by Meco Brown
“Me? I am not the cause of anything that has happened here in Olah.” I shouted.
“Oh,but it is,” she said with a wicked gleam in her eyes,“If you had just kept away from my human baby brother, controlled your lust, this would have never happened!”
My eyes fell towards the ground. I wasn't sure what I was feeling in the moment. Pity? Guilt?
“Don't let that she-devil get in your head. You know the truth, Airius. You and Taideo are destined. Remember my vision. It showed you how deep your love for one another goes. Believe in that love, Airius.” Lillian whispered. My eyes scanned upward. The lieutenant remained at his perch on the top of the space vessel, head cocked to the side as though listening to what Lillian was telling me. I needed to know, before the situation in front of me escalated, where the lieutenant's loyalties truly laid. He helped us before, will he now? To be honest, I doubt the lieutenant himself even knows where he stood.
Kemiko looked off into the distance, zoning in on a sound that she believed shouldn't be there - the hushed footsteps of our Skinwalker companions, who were shrouded in a cover of fog. My eyes shifted back up towards the ship, the lieutenant's mask peeled backwards, revealing his identity.
“Shirocco!” I shouted with my thoughts.“He's the lieutenant?” I snickered. I should have known.
“Would he truly fight against his own sister?” Chloe asked.
“To save his younger brother? I imagine such a decision would not be easy to make.” Esmond chimed in.
Kemiko peeked over to a patch of deep heavy fog.“Unexpected guests.” She warned her people, and looked at me with questioning eyes.“No matter,” she said with a dark grin,“we'd kill whoever stands against us!” She shouted angrily.
Kemiko's mask covered her face, and she raised her sword as high as she could. The face of every ninja behind her shot up, this was the sign the metallic ninjas were waiting for. The entire army began to move in unison towards me and my small family of witches. A phalanx of almost two-hundred against a single line of six witches.
The ninjas were suddenly swarming around us, but neither me or my family backed down. The Red Throne Society wouldn't survive this.
With passion guiding each of us, they had no chance at winning this war!
24
FROM THE ASHES
Neither Brock or Gregory waited for the ninjas to reach us; To Gregory, the best defense is always a good offense, and he instinctively conjured scorching flames, taking out five of them without even breaking a sweat. Gregory's senses were highly alert, he hardly needed to think as he fought his opponents, and even though a few managed to physically assault him, with hardened skin, it was as if bashing their fist into a brick wall.
Although Brock is heavily muscular, he was even faster than Gregory in speed, possessing a violent acrobatic agility that annihilated many of the soldiers on impact; Countering oncoming punches and kicks with his own.
“We're cutting their numbers!” Brock shouted!
“No matter how many fall, dozens more take their place!” Gregory tossed at Brock.
“Just keep pushing forward!” Brock growled, as a second wave of soldiers came, tougher than the last.
Lillian and Chloe positioned themselves back-to-back, and proceeded to fight those who approached them. Each displaying a level of agility and strength that shocked the general herself.
Chloe lowered her body toward the ground and shot both palms out, summoning from deep within the Earth two towering plants, trapping two soldiers, pinning them between both of her flora attacks.
Although the ground was littered with dead and unconscious bodies, more and more soldiers appeared.
Qui announced his arrival with a bloodthirsty roar, that swiftly heated the air. Alone, he emerged from a patch of fog, his flaming mane grew powerful enough to illuminate the land bright as day; Blinding those who saw it almost to the point of melting their watchful eyes.
“Fear not!” The general yelled,“It's all magic! Magic that we must rip away from the mortal world! It is our duty! Strike them down! Each and every oneof them!”
In quick order came two more enormous figures, enclosing the general's now cadre of ninjas on all sides. Due to their individual scent, I could tell which one of Mr. Littleton's grandchildren, were in what form.
Aaliyah was the first I recognized. She jumped impossibly high, warping her thin body into a colossal blue and black spider, with huge incisors and reddish-black eyes. Each of her legs were covered in shimmering ice crystals. She landed with a terrifying SLAM! Slightly splitting the ground upon impact. Her retractable fangs dripping with poisonous venom, as she paralyzes several of the ninjas, and knocking others far into the distance. Aaliyah is a Pisces, a water sign, but with a strong will, Aaliyah's power over the element of water evolved into acidic ice.
