//------------------------------//
// { Act 2 Beginning } Hard touch: The stage of an Exalted 
// Story: The Endless 
// by BloomingStar 
//------------------------------//


THE NEXT MORNING


"Are we there yet?" Venang asked.

"We're almost there, just a few minutes more," Shard replied.

The two were in a few inches away left from the island. What awaited them in the unknown surely made them prepared for anything by any means necessary. The undeniable heat of the sun beamed down at them, making Shard's eyes widened in maintaining focus like they were about to pop out from their eye sockets. For Venang, she just covered her eyes with her wings as she hated much of the light pointing at her face, groaned in frustration of it like most of the Thestrals. The colt just chuckled at her as he continued looking straight.

As soon as they reached the mainland, they stopped the ship as Shard summoned ethereal  chains around it to keep it immobile. They jumped down and briefly gazed at the new view as they thought it would be nice. Unfortunately, it was assumed the worst as the forest looked like it was being used as a battlefield as some of the trees were cut down, there were tracks of foot prints at the sand at every direction. There was a tattered sign in front of them, they moved a little closer to read it. It said,

DANGER AHEAD... THEY DO NOT SPEAK, BUT THEY DO NOT SLEEP

The two shuddered in fear, hoping those 'creatures' would show mercy. 

"I've got a bad feeling about this place," Venang said.

"I hear ya, we might step into a trap," Shard replied, "It's best that we stay close together,"

The bat filly nodded as they went straight inside to the forest. They made sure not to make much of a sound to avoid getting unwanted attention from any creatures that lurked in the shadows. As they continued walking, they heard sounds of growling. They stopped at their tracks, looking at different directions. They heard movement getting closer to them. They prepared their magic as the sound of the steps were getting louder as the ground was trembling beneath them.

After a brief moment, the creatures revealed themselves from the trees and bushes. Shard noticed their strange markings on their chest. They were bipedal walkers and made out of stones. They had bluish glowing eyes and ancient armor plates at their chests. They were looking at them unwillingly as the duo were waiting for them to let them attack first or them.

"These are strange beings," Venang asked.

"No kidding," Shard agreed, "Ancestral Golems of somesort.

At that, the duo initiated first the attack, taking them by suprise. Venang used her flame spell to cover her wings with it before dashing through them with fast slices. They were lit in flames before being exploded, leaving pieces of small rocks while their heads were still intact. As more arrived, she flew into the sky, dodging their beams that they were emanating from their eyes, including avoiding their large rocks. She then summoned a flame shield around her, protecting herself from incoming while she was channeling something big. She immolated herself as she dispel her shield before diving down at them.

Projectiles were thrown at her, but she managed to break them while continuing her diving. There were fireballs swirling around her as she got closer now to the ground. When collided, a flammable gust covered them in a brief moment before it subsided. The result had her knocked out while her targets were turned into little dark pieces of burned pebbles.

For Shard, he charged forward at them, dodging their attacks as he began giving out massive blows one by one at them, furiously. They were moved back by little, but he did not just stopped at there. He summoned a few of his dark images of himself to assist him in beating them physically. Their attacks were strong enough to have thm pinned down and unable to fight longer. The colt then cast a gust of frost at them, trapping them helplessly while commanding his clones to turn into one giant dark mist. The mist then fused with the gust, changing its colors into gray color. 

Shard then raised his forehooves together before slamming them at the ground, resulting the spell to explode and leaving a massive mist with little snow particles. The mist subsided to reveal the golems had their stoned body parts disassembled. He turned around as he ran to Venang's side who was regaining consciousness. He grabbed her and asked,

"Are you okay?"

"Ugh... My head hurts," she said as she touched her head carefully.

"Don't worry," he stated as he began helping her stood up to her hooves, "We got most of them,  but I think we should keep moving and not wait for their back up."

At that, they continued venturing forward.


