A/N: Well, fuck me sideways. Turns out, mere days after I posted the last chapter, Dan uploaded the livestream recording of him reading the script to YouTube. And yeah, it is, like I said the last chapter, like that Nietzsche quote about staring into an abyss and it staring back at you. It's that bad. What I find funny is that the current top-rated comment on that video is a sarcastic, "Thanks, [Super] Best Friends [Play], for sending me into this terrible abyss." Coincidence? Yeah, probably. Anyways, I'll have links on my profile to both the livestream recording and a forty-minute abridged version edited together by a user named Sean Barker, for those can't stomach (or don't have time for) the two-hour length of the script reading. My advice? Between the two-hour version and the forty-minute abridged version, take the two hours. Trust me, you'll miss out on a looot of context with the short version, and those Tweets I mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg on how awful that script gets. And as always, historical notes and whatnot are on my profile. Because unlike Justin Marks, I do research, motherfucker! :D


In the Shadow of the Beasts Redux

By: Rylek196

The Sixth: The Goliath, Barba

Night had fallen once again on the Forbidden Lands. Five humanoid shadows looked down on Wander. If they were not in Dormin's light, they would have been invisible save for their glowing white eyes. The shadow humanoids sank into the floor as cracks appeared in the idol of the fifth Colossus, light streaming forth from the cracks and piercing the gloom. The idol then exploded, crumbling into rubble, the noise rousing Wander from his slumber.

Freed from the comforting grip of rest, pain was there to greet Wander as soon as his eyes opened. He hissed in agony, rolling over onto his back and trying in vain to rub his wrists. It was official: being flapped around the wings of the fifth Colossus had torn the muscles in his wrists, and possibly damaged some of the muscles in his forearms, too. "Ahg... Fuck... Fuck!" Wander cursed. He glanced at Mono, upside-down from his position of lying on his back, and angry tears welled up in his eyes. He couldn't climb the Colossi with torn wrist muscles, and therefore couldn't finish this quest. He had failed.

From above, Dormin's voice rang out. "Thou art injured," the guttural voice said, sounding surprisingly concerned.

"Yes... I fucking... am, Dormin..." Wander said through gritted teeth.

"It is of no concern..." the voice went on. "There is a small altar just outside this Shrine... If thou shouldst offer a prayer before it, thy wounds will be healed...

Groaning, Wander made it to his feet, and went down one of the staircases leading out of the Shrine of Worship. In between the two sets of stairs, there was another, shorter flight of them, at the top of which was a glowing, rectangular stone, just over twice as tall as he was. Wander ascended the stairs up to this stone, and knelt before it. "Please..." he whispered. "Whatever force is listening, heal me. Let me accomplish my task to revive my beloved, I beg you..."

As soon as he finished his plea, the base of the stone glowed brighter with an orange light, quickly enveloping him. The next few seconds, however, were agony as torn muscles literally knit themselves back together under his skin. Wander scream, but was unable to do anything to assuage the pain. Within a few seconds, it was gone, leaving the damaged muscles good as new. Breathing heavily, Wander gave both his hands an experimental clench, feeling nothing but flesh against flesh as his fingertips touched his palms. This is miraculous, he thought. Though I don't wish to go through that again. Seeing that his thumb ring was still on, he took it off and secured it once more to his belt.

Dormin's voice again sounded in his mind. "Thou art now healed... There are other stones similar to that one scattered throughout this land... Thou wouldst do well to remember this. Now, return to the Shrine. Thou must need thy rest..."

Nodding his head in agreement (even though there was no one with a physical body around to agree to) Wander whistled for Agro, the horse running from out of the darkness. He led her up the stairs, once more resting his head against her side in Dormin's light, letting sleep and memories overtake him...

Wander cursed under his breath as his feet sank into the snow, winter's harsh winds blowing directly in his face. I swear, if I have to do this regularly, I am moving my yurt closer to the village come spring, he thought. Given how icy breezes now blew, their twisted mockery of human whistling creating an eerie sound across the steppes, his outfit from warmer months was obviously out.

