The rite to survive
17th of Summer, 505 AV
Sea of Grass, Night
This was to be their rite of adulthood for both Karsynwa and Zerous. To kill a zith, armed with only a lakan, was a feat they had trained for all their lives. Zerous would take the lead in tracking down the creature, while Karsynwa was there to assist when it came time to make the kill. Karsynwa was a competent fighter, but Zerous was an experienced hunter out on the sea of grass. They had known each other since just before they were fifteen, preparing to go out on a glassbeak hunt. Since that day they had trained together daily, and felt they were ready to go out on this deadly hunt.
Just before evening, they left Riverfall to go out onto the sea of grass. Zerous was looking for any traces of their quarry, animal bones, tufts of fur, anything that could point to a zith hunting in the area. They traveled deep into the grass before they found anything of the sort. Their first sign was the old carcass of a deer. It had been stripped to skin and gnawed bones, though Zerous found tufts of grey fur amongst the remains. From the looks of things, they had been visited recently which was a bittersweet discovery. Yes, it meant that there likely was a zith nearby, but from the characteristics of the fur, Zerous inferred that it was an older zith. Possibly even sickly. This did not sit well with either of them. They wanted a challenge, not to finish off some dying beast. Karsynwa suggested that they go off to search a new area, but Zerous disagreed. Zith rarely hunt alone, and he suspected that this one might have a partner or two helping it.
Karsynwa was doubtful though he still followed the more experienced hunter’s lead. They found no other clues however, so before the night was through Zerous made camp. Sleep that night came in fits and starts for Karsynwa. Not because he was afraid to sleep out there on the grass, but because he’d somewhat foolishly had expected to have been successful already. Zerous countered with the fact that it took several hours to track down their glassbeak, whereas a zith is far more clever. Karsynwa didn’t want to hear about that so he shut up about his complaints, and for the moment contented himself with the fact they were on the trail of one. An it didn’t take them long that morning to find further signs in that area. Old blood, and signs of a struggle in the grass. There were also several prints, a few of which were distinctly zith. To Karsynwa’s surprise, Zerous decided that this was not the same zith they were tracking from the day earlier. It was too small, and it wasn’t sick if it could carry off whatever put up this much of a struggle. Looking closer at the prints it was hard to tell for Karsynwa, but Zerous was certain it had been a goat.
Their moods improved considerably after that find as it seemed their odds of finding a young, healthy zith were good at this point. Also, they had now what Zerous called their first good lead all day. After radiating their search out from the point of attack, Zerous determined roughly the direction the zith might have taken by finding a broken trail of dried blood. It took them several hours to piece it together, but by the time they made camp that night, Zerous was confident he knew the direction to take the search tomorrow. Karsynwa rested easier that night knowing that they had at least made some progress today.
The next morning, they broke their fast before dawn and started heading in the general direction the blood had lead. General because the zith had not flown straight with its prey. Instead it had weaved through the air, and taken what looked like brief breaks to get a better grip on its burden. At least, that was how Zerous had explained the signs to him. Karsynwa was nonplussed. For him it just meant they were spending more time stopping and searching an area than heading in any one definitive direction which didn’t look like progress to him. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t went to train as a hunter for his profession, though he could not deny that Zerous was valuable out here on the sea of grass. An Zerous was very thorough. Meanwhile Karsynwa was growing restless again, anticipating the battle to come. He was keen to test his mettle against the fearsome reputation of a zith.
Their trail dissipated shortly after midday, and Zerous spent the rest of the day seeking out more clues, making camp that night when nothing definitive showed up. However, he did not sleep long that night before Zerous woke him up. Karsynwa quickly noticed the guttural cries in the distance that Zerous later confirmed had been zith. The calls went on for a good bell or so before things went quiet across the grass, and they had been accompanied by the cries of a different beast that went silent around the same time as the rest. They found out around the crack of dawn after spending several bells crawling towards the source. It had been a grass bear, and unmistakably it had been a zith attack. Even Karsynwa was able to infer this at first glance as there was the corpse of a zith beside the bear carcass, and parts of another.
Carefully they inspected the area before getting a closer look at the carcasses. Despite how it looked to Karsynwa, Zerous thought that this was the breakthrough they needed. Once he had carefully examined the area, he determined that the attack had been made by three to five ziths. How he did this he didn’t exactly know, but looking at the grass bear, it seemed feasible. The thing was huge, and half eaten from the look of things. Zerous suggested they come back to the body tonight, and Karsynwa agreed. Together they made there way back to camp to wait for night. For Karsynwa it couldn’t come soon enough. He spent the several bells left in the day practicing with his lakan, and making sure it had a keen edge for what was to come.
Finally the night came. They retraced their steps back to the carcasses slowly, with their eyes on the sky as much as it was on the grass. As they got closer, the could hear the guttural speech of the zith long before they caught the outline of the form hunched over the bear. It was alone, tall, and leaning heavily on the bear. Zerous frowned, and Karsynwa wondered if this wasn’t the first zith they had been tracking. Silently hoping it wasn’t, Karsynwa followed Zerous closely towards the beast. Then Zerous froze, and Karsynwa had a second to contemplate why before something fell out of the sky, knocking them both over.
