They arrived at the mountains base just as the initial tremor rattled the ground beneath them. It wasn't a tremor of the earth itself. Of existence. Above the refuge the sky wasn't dripping violet; it was fracturing with it. Sharp glowing cracks tore through the atmosphere. From these emerged not an army but one focused terrifying entity.
It was a Keth'rak Annihilator, a creature with a status, beyond that of the Drudge Cassiathon had encountered. Standing at human height its body was a blend of throbbing muscle and dark iron plating merged in a sacrilegious fusion of flesh and metalwork. Clutched in its four limbs it held armaments radiating a devastation. Than roaring it produced a deep subsonic resonance that caused Cassiathon's teeth to vibrate inside his skull.
It hadn't entered through the gates. Instead it had been unrolled into the courtyard skipping the outer defenses in a demonstration of frightening exact strength.
In front of it rose the Angel of Death.
He appeared unchanged—a shadowy silhouette standing before the terrifying mechanism of ruin. Yet the atmosphere, about him had shifted. It was conclusive. The very illumination appeared to fade upon nearing him forming a globe of complete void.
"You intrude " the Angel declared, his tone resembling the noise of a crypt closing.
The Annihilator answered with a surge of violet chaos, from a cannon-shaped limb. The ray, strong to break down a fortress barrier struck the negation field surrounding the Angel and just vanished.
The Angel advanced a step. The Annihilator retreated unwillingly the vibration of its form wavering.
"This area is, beneath my guardianship " the Angel proceeded, taking another stride. With every step he took the lifeless zone surrounding him grew the courtyards stone disintegrating into dust beneath his feet. The lush resilient moss that Tania had nurtured on the walls faded to gray. Fell apart. "You represent a mistake. I will fix it."
Cassiathon and Morgan came to a stop suddenly at the courtyards boundary concealed behind an archway. Tania stood nearby pistol in hand her expression pale yet determined. "Hes holding it in " she murmured. "Absorbing its anger, within himself to prevent the damage."
However Cassiathon recognized the price. The lovely living creatures cared for by his mother were perishing within the growing reach of his fathers influence. The Angel guarded the mountain. In doing so he was destroying their habitat.
The Annihilator realizing its assault was ineffective changed its approach. It struck the ground with its fists. The rock didn't fracture; instead it liquefied, fizzing into a pool of radiant molten material that quickly extended toward the Angel and more worryingly toward the sleeping area of the sanctuary.
The Angel of Death lifted his scythe. He intended to finish this. Immediately. The definitive outcome he would deliver would probably obliterate the Annihilator, the courtyard and a large section of the mountainside.
"No!" Cassiathon gasped.
He observed it. The surgeon's approach, against the wildfire. His father would carry out a complete amputation to eliminate the cancer no matter the healthy tissue sacrificed.
Cassiathon didn't think. He moved.