He now wore thick boots made of leather and fur, a much thicker, long-sleeved tunic adorned with a hood, leather gloves on his hands, and black pants instead of green shorts. Mono had evidently been lying through her teeth (like Wander knew she was) when she said she wore dresses year-round, as her outfit was similar to his for such weather. After nearly half an hour of trudging through snow, he finally reached the outcropping of rock on which Lord Emon's temple was built. Behind the temple's east wall were the stables for the horses, as well as a private stable for Emon's personal steed. He slammed his fist against the front double doors three times in order to be heard over the howling wind.

To his surprise, Mono was the one who opened them. He stared at her in silence for a few seconds. "Well?" Mono said, smirking. "Are you going to come inside? Unless you like the chill- it wouldn't surprise me, given how black and cold your heart is."

Wander just narrowed his eyes and growled, barely holding himself back from physically lashing out at her for that snide remark. Without a word, he walked inside, Mono shutting the doors behind him. Wander stomped his feet on the floor, getting the snow off his boots, and flipped his hood back. "What's the matter?" he shot back with acid in his tone. "Still a bit mad that you caught me hunting a few more times a couple months back?"

It was true. In order to get in some last-minute meat for the village, Wander had gone back to the woods, and on three of these occasions, Mono had caught him skinning his catches alive. She had neglected to tell anyone about these incidents, for reasons unknown to him.

Mono's face blazed with anger. "I am only going to say this one last time: What you were doing was not. Fucking. HUNTING!" she almost yelled. "It is slaughter! And frankly, you should be utterly ashamed of what you're doing. Now come with me to my quarters- and no, I do not mean it like that."

They went down a hall and took a left. Mono's room was down another short hallway, and again, he was surprised to see it was sparsely furnished. Maybe we have more in common then I first assumed, he thought. "Well, about the hunting- you don't need to worry about that for a while. The Great Khan forbids hunting during animal mating seasons."

"You think I don't know that?" Mono said. "I'm not an idiot, Wander. And you're completely missing my point. You shouldn't be doing that, period. It's sick and twisted."

"If you're just going to antagonize me, then I'm just going to leave," Wander said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"And if you do that, I'll report you to your superiors, and you'll be executed," Mono smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Wander swore under his breath, stopping at the door. "Fine, I'll stay." The begrudging tone in his voice was clear.

Mono smiled to herself. Maybe that was a chink in the armor, a vulnerability that she could exploit to try and pick apart his twisted brain. "For someone who skins animals alive because he thinks it's 'fun', you do have a surprising amount of discipline."

"I'm not too keen on dying," Wander shrugged.

"And yet, you enjoy being a bringer of death," Mono replied. "Is it because you like exerting that control, being in charge of whether something lives or dies?"

Wander looked down and to the left, actually taking a good ten seconds to answer. "Maybe," he said at last. "I admit, I do get a thrill in lining up a kill shot."

Mono's eyes widened, and for a second, she thought she was getting somewhere. That all evaporated in an instant when Wander added, "You should try it sometime. I've never seen you with a bow and arrow, come to think of it."

"Are you... you can't possibly..." the young woman trailed off, her mouth gaping like a fish. "You can't possibly be so... so twisted as to try and drag me into your horrible habits!"

"What the hell are you talk-" Wander began, but Mono cut him off.

"Get out," she growled. When Wander did nothing but give her a bewildered expression, she said again at a near-shout , "Get out of this room!"

Wander simply narrowed his eyes. "Fine," he hissed. "But you're coming to me tomorrow."

"I can live with that," Mono said. "Now get out."

Scowling, Wander walked out of the room, exited the temple, and began the long trudge home.

The next day, Wander was up at the crack of dawn, and had only just finished preparing his breakfast- meat boiled in a pot over his stove seasoned with garlic to add an extra bit of flavour- when he heard Mono's voice yell from outside. "Wander! Get this door open!"

