Chapter 5:Journey Through The Wild Pt2
There was no time to waste, he needed to be up at the crack of dawn to move. Asher was already up and rolling his blanket up to get it on his back, he decided to keep the wolf fur cover. He snuffed out the campfire so it could not be used without some repairs, slow down potential pursuers. He folded up the blanket, put away the knife, and tied the cover around his body. As for the wolf head effigies he laid out last night, he decided that they would remain at the abandoned camp sight.
He took a good look at the river that still shimmered from the light of the approaching sun. The new dawn was his, it meant more than just a new day, it meant a new start for him. Asher was officially on his own, yesterday was where it ended for him and his time with the Alphas. His time was now, and he needed to seek out his own destiny, something he's desire this whole time. To fulfill the wish of his sister, and to find her as a part of his own path, for the sake of her, and himself.
With that, he pulled out the small vial of honey he collected yesterday, and opened it up. Like a shot, he down the honey as quickly as he could to get a sweet rush of energy from it's natural sugar. This gave him all the pep he needed to get going on his travels once again.
So there was no point in standing around to admire the looks of the crystal clear river. He quickly got moving once more, following the river down the stretch of plain between two forests. Once he got to the other section of forestry, then he needed to make a sharp left to the north. And withing several hours, he'd be able to spot Warfang from one the great mountains around the territory. This helped him to get some excitement and spirit in his walk by the river side, all was quiet.
It was just him and the rushing waters at his ears making his walk calm and tranquil. Nothing but his memories and the river's enchanting rapids kept his mind occupied on the walk. It was the same old same old, wondering what has become of Cynder now that Malefor was gone. Was she happy now with the legendary Spyro, and was he taking good care of her? Just more and more questions poured into his mind, and he needed them all to be answered on this journey.
Suddenly, after mere moments of walking by the riverside without any disturbance. He then heard something, a rumbling of sorts, as if rocks were rollings and bouncing off the ground. It could be thought of as rolling thunder, or swirling tides at the edge of the shoreline beyond the forest. He look to his left, and he saw a great rise of dust and dirt at first, but it was so much more. He watched the dirt storm coming towards him, it slowly started to make the ground tremble from under him.
It was then that Asher was able to focus much closer and make out the cause of the dirt cloud. It was a pack of wild horses, one was clearly a pitch black stallion as it raced next to a pure white mare. Asher watched and lifted his arm to shield his face, not knowing how the horses would react to him. He closed his eyes and braced as the dirt approached him, and began to pelt his body. He waited, feeling the rumbling approach of the wild horse herd, wondering what to expect.
He waited, letting the dirt ripple and stain against his garment as the rumbling stopped. It was very abrupt, and sudden, as if the horses were coming over just for the sake of seeing the dragon. The dirt took a moment to settle, before Asher lowered his arm to see the herd standing before him. Their shiny marble like eyes of black were then on him, curiosity could be made out on their faces. Asher remained silent, letting the horses investigate him a bit before they dare to trust him.
The mare was the first one to approach the dragon, she stepped lightly towards him. Slowly, she sputtered and tilted her head while Asher simply raised an arm in a presenting fashion. This signified peace and allowing them to pass by, the mare bowed, and the horses that she and her mate lead trotted. Passing by the dragon casually so that they would all get a much needed drink. The stallion then came forth and stood by it's mate, while Asher then noticed an issue with the horses.
"You and your herd have gone at least a couple days without food… Yet you have not wavered,"Asher assessed by noticing their ribs were looking a bit noticeable through their large bodies,"If it's food you seek, you'll find healthy plant life at the edge of the forest."
Asher spoke with the horses, and pointed out the other side of the forests. He then waited until the other horses finished drinking, and the two lead horses got themselves a long cold drink as well. Then he offered some information to ensure that the herd's travels would be safe.
"I slaughtered a pack of wolves to the west side of the plains. You should be safe,"Asher explained further just as the two finished their drink of water and turned back to him,"I have to go to the edge of the trees before going north, I can escort the herd if you both wish?"
The two horses looked to each other, leaders needed to address each other before deciding for the herd. After a minute of thought, the two looked back to the dragon and lightly whinnied. Before walking to their herd and alarming them with louder neighs to get the herd ready to move. But they then looked back to Asher, and gestured him to take the lead, so the dragon got his answer.
