Authors: A McKay
“Do you hear that Zach?” Slade heard the trees blowing stronger, the wind grew making Slade restless.
“What is that?” Zach asked now feeling the ground shutter beneath them.
The trees that hid the island from sight now moved, they literally got up on legs and walked to the beach. “What the hell?” Slade said as Zach watched an army of trees swarm the beach.
The tree’s kicked and swung at the men that ran up on the shore. Screams started to be heard from the killing of the agents. “You said fair fight right?” Zach said as he got up and charged towards the battle.
Slade then joined and ran with a gallop for pain still shot through him from the fight they previously had. The agents distracted by the trees didn’t see them come as they started to slice at the agents. Both of them carried lights swords that the smith had made already for regular guards in the kingdom.
The trees helped protect their bodies as they swung at each man; agents with the shades came up and fought. Then out of the corner of Slade’s eyes he saw fire explode from Gabrielle, the tree’s started to retreat. Slade felt the heat, not as strong as Phoenix’s but just as equal to hers. They backpedaled with the trees, but not moving the same speed soon, they were back to back, as agents surrounded them.
They didn’t give up they fought with speed and precision strikes, as they attacked the agents that swung at them. A sword wave here and there and several stabbing actions caused them to dance in the sand coating the soil with red blood.
“Zach there’s too many,” Slade, yelled feeling exhaustion starting to hit. He missed a step and a sword went flying colliding with stone. Slade prepared himself for death, still dodge and striking with his arms.
Then in a stampede, the agents back up as the ground thundered. “We show you, we strong.” A stone man said the same ones that he protected when he first arrived. “You lose this,” he handed the sword back to Slade. Zach and Slade sidestepped the guards and fought behind them as the men fought in front of them. The swords from the agents not striking through them, Slade stared at Gabrielle who was watching it from above in a bubble similar to the Wizards. She raised her hands and giant stone like demons came from the water and joined the fight taking the stone people by surprise.
Then vampires came from the sea, moving faster breaking the stones in half with their strength. He saw the one that got his sword be flung aside. Slade ran slicing the vampires head off his body. “Get your family out of here, now.” He ordered the man not wanting to. “It is an order.” The man bowed and his family retreated as the two guardians fought inch by inch for their lives.
The vampires regrouped and with speed caught them twice sending them skidding in the sand. A vampire came down with a sword ready to pierce Slade in the heart when a zap came above him and his little bodyguard appeared ripping the head off the vampire. “Be right back,” the bodyguard said, moments later appearing with the other two body guards that were Zach’s and his.
The shadow moved through the ground with speed of the vampires striking them down as they swung to the empty space. The sun caught her several times revealing her wardrobe of black on black with a sword in each hand.
His stone guard drove to the demons and struck them hard. They tried to connect him but his other guard usually caught the strike and zapped them feet in the air and let gravity takes its hold.
Yet more and more agents came from the wooden ship, vampires appeared from the sea. The demon witch high above controlling it all.
As they fought, more creatures from the woods joined. Leading them was Broen. Men from the forest joined, and Slade worked his way close to Zach stabbing someone behind him. “Are we winning?” Slade asked Zach as they countered other swings.
“I don’t know, but this is a good workout.”
Slade laughed as he drove himself into the crowd swinging at whatever jumped in his way. “O captain, O captain I know you are there come and play.” Slade yelled to the ship that seemed to finally quit sending out agents.
Gabrielle released a laugh, and more blood dripped from her arms. “I call for hounds.” The agents and vampires walked back to the rowboats, Slade’s men standing there in shock.
The water boiled, and soon a mix of wolf and hyena looking creatures of twice the size their normal size came out of the water. They growled, salvia dripping from their teeth. Broen back away from the dogs, as Slade looked at them wondering why they were scared.
That’s when one jumped taking a man fifteen yards ahead of him in lighting speed and split him in half. “Retreat,” Slade, yelled seeing the hundreds of hounds.
“Guardian give up, and I will kill you now, or die a slow death.” Gabrielle yelled with a laugh.
An arrow shot past Slade hitting a hound in the heart driving it down to the sand. Slade looked to the shooter and saw Zach with another arrow aiming for Gabrielle. “Fire,” Zach, yelled releasing the arrow at Gabrielle, the single arrow turning to a black sky, his turned to hundreds after hundreds.
Slade looked back and saw that the trees that didn’t move had little people in them all armed. “Slade that bubble won’t break,” Zach yelled. The dogs yelping as the arrows found their targets. Several arrows found their target on the rowboats as well. The vampire’s skins were grey but they still bleed red.
Next, the sky stopped with arrows, but gorgeous women and men flew down with wings of angels. They picked vampires, demons, and agents up and dropped them to the sand below killing them on impact.
Slade watched as the army of agents died in front of him. Slade looked to the sky he recognized Cyrille and on him was the damn Wizard. His staff lit like a torch he drove it at Gabrielle. The shield exploded. The wizard circled and threw something at her, they turned to bracelets, and she screamed in pain.
“Hi again,” the wizard said as he flew by Slade. “Her blood won’t regenerate as fast now, she is on our level.” He laughed and pointed his staff fire lighting the ground and hitting a line of men. “That’s for my trees that you hurt.” He disappeared in the distance after the strike.
He was winning; the agents were being slaughtered, none taken for hostage. Without paying attention to the ship, an arrow drove through his injured shoulder. He looked to direction and saw as in Roman times his captain driving a chariot with two hound dogs speeding his way.
He threw the bow, took his sword out, and swung at him as they past him. Slade dove to the side missing both the sword and the blades that circled on the wheel. He turned catching one or two of Slade’s men with the chariots blade.
