but mostly because it was a common resting place for jegers on patrol, where they were, and he didn't want any of them thinking he was dangerous. The white-feathered animal didn't really care, for the heat of the forest had made it lay down, covering most of its body with its wings and fall into a state of half-sleep.

Once they were finished with their previous conversation, about whatever it was the Becomer had desired to tell the young swordsman, Aeon would proceed to ask yet another question. "So, what's the plan?" He knew very well that Fridgar didn't have any forms that could directly challenge a Lurker, and that transforming quickly from form to form to beat one would cost him all his energy, like it did last trial. So he was needed, but what could he do?Usually, that would've been the first thought in the boy's mind, what could he do? But thanks to foxface's recent invention and hard work, he had a quiver full of answers.

[Varthakh]

Overnight, Fridgar had focussed heavily on obtaining the scent of the Lurker, taking in its blood, skin and perspiration from the chunk he had ripped clean off the trial prior. With a Lothar's nose, it smelt awful, but with the Redbear's it was... interesting. All scents were interesting to the bear, often finding pleasure in just taking a deep inhale. Ursine, however, are renowned for their sense of smell. Stronger than any other snout in the animal kingdom, even. He was in Lotharro form as he approached their rendezvous point. All morning, he'd meditated to restore his ether, it worked.

In that sense, he didn't mind being late, as he was going into this fight at full strength. He used no portals or transformations to speed up the journey, every bit of his ether was going to be spent fighting those monstrosities when they found them.

Soon enough, Aeon came into view. Fridgar took a deep breath as he trudged the plains, closing the distance. "Hey," Fridgar called to the human. He looked... nervous, which was probably fair enough. It usually took a full raid of Jeger to take down one Lurker, but Fridgar had some encouraging news. "You know, it takes a full coordinated pack of Jeger to take down one of these things..." Fridgar rolled his eyes, "But when I arrived at Kaer Jeger for the first time, I had like... three packs on my ass? They needed reinforcements after I knocked the lot of them on their arses!" he didn't mention that they inevitably beat him, conveniently.

Hearing of Fridgar rebellious, fighty nature might have cushioned the blow for what was coming, maybe not? Aeon asked about it; it was the first thing he asked. He'd probably been thinking about it a lot, he'd left it rather ominous, after all. "Alright, alright. Before I tell you though, I want to stress this..." Fridgar exhaled, clasping his hands as he readied to share with the human. "I'm not like that anymore," Fridgar nodded, meeting eyes with him once more. "I'm Fridgar, enemy of the king Cassander and villain to Rynmere," he started. "My bounty is fifteen onyx, I'm wanted dead or alive."

He waited in silence, looking over the human no matter his reaction. "I'm accused of 'Attempted murder of the King, unlawful use of magic, attempted murder, vandalising property, defacing the King's property, murder of Iron Hand members, assault, resisting arrest, unlawful escape'..." he couldn't remember what else his poster said, but it didn't encapsulate all his crimes. He let the message sink in before continuing, "Truth be told, I was a fucking psycho in Andaris. I attacked and killed men for the most arbitrary things..." he might have even killed some friends of Aaron's at some point.

"And the way I was back then, I would have attacked you too, just for being a knight," that realisation had hit him back on the grassy hills of the North. "I'm not like that anymore, I know I did wrong. I figured I oughta tell you for when you go back and see my wanted posters..." Fridgar swallowed, his mouth turning dry. "...Or, if you wanted to serve justice..." The Lothar stood still, awaiting the male's response. What was he doing? Was he just going to sit there and let Aeon kill him if he wanted? Maybe take him in, deliver him to Rynmere? Whatever the boy decided to do, Fridgar had the reflexes to change his mind, but should he? Maybe it was better to accept it, lose like the world had thrown at him a dozen times over.

On the off chance that the discussion was resolved without bloodshed or crossed words, Fridgar would proceed to the battle plan. "I'm going to become my strongest form, the one I managed to beat the Jeger with... but better," - easier said than done. The Lothar slung his bag to the floor and knelt, rummaging through his things before finding his totems; Trachadon, Llewnos, Solghannon and Fridgar. He painted a map in his head, taking the Trachadon's body as his base form with four traits to take from the other totems. He chose the armour-plated scales of the Solghannon as well as it's elongated maw. The tusks of the Trachadon held to his cheek bones, two traits down. The third he took the speed of the Llewnos, enabling him to strike quickly and lethally, it would make movement in his massive form easier too. Finally, he took the trait of legendary strength from the Fridgar totem.

With all those traits painted firmly in his head, Fridgar packed away his totems and set his bag aside. He then interlocked his fingers as he stood, looking over the human. "Ready?" he asked, rubbing his hands together. Then, he initiated the transformation. Over the span of a bit, Fridgar's body would separate into individual pieces, floating within his flesh as solitary pieces of bone that broken apart and reshaped, growing. He fell to his knees in an instant, his loincloth was tossed from his body as the transformation went underway. Slowly, his skin pigmented green and separated into sections of square scales. His maw elongated and grew rows of sharp teeth, like daggers, maybe short swords.