AN HOUR LATER


While they continued walking through the forest, they looked at their sides and noticed some bushes and trees had some dried blood marks, sharp weapons were lying at  ground, and fresh boned corpses, signifying an event must had took place long ago. They stumbled upon a cave which had skulls scattered around the entrance and the same markings from the golems that they fought. They looked at each other for a moment, nodding in agreement as they entered into the darkness.

Upon entering, they looked to see more old skeletons and dried bloods at the ground. The markings from the golems appeared at every side walls. They also noticed lots of jewelries scattered around. As they continued downward to the stairs, they noticed a marking on the floor below, it was painted blood and the symbol looked like for ritual purposes. What kind of ritual could the golems were making? As they stepped on it, the torches were lit to blue color and the ground was shaking imminently. 

Soon after, stones scattered across the ritual area were assembled together in front of them, revealing  to them a giant golem with advanced armor plating. The duo had a moment to say a word under their breath in unison,

"Buck..."





MEANWHILE


Phan Tom was at the dining hall, eating his meal alone while also reading an ancient book. He was reading a page about transformation levels that a draconequus could ever use. Firstly, once he/she underwent into the first stage, he/she experienced loss of emotions and it would be replaced by anger, close to be a rebel. The second stage turned the creature into more demonic version. An increased power up to his/her abilities, darkened his/her appearance, and loss of control for an unknown period of time. It said that they should use it with caution if not practiced enough to maintain satbility. Lastly, the third stage showed to be most difficult one to handle.

At Stage three, it transformed a draconequus into an unstoppable titan. His/her appearance changed completely, abilities became advanced beyond their limits, new spells added, though they would remember when they turned back to normal, and they became pure feral beasts. Phan Tom shivered at the thought of this last stage. He kept searching through the pages on alternate ways to control such metamorphosis. First suggestion was undergoing a ritual that would require a sacrifice of another. Unfortunately, the ritual he had been through was nothing like that since it only made him deathless. The second one was to have a master of control, though it would take like months or years to overcome the emotion of self-loathing. 

His cousin's form was far unique than the others. The power and spirit of an archon fused with his form, making his transformation to be used at free will without suffering anymore loss of emotions. He wondered of what current stage was his cousin now. Possibly at level two and still had the strength to manage his heart. Phan Tom feared that Shard may enter the last stage soon. Would he still be the same relative that he knew when they were young? Would he give mercy for the last? 

"Thinking about him, eh?" said by a voice behind him.

"Oh," he replied and turned to his side to see his Master standing at the front door, "Master, I was doing some reading about transformation levels."

"I understand. Your cousin is on the lead anyway. I believe now that he is close to the last level."

This made Phan Tom gulped in suprise and fear as it could be a nightmare to him if that would happen.

"I have news to tell you, young prodigal, I was informed by our best spies that he and his companion are now on a mission," Master stated.

"What mission," Phan Tom asked

"To find mysteries about our race, searching more power, and getting real challenges," Master explained.

"This cannot be," Phan Tom gaped

"They are showing to us that they are a force to ever face against. It will take them time, but will soon turn them into undeniably killing monstrosities. For now, I have a task for you."

"What is your will, Master?" he asked.

"There is an island called 'Cross Canyon'. No population, but reports said that golems guarding the area. I need you to take lead of a strike force and secure that island to turn it as another colony for future uses," Master declared.

"Your command, Master," Phan Tom nodded, "Will be carry out."

"Good, now get ready."





ONE HOUR LATER

Shard and Venang suffered much bruises as they continued battling the big golem. They were in harsh pain because they had to overuse the limits of their skills in competing the giant. Its attacks were so strong, it sent them flying to the wall like doing darts. Venang conjured lots of fiery spears, throwing them at the golem in which caused it to fall down to the ground helpless, though she suffered fatigue in the process, but still able to fight. Shard transformed into his archon form, summoning a large number of his clones, guiding them to use extra force. He summoned a frost sphere from his hoof, along with his images who were doing the same. They followed him in charging against the golem, resulting loud bangs, a bright light, and a never ending production of smoke.

