This for me was a really fun chapter to write as it really pushed my boundaries of my imagination.
Inspirations of Madness
To traverse the vast continent of the Nethris took great fortitude. Though the small of mind may see this place as being encapsulated within the bright blue sphere or mother earth, it was in effect more boundless than its daylight counterpart.
That idea would have made no sense to any who may have pondered the mechanics of this conundrum. However, nothing in the vast world of the Nethris made sense, at least not to the logical human mind.
Xonereth flew on the back of a zilant's swift flight. Past the open and endless fields of steel grey rushes that wavered and moaned like lost souls. The thrusting spear like rushes mature, velvet black and soft like the pelts of witches' kittens.
The beast that bore its proud ruler was inky dark with eyes of scintillant silver, pupils narrow and pointed like a cat. A coronet of twisted, malformed horns garnered its gargantuan head, large bovine ears were framed beneath this bony crown. Its wingspan was of great size, the edges sporting claws for gripping and climbing the harsh rock faces that were abundant here, like a bat. A shaggy black mane not unlike that of a lion graced its powerful neck. The almost Cheshire cat mouth sported many rows of ridged and upright canine teeth.
Part of the fantastical creature was feathered, part scaled, and part fur. Its front legs were the powerful claws of a big cat, the rear manifest as the talons of a bird. It had a long sinuous scaled tail that mimicked a serpent with a tuft of twisted fur at the end like that of a bullock or a lion.
There were many other equally fantastic creatures who would have carried Xonereth on this journey. However the zilant or ajdaha as it was called by those of upper earth was amongst the largest and swiftest of all creatures here that soared the skies.
Xonereth would find the exiled Valefor. He knew exactly where his brother had been incarcerated to endure eternity many millennia before. It had been a different time then in his kingdom. A time of instability, a time of unspeakable deeds and betrayals.
His torn and suffering subjects had only uttered Valefor's name in whispers since that time. Mostly he was not referred to at all, except with a dark look or an obscure reference. Those exiled should in polite society truly cease to exist, and hence Valefor had. The bitter bile, and darkened shadow that was Valefor, had indeed ceased to exist for an age. Though even in ensorcelled chains on the way to his exile, he had dared to mock his brother.
"I will live long in all your hearts in every black thought or deed, no matter how inescapable my prison." He had warned though a torrent of disheveled hair as he was dragged away. "You will not forget me even if you fear to speak my name..." He had screamed at Xonereth and Sheharizade in his exodus hatefully.
Valefor's prediction was right in a way, and the taint of his darkness was till this day a blot on the Nethris' collective soul. In many millennia they still had not completely shed his terrible legacy.
The centuries had passed and in his clemency to one of his own royal blood, Xonereth had relaxed the rigid and cruel imprisonment he had initially enforced on his antagonist. Valefor would finally be allowed to live free, as long as he did not leave the immediate lands of his exile, nor meddle in the affairs of the Nethris and society again.
By this time centuries of immobility had seen even the strong mind of a Nethris Highborn crumble. Valefor was no more than an incomprehensible imbecile, who on his release did little more than sit motionless muttering words from a language none could decipher.
Xonereth reasoned Valefor through the portent of a dark and ruptured past would no longer be any kind of danger to the Nethris as a whole. As a precaution strong magical wards were set and Xonereth had not deigned to visit the unfortunate exile again. Slowly the dark prince's deeds faded to almost oblivion, only to become an awkward moment or a name that must not be uttered in the court.
Xonereth was not sure what to expect from this meeting. He did it mostly to satisfy that indeed his long nullified sibling was still as ineffective as he has last glimpsed him all those long millennia before, when the men of earth still dwelt in caves, and learned the use of fire.
The zilant, wings outstretched, swooped low over a black body of water. The pool was still, dark, and deep. Not even a ripple to graze the surface. During the low dive there came to Xonereth's ears the sound of a human child crying. The melody of a child's grief was a curiosity to his ears, for none of his kind ever cried in that fashion. All highborn hid their emotions well behind a mask of white.
The lesser Nethris could be quite prone to outbursts of emotion, but it was more in the manner of grief, writhing on the ground, and hair tearing. He listened and commanded his mount to circle the pool once more. The great beast beat its wings lazily and compiled.
This time Xonereth spied the source of the commotion. The creature sat on the edge of the body of water, dog like in appearance, but not completely canine if you looked more closely. Again it bore the hue of his world. Black rubbery skin exposed, sharp teeth, and pointed, alert ears.
The creature looked up as the zilant flew by. The torso of its body was furred, the dark strands clumping up to form wet tufts all over. Its tail twitched as it watched for signs of life. No ordinary tail, for it terminated in a completely useful hand, used to grasp and snatch its prey to the watery grave below. Its front legs also bore prehensile hands presumably for the same purpose. This ahuizotl was the source of the crying sound. Devourer of eyes, teeth, and fingernails. He was said to take his victims directly to paradise. Xonereth chuckled at this thought and urged his mount to fly skyward.
The topography of the land that rushed beneath him had markedly changed. The endless flat sea of rushes that swayed softly sighing, the dark ponds, and interconnecting waterways, dissipated in to a jagged and impassable sea of upthrust basalt stone. A world forbidden to those except by flight.
With imperious gaze Xonereth looked down at this sight. One he had not witnessed for millennia, though he ruled here he had little reason to traverse this place of almost nothingness. The skies seemed darker here, perhaps they were. There was an absence of large wildlife, unlike the plains before. Yes, he had hoped not to come here ever again.
The dead wind ruffled the mane of his mount, he urged it onward. The atmosphere felt heavy, leaden. Even his mount labored. The location he sought was still far within this jagged crown of peaks. There were no paths here, these environs impossible to traverse by land. This place the home of eternal winter, where none lived but the ghostlike Nruz, and those few in history who were exiled to an eternity of sorrow, names long forgotten to time.
The great zilant landed with an almost silent flutter on the slick rocky ledge. Xonereth dismounted and looked about him. The beast retreated to the windy ledge feeling more comfortable to easily be able to launch itself into immediate flight. Though it was a fierce predator the creature rightly feared this place, as most wild things do when displaced from their native environs. It sat on its haunches and preened behind its array of horns and ears, in a birdlike manner. Silver eyes shining bright against the dark mountainous backdrop.
In a wordless gesture Xonereth released the creature from its service and gratefully it glided away eager to be gone.
This place was frozen in memory. It had remained unchanged. Last he was here his brother had sat speaking gibberish to the stones, unseeing. Xonereth had pitied him, to see one of his own so reduced was difficult to bear.
He gazed about the large overhang, fine silver alum powder blew across the surface of the shining basalt rock to settle in deep sparkling quantities where the wind did not prevail. With a rustle of ravens wings that was his ebon robe he turned into the vast maw of the cave.
