Chapter 126 Grazynth, Guardian of the Far End I (1/2)
BOOK II
VOLUME VI
FALL OF THE EMPYRION
CHAPTER 126
GRAZYNTH, GUARDIAN OF THE FAR END (I)
Blend of colors, of shapes, sounds and miracles awoke a sense of strange yearning inside of Lino. Like ink, colors appeared to be brushed into shapes of still images by a hand divine, then further defined by light, by shadows, by depth. Scene unfolded before his eyes in just a few moments, yet those few moments perfectly captured the beauty of life.
Lino found himself overlooking a massive valley, enclosed on both sides by tall mountains, with a massive, natural arched passage standing tall on the other end. It appeared perfectly symmetrical, nearly forty meters tall and just below half as wide. The valley itself was braced with strange, grayish weed growing to a grown man's knees, swaying about through wind's presence.
”My turn, eh?” a gruff, deep and well-defined voice came out of Lino's lips, though he knew they weren't actually his. Just as it was with Q'vil, he was simply an observer of an event that had long since transpired. ”He's never picked me before,” the voice continued. ”I wonder what makes ye different?” a hand reached for a small gourd sitting silently on a wooden floor beneath, taking a few gulps of it. ”Either way, my introduction is simple: I'm Grazynth, Fourth Son of the Champion Okvele of Clan of Angles, a black sheep among the white swan. I beckon you from the Era of Four Clans, or New World Era as some named it. Life ain't great, but it's fun, I tell ya'. I became an Empyrean at the tender age of 46, after losing a battle against Devil Clan... one my folk named quite beautifully, I say: Battle of Grazynth's Fall. Heh, chaps sure got a sense of humor, no?” Lino heard no small amount of bitterness in the aged voice yet, as with Q'vil, he was unable to add anything to the conversation. ”Anyway, moving past that depressing shit, after becoming an Empyrean, I roamed the world for a long while before I settled here. What's here, ye asks? I call it Far End. Beyond here lay the unblemished lands and folk who wish no part of the ongoing War of Clans. So I settled here to make their dreams come true; I have been doing so for the past four thousand years.”
”...”
”Who am I defending them against, ye wonders? All.” slightly dull gaze sharpened as Grazynth focused on the valley's entrance where a bleak swarm of shadows suddenly appeared. ”They come again and again, testing my will and resolve. Angels, Gods, Devils, heck, even fuckin' Humans have balls to come here. Ah, sorry, you're one of humans. But, to be faire, you guys are weak as shit. Since the start of the Era, you've never once won a war. Ain't that just pathetic?” Yup... Lino wished to mumble but couldn't. He didn't know humans were so weak during the Four Clans Era. ”Ugh, here we go again,” Grazynth got up suddenly and stretched, his bones creaking and cracking. He was a very tall man -- well, Angel, technically -- towering at nearly three meters, with wide shoulders and muscular body. He wore what once sure was a beautiful set of armor; now, though, it looked like something one picks up to train disassembling rather than something one would wear for protection. ”Human, I can't say what you wish to learn from me, but I'll teach you what I know. And I'll show you my Will. May it assist your journey.”
A pair of crimson, feathered wings sprung from Grazynth's back as he heaved off the ground into the air, diving toward the valley. He glanced back to show Lino where they were at, and within Lino's sight came a massive tower with a disc-like platform at the top, which is where Grazynth was at all this time. It was good three hundred meters above the valley's ground, overlooking it in its entirety.