Chapter 4

The days progressed slowly; waiting for the demon king army to arrive made all of us on edge as we heard reports of the demon army coming closer.

It wasn’t fun.

Olivio and I personally went out on a flight every night, trying to calm our emotions. Well, especially me, where my dark thoughts creeped back out of the abyss to take hold of my mind like an iron fist. Spending time with my Olivio helped tackle this raging problem.

I flew a bit far, away from the port.

An ugly stench of rotten flesh creeps in through the air. I knew that smell anywhere, and it was from the Titan.

They were coming.

The forest floor started shaking as the trees swung side-to-side from the Titan's walking.

I banked hard to the right, flapping my wings. Then, I headed with vigor back to the city.

“They are here!” I roared, raising the alarm from above. “They’ll be here in the next hour!”

I headed straight toward Olivio, who was at his home.

Suddenly, the alarm went off, ringing itself heavily throughout the city floor.

The ground was busy with people as the civilians quickly headed away from the walls and into safety.

“Father!” I burst through the door and headed straight toward the meeting room as I shifted into human form.

Olivio was with the other kings, heroes, and generals, debating heatedly over what to do.

When I came bursting in, everyone's attention snapped in my direction.

“They are here!” I burst out loud.

“I didn’t think they would be here so quickly.”

“They are about an hour away. I believe the Titan will be here first.” I quickly spoke.

“From which direction?”

“The south.”

Stryd stood up, “I'll handle him. This time, I won’t let him get away with what he did.”

“Good, we will need that vigor.” Olivio nodded. “What about the other legendaries?”

“I didn’t see them, but I assure you that they aren’t far behind.”

A heavy groan could be heard from the kings.

“We’ll get our troops moving as we planned.” Then, Horus spoke up, “my people will take the low ground, which we will take any monsters that come from the south.”

“I’ll be working with you as well.” Gulliver grunted, “Us dwarves are good with our hands. We brought some new toys. We want to try out these dastardly bastards.”

“We got the high ground.” Frey replied, “We’ll take out every monster that flies in the sky. Our bows are the best in this aspect.”

Solomon grunted, “if that is so, my people will go with Stryd to deal with the Titan. We won’t let our hero fight alone.” He bangs his chest.

Don and Ginger chipped in. They were silently listening with the other heroes.

“Us heroes will take care of legendaries as best as we can,” Ginger spoke up. She had grown beautifully as her antlers were sleek. She gazed over toward Don with a hint of a smile and winked at him.

Don blushed, coughing, trying to hide away his embarrassment.

I was a bit surprised that I Don't seem to have finally caved in with his desires. However, I was happy for him as I had a feeling that their love life would continue to progress ever since Ginger was adamant about sticking with him.

“I’ll head with Gulliver.” Khor spoke, “I need to stay with my people.” He nodded, a sense of dedication and pride he had with his kind.

“I think this is a good idea,” said Olivio. “It should help curtail the legendaries if they decide to get too close to our city.”

“I’ll handle Phil,” I said.

I needed an answer.

“I assumed you would; if that is the case, I’ll handle your aunt. She has some answers I need as well.” Olivio spoke with a serious tone.

I wondered what he wanted to talk about.

“The king will send in reinforcement by the end of the night.” Olivio spoke, “We need to hold until

then to counter-attack.”

“Reinforcements?”

“Yes, my people have been on the move. Unfortunately, a few unnecessary discrepancies happened that caused a few...unwanted disagreements, but it's all handled.”

I wondered what it was, but I didn’t ask. I could tell something serious about it by how softly my father spoke.

“Let’s go.” Olivio dismissed everyone.

The kings and their generals quickly started to break away, and they headed to their respected army. Each army, getting ready to move into action.

My father and I headed straight out.

We were silent for a moment as we headed for the walls.

Standing up on top, I silently cast my gaze outwards.

The trees swayed off in the distance.

I could see the large open farmland as far as the eye could see.

