Hold on!" Targon cried as the little fleet emerged from the underground river system. "The rapids fast approach, hold onto your coracles!"
Blinding by the gleaming sun, Rei only was barely able to comprehend the jutting rocks that stuck out of the swift-moving downward river before the Company plunged down into the desert.
It was only jolting and crushing force for the longest time, not knowing whether the boat had been ruined or damaged, high sprays of water-foam blocking out the sun, and Targon crying out directions that were barely audible. Iscan wildly steered the boat, and how the others fared Rei did not know.
After an eternity of terror, the waters steadied, and Rei was able to look around at the surrounding lands. Behind them, the mountains stood proud, the fastness of Logaria being in them. Down the Sereghir was the debatable and desert land of Old Nuria, without even a dead tree or bold stone to lessen the dreariness. Further to the south was the dark forest of Taur-I-Ndeadelos, the northern eaves barely visible in the misty horizon.
After everyone had celebrated the successful navigation of the rapids, and (although the boat that Laventon and Adaman were sharing was somewhat battered) the unscathed nature of the journey as well. Relieved to be out of the black cave, the Company continued south in high spirits.
Hours passed, and they turned into days. Adaman told the rest of the Lay of Hisui, and the Logarians had shared their own tales. The boats were getting a bit cramped, however, and the surroundings became more and more grim. The wastes approached, and the river wound through a spot of half-desert, sparse with vegetation and Pokémon. The the west dismal wolds and brown hills reared, and to the east desert stretched for endless leagues, created by the rain-shadow of the Ered Nicse.
After a week had passed, night fell once more in the depths of the desert. The only vegetation that now grew was seen about the sides of the Sereghir, and even then it was stunted by the lacking soil. The Company made camp by the east bank of the river, under the guard of a great stone statue, a king of Nuria of old.
Berothrim was looking at the statue when Rei came by, and he suddenly burst into verse.
"I once met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said, "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand,
And near them, on the sand, half-sunk, a shattered visage lies,
Whose leer, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell its sculptor well well those passions read,
Which yet survive, only stamped on these lifeless things."
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
No thing remains round the decay,
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Berothrim finished his poem and fell silent.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Rei asked, his Typhlosion just as puzzled. "Did such a fate befall the Nurians?"
"Yea," Berothrim said. "They esteemed themselves to be mighty, but not as a gift of the Original One. This tale details such a fall of mighty men who put themselves above He Who Is Above All. But I shant always bore you with tales of fallen kingdoms and lords whose memory has long faded into the grass, leaving only these tall idols to be ravaged by the decays of time."
Night fell, and the Company went to sleep once more.
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Rei awoke to rustling, and harsh voices outside the camp.
"Arrr!" One being said, a unnatural, guttural growing sound. "Look at what we has found! Come'ere lads, we found ourselves a passel of travellers!"
"Good canaglia, I'll warrant." Another said, this one insectoid and high-pitched. "Maybe we should take 'em in with th' nest o' Trapinch we found a mile back? The Dark Lord needs more soldiery, in case you forgot."
"Garn! I'm too tired. I ain't had nothin' but maggoty bread for three stinkin' days!" The first voice said. "Let's go back to th' raft and get a spot of rest before we bushwack these tarkul. And keep your voices down, rats! That's an order!"
"Oi!" A third voice growled, sounding almost like a grinding saw. "Don't you lads remember that we're at war, or at least are gonna be?! This is the last sweep of th' lands we are doing before we march back to destroy Atun-Kaah in th' battle! We are the fighting urkil! We don't care for sleep or hunger! What of the night?! Do you not remember where we awoken, in the subterranean heats and slimy darkness? The night is our home!"
Rei knew what was outside the camp, the thought appearing, and then escalating further and further, fear rising to choke him.
Half-men!
The soldiery of the Enemy was outside the camp, and they were going to take them all to Dor Daedeloth! Maybe the others were awake, and read to fight. Ever so slightly, Rei grasped the hilt of his dagger, and hit Adaman in the leg.
The warrior stirred, but only went to a lighter sleep. Rei was going to hit him again, but he realized that the half-men had fallen silent. A shadowy hand was reaching for the leather tent flap...
"ARRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Rei bellowed, and thrust his dagger upward with all the strength he had. The blade went deep into the vitals of the creature, and it gave a cry as it flew back into the sands, black lifeblood pouring out the sides of its mortal wound.
The other two half-men roared, and drew crooked blades of black iron. Rei sent out Typhlosion, and the big Pokémon grabbed both of the creatures by the neck, snapped them so hard the heads were twisted backwards, and crushed the bodies into the ground, every bone broken.
Rei was about to wake up the others, but a scaly hand clamped around his mouth.
"Got you now, little tarkul! I know all about you and your Capture Balls...put the Pokémon back-"
A swish of air coming from behind, and the hand dropped from Rei's mouth, the half-man pitching over, taking Rei with him. Rei could see the half-man's legs writhing, and then they twitched, and fell still.