He then backed up his promise by running across the rest of the plain with the herd right behind him. He hoped that the horses could keep up, seeing as Asher had yet to lose a foot race with any one or anything. So he at least slowed down a bit to make sure the horses kept up with him. The wind whipping and passing around his coat and hood, it had to feel the same as the wind going through their manes. They neighed and went full speed to close the distance between them and Asher.
The dragon smirked and accepted the challenge of a race to the forest edge, so he went one more notch faster. Going twice the speed as some of the swiftest ponies, or even the fastest of predators. The horses still manage to keep up, but just barely, as they continued on to the forest. And after ten long minutes of non stop running across the field, they arrived to the forest at long last. Asher stopped after a quick and hard grind in the dirt, before he then looked to the edge of the new woodland.
The dragon then looked back and saw the horses arrive just a moment later. They simply slowed to a walk, and came up from behind the dragon to look at the edge of the woods. There was plant life in every directions, tall grass, healthy plants, wild berries, and even flowers with nectar filled centers. The temptation was too much, and the horses went by Asher and started to feast on the plant life. There was next to no restraint for them, while Asher stood there with some level of satisfaction.
He watched them fill their empty bellies for the long trip they had ahead of them, much like himself. It made Asher feel a bit better for being a warm blooded merc that got dumped on occasionally for having a heart. He was going to calmly leave without needing any sort of gift in return. But he then saw the stallion stop eating for a moment and pick something out of the trees. It turned around, and showed a strange blue crystal that was impressively large and shiny in it's mouth.
"Huh…? A crystal…? I haven't seen one of these in quite a while,"Asher admitted while the stallion carried it over and dropped it to Asher's feet,"I heard these things are able to grant dragon's extraordinary abilities and unlock their true potential…! Thanks."
Asher slowly took up the crystal and bowed to the horse, and the horse bowed back. Before he then returned to it's mare's side and continued eating, leaving Asher to his own journey. But first he needed to assess the crystal, and find out if what he learned about it was actually true. He bit at the crystal and shook it in both of his claws, wondering how he could get it to work. He then attempted to squeeze it, perhaps let his abilities trigger it, and boy was he right on that third guess.
Using all his physical abilities, he squeezed it by wrapping his arms around it, rattling with speed to get some sort of reaction. And by doing so, the crystal then began to glow like a lit up lantern. He kept on squeezing, hoping for a bit more, and that's when the crystal responded to the dragon. It suddenly shattered, allowing shards to fly all around him, allowing a great energy to be unleashed. The shards were like planets surrounding him like he was the sun, he marveled at the occurrence.
Before the shards then turned to energy, and all the crystals power shot right into him. It was like lightning rumbled and flowed into his chest and forehead, it burned a bit at first, but it then turned into a great rush. His adrenaline kicked in, and he was roaring from a sudden burst of power within his body. It was like a door opened, and new found strength was spreading through him. His claws clenched into fists as his arms and legs pumped up with muscle, the veins could even be seen.
And this time, the veins even began to glow deep red through the black scales of the dragon. Before the energy quickly stopped flowing as fast as it first happened, he fell to one knee. His body smoldered and steamed from the burst of magic and power, it made him tremble. His head lowered, looking at the pulsing muscle with glowing red veins shimmering through. It looked like he was just put through the biggest stone furnace and nearly go cooked till he was medium well done.
He groaned and growled, looking to himself as his arms twitched from the shocking bulk. Only to then get spooked when his claws and arms erupted with a sudden array of blazing flames. His arms glowed fully red in an instant, as orange and yellow fires surrounded his limbs. They looked like they could easily reduce bones to dust and turn rocks to magma within seconds. His very grasp looked lethal to the touch, he stared wide eyed for the longest time, before he needed to cool down.
He started doing some deep breathing exercises, it was what he always used to bring down his bulk. And as always, it did the trick, as his bulging muscles slowly deflated, and the fires died down. This was surprising to watch, he expected something to happen to his physical prowess. But it turns out, the crystal felt his natural element of fire was a more important ability to improve. He could not argue with that, as he watched his limbs shrink down, and turn slender once again.
His fire element was weak to an honest degree, it took all his strength just to unleash a respectable flaming stream. So perhaps this new ability of lightning his body on fire for a burning touch was the answer to the issue. He checked the bracelet, making sure that it was not burned or scorched up. Other than his long coat's sleeves getting burned to ash, nothing else seemed damage. So there was nothing to worry about, and it was time for him to move on, the horses had the same idea.
