The heady smell of burnt ozone mingled with that of decay. Plumes of smoke rose from the remnants of indigo flames that even in their dying throes seemed to possess a malevolence foreign to natural phenomena. Looters and those driven by grief to search in a futile attempt for the remains of loved ones were just now making their way onto the blighted plane. The devastation wrought from the experimental runic artillery had been intense wiping out both enemy and ally with blind efficiency.<br/><br/>Somewhere far off in a tower gilded in finely worked platinum and perpetually bathed in moonlight a Sorcerer-King weighed the pros and cons of the experimental weaponry. Finally he nodded his head - human life was a petty thing and should his own armies suffer casualties from collateral damage then it was a small price to pay for scouring his hated foes from the face of the earth.<br/><br/>Those unfortunates whose lot in life was eked out by scrounging through the detritus of slaughter had no idea of the malice that lurked within those distant and to them unfathomable places of magic and madness. One young waif who had been using a chipped dagger to remove digits and then subsequently the rings attacked to them from the fallen soldiers had made what was to her a thrilling discovery. One of the craters that had been rent into the soil by some form of lesser explosive gave off a glittering sheen as light caught some form of golden material.<br/><br/>Peering into the depression the girl gasped as she identified not one but several sources of glinting brilliance. Her grandmother casually going through the pockets of body missing much of it's upper torso immediately ceased her desecration and began hobbling towards the source of excitement. Being far more spry than her decrepit relation the granddaughter took it upon herself to slide down the craters edge to inspect the potential wealth.<br/><br/>What the opportunistic forager was to find however was unusual for even the twisted hell-scape of one of the arcane killing grounds. Crawling forth from the ground small constructs built to resemble scarab beetles appeared pushing their radiant bodies through the soil and into the fouled air.<br/><br/>Curiosity warring with fear and finally triumphing the girl reached out her hand to grasp the insectoid automaton. Tiny gears clicked and whirred within as the youth marveled in awe of the sheer perfect artifice that had gone into making such a device. A cry from her grandmother however caused her to release in shock the small mechanical wonder which proceeded to take to wing and gain distance from the inquisitive adolescent.<br/><br/>The source of the strange devices had become apparent though to the two watchers it brought up more questions than it answered. A immense arm covered in hieroglyphs and shelled in a plating that melded both stone and metal into something that bore properties of both. The younger of the pair starting to feel dread began to back away while the older let lose a string of profanities cursing wizards , war and her own luck for leading her to danger instead of the wealth they so desired.<br/><br/>The fingers of the mechanical hand creaked causing a terrible grinding within its mechanisms. As if summoned the beetle like servitors returned to the titanic limb cleaning and lubricating the joints with surprising tenderness. Now serviced the arm began to find purchase and slowly but surely the ground around it began to churn as a monolithic form started to arise from the dirt.<br/><br/>Others drawn by the cries of the crone had come to see what the ruckus was about and they stared down at the crater with fear and awe as the submerged form began to rise to the light for the first time in millennia.