Until finally, a burst of birds cawed out, escaping into the air.

“They’re here.” Olivio squinted, his eyes sharpening.

“Yes, they are.” I agreed.

My hands slowly changed into claws. My teeth are becoming sharp.

“Are you ready?” I asked. My shifting was starting to speed up.

“Absolutely,” said Olivio.

“Let’s give them hell.”

Olivia chuckled, looking at me with an impish grin.

With a roar, the Titan screamed. His silhouette became clear. Every step he took, the ground shook.

A burst of demons and monsters swarmed out of the forest like a tidal wave from above and below.

Hellhounds were the first to zip through the field. Their black body with slits of lava-like patterns decorated their skin. They rushed toward the city wall. Bone birds flew closely behind, flapping their ghastly wings behind.

“Steady your weapons!” Frey shouted.

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The elves pulled back their bows, picking a target.

“Fire!”

Thousand upon thousand of arrows embedded with silver and light energy flew through the air. Each one hitting a bird completely disintegrated them with one hit.

“Fire at will!” Frey fired his own bow, which his arrow hit true.

Hundreds of arrows continued to fall down like rain. More and more dropped dead.

“Don’t stop!”

Then I saw a swarm of hellhounds come in, heading straight to the wall from the right.

“Let’s go.” I ran and jumped off the wall, opening my wings as I freefall.

Quickly, I shifted in midair.

I snarled.

My eyes glared, I landed on the ground with a thud. Dust and blue fire spat out into the ground, burning down a slew of monsters around me.

“Bring it on!” I shouted with a powerful voice, freezing every monster around me. They quivered momentarily, unable to advance forward.

At that moment, a surge of lightning magic surged out of my body, spitting outwards like a snake.

Thousands upon thousands of electricity danced from one monster to another, smoking them in the process.

I smirked, giving me a toothy grin.

Not too far behind me, I saw the Titan swinging his giant club, taking out a few dwarves alongside him.

Stryd jumped in, matching power with power.

The dwarves cheered at his entrance as they were being pushed back.

With quick steps, for a dwarf, Stryd swung.

The Titan rebounded backward, his weapon flailing. His feet stumbled, and Stryd took this chance to sprint forward for another swing.

I was impressed at how far Stryd had come. His last failure to kill the Titan had spurred him forward, getting better and better at his skill. There were times when I saw him practicing even past midnight and into the witching hour, sweating until he could not move anymore.

Everything was finally paying off.

I couldn’t help but be proud of him as he battled against the Titan with much more ease than before.

Without having to worry about Stryd, I continued to swipe left and right, taking out these annoying hellhounds that were trying to bite into my skin.

“Is that all you got?” I growled.

My hand stomped into the ground, squashing one of the hellhounds into mush. It left a foul smell in the air, where I couldn’t help but sneeze. A blast of blue fire scorched the ground, and any hellhound that caught up in it was incinerated.

Olivio was blowing flames of red fire into the very slew of hellhounds that had surrounded him. His snarls were nasty, and his claws dangerously slashed down onto the next and the next. They were easily picked off by Olivio.

His tail whipped to the right, throwing a handful of them in the air. He grabbed one even in midair, squashing it with his claws.

I, on the other hand, continued to stomp around. Finally, my neck snaked in, grabbing a hellhound that jumped up in midair. I broke it in half with a vicious snap as it disappeared into the smoke.

Not too far behind was a rumbling sound of heavy footsteps following close behind the speeding hellhounds.

Hundreds of battle-ready rhinos fully armored up from head-to-toe burst out. Their black skin was like dry and cakey paint, and their rider was just as pale and menacing as the rhino. They wore heavy armor as their beady red eyes glared through the tiny slits of their helmet. Spikes jutted out of their backs and elbows. Thick chains that wrapped around their waist were present. Different hammers, javelins, swords, and even war axes were strapped to their back as painted red and black.

They were night riders.

