The deprived realm had ruins where mana pooled like puddles. Between them was a dry desert that stretched as far as water between two islands or the void between stars.
All understood it was deadly for its lack of mana and yet, even monsters stubbornly believed it was possible to cross it. No it was not.
What actually happened was that a monster would leave their puddle and promptly die. The mana receded back to that puddle and far away, without even needing that death, a similar monster would be born on another pool's shore.
Thus this inane belief when you were actually very, very, very dead.
And so I had woken up onboard a wreck lost in that dry desert, among the rock and sand that hid its deadly waste. The mighty ship that had been the Parao was breaking apart from that touch.
Of the thousand monsters onboard, half of that remained.
The first to fall had been the ascended, those with a humanoid body. As fights broke off they faced creatures designed for murder. Now the mighty upper deck was just another hunting space for the survivors.
The only place to not have fallen into chaos was the bow's castle where some beasts had dragged me and kept me safe.
Pieces of the void armor lay scattered around where they had snatched and thrown them away. Marks indicated that they had tried to feed on them, to no avail.
"He is awake!" A felog called the others.
The feline batracian had got up and put her paw on my clay shoulder. Not like I was going to move much anyway. All I could really do was move my head a little.
"How do you feel?" The felog asked.
"Good enough. Where is Nadjal?"
"Dead."
My legs would not respond. The arms only twitched. My whole body burned more than usual. I tried to sense my chest but the plates there only felt like molten lava.
"She is not dead."
"We saw her fall."
I had seen the human kill their priestess too. That was meaningless.
"No, she simply retreated."
And to reassure that monster I explained the hints. One, the mist. That was her portal to flee. Two, the chalk. She had almost certainly used a clone or elemental for the fight. Three, the stelae. She, the carrier of the words of Hashal, had not had them when she fell.
So I could comfortably guess that she was safe elsewhere. And not coming back.
"What's the situation here?"
"We are killing each other." The beast surmised.
It was her turn to detail. The whole ship was falling apart and slowly turning to stone, then to dust. Beasts fought for mana but also for whatever meat remained that could bring comfort.
At least what few remained at the bow's castle did.
"You are strong. You have to save us."
She said that to the broken clay golem that could barely move its hands.
"Use the wood to make rafts. We have to leave."
"We don't know how."
So I had to teach them, from the floor, and she went to tell the others. A few of them bipeds, with hunched backs. The rest, a good dozen, had come from the lowest decks.
They distributed the tasks: to gather monster hearts for mana. To gather food to stay sane. And to build the rafts per my instructions. For such a small group, a single one would be enough.
As for me, I would fall in and out of consciousness, meaning my memory would slip or my senses fail.
When I came about again, not two hundred monsters were left.
There was no food to be found, so they were hunting for more and devouring it raw. It didn't help much but when they saw me get up and struggle to the door, they stopped their fights. The sight of me was enough to calm their hunger.
Other beasts stranded with us didn't share their view. To them I was the best source of mana and therefore the prey to get, especially in my weakened state.
And so, while I worked on the rafts, the others fought to protect me.
Then I would collapse again, recover, work some more and collapse anew. Something was wrecking my body so bad as to make me spasm out of control. Each time I collapsed the others panicked and each time I was back up, they felt relief.
We finally had a half-dozen rafts ready and less than a hundred monsters remained.
By now only the upper deck remained from the Parao. The rest had sunk into the ground. And of that deck only the bow stood above the rock and sand.
"The rafts are our only chance!" The beasts argued.
"We need to feed!" Objected the others.
By objected I meant that they were still fighting even then. But desperation was setting in and with it the monsters agreed to a system. It was simple: each raft would provide for itself through duels. And that was it. All embarked.
I set against the rudimentary mast and watched the wooden hulls slowly scrape the ground. A half-dozen ridiculous husks escaping a sinking giant.
Again, the chances of success should have been none.
At first their system held. On the other rafts, they started fights and fed on the vanquished. On the one I occupied, they just beat back the hunger and waited.
So our numbers steadily fell, until the other boats had barely half our numbers.
That was when a new system took place. A simpler one even. Two rafts would approach each other and one would get to devour the other. We set the example, quickly overwhelmed our neighbors and let the empty raft in our trail.
Only some thirty or so monsters were left.
I had somewhat recovered. My clay body obeyed again, well enough for me to move around and help. Not that there was much to do other than guess our direction. Dusk had fallen on us, that eternal dusk, yet I could still discern a path to nearby Pelum.