Iscan had crushed in the skull of the half-man with his Kleavor, and the warrior helped Rei up. Cyllene came out with Akari, holding a lantern. In the light of the fire, Rei got a clear look at the creatures that he had fought, and he would never forget it.
They were not Pokémon with mannish characteristics, or a equal, randomized combination of both. Rather, they were men with parts of Pokémon hammered into them as if a crude-fingered craftsmen made a sculpture. One had a mans body, but the eyes of a Yanmega, with insectoid pincers about his mouth. The two that Typhlosion had slain looked like crosses between a Seismitoad, bulges all across their bodies and with broad, flat foreheads. The one that was holding Rei looked very humanoid, but with the chitinous, scaled hide of a Sandshrew. All had hideous, sloped dark-skinned faces, and eyes that resembled burning coals, the echoes of hate still present in the dull sclera.
Berothrim and Artherim saw them, and exchanged a grave look.
"These lands are being patrolled by the slaves of the Enemy. There were four, but such demons travel in packs. There may be over a hundred nearby, and I daresay that most had seen us by now. Begin packing at once, if you value your life."
Once the tents were hurriedly packed, the Company untethered and boarded the boats, beginning to travel further down the Sereghir.
Berothrim looked at Rei's black-stained dagger. "Well done, young master! The blades of Hisui cut deep. You have taken your orkil, and may it not be your last. Even I rarely encounter such creatures, as I am a man of the sea." The admiral picked up the pace of his rowing, and then fell silence.
Whoosh! Arrows wined, and split against the sides of the coracols. Across the river, Rei could see the dull glow of yellow eyes before Adaman pulled him down with a rough shove. The Company paddled like mad, the night-eyes of the half-men giving them the advantage as more poisoned darts rained down. To Rei, the seeking stream of arrows sounded like "Where-are-you-where-are-you-where-are-you-SNAP!"
Rei almost believed they had made it when the river widened, placing the Company out of bowshot. But then...
Luciferonus Rofocale had not been idle.
He was of a order of being even higher than the Ba-al Enamorus, a demon second only to the Enemy himself. Long ago had he attained the ability to walk the physical spheres with ease, as to contest with his foes in manly combat. Seeing that his quarry were now confused, and his own demons preoccupying the Host of Heaven, Lucius swept in on his great flying steed, born in the volcanoes of Dor Daedeloth.
What he rode, Rei did not know afterward. Perhaps it was some Pokémon of Elder Days, long outstaying its time, breeding one last untimely eyrie under moonlit hollows before its final demise. Without feather it was, and in the likeness of a dragon, with two wings bearing sharp tips, and the face like the great lizards that once walked the earth. This brood, nursed on fell meats and increased in power by wickedness and sorcery, still retained its cry of; "AERODACTYL! AERODACTYL!"
Lucius espied his prey, swooping in for the kill, the black shadow of death following him. He drew a pale blade, and readied it to strike Berothrim down.
A shot of a bow sounded, one that was not of the half-men that hurriedly pursued the Company. The glimmering dart rode on the wind, up, up, up, piercing the heart of the creature that bore down upon the fleet of boats.
The Aerodactyl gave a death-cry, fleeing on swift wing, and then vanishing into the north to die, Lucius deserting it in its ruin. The half-men qualied, and the threat passed. The invisible Heavenly Host slew the last of the demons, and all was still.
Lian and Iscan saw about a score of warriors on the far side of the bank, where the arrow of rescue had come from. They wore a raiment of blue linen, and bore fair blades. The foremost of them had a red jewel upon his brow, and held in his hands a longbow. The group passed away in the hills from whence they came, and Rei would never see any more of their kind again.
The Company did not know of the remnant of Nuria, and the eventual rise of the nation of Aredia. The red jewel would have its part to play in far future years, eventually reaching the pinnacle of its fate in the hands of a very certain trainer.
Winded from their flight, the Company did not rest through the dark, only taking a break in paddling upon the breaking of day, which all half-men feared. The desert was nearly spent, and in only a few days time, the forest would be reached.
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Akari was almost hyperactive when discussing the events of the last night.
"Can you believe what those things look like?! I dread to think that we may face more of them. Rei told us that they said that they were going to destroy Atun-Kaah in a while! Do you think this is true? And what was that flying beast? And who were those men that slew it?! Are the servants of the Enemy after us because we are going to Beulah?"
"Hold your tongue, Young Mistress!" Adaman said. "Such questions will be answered in time, I am sure of that. Although I do wonder what we will find in the forest, and where this Beulah lies. And what is it like, I wonder? I do hope we find it, the peril of the world is upon our shoulders. What a weary burden!"
"I am more concerned with what was riding that creature," Iscan said. "I believe that the Aredians, if those men are the remnant of Nuria, only slew the steed. A noble act, but the rider will soon be horsed again. Perhaps we should look to the skies as well as the land.
Over two nights later, green things began to appear in plains and meadows about the Sereghir. The eaves of the great forest were very close now, so close that the details of the trees could vaguely be seen through Lian's spy-glasses on a clear part of the day.
