Title: Tamers of the Colossus

Song: The Mystic's Dream, by Loreena McKennitt

Author: UltimatePalmTree

Pairing: Possible OC/OC. Don't know yet for sure.

Fandom: Shadow of the Colossus

Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy

Warnings: Violence, death/dying/killing, possible torture, but nothing graphic.

Distribution: No. Nothing. You cannot distribute it without my say-so. I'm sorry, but I like to know where my crap ends up.

Summary: Possible AUPre-Game Before Wander, there were sixteen others who came and went to the Cursed and Forbidden Lands. Not to kill them, mind you, but to tame the beasts.

Authoress' Notes: Most of the time, this will be centered on Phaedra, Hydrus and Avion's tamers (my three favorite Colossi ever). Inspired by playing the game for three hours straight and questioning who Dormin and the Colossi are. 'Nuff said, methinks. Most of the time, this will be centered on Phaedra, Hydrus and Avion's tamers (my three favorite Colossi ever). Don't own Shadow of the Colossus.

Chapter Five

The Grim of the Lizard

Half of the time the tamers inhabited the land, they never came across one another. The reason was, simply put, that the realm they were in was extremely vast. They almost never found each other, and even rarer found themselves in the same place twice in one week. A tamer would find a place that would catch his or her eye, and decide to check it out later when he or she had more time. After all, the catacombs and tunnels snaking through the land were extremely long and sometimes hazardous. Then, about a month later, they'd find the place again (usually on accident) and check it out regardless of how much time they actually had. This was how Umbra had managed to find his coliseum, and how Avis had managed to find Umbra.

Avis knew it wasn't too intelligent to go running around potentially dangerous ruins when he couldn't move his torso all the way and his arm movement was limited. But there were just some days where you didn't feel like listening to the nagging voice in your head telling you to turn back. And this was one of those days. Avis also felt a distinct notion that something was going to go wrong today. His network of senses was on high alert, causing him to jump if a small stone clattered to the floor behind him.

As he proceeded, he finally found a way out. Possibly to the outside world again, but no guarantees. After a year or so in the realm they were in, they had learned that just about any path led to just about anywhere. Avis finally found himself looking at an alabaster white wall with a grated window on the other side of his own. Down about five or six floors was a small circle of grass. This was a coliseum, something where the ancient civilization that lived here came to watch the games and sports. Must've been dangerous… Every floor had grated windows. Big, too…

He paused a second in his thoughts, then looked down again. Lying down there on the side of the grassy field was something, something that looked very much dead. Avis inhaled sharply; he could take heights and sudden drops and dips and dives, but he couldn't bear to see anything dead. Especially when the something looked vaguely human.

He took a deep breath, and beyond his better judgment, started down the extremely long stairs all the way to the bottom. When he got there, he went to one of the four staircases, attempting to keep his mind on something other than the possibility of a dead thing. He tried to think of what went on in this arena at one point, but that didn't help much for fairly obvious reasons.

Upon further examination, it was, in fact, a human. Avis stepped backwards from the human on the ground; a moment's waiting told him this human was still alive. The shallow breathing seemed to tell him that was definite. Avis approached the human, unsure of what he was doing. What'd Bellator do in this sort of situation? He kept wondering. Probably some weird herb crap. He bent down and apprehensively touched the person, poking him in the ribs with a finger. Surprisingly, the boy reacted by swatting lamely at his hand and opening his eyes, staring blearily up at Avis.

Something finally clicked in Avis' head. "Umbra?" he muttered. "The heck's wrong with you?" He noticed Umbra starting to shut his eyes again, and Avis snapped his fingers two inches away from the other boy's nose. "Umbra, stay with me here," Avis ordered.

"I'm awake," he muttered, not sounding at all convincing. Avis was visibly shaking now; he was genuinely scared for Umbra's health. He figured he could take Umbra back to Bellator and Phaedra if he flew fast enough. He decided this was the best option out of all the others, including leaving him to die. Avis gripped Umbra's wrists and pulled his torso off of the ground before hauling the lizard tamer onto his back.

"Let's get you out of here," Avis nodded. Suddenly, there was a sharp sting at his lower forearm, as if someone had cut him with a knife. He hissed in pain and examined his left wrist. Something, like a black octopus' tentacle, was pulsating and was coming from Umbra's wrist to entwine itself around Avis', like a snake. Avis screamed, and abruptly dropped Umbra. He was now even more scared of the thing around his wrist, and he was keen on getting it off. He leapt backwards, but the thing still remained, connecting them like some sort of rope. He yelled again, shaking his wrist.

Almost as suddenly as it had come, the 'rope' between them snapped. One part stayed wrapped around Umbra's wrist. The other half, though, was cutting into Avis'. He hissed as it penetrated through his skin and dropped down to his knees, clutching his arm to his chest. Pain slowly twisted through his body, reminding him of when he had freed Avion. Pain enveloped his senses almost completely.

Why I say 'almost completely' is because something in his brain didn't switch off when the ache took over the rest of him. Suddenly, in the deathly silence, a stone clattered down from a higher level. Avis wrenched his gaze from the 'snake' and looked up at the side of the coliseum. Something told him to get out of there now. Without hesitating, the bird colossus tamer ran up the nearest set of stairs and hid behind the staircase, still clutching at his wrist.

Small pebbles clattered as something or someone made its way down the stairs above him. He could hear the tapping of some sort of hard material against the stone steps. At the moment when the footsteps were most prominent, he seized up and stopped all motion. Until he was sure whatever it was went away, he crawled out of his hiding spot, watching the drama and pathos unfolding before him in the coliseum.