“You think a giant spider will save you!” The general screamed! Watching as several more of her allies are defeated by the sheer force of Aaliyah's spider legs and Qui's flaming roar and claw strikes!
Glowing, sapphire eyes suddenly took the attention of everyone within the area. Emerging from another heap of heavy fog, was a gargantuan silver and blue Tiger with black stripes. It's body nearly doused in a dense wave of water. This was none other than Kaler Littleton. Like Aaliyah, he too is a Pisces, but unlike her, Kaler can manipulate the water his body generates. Looking closer, his limbs and flicking tail are both covered with a torrent of gushing waves. He quickly dodges the glowing ammunition the general's vessel shot towards him.
More ninjas descended from the vessel, quickly approaching the rest of us! There were hundreds of them, but even so, currently we had three ferocious Skinwalkers on our side.
I watched as Lillian marched forward, unafraid, toward a group of ninjas. Guided by her visions of the future, Lillian's ability to see multiple events in a premonition allows her to dodge and anticipate nearly any attack. Her face was unreadable, yet a hint of determination shot my way. Her incredible speed and strength was too much for the men that lay ahead. Her long silky hair danced in the wind, as she ended the men in as little as fifteen seconds.
“Well done,” I murmured, turning towards a heavy rush of more ninjas.“This is ridiculous, we need to try and finish this.” I told myself, peeking over to my right.
Surrounded by fog and darkness, Payton snuck past the general, making her way to group of unsuspecting warriors. I pushed my power out to her as she crept along, using my gift to surround her body in a shell of telekinetic energy. Attempting to use their guns, the ninjas weapons were useless. Tossing their weapons aside, the nervous group backed away; Moving further into the forest. I prayed that Payton would take them out soon. I needed to help protect the others from the onslaught of poisonous ammunition our enemies possessed.
I scanned the ongoing battle. Watching in horror, as four ninjas leaped on top of Esmond! I saw nothing but gleaming armor before there was a wicked burst of flames twisting around them.
Gregory blurred over to Esmond, helping him up before continuing their fighting.
“No!” The general screamed. My eyes crossed over to her, who stared at me with a look of confusion. It suddenly hit me, that what the general was witnessing was nothing short of a miracle. My small team of fighters were holding their own, whereas her army wasn't. I'm sure the general believed things would be going differently. Her face shifted over to me. I was getting under her skin; Knowing this made me feel stronger and much more determined to win.
“Airius!” A voice shouted towards me.
My eyes quickly made sight of Brock, who used Aaliyah's Earth shattering attacks as a distraction, to infiltrate the general's perimeter; Maneuvering himself closer to the vessel's entrance, roguishly fighting his way in, dealing death to every armored ninja at every turn.
“I'll go after Taideo and Grams, you get that one!” He said, pointing above the ship, soon disappearing from my line of sight. I peeked up and saw the lieutenant, or rather Shirocco, standing above the ship, s
till overlooking the battle down below.
I hope he's on our side. I thought, as a powerful surge of energy passed through me, and released upon a shout cast from my mouth. It traversed the space between Shirocco and I, in a blink of an eye, causing my body to immediately be tossed high into the air and on top of the space vessel.
“Why are you up here?” He asked, no longer paying attention to me or the battle for that matter. He seemed uninterested in everything.
“You helped us before, help us now. Help me save your brother, and your grandmother.”
He turned to face me.“Why should I help you again?”
“So, you can have family to come back to. Your parents are gone and I’msorry for that. You need Taideo, and your Ms. Chestnut.” I said. Looking into his eyes, I saw a sadness in them that put my own inner depression to shame. He didn't want any of this; If I had to guess, Kemiko made all the decisions, and he followed. The hunting gene connects them, perhaps Shirocco feels as though he has no other choice.
