Authors: Jordan Mendez
Before
Kyra could answer, there was a deafening crash, sending splintered wood
everywhere as a massive arm crushed the wall behind Matilda. A furry clawed
hand nearly the size of the bed sank to Matilda’s feet, laying open as if waiting
for instructions. The witch stepped on to it casually and let it carry her back
out into the hallway. A large beast jumped through a hole in the ceiling
holding Matilda in one hand, and a small figure in the other. Kyra dashed after
it, but stopped short as she began to see stains of blood on the floor.
Gasping
for breath face down on the ground was Gidian. Kyra rushed to his side,
forgetting about the beast and the witch entirely.
“Gidian,
can you hear me?” she asked urgently. Gidian turned his head slightly and
looked at her with his panicked eyes.
“Kyra,
it took one of them,” he wheezed painfully. “It took one of the others. You
must save them!”
“Gidian,
you’re losing so much blood, I can’t just leave you.” Kyra’s heart started
pounding. It was an impossible choice, deciding between friends.
“I’ll
be fine, but you must stop her,” he said. “If we don’t she could kill us.”
“Kyra!”
Kyra whipped her head around and found Vaze rushing through the giant hole
followed by Al and Yuki. “That thing took Siren!”
“What?
How?” Out of all her companions, Siren was by far the most capable and
experienced, therefore would be least likely to be the hostage in any kind of
situation.
“That
thing was about to grab me, but she pushed me out of the way and it got her
instead,” Yuki growled angrily. Yuki seemed enraged enough to single handedly
slaughter an army, but looks were not everything. Kyra knew what she had to do.
“Al,
stay here and heal Gidian,” Kyra ordered. “Vaze, Yuki and I are going to take
on that thing and save Siren.”
“Wait,
I can help!” Al protested quickly, but Kyra sighed, making him stop abruptly.
“You
will
be helping by healing Gidian, Al,” Kyra said. That might have made
him feel important, but he couldn’t help but feel like a child. “You are the
only one who can heal him, and it’s too dangerous for you to go up against that
thing.” Al clenched his fists and bit his lip in frustration.
“But
I can help!” Al pushed. Vaze put a hand on his shoulder and looked him dead in
the eye.
“Al,”
Vaze said. “You’ve already done so much. You don’t have to fight any more. We
can handle it, but we need you here to heal Gidian.”
Al
opened his mouth to protest more, but Kyra had already dashed out of the hole
and barked orders for Vaze and Yuki to follow. Yuki flashed from a girl to her massive
Blood Wolf form and darted after her. Vaze’s wings ripped out from his back and
with one mighty swoop he shot through the hole in the ceiling, disappearing
into the night sky. Al groaned in defeat as he kneeled down to his master,
trying to remember the spells for healing. No matter how jealous he felt, the
gasps of his master finally reached his ears, and Al frantically begun his
prayers.
Wind
whipped through his hair as Vaze shot through the sky, sending strands flying
everywhere. Vaze closed his eyes and snuck a smile to himself. Out of all the
things he loved doing flying was what he loved most. It was a rush to have
nothing between your body and miles of empty space, along with the feeling of
speeding through the air. Vaze batted his wings again, arching up to face the
moon. Seeing it from the ground was nice, but seeing it high up in the sky was
exhilarating. Vaze took in a deep breath of the crisp cold air, and shut his
eyes. His wings folded close to his back as he straightened up, letting himself
tilt back in the air, slowing allowing gravity take its course. A mighty roar
came from below, and he knew it was time to rejoin the others.
Inside
her mind, Yuki was cursing herself for having heightened senses while a wolf.
She could smell the beast so strongly it made her eyes water from its foul-ness.
The overwhelming scent of death only grew stronger as Yuki leapt through the
gaping hole in the ceiling.
The
beast was enormous, making Yuki seem like nothing more than a lap dog in
comparison. Its shaggy body looked like that of a man, but it had the head of
an ox with twisted horns. Its beefy arms and legs were roughly the same length
and equally lethal. In one of its massive hands was Siren, who looked like she
was hardly clinging on to life—let alone breathing. A woman sat on its shoulder
casually, smiling smugly as she spotted Yuki.
