Apprehensions on the Horizon

Aun shut his ears to the unpleasant noises behind him. He felt strangely tired. Usually, after summoning a feed, he was invigorated. He knew why, on reflection: He had invested energy into the summoning but the result had gone to Chax. It was an odd feeling that Aun knew was going to become familiar. Aun decided that in the future he would try to pull in more Chimmer in his feeds, so that he would have a reserve for Chax if needed. Such overfeeding was not entirely, as Chax would say, "precedented," but Aun decided that it fell within his necessary requirements as a Guider of the Faithless.

Aun turned his eye to the horizon, then to the hill upon which rested the station which called for his help and had almost killed him and Chax. It was a dreadful complication. Botaram stood tall in the sky, an undeniable beacon, and Susekho crept slowly across the horizon, an obvious hazard. His deepest feelings called him to brave the danger and seek the glory... but the call of the station, and Chax's warning of the "flying things" that sought Aun's life, obtruded upon the direct call to action. The conflict was nearly as draining as the redirected, incomplete feed.

But if he could not set off straight to Botaram, at least there was a goal. He was well supplied with eluctuant; Chax was recovering his health and strength, and beyond that... too much was unknown. But under all lay the horror Aun had felt when he entered that dry dead cavern and saw the arms of the Ancestors dangling limply, without life...

What was undeniable was that anything capable of a such deed, however powerful and deadly, was a foe of Aun. There could be no dishonor in perishing in an attempt to strike such a thing a mortal blow.

With renewed resolve, Aun awaited the end of Chax's feed.