the golden age come and passed

A strange bellow reverberated through the trees, assaulting his ears with the ringing noise. By reflex Apollo flinched away, his ears flattening to his skull until the echos died away. He stood there a moment longer in caution. By the Fallen God's chin hairs, what was that? A strange sound was still echoing, a weird undertone to the usual forest sounds. A strange sort of scraping, as though a tree was being dragged against another tree, a discordant jangling of foliage.

A more prudent course of action might have been to go AWAY from the disconcerting noises that put his hackles up, but there was more riding on Apollo's shoulders than his own survival. If there was something strange going on here it could well affect the Abraxas Empire. It was his duty to investigate the unusual and report back to young Malleus.

He slowed as he broke through the trees to the strange sight that greeted him, though. A giant gray wrinkled creature with no fur, huge ears, a long nose and long tusks that extended from its mouth. He came to a stop a cautious distance away and studied the creature, which was slashing at the trees with the ivory tusks and causing the strange noises he had followed.