Zalgadis walked around to the front of the Shrine to find most of the other Colossi still talking amongst themselves, Malus was standing by himself watching the others, Argus, Cenobia and Barda were clustered together whispering but they stopped when The Magnus Thought came into sight and Basaran was fast asleep his snoring rumbling like thunder
Avion landed in front of the robed colossus "Why must we wait here?" chirped The Delta Phoenix "I could reach my domain in minutes and wait for you there, as could most of us"
Zalgadis shook his head "No, you must wait, you must not enter out of your proper order and you must not enter without me"
Barda turned to them and seemed about to speak but Malus interrupted "Very well" said the Grand Gigas
Zalgadis walked over next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder "please keep them here, it will not take long" he whispered, "we will be done by sunset"
He turned and said "Gaius we must go, it is time for you to return to your domain" he began to walk back toward the back of the temple
Gaius hesitated "but what of Hydrus?" he asked, "she can not stay here, it is most uncomfortable for her to lay on land"
Zalgadis stopped and looked over his shoulder "Bring her, she can wait with Quadratus until it is her turn"
Celosia chimed in "May the rest of us be extended the same courtesy?"
Zalgadis sighed and said, "If you wish but you must not return to your domains"
"Of course, you have our word" promised The Flame Guardian then looked over at the others "doesn't he?"
There was a general agreement from most of the others but Phalanx didn't answer, he was quite happy lazily drifting through the air over the Shrine, Basaran's only answer was a snore, Malus remained silent, lost in his own thoughts and Cenobia growled
The Flame Guardian walked over and cuffed her brother with a paw "Doesn't He?" he growled
There was a barely heard "yes" from the Destruction Luster
Dirge sighed and said sadly "I would greatly welcome the chance to speak with Quadratus but unfortunately it would take me some time to get there as I would have to tunnel under the river"
"There is no need," said Malus "I will carry you"
"Thank you Brother" replied The Sand Tiger
Pelagia nudged The Storm Echo with one great foot "you're going to stay here right?"
Basaran grunted and shifted into a more comfortable position
Phalanx whispered "Do…not …worry…I will watch…over him"
"May we go then?" said Zalgadis as he began to walk again, sounding more than slightly annoyed
The other Colossi followed
Zalgadis climbed down into Quadratus's river and The Taurus Major looked up and began to greet him but the sight of the others climbing down the walls, running across the rock bridge and being helped down by Argus and Malus caused the words to die in his mouth "Wha?"
"They all decided that you deserved a visit," grumbled Zalgadis as he began to climb up the other side
Gaius gently lowered Hydrus into the water beside Pelagia and said "I had best make my farewells brief, Zalgadis seems in a great hurry," he bowed deeply to all the colossi assembled and said "It was an honour to see all of you again but I imagine that I will not see many of you for a while, I cannot leave my post once I have returned to it" he turned and moved to join the waiting Zalgadis
Zalgadis set off northwest without another word, Gaius at his heels
The two colossi walked in silence through canyons until they reached Gaius's platform
Zalgadis placed a hand on Gaius's shoulder and tapped his staff on the ground, the gem flashed and they stood on the platform
As Zalgadis leant down to place he staff against the sprawled pile that was Gaius's remains The Earth Knight sighed
"This place was not always so" he said sadly "once humans from all over the land would come here to stand and train at my feet" he gestured at the ramp "this place was built as it is on purpose, anyone who wished to learn would have to swim out across the lake, climb the ramp and leap across to my platform"
Gaius looked down at the stone slab in the center of the platform "I would stand over them here and teach those who were worthy, not just strong, they had to be brave, kind and chivalrous as well"
Zalgadis looked over his shoulder at Gaius "why?" he asked, curious "the colossi are guardians, why would you care to teach humans to fight?"
Gaius stopped, startled by the question
Zalgadis turned back to his task "I am sorry, I did not mean to offend you, I was simply curious"
"Nay, thou did not offend me," he said shaking his head "I was created as a guardian as were us all but I was created as a guardian of tradition not a guardian of lives"
"If an army attacked how would I defend the people?" The Earth Knight chuckled "those that were capable of reaching me would be those who would be fighting to defend the people"
Gaius turned to face The Magus Thought "that is why I was created, to make sure that those who would lead the defense would be trained properly"
Zalgadis stood and turned, the gem on his staff filled with writhing darkness "I was created to be the guardian of The Covenant, are you prepared?"
