I hop off the air and wrap my arms around the thinnest portion of the great bird’s legs just as it begins to climb into the air. I glance down and see Lawrence pull his cane up toward the two of us. He says something and a shell forms perfectly to my body.

“No! Focus on protecting William and the hilltop. I’ll take care of this. Don’t worry!”

I yell down. He looks at me as if to judge to believe my words before nodding and turning his attention to the army, just now beginning to climb. Was that doubt I saw, Lawrence? I smirk as the bird and I raise into the air. The air was my domain. This bird just doesn’t know it yet.

I draw my saber and jam it into the creature’s leg as far up as I could reach. White blood flows out from the wound and pours over the silvery metal, I examine it with my fingers. It’s slippery and warm and doesn’t stick to anything as it pours out down the leg. I grab hold of the backside of the blade and pull myself up onto it; standing with my toes curled around the rounded edge. I’ll have to leave it there. That’s alright. The saber wasn’t anything important to me. No, the item that I valued most in my arsenal was the dagger still hanging by my side. Ariel, my patron, had gifted it to me.

I turn slowly on the saber and reach up to grab hold of a fistful of the black feathers. No...not black. The feathers are coated with a sticky substance that felt like the tar that peels off a road on a hot day. Beneath this black substance, the feathers are a brilliant jade, that shines even when covered by the black substance. They’re soft and pliable; like goose feathers, but also strong. Even when I pull to test if they’d make a good handhold, not a single one rips out.

As I test the strength of the feathers, I feel the blade slip out from the creature’s leg. I tighten my grip on the feathers just as the blade falls out of the creature’s leg and tumbles down to the ground below. I can only pray that it doesn’t hit William or Lawrence. I watch as it twinkles once and vanishes in the sea of clouds. I pull my legs up to lessen the strain on my core and plant my feet on either side of the haunch. There was enough space in between the large, leathery scales that covered its featherless legs that I could press the side of my foot into it. I use the temporary foothold to let go of the feathers and grab at some feathers higher up on the leg.

By the time I near the great beast’s wings, it turns its head, cranes its neck backward, and shoots forward with its pointed white beak parted to swallow me. I hold out my palm in its direction.

“A lance, o’ wind.”

A pointed blast of wind shoots forth from the palm of my hand and slams into the open maw of the creature. The force of the wind parts the creature’s jaws and snaps the flesh that hinged the two halves of the beaks together. The wind dissipates by smashing into the back of its mouth. It shrieks in pain and pulls back its head away from me, and I let go of the feathers so that the recoil of not using a medium to use the spell doesn’t destroy my shoulder. I fly backward through the air. Before I fell a few feet, the tear marks around the hinges of its jaws repaired themselves, and it turns around in the air like a swimmer rebounding off the walls of a pool and dives quickly toward me.

When I found out who she was, Ariel granted me three abilities. The first of which was to walk on the air for as long as I could hold my breath, so as the bird nears me in its dive, I pull in as much air as I could into my lungs. The wind wraps itself around me as I hold the air there, and I jump off the air backward. As it dives by, I mimic its movement by turning in the air and leaping off the air so that I begin to dive toward the center of the great flying beast.

Light emits from the back of the creature in between the bird’s wings. The glow lasts for just a second before scores of its feathers tear off of its back and fly toward me like a volley of javelins. The second ability that Ariel granted me was Billow.

The air in my lungs swirls as I force it through my throat and out my pursed lips. A howling gale of wind blasts from my mouth like air through a compressed billow. The force of the wind knocks aside the projectiles and shoots me back a couple of feet. Once again I draw in as much air as I could into my lungs and step off the air in another dive. The feathers vanish as they fall from the air in a shower of green lights, and reform on its back once more.

The third ability that Ariel granted me was Tether — something she had been to Prospero. The spell itself forms a ‘rope,’ of mana. At first, I could only use it on enemies to bind them if I found myself outnumbered, there were, however, other uses for it. The higher level I got in this spell, the more uses I find, and currently at 120, I could control it pretty much however I want.

I split this, ‘rope,’ of mana and wind both halves around me in opposite directions, and, ‘pull,’ at them. The mana causes me to spin like a drill as I dive toward the bird. I draw my dagger and hold it in front of my face. I slam into the back of the creature at high speed, and the dagger punches a hole into its back, right at the crook of its neck.

