“Run!” Anthony screamed as his spirit jumped back into his body.

Everyone was surprised and alert to hear him suddenly scream in the middle of the night. Jason felt like he had barely gotten to sleep at all, but Master Zoe knew better as swiftly got up and went on the defensive.

“You’re having a nightmare, go back to sleep.”

“With Bios, there’s no telling.” Master Zoe slapped her cheeks trying to wake herself up. “What did you see, kid?”

“Two ranchers, not far from here, there's something after them. I thought it was some sort of hound, but it had three heads.”

“Cerberus.” Master Zoe whispered before throwing the sheets of her body and leaping off the ground. “Jason, grab the horses, Bios, lead the way.”

“What?”

“Don’t argue with me, just hurry up and move it Tilt!” She commanded him like a drill instructor.

He quickly obeyed, waking up the horses and getting them ready to ride. They brought all their supplies and quickly rode off into the night. Bios could see familiar shapes across the open wilderness guiding him in the right path. When they reached the wooden fence of the ranch, he knew they were in the right area. They left the horses outside the gate, jumping the fence into the open fields.

The field was now abuzz with chaos from charging cattle in every direction. As they ran past them, they saw exactly what they were running from. Fires had broken out in the field, spreading around in patches all around. They were spread by breath from the mouths of the demon that was currently on the attack of the two mages. Its heat was so powerful it turned the fields to cinders and trees cinged to blackened sticks.

The mages were protected inside a dome of solid rock, its face melting from taking on the heat of the Cerebus flames, deflecting the full force of its fire into the fields and cattle around them. Anthony could only hope that if the two mages were under there they were still alive and holding up against this fearsome beast.

“Master Zoe.” Anthony called to the current crisis.

“Let me grab it’s attention, you tackle it the moment you see an opening.” Zoe commanded.

Anthony nodded while Jason stood speechless watching the carnage of full on demon attack in his midst.

“What am I supposed to do?” Jason asked.

“You’re a farmer aren’t you, do something about these cattle.” Zoe snapped him out of his trance.

“I never worked with animals!” He called in distress.

She had already left behind Anthony to help, which meant Jason had to learn how to handle these panic animals quickly. With the cattles panicking and on a rampage, there seemed no way to calm their natural urge to flee. It was then that he was suddenly struck with a stroke of inspiration as he ran back to the horse to grab a few things.

Meanwhile, the giant demon dog Cerberus was already melting through the stone and turning it into molten rock. In one concentrated blast the dome finally cracked revealing the hostages inside.

The teacher was badly torn and cut, holding his Granite Shield up to offer some defense. The student was unheard instead hiding behind his elder for protection. From his lack of weapon it became clear that the shield was the only thing that was keeping them alive. Now that it was cracked and crumbled, the moment the devil dog made ready to release another feral assault.

Zap, Zap, Zap! Three shots of Holy Light struck each of their heads. It wasn’t enough to hurt the demon but caught their attention as they stared at who could be stupid enough to taunt it. Master Zoe stood there staring it down, her two fingers pointed like a pistol already lit up and ready to fire again.

“Come on you ugly pug, fight fire with fire!” She called out.

The demon growled and turned its attention to Zoe charging with his large paws on the fiery teeth directly at her. Although three times bigger than a cow, Zoe showed no fear as she continued her volley of light beams directly at its face. Being a being of fire like her, she was certain it wouldn’t get hurt too much but it would maybe blind some of its eyes. When it was several feet away from Zoe, a strange presence jumped on its back stabbing it at its left head neck.

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Bios held the dagger deep and cut upward severing its major artery. The beast turned and swung its heads trying to release whatever was on its back. Before it could bite at him he immediately jumped off the back of the beast and rolled into the fields. His crystalline dagger covered in the demon’s blood he turned to see the damage done. True enough, one of the heads was bleeding out, but the other two were still furious and ready to reap revenge. He watched as the two remaining heads turned toward him with growing mad eyes. Anthony watched them holding his dagger closely covered in its black blood and was suddenly overcome with an unknown pulse in his chest.

