“My lord, the vampire prince has become quite troublesome as of late. In the last month he has dispatched two of our seraphim and single handedly eradicated one dominion and his legion.”
Ezra ran his hand down Uriel’s rough scales and the dragon vibrated beneath his fingertips. A low growl reverberated through the beast as it listened to the angel messenger. The archangels expression reflected his companions discontent at the situation. First the troublesome Nine Dragons Sect, then the vampires, this was becoming annoying.
A soft glow came from somewhere inside Uriel’s body, it was bright orange with traces of gold. Each time Ezra’s gauntleted hand slid over his dragons scales the glow followed the same path just beneath the surface.
“Have you uncovered the location of the vampire den yet.”
“No sire, we have, however, narrowed it down to the badlands.”
Ezra huffed, the badlands were vast, saying that was like saying they had it narrowed down to a needle in a single haystack as opposed to multiple. Ezra’s fist clenched, they had been searching for months now, the vampire prince was as elusive as he was powerful.
“Leave me.” He said with a wave of his hand. The messenger bowed and disappeared into a shimmering doorway that had opened in the endless mass of clouds at his feet. The archangel got up and his dragon uncoiled its massive body from around the throne allowing his master to stand. A pair of wings that were each larger than the angel himself spread out from his back. Each wing was covered in a faint golden glow as if doused in heaven's glory.
“How about we stir things up a bit Uriel?” Ezra held out his hand and a winged spear appeared in a burst of light. Uriel huffed in response as he always did and Ezra translated the noise as an agreement. The clouds beneath him spread apart and a scene appeared. The archangel couldn't enter the earth's domain, not yet, but he had other ways of wreaking havoc. He held the spear with the tip facing the scene laid out before him and cranked his arm back, ready to throw the weapon which was beginning to glow. It turned yellow then orange and finally blue before bursting into flames of the same color which soon changed to white. He threw the weapon into the break in the clouds and a low sonic boom sounded as it launched towards its target which even though it wasn’t a living thing seemed to quiver in fear. The sheer force of the weapon as it gained momentum compelled the earth to shake. Ezra smiled and Uriel’s body glowed. “Enjoy the show.” He said, sitting back down while Uriel coiled himself back around his throne. “It’s going to be glorious.”
***
Sheng woke up to the bed shaking slightly and a very rare noise. He opened his eyes and rubbed his neck. When he turned to investigate the source of the commotion his heart dropped and he crossed the bed to wrap his arms around his best friend. “What's wrong? His brow furrowed and a thread of concern found its way into his tone. Warriors were taught to conceal their emotions but when he was around Ru he didn’t need to do that.
Remembering that fact, Sheng let the concern come to the surface and his tone became overwhelmed with worry. She didn’t answer right away and Sheng could feel her body shake beneath his embrace. She wore a gown now that covered her a lot more than the clothing she had on when he first came in. Thank the heavens for that, it became harder to focus when Ru was dressed in so little. The gown however, did little to hide her curves. He asked again with more insistence, “Ru, what's wrong?” She pointed to a paper that sat on the floor near the door. He crossed the room quickly snatching the paper and turning it over. His heart plummeted even further. It wasn’t a note, rather, it was a death notice. A formal document sent to a family if their son or daughter had fallen or gone missing doing work for the sect. The name on it read ‘Rowan Whitethorn.’ After the formal writing that all death notices had informing the family of the sects respects for the fallen in large letters it said ‘Deceased.’
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Sheng dropped the paper. He went to cross the rooms again but before he arrived at the bed the ground began to shake and he nearly lost his balance. Moments later bells rang throughout the mountain and shouting could be heard from all over. He looked to Ru, and she returned the gaze. She wiped away the remaining tears and in a moment the gown she wore was replaced by her armor. White robes enchanted with fortification runes that fit her body so tightly that it made his own robes feel tighter around the groin. He dismissed his thoughts immediately and they shared another look before taking off out of her door and through the sect. They both knew exactly where they were headed.
***
In minutes they had arrived and were surrounded by the sounds of the waterfall as it crashed into the pool beneath. The waters which were usually relatively calm apart from the waterfall were moving wildly as the walls around them shook as well. It seemed this wasn’t from the dragons that hadn’t ceased their assault since it began, apart from now. Ru and Sheng could see them both hovering in the air propelled by their massive wings, staring toward the sky. The two of them leapt to the opposite side of the pool of water with ease and gazed outside the mountain where the dragons were looking. Both their stomachs plummeted. They shared looks, each of which were white as snow. The source of the shaking came from an object that was hurling toward the mountain at an immeasurable rate. White flames surrounded it, hiding the real threat within. As sheng gawked he noticed golden specks appearing all around the chamber. They were everywhere, completely outnumbering the rest of the specs, even the blue ones that were always the most abundant in that area of the mountain.
The duo stood and watched, their stomachs like pits of acid, twisting and turning. Was it finally the end? As the mass of fire got closer the mountain shook more violently. It seemed as if the earth was trembling before the might of heaven. There was nothing either of them could do, with a glance they could tell that the ball of fire held within it something that was so far above anything they could comprehend. With the enhanced sight of a cultivator they could see the attack while it was still far off, about a minute remained before impact.
The flames began to shrink and condense around what was beginning to look like a spear. A moment passed and sure enough the object was indeed a long pole arm with what looked to be wings just beneath the actual tip of the weapon. A winged spear. The weapon glowed white, dangerously so, fire wasn’t something to be feared alone but for some reason the fire gave the impression that it wouldn’t easily be extinguished, like it could burn forever, consuming anything in its path.
Sheng and Ru had their eyes glued to the sky. Thirty seconds remained and finally something changed. A tiny figure darted out of the mountain followed by a massive beast trailing behind it. It was master Chaofeng with his enormous peng in tow. The pair emerged and moved between the mountain and the spear. At the same time the two giant dragons took action, they moved to attack master Chaofeng who went to sit on the back of the peng in the lotus position, paying no heed to the dragons. Twenty second remained and the dragons would reach the master in moments who began to glow with a dim red radiance.
The dragons charged at full speed, their mouths opened wide, massive teeth poised to strike. Just as it seemed they would devour the master and his beast another figure appeared alone from the mountain, Sheng and Ru barely registered the movement. A flash appeared in place of a body because it simply moved to quickly and both dragons roared as they were rebuffed and soaring toward the ground. Their impact shook the earth even more, clouds of dust and debri consumed everything in sight, briefly concealing the sky. When it cleared, master Chaofeng and his peng were moving toward the spear. The peng was bright red and covered in fire as well as his master atop his back with red specs gathering around them, they mixed with golden ones radiating from the direction of the spear. The massive beast completely dwarfed the spear. Sheng averted his gaze and found that the other figure in the sky was the Grand elder himself with his battle axe resting on his shoulder staring at his subordinate hurling toward the spear, his shoulders slumped.
The spear and the peng made impact. A crash, followed by a noise so loud that Sheng and Ru both had to cover their ears. The sky lit up. The white and red flames mixed and finally an explosion encompassed the sky. Flames moved to consume the mountain but the Grand elder lifted his axe and made a swiping motion. The inferno missed, engulfing the sky and consuming the landscape around the mountain. Sheng vision was nothing more than red and white with one thing at its center, the Grand elder. The pair let out their breaths they hadn’t even known they were holding and something caught Sheng’s attention.
Right around where he estimated the explosion occurred two wisp-like figures appeared, one seemed to resemble Chaufeng in shape and size while the other was massive. Sheng drew in a sharp breath. Both were engulfed in flames, writhing in agony. Finally, they vanished.