Ia and the Sportsmen

Ia and his disciples came upon the ruins of a village one day. The mud-brick walls and crude doors of the residents of this place had been smashed in and lay in shambles, and signs of violence were everywhere, evidenced in blood and bodies. Some of Ia's disciples were sickened at the sight and could explore no further, but Preston and Creassin were strong enough to venture deeper into the carnage alongside their tutor.

As they followed a dirt road rutted with drag marks, they could hear guttural shouts coming from nearby. Some of the raiders yet remained, and some of the villagers yet lived. Brutish and hulking were these creatures, larger than a man by a full arm-span, and their faces bore broad muzzles from which crooked, yellow teeth jutted. Their eyes were deep-set, bleary, and red-black in coloration, like the Breath of Destruction which Ia could conjure. Some carried over-sized spears, others gnarled logs studded with wooden stakes or iron spikes, and some more bestial members of the group nothing more than their strong, clawed hands.

The creatures cheered, for two of their ilk were playing at a perverse game. Smeared in muds colored blue-gray and red-yellow, they each carried a bound and helpless villager which they hefted by the legs and swung with all their might. The heads of the two victims crashed together in sprays of blood and gore, and the creatures cheered anew while one, larger than all the rest and clad in armor made of black metal, watched from a throne sized to its dimensions.

Preston and Creassin were shaken by the sight, though Ia remained unflinching, and their sounds of disgust, though muffled, were loud enough to catch the attention of the creatures. The leader did not rise from his throne, but his armor creaked like the hinges upon Destruction's Gate as he shifted in his seat, and his band readied themselves to fall upon Ia.

'You shall stop this,' Ia commanded them all, and so they did, hunching down in the bloody, churned dirt like dogs. Their leader fixed Ia with his baleful gaze, and his voice echoed from within the plate helmet on its broad head. 'What deludes you to the misbegotten belief that you may command my horde, wanderer? Come closer, that I need to reach less for my great sword to cut you in half.'

'You know well what I am,' Ia replied, and he inclined his head slightly to the seated figure.

The great suit of armor creaked again as the giant on the throne regarded Ia. After a moment's consideration, he leaned back and spoke with disinterest. 'Then begone from here, and leave my horde to its sport. It is justly gained through blood and battle, and you shall not lessen their pleasure and reward, nor my own,' said the armored hulk.

'I come to advise you, not to chastise you. You draw attention with your games, and you fling the Gate wide open in doing so. You will be diminished overmuch if you persist, for you draw the attention of Destruction, and not even you can resist it.'

'Your words are heard but go unheeded. My kind will do as it pleases because none may stop me, least of all you. Or will you match your might to mine here and now?'

Ia looked on for a moment, then nodded and said, 'Return then to your games. Enjoy what potency lies within your grasp while you may. Your throne will lie in shards and you will be ended, through no cause but your own folly.'

'And I hope to bring as many weaklings who roam the forests and fields and hills with me as my folly enables, when it does.' The brute laughed and gestured to his horde, and they fetched another pair of fearful prisoners to resume their game.

Ia turned then and strode away, and his disciples followed in silence. At least one of them spoke: 'Holy Ia,' Preston asked in a voice which trembled with nausea and fear, 'what manner of demon or beast must be seated upon that coal-black throne, that you cannot do what is necessary to save those poor souls from torture and ugly death at the hands of those monsters?'

'To interfere overmuch with Destruction will cause little more than strife and greater Destruction, for now Destruction's eye will be fixed not only upon its original goal but onto you as well,' Ia said. 'Destruction devours all, even itself, and drawing the attention of what lies beyond the Gate is not worth any price, even for those like me. Never venture there, and do what must be done to prevent any from flinging the gate open at any point before the exact time that they themselves are meant pass through.'

These words did Ia give, and this advice did his disciples heed.