A boy, standing at exactly six-foot-eight, was walking with his arms outstretched. Wrapped around his arms were sorcerer's bracelets: left was covered in blood red and right was covered in dark blue. Grandis… he thought. He stood up slightly to watch the scene before him, eyes widening as the Sixteenth Tamer approached Umbra. Grandis didn't seem to notice him watching them. He withdrew a knife—must've been about a foot long—and twirled it slightly. Don't you dare Avis thought angrily.

What Avis had feared would happen did. Grandis took the knife and plunged it into Umbra's heaving side. He made a strangled squeak as he stood up fully, and tore up the stairs, not caring if Grandis heard him. He needed to talk to Marinus.

"Wait, you said he killed Umbra?" Marinus asked, shaking his head.

"Yes! I saw the knife go in and everything!" Avis said. He was still shaking and was impressed he didn't fall off during the flight back to the lake. "But why would he do it? From what I remember, Grandis was really nice before… Now he's a knife-wielding murderer; where the heck did he even get the knives!"

"Avis?" Marinus interjected, but the other tamer wouldn't listen.

"I mean, I don't think he has knifes. Wouldn't we know if he had knives? It looked very well-crafted, too. Not the stone knives I make; but the ones back in our village…"

"Avis! Shut up and calm down," Marinus said, glaring at his friend. He paused for a minute before saying, "You really need to learn to control yourself; you can be so hysterical sometimes,"

"Wouldn't you be if you just saw someone murdered in front of you?"

"I'm not saying that I wouldn't be. I'm just saying you need to calm down," Marinus said. "Geez… Flighty takes on a whole new meaning with you air-breathers,"

"Shut up," Avis muttered. "Just shut it. I'm not in the mood for your sarcasm,"

"Sarcasm?" Marinus drew back. "I'm only trying to calm you down. Alright. Other subject matter. Anything else weird happen in the last week?"

"Attempted murder," Avis muttered. "Candor tried to kill me,"

"Candor. That lion tamer, yes?"

"Yeah. Him. I went to see him and he nearly ripped my head off. Literally,"

"Alright. That makes two attacks that I know of," Marinus nodded. "You're absolutely right; they're definitely changing,"

"Told you,"

Marinus thought for a second. "You reckon something really bad will happen? Like war or something equally as horrific,"

"If so, I'm gonna be one of the first people actually fighting them off; trust me. They're gonna have a really hard time hitting a flying target,"

"This is kind of a stupid question, Recanto, but do you think a tamer could ride another's colossus?"

Recanto looked up from the arrowhead he was failing to tie onto the stick with the golden hawk feather tied to the other end. "Like if you could ride Basaran or Harena could ride Phalanx?"

"Exactly," Velivolus nodded. "You think so, Harena?"

The other boy (a sandy-haired sixteen-year-old with black roots and tips) looked up from the head of the massive sand dragon he was petting and cocked his head, carefully deciding. Finally, he nodded and went back to petting his sand dragon, Dirge. "We could try it out!" Velivolus offered. "Like Recanto could try to ride Phalanx, or something! Well? You think so?"

Recanto thought for a second and finally nodded. "Sure, whatever," The three friends exited Harena's cave, Velivolus raising her hands so as to call Phalanx down. A few minutes later, the dragon swooped down, using his stone wings to hover a few feet above the ground. Recanto grasped one of the wing's ridges and clambered up to the head of the creature. Almost instantaneously, the massive creature went into a near-vertical climb, scaring Recanto out of his wits. The next few minutes were all a blur of a color wheel of scenery: yellow-green for the ground and blue for the sky. Just as suddenly as it had climbed into the air, it dropped out of the sky. The tortoise colossus held on for dear life as he plummeted downwards. The dragon evened out a few feet above the ground, letting Recanto jump off, rolling onto his back as he fell and rolled a few feet.

Velivolus and Harena were by him in an instant. "You alright?" Velivolus asked, bending down.

Recanto nodded uncertainly, stood up and raced behind a boulder, retching and coughing. "I take that as a no to both of your questions, Velivolus," Harena said in a serious tone before going back to his cave.

Author's Notes:

Characters So Far

Quadratus (bull): Magnus (female)

Gaius (knight): Veritas (male)

Phaedra (horse): Bellator (male)

Avion (bird): Avis (male)

Hydrus (eel): Marinus (male)

Kuromori (lizard): Umbra (male)

Dirge (sand snake): Harena (male)

Phalanx (dragon): Velivolus (female)

Cenobia (lion): Candor (male)

Malus (sorcerer): Grandis (male)

Alright. Fifth chapter is finally up. I'm actually quite happy by the way it turned out. Also, I need to say one thing: thank you to my friend, Crepusculum Flos for the title for this chapter. So, I have a week off, meaning I'll be able to get the sixth and (possibly) seventh chapter up during the week. I hope I'll be able to write something in the space of a week; if I don't have any chapters up for a week off, there's really no excuse…

So, anyway. Responses to reviews. Once again, thank you a thousand times over.

Specter Von Baren: Yup, turns out you were right about Umbra. Only to get a knife in his side, huh? But yes, Grandis is the tamer for the Tower. It's funny; they call it a 'sorcerer', which is why I made Grandis a sorcerer. My friend thinks he's a man in a skirt. As for Umbra, Dormin is starting to slowly take over…

Mr. Grae: I'll definitely see what I can do about strategic placement. I was planning on having the final battle in the main field, so war will definitely rage. Yes, I hope you won't be disappointed.

So, this was the fifth chapter. Things are starting to get slightly more interesting, ne? I hope so; this was also a pretty hard chapter to write. The first three just flowed out like nothing, and then the fourth one came along, and… massive writer's block.

'Tis about all I have to say for now. I hope you'll join me in the sixth chapter and beyond for this story; I'm really having a lot of fun writing this! See you next time!