Rise Of Pandora

Rise Of Pandora : XXXV. Stone Amongst the Shore

"To have your enemies see you fall apart is idiotic, but to have your own family watch you fall apart is the most foolish act of all."

-Atlas

I. Blessed, Traveling towards Aeryngrave

Pontus stared down at the Sundarian's feet. He scrutinized the way the snow would instantly melt underneath their heels, vacillating his attention between the three of them. He then looked up and around. He felt especially calmed now since the talk he had with Alastor and the others some hours ago. They reignited their kinship and Pontus felt now the obligation towards humanity as he had. But, deep down he knew it was only a matter of time until those feelings would reemerge. But, for now, he continued his long contemplation while on the journey to Aeryngrave. 

His piece of mind was broken at the sounds of gasped voices. He looked up and noticed that everyone was looking beyond. Intent on seeing what they were seeing, he looked up at the sky too. He, as well as the others, noticed droves of large, dark figures in the sky. They could hardly discern them, for their giant forms blotted out much sunlight at the far distance. Despite the ever-expanding darkness, the five of them understood that what they were witnessing were Shadowbirds. 

There has to be at least fifty, Dinos conjectured nervously in his mind. He felt tense and then looked around to gauge the expressions of both of his siblings. They, too, were unnerved by how large and plentiful they were. They were still truly frightened.

Pontus and Alastor knew their alluring glow would attract their attention eventually. And it did. The Shadowbirds, as if of one single mind, swooped lower, descending hundreds of feet down to the earth. The Rare Men began to discharge sultry energy from their fists at the approaching Shadowbirds. The blasts left shockwaves that were felt in all directions, crushing the earth beneath their feet and forcing wind around them to blow everything from the clothes on their backs to the strands of hair on their heads. The aura around their body was undulating quickly and was more so concentrated in their balled fists. With every violent blast that bolted from their tightened fists, another cluster of Shadowbird plunged to the ground lifeless. 

The Sundarians still reveled in just how powerful even just two Rare Men were. It was a fascinating, yet humbling sight for them. Dinos watched with special interest. He could not even shut his mouth which was agape, lines of saliva stretching from both lips.  

As he witnessed the last of those birds fall from the essence of the firmament, the mundanity of it all became clear to Dinos. Those once fearsome birds fell like tenuous raindrops in the sky, void of any terror they once had. The way they dropped so insignificantly had reaffirmed his sense of place in the world, all while causing him to question it simultaneously. He captured their descent from the sky as if it were a beautifully depicted painting, a seldom craft by two masterful hands; the clouds an immaculately airbrushed white, the birds a collective black emulsion, and the sky an endless stroke of light blue, all to some undefined purpose. Life, at that moment, felt and became very transparent to Dinos. He now had no cause to fear whatever entity that existed in it. The effortless, almost modest, power that Alastor and Pontus displayed gave him a sense of hope. He took their strength, allowing it to absorb into himself, and made it into his own. He was sure his siblings felt the same.  

Slightly fatigued, they breathed profusely as they scanned the now newly illumined sky which was nothing but blue sky and flowing white clouds. They could not even count how many there were by the time they were all eliminated. Now dozens of yards ahead lied slain Shadowbirds, large and dead. Their dead bodies oozed with these white fluids.  

Pontus looked back and was met with humbled faces. He beamed and promptly looked away. Whether anyone else knew it, Pontus was drained. There was no longer a vital sensation to which his body could reciprocate. It had been a few days since he had last eaten, so much of his vitality had dissipated. He noticed the aura around his body was thinning and losing its lavender luster. His lilac hair felt considerably thinned and dry to him. His chest felt like a collapsing cave. Those shaky arms of his emulated the feeling of clothes on a clothesline straddling in the breeze. Even his breathing felt complicated and weak. He could feel a small headache intensifying. Regardless, he, as well as the others, knew they were just some distance away from where Father was.