The herd was already heading south, trotting towards a small route across the river without swimming. While Asher turned to the north, where he could see some mountains in the distance. That was where he needed to go next, this next stretch would be the last of his long walk. For he planned to fly up the mountain, and over it where he'd then be able to see the city of Warfang. He wasted no time getting a move on once again, his walk started out casual and slow to start.
This time however, the river's natural music would soon fade away from his mind. Now that he was departing away the river, all he had was the grass beneath his feet, and the thoughts in his mind. His obsession with finding his sister still remained, and he refuse to let it leave. As risky as it was to think of an obsession without tranquility of some sort to balance out his sanity. It at least carried him forth across the plain, as the sounds of the river faded away after ten minutes of walking.
At one point, he felt the urge to try and shut down the thoughts in his mind for peace. But they were so strong, they fought him to remain strong and on his mind on this journey. If not for the honey this morning, he swore he'd grow tired and maybe even start to gain a headache. The screams then returned, and he was forced to grab at his head and try to endure the screams. How much suffering did she go through, and what all did they do to her before Cynder submitted?
"Why the heck did Malefor not use me? Why seal me away and torture her?"Asher asked himself, once more he had a ton of questions without answers.
The only way they'd be answered was for him to get to Warfang, so close, yet so far. He needed o get to the mountain before he went crazy with questions and the old memories. After a small thought, he decided to just go for it, and run the rest of the way towards the mountain. He took off at his own desired speed, even when it risked him being tired and making him slow. And being slow during a flight up the mountain would be costly, but he finally ran out of patience.
So he took off, breaking speeds that rivaled that of old dragons specializing in speed. The wind would ripple through his hood, his eyes remained forward and braved the powerful winds. The mountain was getting a whole lot closer and closer, and at a much faster rate too. He remained strong, and took smooth but quick breaths while running to remain fast and controlled. But he could not help but spread his arms wide, and take in the rush of running at abnormal speeds.
But he still managed to remain in control, as he quickly approached the mountain side. His eyes sharpened, making sure he didn't forget to stop and smash face first into solid stone. He exhaled long and deep, and came to a grinding halt in the dirt he kicked up with his abrupt stop. Letting the dirt he carried pelt the side of the mountain, while he looked up to get a good view of it. The entire side of it was bright brown, it was pretty dirty even before he arrived, very rough and very bulgy with rocks.
It almost seemed a bit odd that the mountain was so massive and bulky, so many rocks oddly shaped against the mountain side. How the heck did erosion and time cause a mountain to get shaped into that? He did not know, and honestly, he did not care if that question remained as such. All he cared about was now flying up the side of the mountain to get to the top. So he took out his canteen, a bit of water would hydrate and get him going, even after the hard run across the plain.
Unfortunately it was the last of his water, so he needed to get moving and get to Warfang. No distractions, and no delays were allowed, or else he could easily dehydrate in the bright sun. So he made the water count and sprouted his wings to take flight, he planned to make a go for the ledge. And a quick walk over the top would guide him to the perfect view of what laid beyond the mountain. With Warfang so close, he jumped, and flew into the air as he then soared straight up the mountain.
He leaned and steered pass the rocks of the mountain, they were jagged and strange. But they only appeared to be a mere obstacle that he could easily fly by, they are just rocks after all. So it became quite the surprise when he noticed small rocks and pebbles were falling off the side. Other than a couple cracking apart against his forehead, they posed no real threat to his objective. So he kept on going up the side of the mountain, not noticing a rumble about the treacherous mountain.
Suddenly as he got half way up the mountain, a massive chunk of rock broke off. It then rolled and smashed right down the mountain side, and it was coming straight for Asher. Now this was getting weird and ridiculous, this time he decided to go through, barrel rolling would be risky. He'd have a chance of clipping his wing when he tried to maneuver around it, and he'd be going back down the mountain. Last thing he needed was to simply climb the mountain, and let it cost him another day.
So he curled a nice and tight right fist up, and aimed for the dead center of the boulder. His right arm pumped up, filling with extraordinary strength and bulk before he took a swing. He growled, and felt his fist start crushing and crumbling the very stone of the rock in two. He flew right through the rock as it split apart from his fist, he exhaled and waited for the dust to clear. Before looking back to see the rock pieces crumble and smash to pieces along the mountain side.