As the smoke subsided and the light died down, the result caused the golem to flinch, but only to retaliate by conjuring up lots of boulders. The duo dodged every single one of them, but could not continued further as the boulders were being thrown faster than they could ever anticipated. They tried to attack the golem, but one of them was hit forcefully by one of the massive rocks. Venang managed to avoid it, but Shard did not get lucky as he wanted to be.

Shard was about to experience another blow as he sensed another one coming right at him. He closed his eyes and waited for it to hit him. There was a loud bang, however, he felt only soft touch at his chest. He opened his eyes, only to be shocked by what he saw. Venang was embracing him tightly, laying on top of him unconscious as blood came out from her mouth. Her wings were wrapped around his back, softening his landing spot. Shard's eyes became wide as he could not believe of this. This was like from three years back. A loved one who sacrifice to let him live.

No, he could not accept this anymore. Seeing the ones he loved dying for him made him feel more guilty than being an innocent. He had enough of this bit, furious now of losing. The suffering of losses were undeniable for him. He slowly removed her hold then stood up into fours as he began growling deeply. The ground was shaking with force causing the golem to almost lose its balance. The colt's eyes were glowing bright white as he felt himself transforming again into the path of redemption for salvation.

His coat was darkened a little, his mane and tail's color received another color which was black, two sharp upper teeth appeared, and a white immolation appeared around him like a shield. The cutie mark didn't changed, still a diamond with swirling black vines. Voices of the dead were whispered around him as gave a cold, deadly, brutal glare to his enemy. He gritted his teeth with anger as he began charging at the golem at high speed. Headbutting its chest that pushed the golem back furtherly. The stone walker retaliated by a punch right in front of his face, but received a loss of its arm instead. 

"Pathetic..." Shard said with a snarl.

At that, he punched it at its head, sending it pushed back and to be hit by a wall. Stones were falling from its body parts, signifying that it was almost close to defeat. The colt summoned a large number of clones that were in dark versions than before. Some of them directly engaged at it, providing decent amount of dark physical damage while the others were charging at it with improved spheres of frost. The combination had a massive effect on the golem, giving Shard a decent time to conjure his most destructive spell. He summoned a sphere that had a gust of cold air emanating from it like the blizzard winter. He charged with a roar of such ferocity as he collided it onto the golem's chest, initiating a breakdown.

The concentration was relatively at ease as he continued piercing it deeper until he heard a crack from one of the golem's arms. Some stones were ripping out while some were completely disassembled. As he gave one final push, a bright light appeared imminently along with an explosion that gave out a huge bang, resulting a massive smoke. After a brief period, the smoke cleared and the light died down, revealing the stone walker that now turned into ruins of nothingness. He turned back to his original form, feeling a little woozy, but stable as always in control. He looked at the remains to see a stone  that had a strange words written on it. It could be of use for them, so he picked it up and trotted to Venang's side, checking her heart if it was still responding.

Shard gave out a sigh in relief after hearing a few heartbeats, knowing that she was still breathing. He picked her up and placed her at his back before leaving the cave with the mysterious stone at his side.

THREE HOURS LATER

Shard looked at view of the sunset in front of him, indeed beautiful as it always would be. Venang was able to wake and regained her consciousness, but needed time to rest, so she stayed at the bedroom for the time being. He did not bother to check anymore clues from the island, so he decided to get back to the ship and tailed it right out. He put the ship on hold by summoning an ethereal chains at the ship's sides.After a few minutes as night starting to happen, he went inside, down the hallway, then onto the bedroom. Opening the door, he checked at the bed to see if she was doing okay. As he slightly touched her forehead, she turned her around and looked at him with a weak smile and eyes tired.

"Feeling good, Venang?" Shard asked.

"Good as long as you're still here," she replied with a soft chuckle.

The colt rolled his eyes as he laid down at the bed next to her, letting her sore wing wrapped around him as he levitated a blanket to cover them for the cold wind. It was a hectic start for them. Painful it was, but at the very least, it was finally over for them to rest for the night.


TO BE CONTINUED