Genesis

Strazio Rockwell

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“Blessed be The Queen, for without her existence is meaningless.”

Deep within the hinterlands of Erde Nona Leviticus slumbered. dreams of days long since past danced through his mind. Towers built with impossible geometry stretched high into the ether while fields of gold carpeted the landscape. He remembered the scent of freshly bloomed wildflowers and the gentle kiss of the sun upon his flesh. He remember the love of his wife and children. He remember the sweetness of her flesh and he remember the bitter blood of his enemies. He remembered many things, but most importantly he remembered Her. The Queen stood outside the realm of reality, she existed as a guiding light to a cold and hostile universe. Those that lived beneath her basked in an eternal warmth and lived like kings. Leviticus served her faithfully for life was pointless otherwise. After all, just what kind of existence could one eke out when devoid of her light? Some would call this blind faith, but those that would had never seen The Queen in person. Leviticus had. He had seen Her in all of her splendor and majesty. He had tried to comprehend her boundless existence compared to his limited mortality. He had quivered before her might and in her presence he knew one thing to be true above all -- The Queen was the answer. These dreams, which lasted for days, were the only connection he had left to her countenance. For how long had he lived devoid of her presence? Too long, for entirely too long had he been separated from his matriarch.

As the worshiper slumbered the world around him continued to move, completely unaware of The Queen’s disappearance. Pity was the only thing Leviticus felt for the inhabitants of the Crossroads. They had yet to find salvation in The Queen’s loving embrace. Moss and vines creeped across his stationary form. Rain had come and gone and left the robotic paladin half submerged in a pile of dried mud. Animals came and went about their business, completely oblivious to Leviticus’s presence. He carried no scent and his body stood perfectly still as breathing was a pointless chore for him. For seven days the proselyte slept and dreamed. On the seventh day his mechanical body slowly came to life. Like a bear rising from hibernation his mind came back online in slow groggy strokes. His sapphire eyes flickered and came to life like two little motes of blue fire in his head. Auditory sensors activated and were subsequently filled with a concert of horrid sounds. Slick sloppy crunches filled the air and mingled with visceral slurps and glugs and gulps.

Crouched over a mutilated deer carcass sat a small scaled being. Only as big as a human child the scaled humanoid chomped away at the mangled animal. Its striking blue-green scales glistened with the bloody runoffs of its meal. Skewered into the animal’s flank was a sword that appeared jagged from apparent years of misuse and poor maintenance. The lizard creature used its claws to strip away ragged hunks of flesh. It would hold the globs of stringy meat high into the air and lower them down into its snapping snout. All the while the forest stood silent as if to listen to the little gremlin’s feast. Every now and again the thing would accidentally swallow and bone and spend a few minutes hacking up ossein splinters before resuming its lunch. A yellow row of crystals ran along its snout and crawled across the top of its head, forming an offset mohawk of twinkling jewels. These crystals dug beneath the turquoise scales and in some places uprooted them entirely. For a long while Leviticus merely observed, entranced by the creature’s sheer savagery. As the lizardman neared the end of its meal Leviticus shifted and stirred, knocking off a layer of detritus. Instinctively the creature grabbed its weapon and whirled around, ready to defend its kill.

With a hiss it demanded, “Show yourself sneaky snake!”

A deep reverberating chuckle escaped the automaton as it lurched upwards. Moss, dirt, and other grime was shaken loose as Leviticus rose. Easily standing a head and a half over the average human Leviticus absolutely towered over the diminutive lizardman. A long and hefty shadow was cast across the reptilian hunter and it shuffled back instinctively. For a moment the leviathan stood still, not even its chest moved to draw breath.

“My friend, I’ve been here the entire time,” Leviticus answered, his voice a deep metallic echo. He continued, “I have no need to hide for The Queen keeps me safe, tell me what is your name voracious one?”

Keeping his sword between the two the lizardman answered, “My name? You’re not gonna kill me?”

Leviticus chuckled and answered, “Only if you want me to.”

“Zasq, my name is Zasq,” the reptilian humanoid answered. Its snout crinkled as it sniffed the air and eyed Levi nervously. It spoke with a hiss, “What are you? You don’t got a scent and you move like a stone.”