The skin beneath the feathers is as hard as stone, so at the impact, a small crater forms around the dagger. The great bird screams, and the force propels it down. I wrap the ropes still dangling on my body around the body of the bird to stop myself from flying off during its rapid descent.

“A lance, o’ wind.”

A blast of wind shoots out from the tip of my dagger and punctures the skin even further; widening the crater. My shoulders heave and shake as I catch my breath. One more...

“A lance o’ wind.”

The dagger pushes forward more until it snags against the bones of the neck, and stabs into it. The bones are translucent; like tubes of glass. Within it was a rushing green, glowing substance? Was this all mana? It felt similar to Ariel’s mana as it leaked little by little from the pinprick I had caused.

“What do ya think of that, shitty bird,” I say as I sputter.

The god beast falls into a freefall. Easier than expected. Hopefully, it falls into the whole of the army. I glance down just as we pass through the sea of clouds. I see the battle has already fully commenced. Scores of the jackals lay dead or dying. A few of the dogmen rise out of the rank of the forces waiting at the foot of the hill and begin to walk in the air in the direction of the hilltop. They were moving fast. Really fast. If left unchecked it would be a melee on the hilltop. I know William isn’t really good in a melee; is Lawrence? No...he’s a mage, isn’t he? He’s so good at magic, and he’s not in the best shape...

“Shit, I better get down the—”

My arm is repelled backward, and I nearly lose hold of the dagger. The shattered, stone-hard flesh stitches itself together, and the god beast begins to move again. It beats its wings, and we rise again. Rapidly. The force of the wind ripping by pushes my head down. How the hell do I kill something like this? Its ability to regenerate is insane. I cut down to the creature’s spine, and in a matter of minutes, it was completely healed. Before we had a chance to fall to the ground it had already woken up from what would have been certain death for anything else I’ve ever fought.

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The great crow turns in the air again so that its body was perfectly vertical in the air with its beak pointed up, beats its wings again, and flings itself backward rapidly toward the fogwall behind the hill.

“Shit, shit shit.” I dispel Tether and roll to the right.

I fall through the feathers and into a free fall right before the godbeast’s back slams into the fogwall.

Boom.

The fog ripples like water at the force of the blow, and I hold my breath. The wind once more wraps around me as I bound off the air and circle around the creature. How am I supposed to beat something like this? It beats its wings forward once more toward me. A gust of wind knocks me from my invisible perch and sends me flying back. The tips of its wings glow a bright white, as tens of the pinions fly forward.

Once more I let loose the air in my lungs into a gale force. Most of the pinions are diverted, but five manage to slip through the howling winds. Three pings off the shield that Lawrence had set up for me on the ground. At the third, however, the shield shatters. The fourth slams into my shoulder, and falls off as the serpentskin armor holds against it, the fifth slams into my thigh.

The pinion pierces through my flesh and pushes in until it scrapes against the bone. The feather vanishes with the rest and reappears at the edge of its wings. The pain is unbelievable and robs me of my sense. I tumble through the air and toward the ground; propelled by another gust of wind from behind. Once more I fall through the sea of clouds, I come back to my senses as the cloud’s moisture whips across my face.

A great shadow dives toward me and I fill my lungs with air, bound off the wind, and steady myself so that I no longer tumbled. I could see that most of the windwalking jackals were dead; save for three engaged in combat with one another near William. That must be from his Glamour — a spell that overwhelms a chosen creature’s mind and forces them to see whatever the caster wants them to see. A portion of the wall had fallen over, and a dome of wind sat near it. Was Lawrence okay? I couldn’t see him there...I glance around looking for him.

In the distance; in the direction that the god beast and the force that Lawrence and William were currently holding at bay came I see the faintest outlines of another approaching force. No. This was an army. Beyond the curtain of dust rising at their arrival I see thousands: tens of thousands of forms moving toward the hill. What the hell? Have they noticed? I glance back down to the hilltop, and see Lawrence emerge from the dome of wind, — blood oozing from two long slashes across his back, and William glancing toward the horizon. Even from this distance, I can see Lawrence’s shoulders shrink. I had to hurry this up. The only way those two were getting out alive was if I finished off this shitty bird. I blow out a gust of air and push off away from the diving shadow as the god beast plunges into the sea of clouds.

