Ghost Monkey, стр. 17
Pillars lined the path to the throne, and on the outside of the pillars torches illuminated glistening treasure troves.
A large man, larger than General Humbari, sat on the throne. He held a pillar in his hand. A sigh trumpeted from him. He only wore a loin cloth and a massive gold necklace which went down to his belly. Ivory tusks jutted out of his mouth. He bellowed, echoing in the stone chamber, "Welcome. Now die in this holy place sanctified by the god of gold."
Bagheer stepped forward. "As a priest and follower of dharma, I can see to it that you are given a worthy reincarnation in the next life. Surely you did something right in the last life that you were made an elephant janaav, creator of worlds. Do not diminish your path further. I will execute you honorably."
"Your dharma is a crock of dung. Come. Kill me if you can. I look forward to popping. Then I'll eat your heart to keep you from reincarnating."
"He welcomes the maw of the dark ones," Bagheer muttered about the dark ritual. "Distract him." He pulled out his dagger and put it in his mouth. The man shifted into a sleek black panther and disappeared into the shadows.
Bajjo grumbled while closing the distance between him and Pahto. "Bajjo, go stab the mean thing. Slash it with your claws. Keep its attention, Bajjo. Good Bajjo. I could at least get pet by a virgin born from lilies for my troubles. But no. It's just, heal up and get back in there." He snarled. "It's unfair. You know that, Pahto? It's unfair."
Pahto leveled his column and swung across. Bajjo shifted into a badger and hid under it, then shifted back in time to jump on Pahto's face. Sugriva jumped onto the stele and slid down it when it was high enough.
The bandit king shifted into an elephant so Bajjo's claws couldn't penetrate the thick hide. Pahto shook the column, and monkey used his staff to catapult into the air, screeching as he did. Pahto tossed Bajjo off with his trunk, then shifted back to janaav, smirking at the airborne monkey. Sugriva grimaced, and laughed nervously. "Can we work something out?"
The column swung as hard as Pahto could. Sugriva put out his staff as if it would help, and the column snapped it like a twig, then sent Sugriva flying into a far wall. Labda buffered the air to slow Sugriva. Stars still exploded in his vision as he rolled down a mound of chinking treasure. He looked up in time to see Labda move under the strikes to cut at the janaav's hamstrings. Bursts of wind agitated Pahto's eyes, making it hard for him to see the elementalist.
Aavu attacked from behind, clawing and nipping, until he was kicked in the face. Still, he attacked again. Pahto shifted into an elephant and sat on Aavu. The tiger scraped at the stone, doing his best to escape. It looked like Aavu was given another broken leg instead of revenge.
Bajjo swiped at the elephant furiously. This time, Pahto picked up the badger and slammed him repeatedly against the ground, then stepped on him and shifted into his elephant form. Bajjo cried out as bones snapped audibly.
The room shifted under Sugriva's feet as he tried to regain senses. He wanted to sprint, to pounce the bandit king and help Bajjo, but he couldn't walk in a straight line. Labda continued his strikes, until Pahto kicked back as an afterthought. The man slammed against the back wall. He didn't get back up, and Sugriva thought him for dead. It was the most likely scenario unless he pulled off a final burst of magic.
Then Bagheer dropped down. Claws on his hands and feet dug into the flesh, while his dagger met with the elephant's throat over and over again, slicing and stabbing, the blood gushing out from the large creature. Pahto shifted back to janaav in the hopes of freeing himself of the panther, but it only allowed the dagger to cut deeper. Bagheer slit deep into the throat, and opened up Pahto's neck, the river of blood flowing abundantly.
Sugriva collapsed to the ground, no longer required to pretend he could stand. Face down on the stone, he gave a thumbs up and said, "Great work guys. I'm going to throw up now."
Chapter SixThe Seers Seen
Age of Finality
The boy yawned as the sun set. Lights built into the city streets illuminated the evening. The kid said, "Tell me more tomorrow, please?"
Sugriva laughed and ruffled the boy's hair. "I'll see you in the morning." With that, the boy scampered in the direction of the orphanage, glowing orange from the street lights.
Scholars strode through the city with books in their arms. Different theories on different devices were discussed. Any salvage sites which were not illuminated would be abandoned for the night, while those with working lights had a constant rotation of clever minds trying to puzzle out the riddles. A few smiths attempted to work with the lights so they could make them portable, but the technology was beyond them. After a light was destroyed due to tinkering, it became illegal to tamper with them.
Theories on the lights spanned from some sort of magical energy long forgotten, to trapping fire spirits in them to use their essence to fuel the lights. All of the concepts were fascinating, and Sugriva did like to listen in from time to time, but beyond the base theories, he couldn't comprehend it.
The traffic thinned out as Sugriva left the settled regions of the massive city. The ghost town was surveyed to be able to hold at least a million people, and they brought a mere fifty thousand. Even if they brought all the inhabits of Jaya and the neighboring kingdoms, without any deaths from the demon invasion, they would fill a quarter of the