“I am Leviticus, servant of The Queen,” he said and reached up to his helm. Several puffs of chilled air escaped from his neck as he removed the armored headpiece. His sapphire eyes flickered and faded as they lost power. There was no man or anything that could be misconstrued as one beneath the plates of armor. Zasq peered warily into the sentinel’s open neck and saw only magic and machinery, no flesh nor blood was present. With a mechanical click and whir Leviticus replaced his head and spoke, “The Queen has gifted me this immortal body, flesh will fail, but I will not. Tell me Zasq, have you heard of The Queen?”

“Hnn,” It whined, “What queen?”

The Queen

“Which one?”

Leviticus chuckled and answered, “The only one, the progenitor of all things good and the matriarch of all living beings. The Queen, Zasq, Her divine majesty is the only thing that matters in this reality. She is more than alpha and more than omega, Her will is absolute and those that serve Her awesome might prosper. The Queen.

Zasq whined and shifted about. The deer carcass was getting cold. Glancing at his meal and then back at Leviticus, Zasq asked, “What do you want?”

“My friend, this is about what you want,” Leviticus responded, “You’re hungry yes?”

Zasq nodded, his crystalline growths flashing as they caught the sun.

“The Queen provides,” Leviticus said, “Under Her you will never grow hungry. Your belly will be filled and your body will grow strong. Feasts grander than any others will be held in Her name and Her champions will drink and be merry. With Her the impossible is made possible my friend. Any desire in your heart can be made reality for that is The Queen’s promise to Her servants.”

Zasq thought for a moment and said, “Food is good, dreams are better.”

“Indeed they are my friend, so do you wish to stand with The Queen?”

Zasq glanced over at the deer carcass and whined. What was left would barely fill his gut. He lowered his jagged implement and wiped blood from his mouth. Thinking so hard made his head ache, but thinking was something his kin had always envied him for. Practically a genius by lizardmen standards the young reptile racked his brain at Leviticus’s question. Food was good. If The Queen could provide food then The Queen was good. Zasq’s stomach groaned as he thought of the wondrous feasts that Leviticus had promised him. Food was always good. Zasq nodded.

“Okay, I join, but Queen must give Zasq food,” He said and tapped the crystals on his skull, “Food make me think better and fill me gut.”

Leviticus chuckled, “Yes my friend The Queen will provide, but first we must make you into a proper knight, your rusty shiv is not fit for a warrior of The Queen! Come, let us find a proper blacksmith, onward to glory my friend, onward!”

With that the armored sycophant grabbed his companion and sauntered off into the forest. Zasq whimpered and took one last look at his half-finished meal. Cold or not, meat was still meat.
 

Klarion

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The prairie spread out in all directions, wheat-colored grass stirring beneath the wide blue disc of the sky— the gentle susurrus appearing so lovely and so smooth that it almost seemed like the ground of Erde Nona itself was breathing in, then slowly out with a sigh. Sagebrush, devil's club, witch's hair... All of these and more weedy plants sprouted up in ugly patches within the shadow of their golden cousins, sapping the soil of any richness it might've possessed. They tangled up with the unsullied prairie grass, lending a splash of color to the largely monochromatic landscape. A line of trees cut a dark streak of fringe in the distance, breaking up the monotony of swaying gold.

Animals of all types thrived in the cover of the grasses and the occasional tree, hidden from lurking predators. Field mice strayed from their burrows; long-eared hares twitched their noses at the distinct, sharp cry of a hawk. The sunshine raised a crescendo of a thousand voices, cricket chirps and bobwhite whistles and bumblebee buzzes building into a steady, sleep hum. At first glance it all seemed impossibly flat— until one looked closer, that is, for rising tall and plain in the middle of the humming land, was a not-very-impressive hill.

A farmhouse sat on that hill, entirely abandoned save for it's newest tenant: Mother Nature. Birds and raccoons had already set up shop in the drafty rafters, the unattended roof's shingles crumbling into disrepair. The house's meager and unpainted wooden siding was stained by the rain, the two dust-covered windows providing a dismal glimpse inside the unfurnished room; there was only one, though it looked like plans for another had been made judging by the pieces of timber lodged in the room's corner. Spatters of black dust dotted the floor near to a fireplace lined with wasp nests, small bare-footed prints embedded in the soot.

