Tales of a Lost God
From the Chronicles of the Uhra, Part 3
“I can’t believe it…” Harv stammered. He dropped to the cobbled road, bracing his injured leg.
The Uhra was horribly damaged. The floating globe that lifted the craft had been torn and scorched in dozens of places, making any sort of attempt at flight in the foreseeable future clearly impossible.
“The audacity of this Titan…it attacks relentlessly, without concern for itself. Look at the wounds it’s received already.” Arthur pointed up past the row of rooftops behind them.
Following the fiery downing of the Uhra, the monstrous bird of prey had gone into a crazed frenzy, spewing fire across the residential districts of Carbas. It had lost track of the aerial rival that had been just shooting at it.
Now it was simply attacking everything.
Arthur hopped down from the twisted basket to Harv. “Let me look at your leg.”
The ex-artillery commander shuddered at the touch. “Is it sprained? How bad is it?”
“…It looks like you’ve gotten quite lucky. I would assume the injury is mild. We shouldn’t need to take superfluous caution, but I can at least help you walk about,” he decided as the two rose up together. “The real question is, what do we do now? We can’t approach the Titan in this state, much less fight it.”
Harv thought. “Let’s go to the military district. Maybe they’ll have an idea, or least know if the civilians are evacuating safely.”
The sounds of combat littered the air as the two made their way to the barracks. Noticing Harv Kesser, the surprised guards let them enter.
The news wasn’t good. The people were trapped in the stone emergency bunkers around town, and the troops had no effect.
“Do you at least know what it IS?” Harv demanded.
A shorter, balding man spoke up. “Well, it bears a striking resemblance to something we noticed in Liylian folklore. An elemental deity.” He paused, as if waiting to see their reaction.
There weren’t any denunciating outbursts, so he nervously continued. “W-well…what it looks like is Pyrakestrel.”
Arthur now spoke up. “Not to be rude, but I’m afraid I’m not well-versed in the ancient myths and legends of Liyl. What is this Pyrakestrel?”
“A massive bird of fiery origins, said to have been the breath of warmth during the birth of the world. Many thought it to be a reference to a phoenix of sorts, but on an ethereal level.”
“Well, that would prove hard to fight,” Harv noted sarcastically.
“On the contrary,” Arthur said. “I believe I know what to fight the fire with.”