He grew tremendously in size, both muscular, height, length and his legs reformed, shaping into the trunk-like columns of flesh of the Trachadon. When at last the transformation finished, he stood a little over twenty feet tall and measured forty feet long. His trunk had been replaced by the maw of the Solghannon and his whole body rippled with muscle. He was a gestalt of incredible power, possibly terrifying to behold. As his emerald eyes opened, he cast echo and spoke to the human. "The plan is that I'm a diversion, I'm going to draw their attention and smack them senseless, maybe gore them with a tusk if I can manage," he spoke a bellowing growl, rumbling from his whole being.

"And your job, I need you to hit them with everything you've got. You're the muscle in this plan, I'll just keep them off you," Fridgar spoke, nodding. "I'm the shield, you're the sword, sound good?" Fridgar didn't know just how capable the human was of filling that role, but he would soon find out. When they were ready, he looked to his back and echoed the bear's sense of smell. He then scooped up the bag with great precision and slid it down his tusk. "Whenever you're ready, we'll be off."

[Aeon]

So he was right, full packs of jegers were what was usually needed to take down one of the giants. He also guessed Fridgar's power correctly. The lothar still had tricks up his sleeve, and Aeon was certain he was going to be needing them totrial. And then, the moment, the importance of which the boy didn't know about until it actually came, was there. The becomer was ready to spill the beans, to tell the secret, to inform the swordsman of his misdeeds.

As the lothar spoke, his words crashed against Aeon's ears like waves upon a stoney shore, and he couldn't feel but be conflicted about what he heard. The enemy of King Cassander and villain to Rynmere, Aeon knew what the words meant, he knew well, and a strange sense encircled him. He needed to know more, he couldn't go on without knowing everything about Fridgar at this point, but he didn't, not really. Clenching his fists he, listened to the words I'm accused... before speaking out loud and stopping his friend, his brother from saying anything else.

"I don't care." He said rather loudly, in an attempt to make his words echo through the lothar's mind. To make it obvious, he didn't care. "I don't care what you did. I don't care who you were. You said you're not the same person you were, and I believe you." The words fell hard against his tongue as he spoke them, it was tough, knowing his friend was once on the other side of the justice he so desperately wanted to serve. But then again, it wasn't hard to believe that everyone could change. He had to be able to change, otherwise, it would mean Aeon couldn't change either. A man could change his stars, no matter what his past said, because if not, Aeon would've still been playing in mud with horses and pigs back in Warrick.

"We needn't speak of this. Do you hear me? You're not the person that committed whatever crimes they did, and there's no need to speak of that person right now. You are Fridgar. My brother. Not a criminal." Aeon said, turning around towards the white-red feathered creature in an attempt to stop the water from being released through his eye. He had no plans of crying in front of Fridgar, especially not when they still had a very important mission to do. So, what's the plan? He asked, not letting the lothar change the topic back to the heart-shattering one they talked of before.

Aeon simply nodded as the man said he was going to turn into something magnificent, something not even the jegers could beat, and he observed as skin was turned inside out and bones flipped and twisted and the lothar's body made the transition from what looked to be a normal, only slightly bigger mortal, to a monster only found in children's books, with the maw of a crocodile and the body of a dinosaur tusked beast. If the boy hadn't known it was a friend, his veins would be filled with fear at that point, and his feet would be frozen on the ground.

"Sounds good." Aeon said after hearing the becomer's plan. It was a crazy plan, one that relied on him having a weapon that could defeat the lurkers, but it would work, he was sure of it. In his quiver stood the assurance. So he followed in whichever way The Becomer wanted him to, whether it was him flying above on Protector, or riding the strange monster he'd become, or walking on foot beside it, across the leaf-stained dirt. They had one hell of a journey ahead of them.

---

The woods were quiet ahead, unnaturally quiet, due to the usual population of it being demolished by two angry lurkers. They wanted revenge, payback, and if the puny mortals were too far for them to grasp, they would get payback on the animals that walked those grounds. Their hands would crush their tiny bones, they would feast on the blood of those who thought they could challenge them. The lurkers ruled the East, not the little cats or anyone else. They made sure that that was known as they roared while walking towards what would be their death. This time they hadn't spotted the human nor the lothar, and they had no idea that only three dozen meters away, there would be a considerable enemy awaiting them. The woods were a danger to all, and the pair would soon learn of that.

[Varthakh]

Before Fridgar could go any further, Aeon cut him off. The human's voice was loud and assertive, he'd never heard him speak like that before. Fridgar silenced immediately, looking to the boy with shock lining his eyes. He'd rarely seen a human with a spine, let alone one with the balls to shut him up. Aeon was really something else, Fridgar recognised that a while ago. But now, he was seeing his limits; he couldn't stand hearing what Fridgar was exactly. Somehow, the Lothar meant as much to the human as the human meant to him, why else would his reaction be so volatile?