It was soon that the forest finally reached the Company, and the Sereghir reached the last part of its course. Soon, it would become a mere tributary to the Great River Barandiun, one which went into the sea. The Company had been instructed to not ride that river at any cost, for the tales that seldom returned from the frontier told that it was incredible dangerous, and infested with Gyarados.
The forest was oppressive, with the tree making a suffocating roof that covered all but the widest parts of the river. There was little wind to be had, and animals were seldom, although Rei could feel a distinct presence of Pokémon. These were a unfriendly kind, but they would not be a trouble unless the Company strayed from the river.
Sneasler caught two black squirrels, but they were horrible-tasting. Only the small fish that wriggled through the mud-choked bottom of the river could provide some meat, as the company had only well-preserved bread, apples, hardtack, and a water-skin of Bounsweet-sugar water at this point.
Only a night from the mouth of the Sereghir, rain, great, rushing torrents of thunder-filled rain, came from nowhere. Targon had read the signs, and the weather was supposed to be completely clear.
"I do not understand this!" Targon cried, as the Company made camp under a great oak tree. "The leaves had not wilted, the flowers had not closed. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and last nights sun-set, for what we could see of it, was yellow of hue, not red. Some other power than of nature causes this rain..."
Over the forest, two shapes appeared, muscular and borne upon clouds.
They had put aside their eternal rivalry to do the bidding of their master, for a time. Soon, the Host of Heaven would see them, and Cobalion already felt their presence. But they were empowered by the Evil Djinn, and in those days they were far stronger now than at the time of the second battle of the Heroes of Truth and Ideals over two millennium later.
Tornadus and Thunderous saw the Company's encampment, and split the oak tree that they sat under with a bolt of thunder, shattering it into small fragments. The Forces of Nature readied for another blow.
Crash! Krioni and Latios rushed at the two, distracting them for a time. Undaunted, Thunderous smote Latios down and contested with Virizion and Latias, and Tornadus issued a challenge to Cobalion.
"Master of Iron Will! You slew the great Ba-al Enamorus only a season ago, one of our kin! Prepare for battle, and to feel your very soul being carried far away, into the houses of mourning, where you will wither under the power of the Enemy, naked in the dark, your body feed for worms! Huzzah!"
To the Company it appeared as though Tornadus and Thunderous were fighting invisible enemies, receiving wounds and giving them. The Forces of Nature were also flickering in and out of the Spirit World, sometimes one place, sometimes another.
"You three!" Targon cried, pointing at Lian, Cyllene, and Akari. "Pray to the Original One, so that you may rebuke those two elohim! Anyone left is to fight, and aid me in my next endeavor..."
Targon sat crossed legged, whispering muttered prayers under his breath. He soon started to convulse, and Iscan and Adaman steadied him. The Pokémon of the Company tried to attack the Forces of Nature the best they could, to little avail.
"What is Targon doing?" Rei asked Berothrim. "Is he appealing to his own God to defeat these two? Then we shall surely perish!"
"Nay, Young Master!" Berothrim answered. "He is appealing to the greatest rival of these elohim that you now see. He is calling for aid from the only one of the four Forces of Nature that did not fall to the Shadow! The one we seek is the great mediator, the friendly Lord of Abundance, the great Landorus!"
In the spirit realm, the battle was not going well. The Forces of Nature, few as they were, simply were able to evenly match all the Heavenly Host. Thunderous had already banished Usiu, and Cobalion could only defend himself against Tornadus. The dark aura of both the demons lessened the power of the Heavenly Host, and the tide was turning against the Forces of Light.
Then Targon opened his eyes, and the heavens burst open.
Landorus came from the air above, and put a hand over the faces of Tornadus and Thunderous. The two wicked Forces of Nature wildly resisted, but they were pulled into the distance, howling and sending bolts of thunder all about, and then they disappeared into the clouds, the Heavenly Host on their heels.
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The rain continued without pause. Having evaded another threat, the Golden Company took shelter in the eaves of the forest, the nearby deltas of the river Sereghir splitting off about its length, flowing into the great river Barandiun, and from there on, to the sea.
In a clearing, Rei noticed a wall of crystal rain-glass, dripping downward from the boughs of the trees. Beyond it, nothing could be seen except a faint impression of great trees.
And then Rei heard the singing.
It lured him toward the clearing with its melody and faint symposium. It made Rei feel like a traveller who has been gone from home for a very long time, and finally is about to see his hometown again, but still needs to clear just one more hill to view it.
Once Rei reached the rain-curtain, and stuck his hand through the rain. Surprisingly, his hand felt very warm, as if sunlight was streaming down on it, without any hint of wetness from rain.
Rei stuck his head through the rain, to see what he thought would be a clearing.
Green hills. Clear skies. Hallowed, crystal waters. Clouds as white and fine as Swanna down. Trees bearing fruits, with leaves for the healing of the nations. Stretching on, on, on, and on, the glory and beauty without any seeming end.
The quest had not failed. Beulah had been found at last.