Wander only rolled his eyes, calling back, "You can just come in, you know."

The yurt's door creaked open, letting both Mono, and a brief gust of chilly air, inside. The latter caused the hairs on Wander's arms to stand on end, because, as Mono saw, he had foregone wearing a shirt.

A blush instantly spread across the girl's face like a raging wildfire as she observed Wander's bare torso. Four of his abdominal muscles were clearly visible, while his pectorals were toned and strong, to say nothing of his biceps. Oh... my, Mono thought. Perhaps I was wrong about him. He's... really attractive. In looks, at least.

Though she would NEVER say this out loud to anyone, Mono knew it was now going to be very difficult to keep from pleasuring herself with that image now burned into her brain. Truth be told, pleasuring herself had been her coping mechanism for keeping her sanity due to Wander's attitude.

Wander was not oblivious to Mono's staring, and smirked, walking towards her and stopping in front of her. "You're not even going to hide the fact that you're turned on, are you?"

"I could, but I don't see the point," Mono smiled, poking him in the chest with her index finger at that word. She shivered slightly at the hardness of his muscles. "I won't lie- you look great. It seems all that brutal conditioning you put yourself through wasn't a waste of time."

"Obviously not."

"It's just a shame that your personality is far uglier than your physical appearance."

That deflated the rather sexually charged mood in a heartbeat. Wander scoffed and went back to his food. Unknown to him, Mono's face scrunched up in an odd combination of sympathy and disgust at the scars on his back from the whippings he had been through. "This should be almost done. Do you want any?"

"So long as you haven't poisoned it, yes."

There's that sarcasm again, Wander thought, rolling his eyes. Nevertheless, he took the meat strips out of the pot by spearing them with a knife and putting them on a plate, gesturing to Mono to help herself. They sat and ate in silence for a minute, Mono finding the meal to be quite tasty, even though she didn't say so aloud.

"So," Wander said after finishing his second meat strip, "Why did you get angry at me yesterday?"

"Because I actually have a conscience?" Mono answered. At Wander's dark glare, she added, "And there it is- your anger coming out again. Look, I'm not adverse to hunting- we have to eat to live, after all, everything does- it's just that how you do it is just... just inhumane."

"Well, have you ever hunted before?" Wander asked.

Mono scowled at him, looking like she was about to explode like the day before, but then seemingly thought better of it. She took another strip of meat off the plate and ate it before answering. "No," she said.

"Why?"

Mono mumbled something under her breath that Wander didn't quite catch.

"Say again?" he said.

"I said I'm not very good with a bow and arrow," Mono replied, her voice still barely audible. At Wander's bewildered expression, she looked away sheepishly. "I know, it's ironic, isn't it? Every time I've tried, my shots have gone wildly astray. I've never even come close to hitting the target. I am decent with throwing knives, for what it's worth."

"So that is why you were so impressed with my marksmanship that day, and how you were so easily able to subdue me with my own knife," Wander said.

"Yes on both counts," Mono said. "I do have some- not a lot, but some- training with bladed weapons."

"Well, I can teach you, if you'd like."

"So long as you don't drag me into your awful habits, I may have to take you up on that," Mono said. Wander just smiled, and went back to his food.

Wander's eyes cracked open, and he lifted his hand to his face as he once again escaped the grasp of sleep. He pushed himself to his feet, giving Agro a pat to wake her up, too.

As soon as Agro had gotten to her feet, Dormin's voice sounded throughout the Shrine. "Thy next foe is... A giant lurks underneath the temple... It lusts for destruction... but a fool, it is not..."

The voice faded, leaving Wander alone for the sixth time. Also for the sixth time, Wander walked out onto the balcony over the southern plains of the Forbidden Lands, and held up his blade. This time, he was pointing the exact correct direction: southwest. Without a word, yet with a longing glance at Mono, he mounted Agro and began riding towards where the beam pointed. The ride was similar to the one he took when getting to the first Colossus, covering almost the exact same ground, but this time he was traveling roughly parallel to the cliffs where that now-dead beast roamed.