Sure, they hadn't known each other that long, but Aeon had proven himself to be a real trooper for all of their adventures. Aeon was passionate, heroic, kind and apparently forgiving, too. All these things, Fridgar valued in people. Strength was a bonus, of course, and the human had it all along with the courage of a lion. The Lothar had picked a good brother.

Aeon named him so as he went on to speak of how he didn't care of what Fridgar used to be. Fuck. He couldn't help it, Fridgar was just so emotional around people he cared about. First Rey'na, then Alistair, now Aeon. Fridgar's eyes welled with tears, the blackness of his mismatched colours shining in the daylight. "Alright," the giant nodded, sniffling. "Yeah, you're right, that guy was a prick anyway," the Lothar chuckled, rubbing his eyes into his forearm. Aeon, who served justice, had looked past his crimes, all the pain and suffering he'd inflicted upon the weak. Could it be that he was worth forgiving? Was this his chance to redeem himself?

He was Fridgar, not the maniac Lothar anymore, but a loving Havendal and a caring brother. He wouldn't waste this chance. He would change, make himself worthy of the second chance and prove Aeon right, he had to. "I'm sorry, Aeon. I'll leave it be," he finished as he composed himself. Fucking hell, why did it always come to tears with these people?

Once he was kicking again, he became the gestalt and informed Aeon of the plan. Once they were satisfied, Fridgar spied Aeon's Sohr Khal and rethought his strategy."You could take the Sohr Khal if you want, rain he'll on the enemy or something," it sounded like a good idea, Aeon would be safer too. Whatever he decided, Fridgar was on board with it as they set off, looking for a fight.

Following his nose wasn't difficult. He'd memorized the scent of Lurker flesh for breaks before consuming it. This hunt would be a piece of cake, the fight would be less so. The forest was quiet and a certain distinct smell of death would waft by the duo every so often. Fridgar didn't like it. He couldn't figure out why the woods were so quiet, but it creeped him out. They were normally bustling with deadly predators and dealing Stekir alike, but now there was just silence. Well, silence aside from the ground-shaking weight of Fridgar's massive 'paws'. He travelled beside Aeon, keeping quiet and occasionally taking a rapid series of inhales through his nostrils before releasing them all in a deep exhale at once. He was, of course, searching for the lurkers.

The Lothar Trachadon eventually lead them to their destination. Just three dozen meters ahead of him were the lurkers they'd attacked the trial prior, Fridgar recognised the helmets. Fridgar was actually the same height as them, just a lot longer. If anything, he was bigger by mass. Fridgar knelt below the canopy of the trees, turning his enormous head to the comparably tiny Aeon. "Alright, if you take a potshot at one of them and draw their attention, I can try and gore one right off the bat," Fridadon spoke, his tone quieter than normal. He'd apparently found the volume control for echo.

Of course, that was only a viable option if Aeon had taken his Sohr Khal. If not, Fridgar had other methods. The Trachadon was renowned for its brutal charge, destroying and trampling most things in its path. They were from the south, rarely ever wandered to the east; it was unlikely that the two lurkers had ever fought a regular Trachadon, let alone one with tactics and various enhancements. With his increased speed and ungodly strength, he was a force not to be reckoned with, and he would display that to their opponents.

Whenever Aeon was in position, he waited for the signal; be it his distracting flurry of arrows or simply climbing on and holding tight. When everything was in place, he charged. He aimed for the sword wielder, who had been leaning all of his weight into his good ankle and resting on his sword. Just the trial prior, Fridgar had ripped out it's achilles heel and left it crippled. He would try to gore it through the heart with his tusk while it was either not paying attention or distracted by Aeon's arrows.

[Aeon]

Untying the ropes, Aeon climbed the already-saddled Sohr Khal with relative ease, considering he had done the same thing over and over at least two dozen times by now. After two dozen times, everybody learns. It wasn't even that hard of a procedure, putting one foot into the specially-crafted saddle while jumping over the noodle-like body with the other. What he needed to mind, however, was not kicking the animal in its wings, since they were the sensitive areas.

What would be more difficult than hopping onto Tor however, would be flying on him. Flying long distances high up in the air was easy, considering the Sohr Khal did pretty much all the work by itself, however, flying successfully through the woods while also keeping an eye out for the Lurkers and for Fridgar, that would be a challenge. So they went, the animal judging the distance between them and the horizon before flapping its wings several times and flying up. Just as he desired to go even higher, to a height to which he was used to, Aeon stopped him. They couldn't risk the Lurkers seeing a Sohr Khal flying so high up, so they would need to go slower and through the trees. Tor, simply, did not like that.

