SUBTLE WINDS - Voltar, Sons of Ash

[You have named an Unknown, race]

[For naming an entity not formally named, you have gained the Finders and Namers Feat]

[The Mother watches]

I blinked the words away from my vision as I tried to focus on the here and not on the fact that the mother was watching us squabble about like unintelligent lifeforms. Maybe I wasn't supposed to name a race.

Thinking of it, these beings were supposed to be unintelligent right? While the scenes had not shown much, it was clear what these beings were. Residents of raw worlds such as this one, worlds that had been made by the mother but not yet tended to.

What was it the Gemini called such a thing? A farm, a farm not yet ready for planting. That was what this place was. And these creatures were the weeds of this world. While Mother had not urged us to wipe out the weeds we were not specifically urged to keep them living.

"At least they earned me a Feat." I smiled as the newly armored Voltar dove down for me.

I picked myself odd the ground ignoring the spider web cracks beneath me and raised my spear. The [Fury Armanent] reformed itself over my wings and lit my spear up in the red glare of its light. My focus never left the Voltar as it got dangerously close to striking. With just enough gap for a long-reaching weapon like mine, I thrust forward. This time instead of letting the beam shoot out I concentrated its heat at the very tip of the spear.

The result was obvious. Fortunately for the Voltar, it managed to tip itself to the side just enough to avoid a full impaling, unfortunately, it wasn't enough to completely avoid harm as the spear ripped through its side. I watched metal shatter stone and rough scale, rend soft flesh drawing molten ichor before the Voltar fell to the side.

Its clawed palms grasped its side while it kept its eyes on my movements.

I might have thought of letting it free if it decided to stay down. But I was no free-thinking peaceful Gemini. I might have ignored it too if it halted its attacks on me. But I was not an elder like the peaceful Bravurans. While the Divinas would smite the Voltar without hesitation, it wasn't for the very reason I was already lifting my arm to skewer the thing. The Divinas would erase and end all that did not conform to the holiness of their God or Goddess. But, we cared not for any entity's faith or life path.

"Those that stand in the way of the Mother and block her desires, draw her wrath." the Voltar's empty sockets stretched wider. My spear descended the red light shining like a star as it tore through the arm that tried to halt it and through the being's abdomen.

"We are her Wrath".

[You have Slain Voltar Lv 15]

[You have Leveled Up]

[Level 1 -> 2]

My internal musings that were about to surface were immediately cut off as loud screeches filled the air. Up in the red burning skies and down on the hard ground as well as within streams of molten lava several of my kin fighting the Voltars paused. The Voltar themselves halted their attacks and all looked far into the distance in the direction of the screeching.

It was like a cloud of little things rushing straight for us. What was the word, a swarm? Like a swarm of insects. The confusion and wariness on our faces contrasted with the quick manifestation of anger and hunger on the Voltars. How a face as hard and as strong as stone and scale could be flexible enough to form any expression was mind-boggling.

Keeping one eye on the Voltar on the ground my other went to the arriving mass of dust.

[Lost Ones] - [Voltar]

[Lv 10] - [CHIMERIC]

A creature that had borne and survived the hellscape of a lifeless world only to fall to the greed and malicious self-interests of their brutes. Your chances against it are at 31%. As beings born of the cold embers of divinity, they radiate spite and rage for all that basks in true divinity. Yet their true animosity lies elsewhere.

[PERKS] - [Arceis Seveance] - [Molten breath ] - [Remnants of the Lost] -

There was barely any time to ponder what tbe description meant when the cloud of danger descended.

I and the others braced for battle as we locked our eyes on the arriving creatures. As they reached ground level, close enough for us to see their features differences jumped out at me. The first difference was the streamlined and slimmer look, the thinner arms, and the longer wing span. The empty sockets were red instead of black and their speed was double the average first Voltar group.

"Everyone here!"

Being named directly by the mother and not the Divinum Sentinel and being the only species and only messenger to get a name from her had a lot of perks. One was the lack of hesitance to obey my orders or follow any of my suggestions.

As such the flock of Furians were already backing me. Our feet remained rooted to the ground since we had no idea of what these new differences meant. Especially after facing Mill of the Throdden, I was skeptical to take to the air again.

The beat of the wind and the audible roar of fire got me looking harder at the arriving entities. I was slowly seeing things that were starkly opposite or connected to the first set. Unlike the ashen Voltar, this set had visible streaks of red and yellow wisps trailing behind them. Flames.

"Hold!" I raised my shield as I braced for impact, my spear held tightly as I pointed its tip forward.

The Voltars ahead were precariously close, so close I could already feel the heat emanating from their bodies. A fact that went to show just how much different they were from the first group.

"Impact!" I screamed just as the first row of the Voltar was upon us. I went rigid as I firmed my muscles and locked my feet to the ground to hold my position. For the second time in what was but a few minutes, I felt no impact. My shield lowered as I watched the new group fly right over our heads at alarming speeds. Speeds we Furians could imitate but I doubted we could keep our focus in.

The truly shocking part was the moment the Voltars clashed with the first group of Voltars. It was a sight to watch. Molten lava spilled from beneath stone and scale. Wings were broken and bruised, faces mauled and necks bitten. I watched just as transfixed as the rest of my kin. A Voltar from the second arrivals clawed at the feet of one of the first group before leaping and swiping at his neck. Before he could realize it the Voltar had opened her fanged lips. It was a sight to see lava gushing out from within her throat and cascading over the male Voltar.

'Wait. Male... female' It slowly began to click as I watched. Bulky, muscular, ferocious on one side. Streamlined, slim, and fast. Weaker but more skilled and efficient with the use of the flames. A second arrival Voltar spewed another stream of lava at her enemy. The stone and scale body melted at the point of contact exposing the insides of the being which released its molten blood.

A slender Voltar was sliced at the hip molten lava splashing out of the large cut. Rather than remain bisected the lava streaming down flowed up and coagulated over the wound cooling rapidly to form a new flesh of stone and scale.

"What the five rings are this?" Graden muttered next to me. I had almost forgotten the Furian. But as much as he was annoying he was right.

"It's obvious what is going on here right?" It was Arane this time that spoke. The Furien hovered next to me her wings spread and her feet barely touching the ground. My eyes swept through the fight for just a moment before I saw something.

A female Voltar fell, her head separated from her body, molten lava gushing out from the stump. Astride her corpse sat a male Voltar, its massive form hunched over as it bit down into the female's torso and tore out the stone and scales. It spat it away and went down for another bite. At this point, the molten lava gushed out like a fountain. Here things got bizarre as the Voltar dug its face into the point of the lava's escape and lapped at the burning blood greedily.

As he drank I attentively watched his body rapidly evolve and change. From the wings that became sturdier and denser to the skin that grew thicker. But it was the sense I got from it that made me frown. It was like it want to a qualitative change. Like diluted water getting more saturated and dense.

In opposition, the female's corpse shrunk not in size but in everything gained by the male. The already slim figure became a husk, the skin lost its color and whatever shine it had. The most unnerving was the dimming light from its eyes. I forced a gulp down my throat as I watched the process.