Soon, large rock formations to his right started funneling him where he needed to go with more precision. Atop these formations, he could see man-made stone pillars, and beyond that, the towering trees of a forest. Soon, the rock formations herded him towards this forest. He pulled back on the reins to slow Agro to a walk as he entered this lush palace of greenery.

He slowly rode Agro through the woods, the sounds of nature- bird calls, the croaking of frogs, and whatnot- providing an organic symphony that nearly drowned out the wind. Still, he couldn't help but find the forest somewhat unsettling for a reason he couldn't quite put his finger on, until it hit him. I can't see any of the animals that are making all this noise, he thought. I can't even see any bird's nests. It's like this forest is populated by ghosts.

Doing his best to sweep that unpleasant thought under the rug, he pressed on. The forest's trees were a combination of evergreen pineneedle and deciduous, with large parts of the floor coloured a rusty brown from the all the fallen pine needles. These formed natural pathways, with smaller shrubs and bushes growing off to the side of these.

To the left, a little ways off the beaten path, Wander saw another of the stone shrines. Wait... are those what Dormin spoke of? he thought. I can't even believe this... I passed one completely by on my way to the fifth Colossus! Cursing himself, but having no use for the shrine at the current moment, he left it behind.

Shortly after that, he came to a fork in the path. Shit. This a total luck-of-the-draw choice.

Carefully weighing his options, Wander in the end decided on the left path. This in fact turned out to the correct way to go, for after another ten minutes of winding around trees, the forest ended in a similar fashion to the one he had trekked through to get to the Forbidden Lands in the first place. Finally able to use the light beam again, he reaffirmed his way with it, finding he was indeed still going in the right direction.

He crossed a short land bridge (which, surprisingly, was above a small grassy area, not suspended over a massive chasm) that led to a tunnel. He went through that... and emerged into a massive desert. The heat of the sun began to beat down on Wander in an instant, swear beading on his forehead a second later. However, he was now able to use beam at its full power, and it pointed to what looked like a large structure built into the side of a small mountain some distance away.

He spurred Agro on once more, with the pair making a beeline for the structure. The wind picked up a bit as he approached, forcing him to squint as the sand was blown around. Soon it subsided, leaving Wander to marvel at the massive stone temple he was now in the shadow of. What was once undoubtedly a mighty building was now intimidating for its size alone, as time had taken its toll, chipping away the stone and leaving it discoloured with age in many places. Strange blue embossings that resembled teardrop shapes adorned its many pillars, but Wander found that a pile of rubble blocked the entrance. He could easily get over it, but as for Agro...

The young man sighed as he dismounted her. "Go on back to the Shrine, girl," he said, giving her a pat on the side.

As Agro ran off, he looked to the horizon behind him. The light beams from the five fallen Colossi stretched high into the sky. He narrowed his eyes at the sight, then climbed over the rubble pile and went down a flight of stairs leading inside the temple. What greeted him at the bottom was a sharp 90-degree turn followed by a linear underground hallway. This does line up with what Dormin said, Wander thought, climbing over more fallen rubble in his way. There was a crack in the ceiling, letting a bit of light filter down into the tunnel. He clambered over two more rubble piles in his way, then went down another flight of stairs, ending up in a massive cavern.

The first thing about the cavern that surprised him was that to his left and right as he entered, were torches on the wall. Lit torches. But... this makes no sense, he thought. If this land has been abandoned for ages, this fire should have gone out long ago. Looking ahead slightly, he could see two more instances of fire on either side of the big, wide ledge he stood on, this fire burning in braziers near the walls.

Beyond that, Wander could see the cavern was divided into three sections by walls he estimated to be about ten feet high. A huge pillar with two curved sections on either side was in the rough center of the room, and there was a big hole in the roof near the cavern's far wall, letting light in. He could also see in that area a wall of pillars, not too dissimilar to how the aboveground temple looked.

