The Random

Chapter 26: Lights, Tridents and Fangs

Chapter Twenty-Six: Lights, Tridents and Fangs

The three mammoth wolves blazed in blinding haste through the rocky and steep precipices of the Segrentian mountains, their paws outset, and claws slashing the morbid ground. The Neander's shadow was shrouding their path in almost total darkness; only the showers of phosphorescent sands reflecting the pale moonlight was visible. Riding over them were three young men-Shark, Alvin and Gregor, their hands clutched deep into the wolves' skin, dug through the thick lupine fur-their faces wearing both dread and excitement. They were moving to the east, toward the Ursinic borders.

"Hold tight, my friends!!!" Shark, who was over the middle wolf, shouted, turning his head to his right and left. He remained stuck to the wolf, both his hand clinging through the thick fur over the wolf's neck. He tried to raise his eyes and noticed his surrounding that kept changing as they flashed through the almost total darkness, and suddenly raging freezing wind, its chill biting, blew furiously against them.

"Tell me, Sharkie: we can stop these wolves from running further! We may be heading to a dead end before we know it!" Alvin who was riding the wolf by his left, yelled back at him, his voice rippling through the breeze.

"I don't see anything! How do we stop this beast?!" Gregor chimed in, bursting against the turbulent wind. He persistently held his grip against the thick fur, while checking whether the straps holding the saddle where he was stuck were still tightly in place.

Shark maintained his silence. There was no point in answering his friends, he decided. The wolves had been running for hours and he really didn't know how to stop them. Ahead, the path was covered with both darkness and thick mists. The moon's faint lights shattered through the fogs, slowly gathering brightness as the moon gradually emerged from the clouds. Still, the path remained unclear, and so was the three boys' fate.

***

"We take back the council first. Impaler's plan of taking over didn't really push through" Marcus looked at Michael whose face was still bearing unclear reaction. "Thanks for your accidental yet timely intrusion, there"

Michael nodded, forcing a faint smile out of his lips. Across the room, the congregation's members sat attentively, listening to Marcus and waiting for their time to chime in.

"I've spoken with Bertud. He's certain I have the right numbers, just in case someone objects my return" Heartfilia said firmly, her fists glued against her lap. She turned to Michael, hinting something, and then back to Marcus, who right away understood the message she wanted to relay.

Marcus sized up the whole room. Both fright and amazement were in their eyes. The congregation wasn't completed but they were never this many today.

"Our focus, then, shall be on taking back the part of the codex that Impaler took from us, or at least doing something to hinder Impaler from using it for any of his ambitious and selfish visions" he began.

A wave of whispers traveled across the room. Everyone inside knew how both dangerous and beneficial the codex was.

"The codex holds so much both danger and advantages. We need to either eliminate some portions-certain ones-of it that bear the 'red' codes, or destroy it completely.

The nannoid system relies on that codex. The destruction and completion of the system begins at the activation of all the codes listed and carried by the codex's constituents. One of the coded dragons accidentally escaped and reached the trosphosperic level where inceptionary nannoids thrive in enough numbers-"

Castor Finn, who chose to clutch himself against the wall, cut off Marcus. "That dragon alone couldn't possibly bear all the corresponding codes needed to begin a process of activation, let alone a strong one. Without the help of-"