Page 2899 -- CCLIV.

Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Four: 'The Roar of Old...'
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The Eternal Storm was even more ferocious than he'd heard. The raging winds, the skewering hail, the earth-shaking thunder. It was small wonder why everyone avoided the Dáinnbolg. Even if all the feldeaths disappeared tomorrow, it wouldn't revive this dead continent unless this storm was somehow quelled.

A gargantuan figure stood in the darkness, barely visible until lightning flashed across the sky and briefly illuminated it.

A tall, narrow building, it was. It looked like it reached all the way up into the dark, long-hanging clouds above, though he couldn't quite tell that for sure from here on the ground.

"This must the be place. It looks just like the voice said it would."

Caster Egmond had no idea what he was doing here. How in the world had he let Paulie talk him into this nonsense? Not only was this going to be a gigantic waste of time, it had already proven to be an insanely dangerous waste of time.

They'd been on Exoltha less than a day, and yet within that brief span of time, Caster had seen more feldeaths with his own two eyes than in the rest of his life combined.

They were everywhere. Even now, he counted five of them on the horizon. Hulking, ethereal reptiles of various sorts. Some with huge shells like turtles, others looking more like dinosaurs. Some had twenty limbs or more. All had eyes that burned with white flames, and beams of black and white energy frequently spewed from their mouths as they attacked each other.

That was the only reason the two of them were still alive, Caster felt. Most of the feldeaths were more concerned with fighting one another than with them.

They'd certainly had a few close calls, though. Paulie was missing his right arm, and half of Caster's face was scorched black and still stinging.