They pulled out their weapons and raised them into the air with a grunt and a shout. I could feel malice was aimed at us.

The first Nightrider came swinging with his deadly hammer straight to my legs.

Luckily for me, my scales were stronger than his hammer. It bounced off, throwing him backward. I couldn’t help but find it amusing that they would use such primal weapons against me.

With a quick swipe of my hand, I threw him back as he slid across the ground face first. Even his black rhino tumbled a few feet away from him, broken and dead.

A handful more continued to bombard both of us.

We didn’t take it too kindly at their annoying persistence.

Each slash, stomp, and even a tail whip caused numerous of them to fly away injured or dead.

They didn’t bother us at all.

“How are you holding over there?” Olivio called out.

“I’m just, you know, taking out a few pests.” I swatted a rhino to the side, causing the rider to get

squashed underneath the rhino’s weight.

“Good, let’s clear these annoyances up.”

“Agreed.”

With a pump of our wings, we both reared back. I could feel the tingle of my gut twirling with magical fire. It was then that the energy in us started to become bigger and bigger, traveling up into our neck and bursting out of our mouth in one blow.

Fire-ravaged the very floor, and the night riders couldn’t do anything but run straight into it. They couldn’t stop as the burning flames completely doused them.

My fire continued to churn.

A pleasant glee started to fill inside of me.

“Berry!” Olivio shouted, catching my attention. “Giants, to the right!”

I swiveled my head to the right.

Hordes of giants with ugly teeth and faces, muscular bodies covered with leather, and bones came bumbling in with dirty hands and feet. Their feet stomped the very ground. They roared angrily at me, challenging me.

“I got it!” Then, with full force, I ran nonstop. Smashing into the giant. Even though I was a bit smaller than them, I still pushed them into the very ground as we wrestled.

We thrashed, picking up dirt and even pulling out trees in the process.

My hand coiled into the giant's neck, slashing it in the process.

With a gurgle, the giant died in my own hand.

I felt no remorse.

My animal instinct was buzzing with hunger.

Blood was on my menu, and my heart was crying out for more.

“Let’s do this.” I had a craze in my eyes.

Some of the giants broke through, heading straight to the wall. They smashed into the wall, shaking the elves. Some of them fell onto the ground. The giant reached over, taking a few elves in his hand as it threw them into his mouth.

A disgusting crunch of bones was heard as the elves shuttered in fear.

“Don’t stop!” Frey shouted. He ran over; his sword was pulled out from his sheath. He jumped up onto his arms and climbed up. Then, he stabbed into the giant with a swish of his sword.

The giant threw his hand back with a scream, trying to get Frey off, but Frey didn’t stop. So instead, he pulled back his sword and stabbed it again.

The giant stumbled and fell backward. The giant fell down dead with Gray still on its head with a loud smash.

I continued to fight; my neck snapped toward the direction of the other giants.

Magic around me swirled; the amount of light energy that swelled around me was brilliant. Magical swords of lights appeared, circling around like beehives.

Each of the swords shoots forward, stabbing itself into the numerous giants in front of me. They became a walking pin cushion. Finally, many of them fell onto their knees, dropping dead.

The swords shimmered and shook as they were magically pulled out.

Once again, they swung in midair, becoming a force of their own.

When I opened up my wings to create a powerful gust of wind storm, the swords of light shot around me like a missile, taking out every monster that tried to get away.

Even the giants that tried to make their way over were cut down into pieces, stumbling forward as it fell down dead like a log.

The Black Griffin screeched, announcing its entrance as the wave of war continued forward.

My gaze whipped towards the direction, and off in the distance, I saw a black silhouette that had become the Black Griffin.

Don and Ginger sprinted forward the moment they heard its call. Heading straight to where they needed to go.

“Don!” Ginger shouted, her eyes sharpened.

“I see them!” Don grunted. His hand started to glow as Pulse wrapped around his hand. Electricity began to spark around it and shot toward Ginger.

