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The first thing Palan heard when he arrived at the end of the passage was a familiar centaur shouting, “Who else thinks they’re better than me?” The shout echoed and reverberated through the wide, open space. Though there were no trees, grass, or sunlight, the centaurs’ underground habitat resembled the side of a mountain with a valley sandwiched between a slope and a wall. Lichen wrapped around the rocks, growing near the white stones that emitted light.
At the peak of the mountainside, with four-arms held out to the side, Mathias stood alone, staring down at the horde of centaurs amassing below. Dozens of stone hands grew out of the floor, ceiling, and wall around him, ready to move at a moment’s notice. Just below him, on a protruding ledge, there was a bleeding centaur with snake tattoos inscribed on his back. His legs were bent in unnatural angles and a gash on his head allowed blood to flow over his eyes which he couldn’t wipe away because his arms were limp at his sides. The centaur’s breathing was labored and seemed like it could stop at any second. An earthen hoof materialized in the rocks beside the disabled centaur and kicked him off the ledge into the crowd below.
“I leave for two days and all of you suddenly have the idea that I’m weak!?” Mathias bellowed. A stone fist crashed against the ground by his feet, causing the mountain to shake. “You! Vasher!” The stone hand pointed at a centaur with purple snakes tattooed on his green body. “You’ve been eyeing my position for a long time now. I know you’re the one who started this. Do you dare to fight me yourself instead of sending your useless subordinates to die?” The fingers of the hand elongated and grew towards the centaur faster than a horse could run.
“You were too harsh,” Vasher said as he snorted and waved his hand. A wall of silver air congealed in front of him, halting the progress of the hand. He pointed towards the dying centaur that Mathias knocked down earlier. “He was a promising member of the tribe. He looked up to you, wanted to be as strong as you. You came back and he asked you for pointers. Instead of teaching him, you brutally murdered him!” Vasher stamped his feet against the ground and roared. The wall of wind pushed back against the stone fingers, causing the rocks to crack and chip off. He turned around and faced the tribe members who had taken a step back when he was targeted. “Is this how a tribe leader should treat his tribe? Do we really want someone as brutal as him to lead us? That man had a wife. He had children! He only requested a teaching match! What right does Mathias have to openly slaughter our tribesmen!? Perhaps he wants the man’s widow for himself! Everyone knows how he is!”
A vein bulged on Mathias’ forehead. “Cut the crap, Vasher!” he shouted and made a hurling motion with all four of his arms. A boulder was launched by a hand behind Mathias towards the talking centaur. A horrified expression appeared on Vasher’s face.
“Run!” he shouted to the crowd and whirled around. Mathias’ brow furrowed as the terror on Vasher’s face was replaced by a sneer. A flimsy wall of wind formed in front of the green centaur. He dove to the side as the wind wall did nothing but halt the boulder for a fraction of a second. The boulder crashed against the ground where Vasher had just stood before hurtling into the crowd. A few centaurs tried to fend it off with their powers, but the projectile was too large and moving too fast. Mathias had meant for it to crush an archling of humility after all. Screams and crunching noises echoed through the air. Children cried as Mathias’ face paled.
His body trembled. “Vasher!” he roared and clenched his hands. “I’ll kill you, you snake bastard!”
“You murderer!” Vasher shouted as he ran and weaved into the crowd. “Do you see what you’ve done?”
“Shut up!” Mathias said as his face contorted. “You planned this.”
“Planned this? How could I plan something like this?” Vasher asked. The crowd around him gathered closer, glaring at Mathias. Vasher pointed at Mathias. “It was you. You did this. The deaths of these tribesmen—they’re on your hands, not mine.” The crowd beside the centaur shouted profanities at Mathias, slinging their powers at him.
A hollow laughed escaped from Mathias’ lips as earthen hands blocked the attacks. “So,” he said, his expression returning back to normal. “Is this the will of the people?” He waved his hand, gesturing towards the group standing by Vasher’s side. The majority of them had snake tattoos on their bodies as well. “You’re forgetting something, Vasher.” Mathias held his hands out to the side, palms up. The entire habitat began to rumble.
“What?” Vasher asked, his eyebrows pressing together.
“What is the motto of our tribe!?” Mathias bellowed.
The centaurs who hadn’t gathered by Vasher shouted, “Strength is everything!”
“Strength is everything!” Mathias echoed as he stood on his hind legs. His hands closed as he swung them down, stomping the ground with his forefeet at the same time. A roaring noise filled the habitat as the ceiling rumbled, dropping rocks onto the crowd below. A circular platform was forming in the rocks above Vasher, large enough for every centaur accompanying him to stand on it. Also large enough for it to crush every single one of them if it fell. Mathias snorted as his front hoof pawed at the ground. “Let this be a lesson to all you faction heads. You’re staking the lives of everyone in your faction when you try for the position of chieftain, not just your own.” The circular platform elongated and rushed towards Vasher like a pillar falling from the sky.
“Stop them!” Cherri said and tugged on the archbishop’s arm before covering her mouth with her hands. She was too far away from her father for him to hear her, which meant she hadn’t heard anything he said as well. Palan and Raea didn’t have any issues though.
“Vasher wouldn’t contest Mathias if he didn’t have confidence in his own strength,” the archbishop said with a frown. He hoped he was right. Vasher was the second centaur to evolve, but he had bided his time instead of striking right away. “And I can’t do anything to stop that.” He glanced at Palan and Raea.
Raea scratched her head. “I just realized all my powers are more bent towards destruction than protection,” she said and blinked at Palan. He opened his mouth to say something, but a sharp cracking noise accompanied by the howling of wind drowned out his voice.
The pillar had collided with a rotating dome of silver wind. The wind ground at the pillar, shredding it to dust. Mathias’ brow furrowed as more than half the pillar was destroyed by the barrier. Sunlight filled in the habitat as the pillar continued to fall. He had used all the earth above their heads to form his attack. Had Vasher always been this strong?
When the remaining part of the pillar was ground to dust, laughter echoed through the habitat. “Was that your lesson?” the green centaur asked and folded his arms across his chest. “Like you said, ‘Strength is everything.’ Stand down peacefully, Mathias. Though you killed too many tribesmen to be pardoned, I promise you your family won’t come to any harm.”