Zach fired two arrows over Slade head, hitting the hounds each in the chest. “Slade, I’m going for Gabrielle,” Zach yelled as Slade stood his ground. The captain rebalanced himself from flying over the hounds.
“Slade you could have been such a good agent, forget this and rejoin us. Come back home.”
“I am home,” Slade spat out blood from his mouth.
Slade scanned the ground for a weapon but couldn’t see one his guards fighting what was left of the agency.
“Then you will die.”
With that, the captain swung his sword down, time slowed again. Slade watched as the blade started to descend toward his body. Slade sidestepped and grabbed his captain’s arms. He slammed his elbow in his enemy’s elbow breaking the man’s arm in half. He backhanded Robertson’s face, before he could react to the hit. Slade took his knee and drove it to his gut. With the captain bent over, he took both hands and slammed it down through his back breaking the captain’s spinal cord.
Slade took a breath and time regained control, the captain laid on the ground paralyzed. “Captain Robertson, I decline you offer to return.” Slade walked away to let Robertson lay there watching his boots.
His arm throbbed from the arrow sticking out of it, but he didn’t care. Then he heard a cry from above, “Phoenix.” He said turning to look at her carrying several amazons on her back.
“King, we couldn’t hold her,” the Amazons said jumping off in the sand. Slade just laughed, seeing them. Slade scanned the beach, and saw Zach lying in the sand, the demon witch nowhere in sight.
“Shit, Zach,” he started to run over to Zach. Somehow, the captain kept his mouth moving even after not being able to move.
“You los…” he was unable to finish his sentence for the gold dragon planted her foot squarely on his head.
That’s for Gargan!
Slade could hear Phoenix in her true form.
Slade reached Zach, his body laying still, his eyes open not blinking. Blood dripped from the side of his mouth. He was still alive but barely.
“Zach, we will get you healed.” Slade looked to Phoenix who now was over by him in her human form.
“If… I…” he coughed, “learned anything… is I lived a complete life.”
“No…” Slade said, “No, shut up you didn’t.” Slade held his head, “Guard,” he yelled both of his guards showed battered but alive.
“Get Zach to the medical…” he stopped as he saw four figures appear. He didn’t know if it was mirage or not, but Phoenix backed away from them as if she saw them also.
A man that he saw in a vision, the man that sunk the stones in his skin, a woman that he assumed by the warrior shape, hair color similar to of Phoenix next to him. That wasn’t what had Slade silent; it was the other two men. One in flannels and blue jeans, his head blonde, the face similar to his own as his raw hands hung on his side, as he walked through the sand his face calm like always. No alcohol smell escaped him this time, only a badge on his belt.
The man next to him with a badge on his belt wore black Slacks and a blue polo. His hair was black and in a nice comb that piled over itself. He wore sunglasses and with his badge, he carried a gun. His face had stubbles like his son that lay in the sand.
“Dad,” Slade said in a kid way of manner. He nodded in response; a calming effect flowed over Slade. “Why didn’t you tell me, why didn’t you teach me of this.” He didn’t answer, his brother walked over to Zach. The other two guardians walked the sand lifting the souls from the fallen up to stand with them.
“Son,” he finally said, “You found the Sacred Island, you found the weapon.”
“She is not a weapon, she is my lover.”
“That is the weapon, love, something that hell queen will never give up on trying to find. I heard you when you said that she wouldn’t have to fight. That is a fate you cannot to assure her of. The blood of guardians grew due to the rising of danger. You need to find more to fight with you, the queen is starting her control, and the world will grow in Chaos. Humans will declare it on earth but it is not.”
“Father, why me”
“You are your size for a reason; you now have to hold peace on those shoulders. You will have to hold not only ours on those but those.” His arms opened to all the creatures that fought with him that day.
“I am proud of what you have accomplished, but this is just the beginning. You will need to find others. Just remember I will always love you. I now will with your ancestors and mind move on, for we know the land is saved.”
“Why, why can’t you stay in this form and guide me, stay with me.”
“Your mother awaits me to join her; I am no longer needed in this plain of life. I believe in you.”
His father walked towards the ancestors and helped collect the fallen bodies. They soon started with the agents that died. Not even the agents would be blamed for how the queen tricked them. Something was peaceful about this, Zach fathers though stood by Zach.
“You can’t, don’t take him please, I need him here.”
His dad didn’t speak but move to the side so Slade could see Zach’s body. Parts of his body began beaming with light, then an explosion brighter than the sun. Zach laid there, and both their fathers now walked to the others that were leaving this world.
Slade looked at the group and they stared back before their body evaporated. Zach coughed, and Slade looked down at him.
“What the hell happened?” He asked slowly sitting up holding his stomach. “All I know was that I started to run at her and next I was hit hard when her hand rose up.”
“All that matters is your alive and” Phoenix crouched down by them. “You’re alive.”
Phoenix touched his shoulder, he was ready to cry out in pain, but it never came. He looked at his wounds, or where they should have been, but they too like Zach’s were healed.
“You are alright,” Phoenix asked
“Yeah, just now we are alone.”
“No, no we aren’t,” Zach stared over to the sand where his father was last seen. “We have an entire kingdom, and family.”
“Yes, yes we do,” Slade, agreed looking at how everyone was working together to help the injured. No one even questioned the missing dead bodies; they just accepted it as the magic that covered the land.
He looked out to the ship, “We need that ship burnt before someone see’s it.” Phoenix winked at Slade and ran to the water changing to her dragon form in flight. Slade stood, soon followed by Zach as they watched the golden beast burn the ship to the ground. Soon his guards stood behind them waiting the next orders.
Slade nodded to his guard, and felt the hand touch his shoulder. Slade reached out and touched Zach’s shoulder. With a blink of their eyes, they were standing by the well that started it all.