Emain excerpt: Book 1, final 3/4ths (20$ tier) (Patreon)

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Kisu's blistered digits thumbed through the tattered journal towards the back, finding a blank page the color of sand and she leaned her back against a rock, holding the book in one hand. With a sigh, her pencil touched the paper for the final time.

3445.AC

08-45-3445.AC

Entry from the journal of Kisenya 

The plague is coming closer. I can smell burning bodies, even out here in the midst of nothingness and the dunes. The chirping of the insects seems too loud. The taste of metal stings my tongue, copper, the taste of my own blood. I wonder if we would change things, if somehow we could do it all again. I wonder, would we have survived if we'd united as a people? Sometimes I imagine other parallel worlds to ours. Do they have the demon too? Are they blissfully unaware? I wish I could find out. If only our way gate technology had had more time

Fern is weak, and the hungering demon will soon come for us. I've decided to stay behind, to guard the last of the ships headed for space. Perhaps our children will survive, our abominations. The very weapons we forged to kill each other are now the key to anyone remembering who we were. It's likely history will not remember the name of a brown skinned drake like myself, but it matters not. If a drop of the creature made contact with a vessel, the entire ship would have to burn. There are too few of us left, and we cannot allow this to happen.

In a matter of hours the ground will rumble one last time beneath my claws, and the stones will part to send off the last rockets. The people are frightened, the guards are few and far in-between. On this last vessel there is only one augmented drake. I hope she can keep them safe.

This will be my final entry. We're both beaten. I can hear their whispers in my mind. It's faint, but I know I too carry the monster in my blood. Whether I die tonight, or tomorrow no longer matters. I won't let this control my body. I won't give into the whispers, or what it wants. I think I'll close my eyes now. I can hear it coming. Closer. Closer. Closer.

The brown scaled drake shut the old rust colored journal a final time, wound the thick cording around the front and looped it through the crest of her people, once a slave race, the Veil would now die with everyone else, but they would die free. She patted the dust off of the book and shoved it under her arm, walking to a small stone structure where a small rift drake stood in full protective gear in a nearly unnoticeable alcove. 

He grunted to Kisu, who looked down with a tired expression. 

"Scan for Chaos cells, and dose in lethal amanathine, then I have a request. Give this to the augmented on the last vessel to launch tonight." she paused, adding "Really dose it in Amanathine." Her tone said all she needed and he nodded, grasping the journal and placing it in a clear alloy box, sealing it completely.

The rift drake picked up a torch, blasted the outside of the box with intense flame, then walked down a corridor behind him into the rocky alcove, through sensors that checked for Chaos cells. He placed the box on the elevator that led to the radiation room and hit the button, sending it down to decontamination. When he returned from the hall he looked up at Kisu. 

"You could be tested too-there could be room," his voice was shaky, he knew better, it was a formality and they both knew it. Kisu made a small smile as Fern walked up behind her, the white dragon towering above them both, his feathers and scales tinged with red from the clay. He looked between the two of them, then turned his head away. 

"Wouldn't that have been nice?" Kisu said to the man, her eyes staring into his and he could see the black tendrils reaching into her pupils. The rift drake nodded again. He put a hand up and outward towards her. Despite being fully clad in a thick, restrictive suit, the courtesy was there. Kisu leaned down, her forehead brushing the palm of his gloved hand. 

"Fenris be with you," he said in a low tone and she nodded, her mane dirty and matted, hanging in her face. When the much taller drake stood she looked determined, and turned, walking away. 

There was no hope left for the people staying behind. Those whom didn't kill themselves knew they were doomed to a fate of unspeakable pain and suffering before death took them. At this point, it was an unspoken reality for all of the residents of Emain. 

From the shores of Aqueos to the dunes of Warshteka and beyond to the scattered islands dotting the southern hemisphere, the people had accepted their fates. Those whom made it to quarantine before the sentient virus had infected their cities were the only people whom would make it to space, and even then, several facilities had been attacked and subsequently destroyed.