I had to do damage to it. A lot of damage all at once. Perhaps even to the point where the bones were shattered, so that the mana coursing through its body could no longer repair itself. What could I do with what I had? A single dagger, and a little bit of magic...no I couldn’t do it, but I knew something that could. Something that we had buried in the side of the hill as a last-ditch effort just in case the jackal army wised up and climbed the hill all at once. Something that was for sure to take out a good portion of them; but how would I get the god beast down there?

The giant bird turns in the air and rises rapidly toward me. Even the small bit of pressure put on my leg as I hop off the air out of the way is painful, and I could feel the moistening of my pant legs as the blood flows rapidly from the puncture wound. Had it pierced something vital? I can only hope not. I had to dodge it for now, but my lungs had begun to ache. First things first let's get into position so that if I let go of my breath I would be tumbling in the right direction.

I step over to the side of the hill that the wall was built on, and once again had to use Billow to knock aside a volley of feathers. It knocks me out of position. What can I do? What can I do? I can’t last forever like this. Already, the coolness of blood loss had begun to set in. Hadn’t I stunned it before? Yes...yes, I had. I shake my head and chase out the weariness as the god beast rises towards me; its beak raised and parted. I dodge again, and again. I do this for several minutes until I have an idea. One I have to work fast on. I undo my belt completely and wrap it around my wrist. I dodge again, blow aside the oncoming volley of feathers, and brace myself as it slips through the currents of the air up towards me once again with its jaws parted.

I turn in the air and dive headfirst toward me, and let out all the air in my lungs. The blast hits the bird in the face and slows both its ascent and my descent.

“A lance, o’ wind.”

I gather as much mana as I can in the split second it takes for us to meet, and release it all into the creature’s open maw. Like before the winds snap the bit of flesh acting as a hinge for its beak. I draw in as much as I can into my lungs, and with a small bit of pressure applied, barely miss crashing into the bird. I undo the belt around my wrist and run the mana rope from Tether through both of its ends, before letting it go and pulling the rope and the belt through the creature’s open, screaming mouth. Both the belt and the rope pull into the torn hinges, as I pull the rope with one hand and grab a fistful of feathers near its large, glowing eyes, to stop my descent with the others. The flesh of the hinges reform around the belt, and as I pull on the rope attached to it and my wrist, I can feel it snugly in there.

Now to stun the beast. This was the easiest part. I draw my dagger and stab it into the bulbous glowing eye. It screeches in pain.

“A lance, o’ wind.”

A lance of wind blows into the creature’s eye. It shuts its eyelid, and I quickly remove the dagger as I dangle there. This time, I stab through the eyelid.

“A lance o’wind.” Another blast of wind.

I hear something, pop beyond the eyelid, and for good measure I send another blast of wind through the destroyed organ before pulling out my dagger, and holding it in my teeth. The god beast begins to plummet once more. This was my chance. Who knew how long it would be out. I hold my breath and leap with the mana rope in my grasp.

I propel myself forward by pushing off the air and pull at the mana ropes just as someone pulls at the reins of a horse they were leading to the water. I turn around in the air and blast out all the air in my lungs to further propel us down.

A few adjustments with my windwalking, and further propelling with Billow led us on a collision course for the hilltop, right where the thing was buried. We pass through the sea of clouds once more. The landscape had changed once again; a great white wolf was leading the charge of a small detachment from the main force, and the remnants of the first group that William and Lawrence had engaged, and was nearly halfway up the now mud-covered hill. Had a landslide happened? I’ll have to ask William to look at the footage of the battle, I suppose.

As the bird and I near the ground, I wind walk around its head and hop onto its back. Some of the stakes were still exposed near the buried thing in the middle of the hilltop, though surrounded by the enemy. I pull up the two sides of the rope so that its head was yanked up, and its chest is exposed and I brace for the inevitable impact.

Boom.

The earth shakes as the god beast and I crash into the climbing army. Everything goes still for a second as the eyes of all the jackals turn toward me. The fiercest gaze was that of the giant white wolf with the black, curved, single-edged blade. I catch my breath momentarily as I heave and nearly fall off the side of the bird.

I have no way of telling if the stakes pierced it, but I could hope. All the more time for it to be stunn— the belt is pulled out of its body, and I would have gone flying with it if I hadn’t dispelled tether as soon as I felt my arm yank forward. I spit out the dagger and grab hold of it. There was no more time.

“LIGHT IT LAWRENCE. NOW.”

I gather all the air I could in my lungs, as I leap off the bird and begin to wind walk up the hill to take cover.