A
deep growl erupted from Yuki’s chest as she bared her teeth. It turned its head
towards her with a grunt, staring at her with mocking hatred, and the woman
laughed at her.
“How
cute!” the woman mocked. “A Blood Wolf pup thinks she is any match for my pet!”
“You
won’t think it’s so cute when your ‘pet’ is a pile of blood and guts,” Yuki
growled. The woman leapt off of the beast’s shoulder giggling and landed
lightly on the ground.
“Let’s
just see about that, mutt,” the woman said as her beast shook its grubby mane and
snorted at Yuki, scraping at the ground with one foot, preparing to charge.
Yuki lowered herself and reared her ears back growling.
The
beast threw back its head back, letting out a blood curdling battle cry that
rang through the night. It hurtled itself at Yuki with amazing speed, shaking
the ground beneath it with every step. Going against her animal instincts, Yuki
lunged at the beast to meet it head on, fangs and claws flashing in the moon
light.
Matilda
smiled when she heard Yuki’s snarls as the two collided. Yuki had locked her
jaw on the beast’s shoulder and had begun to claw at the beast’s thickly
layered chest. The foul taste of blood tinged her mouth, making Yuki want to
vomit, but she locked her jaw on tighter. The beast cried out and grabbed
Yuki’s neck, ripping her off and sending her flying. The poor Blood Wolf yelped
in pain as she crashed against the hard ground. The beast leapt down after her,
making the ground shutter as it landed and creating a crater on impact.
Kyra’s
heart yearned to help Yuki as she stalked through the shadows, but she knew the
beast was not the biggest threat. The witch Matilda still hadn’t noticed as
Kyra moved closer. Even if Yuki could defeat the beast, they would not stand a
chance against the witch directly.
Before
Yuki could scramble away, the beast was upon her, holding her down with one
massive foot. It pushed down on her rib cage, and Yuki howled in agonizing pain
as the beast slowly put more and more pressure on her strained bones. Deep
grunts that resembled laughter erupted from the beast’s chest as a sadistic
shine appeared in its eyes. Black blotches began to dot her vision as Yuki’s
wolf cries became more human, and her shape of a Blood Wolf began to shrink
back to her human body. Yuki fought desperately to keep her body in wolf form,
but slowly she was losing control. As the pain increased, she knew her human
body would not be able to endure the pressure, and would snap like a twig.
A
sharp cry of pain ululated from the beast, and all together the pressure on her
rib cage dissipated as the beast tottered back grasping its shoulder, leaving
only an ache as Yuki’s wolf form grew back into place. The beast swat at the
air around it as a black blotch zipped all around it, so fast that not even
Yuki’s sharp eyes could identify it. With one quick swat of its hand, the beast
made contact with the blotch, sending it flying back. Without hesitation, Yuki
caught it, and heard the swearing flowing from his mouth as he rubbed his rib
cage.
“Nice
catch, Yuki,” Vaze said while hoping out of Yuki’s long wolfish arms. His rib
cage stung, but he ignored it. The glint of his dagger met his eye from the
beast’s shoulder where he had stabbed it in. The beast tried desperately to
grasp and pull it out, but its massive hands could not grab the nimble handle
of the blade. Its efforts only shoved it in deeper. The beast thrashed around
wildly, and dropped Siren close to its feet.
“Yuki,
get her now!” Vaze barked as he swept into the air and hurtled himself towards
the beast. Yuki bolted towards Siren, dodging the beast’s flailing arms. Trying
not to hurt her, Yuki bit the collar of Siren’s shirt and rushed the small Guardian
away from danger. Yuki laid Siren against the wall of the house, once again
human.
“Siren,
can you hear me?” Yuki shook her gently. Slowly, Siren’s eyes cracked open.
Yuki let out a sigh of relief as she began to morph back into a Blood Wolf to
rejoin the fight. A small hand grabbed her arm, and Yuki turned back to Siren.
The little Guardian looked as if she was hardly able to stay conscious.
“Yuki,”
she whispered weakly. “Don’t go. You’ll die if you do.” Yuki grinned wolfishly
and chuckled in her deep raspy voice.
“I
won’t die, don’t worry,” Yuki replied, but Siren did not release her grasp.
