...was raise my head...

~

Sefal

I've been walking this cave for quite some time. Most of it has been with Sorra, which has made the undoubtedly months we've spent a bit easier (sometimes). But, it would seem that all things, if you're patient enough, have their end.

We just may have found ours. The tunnels, which still had some of the glow and gorgeous eeriness to them, began to flatten out and became noticeably more man-made, with supports and eventually even trims and torches somehow still burning lining the walls.

I could see Sorra becoming a bit more tense. I think he was ready to leave. I know I have better things to do than be here, but I also know there's a chance that if he didn't want to leave I wouldn't have a choice, since being in a spirit bond raises more questions than I have answers.

As far as I can think of, I'm the only conscious spirit, let alone one with memories. Not like any of them help. Try that and tell me how well it sits in your stomach.

At the end of the tunnels was a giant door, as in massive enough that to reach the knock handle, I had to use both hands and stand on the ends of my toes.

The both of us looked at each other for a moment.

"We doing this?" Sorra asked, his brows and eyes narrowed with uncertainty.

"If you see any other castle doors around then I'm sure we could take those instead." I ridiculed him for the dumb question.

He only slumped his face like he was trying to give me a pity look, then stuck his foot out and kicked the door to the side. Or tried to.

"Ow!" He shouted, only make himself sound like he had the emotional maturity of a 5 year old.

"Sorry I forgot to mention that they're giant doors 30 times your size."

He frowned a sad puppy frown and whined, "you really should have said something."

I could only grant him a disgusted eye roll and grip the large knocker handle with both hands to bang on the door with, which resulted in a deep and resonant knock.

This caused a rumbling at our feet and throughout the door, which then opened on its own, albeit agonizingly slowly, and with many creaks, thunks, and very reverberant booms, all of which echoed into what I now sensed was an impressively immense structure.

As the last of the echo faded out from the final knock of the entryway, we entered to see what I could only describe as some of the greatest feats of interior design, rivaling even some of the greatest work of my people. There wasn't a single pillar, trim, corner, or cranny that wasn't thought of.

But it wasn't exactly welcoming either. Huge torches gave off a reddish flame that lit up the area just enough to see but little enough that it was eerie and set in the feeling that we had trials yet ahead.

The shadows and darkness that the torches left behind, coupled with the scale and grandness of the entryway, had my senses on high. If the creators of this place live up to their name, and I'm positive they will, both of us need to take the weight of what's coming ahead much more seriously.

"So this is the lair of these 'Golden Warriors'?" he scoffed. "Looks like they were a little full of themselves and not quite so noble."

I laughed a little inside there, since their history is a bit complicated and largely unknown, but their strength and sheer power is very much a reality. This tomb is something people just guessed existed and had no way to know for sure.

"This is definitely the place we're looking for, but I don't remember anything about it being so... ominous. Stay on your toes."

I could already tell by his usual foolish comments, he wasn't taking a single bit of this seriously, and I was starting to feel like it could cost us both our lives.

"Tch. 'Stay on my toes,'" he mocked me like a freaking baby. "Who do you take me for?"

"I like my life, thanks." I snapped. He voiced a dramatic sigh and dropped it for the moment as we went up a very fitting set of curved stairs. Very castle-like and intimidating. We came across a foreboding, ominous hall, and some abandoned guard posts, suits of armor that no longer protect people, but stand guard nonetheless.

With the huge torches, crimson and brown colors, empty armor, and the idiot that's going to get us killed standing next to me, I was starting to feel my heart sink.

He's going to do something reckless, and in some of our battles before, he could get away with it, but one slipup here and it's lights out.

My fears amplified tenfold when we entered our place of judgment: a large, round room with pillars reaching impressively high up to the ceiling that was much higher than made sense. At least they don't make sense for the huge four-legged, gray, thick-furred beast with a long, fang-bearing snout waiting for us at the center of this room.

And before we could back up and figure out how we're going to deal with this, the doors behind us shut themselves.

We were left with no choice but to fight, or as I should more accurately put it, defend. It sounded off an ear-splitting roar and slammed its paws to the ground, then tried to pounce on the both of us.

It was able to form spells, and launched explosions right at us, and with that on top of its constant swipes, pounces, leaps, and lunges, made it just about impossible to attack.

I had a moment to quickly chant off a wind spell that I hoped would grant me a window, but when I was halfway through the cast, Sorra slammed into my side trying to dodge after recklessly attacking.

"Watch where you're going you idiot!"

"Maybe back up before you cast!" He shouted as he attempted yet another unsuccessful attack with his knife, which was just stupid. That thing isn't getting him anywhere against this beast.

It was capable of holding off the two of us with ease, and almost seemed to be going easy, like it was waiting for us to step up our game. I was doing everything I could, but my teammate wasn't backing me up at all. He can live with his dumb mistakes and keep getting hurt and I'll hope it at least buys me time.

I finished a spell finally, a small blast of air that could hopefully deflect incoming explosions, and when I casted it, the frightening creature, even though much much larger than me, still managed to leap over me with ease and barely hit me with a swipe of its paw, which sent me reeling and stumbling.

