by A. S. Oren
“Yes,” says Dante.
‘Hold on tight then. I don’t know how much of a dive the mountain will have in order to descend, but I have no doubt it will be mind blowingly steep.’ They all dig their feet further under my scales. I flap my wings and begin to rise into the cool night air. I rotate in a circle, trying to find which direction the closest edge is. I soon see it to the North.
I start flying, all the while my body tense, both out of fear of having one of them fall while I descend down the side, and also half expecting something to hit me and take me down. I wouldn’t put it past Roseman to launch in net in the sky after me.
The edge comes up faster than I thought it would and I stop and hover over it, I can’t even see the ground through the thick clouds that circle the top of the mountain. ‘Please hold on like your lives depend on it. I have to fly fast in order to make sure you don’t suffocate without the barrier providing sufficient oxygen for you.’
“Don’t worry about us, we will be fine,” says Paden. Something about his reassuring voice comforts me, it must be from her trying to push back through and take control again. I can feel her poking.
I take a deep breath in and let out a stream of smoke from my nostrils. I move my body into position and start the steep descent to the ground.
The Guardians of the Mountain
At first it starts out slow, like we haven’t moved at all, I pull my wings in closer to the sides of my body, the momentum picks up and we rush down the side of the mountain like a free falling avalanche. The clouds soon behind us, the ground doesn’t seem as far away as it had. Within a couple hundred feet of the ground I put my wings back out. They act like a parachute billowing upward and lifting me back up into the air another hundred feet, before allowing me to descend again. I flap them gently as I make my landing. A cloud of dirt rises into the air as I land on the edge of one of the farmers’ fields.
‘Are you guys okay?’
They climb down off my back. “We’re still in one piece, if that’s what you’re asking. What a rush,” says Mirren.
We don’t have time to make conversation, as a siren’s cry fills the silent of the night around us. It comes from the base of the mountain, several tall rods stand at where the field touches the rock. They make a deafening sound.
The earth begins to shake and I have to dig my talons into the dirt in order to keep myself upright. The guys fall into my side. The rods that make the noise begin to take new shapes and pull themselves out of the ground. They take the form of massive monsters that remind me of the pictures I saw of the Greek titans as a child. Each one seems to be the personified version of one of the five elements, neither looking male or female. Long, slender, and alien esque.
They all take a single step toward us. The ground shakes again, and chasms appear where their feet land. “Everyone, get ready!” Dante begins to shift into his dragon form. I have never seen another person do a full transformation like mine. Unlike mine, his skin stays in place and his bones crack and shift, but he makes no sounds to indicate that it hurts him. His scales, a bright silver, a mirror, and his talons like cuts of polished onyx. Paden and Maverick follow his lead. Paden also turns into a metal dragon, but his scales look like they were formed out of still cooling molten silver; his talons taking on the look of jagged sheets of metal.
Maverick, in his dark brown dragon form, has chocolate colored diamonds for his talons. All of their eyes remain the startling colors they have as humans.
Horace, Bullock, and Amr transform their arms. Triton and Mirren grow their wings and change their arms. I move to face the terrifying beings. Whatever these things throw at us, we are ready to take it on.
The being made of molten lava takes the first strike, by raising its arms above its head and forming a ball of fire. The ball hurls at us and we all dive in opposite directions in order to stay out of its way. The fire lands on the field behind us, instantly the area becomes engulfed in flames. Triton billows a long stream of frost flame from his mouth. I join him by creating my own, mine is bigger than his and soon, the lower half of the lava creature freezes, it can’t move.
Dante and Paden gang up on the earth element both of them spurting liquid metal from their throats. In a matter of seconds the metal covers the being made of rocks and dirt. I move my frost flame from the fire being to the earth, covering it also. In seconds the metal starts to harden leaving the entire being frozen in its metal state.
An orange ball of flames falls toward me, I only miss it by a second, hurdling myself in to the air. Another fire starts consuming the field. The intense heat of the fire fills the air and the sound loud and monstrous. The farmers of the land stand and watch, their eyes fixated not on the fire, but the massive beings in front of them.
I shoot another frost flame at the fire being, this time making sure to cover its head and its legs. Maverick and Amr join us, both hurling slabs of mud at it. Triton helps me with the freezing, letting out a roar as he pushes himself to the brink, together we cover the being in solid ice. The glowing heart at its center starts to dim. Maverick and I move together and swing our tails at both sides of it, shattering it to pieces.