He shook his head and brushed aside the strange behavior of the mountain to focus. Only to finally feel the quaking grow and the mountain side under his belly suddenly crack apart. He then saw the rocks suddenly emerging all together in the forms of three giant and bulky fingers. His eyes widened, as an arm forced it's way out of the mountain with the three fingered hand. He followed the pattern that the arm lifted up from, and slowly began to look behind himself, then he could see it.
A massive back raised out from the mountain, tons upon tons erupted and flew outward. Dust masked the very ground below as another hand and arm pulled itself out of the stone. Both arms connected with the back and emerging torso that began straightening up and out. A growl rumbled the very air around the dragon as he then quickly tried to pick up the pace. He picked a good time to do so, for that was when a giant head began to emerge, and it nearly clipped his tail in the process.
He manage to out pace the sudden rise of a new foe that would stand in his way. He looked back, and saw red eye glimmer and become bright with sudden enchantments and power. A mouth then carved and formed, letting dust escape the corners of the forming jaws before they opened. Allowing a great mouth to roar at the sky, as a great creature revealed itself from under the ancient stone. It was a creature thought to have only been possible to be made by the dark master, Malefor.
Asher recognized it, a completely stone version of the monster Spyro and Cynder once defeated. A stone Earth golem, it's size was clearly not exaggerated from the tales he heard about them. And he would soon learn that the beasts aggression and chaotic nature were equally true. Once it was done roaring to the bright and shining sky, it's head slowly lowered and looked to the mountain. And there he saw the dragon flying upon it's resting place, daring to invade it's territory.
That was all the motivation it needed to deem him a tiny but annoying nuisance. And for this, he must be destroyed, it roared once more, and quaked the mountain as it slowly began to pursue the dragon. It's very hands stretched out wide and could easily make a grab for him, Asher needed to be fast and flexible. So he took quick glances to the monster, and then looked forward to focus. As he felt the creature's hands lunging and trying to crush him in their rocky grasp.
Asher barrel rolled to avoid the right hand, and nearly got his right wing crushed. Before the left hand slammed down in front of him, forcing the black dragon to speed up and fold his wings in. Allowing him to squeeze under a small crevice in the hand, and snake his way through two of it's fingers. This made the creature growl with annoyance, and continue it's pursuit. But now it knew there was no catching this slippery black fly, it could only be patient and chase it to an opportunistic spot.
It's three crab like legs finally manage to get free from the mountain, allowing for better traction. The golem could then move faster, following Asher up the side of the mountain. It even then found more options in which to try and destroy the dragon, the mountain itself could be a weapon. It exploited that by reaching so high that it was able to touch the ledge of the mountain top. Before swinging back and throwing a punch like a chained mace, smashing an avalanche of rocks off the mountain.
Asher felt the pressure rising as he saw numerous rocks and boulders descending from the peak. He furrowed his eyes and growled, as he watched the creature smash apart more of the mountain. Till a giant storm of stones came for him, this was going to be a bumpy and tight flight.
"You have got to be kidding me…! You stone faced piece of dirt…!"Asher growled and went full speed, preparing for some swift maneuvers through the stone avalanche.
He slipped through two stones before they slammed together, he weaved under a fast rolling rock. He spun several times to shred the small rocks and pebbles that would obscure his view. Before he needed to land on the mountain side and run up it for yet another tight squeeze under a massive boulder. He even had to dive down to his knees and slide, before he was just barely able to avoid the boulder. He felt it scratch his nose before it went over him and smashed into the mountain.
Asher quickly jumped up and started flying again, just in time to fly over some rolling stones. Before he felt the monster's hand try to grab for him, and crush against the mountain from behind. Asher almost lost his balance and flailed a bit before shooting up like an arrow and clearing a cluster of boulders. A small hole gave him the escape he needed through the cluster. Before he had finally shot over the edge of the mountain peak and stopped to regain control after the panic moment.
He flapped his wings and looked for a place to land on the peak, preferring to fight on solid ground. He had little time to be picky about it, since he then noticed an incoming fist. The creature emerged from the mess of rocks and roared as it threw a strong right hook at Asher. There was no time to dodge this one, not while he's stopped in mid air, he needed a second to take off again. So instead, he decided to trade blows in this one, and tightened a left fist to let his arm bulk up.