“No,
you don’t understand,” Siren wheezed. “You can’t kill it. It’s not flesh and
blood, even if it seems like it. No matter how much injure or vanquish it,
it
will not die
.” Yuki shook off Siren’s arm and turned away from her.
“Everything
has to die eventually, and we’ll last longer than it will,” Yuki said hiding
doubt in her mind.
“Yuki,
no!” But Yuki had already rejoined the fight. Siren tried to cry out to them,
but her voice left her as black dots began to blotch her vision again.
From
inside the house, Al could hear the battle clearly. Anxiety and worry were
eating him alive as he tended to his master’s wounds. Al’s hands glowed with a
greenish twinge as he pressed them against Gidian’s wounds, the flow of blood
already starting to subside. Finally, Al could feel the skin close over his
master’s wounds, and he withdrew his hands, releasing the spell. His master
would still be weak, but all the internal damage was healed.
Al
rubbed the blood off his hands, quietly tip toeing to the door past his
unconscious master. His fingers hardly touched the knob when he felt a hand
grab his ankle and made him yelp like a frightened puppy. His eyes shot to his
master.
“Al,
don’t go, you’re not strong enough yet,” Gidian’s tone was firm, but Al knew
his master was still weak.
“
Liga!
”
With a quick flash, ropes grew from the floor and bound Gidian. If Gidian
hadn’t been drained from the shock of healing magic, there would have been no
way he would have been bound so easily.
“Al,
don’t go!” Gidian struggled against the ropes, but they were too strong for him.
Al shot a small look of apology back to his master before he bolted out the
door, leaving Gidian screaming after him.
The
faint shouts of his master followed after him as Al darted through the hallway
and down the stairs of the inn, towards the front door. He could already hear howls
of rage and shrieks of pain, but they all sounded unworldly to him. Hurriedly,
Al threw open the door of the inn and burst out into the night, and was hit
with the ear piercing cries of the beast.
Hidden
in the shadow of a large tree, Matilda spotted Al and cursed. That boy could
ruin her entire plan if left unchecked. Her eyes darted to the shadows beneath
her, and two long jet black snakes slithered into existence. The witch smiled
to herself as her new born pets spotted Al and darted towards him, tracing the
ground like ink on paper. Almost close enough to strike the witch, Kyra saw Al
and realized the witch’s plan.
“Al!
Look out!” The words escaped her lips before she could restrain herself, and
she regretted it the second they came out. They echoed through the night,
causing both Al and the witch to turn and become aware of her presence. Kyra’s eyes
met Matilda’s, and time seemed to stand still for a moment as the witch’s look
of confusion mingled with Kyra’s anxious one. Then before Kyra could even curse,
the witch’s expression flashed to rage, her eyes turning blood red. The witch
lashed out at Kyra with her claws, but Kyra jumped back, causing her deadly
nails to miss by a fraction of an inch. Matilda roared in frustration, and
thrust her other arm out at Kyra, grasping at the air.
Although
the witch’s hand was nowhere near her throat, Kyra felt massive pressure around
her neck, cutting off her air and lifting her off the ground. The pressure
increased, forcing her chin up. Out of desperation, Kyra clawed the air around
her throat, and struggled in horror as a massive hand draped in shadow appeared.
Its demonic fingers laced around her thin neck, slowly crushing the life out of
her. Matilda smiled at her sadistically as Kyra thrashed her legs out at
nothing and pried against the hand in vain. Through wincing panicked eyes, she
saw Al calling out to her as the demonic snakes came upon him. The first, a
black boa, darted at him, and before Al could defend himself, it wrapped itself
around his body, crushing him with its powerful constriction. It only held him
in place as its partner slithered hungrily towards him.
The
second snake, a black cobra, reared up two feet away from the struggling Al. Its
head drifted from side to side as its hungry eyes focused on Al’s neck. Its
forked tongue darted in and out of its mouth, as if it was sizing up Al as its
next tasty meal. Al gazed into the snake’s orange slit eyes and was filled with
fear and terror. Sweat ran down his brow and his heart threatened to pound
right out of his chest as what seemed like imminent death was preparing itself
to take a bite out of him.