ascendant

previous part: https://jordynsaelor.com/2026/07/30/how-to-kill-a-time-lord/

all parts: https://jordynsaelor.com/cant-catch-me-now/

***

around the twilight sun

crackled a halo

of lightning

like tangled, glowing roots

writhing for purchase

in the unyielding sky.

I treaded water, staring,

ears ringing,

and the sound rippled the lake surface

but the caricaurs on the shore

began dancing,

hooves

kicking up sand,

unrooting the grass,

and they shouted

over the booming thunder of the air

a warcry

a prayer

a thanksgiving for the water before them

and they raised their shovels

so electricity

crackled down

to the iron

then through their bodies

and the land

erupted

with flames and green mist

while up in the heavens

a shape flickered

like the silver moon

who only rose at night,

I thought,

and words

pressed down on the land

daring whoever defied it

to keep trying–

but the lightning around the sun

leapt at it,

like an amphibian

leaving one rock for another,

and the moon howled

in pain,

so the caricaurs roared

and danced faster

and I missed the part of their plan

to carve a new canal

that included

raiding a moon deity

but maybe “make a new canal”

was military code for something much worse,

or maybe

they were as surprised as I

and dancing out of desperation.

Then the lake shivered,

and watery arms rose,

reaching for the caricaurs

to squeeze them

and silence the thunder of their feet;

the silver moon

cast out piercing spears

to cut the lightning,

but the caricaurs battled the watery arms

to keep dancing

and the lightning still thrashed the sky

and deep below the lake

rains fell,

beckoning me

to come to safety,

to leave,

to enter its side

and stay away.

But I just stared.

The caricaurs

who decried the dracans

for following a moon god,

following a lightning god?

And was its name Percy?

Actually, this absurdity made me start laughing;

Percy,

the lightning face

in a valley of rain

who wants to destroy demons,

coming here

to eliminate dracans

and a moon

who are no more, no less demonic

than the caricaurs

or Mrflfips

that serve him.

And Percy

hadn’t been able to open the little door to the demon school

or make a portal

so it’d be awfully odd

if he suddenly found his way here.

So why now? I asked the sea.

If time means nothing to these?

The sea just sent

caricaurs finally begging for aid

and finding electricity in their tails,

plans of endless depths

just for glory

unknowledge

spilling into finite minds

spirals

overlapping

then condensing

so I said

fine.

But I’m an adventurer.

I’m staying here

to watch

a god die

for future reference.

***

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