"Can I maybe get some backup??" I ridiculed the person I'd literally trained to work with the people he's fighting with - which he wasn't.

"Can you maybe cast a single spell? Provide any support at all?"

"I'm not some support mage!" I shouted as I tried to catch my breath. This foe was putting me through my paces. "Stop recklessly throwing that knife around and do something useful. Hit a weak spot, something!"

I was cut off by another of the beast's roars, then could only watch as in a matter of seconds its fur receded and bones shortened and popped, and it became a giant falcon. This new creature had a longer, reptilian, scaled neck like a dragon, talons of steel, and thick, bone-tipped wings. It was perfectly crafted to kill.

"Well shit," Sorra stated, his grip tightening.

"Agreed."

If we couldn't figure out how to deal with what was basically a magic-casting statue, I can't imagine how Sorra will drop his thoughtless ambition and try to actually fight. And I didn't have a lot of time to picture it, because our new enemy was barreling down from the ceiling - and now I realize why it was that high.

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"Use your spear!" I shouted over the screech of the diving bird. "I'll back you up."

He reached out his spear and looked straight up, bracing to drive it through, but at the last moment, just as I finished my cast, he dove to the side and I had to abandon the spell.

He's going to get us killed! I can't back him up like this!

The falcon actually picked up his spear, and before I could react, it punctured him near the hip. Not deep, but punctured. I rushed up to fight it off, but it was already prepping for its next attack.

"Where was my backup?!" He raged with a fire in him, trying to pin this on me.

"What was that dive all about?? Don't try to pass the blame!" As I shouted, I could feel my wounds from the three-headed monster reopening.

"Are you even taking this seriously?"

My eyes widened. "The nerve! You're the one throwing your life away!"

"We don't have time for this," he called attention to the diving bird with a yellow orb of energy forming at its talons.

"Duck!" I screamed

"Shit," was all I heard from Sorra before the ensuing explosion threw us both back. When I stood with my ears ringing, he had blood coming from the corners of his mouth and on his hands, but was storming towards me.

Regardless of what threats were in the room, I could feel all his anger directed at me.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" He demanded gutturally. "Do you want to get us ki-"

His intense anger for me was shadowed by the new slice over his shoulder, followed swiftly by his coughing of blood. I was left unharmed from this attack, but I didn't even see the one that hit him.

"Sefal listen to me," he commanded between coughs, using his spear to hold him up. "We're going to die, do you hear me?"

"I know that!" I fired back.

"We are going to die unless we figure out how to work this out. I can't trust you to have my back, and you don't trust me with something of your own. So what's it gonna be??"

While I was trying to bite down my distrust, I failed to see the falcon coming back down, and it sent a solid mass of energy straight through Sorra.

Now that's just targeting at this point.

"NraaAAAGH!" He raged and launched his spear straight up, striking a clean hit on the falcon, then caught it as he choked up an alarming amount of blood and spit it out.

The falcon retreated the heights of this room and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"We're going to die here!" The passion in him was far different from his usual indifference.

I snorted inside. So you do want to live after all.

"I want to trust you, and I know you do too. If not then what was that promise all about? What's all this shared history and 'fuck the world' bravado for?"

I had to kick myself inside since it was for once his turn to have a point. Normally it's me getting on his case.

His face was starting to pale and I knew he wasn't doing well. My own wounds didn't have much left to take before they became trouble either.

"So can you have my back?" He asked, a new fierceity in his demeanor.

"Can you use what brain cells you have left before you start wildly swinging around sharp objects?"

All he had to reply with was a sharp toothed grin.

While we were talking, the amphibian falcon perched and let out a cloud of smoke, presumably to heal the wound Sorra gave it.

With a deep need to finish what I've started, what we've started, and make my way to the surface, my mind felt like it was in tip-top shape. Just clear. Free of cloud in judgement, doubt, discourage, or anxiety.

And in that moment of clarity, I felt more in tune with myself than ever.

"Sorra, I'm gonna try something," I said as we readied ourselves for yet another dive bomb.

"Are you waiting for my approval?? If you've got something then use it!"

Time slowed to what seemed like a halt, and my body disappeared entirely.

I didn't go invisible. I didn't die. I just... had no physical body. I was a mist, per se. Not a ghost, but a consciousness that could neither see nor hear, yet could perceive its surroundings as they were.

So this is what it's like to be a spirit.

My body materialized from thin air and I was returned to normal, only to be met with a blandly confused look from Sorra.

"No idea what that was but hey, let's use that. Wanna play decoy?"

"I'll knock your head in later," I threatened as I tried to do what I just did again.

It worked. Time would slow each time I did it, and while I was completely incapable of doing anything while I was in this... mist form... I was a very good distraction.

The beast was confused and began to target me, seeing me as more or less a cunning, scurrying rat.

Sorra used that as an opportunity to get a few finally successful hits in. He sent his spear straight through one of its wings while it was on the ground, then pinned the spear into the floor and tried to get under its belly.

But it wouldn't end this easily.