Ambush was his first thought as he scrambled to his feet, charging towards the spot on the ground where Zerous was struggling with the zith from the sky. His second thought came as he slammed his lakan into the side of the zith straddling his friend. Where’s the other zith? Something heavy hit him across the back, biting deeply into his studded leather jerkin, and knocking the breath out of him as he slammed face first on the ground. His lakan, stuck in the body of the other zith was ripped from his grasp. Instinctively, Karsynwa rolled, but the petching zith stuck with him. Slashing at his back, sides, and forearms as Karsynwa was forced to defend from the ground. Karsynwa went for face shots when he could, body shots when he couldn’t. The whole attack went on for less than a chime, but left him with substantial wounds across his arms and chest. Then he got his opening when Zerous came up behind the zith, stabbing it in the back. As it twisted to respond, Karsynwa pushed up off the ground and slugged it across the face.
The creature reeled back as Zerous tore his lakan from it, and collapsed on the ground. Turning towards him, Zerous handed Karsynwa the lakan he’d left in the other zith. “The other one dead?” Karsynwa asked as he stalked after the zith writhing on the ground. Zerous shook his head, and both of them paused to look at the skies. “I think she left when her ambush failed. She looked young to me.” Zerous said loudly after a moment, trying to be heard over the zith’s increasingly loud shrieks. Karsynwa nodded, but warily watched the sky as they closed the distance. The creature was struggling feebly now, and Zerous went to finish it. Then Karsynwa looked up right as the younger zith barreled into him. In two ticks, the beast had pinned him to the ground and dug her claws underneath his studded leather jerkin. Her talons briefly raked at the soft flesh of his stomach before Zerous closed he distance between them, knocking the zith off of him.
Karsynwa didn’t quite track what happened in the next few moments as doubled over on the ground, clutching at the searing pain emanating from his stomach. He gritted his teeth, and tried to get to his knees, failing several times only to get himself propped up on his elbows. Not far away, Zerous struggled on the ground with the zith woman. It looked like he had lost his lakan, and was struggling to get his hands around the zith’s neck. Eyes blurring out of focus briefly, Karsynwa looked around for his own lakan and found it on the ground not far from where he had been struck. Growling past the growing pain in his gut, he hobbled towards the blade. He snatched the blade from the ground, and swaying where he stood, turned towards his friend’s struggle. Zerous let out a pain scream, and Karsynwa snapped out of his daze. Clutching his stomach with his left hand, lakan in his right, he charged yelling at the top of his lungs.
The zith turned and leaped to meet him. They met somewhere in the middle, his lakan coming up to bury in the hollow of her chest while her claws tore across the side of his face. The vision around his left went red as they collapsed in a heap on the ground. The zith was gasping, and clutching at the hand of his lakan. Karsynwa, heaved himself onto his knees, straddling her. His heart hammered in his chest, and his breathing was becoming more labored by the moment. As he stared at her struggling weakly to remove the lakan, her face became a grey-reddish blur as he weaved in and out of consciousness. He came back to focus on the handle of his lakan. Placing his left hand on the ground to steady himself, he felt something give in his stomach. It was like a sharp little pop before the dizzying pain faded into a dull roar in his hears. Knowing he didn’t have long, he ripped his lakan from her chest and dragged himself forward. Then he took one look at the blurry face of the zith, and buried the lakan in her throat.
It was then he finally relaxed, and sat back on his calves to await the approach of death. Across from him, his friend was still. Soon he would be joining him. He looked again at the face of his vanquished, and noticed a pair of blue feet standing a foot behind. His vision focused and he could see streaks of blood running across dusty cyan flesh. “Zerous?” He asked, thinking himself clearly delirious as he followed the feet up a slim pair of blue legs, clad in bloodied leather breeches. Then came the chest, which was distinctly feminine even through the similarly blood drenched studded leather jerkin. Underneath they wore a brown shirt, or might have been just more dried blood. It was hard to tell as the figure was coated with it. He made it to the face and gaped at the woman who stood before him. She appeared to be a female akalak, but distinctly radiated power. So much so that Karsynwa had to avert his eyes after just a tick just to keep a hold of his senses. In his state, that was a tenuous grasp at best.
“You fought well, Karsynwa” She spoke in a steely voice that bit to his core. Was this really happening? His mind gibbered as he struggled to form the words to speak. He opened his mouth, but only blood poured out as he fell forwards onto his hands in a coughing fit. “I know you learned of me from your mother, so I won’t waste time. I am here to offer you my mark, in exchange for your service in my name. Do you accept?” Gritting his teeth, Karsynwa nodded his head violently, belching out another glob of blood before finally managing to gasp. “Yes”
Out of his periphery he saw her kneel then, and using what felt like the last of his flagging strength, he straightened to face her. His eyes averted just to the side of where she was in front of him. He felt her hand on his chest, an suddenly a unfamiliar feeling was radiating through his body at the point of her touch. Karsynwa stared down in disbelief as his wounds knitted up before his eyes and suddenly he was whole. An across his bare chest was a stylized depiction of a blade, with smaller bladelike protrusions radiating from it. When he looked up, he was alone.
He knelt there for a long moment before something scrabbling in the dirt caught his attention. His eyes rested on the older zith that was still fitfully struggling on the ground. Mechanically, Karsynwa stood up, and yanked his lakan from the zith at feet. Then he stalked towards the zith. It hadn’t move much over the course of things. Still very much trying to dragged itself from the place its spine was severed. As Karsynwa approached it let out a weak growl. His face impasive, Karsynwa straddled the zith, pinning its arms against the ground before quickly jabbing his lakan up through the bottom of its chin. After a few jerks, and twitches, it finally stopped moving. Karsynwa pulled the lakan free slowly, and wiped the blade on the ziths fur. His mind was still far away, and emotionally was exhausted. He offered a short prayer to Myri to thank her for the good fight, and prepared to take his best friend home.
![[Verified by Surreal]](./images/checkmark.png "[Verified by Surreal]")