On the house's porch sat a rocking chair, overturned by the— sometimes surprisingly turbulent— prairie winds. And dozing beneath that porch, tucked rather unassumingly behind the shattered cylindrical drum of a rusted burn barrel, was a dog.

She was an awful pretty animal, though her sable and biscuit-colored coat seemed in desperate need of brushing. Her long fur gathered in mats around her legs and behind her ears, itchy and overall very uncomfortable to look at. At the end of her pointed snout, her black nose dry and caked with dirt, the collie dog's nostrils twitched.

Suddenly, the dog's ears pricked up. Deep almond-shaped eyes blinked open in the dark under the porch, staring out into the blinding daylight.

With slow, agonizing movements, the dog rose and stretched, tail flopping like a tattered banner between her legs. Her tongue lolled out, panting as the heat of the day sank into her thick fur. The dog stood proud and alert at the porch's lip, her head tilting to the side. Watching. Waiting for her human pup to come home.

Sadly, it didn't seem like Jeff was coming back, at least not in the wagon he'd been taken away in. Far off, past the broken strands of barbed-wire that surrounded the field and the hill-house, there were figures walking out from the distant trees, approaching...
 

Strazio Rockwell

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As the two devotees traipsed through the forest Leviticus regaled his companion with scripture. Zasq, for his part, listened, albeit inattentively. The loftier ideals of altruism and piety were lost on the reptile. Sure he understood them, but what good were they if they did not fill his belly? More than once Zasq toyed with the idea to simply leave his companion and go hunting, but the promises of an eternal bounty kept him intrigued. If this queen was as powerful as Leviticus made her out to be then surely her followers were well-fed.

“Look, civilization,” Leviticus said as the two reached the forest’s edge.

Zasq followed his companion’s finger and laid eyes on the distant silhouette of a farmstead. There was a solemn air about the place, as if it hadn’t been touched for ages.The morning hustle and bustle that was expected of most farms was strangely absent. Fields sat overgrown and unkempt with neither crop nor cattle in them. Zasq sniffed the air and filled his nostrils with the scent of sun-soaked grass.

“It is abandoned,” Zasq said.

Leviticus nodded and answered, “It appears so. Perhaps they left some canned food behind, let’s go investigate.”

Levi lumbered forward, his heavy body sinking slightly into the earth as he walked. Zasq followed behind, sniffing the air and scanning the horizons. Were he alone he would have avoided the open field entirely. Such an open space meant there was no place to hide if a pack of wolves or some other predator decided he was an easy meal. Even with his goliath of a companion a sense of anxiety gripped him as they approached the farmhouse. Humans, while not completely xenophobic, usually saw his kind as something to be despised. Still, courage came easy with an armor clad giant at your side.

Near the house a small figure perked up from a brush of grass. Zasq froze, but Leviticus did not stop.

“Greetings!” Levi shouted, his metallic voice washing over the prairie, “We are emissaries of The Queen! We’re just passing through!”

A moment of silence filled the air as a gust of wind rolled across the open field. Without warning the figure burst forth from its curtain of grass and bounded towards them. Zasq shuffled behind Leviticus and held his blade towards the creature. Levi merely chuckled as the dog neared. He crouched and held out his palm for inspection. Overcome with excitement Lassie spun around in a circle and sniffed at the sentinel’s hand.

“Stay your blade Zasq, this is not our foe.”

Zasq stepped forward and said, “Then it is food.”

“Nay, this lovely creature is not livestock,” Leviticus answered, “Where are your owners, young pup?”

Lassie whimpered and did a little jig in response. Leviticus ran his hand through her coat and remove a small clump of cockleburs from her flank. The dog sniffed the ground and wandered over to Zasq. The lizard pointed his jagged sword towards the canine and hissed. In one solid motion Levi wrapped his hand around the blade and yanked it from his companion’s hand.

“Servants of The Queen treat living things with kindness and respect,” Leviticus scolded, “We do not eat anything that moves.”