A gigantic hand made of clouds and air hurls at me, engulfing my head in its grasp. I try to fly away, but it has a secure hold on me. I thrash and roll my body, but nothing frees me. Tremendous amounts of air rush into and at me, I can’t breathe. I stop flapping my wings and my body goes limp. My hold over the other girl lessens. Suddenly, the hand lets me go, dropping me to the ground. I fight to take a breath and keep my control over her, I can’t let the guys down now. I look at the scales of my feet, they were turning to grey, but now revert back to gold.
I look up, Mirren has a colossal flame shooting out of his mouth and at the air being. It dwindles down before my eyes. He saved me. I stand and take a deep breath in and let it out, my own flame comes forth, hitting the thing at its center. It gets smaller and smaller until it poofs out of existence.
The water and metal being still stand. Both trying to fight Dante, Paden, Bullock and Horace. They fight well, but it doesn’t even look like a dent has been made in either of the beings.
These things have to be weak against something. I try a frost flame on the water being, it takes it into its body.
“Both are weak against lightening, if we can work together, we can combined our magic and create lightening!” yells Bullock to Horace over the roar of the fire behind us.
Horace gives a nod. He reaches for Bullock’s hand. Together they do an intricate dance with their bodies and arms. Heavy clouds form above, blocking out the moon. Lightening begins to roll across the sky. As it gets closer to the two beings, I get an idea.
I lower my head and take a run at the metal being, ramming my horns into its body. It stumbles back, leaving more chasms in its wake. It falls into the water being, just as the first bolt of lightning strikes the metal being. It carries the current through to the water and the two begin to shake. Over and over the lightning strikes and the beings shake more. The metal being explodes and shrapnel flies through the air, but just narrowly misses me. The water being explodes also, sending a pouring of rain over the land, putting out the fires.
We did it. Together we took down those things. The guys shift into their normal selves. “We need to find some place to create the void, it won’t be long before the reinforcements come,” says Dante.
‘Get back on my back, I can get the distance we need faster.’
They move onto my back again. I begin to fly low and fast. Getting as much distance between where we fought and us as I can.
I cross over a lake, my talons skimming the surface. As I reach the other side Bullock yells, “Stop.” I stop and let them down. He runs to a tall rock standing alone. It does look like a door way. Placing his hand to it, a void of darkness appears, just like the thing I saw on the jet weeks ago.
New York, New York
Bullock reaches back for a hand. Dante takes his and then reaches back for so
meone, they continue this until they reach Amr and he places his hand on my leg. They begin to walk into the darkness, I follow. My heart pounds in my chest. I can’t help but remember Triton’s warning of how people have become lost in voids. I close my eyes as I enter the dense black. A rush of musky air forces me to open my eyes. We are no longer outside. With my night vision, I can see that we are in a crumbling, unused, underground subway.
My dragon form has to duck in order to not hit the ceiling. “We made it,” says Bullock, with a sigh.
“That was easy,” says Mirren.
“Too easy,” says Dante, with a groan. I look to him as he falls over.
The others rush to him, he holds his side. Dark blood pours from a deep gash, a piece of thick metal sticks out from it.
“Shit!” says Horace,
My control lessens with every second he gets weaker. Something inside me, tells me that I can help him before she takes over again. ‘Take one of my scales and put it over his wound.’ I don’t even know why I have said that.
“What?” asks Amr.
‘Hurry, it will heal him. I’m slipping with him, you need to do it before the scales change color.’
Amr feels for one of my larger scales in the dark and grips on. He pulls with all his might. Ripping it from my flesh. I let out a roar, the pain from losing it too great. My last hold on my mind gives way and I fall to the side, as my body turns back to human. I hope they will be able to bring me back again, I don’t want to live in her mind.
To be continued…
Author Note: I am currently running a contest, which will have 3 winners. The winners will receive all Volumes of Spearwood Boys (A Spin off Series of Spearwood Academy) free. The debut volume will come out August 28th. They will be full volumes and not episodes. Please see the WordPress link below (next page) for more information on how to enter. You really need to know the boys feelings for Avalon, or vice versa (hint) to get it right. I look forward to your entries. Contest ends 8/28/2014.
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Table of Contents
The Crystal of the Gypsy
Night Talk
Loved Crazed?
Family
Is this Real Life?
Tea Time
The Walk Back
Second Awakening
Shock
R.I.P Avalon Clementine
Childhood Anew
Summer Love
Arranged Marriages and a Funeral
Yin’s Reflection
The Passage
What is this place?
The Corruption is Evident
Taking Back Control
The Guardians of the Mountain
New York, New York