This fast action was costly, the sharp and fast bulk up squeezed his nerves and strained his bones. He roared as he drove his fist forward and felt it smash into the fist of the golem, His arm immediately went crazy and wild with vibration and shock through his entire limb. While the golem witnessed all three of it's fingers shatter into a cloud of gravel and pebbles. This sudden force left Asher's fist smoking while the golem shrieked and fell back and down the side of the mountain.
Asher gripped his arm and tried to breath, knowing that he was in quite a bit of trouble. His arm was buzzing, and he felt some of his fingers lose a bit of feeling, he needed to land somewhere. So he quickly flew down as quickly as he could, and landed on the rocky and grassy mountain top. He groaned and flexed his arm a bit, thankfully, it appeared that it only fell partially asleep. Something that could be fixed with some movements and a couple minutes of patience.
Unfortunately, he did not have such time, for his adversary was not finished with him. One hand slowly reached up, and gripped at the ledge, making the mountain tremble from it's strength. Before the golem peered over and saw Asher staring right back at him, holding his arm. An injured prey was just what a monster like this hoped for, as it slowly raised over the ledge. Letting it's size be shown while it's legs heaved it up and over the mountain ledge, allowing it to rise.
Even it's stump that was once it's right hand was used for leverage before it stood before the dragon. It's three legs gripped the mountain top firm as it looked down to Asher. This was a showdown now, he could try to run, but it would pursue him relentlessly all the way to Warfang. Last thing he needed was Warfang vilifying him for bringing yet another golem into their home. So there was no alternative here, he needed to fight, and hope that he could win against this ancient beast.
"Ok… Challenge accepted…!"Asher responded to a primal roar from the beast before it then made a move.
The golem reached for the dragon, hoping to crush him in his stone grip. Asher was quick to jump back and turn to his side to slip right through it's fingers, leaving it to grab and crush only rocks. Once he landed, he focused on the creature's head, heads were a go to target on larger monsters. So he ran for it's hand, and jumped on it like a flea ready to dig into it's host, but the golem was smarter than the average beast. It reared back and took a big inhale, as Asher went up it's arm.
He was then thwarted, as the golem roared, and unleashed a sudden wind tunnel of dirt and stones from it's jaws. This pelted and blinded Asher, allowing for the beast to whip his arm and throw Asher off. The black dragon tried to land it, but the golem kept up it's breath of pure earth. Blasting Asher out of control and drilling him into the grass and stone on his back. It felt like he was trapped in a sand storm, only there were pebbles pelting and stinging his body all over.
Thankfully, he manage to get his arms up and defend his face just as the golem made one big mistake. It started lowering it's head closer and closer to Asher, hoping to blast him clean through the mountain. But the cloudy dirt it attacked with obscured it's vision, but it's glowing eyes allowed Asher to see him. With that, the dragon tightened up his right fist and pumped himself up. His new target would be right between them two glowing red eyes the golem sported.
Slowly the dragon found a footing in the crater that formed around him, and forced himself up. His knees trembled and struggled to keep him up as he tried to spot the red eyes. He tightened his fist up, and made a desperate leap for a spot right between the eyes, thankfully he seemed to have made his mark. As his fist crushed right against it's rocky forehead, feeling it shatter around his knuckles. Just as the monster shrieked and instantly ceased his breath, and stumbled back.
It nearly teetered to the edge of the mountain, gripping a mortal looking injury in it's head. The forehead of the beast had been completely crushed and broken apart. Leaving what looked like a weak and dimly lit purple crystal blinking with light that was strangely weak. While Asher back stepped away from the force of the attack, only to almost go right over the ledge. Thankfully he grabbed at the ledge with his toe claws, he growled and hoisted himself away from the ledge before dropping to one knee.
He still had yet to get all feeling back into his left arm, and now he was winded. This monster was tough, walking the line between being smart, and just being a brute throwing his muscle around. It was even able to recover from the strong blow that exposed the inside of it's stone head. It stood tall and roared, while Asher took notice of it's strange crystal that shimmered with weak purple light. A weakness was the first thought that came to mind, but he needed a new approach rather than just rushing the golem.
Rushing the monster would just result in getting blown away and crashed against the rocks again. Thankfully, the monster seemed easy to bait into making some very bad moves. In fact, a plan was quick to form, and it was so simple, walk back to the other side of the mountain edge, and wait. Let the monster come to him after it rubbed it's head and stomped forward to approach him. Asher decided to tempt the golem even further, as he then shot a red hot spit wad at the creature.
