Fiction The coming of Khaa'met

[Axolotyl]

The temple lay dormant, none had traversed its walk ways since the time mankind had learnt to knock two bits of flint together to make fire. The towering pyramids and totems had become over run with creepers and vines, the south facing steps had become a haven for the reptile population who came to bask on the warm stone blocks on the first light of day.

None know how the small hole had been made, few even care, but there was a hole, and one unfortunate Sungazing lizard fell through. it was a miracle that the fall did not kill the small lizard, it was a further miracle that it managed to last the night in the cool sunless room, but to be trapped in here would be a death sentence for any lizard which could not climb out.

As the sun rose in the sky, a beam of sun traveled the room, the lizard sensing warmth scampered after it, trying to absorb the precious heat. It wasn't until the the reptile chased the sun up a plinth onto a flat surface was there anything untoward. With a grinding of the ages stones began to shift, unusual golden crystals slid upward from concealment in the ground, and the sunlight caught in their facets, an unnatural heat and light emanated from the first gem only to be captured and amplified by the next. The little lizard sat calmly and observed, soaking in the vital heat which would allow it to survive another night.

Unusually the lizard did not require nourishment nor water, the strange light sustained it until the process was repeated each morning, and every time the sun left the room in darkness the lizard curled up to rest and wait, all the while unaware that it was growing larger and larger.

After a month had passed the sungazer began to grow weary of this, a sensation its was unused to, boredom, restlessness too seeped in. Soon she began to stalk the other lizards which fell in, merely to amuse herself, but this game soon became weary some, she bent her mind to tasks and ways to to produce traps, manufacturing them with her oddly elongated forelegs, which she soon began to wonder why this was so, why was she so different from the other lizards?

Soon suspicions arose, the device which warmed her, could this be the reason? She wove a bocage from vines and twigs and caught several lizards in them, she then left them on the device with her when she next warmed through. She was amazed, when the light had receded, they had grown! Soon she was putting them on the device every morning until they reached the size of Marienburg Hunting Hounds, they also developed some affection and personality, at least she would not be alone in this strange place...


Tbc....

 

[spawning of Bob]

This is intriguing. The Old Ones are doing some pretty freaky stuff this time.

Is this why you are afraid to go into your bedroom?

What happens when Khaa'met and friends meet regular spawned lizardmen (I mean, like Bob and Joe....)?

Where is this ruin anyway (northern hemisphere by the warm side being south)?

Which secret word of power was left out of this sentence: "....unusual golden covered slid upward from...."?

Do you own a sungazer lizard called Comet? Where are the photos?

SoB

 

[Axolotyl]

It's a quirk of autocorrect Bob, don't type on Apple products lol! No i do t own a sungazer, but I thought it would fit in with a lore of the heavens style priest, to gaze heavenwards! I was thinking the mountain range to the west of lustria, can't say where exactly as my friend "borrowed" my books

This is mostly Lord Buffo's fault!

I will add more to it do t worry, its just getting the time!

 

[Axolotyl]

Time, she had too much time, the problem was that she was too smart. She felt that it was the device which had made her so, as the others too had become more intelligent, being able to talk, reason, debate and squabble, just not on her level.
She had decided to wait for the others to catch up with her by not using the device, but without its warmth she became intolerably slow, dehydrated, hungry and cold. It was their dependence on this......THING.... That began to rankle, they should be able to pursue their own fates!

Soon the skinks had mastered fire, and created paints by grinding the multi hued mushrooms from the temple wall and mixing them with algaes, they daubed it on their faces in patterns and symbols, at least this made them unique, she could tell them apart. She knew they wanted to do this to her, the one they called pro'phek, that damnable skink with stained yellow hands, always got them worked up. So full of self importance, just because he NAMED things, at least he could motivate them.

Late that night he came to her, crest down, he bobbed a greating. She knew what this was about, he held in his claws a half shell containing the paint. NAME? YES? He conveyed, his head bouncing in excitment, his claws already hovering over the viscous fluid.

She turned, annoyed and stalked up to the device, Pro'phek scampering after her, each time she glanced back his crest raised slightly, NAME? She climbed on to the device to be taller than him, and instead of getting the message, he jumped up on to it! NAME! He demanded, crest raised, mouth open, a challenge.