Not long after they first started flying, in the unusually quiet woods, they found themselves relatively close to the pair of lurkers who had yet to notice them. Fridgar was going to take one by himself, Aeon judged the situation, and therefore he only needed to be able to kill one. He could do that, with the Sohr Khal at his side, well, below him, and the explosive arrows in the quiver. An explosive arrow wasn't what he used first, however, as he shot one normal arrow at the eye of the already-damaged lurker whose heel Fridgar had bit off the trial before. He missed, however, nicking the lurker just barely on the side of his face, but he was at least successful at drawing his attention. The giant sword was immediately pointed at Aeon and Tor, and the pair started moving at a surprisingly fast pace towards the young swordsman.

Whether or not Fridgar got the damaged Lurker however, was out of Aeon's hands, and so he decided to focus on the one wearing the helmet. He had sincerely hoped the giant would've taken the terrendyte thing off by then, and he could simply shoot one bomb into his eye and be done with it, but it was not to be. As the monster got closer, Protector acted on his own and shifted his weight to his back in an attempt to raise him and his master higher in the air. Aeon allowed, simply because he didn't want to die before getting a chance to fire one shot.

Similarly to last trial, the Lurker's hand was the first thing that went, and it got real close to one of Tor's wings before the human and the Sohr Khal manoeuvred out of the way, the beast flapping its wings to stay in one position in the air for its master to be able to take a shot. Aeon drew one of the heavier arrows, one of those that carried the explosive powder and ignition mechanism in its head, and nocked it in his bow. Raising the hand which held the ranged weapon, he thought about where he should be aiming. His mind was completely focused on the Lurker, he failed to notice whatever Fridgar had been doing in the meantime.

At first, shooting at the heart seemed like the logical conclusion, but after some serious thinking, he realised he couldn't penetrate the giant's skin with a single arrow, even if it did go boom. So he aimed it at its knee, drawing and releasing quickly in an attempt to lower the recoil and drop of the arrow, since he really wasn't going to miss. Who could miss such a giant target, after all? The arrow hit the giant monster right where the boy intended. Meat and blood splattering everywhere, the monster fell to its knees from the sudden pain in its bones. A loud thundering sound, even louder than the one when Fridgar punched the Scython-Ur, echoed against the trees and through the forest, followed by the roar of the Lurker.

Aeon wasn't wasting time to listen to the sounds, however, as he rapidly drew and fired another arrow, this time aimed straight at the chest of the monster, making a pretty big hole in it, but it had yet to pierce its heart. The explosion roared and the monster followed, almost as if it was trying to match the sound as its blood leaked from its wounds and covered the ground like pouring rain. A huge chunk of its meat was missing from both its leg and its chest, and several pieces of bones could be found lying on the floor and within the Lurker's body, where they shouldn't have been.

Finally, in an attempt to finish the damned thing, he fired the third explosive shot straight at the hole where the previous one landed, and missed? The explosion, this time, was way louder to the boy's ears and the heat from the powder going boom could be felt on his skin, the Lurker had caught the arrow with its bare hands and lost several fingers in the process, but kept its life. The explosion, being where it was, destroyed the core of a tree that stood near the Lurker, and caused a chain reaction which eventualy led to several branches falling on top of Aeon and the animal. Their view was obstructed, and if the Lurker could somehow magically walk again, they would be in serious danger, but one thing was certain. It was up to Fridgar to finish the job.

[Varthakh]

Aeon took flight, letting lose an arrow onto the face of the wounded of the two. It was time to strike with his distraction in place. Echoing the finesse of the Llewnos, he began his charge. He was able to greatly reduce the weight he put on his feet, feeling far lighter than he had previously, as such, he barely made a noise as he bombed it toward the giant. The healthier of the pair split off after Aeon while the other leaned harder into its sword after stumbling onto its broken heel, reflexively from the sudden sting in its cheek.

it was met with a sudden, much more potent sting as the impossibly quiet Trachadon pushed the length of its tusk through its gut, impaling it all the way through. The Lurker shrieked, releasing its buried sword's handle and stumbling back onto its broken heel. It then collapsed onto one knee as it grasped the tusk buried within its guts. Fridgar's victory didn't last long as the Lurker threw the blade of its forearm down on the tusk, fracturing it with a single impact. Cracks spread in a linear fashion along the point of impact, he couldn't take another one of those strikes, so hit hard into the Lurker’s arm with his crocodile maw.

Flesh was rended with ease as his giant teeth met with the bones of the Lurker's arm. He couldn't quite snap the bone without leverage, so pulled hard at the arm with his greatly enhanced strength. A few things happened in that instant; The Lurker roared with pain, Fridgar's tusk snapped off in the creature's gut and its forearm was torn completely from its body. The Trachadon stumbled back as he adjusted to his now lopsided head. Massive blasts of... something could be heard to his right as Aeon combated his Lurker, Fridgar could do little more than hope he was doing well as he watched his own opponent fall onto its back, screeching with pain and horror at its maiming.

No time to spare, the Trachadon rushed forward while the Lurker lay on its back, pulling his weight to the side a little with the aid of his immense strength. Once he stood close enough, he slammed his paw into his tusk while it rested in the gut of the Lurker and effectively 'pinned' the humanoid to the floor, impaling him through several layers of grass while blood fast evacuated its body. A tree fell where aeon was fighting as Fridgar made his way over to the creature's head, deft and nimble, light on his massive feet.