Was it a heart attack, a strangling of his body that made him kneel to the ground? Whatever it was, the demon dog was quick to take advantage, charging at Anthony with full force. Master Zoe tried to distract it with her Holy Light beams but this demon was fixated on Anthony, as if wanted some unspoken revenge on the man that killed one of its heads. All the while the breath of the beast bellowed, Anthony noticed the demon blood on his dagger was starting to evaporate. As it did, the mythril ring on his hand began to crumble and fall into fine dust.

The dagger in his hand started to glow as bright as the sun, and with the surrounding flame beginning to slowly die down. In his mind he imagined the circle to calm his nerves, this time the circle of wind and fire. As if connected by an invisible line they seemed to meld into one. He began to visualize the Cerberus as one big circle of air, and if it used that air to breath out, what was stopping it from breathing in.

The devil dog’s mouths were ready to breathe fire, with his remaining strength he lifted his dagger high and pointed it toward the center mouth’s face. As the fire came out, it suddenly retreated inside the demon’s throats. The beast began to choke as if something was stuck that couldn’t be expelled, it collapsed away from Anthony as the right head cried up in frustration. Its belly was built with an internal inferno that could not be tamed, until it exploded into the air like the pipe of a furnace. With its final breath the great beast finally collapsed and died spewing its own funeral pyre around it.

“Bios, Bios!” Master Zoe called running toward him.

Anthony collapsed on the ground from the sudden shock as Master Zoe turned him around to check his vitals. He was breathing but his pulse was slow and his body was cool. She didn’t have words to explain but knew there were other matters to attend to.

“Jason, Jason, get over here!” She called.

“I’m coming!” Jason called running toward the fields.

In one hand was an empty bottle with black powdery residue and the other and was covered in a leather glove.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking care of the cattle.” He said catching his breath. “Who'd have thought that some Ivory Fungus powder in the right proportions would make a decent animal sedative?”

“Forget that now, keep an eye on Bios, I’m gonna go check on the others.”

Master Zoe quickly ran to the where the shattered rock dome had appeared. While the young man was okay, the elder man was in desperate need of attending to his wounds. After explaining herself as healer, he allowed her to help him. Jason on the other hand kept an eye on Anthony and then turned his head to the fallen Cerberus close beside him.

“I don’t envy the one who’s gonna have to clean up this mess.” He heard the sound of hard footsteps approaching and turned to see a shadow of what appeared to be a cow stepping out the shadows. “Looks like I didn’t get all the steers.” Jason approached the beast waving his hands in the air. “Go on, get out of here don’t you know that thing is toxic?”

The great beast turned its head to reveal a set of yellow glowing eyes, and two longhorns greater than any breed of cattle he had ever seen. Aside from its eyes, the creature seemed to walk in darkness masked by the cover of dust picked up from its large hooves. The moment it looked at Jason it quickly turned away and looked toward the creature lying dead on the earth. It looked at the fallen three headed beast and as the dust clouds around it started to settle on the creature's corpse.

It rested its great horns upon the demon shining with a yellow light that matched its eyes as Jason witnessed an unexpected event transpire. He watched as the unknown creature started to rapidly age in seconds which would take years to accomplish. The demon’s corpses mummified before his eyes, until finally it turned into a pile of bones. In only a few more seconds those bones turned to a fine rubble blowing away onto the plains and leaving behind a pile of sand shining gems upon the Earth.

It was a magnificent and terrible process that Jason had witnessed seeing a demon turned into dust in a matter of seconds. So terrifying it was, it nearly fell to his knees in disbelief. It took the words of Master Zoe running toward him from afar for Jason to snap back to his senses.

“Jason!” She called, causing him to turn his head.

“Did you see that?!” He asked Zoe as she vastly approached.

“Mr. Tilt, what happened to the Cerberus corpse?” She asked, staring at the pile of dust and fire gems.

“Look for yourself, some crazy cow just...” He turned around to catch a glimpse, but it was gone.

All that was left was a small dust devil flying in the wind, and the creature of yellow horns and eyes had disappeared. Master Zoe went to the area and examined its remains but found only dust and glistening fire elemental gems scattered in the dust, including the demon’s largest piece perfectly intact. As she picked it up and examined its quality, she looked around for signs in the ground of what had transpired. If there had been some traces of some beast it would have shown, but there was nothing but a pile of dirt.

“What happened here, Mr. Tilt?” She asked.

“Ms. Gaia, you’re not going to believe me when I tell you?” He answered.