Realm of Wings

Kallan, annoyed for his own ignorance:

After my angry episode, where Echo had to knock some sense into my brain again, I finally knew what Jade left us to find her. So, as we were following the little creature’s feet, while it lost a berry every time he had to jump over a rock or tree, I just couldn’t fathom the stupidity of all four of us.

Why didn’t any of us come up with the knowledge! How stupid could we have been!

“Stop grunting and just follow Charlie!” Trixie scolded me, while we tried to keep up with the animal as he was zigzagging himself through another forest.

“You could have reminded me of his keen sense of smell earlier!” I retorted back to her.

“Really? You can still remember all of the traits of all of the lost creatures? Creatures we haven’t seen in aeons? I’m sorry, oh mighty Prince! I’m sorry that I’m not a walking encyclopedia.” She shot at me, making me glare at her. “You should be happy that I even remembered that little piece of information about a freaking rodent, how cute he may be, in the first place!”

It didn’t make it any easier that she was this snappy, but other than me hating her for her attitude now, I was indeed happy that she at least had remembered this. And by the look of Charlie, who was running determinately towards his goal, his ‘mama’ as Trixie called Jade, she had been right.

Charlie was running non-stop, besides getting back a berry or two he lost and was keeping up his speed to reach her again. It took us quite some time before Charlie suddenly decided to stop running, right when we had reached for the end of the forest, where a clear and dry land appeared.

Clashing of swords and stone rumbling was heard in the distance so we followed the path of white slabs right to where the sounds were coming from. The white pristine statues that stood at the sides, looking awfully strange as if time had stopped them during a horrific scene, were alarming, to say the least. But as they were standing still and the sounds of a fight were a lot further down the path, we kept on walking.

“Watch out!” Trixie suddenly yelled, jumping against my side to push me away from whatever she was guarding me from.

Energizing my skin, turning it black in the process, I rolled away with Trixie in my arms as a white stone axe came crushing down and nearly took our heads clean off. It seems as if one of the statues had come alive and was attacking us now! What the hell?

We still hadn’t reached the sounds of battle, which were probably on the other side of the hill the path led us to, but we couldn’t exactly reach for it now either as we were busy with this huge ass of a stone Viking!

Jade, fighting off the three-armed ogre:

“Connely, you fucking shit, get some ropes and make him fall!” I yelled over to the dirty cop as I was trying to avoid getting hit by one of the ogre’s two left swords.

It annoyed me deeply that I have to come up with ideas while these kidnapping assholes just emptied their useless guns against the monster’s head. Hadn’t they thought about the fact that this thing – swoosh- had no sense of pain? Fuck, he’s fast!

Luckily, Connely had been working on a trap and had set up a double-roped line between two statues, carrying over the path we were fighting on. Good! Finally, something I could work with!

“Hey!” I circled the rockface as I taunted him for attention. “Come here, boy!” I whistled even to aggravate him further while walking backwards.

I dragged the heavy sword with me, sliding the point over the white slabs as I didn’t want to use too much energy to keep it up in the air all the time. But eventually, as I noticed the giant take a steady ground, I lifted my arms to block the next incoming attack of both of his swords. My knees sank to the ground as his weapon clashed against mine, while I used a lot of energy to keep my shield up somewhere in between, using it to push the two stone swords away from me.

“Ahh!” I roared, pushing the swords away and with it also mine as I couldn’t hold it any longer as a cramp started in my wrists.

The impact and also the strength it required to keep me from being sliced in three, was just too much to hold on to. I ran towards the ropes as Connely had released the tension when I ran over them, only to pull it straight up again as soon as the stone giant came near to it.

“NOW!” He roared to last remainder of his men, pulling at the ropes and using the other statues as grappling points to keep the rope from tearing the skin from their hands. The men used all of their strength and even their skin started to glimmer from the magic they were using.

I kept moving backwards, hoping that the giant would indeed topple over, but when I saw him taking a step, almost grounding himself again, I knew I had to do something. I remembered I had used my flash to push myself away from danger before, but what if I could use it to make me go forward? As best as I could focus, I ran around the giant, jumped over the tight rope and flashed myself towards another statue as I jumped in the air.

Once my feet landed on the steady statue, I turned myself around and used another flash to jump against the back of the stone giant. The extra force I brought with me, by crashing straight in between his shoulders, was enough to shake the creature out of balance. And while he was tumbling forward I steadied my feet, hit the back of his head with a flurry of energy bolts while surfing on his spine as the stone giant fell forward and ground his face against the white path.

Because I heated the surface of his head, and he crashed his body onto the hard stone slabs, his body broke into multiple pieces, no longer moving.

Victory!

Miria came running towards me, clinging against my chest while I was still trying to catch my breath after inhaling some of the dust that appeared from the creature breaking apart. I took a seat on the ground next to the white boulders that were part of the stone ogre just moments before and tried to get my mind back in line again.

Suddenly, I heard another fight going on, on the other side of the hill and I instantly knew that it must be Kallan and the others who were fighting there. They have found me! It’s about time!

“How much I respect the way you hold yourself in a fight, we have to go now!” Connely said, interrupting my happy thoughts, pointing a gun against my head again.