His next manoeuvre wouldn't be quite so light as he positioned his enormous foot above the fallen Lurker’s head. The Lurker then caught his foot with its last remaining hand, Fridgar looked in shock at the strength of the Lurker's grip. Despite being impaled and maimed, it still fought at full strength. Before Fridgar could move, the Lurker then threw him aside, sending him tumbling through the trees before crashing into a heap on the ground. Wincing, he opened his emerald eyes to spy the lurker. It sat up with ease, ignoring his tusk impalement as though it weren't even there. Fridgar's crocodile maw dropped as the two Lurkers regrouped after their surprise attack.

Just as soon as Aeon and Fridgar had taken the upper hand, the two Lurkers batted them out of the sky like flies. Where was Aeon? had they...? Oh god, no. Wait, no, they hadn't. The one with the helmet, he had no feathers or blood, nor pieces of flesh attached to his metal. Wherever he was, the Lurker hadn't ate him. Maybe he was circling around? Even so, the two Lurkers had gathered themselves and spied the Trachadon. Fridgar rolled onto his feet, away from the two. This wasn't good.

One of the Lurkers was crippled an unable to walk properly, sporting only one arm with a massive hole all the way through its abdomen. The other had a hole in its chest, an injured knee and was missing three fingers. Only one of them would be able to keep up with him as he considered a tactic. The most powerful move in his arsenal; the Trachadon Bomb, it was his best shot. But what if Aeon was grounded? He would be killed too. Fridgar had no choice, he had to lead the faster of the two away and finish the job, the area of effect was too great, he couldn't risk killing Aeon - the human would have to try and manage himself with the crippled Lurker.

"Aeon!" the Trachadon bellowed, frantic. "Stay alive! I'll be back!" though he was unsure if Aeon could hear him, it was worth a shot. The helmeted one collected the Terrendyte sword and began his mad rush at Fridgar; who promptly sped away in the opposite direction, rushing gracefully with such speed across the forested lands. Meanwhile, the crippled Lurker pulled Fridgar's tusk from the earth and brushed it off before looking about the woodlands, sniffing out the human flesh.

[Aeon]

It appeared like Fridgar did a pretty good job himself, Aeon noted after finally removing the branches and leaves from his and his mount's faces. He wasn't injured, there were just a few scratches across his coat, he would live, but what was most important was that the Lurker would live as well. He failed at killing it, he failed at the task Fridgar gave him, he essentially failed Fridgar. Maybe if he hadn't been so cocky once more he could've shot faster, or more accurately, and not allowed the Lurker a chance to block the arrow.

That was in the past, he thought as he heard Fridgar and saw the Lurkers separating. There was no point in being bothered by the past, he knew, so he decided he would be bothered by the present. This Lurker that was now running towards him with a limp was his enemy, and Aeon doubted it would take much to beat it. Both him and Tor knew wat they were supposed to do, and the creature flew on his own, not needing any input from the boy, while he drew one of his heavier arrows filled with explosives.

The crippled lurker with a hole in its abdomen attempted to grab Aeon out of the sky, but the boy was moving too fast, and the Sohr Khal easily outmanoeuvred the giant, managing to claw at its eyes in the process, making it suffer from temporary blindness. Meanwhile, Aeon was still attempting to aim, and just as they passed over its head, he fired. The explosion caused pushed both him and the Sohr Khal flying upwards, but they managed to regain themselves and their balance right before they hit a tree. They were alright.

The same could not be said about the Lurker though, as the arrow went straight through its mouth and exploded somewhere in its throat, making his face look like a half-decomposed corpse with no jaw and half of its throat missing. Blood was raining down like crazy from the Lurker's half-mouth as it attempted to bite at something but failed, due to the lack of its teeth. In a last, dying effort he jumped and attempted to grab Aeon once more, just barely touching the edges of the Sohr Khal's wing as he did, ultimately failing.

"Fridgar!" Aeon yelled out after the massive beast finally fell due to lacking enough blood to go on. It had lost most of its throat, there was no way it could move again, he thought, so he needed to check up on his companion next. "Fridgar, are you alright?" He shouted as the Sohr Khal beneath him flew towards the last known location of Fridgar's, and then in the direction they saw the Lurker heading in. Hopefully he was alright, because almost crying for someone who was going to die mere bits afterwards, Aeon couldn't accept that.

[Varthakh]

The Trachadon ran in bounds, struggling to keep its course straight with its lopsided head. Having adapted the speed of the Llewnos, he was outrunning the Lurker with relative ease, despite the clear size difference. he couldn't keep it up forever though, no. The Trachadon had trouble for long distances. After a bit of running, Fridgar looked back to see the Lurker as it approached, a rough hundred metres behind him. This was probably far enough, right? Aeon wouldn’t be killed by the blast of the Trachadon bomb?

