The Unfated Wanderers Canto 29
A wave of grief and sorrow erupted from the Lord of Terror and swept over the Unfated Wanderers and the Learned Scholars of Icebrunt. They began to weep. Their tear dappled sight was overwhelmed by a sudden burst of white light. As the light faded and their sight returned, they witnessed the arrival of the Equerries.
The sky was filled with people dressed for battle, riding upon currents of air like proud steeds. They descended from the heights and set to work with grim determination. Their work was terrible to behold. They scattered across the land, destroying farmlands and villages. The Equerries performed their Task of bringing civilization low, to repair the World Machinery and to restore the Natural Order of Things.
One Equerry landed near the Inverted Tower. The Unfated Wanderers recognized him as the entity that Tong had summoned back in Shatterbone. Quaking Ground Gnashes Its Teeth to Consume the Wretched was his name. He wore metal armor and his blue eyes glowed and a tongue of red flame flickered upon his brow. He smiled sorrowfully and plunged a spear into the ground.
The land below the Foghammer Slopes split open like the yawning maw of a Titan. The rift rippled northwards and the Unfated Wanderers despaired, knowing that Bearbat was likely to be swallowed into the earth. Quake took to the air and was quickly gone from sight.
The Boxes of the Learned Scholars begin to receive messages from their friends still scattered about Linomnount:
The world is being butchered by Darklings right now. There is complete mass destruction. Nobody but the Scholars that have rings can see them. Panic and death are everywhere.
Other messages said:
There are terrifying people floating through the sky with fire on their foreheads. They are using strange weapons and magics to reform the land. Hills are being flattened and new ones are rising up. Villages are vanishing everywhere.
The Lord of Terror smiled and said to the group of Learned Scholars, “Behold my victory.” He then raised his hands as if about to cast a spell. He smirked and closed his eyes. They flared open moments later, glowing with power and leaking tears of purple light.
The world began to shimmer and shake. Every person’s vision became blurry. A bleak, purple tinged version of the world began to superimpose itself upon the world of living humans. As the Realm of Terrors settled in place in the Living World, the blurriness faded. The unearthly light dispersed. The sky was now purple and blue like twilight, though the sun had yet to set. The sun was missing from the sky, perhaps obscured by the Realm of Terrors. The Equerries paused their efforts of reshaping the world. They looked around in panicked confusion.
Quake returned to the Unfated Wanderers and said, “I have never seen this before. The Realm of Terrors should never blend into the Living World. I fear that the World Machinery is broken. We Equerries do not know what to do. I feel a lack of purpose. My Task has left me. I think that the Living World is completely broken.”
The Lord of Feasts said, “I have brought the Realm of Terrors to the Living World. The cycle of Apocalypse is at an end. I am here. The other Children of the Gods are in their Supernal Realm. This realm is now mine.”
The Child God turned and walked away. He vanished from sight as the air folded around him like a curtain.
Keeper of Lore shouted, “Everybody get into the Inverted Tower. It’s not safe out here.”