It was then that the room flooded with an eerie light, the moon shifted into position, its disfigured twin, Morisleib, following behind in a lunar eclipse. The device woke in to life, the assembled skinks scattered, unused to this development, she and Pro'phek were trapped, the light washed over them, new understanding filling them both. They could see multi hued winds, how they could be moved and changed, they could feel their awareness of themselves in this world change. The moons shifted, and she watched, the device wound down, she simply pointed and spoke "Khaa'met" the strange thing in the sky, parented by the moons hung ominously, an untold portent for all the races of the world.

 

[spawning of Bob]

Yay! Now we know the ontogeny of warhammer skinks and the etymology of the word comet. This is in addition to learning the taxonomy of the master of herpetology's menagerie. (Gotta love the internet)

More please?

SoB

 

[Axolotyl]

I was looking at some conversions to do for my skink priests, since I based my first off Khaa'met , I thought why not the next? Below is a sneaky peak at m thoughts process, and a character yet to come!

Pro'phek


Maun'tekye


Obviously I have much more to go but it should be fun

 

[spawning of Bob]

I'm looking forward to hearing about the character you've drawn in red, at the bottom right. He looks like an animal!

 

[Axolotyl]

No no, just a bi of an animal, I think he's called Peppa'rami,good....

 

[Scalenex]

Nice start to your story.

A minor criticism though. In Sca'len'ex's opinion, fantasy names should generally avoid unnecessary apostrophes though. you are never sure how to pronounce them and they are visually distracting.

 

[Axolotyl]

The twin tailed comet hung in the sky day and night, and was a constant source of light even in the absence of the sun. Many if the skinks took to sitting and staring at it through the gaps in the ceiling, the older and more advanced took to arguing about it!
Khaa'met believed that it was an omen that they should no longer dwell within the room, that it was a sign of change in their small world. This was belligerently opposed by Pro'phek, he believed that it was a sign of danger, they both felt the changes rendered by the machine when it came about, and should it change further their little colony would collapse. He argued that the strange sounds from outside, the sounds of the toothed predators had become more active with more light to hunt in.
Their debate was cut short by the presence of a Maunto, a hulking monitor like skink, he had wandered over silently, on all fours as was his way. As his intelligence and size had increased he had shown a great reluctance to be exposed to the device, instead preferring to hunt and skulk in the shadows. Many of the skinks feared him, Khaa'met quite liked him, he didn't argue back.
He held in his jaws a desiccated limb, and oddly around Maunto's neck hung an irredescant pendant, the centre seemed to constantly shift and swirl. Both skinks came closer, intrigued, they eagerly asked what it was, where it was from, maunto simply dropped the limb, stood on his hind legs and pointed at the hand. Clutched between the ancient fingers was another gem, Pro'phek eagerly dived down, breaking the fingers and seizing the gem. He stood transfixed for a while and, with a slight gesture of his free hand flames flickered into life. The group of skinks that had come close scattered in blind panic, Pro'phek stood staring dumbly at his hand.
The monitor brought them back to reality, "come" his deep voice rumbled, "more." He turned and ambled towards an archway, the two remaining skinks looked at each other, they had never thought to explore this place, favouring the warmth and safety of the device, they weren't large enough to protect themselves and had never dared to follower Maunto.
Khaa'met picked up a large stick and ran after him, pausing to turn and look at Pro'phek, she bobbed her head in invitation before reaching the archway. The remaining skink stared at his hand in wonder, then the gem, if there was more, he wanted them! He ran after his two companions, he resolved that the colony could last without him, for a day or so!

 

[spawning of Bob]

You have some solid weird stuff going on in your menagerie. Super keen to know what happens next.

SoB

 

[Axolotyl]

Maunto led the skinks at a brief pace through a labyrinth of tunnels and turns, only pausing to taste the air with his forked tongue at each junction. Soon the corridors began to open out, the walls were coated in glyphs that would be recognisable to many of the Lustrian scholars, and many glyphs they would not recognise. High in the walls were recesses where small globes lit when the lizards came close, and dimmed when they passed.

The trio walked on in silence, they began to pass statues of creatures that none if them recognised, the slim sleek stylised statues conveyed grace and poise. They did not seem to be made of stone, and when they passed one with suspicious chew marks, the monitor shrugged sheepishly, grinned a toothy smile and continued. Pro'phek ran his hand across the carving, "bone?" He murmured.