It began to transform again, this time with an accompanying cloud of smoke, and when it cleared we were met with a combination of our first two foes: a winged, four-legged, bird-taloned, long-necked freak of unimaginable ferocity.

It sent out a roar that left my ears ringing and completely disoriented the both of us.

Immediately, it swiped its wings, launched explosions, and pounced with its jaws at an unrelenting pace that we simply couldn't keep up with. And every few seconds it would let out a roar that left us stunned and completely unable to talk to one another.

There goes all that coordination I guess.

The both of us were trying to do what we could, with me sending off spells faster than I ever have, trying to time them for Sorra's newly speedy and surprisingly effective physical attacks, but every ounce of effort we squeezed out of ourselves, the beast met back with pounds of force.

I guess it had enough playing around, yet again, and it reared its legs back, thrust them to the ground along with its wings, which sent out a massive shockwave that threw Sorra straight for the wall. I dove after him, managing to break his momentum, but sending myself tumbling backward and hitting my head over and over again.

~

Sorra

My consciousness returned to me quickly, but things weren't looking great. I'd already taken enough damage from that three-headed dog thing, and even after evolving into the beautifully hideous demon I am now, I still hadn't healed all the way.

By now I felt like I was on backup power. This sort of reminded me of the brawl with the demon dragon in that library. Back then, Sefal was trying to protect me too, what with the whole "spirit bond" or whatever it was she called it.

I thought maybe I could put one over on her and do some protecting for a change, especially since she was out like a light and not looking good at all.

I had a little magic of my own in store, so I did the best I could with what I had and began a very long chant. I'm not well-experienced so they take time. I had to keep my voice low and go as quick as I could, trying to focus both on the chant and on the shitty joke of a Pokémon ahead of me.

I'd created a clone of myself. Just an illusion. Breathe on it and it'll disappear, but it might get me where I need to be: Sefal.

The fake me ran out to the dragon-wolf-thingy, and I wasted a moment checking myself out.

He looks so fierce and brave. Too bad he's a phony, and that I'm the only one who thinks that.

The beast was smarter than cheap illusions though. At least, only after I'd already gotten the distance toward it I needed. So when it sent out its next explosion, headed straight for me, I threw my spear at it and made it explode early, sending the beast this time flying back.

I tumbled around a bit, too, but I was up and dashing after Sefal.

Once again, the beast was faster. It was enraged and roared so loud that I heard a pop in my ear, soon finding it hard to hear myself desperately calling after Sefal as the monster created a terrifying barrage of shocks, flames, energy blasts, and explosive orbs.

One of them was headed straight at her.

Seeing that, something snapped in me. Not anger. Determination. Desire. Passion. I had to protect her. Yes. Because that's the way I feel about her.

Something bubbled in my back, and in an instant, pure instinct took over. I felt something new behind me, a new set of muscles. Then came the sensation of something warm in my arms. Then came air, rushing past my face.

That would be the blissful feeling of bridal carrying an unspeakably hot war fairy on the brink of death while you flap your new massive, feathered, black wings and speed through the air like a bullet.

She woke in my arms, for once not kicking and screaming that I was near her, and with the little strength she had, she casted a few spells while I flew on autopilot, not paying even an ounce of thought to the fact that I had wings now.

I had only my knife now, and I was doing little bits of damage at a time, but taking it, too.

Every projectile and spell that would otherwise hit Sefal, I happily blocked with my wings.

Every searing shock of pain only made my feelings grow stronger. I threw everything away to trust her, and here she was giving her last ounce of energy to protect me.

"You finally figured out how to fight," she joked with a softness in her voice I rarely heard, looking up at me from my arms as I flipped and turned and dodged like a pro.

I was on a high over that, to be honest.

She gave me pointers and spotted openings for me, but now it wasn't like she was commanding me around like her student. She was working with me as her equal.

After a while of us speaking, I realized I'd never opened my mouth, nor had she.

I was so focused on the fight it'd never occurred to me - we were communicating with our thoughts. And it felt seamless, like speaking was drinking water through a tiny straw, and this was taking it in big gulps.

After my wings felt like they could hardly move, literally flapping droplets of blood about the room, the wolf-dragon launched another explosive spell. I saw my opening, and threw my knife - my last weapon - at it, and the ensuing explosion caused two of the already-cracking pillars to cave in, which sent the whole ceiling coming down with it.

I folded my wings in and wrapped them around Sefal, barreling through the falling rocks at the speed of sound, only barely making it out of the room and into something beyond. I didn't even know where it was, because I promptly collapsed and Sefal rolled out of my grasp, doing just the same.

With all the roars leaving my ears ringing, the rumbling of the falling room now gone and leaving the ground still and motionless, and my heart rate settling down, I barely stopped to think about all that just happened.

"You're not... dead... are you?" I barely mustered out.

"You know... you'd make for... one hell of a... romantic... if you wrapped a girl... up in your wings... like that"

I half wheeze-laughed, half coughed.

"What's so... funny?"

I was silent for a pretty good minute. "Hey did we... beat it?"

"I think so."

Both of us were completely wiped. I dont know how many places I was bleeding from, and my wings were gone.

"I think I'm gonna... take a nap..."