The Earth Knight raised his sword in salute touching where his heart would be (if he were human) "I am ready, place within me the darkness I am to hold forevermore"
Zalgadis touched the staff to Gaius's forehead; he did not even twitch as the dark power flowed into him
Zalgadis then gestured with his other hand and the armor on Gaius's sword arm repaired itself "All must be as it was before
"It is done," said the taller colossus as to walked to the edge of the platform and hopped down into the lake
The Magnus Thought was just entering the canyon that would lead him back to the others when Gaius's voice followed him "You will return and visit me will you not?"
Zalgadis did not even look back but just answered "No"
A short time later he had returned to where the other colossi waited, "Phaedra, please come with me" he said as he quickly climbed up the far side
"Malus if you would please help" said The Magnus Thought as he reached down to take hold of The Equus Prime's shoulders
Malus lifted Phaedra's back legs so that she could stand on the lip
Zalgadis retrieved his staff and turned "come"
They walked around to the front of the shrine and set off east but after only a short time they stopped
"We can't fit through the passage let alone through the tunnels behind them" whinnied Phaedra
"And I cannot teleport us to a place I cannot see" replied the Magnus Thought the he placed a hand on the Equus Prime's shoulder "but I can do this"
The gem flashed and Phaedra felt herself begin to shrink, in seconds she was the size of a horse, she glanced to the side and was extremely surprised to discover a young, robed, male human with stark white hair standing next to her
The human spoke in Zalgadis's voice "come, we must get to your domain"
They walked for a short time and came to a tunnel which they followed through to find a ledge of earth looking down into a shallow chasm, beyond was a beautiful, verdant clearing surrounded on all sides with stone walls but green and full of life the only thing that showed that humans had ever been here were openings cut into the sides of four hills, leading down underground
The two walked down onto the valley floor and the human with Zalgadis's voice placed a hand on the horse-sized colossus's shoulder, the gem flashed and both colossi were returned to their normal state
They walked over to the small, plant-covered hill that was all that remained of The Equus Prime and Zalgadis leaned down and placed the gem on his staff against it
Phaedra past to a huge stone slab set into the ground "They placed this here for me" she said sadly "some of the humans that came here noticed that I was sleeping leaning against the wall because I didn't like lying in the dirt"
"It rains often here and it gets very muddy, I had trouble getting the mud off so I would sleep standing up" she said, running as pointed foreleg over the carvings that surrounded the edges of the slab "one of the humans asked me why and I told him, the next day he came back and began to dig, the humans that came after asked him why he was digging, he told them and before I knew it there were over fifty of them doing it"
"After a few days they turned up and they didn't have their shovels, they told me they were waiting for something, a short while later Argus and Valus climbed over the walls and Avion and Phalanx flew in with this slab" she chuckled "how they managed to talk Phalanx into that I don't know, he normally won't do anything but fly around randomly or sleep under the desert sands"
"They put it in place and asked me if I like it" she said, lying down "And I said yes, all of a sudden humans were interesting to me, until then all I did was wander around this place, only noticing them enough to not step on them but then I started taking an interest, offering my condolences, praying along with them when they would come to place a body within the tombs"
The Equus Prime hung her head "But all of that is over now, The Dormin appeared and the humans stopped coming, The Dormin was defeated but the humans didn't come back"
Zalgadis straightened up and turned "all things end, even colossi"
Phaedra looked up "But we didn't end, here we are, we died but we've come back"
"Perhaps one day Dormin will be defeated forever and you can all rest," he said raising his staff "are you ready?"
Phaedra nodded and Zalgadis placed the gem against her forehead, she whinnied in pain as the darkness entered her again
The Magnus Thought turned and began to walk away
"You said 'you will be able to rest" don't you mean 'WE will be able to rest?" said The Equus Prime to his retreating back
Zalgadis didn't turn but said, "I doubt I will EVER be able to rest, there is too much which needs to be done"
He climbed up onto the walls and was gone before she could ask what he meant
Well that's chapter four done, I'll REALLY try to get Five done before the end of the week