19 Saun 717
Not that the aukari had no interest in the recent events of Etzos but he had enough problems of his own to deal with as is. His first thought after he heard of the wagon was how fortunate he was not among their number and, how fortunate those responsible left without going any further into the city as soon as the deed was done. He attributed all talk of freakish denizens of an icy nightmare to Saun, even if it was impossible for all the witnesses to have their brains affected to that magnitude by the heat. It was understandable; the climate was already bad enough without the witnesses also having to see an entire slaughter right before them.Bad enough irrational assertions of unnatural creatures were all that would be spoken of for most of a trial. Ice creatures and the freezing trails they would leave behind? How had neither of those not melted into nothingness especially in Saun, like the snow and ice produced by Zida at the turn of the season. True, F'mos may be using his own experience from Sirothelle for his own expectations of how quickly the ice creatures and ice trails should last, but he had been in Etzos for longer than an arc with one cold season of its own already. He should be able to reasonably manage his expectations even if he had spent most of that season indoors hiding.
Even if he was generous about it, he would remain unconvinced such things would be true. It was unrealistic to the alchemist who had his craft on those he could observe and make sense of. However after two more trials, more news of the creatures surfaced from individuals other than the witnesses. What the travellers and adventurers had to say about the similarities of the creatures to those they encountered at the ruins of Valaris had the aukari recall some of the things he was told of by his peers posted there to 'keep the populace safe' and, though he never had a reason to pay attention to them then it does seem they were not just telling him tall tales anymore.
Which was when he got an idea from something he remembered. As an alchemist with much of his effort in the body to reject this curse Faldrun forced on him, the recent outbreak of mutants in Etzos provided him a great opportunity to expand his knowledge and, the appearance of these ice creatures meant a greater opportunity to get him towards his goal. It was one he could not allow to slip from his grasp to become a regret for the rest of his life or, to take the troublesome trip to as perilious a place as Valaris himself. The problem as he realized it was, the scouts pursuing the icy creatures had a head start and even on his scython, the aukari had no chance of catching up to them.
It led to another idea, one conceived out of the possibility of the opportunity he would lose out on because of the time. If he could not catch up on his scython, a jungle cat made to thrive in the forest- it pretty meant there was no way he would ever be able to catch up to the scouts through any land travel. The water route may be faster if the source of the ice creatures were downstream but until the scouts returned, no one in Etzos would even know where the creatures came from. With an option available only to a rare few people in Etzos including him, the air became one of the best means for F'mos to get to the scouts on time and he knew it; but for the fact he never tried a prolonged flight before.
But as the saying went, there was no other time like the present.
With only minimal preparations to make; the tools no alchemist would go without for such an expedition, some food and water which would sustain him in his diminutive form and his only set of armour which could go with it, it did not take F'mos long to get ready. Anything else he needed like information of the ice creatures and the location they came from based on the wagon were things he knew from the gossip of the city. As he would not have to go through the confusing woods by himself, the very same he had nearly gotten lost in during the trips with Rowan, F'mos knew it would be easy to catch up as there was only one destination he needed to keep in mind. Straight ahead.
The sea of green passed him quickly though not quickly enough. In the first time he had to fly such a distance, he realized he needed to land far too often to avoid tiring himself out quickly. It was lucky for him the same trees he needed to pass made appropriate places to perch. If he needed to go over something else without such a convenience, something more dangerous where being unable to land in a safe place could be his death, surely he would be as the kids put it- fucked. Saun was not a hazard of that degree but remained hazardous all the same as he realized his flight over the woods was not as good an idea as he thought. It left him exposed to the heat, the terrible heat which would have been his end had he remained in his aukari form.
As unbearable as it became, F'mos eventually decided to fly within the trees where Saun will not reach him. He only surfaced to get his bearings, something which tired him as he needed to make the climb higher into the air more often. With no such precaution the night became a better option for his flight; nothing to confuse him from his course of straight ahead and the bat's additional senses gave him ample warning for the unforeseen obstacles in his path. He continued on determinedly until he found the signs of the ice creatures and the scouts in pursuit. A trail which sounded hollow inside accompanied by the path of those who did not care anymore in their haste.