It nailed the golem straight in the tallest crystal piece of the cluster on it's head. It made a high pitch ring that rattled the vision of the golem, this also sent it into a pain induced rage. It flailed and roared to the sky before charging at Asher, and preparing a hard right hook for the dragon. Asher simply stood firm and braced for the beast's strongest punch, ready to spring a trap. He twiddled his claws, as the monster reared back, and roared through it's mighty swing.
Asher closed one eye and tightened up, almost feeling the wind get knocked out of him. The stone punch made his vision go white before he then saw the blue sky and the fluffy clouds passing by in a flash. His claws gripped the fingers of the golem, as it carried him clear off the ledge. Thankfully he endured the punch, and held onto the fist as Asher looked straight down. Looking to the shear drop off to the mountain that lead to a hard grassy plain, he now had the opportunity.
So the dragon looked back to the golem, letting his arms bulk up once more with muscle. He released a deep breath, as his vision returned and narrowed straight at it's target. Asher growled, and quickly yanked downward, dragging the monster forward and right at the mountain's ledge.
"Alright…! Going down!"Asher roared before pulling with all his might, until the mountain ledge collapsed under the golem.
Before they knew it, both Asher and the golem found themselves going off the side of the mountain. Asher was flipping and flailing backwards, while the beast rolled till it was on it's back. Looking up as Asher let go of it's fist and fell right above it's head, it became enraged once more. Now that they were both plummeting to a certain death, so it was going to kill him at all cost. It swung it's left arm like a club, just because it's fingers were gone, didn't mean his hand wasn't useful.
Thankfully, the monster was slow with it's swing, allowing Asher to move easily. He rolled to the side, gripping it's wrist to help him with momentum that would swing him over the attack. Asher was then ready, as the beast made a desperate grab for him, only for the dragon to fly towards him. Going through his fingers, and uppercutting the golem in it's chin, hoping to knock it out. It would not allow him to escape unless it was taken care off, so trying to simply fly away would be too risky, last thing he wanted was to get swatted out of the sky.
So he decided that the time had come to make a desperate move on those crystals. Smashing those crystals seemed to be the key to stopping the golem, so he needed to take the opportunity. But the monster was not going to let it's withering essence of life be destroyed by such minuscule prey. So it looked back to see Asher coming in for a direct shot to his head, it was quick to defend itself. As it unleashed another torrent of dirt and rocks that began blowing Asher away, and pelting his body viciously.
But this time, Asher was willing to endure, not just for survival, but for his purpose. He was not ready to die before he could see his sister, he refused to fail her now like he did as an egg. Now he had to refuse death at all cost, he needed to persevere through such beasts and obstacles. For only his will to press on would ensure that he would finally see Cynder happy and free. With that image of seeing her happy and smiling, it made his heart beat strongly and burn like a furnace.
In that moment, he suddenly felt a sudden explosion of raw power heat up around him. Flames flared from his claws all the way up his arms and finally spread all over his body and head. His long coat burned away, allowing his scaly body to be shown as it flickered and glowed with bright red fires. Pieces and pieces of his long coat were burned off and reduced to nothing. Till he only wore his black iron armor, and the bracelet he was given by his sister, it was time to hold his promise to her.
So as he let his body burn with glowing red fires of conviction to his destiny. He quickly powered through the column of dirt and rocks, his flames melted away the offending stones and dirt. Leaving him to descend and prepare a fiery left fist pack with a hundred percent of his power. His only focus were those crystals, shatter the crystals, shatter the monster they brought to life. He reared back, and closed his eyes before throwing the swing that brought him straight into the the golem's head.
At that moment, the golem saw the dragon drive right into the center of it's head. And his head instantly blew up in a sudden blaze of fire that scorched the exposed crystals in his head. It roared as the flames consumed it's head and continued exploding, sending blazes of smoke though the air. As the monster then began to plummet, twirling like mad as it's head crumbled apart into rocks of fire. Melting in the air before it finally reached the bottom of the mountain, where even more chaos erupted.
It's body crashed to earth like a meteor, smashing a deep crater into the ground. Dirt and grass kicked up like mad and blasted out from every direction like a sand storm. Filling the area with clouds of dirt and rocks that pelted what was left of the mountain, moles from Warfang could see it. From their watch towers set up with the walls, they could see the sudden explosion of dirt in the distance. It's rumbling noises were like distant thunder as they watched the chaos start to settle.
