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Message: <blockquote data-quote="simmo" data-source="post: 1550919" data-attributes="member: 9744">Part 31 – How the Mighty Have FallenThe psychic shock-wave that accompanied the scream of a god was of such magnitude that it blasted the companions out of the air and sent them tumbling towards the ground. Littleby and Cade were able to remain aloft close to the edge of the tower and Serena had to be rescued by Sir Osbourne.The mental noise in their minds was deafening but all around them there was silence broken occasionally by the sound of axes tearing through flesh. The Grimlocks had turned on each other and were mindlessly butchering everything in sight. After several minutes the last remaining Grimlock died from exhaustion rather than the many wounds it had received during the massacre of its brethren.Wave after wave of mental energy washed outwards from the dead illithids spilling in to the surroundings. Stray thoughts assaulted Serena's mind and battered away her defences like a hurricane passing through a shanty town. Blood streamed out of her eyes, ears and nose and her face was a twisted mask of utter agony.Littleby used every once of his concentration to maintain his spell and tried to ride the mental tsunami that was crashing over them. He held on to Cade and Sir Osbourne who were each struggling to let the random pieces of knowledge and philosophical arguments pass through them without burning out their minds.After the initial onslaught memories rained all around them like raindrops in a thunderstorm. Each time a stray memory passed through their minds they experienced some hidden thought that had been collected and incorporated in to the mind of a god.“What in the Lady's name is going on?” Cade shouted.The lore master had realised from the thoughts and memories washing over them that a god of knowledge was dying. The images of illithids dying that flashed through their minds combined with the hidden fragments of knowledge and philosophy could only mean one god. “We are witnessing the death of Maanzecorian,” Littleby shouted back. “No,” Serena screamed. “He's died! Not dying.”Cade and Littleby stared at Serena in stunned silence. The heart seer of Tomeri's eyes rolled upwards leaving only the whites of her eyes visible and she went in to convulsions. The images flashing through her mind reached a threshold where she experienced the death of Maanzecorian more than the others around her.Serena felt herself floating above the world of Lammed and could clearly see the two land masses that formed the fertile Northern continent and the inhospitable Southern continent. Mountain Spire Cities dotted the northern coast of the South continent that held the last of the free people who'd escaped from the invasion of the Enemy.As the heart seer's attention was drawn to the Northern continent her mind expanded to be able to see the illithid cities that were located deep beneath the earth. Priests of Maanzecorian had spent many years linking the elder brains of the cities in to a psychic net that detected all movement on the surface and allowed instantaneous communication of all illithids in the world.As the shock-waves of the death of Maanzecorian came flooding through the psionic network linking the elder brains, Serena could see each of them overload and shut down. Some exploded in a volcanic eruption of brain mater and gore, whilst others simply shuddered and lost cohesion spilling burnt out organic material in to their surroundings. Hundreds of priests of the illithid god of hidden knowledge and philosophy all looked upwards at the same time and died.Serena felt the visions slipping from her mind as the channels of psionic power that she was riding lessened and drained away. Beneath the surface of Lammed the brilliant stars of psionic might winked out one by one; leaving death, chaos and destruction in their wake.“How long was I gone for?” asked Serena when her mind returned to her body.“A few hours,” Littleby replied.Cade, Littleby and Sir Osbourne had not spoken much during those few hours. They had sat in silence enduring the rain of memories and hidden thoughts that pounded their minds and threatened to drive them insane or leave them bereft of their faculties.“Woo hoo!” Serena shouted suddenly.Littleby raised an eyebrow in surprise and Cade laughed heartily.“When Denton died we were fighting an illithid wearing the symbol of Maanzecorian,” the heart seer explained softly. “This means that my world is now safer from the Enemy than it was two hours ago.”“Safe from the illithids, but from others?” Cade asked cautiously.“Well, considering that they have enslaved the majority of my world for more than a generation – I'm very happy.” Serena crossed her arms and gazed off happily in to the distance. The tears of blood were replaced by tears of joy, that washed her face clean of the pain and terror she'd experienced.“Maanzecorian died instantaneously,” Littleby said to himself. He turned the thought over in his mind to examine it from all angles and test his theory. When he found they it held firm he did not look pleased.“How do you do that?” Serena asked. “Who can kill something of that great power?”No one answered. Cade looked at Littleby and saw the same fears reflected in the eyes of his friend.</blockquote>

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