Justin rested a hand on his racing heart, staring in disbelief at the half-dead monster before him. The serpent's two heads hung limply and its whirlwind coils slumped to either side, its opalescent plumage reduced to tatters and fallen feathers from the difficult battle. Being a healer, he had been spared the brunt of the violence, but he'd drained most of his energy keeping Tyrus and the others patched up and free of poison. Gods help them all if this ... this THING ... got a second wind.

... wind, heh ...

Some time ago, the little band of mercenaries who had taken him in had gotten a request from none other than the Grand Bijoutier of the Crystal Gnosis Society: "We have received word that the Archstone at the Temple of Wind has come under assault by an unusually large and vicious creature. As it appears to be a monster sui generis, I have taken the liberty of naming it Paterboventus. ... Given the delicate sculpture work within and around the temple, typical military actions would prove most distasteful; however, the Temple Guard is at its limits merely keeping the creature contained. We would be most appreciative (and similarly remunerative) if your company would manage the situation."

And that was how the Greifenstein Grenadiers found themselves traveling to the heart of the Nagaru Confederation, a steppe amid spindle mountains known locally as The Crown. There at the center was a soaring tower covered in painted statues, and at the top of the tower, the Archstone itself ... gripped in the coils of Paterboventus and creaking ominously under the pressure from the massive snake. Zeppe, the dragoon who led the Grenadiers, fired a round that glanced off of its scales, and the battle commenced.

And now, Ailura swung her wand with surprising ferocity, conjuring a slab of stone in the air above Paterboventus. It slammed down on the snake where its two necks joined, knocking its heads to the ground and pinning them there. Tyrus and Sarinda leapt forward together. As Tyrus brought his sword down on one of the serpent's necks, Sarinda drove her katar between the eyes of the other head. With one last writhe of its coils, the monster shuddered and went still.

"I think it's dead," Tyrus called to the others.

"Damn well better be," Sarinda spat, before pulling her katar out of the creature's skull and flicking the gore from it. "I'm more than ready to show this place my back."

Justin caught his breath and turned to address the group. "Is anyone still injured? I think I have enough in me for anoth--oh no--"

All turned to stare as the massive corpse shuddered and began to evaporate into a glowing green mist. It was faint at first, but it slowly gathered into a swirling mass that pulsed softly with light. For a moment, Justin could swear he saw the figure of an old woman, sobbing in exhaustion ...

He cried out and clutched at his bandaged hand, letting his staff fall to the floor. It itched and burned suddenly, like hot needles stabbing into the skin and dragging across it. He fumbled to unwrap the bandage, revealing that the Mark of the Heavens had begun to move. The wheel at the center revolved ... the surrounding lotus petals pulled it apart and swiveled open like a lens ... where bare skin should have been, there was a hole, and on the other side, a swirling darkness. The glowing mist surged toward him, and all he could do was hold his hands out. He watched in horror as the vapor swirled and funneled into the opening in the Mark, which formed new vine-like bands that stretched partway up his arm.

As the last of it drained away, the petals closed and the wheel twisted back like the dial of a vault. One glyph now glowed that same shade of green, leaching color out into the otherwise gray Mark.

"... what ... is this accursed thing?" he whispered, holding his hand as far away from the rest of him as he could.

"No idea," replied Zeppe, "but the Crystal people better not hear about it. You got that, right, everyone? Not a word about this, outside of us! Anyone asks, the monster melted into aether and dissipated. I ain't about to lose a healer this soon after we hired him."

"What about this thing, though?" Beni, who had stayed stealthy during the fight, stood where the monster had been, holding up a piece of thaumite. It was about the size of a sealing stamp, and glowed with the same glyph as the one on the Mark.

Zeppe's jaw clenched, and the dragoon sighed loudly. "That too. Just stick it in your bag and keep mum, will you?"

At least the bandage was thick enough to hide the glow once it was wrapped up again.

Background adapted from a photo of the Thousand Pillar Hall of the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. Taken by Rajaraman Sundaram, with a CC license.