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Sokurah gazed
into the night air, his eyes filled with worry of the events yet to
come. He was on board the largest ship he could acquire, a vessel
called 'the Schneer'. Aboard with him were a well-armed crew who knew
nothing of their voyage or why they were undertaking it.
The mission was one of great importance to the Collosan sorcerer, one of
life and death for him. A few months ago, a document was uncovered by
his arch-enemy, Zenobia, a woman of cruelty and malice. She'd been
tracking him, as well as another rival of his by the name of Kourah, for
decades, and never managed to capture them. A few months ago, she found
Sokurah's lair on the island of Colossa and sent several of her guards
to attack his subterranean castle. They did not find him, for he hid in
a secret passageway, one of the many in his keep. They did, however,
find his library of documents, one of which was written by a magician
named Ishiro. In it, Ishiro recorded the struggle to capture the dreaded
monster known simply as 'the Thunderbird'. This creature was a huge
avian beast, who was created accidentally by the wizard when he
performed experiments on Rocs in an attempt to create a beast capable of
guarding his castle. But the monster became too powerful, and soon it
was capable of firing multiple bolts of lightning from it's wings and
talons as well as a particularly vicious beam from it's beak. It soon
became more like a living god than an animal and created storms as it
flew. The thunderbird escaped Ishiro and began flying directly towards
Europe. Desperate to try and prevent it from killing thousands as it
went, Ishiro combated the beast on a tiny island called Tethys in the
Indian ocean, upon which a variety of deadly monsters from dragons to
giant insects roamed. After a long and difficult battle, Ishiro
prevailed, knocking a mountain atop his creation, burying it alive and
subsequently stunning it under tons of rock.
This document was of no use to Sokurah, because he could not control
living objects, like the Thunderbird, and instead could only control
non-living matter, like skeletons. But Zenobia could not only summon and
control living things, she herself could inhabit them. Sokurah knew that
if Zenobia controlled or inhabited the Thunderbird, no foe, including
himself, could approach her. He would not let that happen, not while he
still lived.
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On Tethys, two other figures lurked in the gloom. One was Zenobia, who
had recently come into possession of Ishiro's scrolls and was fully
prepared to unleash the monster they spoke of. Beside her stood a very
unlikely companion, a man known as Kourah. Kourah had agreed to assist
Zenobia and conquer the thunderbird. He was necessary to her because of
the pile of rocks that covered the thunderbird. Stone Gargoyles were
abundant on Tethys, and Kourah could manipulate them with relative ease
to unearth the Thunderbird. Kourah, unlike Sokurah, could control both
living an non-living beings, however at a terrible price, for whenever
he did, it put a strain on his body, making him weaker and weaker. He
could not control the Thunderbird either, for if he tried to control a
creature so massive, he would die in the attempt. That was why he needed
Zenobia. She was needed in his eye to control the beast itself. Their
plan was fool-proof. However, neither suspected that the other was
secretly plotting to kill them during the endeavor.
*************************************************************
Zenobia and
Kourah neared the location of their quarry for every step they took.
They had come upon a gigantic man-made wall that Ishiro had apparently
built to surround the area where the Thunderbird fell. Stone gargoyles
aligned the wall's top and sides, and a pair of huge doors were present.
Zenobia was surprised however to discover one of the doors was opened.
She and Kourah took great caution in entering, neither knowing what to
expect inside.
In the wall's interior lay a huge pile of rocks, some sixty feet high
and containing several boulders the size of houses. Atop this pile was a
vast skeleton of an amphitheater, a type of huge serpentine dragon with two
wings and no legs that was common on the island. More stone gargoyles
were present in the interior, and it was to these that Kourah turned.
Kourah faced a pair of the stone beasts and chanted monotonously under
his breath, as Zenobia watched in anticipation. Sure enough, the two
synthetic beings began moving, and Kourah commanded them to start
unearthing the Thunderbird. As they did, Zenobia noticed how the black
magic used in the action had aged Kourah's hands. She smiled secretly,
thinking now he would be even easier to defeat.
Suddenly, one of the stone gargoyles exploded in a ball of green flame.
As Kourah screamed in pain, Zenobia turned to see Sokurah standing
twenty feet before her. The furious magician yelled
'Kourah! Kill him!'
Her order was obeyed, and Kourah sent the remaining gargoyle to attack
Sokurah. The black wizard fought the synthetic monster with various
potions until the gargoyle knocked him to earth. As it swept in for the
kill, Sokurah threw a rock at it's face, knocking it backwards. Then, he
rose and, moving his hands in a pulsing motion, turned to the gargantuan
ampithere skeleton before him. As Sokurah stared at the remains, they
began to twitch and move ever so slightly until the entire skeleton
awoke and opened it's titanic jaws as if it were roaring. Just then, the
Stone gargoyle attacked the skeleton, and soon the two were in a deadly
clash, with the gargoyle breaking bones and the skeleton battering it
with it's tail. As the monsters fought, Sokurah hurled one of his
chemicals, a vial of turquoise potion, at his foes, surrounding them in
a cloud of blue smoke.
But when the smoke cleared, the wizard's horror was realized before him.
As the last remnants of smoke drifted off, there stood a snarling sabre-toothed
cat, it's eye twitching and it's claws extended. Without warning, the
feline leapt at Sokurah, tearing at him and shredding his clothing to
pieces as it went. Sokurah vainly threw his hand before his face in an
attempt to defend himself from the merciless cat. As the two neared the
pile of rocks, Kourah once again began chanting monotonously. Upon his
command, several giant rocks fell just above his two enemies. Sokurah
just barley managed to avoid one of the rocks, and Zenobia was hit hard
in the back by one, screaming in pain as it fell.
The tiger turned to Kourah, now that it knew his intentions, she charged
at him. The wizard grabbed one of his own potions and threw it in the
tiger's face, stunning it temporarily as he ran to get away. But as he
ran, the ampithere skeleton battled the gargoyle above him. Sokurah
lowered his hands, and the skeleton fell to earth. Kourah, no longer
possessing enough energy to flee because of the two times he had called
upon the dark arts, could not escape the falling skeleton and was
crushed to death under it's weight as it struck the ground.
Zenobia roared in anger, now she would have to go about removing the
stones herself. She turned to Sokurah and snarled defiantly, wanting
nothing more than to kill him painfully.
To Be Continued...
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