Zasq narrowed his eyes and whined. Levi handed the sword back and Zasq gingerly took it from his grip. Lassie sniffed at the strange creature and after some prodding from Levi, Zasq reached out and rubbed the collie’s head. Where humans would feel a sense of comfort Zasq only felt hunger.

--

A vine of poison ivy stretched across the front door, forming a natural seal. Leviticus pawed at the vine, ripping it free from its home and tossing it aside. The door was unlocked and came open with a bit of force. Motes of dust floated in the rays of sunlight peeking in through the windows. Leviticus grunted in acknowledgement. He had to turn sideways and crouch to make it through the doorway and once inside his head threatened to scratch the ceiling. Beneath his weight the floor creaked and sagged. Inside fungus grew on an overturned chair, fed by the rain through a broken window. He glanced over at the dog.

“What happened here?”

Lassie barked in response.

Leviticus nodded and grunted in apparent understanding.

Zasq looked at the dog and then back at Levi before asking, “What did it say?”

“I have no idea.”
 

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What a strange pair, one all scaly and smelling like the lizards that streak across the ground at the first sign of danger, the other seeming sturdier than any mule Lassie'd ever seen, not to mention larger. Bounding up onto the porch, Lassie followed after them with dogged steps into the old farmhouse, her nose twitching every which way as she took in the smell of dust, soot, and the ghost-like traces of her humans.

Never before had she been allowed into a house, though Jeff had certainly tried to smuggle her inside during many a thunderous rainstorm. His body reeked of fear during these moments, the sour stench of sweat fading somewhat whenever he'd hidden himself and Lassie under a shivering tent of linens. His guardians always caught him, though, and Lassie would end up booted outside into the shower, pining uselessly for her human pup and his fortress of scratchy bedsheets.

A soft whine filled the room as Lassie thought of her family. How long had it been since they'd left and forgotten her? Days, at least— possibly weeks! Even the shortest absence would feel like an unhappy eternity to her.

Still, investigating the farmhouse served as a welcome distraction. Her nails scratched over the floorboards as she trotted inside, but that was nothing in comparison to the mighty groan the house gave as Levictus strode inside. He seemed gentle as a lamb, but that hardly mattered when one weighed more than a hundred lambs put together!

The fireplace room was just as Lassie remembered— or, well, the shape of it was familiar, seeing as all the furnishings and usual signs of life were missing. A starkly empty space stood where once there had been a table with four stools scooted up against it; Jeff ate his breakfast there every morning, heading in for supper as the evening shadows lengthened and darkened the fields. Gone were the chairs by the hearth, the tiny porcelain basin for washing up, the shelves littered with bone china and colorful baubles. All that remained was the conspicuous and lonely emptiness of an abandoned place.

Lassie sat beside the entryway as if to become a permanent fixture there, her large brown eyes watching as the lizard and the behemoth searched the room. One ear twitched at the sound of a fly thumping against the windowpane, the light streaming in through the glass shining with specks of settling dust.

Finally, the little lizard man seemed to tire of playing detective. Picking up a shard of colored glass, likely from a shattered jar of preserves judging by a sticky place on the floor, he tucked it into some hidden place on his person and gave the room at large an unimpressed squint.

"No food here!" Lizard Smell announced, sounding disappointed.

"I believe you are right," Big Lamb admitted. He straightened from where he'd been inspecting the blackened bed of the fireplace, shaking his head. "There is nothing for it, then, except to move on—"

"Borf!" rejoined Lassie, startling the tall being into turning around. She'd moved from her station beside the door to another opening letting out into the back of the property, her tail held aloft.

Levictus stared at the shaggy canine, his entire demeanor uncomprehending. She stared back at him, trying to communicate... something.

An excited hiss abruptly came from Zasq, the scrawny reptile seeming interested once more. "The hairy beast knows where food is! Hurry, let us follow it!"

Yipping in agreement, Lassie tore down the back steps in a scrabble of paws. The others followed, taking in the view of the overgrown and weed-littered yard. A clothesline, a well, and several rusted fence posts were also there, but no clothes hung from the line, the well appeared to be crumbling, and the fence posts didn't even have a fence between them. It was the very picture of neglect, and yet this was not the worst part of it. Oh, no. Definitely not.