While he returned to his original form a few times to sort out the supplies he brought with him with his actual hands, his find of the ocean was the first time since he embarked that he knew he was finally done with the uncomfortable form. He had thought to rest for a while before he continued his search but it was barely a break or two when he noticed the sounds of a battle which came from the direction of the ocean. "Already?" he thought to himself although not quite right as had he not taken the air route, he certainly would have taken much longer to arrive and would have missed the entire thing.
He quickly took to the skies and was on time to witness the battle. The scouts of Etzos against the unnatural ice creatures spoken about, the ones F'mos did not believe in until that moment he saw them with both his eyes. The battle seemed to be in the scouts' favour as the creatures seemed to be of limited intelligence, their attacks fully focused on specific individuals regardless of any signs of other enemies around them. Then, he noticed another thing which he would not have been able to had he been on the ground with the rest of them. The creatures targets change, but only to those who actively took action against them or moved on that giant slab of ice on the ocean.
Maybe they were protecting something there, like their leader or their source but eventhough he was on the air, F'mos was not going in just in case he ended up making himself another target. Instead he kept to the air to continue his observations of the creatures and the battle itself. The longer the battle progressed, the more it was obvious the advantage the scouts had was diminishing. The creatures do not tire and showed no signs of stopping unless thoroughly destroyed; even their severed limbs were capable of continuing to do battle independently. The scouts on the other hand fell, more and more. With no choice, F'mos got on the ground and shifted into the guise of the Black Guard the scouts should be familiar with.
He was not going to join in on the attack. He was not even armed. Instead, he yelled for the scouts to stop so he could explain the conditions for the ice creatures attacks and to advise them to escape while they still could. Unfortunately too excited by the battle, the scouts did not and the only ones which tried to escape were the ones who already had the creatures focus on them; the ones who knew they were in a losing fight. Nevertheless F'mos persisted in his orders, confident he would not be attacked for as long as he did not go over the boundary or, attack the creatures himself. There was only one point his confidence in this one fact wavered, towards the end of the battle when one of the scouts ran towards him with a bunch of the creatures right behind him.
F'mos gave way so the man could at least have a chance in his escape but instead, the man grabbed the aukari by the shoulders. He tried to fight back and break away from the man's grip but he was caught off guard, his feet barely even able to keep him on the ground. F'mos weakly tried to throw the man aside but was overpowered as the man instead, threw the aukari towards the ice creatures. It was a good plan for the scout to ensure he survived only, the ice creatures operated by different rules. They ran right past the aukari instead of having their usual slaughter to get at the scout, easily reached because of the time he wasted in his struggle with F'mos.
That, was way too close...
But F'mos was not out of the woods yet. Eventually when all of the scouts had fallen as they all had decided to go to the aid of their peers which got on the shelf, the creatures had their attention on the aukari himself. The thought it was all over for him but instead of any attacks, the creatures only stood around. Like a barrier, F'mos was effectively a prisoner as there was not even a gap he could get through nor was any made by them when he approached. He tried to communicate, tried to plea, but with no success. The creatures stood resolute. He decided to sleep on it and saw no change when he woke up. No sign of the creatures about to stop but for the water which dripped from them as they were slowly eaten by the heat. As he felt it too, F'mos turned back into a bat while he took shade behind one.
It was not until near the end of the trial when he was released, when all that remained of the ice creatures were puddles and tiny bits of ice too small to resist him. F'mos greedily rushed for what remained of the scouts for their food and water. They were not going to need them anymore. Satisfied, he quickly brought his vials out along with other containers he could find on the scouts to scoop up whatever he could of the creatures; tiny bits of ice and water. That was the only thing he needed for his study. Along with whatever he could relieve from their pockets, F'mos took one of their mounts to pile on it some of the corpses. It might score him some points with the city if anyone cared for their scouts fate. With another mount, he brought them along the river towards Etzos.
While he was vague of the details as he only arrived on the scene after the battle had started, F'mos did relay all the important information he discovered about the creatures and their motives. The information anyone needed to know if they needed to survive another attack. He was done with the entire business the moment he had left the bodies of the scouts to the authorities though. The alchemist had much more important things to study.
