Deus Mons

He was homeward-bound. His foray into the denser forests and crumbling structures of the opposing valley had been successful. Fuelled by the praises and adoration he would receive upon his return to the hamlet, he had decided to risk the weather. Thirty-odd years, by his best judgement, of wandering, searching, scavenging, had given him the knowledge and experience to survive almost all the hazards the treacherous environment was want to throw at him. This storm, however, was different. This storm aroused an almost forgotten emotion from deep within his steadfast being.

He was scared.

Pounding, driving rain he had known before; he had pulled up his musky shawl to lessen the sting on his face. His floppy, wide-brimmed hat he brought low over his eyes, so that he might attempt to discern one murky, grey shape from another, or avoid the large areas about him where the rain did not strike the ground, but continued hurtling into some void. The cause of his panicked heartbeat was not the rain, but rather the air. There was a smell of smoke, no, a sensation of fire, of heat, a feeling of energy bristling around him and playing havoc with his senses. The wind howled and shot through him, a static aftertaste on his tongue that seemed in turn to make his eyes sting- and then he saw it.

A flash. No lightning he had ever known had looked so ferocious, so alien, so... primordial. The air shimmered with a vibrant cyan-blue for seconds afterwards where the bolt had split the sky in twain. The thunder seemed to creep up at him at first, then grew and swelled until a cacophony shook every fibre of his being with raw, aggressive power.

Even as tired and lethargic as he was, he quickened his pace as much as he dared. Scrambling over the shale and rocks of the high pass between the mountains, leaping the over gullies and clefts when he happened to glimpse the opposing ledge through the sheets of rain, he forged his path. This was his only chance, there was no hope of going back. He must reach- another flash, again away to his right, but closer this time. He crouched, bringing his head between his knees, hands over his ears and eyes clamped shut. It was futile. Precious minutes passed as he regained his senses. At last looking up, he found himself to be beside a twisted, stunted tree - a landmark. He was at the top of the pass. He had but only to make it down into his home valley, to the relative safety of the familiar forest. With his spirits lifted and with renewed vigour he rushed to compose himself, never once losing his grip on the package in his hands. He took a step, and felt his world turn white.

Utterly blinded and madly disoriented, he had stumbled. The package had vanished from his hands, he catching nothing but a brief glimpse of the heart-shaped locket as it hurtled away, he knew not where. Deafening ringing in his ears caused him to scarcely hear the thunder. He could do nothing but hunch over in the river of mud and rubble and await the return of his eyesight. The ground, the only world he knew, shook with thunderous rapture as he managed to discern a vast chunk of rock, seemingly an entire face of the mountain, crash down in front of him. Through the torrent of rain and scree he saw fire- no. That was the sun! That was not possible. Though stupefied, a fleeting rational thought crossed his mind: that no sun could pierce so deep and black a sea anger as that which churned and writhed above him.

He watched, open-mouthed and utterly drenched to his core, as the mountain fell. Through the now frequent flashes of lightning he gazed as the mountain shed its skin. Layers and layers of rock were cascading down all sides as violent cracks that split through the air, one after the other, and then at once, sought to deafen him completely.

Two suns now shone from the mountainside, seemingly poised upwards, towards the sky. As he stared at the scene before him, he began to realise what he was witnessing. Horror filled his being. A monstrous giant, no, a god, was stood before him.

The eyes lowered in a slow, methodical, intentional movement. They fixed their gaze upon him.