Ginger started to crackle; the electricity slithered down, becoming electricity wrapping around her like a dress. Then electricity shot out of her hand, becoming a link with Don. Finally, the electric yellow color shifted and changed, becoming a powerful lull of yellow to orange, mixing

with Ginger’s blue.

Ginger's turned blue gauntlet. She smashed her hand together, causing sparks.

“Let’s go!”

Both Don and Ginger ran forward together; they jumped up. The electricity that they had combined slammed into the Black Griffin’s body. It quickly spread out like a net.

The griffin screeched and yelled, falling into the ground as it was tangled up in its net.

“Nice!”

Ginger yelled with vigor. She was the first to snap forward, smashing her hand into the Black Griffin with all her might.

An ugly cracking of bones was heard as the Black Griffin let out a painful cry.

“Get away from our father!” Crow shouted in anger. He attacked Ginger from behind, kicking her off the Black Griffin.

“Not bad, brother,” Raven said with pride. She flew over toward the Black Gryphon, reaching over and grabbing hold of the electric net. Then, with a zap, Rave felt the power of the electricity completely overwhelm her. She screamed in pain, but she didn’t stop. Grabbing a hold at the other end, she pulled and pulled. Until finally, the electricity of the net came undone.

The black griffin let out a grunt, pulling himself out of the net. His wings shivered, shaking his very shoulder.

Blood was dripping out of the Black Griffin’s lips. Anger flared in his eyes, glaring at Ginger with a vengeance.

Don had come over and helped Ginger up from the ground. “Are you okay?”

“Yea.” Ginger wiped her hand on her lips, wiping away the blood.

“I had forgotten about his children.”

“Same.” Ginger spat the blood onto the ground.

Crow pointed his finger at them. “So, you're the heroes that are supposed to be able to kill our father.” He snarled.

“Yea, and you’re the brat of that child.” Ginger replied back with just as much snap of voice. “You’re going to get barbecued just like your father and lay in the same grave as him.” She snorted.

“Bring it, fur ball.” Raven snarled.

Both Raven and Crow ran in forward.

Both Ginger and Don got up and smashed into each other, fighting against one another as they tried to take the upper hand.

The thunderous rapture of both fights rang powerfully throughout the field as powerful magic continued to spark off.

It didn’t take long for the Black Phoenix to arrive just as closely as before.

Khor broke off from his group, jumping off the side of the wall. He used the back of his hammer and scaled-down without getting injured.

“Come and get me!” Khor bellowed.

The Phoenix turned its head toward Khor. A glint of anger danced in its eyes as it knew its enemy instantly.

Its body flared out with power, becoming a rage of energy. The ground underneath and around it burst into deadly black fire, raging outwards as it completely consumed its surroundings.

With a swoop, it dove downward toward Khor.

Khor bellowed, holding onto his weapon in hand. Then, with one swing, both combined, creating a fluctuating source of shockwaves. The flames continued to fluctuate repeatedly until finally, it settled.

I couldn’t help but be exhilarated by the surge of excitement. Every draw of energy that the Heroes did, my energy danced with them. The pull was extraordinary to the point where even I could feel it. I was a part of their battle.

I had never felt such a powerful connection. It was frightening but natural. The more each of the Heroes fought and swung, I assisted them wherever I could.

Not too far away, the ocean water surged backward, taking with it a large portion of the seafloor, sinking the ships into the ground.

I looked around, trying to figure out what was going on.

An ugly twist of knots could be felt surging in my stomach, shooting up to my heart. It was as if something was squeezing my heart, telling me something bad was coming.

The birds all squawked and flew in the opposite direction of the ocean. Then, even the dogs and the cats started running away.

My instincts screamed. My head swiveled toward the direction of the ocean.

Squinting my eyes, I zoomed in.

I gasped.

A massive rogue tsunami was coming.

“Shit,” I swore.

With a flap of my wings, I flew up into the sky.