Smack dab in the middle of the yard, healthy and swollen with vibrantly green growth, was a vegetable garden.

Zasq nearly collapsed to the ground, a pitiful wail rising from his crumpled body. "Nooooo!"
 

Strazio Rockwell

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To Zasq that patch of lushious vegetables was no different than a pile of gravel. There was no steak inside of a squash, no blood in a zucchini, and certainly no meat to be had in that garden. The reptile swatted at a patch of elephant’s ears and spooked a spider from its home. He huffed and glanced at the dog, who seemed all too happy with herself. Behind him Leviticus shuffled forward, casting a large shadow over more than half of the garden. Metallic joints creaked as he stooped down and inspected a tomato plant. Zasq paused his tantrum and watched the giant curiously. Levi reached out with an armored mitt and wrapped his fingers around one of the bright red fruits. It gave some resistance as he plucked it free and stood up. Leviticus held the tomato up to his face and glanced over at his companion.


“These must be quite delicious,” Leviticus said, his vibrant voice adopting a more sullen tone.


Zasq waited a second and then responded, “They aren’t food.”


“Oh? You’re a peculiar creature Zasq, but I suppose in a way you are right,” the worshiper noted, “You refuse to eat them and I cannot eat them.”


“Yes, meat is the only food for warriors like us,” Zasq agreed.


“No, perhaps I should clarify, when I said I cannot eat them, rather I meant I cannot eat.”


Zasq nearly deflated, “Cannot eat? What do you mean?”


Leviticus let the tomato fall. Once the fruit hit the ground he reached up to his helmet and undid a few hidden clasps. Puffs of cold air escaped from his neck and frosted the edges of his pauldrons. With a bit of force his helmet came free and revealed the void beneath it. Where Zasq had expected a giant’s head he saw only an empty space that opened up into Levi’s chest cavity. Intricate machines whirred and went about their business inside his body and blue veins of arcane energy pulsed through the entire thing. He held his helmet under his arm like one might hold a soccer ball and Zasq watched as the blue lights that marked Levi’s eyes faded. Lassie barked, but seemed largely unphased by the sudden reveal.


Leviticus spoke, his voice emanated from the empty space in his chest, “The Queen provides me with all the sustenance I require, in this body I have no need to eat nor breath, my faith is more than sufficient.”


As he explained his gift he neglected to mention one simple fact. Although the worshiper had no need to eat he was indeed hungry. For a mind built to enjoy the fruits of the world does not stop yearning for them just because they are beyond its reach. Oh how poor Leviticus craved for the sweet tomato. How he craved to once again be able to enjoy the soft breeze against his cheeks or the sugary scent of wildflowers. Yes he could sense the outside world, but it was with the dullest of sensations. This lack of stimulation would have driven him mad if it was for that burning warmth deep in his heart. The Queen was all that he needed, and no cross was to heavy to bear if it was for Her. With his faith reaffirmed he reattached his helmet. Zasq was at a loss for words.


“Well, at any rate, the day is marching forward and we have no leads on the whereabouts of our friend’s owners,” Leviticus noted, “We should stay our course and head to the nearest town. Zasq, you know the area better than I, which direction should we head?”


Zasq looked away and answered, “We should not head there.”


“Why not?”


“Humans see my kind as monsters,” He responded, “They will kill me.”


Leviticus placed a hand on Zasq’s scaley shoulder and declared, “Nonsense! You are a servant of The Queen, and Her servants go where they like without the fear of reproach!”


Zasq scratched at the crystals on his head and muttered, “I don’t know, they have many spears and swords, we would stand no chance.”


Leviticus laughed. It was the deep rolling kind of chuckle that one might associate with a jolly old man.


“You have much to learn my scaly friend,” He said, “Come, show us the way and you will see for yourself Her power.”


With some gentle prodding the lizardman began to blaze a trail. Levi stopped just before they disappeared into the woods. He glanced back at the farmdog and beckoned her to follow them.


“Come on, young pup,” He said, “Perhaps we can find someone to brush all of those stickers out of your fur.”


With a yip the collie bounded after them.
 