Suddenly, the ground beneath us began to shake horribly, causing a miniature earthquake. Out of nowhere, an enormous gray and black snake plows from under the dirt! It resembles a giant chain of stone rocks or maybe even black diamonds. What I did know, was that its giant bright yellow eyes, scanned the scene, tearing into dozens of ninjas, as it dug underground, leaving behind a massive tunnel. I easily sense within the aggressive Skinwalker, the essence of Eamie's older brother-Chance. He is a Virgo, an Earth sign.
“You made sure you had the man power for battle, didn't you?” He said in a pleasant tone.
“It didn't have to come to this, if you all never came here.” I told him.
Shirocco turned to face me.“That isn't true. Sooner or later, we would have figured out Taideo was hanging around you people.”
“You people?” I repeated softly. I could feel my lips stretching into a frown, and cast my eyes upward. Flickers of lightning passed through swirling red clouds, that loomed over the slightly vibrating grounds below.
“I'll help you.” He said quietly, looking over at me.
I turned slowly to face him.“You will?”
“'I'll disconnect the bomb, but I will leave immediately after, but you have to promise me something.”
“Anything!” I shouted, just as a heap of swirling fires ignited under the glittering wall of mist that surrounded us. No doubt Gregory was summoning every ounce of his power to fight back the army of ninjas below.
“You have to end this, all of this.” Shirocco let out sadly, twisting his head over to his twin sister. Kemiko ran in a zigzagged formation, dodging balls of fires that Gregory hurled towards her.
“You'd want me to kill her? Your own sister?”
“She's no longer my sister.” Shirocco replied with a frown.“Kemiko murdered our grandparents in cold blood. Doing so brought the Red Throne Society to us, and Kemiko blamed the murder on witchcraft.”
“And you didn't tell them the truth?”
His eyes moved towards the flames that engulfed the battlefield. Another faint rumbling sound echoed as Chance emerged from the ground, attacking more ninjas.
“She's my sister, I would have done anything for her, to protect her. But she became worse, more ruthless. After training for months, Kemiko proved herself stronger than many of us, and moved up in rank, fasting than any one. It wasn't until a few months ago, I discovered the reason behind it. Kemiko has been ingesting witch blood, since the very beginning.”
“What?” I said. Hearing this actually surprised me. There was absolutely no way, Kemiko could consume witch blood and still be alive.
“I'm not necessarily sure how she acquired it, maybe she saw a vial of it that belonged to mom and took it. What I do know is that to the ordinary human, the blood of a witch would turn them into a witch themselves; But to a member of the Red Throne Society, someone who has the hunting gene, consuming witch blood induces gradual psychological and physical change. Dooming the user to a blinding madness. Her insanity is what pushed her to murder every other human she felt was tainted.” He told me.
“Knowing all of this, you were still going to allow Kemiko to take Taideo away?” I said, a slight hint of irritation rose from my voice.
“My mother and my father are dead!” Shirocco shouted, grabbing onto the katana blade on his back.“My grandparents have been murdered.” He inched towards me.
“Calm down.” I warned, contemplating whether or not to summon the blade of Selena. I needed Shirocco to help me, us fighting was something that I didn't need happening.
“All I wanted was my family back together, was that so much to ask for?” He said, swinging his blade directly at me.
Thankfully I dodged his attack.“Shirocco, don't do this. We both need each other!” I shouted, when suddenly he stopped, and scanned the shadows beyond the trees. I twisted around to catch what had his attention.
A loud, piercing cry cracked through the sky, as a monstrous white and blue eagle tore through the clearing; Soaring above the battlefield, it's beaming black eyes scanned the area, and swooped down! Both of its wings were surrounded by massive swirling cyclones, and upon clapping them together, the bird of prey sent out a heavy current of wind, controlling the attack so much, that it only effected the ninjas, blowing a great deal of them far off into the distance. Upon landing, the giant creature swung its hooked beak, crashing more ninjas far into a thick line of trees.
“Oh my God.” Shirocco let out in a sigh, shocked by the amount of damage, my people as well as the Skinwalkers were doing. I had to admit, our kind working together wasn't bad. We make quite the powerhouse.