After an hour of walking they reached a great hall, the room was a shattered mess,broken statues lay everywhere, scattered amongst the ruin was the broken skeletal remains of many creatures, some reptilian, as if giant lizards strode on two legs, and many smaller remains. In the centre of the room stood two large bone statues, one snapped in two, the other cleaved down the centre, these bore the strange gems Maunto carried.

Between the statues sat the desiccated remains of a pair of toad like creatures, the first had been torn open, the second was barely recognisable as it had been ripped apart. As they they picked their way towards the center Khaa'met noticed pieces of hollow statue with strange bones inside. All of them were damaged in some way, but the larger pieces sometimes bore gems too. Try as she might, she was unable to pry them free. Between them the found five additional gems, each one when touched seemed alive, so engrossed in their finds were they that the barely noticed in time that they were not alone......

 

[VampTeddy]

i like it a lot! especially that you use your knowledge of lizards to portray them in a very visual manner

 

[Axolotyl]

Nannahay leant forward and watched the intruders, he was old and did not see the point wasting time and energy in slaing these strangely twisted lizards, not worth the effort considering that they would probably wake the cold ones....

He focused his gaze on the big one, the long narrow snout, powerful tail, he would be a problem if he could climb, but he doubted that he could move fast enough to avoid the wrath of Nannahay's spawning.

He rolled an eye on the little one adorned with yellow, he was obvious to and wouldn't be too much trouble, fast probably but his spawning could use the target practice, how long had it been since they last had visitors? He tightened the grip on the statue with his tail, 300 cycles of the moon? Probably, but then again that was a good thing.

His gaze shifted, he saw other members of his spawning slowly moving in and selecting darts, he swayed gently and extended his throat, the rest copied and waited, shifting their grip and flattening their body to their perches.

The third one was odd, it carried a staff and showed an unusual interest in the rocks about the room, strange how it was interested on worthless things. He wondered how these strange creatures came about, probably twisted by chaos. At that thought his hue darkened, the rest responded and began to move in.

Maunto could taste carrion, he flicked his tongue about, yes deffinitely carrion, his stomach growled, FOOD. He silently padded in the direction of the scent, tongue flickering head extended seeking the source of the smell, he crested a broken statue and found a carcass of some unfortunate lizard beast from the jungle, it was fresh, probably a day old. In honesty he wouldn't of cared if it was a week old, it was his now.

Khaa'met heard them before she saw them, the high pitched whickering call of cold ones. The hyenas of the jungle, the raptor beasts had a reputation for cruel and efficient pack hunting. She looked about in fear, and saw the first, the creature ran from the shadows straight at Pro'phek, who saw it at the last second and dodged to the side. The whickering intensified and a second leapt above on top of a body of a fallen statue so that it towered above Pro'phek, jaws wide, arms opened it shrieked like primeval banshee. Pro'phek spun, crest raised and flushed with red, in a blind panic he thrust his hand forward and a great gout of flame issued forth, striking the predator in the face, sending it reeling over the side of the the rock, keening and thrashing. So absorbed in Pro'phek's plight, Khaa'met didn't notice the third cold one until it launched her into the air with a blow from behind, her body hitting a stone colossus before landing at its feet.

Maunto heard the commotion, predators,flight? No. Fight? Yes. He could feel the thrill of of a fight coming, the world took on a strange amber hue, he cared not, he felt strong and fast, he felt, like he could kill.

Nannahay saw the monitor return, it was huge and had took on an eerie aspect, oozing predatory intent. How was this so? The small one could use fire? The big one was bigger? He cast his mind back to an ancient time, he couldn't recall.... The monitor had slunk up to cold one who was intent on the little fiery one.

Maunto struck, his jaws seized the cold ones left leg above the ankle, he felt his recurved teeth sink into its flesh, blood oozed, he jagged his head to the side, bones cracked and ligaments tore, the cold one fell, howling and kicking out at him with its good foot. Maunto threw his body weight into a roll to the side, the foot tore free in his jaws, calmly he walked behind the struggling beast, he placed his hand on its head, forcing it to the floor, leant over and tore its throat out, it was over, he had won!