He turned to face the creature, rearing onto his hind legs to look into the sky. He focused his energy on the highest pocket of ether he could before pulling himself to it with chasing. Just as the Terrendyte blade of the Lurker was about to impact him, Fridgar disappeared. He appeared 110 feet in the air. True, he could only blink for seventy feet in whatever direction he sees, but he'd been standing forty feet tall on his hind legs anyway, he was blinking from that altitude. He caught himself with a sky step before blinking higher into the sky, now falling from a rough two hundred feet. Still, he never even got close to the clouds.

As he plummeted, he built up considerable speed. The Lurker below him looked left and right before hearing the sound of air being separated and looking to the sky. Upon seeing the falling Trachadon, the Lurker grinned maliciously and raised its sword to the heavens, pointing directly at Fridgar. It would stand there and let the Trachadon be impaled on its sword. Fridgar grimaced. The underside of his body was the weakest part, too. That move was probably going to kill him unless he acted fast.

The point of the sword came closer and closer as he plummeted, nearly achieving terminal velocity as Aeon approached the scene. He would see the Lurker, stood there with its eyes and sword upwards, it hadn't noticed him. Just as Fridgar was about to be impaled, he opened a chasing portal in front of him with the exit coming behind the Lurker and directly in front of aeon. Just before impact, Fridgar rushed at superfast speeds through the portal and collided with the Lurker’s back. The whiplash of suddenly being filled with that much potential energy snapped the creature's neck while Fridgar’s last remaining tusk pierced its heart from behind.

[Gore Warning]
The Trachadon continued through the Lurker, taking the massive body to the floor and snapping his last tusk from his face, sending his back flying across the gore spattered woodlands. As the two tumbled, Fridgar’s spine twisted violently, sending half his body in a weird angle with twisted flesh at the waist. The dead Lurker came off worse, splitting at the point of puncture and falling into pieces as it was brutally mangled and torn in half, strewn across the battlefield in massive amounts of red pulp. The two, or what was left of the two crashed through treed, boulders everything in their way before skidding to a halt.

With the endurance of legends, Fridgar opened his green eyes weekly, peering to his brother while his body lay crippled, broken beyond recognition. Both of his front legs were broken, shattered bone jutting out from the green scales while his hind half had been twisted and deformed, bleeding from tears in his scales at the centre of his from. if aeon looked, he would see hell still living against all odds.

Not only that, but fast approaching from behind was the Lurker he'd killed. With one arm missing, a hole in its gut and a jaw that clung by only one hinge. It raced regardless of its crippling injuries and drove Fridgar's tusk into the beast as it lay. Fridgar didn't do so much as stir at the sudden stabbing pain in his numb body, even as the Lurker stabbed repeatedly into his broken form. If Aeon dealt with the Lurker, Fridgar's weakened eyes would look across the bloodied field, searching for his bag. [/Gore Warning]

"Aeon" Fridgar's voice came from the broken body, still monotone, though the Trachadon merely wheezed, "My bag," he pleaded, looking intently around the gore for his possession. "I need it..." the Trachadon began to breathe shallow breaths, shaking with heavy trauma. Aeon had a bit at most.

[Aeon]

As the boy approached, he could see quite a scene. There was the enormous trachabeast, falling from the sky at an incredible speed straight towards the purple sword of the giant. Judging from the speed at which the Becomer was falling, Aeon was pretty sure he would go straight through the sword and squash the lurker like a bug. But that wasn't the case, considering, thanks to Rupturing, the trachabeast appeared behind the giant monster and impaled him on its tusk.

What followed was beyond the boy, considering his one eye wasn't nearly fast enough to catch all the details, but he was pretty sure both the lurker and the trachabeast would be left in pieces afterwards. No, they wouldn't, Fridgar wouldn't, he would survive. He had to survive, right? Aeon wasn't a friendly person, not particularly, but he grew close to the lothar, and if he lost him right there, who knew when he would grow close to another person again. It was simple, Fridgar had one job, and that was to not die. He didn't have to kill the lurker, Aeon could do it, he just had to not die. And he wouldn't, Aeon was sure of it.

And as the crazy events kept going, the Lurker that fell down just moments earlier was now rushing towards the trachabeast. The ground shook at its feet and birds flew as far away as they could from the abomination that was now walking the fields of Gauthrel. But Aeon, Aeon wasn't just scared. He was terrified. He'd killed the monster,
he saw it fall down, lifeless. And now it was up, running around at full speed. If one couldn't kill a monster and expect it to stay dead, what was the point in killing it in the first place? What if the Lurker Fridgar had killed had the same ability, what if he also returned from the dead an even bigger abomination than what it was in the first place?

