Sakkrass stepped out of the village and into the jungle, but the brush and the thick trees of the deep woods gave way to arid, grassy plains. Sakkrass was no longer naked: He was wrapped in an exquisite white and gold skirt, with a golden metal and leather harness wrapped about his chest. His scales had changed color as well, from the deep forest green Kari had seen upon his avatar to a patterned gold, bronze, and black, like a desert reptile. In one hand he gripped a jeweled golden scepter, and in the other a war spear.
Kari watched him walk amongst similarly-colored czarikk battling all too familiar enemies: mallasti, elestram, and erestram soldiers. Blood oozed from Sakkrass’ scars, but he never slowed. He let forth battle cries that the czarikk repeated, and moved on.
The arid grasses soon gave way to desert sands, and he passed among more of the desert-colored czarikk fighting the minions of the underworld. Again, he let forth battle cries to spur them on, and blood continued to drip from his scars, sullying his garments. A pyramid rose from the sands, and Sakkrass walked up its intricately-cut staircase until he reached the pinnacle.
Kari beheld the god of the czarikk standing upon what she assumed was a throne of sorts to him, and he raised his arms so that the sun appeared to sit within his outstretched hands. The mallasti, elestram, and erestram burned away, but more took their places, and the horizon turned to darkness in all directions.
Sakkrass walked off the top of the pyramid but he did not fall. He stepped into the heavens and walked among the stars, passing through the empty places between worlds that Kari had only heard of in stories. In the heavens there was a great shining star, and Sakkrass stretched forth his hand to take hold of it. Once he touched it, there were whispers in the deep nether regions of space, each a distinct voice in its own language. He listened to them for a time, but did not speak in return. One in particular repeated its whisper over and over, and Sakkrass finally answered it in kind.
It was the language Kari had spoken to Muireann without understanding…
From the void, Sakkrass stepped into the light of a sun, and then he stood within the white marbled halls of a pristine mountain temple. Before him was a bird-man with beautiful plumage in black and brown, but with blue and tan bands like certain hawks. His eyes were black but surrounded by a thick ring of blue, and they were full of respect and wisdom as he stood before Sakkrass. The bird-man was humanoid but had a set of wings as well, and his bent legs ended in wide, powerful talons. He wore metallic armor, an efficient set designed to protect his vitals while still allowing him to fly, and he leaned on an intricately-runed golden spear not unlike Sakkrass’ own.
Sakkrass spoke with the bird-man, though Kari couldn’t understand anything that was said between them until she heard the words, “wetayu, teylu migash naraat” and the two clasped each other’s forearms. She understood: Sakkrass was greeting the bird-man as a brother in the avian creature’s language. It was strange that she was able to remember those words when she greeted the griffon, but that she couldn’t recall these memories at the time. It was stranger still that she could speak a language she didn’t know.
She smiled at the memory, but Kari woke up suddenly when Sakkrass turned to her and his face shifted into that of a hooded cobra.
Kari sat up before she was conscious of doing so, and grabbed the hilts of her swords. She expected to find the succubus in her room once again. Based on the dream, she was sure the succubus was trying to manipulate her, to make Sakkrass out to be Sekassus, or to suggest that the two were somehow one and the same. Her breathing and heartbeat slowed when she saw there was no one in the room, and the symbol of Zalkar was not glowing.
A light knock on the door drew her attention. “Kari, are you awake?” It was Sherman.
Kari composed herself before she invited him in, and the young man stepped inside with another human in tow. The other was a middle-aged man with short hair and pale eyes, and he introduced himself as the earl’s personal physician. Sherman left to give Kari her privacy while the physician inspected her.
Kari sat up fully and was surprised to find the wounds hurt a great deal less than they had before she’d taken a nap. She was able to get to a sitting position with little trouble, and her breathing was easier. She was still naked when she sat up, but she kept the blankets over her lower body while the physician inspected her injuries.
He felt her ribs with his fingertips first, and then poked and prodded them when he received no hissing protests of pain. “I was led to believe these injuries were far worse,” he offered, touching the tender flesh of Kari’s shoulder. He gripped it, trying to gauge whether it was sitting properly in the socket.
“They would’ve been, if I didn’t have wings and hadn’t slowed my fall a bit,” Kari returned.
The physician continued to inspect her. He asked her to take several deep breaths and report if she felt any pain or tasted any blood on her breath, but Kari experienced neither. Her ribs already felt fine, and when she looked at her shoulder, she could see that the bruise looked much older than it was, already well on the mend. She looked to the human for an explanation, but he seemed to be waiting for her to give him one instead.
Kari could only shrug, just as puzzled as the doctor. Her healing power wasn’t strong, mostly used to stanch bleeds or help start the knitting of broken bones. For her magic to have healed her so thoroughly was odd, since the damage was of a type that even the paladins’ training would have been little use in healing.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had some guardian demon blood in you,” the physician concluded. “They’re the only people I’ve ever met that heal this fast. You’re certain these injuries were from this morning?”
“Assuming I haven’t been asleep for a few days, yes,” she answered.
“Fascinating. Well, I wish you good health, and do be more careful,” the human said. “I suspect these wounds will be but a memory in a couple days’ time. Just be sure to get plenty of rest, and… try not to fall off any more griffons.”
Kari chuckled and bid the doctor farewell. She dressed and walked to the inner paddock with Sherman. He was just as surprised by how quickly her injuries were healing, but was glad their plans wouldn’t be delayed because of the accident.
When they reached the inner paddock, Charles was riding one of the other griffons around, calling out instructions, and pointing out some of the things he was doing for Eli’s benefit. The half-corlyps watched the elder human, and nodded every so often as Charles continued to give him instructions. Eli looked a bit bored, but his expression changed considerably when Kari and Sherman approached. He came over to meet them.
“Feeling better? That was a hell of a tumble you took off that thing,” Eli said.
“They’re not things!” Charles snapped, approaching on griffon-back.
“Someone must be looking out for me. I’m healing like a half-guardian, from what the physician said,” Kari answered. She rolled her shoulder and stretched her left side to demonstrate, and hardly felt any pain. “Ready to get back on Muireann and take some actual lessons so I can stay in the saddle next time.”
Charles laughed. “Ye’ve got spirit; there’s no denying that. Unless Master Sherman has any objections, we’ll get ye back in the saddle right away.”