Khaa'met's eyes flickered open, the pain, her gaze swam, she struggled to focus, suddenly the world became sharp, and her gut roiled in panic, two cold ones were advancing on her! She tried to back up, but only found herself stuck between the feet of the statue. The world swam with a rich tapestry of colour, she reached out for a weapon, her staff, a rock, anything! There was nothing! She wished desperately for a something to smite these beasts, the world flickered as colours flowed together into a whirling ball of light coalescing above her. She reached out in blind hope, not understanding, it formed something real, hot, solid, a sum of her hopes and fear, she threw it.

Nannahay watched fascinated, the flaming rock came to be in her hands, as it streaked towards the would be attackers it blazed two streaming tongues of flame. It struck them with a deafening boom and flash of light, rocks, bones, dust and bits of cold one were thrown in every direction.

Nannahay knew!

Priest.

 

[VampTeddy]

Great update!

Had barely noticed it was updated, happy i did!

 

[Axolotyl]

Thanks vamp, I had been meaning to update in ages but i have been doing 14 hour shifts, sleep was my top priority! Glad your enjoying it

 

[Ssword1995]

Great job on this its really intrigueing and i cant wait for the next update

 

[n810]

Great story so far, (I just got around to reading it in one go).

 

[Axolotyl]

Rthank you guys, the encouragement is always appreciated, it does take a while to plan out, especially as "speech" is not a huge factor in the tale as of yet, it will be later on, not just yet

 

[Axolotyl]

The taverns of Skeggi were no place for a scholar, certainly not a scholar like Joseph Hypotenuse, and it was the last place a scholar should be, especially when carrying precious artefacts.

Joseph was a short man, with a body running to fat, his hair was grey and receding, his nose red and eyes rhuemy, his skin was a pale waxy colour as his voyage did not agree with his delicate constitution. His robes were modest, but the edges of the brown material were embossed with gold and silver stars, moons and suns, which were fraying round the edges. He held a tarp wrapped package, almost as large as his torso, and it clearly was heavy.

The tavern, The Drunken Weasel, was a vast cavernous inn, with a fog of smoke from pipes and cooking fires, the cloying smell of rot, stale ale, blood and far too many unwashed northerners was oppressing. Joseph took a deep breath and walked in, clutching his parcel. The raucous sound of people talking, yelling, singing and fighting battered his ears almost as much as the uncaring crowd battered and shoved the frame of diminutive scholar.

He cared not, he could see his target, a series of extravagant feathers of every colour which stood out above the crowd, it occasionally bobbed up and down as if in animated conversation. His progress stopped when he came across a hulking and badly stuffed form of a lizard like humanoid, its huge jaws and blank staring eyes drew his gaze. It towered over Joseph's form, he gave a small shudder of fear but his heart skipped a beat with joy, all the rumours and murmurs were true! They had laughed at him, scorned him even, openly mocked him in the streets! He would show them! By The Emperor he would!

"Little fat man!" A voice boomed behind him, its accent distinctly northern, Joseph turned to seen a walking wall of muscle, furs and bad odour. "Tis five gold sovereigns to be lookin' at mah pet!" His face twisted into an ugly smirk, "yeh best be payin Erik Eriksson 'is gold nah, or ahm gonna show yeh 'ow I tamed 'im wi' mah bare 'ands." At that he held up his two meaty, scarred, and metal backed fists.

"I.....I.....I....d..d..don....d..d..don't...." Joseph stammered, he had time to cower as the snarling Norse man pulled back his fist.

There was an almighty boom, a slight noise which can only be described as HURK, and Joseph saw between his fingers the Norse man spit blood and wordlessly slump to the floor. The tavern was quiet, you could hear a pin drop, through the haze a silhouette stood.

He wordlessly approached through a pall of smoke clutching an ornate flintlock pistol, his free hand rested on the basket of an ornate duelling sword, he was tall and lean, wearing a red doublet and hawking gloves, he was mustachiod with a goatee beard, grey eyes looked about the room. On his immaculate hair he wore a gigantic black hat with a host of brilliant feathers sticking from it.

He spoke in the clipped and cultured tones of an Estalian.

"Know thees little man, your life, today, 'az been saved by the grrreat Marco Columbo!"