Book One – Chapter 13

The lizardkind reached the avian beast, encased in a shell of ice against the cliff. Though trapped, the creature’s form was intact, not crushed. In a swift, calculated leap, the lizardkind launched itself onto the outcropping that held the beast captive. His front limbs shot forward, claws extending like bone spears and piercing the ice between the creature and the mountain. Once embedded, the claws erupted with bony protrusions that shattered the frozen shell, severing it from the cliff’s face.

In one single, violent fracture, the giant shard broke free. With the avian beast encased at its center, the massive chunk of ice plummeted down the mountainside. As the ice sphere fell, the orich conjured another wave of ice, attempting to snare the shard mid-fall. But the golem was faster. Ascending beneath the falling shard, it intercepted the ice with one arm, shattering the orich’s bindings with the other, and pushed itself off the cliff.

At that moment, the lizardkind lunged sideways, toward the voltera, chained to the mountain —but the golem intercepted and snatched him out of the air mid-leap. Together, they fell, the golem gripping the armour on the lizardkind’s back, while the creature, compelled by necessity, clung to the golem’s chest.

The golem rammed feet-first into the Snowtrail, with the massive ice shard pressed against on one side of its chest and the struggling lizardkind against the other. The creature tried to wrench free, but the golem immediately launched itself forward. In one seamless motion, the golem’s torso spun around on its fixed legs, flipping the lizardkind and the ice-shrouded avian beast to its back. Charging headfirst through the snow-laden trail, the golem now shielded its cargo with its own stone body. As it ran, its lower arms further enveloped and protected the lizardkind against any onslaught of shards from above and behind. Like that, it barreled forward, its form scraping against rock and ice, yet it maintained its momentum, never faltering, never losing its balance. With savage speed, it crashed through ice that had accumulated over centuries, towards the orich’s ledge.