text: \[HR\] Seismic: Part 1 Herd Mother had crossed the desert three times before. The first time was when her grandmother made the journey to the God Beneath the Mountain as a sacrifice. Herd Mother had only been a calf then. Since, she’d made two other migrations for the elders of the herd to participate in the sacrificial rite in her lifetime. Now, it was her turn. Before she could do her duty for the herd and insure another Herd Mother’s reign was blessed by the Gods, they would have to make the crossing. This year, crossing the desert had been far more costly than any Herd Mother could recollect. \- - - For three nights and four days, the herd had trudged its slow, heavy path southward beneath the blistering sun and swirling sands. They needed to get far from the edges of the desert, to the shadow of the mountains and the thick cover of the trees, where root and stone protected them from the blowing dust, the heat, and the thing that lurked beneath the shifting northern dunes. The herd had fought with all its might to defend its vulnerable members, but the monster from below was far too powerful for even their strongest bull. When they had formed the defensive circle, forcing all their calves to the center. In response, the monster had simply burrowed beneath them. The earth had trembled furiously, startling them into a panicked flight. A massive hole opened in the center of the herd--three calves and two mothers vanished into the abyssal mouth of the creature before the last remaining calves managed to flee. As suddenly as the monster from below had arrived, it was gone, its passage evident only by the long, snaking ridge of sand pushed up from its subterranean movement. \- - - Now, thirsty, hungry, and desperately exhausted, what remained of the herd marched on. Massive grey feet pressed into the desert, taking each step with care. Healthy members of the herd walked near the elderly and the young, lest they stumble or collapse. Since the creature from beneath the sands seemed to be drawn by the earth-shaking tremors of the elephant language as well as any concussion with the ground, the herd had gone silent. They had lost the ability to communicate with the God Beneath the Mountains. All they could do was walk forward and hope to reach the jungle before their tormenting predator returned. \- - - Gaal Druz was not a patient creature. She didn't have to be. She was the queen of this land, and that fact had gone uncontested for a very long time. So when she summoned her cattle, she expected a reply. THUM, THUM, THUM! She rumbled the ground, sending out her seismic message to every herd within thirty miles--calling them to her---calling them to fulfill their oaths. Her herds always answered, and she always fed; that was the way of things. It was a necessary sacrifice on their part, and in turn, she protected them from many enemies. Where in human-infested lands elephants were slaughtered by the hundreds,-- Gaal Draz only took their old, their sick, their dying-- and only as many as they offered her. Once she had hunted the elephants down, tracked them across their vast empires of territory, and slain as many as she needed to satisfy her hunger. In recent centuries, she had learned that compliant, subservient cattle were easier to manage than wild, fleeing prey. Gaal yawned languidly and stretched out her massive elephant head from the hundred feet of black scaled, coiled muscle which composed her serpent body. As her unhinging jaws inhaled the dank, chill air of the cave, her nine-foot tusks and rows of serrated teeth glinted from the smallest sliver of light penetrating to the depths of her lair. She rarely emerged from her subterranean kingdom, but today she had to discern the cause of her northern herd’s distress. Gaal would survive without them. She had other herds which paid homage to her and the jungle was abundant with wildlife on which she could feed, but her northern herd was her largest and most devoted. *If it can threaten a herd of elephants that size, maybe it will be a worthy opponent,* Gaal hoped, trying to remember what if felt like to have a real battle. Gaal Druz emerged from the mouth of the cave, her trunk swaying and arching, sniffing the air for all the scents of the surface as the jungle filled with the myriad cacophony of alarmed, fleeing creatures. Monkeys leaped away through the trees, retreating in silent haste and gripping their young. Birds took wing, and even the mighty tigers and leopards slunk swiftly to safer shadows. All that remained was the God Beneath the Mountain. She extended her massive body up to see over the swaying green canopy of the jungle. Above the trees, all she heard was the wind. She felt the trembles of the land beneath her, as her eyes scanned the horizon to the north. The herd was moving. She could see them approaching the jungle from the desert expanse beyond--depleted and afraid. Very few things aside from humans were capable of truly threatening elephants, and Gaal Druz suffered no humans upon her land. Something else was out there now, something massive and ancient. *One of my kind?* She could not let that stand. She was the last Grootslang, and only for her, did this land have space. Grumbling deep within her primeval throat, she flattened herself to the ground and slithered towards the desert at tremendous speed. Despite her mythic size, Gaal Druz passed through the forest as a whisper, leaving little trace aside from the wide trail her body pressed into the undergrowth.