As blood splattered and the Lurker stabbed the trachabeast repeatedly, Aeon snapped out of it. He was suddenly back to normal, ready to finish the thing off. Everything dies, everything had to die, and therefore he would just kill it harder until it did fall down and never moved again. Drawing one of the explosive arrows, he shot it straight at the back of the Lurker's neck, blowing its spine to bits as blood once more rained and coated the grass. As the monster fell to its knees next to the half-dead Fridgar, Aeon shot another one, this time into its back, making a hole in its bones as well as crushing its spine some more. And as if that wasn't enough, he shot another one as it was falling, straight where the previous one was, making a giant hole that light shone through from both sides in the middle of the monster's torso. He was sick and tired of it by this time, and he wanted to make sure it was dead. The explosions would echo throughout the woods, the sounds hitting the trees and bouncing right off them only to hit another tree.

Tor seemed terrified the whole way through, the poor animal had never seen so much gore at once, much less had a master that seemed so bloodthirsty, but what seemed to scare him the most was the fact that the trachabeast was still alive and talking. It wasn't supposed to be, but then again, neither was the Lurker. The bag, Aeon thought quickly, nodding, unsure whether the lothar/trachabeast could notice it. He then directed his mount towards where the Lurker and the trachabeast started their bloody and gory dance. There it was, he could see it, the bag Fridgar had on his tusk.

The boy didn't hesitate, and instead of letting his mount land, he jumped off grabbing the bag as he rolled during his landing, running towards Fridgar as fast as he could. It would take him about thirty thrills, considering the adrenaline was still deep in his blood, but alas, he couldn't be as fast as the Sohr Khal. Maybe jumping off it wasn't the smartest idea, but Aeon was tired of smart ideas, smart ideas got him the Lurker zombie. Finally, he reached his Becomer friend and sighed in relief as he offered the bag to the ruined trachabeast. How was he going to pick something up from the bag? Aeon had no idea, but that wasn't the point, the point was that he'd gotten the bag and got back in time to hear the still-loud breathing of the beast.

"Fridgar. Please stay alive." He said with a small smile after the trachabeast did what it needed to do with the bag. He really, really didn't want to lose one of his two friends.

Off Topic

Sorry if the post sucked, also sorry for the delay. I got home really late yesterday and slept until like 5 minutes ago.

[Varthakh]

Fridadon lay helpless, broken and dying. That was perhaps the worst idea he'd ever had for an attack, but at least he'd killed one of the Lurkers? Being an unarmed combatant of myths and legends had its perks when aiming in times of duress like that. The fact that he hadn't passed out from the death defying injuries he'd suffered was just a result of his resolve, his durability. Endurance was a mental skill that affected the body and thus didn't need to be adapted. Just as the thought the battle was over, Aeon in his vision along with Tor, the ground shook as a Lurker revealed the true nature of its weakness.

The Lurker that he’d ambushed and blew apart, the one Aeon thought he'd killed. It was stoned. Whatever sort of drug it had procured had gifted it a second wind ability, allowing it to continue past the point of ordinary function even more so than an ordinary Lurker. Sure, its senses had been dulled to the point that it hadn't noticed Fridgar's soft, muffled approaching footsteps when he ambushed it. But, it was the last Lurker standing, even when it wasn't technically possible for it to stand on that foot without the Achilles tendon, let alone run.

A stirring in his gut informed him something was wrong, but the pain only registered below a dozen other problems. His organs were ruptured, bones broken, he was heavily concussed, ruptured, snapped and twisted. Still clinging to life, the Lurker fuelled its blood lust by making his last few moments as painful as it could. The one weakness of the Lurkers, its insatiable blood lust. The smart thing to do would have been to go for Aeon, but how could it turn up the opportunity to further torture this creature that still drew breath? If its jaw had remained firmly on its face, it would have started to eat him for sure.

Thankfully, Aeon took care of the problem before it could even try. Arrow after arrow blew apart the demon beast, showering the Trachadon in even more Lurker blood. His vision blurred and his ears filled with ringing, muffling the explosions over him and disabling his notice of the ground shaking with the fall of the Lurker. The damage he'd sustained to his gut was immense. First, twisted unnaturally and ruptured through several layers of stone hardness with his weight along, then puncture several times at the seams by his own tusk. An ungodly pressure in his abdomen was let loose, forcing a ragged sigh from the Trachadon.

What had felt like the relief of pain was the skin of his gut rending and spilling his entrails from his broken body and spewing across the blood-spattered battlefield. Fridgar shut his eyes, his slow heartbeat heavy in his ears. When next he opened them, a silhouette was darting across the battlefield toward him. A friend? A foe? it didn't matter, not for much longer. He shut his eyes once more, fighting off the creeping sensation of death for as long as he could. His insides had stopped working properly, drawing air was difficult, he couldn’t swallow anymore and his heartbeat was weak and slow. Not to mention the pressure in his head as his brain tried to claw its way through the interior of his skull.

When next he opened his eyes, the silhouette presented him... his bag? "Aeon?" The echo came in its usual monotone voice, failing to relay just how much pain he was in or the extent of his suffering. Fridgar focused on his bag, searching for the Fridgar totem. He didn't get very far before his eyes force themselves shut one more.