Wander walked to the ledge's lip, and peered down. The wall below him had dozens of small ledges on it that he could use to safely get down to the floor. He took it slow, dropping down one ledge at a time, until he was at the bottom. Almost as soon as his feet touched the ground, there was a rumbling as the wall he had just climbed down began to retract, sliding down into a groove in the floor. His heart hammering in his chest like a mad drumbeat, Wander turned around and beheld the next Colossus as it came out of it its hiding place.

It was a massive humanoid, similar to the first Colossus Wander had slain, but much bulkier and without any sort of weapon. Its fur was silver and wiry, its tough skin dark gray. its arms were huge and its legs chunky, as was its fur-covered upper torso. The most noteworthy feature of this monster, however, was not its build, but its beard. A mass of fur hung off its chin in a way that resembled shaggy facial hair.

The Colossus raised one giant fist in an effort to crush the intruder into pulp. Wander ran for his life as the appendage came down, making both a crater in the stone floor and a shockwave that knocked him off his feet. Growling angrily, he pushed himself up again, running for the first wall that blocked his path. Though it seemed impassible (there were even sections of it that were covered with rusted iron bars), he saw other sections of it that had short half-pillars set into semi-circular grooves in the wall. These he could climb with no trouble.

He jumped, grabbing the edge of one of the half-pillars, getting on top of it, then on top of the wall. The beast saw all this, starting to march towards him Figuring that a ten-foot drop was better than getting squashed by an eighty-foot-tall Colossus, Wander jumped off the wall back to the ground. Seconds later, the Colossus just walked through the wall like it wasn't even there, making a beeline for Wander.

Wander ran to the second wall, the Colossus right on his heels. He climbed the wall and jumped off it as the monster again raised a fist and brought it down, smashing the wall to bits. The fallout from this rained rock dust everywhere, coating Wander in a fine gray powder. "Fuck!" he yelled, shaking his head to clear some of the dust from his face and hair, stumbling for the next and final wall. He climbed over it, coming to the wall of pillars he had seen before taking on the Colossus. His face then twisted into fear. The wall of pillars was a dead end. It was nothing but a shallow cave, with some of the pillars providing hiding spots, but that was it. Damn it, he thought. Nonetheless, he took shelter in the cave behind one of the pillars to catch his breath a little.

Dormin's voice then sounded, reminding him of a huge detail he had forgotten. "Use thy sword to find its vitals..."

Wander's expression changed again, this time into one of anger. Oh, SHIT! How the fuck do I keep forgetting to do that!?

The Colossus, having no idea where Wander went, stomped through the rest of the third wall, destroying it saw this as he poked his head around the corner to look. It lusts for destruction, indeed, he thought.

Regardless, the Colossus had just helped him without knowing it. By knocking down the wall, it had created a much more open space for Wander to run around and dodge the monster's subsequent attempts to crush him. With a bloodthirsty smirk, he ran out from his hiding place, Ancient Sword gripped in his fist. Luckily for him, the Colossus had its back turned, meaning the young man was able to hold up his blade and affirm the location of the beast's first Sigil: the lower-left side of its back.

The beast seemed to sense its weak point had been revealed, and was none-too-pleased with this. It turned around to face the tiny human, but as it did so, Wander moved the beam around some, lighting up another Sigil on the back of the monster's left hand. And I think I know exactly where the last one is, Wander thought, letting his arm fall.

Wander ran back to his hiding place as the Colossusonce more stomped towards him. He hid behind one of the pillars, the Colossus actually kneeling down to look for him! Better yet, it placed its left palm on the ground, leaving its hand Sigil wide open."A fool it is not," Wander scoffed aloud. "I beg to differ, Dormin."

He sprinted out of his hiding place, running atop the beast's giant index finger to the top of its hand, the monster standing again as he got a grip on the fur there. He then readied his blade and plunged it into the tough skin. The Colossus let out a grunt of pain a geyser of sticky black blood ejecting from the wound.

