And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder
One of the four beasts saying, 'Come and see.' and I saw.
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around
One of the four beasts saying, 'Come and see.' and I saw.
The rip in space-time did not close as it ought.
He had turned away, but a growing heat and red, red radiance drew his eye back across the plane of his shoulder. Its vorpal edges sparked and writhed like unstable serpents, spreading like poison along the seams of reality. He weighed the option of calling to Florentine - if she could even still hear him - but before he could settle on a course the tear became a towering, wicked gash threatening to rend the sky in twain. The world looking back at him through the rift was a nightmare vision of the world where Ruth had died...and something was trying to come through.
All thought of calling her back fell from his mind.
A pair of curved horns broke through, followed by an unfathomably large, brutish head. He stumbled backward; dread was an unfamiliar sensation for the red stallion, but it buffeted him in sickening waves as the air came alive with the low, thunderous rumble of the titan's breathing. The smell of dust and char and ancient leather burrowed deep into his lungs, and still the beast burst through until its scarred and scaly underside filled his vision.
One titanic, taloned foot slid through, biting into the mountainside with a force that sent tremors through the earth and splintered the stone beneath its claws. Raymond's breath came in shallow gasps and his heart fluttered like a caged bird at the incomprehensible thing materializing before him. The second leg came through, and as the tapering impossibility of its armored tail followed, the portal - ragged, frayed by the eruption of its charge - at last began to knit itself shut.
What had she done?
The titan's massive head cast a long shadow as it swept its bright, beady eyes out over the mountain range. This was the thing that had destroyed that forgotten world, and through their reckless meddling it had found its way here. Slowly Raymond backed away, limbs weak and tingling like white noise under him. If he could slip away, he could warn someone....but who? About what.
The beast's tail felled a tall pine with a careless sweep. Even the Raven Gates could not withstand a world-eater such as this.
He took a bad step. The steady thunder of the Tarrasque's guttural breathing hitched as both of them froze where they stood - hunter, hunted. It tilted its head and bent on its powerful haunches, spiked dewlap shuddering with an aggressive growl as it pinned him down with a single piercing blue eye.
Running was not an option. A single step would have been enough to catch him up, a single swing of its grasping arms would break every bone in his body. He could only stand, transfixed by a terror and awe wholly alien to his experience, as the creature lowered its head to peer at him with the same disdainful curiosity that he might turn on a particularly shiny beetle. Its fetid breath poured over him like a dense fog as it leaned close, reflecting his stricken expression in its icy eye.
One slow blink. Click.
The head turned, serrated fangs passing inches from his side, and a testing inhale dragged the air out of his ears. The next moment would be his last; he hoped Florentine would be proud of herself.
Raymond. The word split his head like a peal of thunder, more for its familiarity than its force. A female voice - clear as a bell and wild in the purest, simplest fashion. You have not changed at all.
The red stallion's jaw went slack, and in that moment his limbs nearly did fail him. The soul-piercing blue eye flashed down at him from on high again, and as the Tarrasque turned her head again he glimpsed a spark of shining gold. When at last he moved, it was with a step toward his destruction rather than away. He gaped stupidly at her, dwarfed by every inch of her.
Gingerly she reached for him with a single long-fingered hand whose might could crumble walls with a swipe. Palm open to him, she extended her wicked-taloned thumb and brushed the muscled plane of his shoulder where once her claws had failed. Raymond had to steel himself against even that lightest touch, but....
Ruth?
His mental voice was weak and reedy with disbelief, but the flood of emotions that rushed both ways across the link was as real as anything he'd ever felt.
The rolling thunder that shook the world around her throat might have been a purr.
He had turned away, but a growing heat and red, red radiance drew his eye back across the plane of his shoulder. Its vorpal edges sparked and writhed like unstable serpents, spreading like poison along the seams of reality. He weighed the option of calling to Florentine - if she could even still hear him - but before he could settle on a course the tear became a towering, wicked gash threatening to rend the sky in twain. The world looking back at him through the rift was a nightmare vision of the world where Ruth had died...and something was trying to come through.
All thought of calling her back fell from his mind.
A pair of curved horns broke through, followed by an unfathomably large, brutish head. He stumbled backward; dread was an unfamiliar sensation for the red stallion, but it buffeted him in sickening waves as the air came alive with the low, thunderous rumble of the titan's breathing. The smell of dust and char and ancient leather burrowed deep into his lungs, and still the beast burst through until its scarred and scaly underside filled his vision.
One titanic, taloned foot slid through, biting into the mountainside with a force that sent tremors through the earth and splintered the stone beneath its claws. Raymond's breath came in shallow gasps and his heart fluttered like a caged bird at the incomprehensible thing materializing before him. The second leg came through, and as the tapering impossibility of its armored tail followed, the portal - ragged, frayed by the eruption of its charge - at last began to knit itself shut.
What had she done?
The titan's massive head cast a long shadow as it swept its bright, beady eyes out over the mountain range. This was the thing that had destroyed that forgotten world, and through their reckless meddling it had found its way here. Slowly Raymond backed away, limbs weak and tingling like white noise under him. If he could slip away, he could warn someone....but who? About what.
The beast's tail felled a tall pine with a careless sweep. Even the Raven Gates could not withstand a world-eater such as this.
He took a bad step. The steady thunder of the Tarrasque's guttural breathing hitched as both of them froze where they stood - hunter, hunted. It tilted its head and bent on its powerful haunches, spiked dewlap shuddering with an aggressive growl as it pinned him down with a single piercing blue eye.
Running was not an option. A single step would have been enough to catch him up, a single swing of its grasping arms would break every bone in his body. He could only stand, transfixed by a terror and awe wholly alien to his experience, as the creature lowered its head to peer at him with the same disdainful curiosity that he might turn on a particularly shiny beetle. Its fetid breath poured over him like a dense fog as it leaned close, reflecting his stricken expression in its icy eye.
One slow blink. Click.
The head turned, serrated fangs passing inches from his side, and a testing inhale dragged the air out of his ears. The next moment would be his last; he hoped Florentine would be proud of herself.
Raymond. The word split his head like a peal of thunder, more for its familiarity than its force. A female voice - clear as a bell and wild in the purest, simplest fashion. You have not changed at all.
The red stallion's jaw went slack, and in that moment his limbs nearly did fail him. The soul-piercing blue eye flashed down at him from on high again, and as the Tarrasque turned her head again he glimpsed a spark of shining gold. When at last he moved, it was with a step toward his destruction rather than away. He gaped stupidly at her, dwarfed by every inch of her.
Gingerly she reached for him with a single long-fingered hand whose might could crumble walls with a swipe. Palm open to him, she extended her wicked-taloned thumb and brushed the muscled plane of his shoulder where once her claws had failed. Raymond had to steel himself against even that lightest touch, but....
Ruth?
His mental voice was weak and reedy with disbelief, but the flood of emotions that rushed both ways across the link was as real as anything he'd ever felt.
The rolling thunder that shook the world around her throat might have been a purr.
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around
aut viam inveniam aut faciam