The cloud of dirt slowly started to dissipate, letting the last of the rocks fall and crack apart. While the ground took a full minute to calm down and stop quaking from the thunderous impact. The golem itself watched the dust settle, just in time to grumble with only it's lower jaw remaining. With that, he went limp, and it's limbs fell apart now that there was no longer a crystal keeping him together. Even it's jaw came apart before it rested for eternity where it now laid.
After a minute of absolute silence and calm from the chaos of battle, a dirt pile quivered. The dirt rolled apart, before a slab of solid stone was then lifted completely out of the pile. Allowing Asher to slowly emerge and climb his way out of a the pile that could have served as his grave. He was panting and struggling to stay breathing from being buried under dirt and the body of the golem. He felt sweet relief to be alive, as he crawled out and rolled down the hill of dirt.
He came to an abrupt stop by slamming his back against a stack of crumbling rocks. He sighed, waving a small cloud of dirt he kicked up so he could continue breathing. He then laid flat on his back, and stared up at the sky to take in the sudden calm after the violent storm. He chuckled, looking to the birds flying high through the skies that he fought in just moments ago. Slowly, he then looked to his left to see the fallen golem he had miraculously defeated, his chuckles only continued.
"Hehe… Could have just stayed asleep…! Now you can enjoy the dirt nap."Asher mocked as he slowly sat up, only to feel a sharp jolt of pain in his left arm.
He grunted, and looked to his arm, only to see it bent the completely wrong way. He wiggled his arm to feel out the injury, he felt his lower arm feel like jelly moving painfully free. It was completely dislocated out from his elbow, and it resulted in making three of his claws go numb. That was the cost of going full force with his abnormal strength, especially after it was already messed up. He groaned, for he knew what he had to do to fix his arm, he did not wish the Warfang moles pestering and worrying about him when he arrived.
To fix this, he shook his head and slowly stood up on slightly shaky legs. With a deep breath, he walked over to the down golem and spotted himself a nice crevice of stone next to the remains of it's head. He then nodded and knelt down next to the crevice while looking to his fallen foe. This gave him a moment of peace while he slipped his dislocated arm into the crevice to get it locked in. This time, he needed to take a piece of stone to put in his mouth to help handle the pain.
"I'm borrowing you for a moment, hope you don't mind…!"Asher spoke to the dead monster while preparing to stretch his arm out, and start trying to sling shot it back together with his elbow.
He pulled and stretched his arm out, and felt his bone wiggling free in his lower arm. He breathed and placed the stone in his mouth before he then felt his bone lock on to his elbow. With one more deep inhale, he then pushed his arm together as fast as he could, and felt the sick pop of his bones. He felt the bone sling shot back into place, and it brought a whole lot of pain. Causing him to crush the stone to rubble in his jaws and force a roar of absolute pain to erupt into the sky.
At least he could feel his arm again, even if it was hurting from getting reset. He held it, and pulled it slowly out of the crevice before looking to it, he needed to wait a bit before using his arm now. Not only that, all his supplies aside from his canteen and belt got burned to a crisp back when he became a living match stick. He didn't have the clothes that were on his back, just his leggings and his gauntlets. Thankfully, his sister's bracelet was spared as well, so he still had that to keep him going.
He lastly checked the photo within it and it merely had a slightly dark burn at two corners. As bitter sweet as it was that he was a bit fatigued and recovering from some injuries. Not to mention he lost everything but his more valuable possessions, there was still plenty of hope. That hope shined a light in his eyes, thanks to it's golden flare that mixed with it's stone walls. To his far left, his destination stood large and proud, the great city of dragons and moles, Warfang.
He spit a couple pieces of stone out, and turned to look at the glorious and shiny city. Knowing that it was a completely new place, and full of many new wonders that differed from Cheetah town. That city held the answers he was hoping for, at least half of them, and from the three guardians no less. It was just a calming two hour walk across another plain to the great city. He had it in his sights, plus the supplies, the food, and maybe even a place to sleep for the day could be waiting for him.
So as much as it would have been recommended to rest for a bit, Asher decided to continue. Holding his arm for a bit as he began to walk on the final stretch between him and the city. Leaving the mess of the mountain behind him, and letting his hopes grow after such an arduous journey.
A lot of fun, adventure and secrets are about to be revealed as Asher makes his way to Warfang, and a darkness is starting to arise from within the Alpha leader. What will this all lead to? You're just going to have to stick around and find out in the next chapter. Stay awesome every one.