"Golem," a starving greyhound called me, "you have to avenge us."
"Do it yourself." I complained.
"We are too weak. You have to avenge our priestess. Kill the one who took everything from us."
Yeah not happening. That was a human. I could not care less how many monsters he slaughtered.
"You shouldn't talk. Here. Eat."
We were holding on to the monster shards we snatched from the others. But he refused it. He and the others would not eat, no matter what.
Of the three rafts left, one broke and we turned around, not to pick anyone but to finish them off. Then we agreed to attach the two boats left together and share our fate.
I was moving around sleeping beasts that struggled against the mana drain. Sitting near them, sharing the mana I still had in me.
Only ten of us were left.
But we had stopped eating each other. What was killing them? The mana drought? I should have had enough to spare for everyone by now. Our two sails still worked.
Yet here we were, dropping lifeless carcasses overboard.
And after that, they would put the beating shard aside and tell me to rest.
It took me only six of them remaining to finally accept what was going on. Maybe it was my state, or convenient denial. I watched them snatch the heart off their weakest and bring it to me.
My chest had kept burning the whole time.
"You need to avenge us." The beasts repeated as they put the shard in.
"Avenge us. Cross the desert and avenge us."
So my stone tablet was really that damaged. And I wanted to touch my chest but, just like approaching the base of my neck, an instruction just forbid it.
Four. Three.
They were sleeping around me, basking in the mana I projected. We had long detached the other raft and lightened this one to little. Even then, it would be soon time to abandon it.
"You really are monsters." I caressed their calcified heads.
Two.
When only two remained, they were so weak as to be unable to snatch the shard from each other. So they asked me to do it.
Monsters knew no fear. But their instinct was all the same reluctant to the void. And magic had nothing for them beyond. So I waited. Even seeing them agonize, it took me time to accept. Almost too much time.
Zero.
Who knew how long my new heart would beat now.
That raft had carried me as far as it could. I jumped off it and watched it break down the moment I was gone. Yellow grass feebly grew from the sand under my feet.
What a joke! So much magic that life licked my clay and I was probably going to join those I could not save. Not a single one. Just a burning chest for all memory.
They had each told me their names and I could not remember a single one.
The thought crossed my head that I was going to kill the human. As I walked alone in the immensity, waiting for that heart to dry I repeated to myself that it was only natural. I had done it so many times.
My hand held the necklace. Amber beads at my fingertips.
A simple tool from the past turned into a weapon to kill gods.
But for now, all I should have cared about was myself. Which was kind of novel. For now I had to protect that heart until I reached anywhere. And after that still, I had to preserve it if I didn't want to turn into a fancy, useless statue.
Why was there still no landscape at the horizon? Just how big could the desert be?
Pain was the only thing to cling to. Pain meant a heart still beat. But I was slowing down. I was struggling to coordinate my motions again, even if slightly.
That furnace placed in me was inexorably dying.
I was going to kill the human! I was going to kill him. I would gorge that heart with his blood so keep beating! Keep beating, little heart, little shard, don't stop!
Let me bring you to shore even if it's the last thing I do.
And there it was. A landscape. And it was indeed Pelum. My senses were hazy now but few places had such ragged white hills. The night came, confirming it to be no illusion. Dozens of stars timidly showed up above.
So why was I still slowing down?
Come on, little heart! Think of murder! Of bones cracking! Don't you want to kill anymore?
No, of course, a monster shard had no will, only mana that the drought squandered.
I reached the first bones protruding from a sandy ground. Motions were difficult. Any monster around would have easily torn me into pieces.
Well, not exactly. Void armor!
It proved difficult but with those ruins' magic and my own lot, the armor appeared. Iron pieces locked on me. Now I didn't need to give as many instructions, I just had to reorder the runes and let them carry me around.
Algae. They were still fresh, too fresh, still rising too much and with too many gems on them. This suggested the human had come back here, maybe was still here even.
Regardless, that meant grapes of monster shards to pick from.
And without any other way to feed them to the shard in my chest, I lay down, opened the cuirass and cracked them over the fault.
Ah ah ah! Another joke from this realm! Here I was, repeating the same mistake all monsters had always made. Thinking you could outpace the mana drain. What feeble amount I fed would be quickly devoured.
And yet, for now, that was enough.
For now, as this little heart beat anew, all I could think of was how to find Nzinga.