His body had given up. It was ready to die, wanted to die. Fridgar hadn't lived long, just over twenty arcs. All he'd experienced in this world was pain, be it his or another person’s. His life flashed before his eyes, unravelling in the darkness. And for the longest time, all he'd had was blood, pain, death and destruction. Loss heavy on everyone that crossed him, families torn and histories wiped from existence. maybe he deserved to die? Was this the universe's justice? Time and time again, he'd robbed people of everything they were and everything they could ever hope to be.

So much potential, all wasted by the heavy rule of his paw. In his heart, he knew that he deserved this. Was this life even worth living, knowing the atrocities he'd commit? Maybe it was better just to let go and let nature do its thing. Just as he was about to release himself from the mortal coil of his broken body, another vision stirred. The last of his resolve; meeting Alistair in the midwinter ball, dancing with him, being treated by him, making love to him, falling in love with him, their long-distance relationship in Etzos, abandoning Rynmere, staying with each other, proposing, betrothal, travelling, conspiring, adventuring, exploring, discovering, fighting their enemies, marriage, an undying love that spanned more than a hundred years, re awakened.

No.

He would not die here. despite all the pain he'd caused, all the pain he'd suffered, there was room for change. Alistair, his beloved Kindal, once named Aedan a hundred and thirty arcs ago, the Lothar that swept him off his feet. In this life, he'd had the chance to fall for him all over again. And just trials after their wedding, he was about to die and let it all go to waste? Absolutely not. He'd searched for Alistair for so many arcs. One hundred and thirty arcs, they'd been apart and were reunited by the promise he made all that time ago. How could he give up now? he'd never given up before! For Alistair, for Aedan, he would continue living.

The Trachadon opened his eyes after another thirty trills of complete stillness. His heart had stopped beating just five trills ago, but here he was fighting through cardiac arrest. His emerald eyes fell to the bag with intense focus and searched hard through his totems. Blackness began to creep around the edges of his vision, edging him into the abyss against his will. he couldn't fight it, this was so absolute. Everything was fading around him as he struggled, fought with the last of his life, finally managing to latch onto his self totem weakly and initiate a transformation, using Chrysalis.

The creeping black stopped, his heart started beating once more, breath filled his lungs and the headache faded as all his bones broke apart, snapping and reforming, shrinking and re-settling. His skin closed, discarding of his hold organs and simply growing new ones as his skeleton reformed, snapping bones back into place and pushing back through his skin. They grey stone texture of his body faded to more of a tan as his whole being reformed. His face reshaped too, tusks shrinking inward with his crocodile maw shrinking back into his face.

When at last the transformation was complete, Fridgar lay on his front in a puddle of gore, spattered with blood and completely naked. He took a deep breath, letting the copper scent of blood fill his senses and remind him that... he was alive. He'd survived? Very slowly, Fridgar withdrew his palm and pressed into the warm, wet floor beside him and looked up to his saviour, Aeon. "My brother," Fridgar spoke, seemingly fully recovered from the horrific injuries he'd been inflicted. "You saved me, again..." he groaned, rolling onto his back and sighing with exhaustion.

he then gripped hold of the Trachadon’s guts and pressed into them, aiding in his ascent. as he stood on his two legs once more, despite having just rolled around in corpse juice. The Lothar then stretched, clicking his back and rolling his shoulders. "Ah... fff.... fuck!" he whimpered as his head stirred. An ungodly pain on the rise before rushing at full force, crumpling his head and forcing him to his knees with his hands clenched tightly around the whole of his cranium. He screamed in anguish, writhing as his spark announced his overstepping.

After a bit or two of perpetual screaming, Fridgar stopped and gently removed his paws. What had he done? Shaky, he stood himself back up and looked to his brother. "So you know how mages can sometimes fuck up and spend too much ether? Yeah, I've just done that really bad..." he confessed. A shake of his head discarded the useless worry. Whatever the consequences, he would deal with them in time. The Lothar then took his bag into his paw and approached the first Lurker, the one he'd torn in half. he gripped one of its fingers that clenched tight around the Terrendyte blade and pulled.

Nothing happened. Instead, Fridgar put down the bag and fell to his knees. He then proceeded to eat through the knuckle before biting through the joint after a good bit of gnawing he then collected the finger, which was just about as big as his leg, and folded it by the two joints before stuffing it in his bag. he then took an empty vial from the bag and scooped up some Lurker blood, fresh from the tap. He swiftly sealed the vial with a cork though before storing it with the finger.

"Thanks for the help, Aeon," Fridgar nodded. "Say, some time in Saun, do you want to go hunting again? There's these great big wyverns in the north, Anaxus they're called..." He smiled a wicked grin before laughing off his own joke. "Nah, fuck that. I'm going to put my feet up for all of Saun, I think." Fridgar then bowed a respectful farewell to the human and took his leave if no other issues remained. Still though, he couldn't help but worry about his overstepping penalties and what they meant for the coming season.