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« on: March 01, 2013, 02:20:19 pm »
In Snakepeak...
Az-Sho felt it. He recognized it from his own origin - the subtle, incessant, thumping, the slight tremors that reverbated up and down.
The egg was hatching. Az-Sho uncoiled and hovered nearby, watching eagerly as the shell, seemingly composed of the magma around it, shuddered once, twice, and was split in half, the cloud of shards slowly dissipating to reveal -
Beautiful. That was the only word that would describe his daughter, a snake just like him, but built differently - while Az-Sho was bulky and powerful, she was sleek and slim, coiling through the magma as she writhed around in her first minutes of life. She looked around, seemingly curious about everything, and her head snapped his way when he gently mindspoke to her. She looked at him and froze, staring into his eyes while he stared into her own. The flames they contained were new as of yet, but filled with endless energy, a need to expand, to advance, to become, filled them with a fierce intensity. She seemed to take comfort in his eyes, and slithered closer to him through the magma. Draping herself across his snout, snaking up to just behind his head, she snuggled closer to him and fell asleep, exhausted by this first movement. Before she dropped off, however, she spoke a word. Father. Je sighed in happiness, speaking one word in return.
Aur-Sha.
His daughter.
At last, he was happy. At last, in this world of treachery, of malice and hate, of treachery, blood and death, he was truly, purely, happy.
And then he heard Udil's call.
He saw, through the earth, the dwarves, betrayers all, marching upon Snakepeak.
He saw the treacherous dwarf, Udil, standing tall, vain, proud, calling to him, boastfully calling to slay him.
He raged. His hatred boiled through him and for a moment he almost went to him -
But no. He had a daughter. He needs must protect her; and Udil had prepared for this; he had not. But Udil depended on one thing - the fact that he would appear before him.
He would not.
All around the 9th continent, the Children began glowing. Then they were simply gone.
1 Fire Act, 1 Act: Az-Sho teleports all the Children - Fireborn, Ashborn, Smoulderborn, Dragonborn, EmberGuard, all of them - all their equipment, and in fact, every village he Children live in, all their food, and all their technology along with all the dwarves' food, to the 5th continent. This includes the Jötnite supplies.
He spoke, and his rage heated the ground, melting the legs of many nearby dwarves.
So you have shown your true self.
Do you know what you looked like when I took you in, when I aided you in establishing your civilization? You looked mortal. You looked at least partially trustworthy. You looked honorable.
I could have killed you at any time, but I did not, because I believed your cause was just. Perhaps your intentions were pure in the beginning, simply to avenge your people, but now that your ambitions are fulfilled beyond your wildest dreams, you made wilder dreams. You have become insatiable, Udil, and you know not what you dare when you break a bond of fellowship centuries old. Remember always, I raised you up, supported you with the ground beneath your feet. I can take it away just as easily. Know your folly, mortal. You call to the gods as if they are dogs to be slain? Do not presume to command us.
1 Act: Az-Sho collapses all the tunnels under the 9th continent, causing the entire continent to become unsupported and collapse, destroying all the Underhomes, sending the coastal dwarven villages tumbling into deep chasms, and lowering the continent by 50-100 feet. Massive earthquakes and aftershocks follow.
Az-Sho then travels to the Fifth Continent, and comforts his children.