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While Lassie was loathe to abandon the farmhouse, afraid that perhaps the Millers would return the instant she set foot past the last fence post marking the edge of the property, she could not deny that going for a romp in the woods seemed far better than huddling under the porch all day, staving off the sunshine by lapping up puddles of rainwater. Besides, perhaps Jeff and his family were lost in the wilderness! Lassie could help them!

With a bounding few steps, Lassie caught up to the little reptilian fellow and his gigantic friend.

Almost immediately, the forest closed around them-- not in a dark, claw-like sense, but with an ethereal shroud of sparse sunbeams and sparkling, dewy leaves. The shadows wrought by the trees dropped the day’s temperature by a few precious degrees. The cool air felt wonderful on Lassie’s overheated, burr-filled pelt. She eagerly snuffled about in the damp leaves scattered across the forest floor, scenting out mice trails and places where squirrels had thought to bury their stash of acorns.

Levictus gave a deep chuckle as the farmdog hurtled past like a dog less than half her age, seeming as if an immense weight had been lifted off her frame.

For hours they walked on. So many hours, in fact, that Lassie began to notice something very peculiar indeed about the profusion of green life around them. Something which Zasq seemed to notice as well, judging by the stiffening of his scaly shoulders and the furtive glances he cast around at the silent trunks of trees.

Silence… that was it.

No birds were singing.

Now, Lassie knew that there could be several reasons for this. She’d once seen a barncat, a mean old calico tom with one green eye and another brown, sneaking around the yard in a seemingly aimless pattern. He’d dash between a flower pot to the water trough, crouching down like a beast on a mission, then suddenly take off at a sprint, skirting carefully between the tomato plants like they were full of thistles.

It was odd, but Lassie wasn’t a cat; who was she to judge? The kitty was fun to watch, anyhow.

And yet, after a moment of watching with her big almond eyes, Lassie began to notice that his feline eyes were always pointed in one direction: the clothesline. And on that clothesline sat a perfectly even row of fat little blackbirds, silent as stones, their beady black eyes trained squarely on their slender, long-tailed enemy.

So, Lassie knew that birds being quiet meant that something was nearby, something they considered dangerous, because birds were never that quiet without having some motivation. Plus, she doubted there was a big enough cat in all of Erde Nona to make an entire forest fall silent.

Walking a small distance behind the others, Lassie paused, turned her nose to the wind and sniffed. She just needed to determine where the danger was, steer her people out of its way, and mosey on out of the forest and into someplace with a lot of people. People meant safety, more often than not. Nothing liked going near them; it was lucky that Lassie was such a good girl and made her humans happy.

As the collie continued to snuffle determinedly around, she began to grow somewhat agitated. Her tail wagged, partly from nervousness. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth and her eyes seemed not just brown, but black with anxiety.

Lassie whined.

All that she could smell was damp earth and old leaves. Why were the birds so quiet?

Hearing the dog’s whimpering, Levictus ceased his march and turned. His great helm eased to the side, groaning like a grindstone. “What is the matter, pup?”

While Lassie was glad to have her concern acknowledged, she did not know how to properly communicate just what had set her on edge. She settled for tucking her tail between her legs, flattening her ears against her skull, and casting a quick glance behind her. She whimpered for emphasis.

The blue glow around Levictus seemed to shift in intensity, flaring like foxfire. The woods seemed terribly dark all of a sudden.

“You think we are being followed,” the worshipper stated, his words sounding more like a statement of facts than a question.

Lassie barked in affirmation, but it quickly shifted into a soft series of whimpers. Yes! Where are they! I will not let them hurt you!

A thoughtful hum eased out from beneath the giant’s helm, one big-fingered mitt reaching up to rub at his chin. “I had noticed the lack of birdsong, but believed our presence had merely stirred them from their perches,” Levictus murmured, then turned to question their reptilian friend, “Zasq, do you…”

He trailed off, startled by the sight of the little lizard person tucked under what seemed to be a gigantic specimen of fungus, his eyes trained on what little of the sky he could see and his scales glinting in the dark. A faint phoom-phoom-phoom, not unlike the blades of a rotor turning, swept ominously through the treetops.

“Stymphalian birds…” Zasq hissed, his sharp teeth bared in a grimace.
 
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