“This is our home, Shirocco. Each of us, has lost something and we have no choice but to fight for it. Each of them down there, know what you feel. I know how you feel. You may have lost your mother, father and grandparents, but I promise you this; If you help us now, today, you will have a family in all of us. We will fight for you, protect you and make sure no harm shall ever fall upon you. We will treat you just as we treat Taideo; As family.”
He didn't respond to what I said to him. Instead, Shirocco tightly gripped his sword, and narrowed his eyes. Shirocco's voice was multi-toned as he stood straighter.“Bring down my sister; And as for Taideo, if you truly love him, protect my brother with everything you have, and never let go.” With those final words, Shirocco jumped straight off the ship, crashing into the ground and attacking his own men with a barrage of attacks. The Red Throne Society, came to erase what they perceived as a threat, only to be beaten back.
“SHIROCCO!” The general screamed loudly; But he didn't turn to face her, he kept fighting, making his way closer to the bomb on the other side of the field.“You will pay for this!” She snarled in my direction, before leaping inhumanly high, and landing on the top of the ship.“You think you've won? Think turning my own brother against me, will cause for me to bow before you?”
I shook my head.“No, Kemiko I don't want you to bow before me.” I told her, then took a second to look around us, realizing the fight down below seemed to be coming to an end.
Most of the remaining ninjas were either killed, running away or surrounded. Shirocco was already tinkering with the bomb. Hopefully he would disable it soon. The crimson red light piercing the sky faded in and out, not exactly sure why, but the sky itself, continuously changed from midnight black, to crimson red.
“You've murdered your grandparents, as well as other human beings. You've slain hundreds of my kind, consumed witch blood, kidnapped Mr. Littleton and tried to take away not only Ms. Chestnut, but the love of my life. Bowing down will do you no good. I hate that it's come to this; But, Kemiko Kavita, I will bestow upon you the final death.” I warned.
She and I stood waiting for one another to strike.
“Die!” She screamed! Kemiko was seething with anger and furiously ran towards me. I quickly reached for the blade of Selena and we traded deadly blows! Kemiko was more furious than I'd seen her previously, whether at me, Shirocco
or herself I couldn't tell.
As for myself, I was saddened at the betrayal of Taideo's sister, disappointed that she turned against her family in favor of power, yet more angry at the fact that she wanted to take Taideo away from me. My emotions strengthened the power behind my attacks.
“Is that the best you got?” She teased, using the moment to catch her breath.
I launched forward with unnatural speed, bringing my sword up, and cutting down. Kemiko quickly parried my sword and spun, kicking at me with an enormous amount of strength. I felt my body flying backwards with phenomenal speed, off the ship and into the side of a mountain. The next thing I heard was my shoulder cracking and breaking. My body quickly pounded down the mountain and crashed onto the ground. I shook off the pain, recovered and stood, looking for the sword, as my bones mended themselves.
My eyes scanned the grounds, tracing over to the others fighting. Lillian and a ninja were dancing, both crouched low, making circles in the still heavy fog. Lillian was suddenly moving so fast; the fog was almost a miniature twister. I shut my eyes for a moment, hearing the ninja's neck snap.
Esmond's movements were slow, and cautious as he moved toward two unsuspecting ninjas. Placing his index fingers over his temples, Esmond cast out his power, temporarily possessing one of them, controlling the enemy to attack the other. A sudden wave of flames shot forth, igniting several enemies, including the one Esmond possessed, causing Esmond to zip back into his body, something Esmond did not seem to appreciate.
A deep voice laughed,“Even with all the help in the world, you still couldn't defeat me!” My eyes sailed up, catching sight of Kemiko sprinting across the top of the ship, jumping off and aiming her sword right for my head.
My gaze hardened, I reached for my power, dragging all of it up as I thrust my arm out, catching Kemiko midair in a telekinetic hold. Curving my arm to the right, I tossed her body at a swift speed. Kemiko crashed against the mountain, and as she plummeted to the floor, her entire set of armor shattered like glass.