"I AM KALOK. I CLAIM THIS LAND AS MY OWN. EVERY LIFE IN IT IS MINE TO DO WITH AS I WILL. EVERY DAY YOU MUST SACRIFICE UNTO ME. TOMORROWS SACRIFICE, FIVE OLGOGS MUST PRESENT THEMSELVES FOR BRANDING AS MY BLACK LEGION OF KA RHUG.
IF THIS IS DONE I WILL BE SATED FOR A DAY.
IF FIVE DO NOT PRESENT THEMSELVES I WILL HAVE THIS CITY DESTROYED AND EVERY SOUL HERE WILL BE CONSUMED IN MY FLAMES.
I AM KALOK, KA RHUG ARE MY CHOSEN, ALL OTHERS ARE EITHER THEIR SERVANTS OR SIMPLE HERETICS TO FEED UNTO ME."
Kalok now lorded over the skyline of Simonsburg. So far only three have died in his worship. Two dressed in the clothing of the Ka Rhug and a third a common smithygog who took his hammer to the side of Kalok and died for it.
Already five scared Olgogs had approached Kalok and bowed down before it. It reached down and burned the face of each with a tendrill of fire and they now acted as his local priests.
The people of Simonsburg were in panic. They had all fled underground during the Flamewinds, the first time the people had experienced the dread and terror of hiding underground. Instead of finding peace and life when they returned to the surface briefly, they found this massive volcano deity lording over their city. With more flamewinds on the way, there was a significant crisis among the citizens of Simonsburg.
Then rumors spread among the people of Simonsburg that the Hovertrain was being loaded up for evacuation. For many the dreams of escape filled them, and they broke into a full run towards the hovertrain station.
They passed by a GNA Olgog soldier trying to organize the panicked populace. Some recognized him, others did not.
He spoke to the townsfolk with an Earther translator, “Simonsburg, the Goblin King Urog stands by you all in your time of need. Kolgol of the Ka Rhug denounces this avatar as an imposter god that means to being war to the Great Northern Army and the United Tribes of Der’al. Together we will stand against this threat like we have against all others. The Church of One could not defeat us… Not once, not twice, not three times. This false idol will not. The Great Northern Army does not abandon you. I will not abandon you. Do not protect this false god. Only together will we defeat yet another enemy to the peace we have found between Earther and Olgog.”
Some stopped to join the defense, but most continued their headlong rush towards the safety of the train. Or at least the safety the train represented.
Within twenty minutes the whole hovertrain was filled with Simonsburg citizens. Every extra car in storage was added to the train, and ever the aisles were filled with refugees. The Hovertrain doors were closed much to the rage and yelling of those trapped on the platform. Some especially desperate citizens tried to hold on for dear life. Many of the Earthers of Simonsburg had gotten on the train rather than stand before the volcano god’s rage.
The train, while able to load a lot of people onboard and move fast enough to escape the flamewinds, also held a fatal tactical flaw as a plan. It assumed Kalok was somehow trapped over Simonsburg proper.
As the Hovertrain just began leaving the station and its hover-emitters logged as all forward, one hand of Kalok extended over the cloud filled sky. It seemed to go on for miles until its massive fiery hand plundged down again into the ground. There was an intense heat that raised the temperature outside to a good 115 degrees miles away from the site where the hand crashed down in front of the onrushing Hovertrain.
The Hand of Kalok glowed became almost translucent. The hovertrain driver, an Immutable, covered his hands in front of his face not wanting to see the moment of impact. Other than a momentary warming of the air in his cockpit, he seemed to pass unharmed through it. He wooped and cheered as the Hovertrain continued onward seemingly unharmed. The driver activated the intercomm to the rear cars, “Good tidings people of Simonsburg. We seem to have survived the impact. We will arrive in Brez within a few hours.”
He expected a cheer to come through but there was just an eerie silence.
The driver activated the video feeds of the other traincars. Each showed the same image. Bodies, charred to a charnel crisp in their seats. Their lower jaws cooked open in a scream of pain and horror. Only in one car did a single person survive. A small immutable child was crying in the ashes of her entire family.
The Hand of Kalok had reaped its sacrifice from the people of Simonsburg… and the loss would be long remembered by the people of Simonsburg.