The monster flung its arm back to try and dislodge Wander, but it was in vain. The human was now stuck good to the back of its hand. The beast tried again, harder this time, and yet again, it was to no avail. Now starting to panic, the creature tried again, but could still feel the sensation of the human on the back of its hand, pulling on the fur.

Wander, for his part, endured this constant shaking with gritted teeth and a tight grip. Even though his legs and upper torso were now glued to the beast's fur, he had to get rid of this Sigil and get off as soon as possible. Just as the Colossus was about to pitch its arm back once more, he plunged his blade into the glowing mark. To his relief, the symbol vanished in a spray of black blood, but now he had a new problem: he now could not pry himself off. The blood, which up to this point had been so helpful in keeping him on the Colossi, was now working against him.

The Colossus kept swinging its arm back and forth, desperately trying to pitch Wander off, each time causing his head to rattle around. Finally, he managed to get one arm free, and pushed against the beast's skin, using it as leverage to pop himself off. With a riiiip that caused a patch of fur to come loose along with himself, he was free, dropping to the floor, more than a little disoriented from being tossed around so much.

He stumbled back to his hiding place to regain his bearings and recuperate for a second. A second was all the Colossus was going to give him, though, as it knelt down again, its beard brushing the ground, and after a few seconds of finding nothing, gave the pillars a smack with the back of its right hand to coax Wander out.

With little choice, lest a repeated pounding actually bring the cave ceiling down on his head, Wander ran for the Colossus's beard and jumped onto it, beginning to climb it. The Colossus stood up to its full height as it felt the human in its beard, but was too late to do anything to stop Wander as he jumped from the facial hair to its equally furry chest, and climbing to its head from there.

Wander had been dead on the mark when he predicted that the monster's last Sigil would be on its head, for as he got close, it lit up like a blue bonfire in reply to the Ancient Sword's presence. He did note that this Sigil was canted slightly to the left, but for what reason, he couldn't say. He got into position and readied his blade for a strike, but before he could land the stab, the dipped its head down and tossed it back with great force.

Wander was thrown about, but he just held on, even through the flip-flops his stomach was doing. Not allowing the creature to try that again, he stabbed his blade into the Sigil. An eruption of black blood came out of the wound, utterly coating him in the stuff.

Now desperate to knock Wander off it, the Colossus shook its head from side to side, but Wander was not even budged by this. He merely rammed his blade into the creature's skull yet again, causing another jet of black blood to spurt out.

With enormous effort, he pulled himself out of the tangled, blood-soaked silver fur, standing and making his way across the creature's hunched shoulders to get to its back. The Colossus shook its shoulders like one would to rid themselves of a fly, but this only knocked Wander off his feet, and he immediately righted himself, anyway.

He climbed down the beast's back as it stomped around. The Sigil was located near the beast's waist, but he was still over forty feet off the ground. One slip and he would fall a distance that would (if he was lucky) break his legs. If he wasn't lucky... Gritting his teeth, he stabbed the Sigil once, and again, was covered in black, inky blood. The Colossus roared in agony, tossing its upper body side-to-side, but it was futile. Wander plunged his blade into the Sigil for the final time.

With a gurgling gasp of pain, the Colossus pitched forward, collapsing, Wander holding on for dear life. Knowing that running was pointless, he simply let the black tendrils stab into him. Only one thought ran through his mind as darkness claimed him, ringing loud and clear with sick satisfaction: Ten more to go.


A/N: While I did find the 'Boon of the Nomad' cave in the process of writing this chapter, it's simply too far off the beaten path for Wander to think to look for it. In other words, its chances of showing up in this story are basically zero. Sorry about that. :/ Now, for something far more important, I am going to attempt something next chapter that might blow up in my face, depending on how good Xing's unicoding skills are. And given how fuckin' glitchy this site is normally... well, I don't have high hopes it won't turn the chapter into a jumbled mess of HTML text when I post it. If that happens, please let me know, via either PM or review. Until then, I say to you all... Tribal Aztec, and have a good day. (Just watch the videos, you'll understand the joke then).