I sighed and got confused for a moment, as only he was standing next to me now. But when I saw limp bodies lying around the statues, where they had been pulling the ropes, I frowned. The eyes and noses from all of Connely’s men showed streams of blood and their skin looked nearly as pale as the white statues. They must have used up all of their strength and their bodies just succumbed to the magic that was roaring within them!

“They were weak!” Connely spat as he took a shard of green glass or rough diamond, out of his pocket and into his mouth. He crushed the item in between his teeth and green smoke swirled out of his mouth and straight into his nose as he sniffed it up again. His eyes turned green and the veins in his neck strained to keep a rush of magic into his bloodstream.

So, that’s how he got the magic!

“Don’t tempt me to shoot you! I’m stronger than you are right now!” He roared in an animalistic voice, showing something different than only his human strength.

Did he have this much facial hair before? No, that’s not right…

“Are you a werewolf?” I asked him unsurely while standing up.

“Smart girl! Now, if you’re smart enough to keep walking, I’d be much happier!” He growled and pushed me into the direction of where the path would lead us too.

Fuck! He kept that piece of information well hidden! I know that werewolves and vampires have infiltrated human lives, on plenty of hierarchical functions or places throughout the government or million-dollar companies. But a werewolf being a captain from the FBI? That was new.

I guess he didn’t like his position or his money-income too much, as he let himself be bought by a Fae King, but I guess he was too curious to find out where this would lead him. Maybe he wanted more strength? Well, he got it. His werewolf strength must be enough to keep the magic flowing in his veins, other than the men he had with him, as they were probably only human. But as I know that the magic is wearing out the host, and even could make you succumb to it, I knew I just had to bide my time. He will get what is coming for him, eventually!

Besides, he is alone right now, with only one gun, so he can’t keep it pointed at both me and Miria at the same time.

“You only need me, right?” I said while pushing my head against the loop of Connely’s gun making sure I was his target, not Miria. I didn’t wait for his answer and pushed Miria towards where Kallan must be fighting some other statue. “Go! Kallan is there!” I yelled while keeping my eyes pointed at those of Connely.

He hesitated for a moment, nearly wanting to lose his focus on me and having the urge to shoot Miria while she ran away. “Eyes on me!” I said to him and he kept his stance.

“You are lucky that all my men were so weak! Now go!” He nodded and made me walk again, down the path.

It didn’t take us much time to reach our goal, as a huge, marble-white house appeared in front of us. While the sounds of the battle behind us diminished, we kept on walking forward.

“Keep moving!” He yelled as he pushed the gun against my head, urging me to just keep going indeed. But even though his voice sounded steady, I could hear an uncertainty as well. And it wasn’t because he was alone now, and probably had a much more difficult job to keep me contained, but it was by what was happening in front of us.

The stone slabs underneath our feet were gravelling and moving, going sideways to the right, making us look towards the ground to make sure we would put our feet in the middle of the next stone. The path was moving to go with the pace of the house! Because, as we neared the moving structure which was built on a layer of white squared stones, half of it came up, pushed the house up and moved it to the right, only to land in between the other rocks. Then the other half of the rocks repeated the same action, alternating with the first half of stones, over and over again, moving the house in a steady motion to wherever it was going.

I’ve never seen anything like this, but I couldn’t be surprised or enthused by any of the things we were witnessing, as the black metal of Connely’s gun was pinned against my head still.

Worthlessly we kept on walking until we reached the door of the big white house. I reached for the handle of the door, but before I could grab onto it, the door opened on its own and some other stones pushed us both inside.

We stumbled and fell to the ground.

“What are you doing here!” A female’s voice boomed through the house.

I got up, as well as Connely, and it took us a few moments to get used to the movements underneath the house. Connely quickly put his gun against my head again and I sighed at this stupid repetitive danger.

I looked around but the origin of the voice we just heard, was not to be found. Instead, there were two sets of doors on either side of the house, aligning the middle, just like the statues outside. I guess that whoever built this place and the moving path outside, liked the symmetry and poetically used it in all its creations.

“I’m not going to repeat myself!” The same female spoke. “This is my house and you will obey my rules!”

“I’m here to get an orb of power.” I answered the voice and it was quiet for a moment.

I regained balance a bit as the movement of the house suddenly stopped as if it was shocked by my reason of attendance. Suddenly, one of the doors opened and out came a beautiful dark-skinned woman, with her hair bundled up in a colourful cloth.

“Who are you?” She asked me while curiously looking towards Connely and his gun.

“Just give her the orb and we will be on our way again.” He replied and the woman laughed.

“While you keep her under gunshot? That’s funny.”

Huh? How does she know about guns? Has she been to Earth?

“Now, you two better get out of my house, or you’ll regret ever coming here.” She said with a serious tone to her voice, and I swear I could hear a hiss coming from somewhere.

“Let ussss bite them.”

“Yessss… let us!”

What? Who is saying that? I looked around to see if more people were standing so close to us that I could hear them, as I’m sure that there are multiple voices to be heard inside my head. The woman curiously looked at me, not understanding what I was doing.

“She knowssss!”

“Yes! Sssshe is strong!” The hissing voices continued and again I looked around to find them.

“You are not from around here, are you?” The woman suddenly asked me.

“No, not really.” I answered still looking around.

Suddenly she waved her hand and a bunch of stones rose from the floor and pushed Connely to the side. His gun went off but the bullet bounced against the side of the mansion instead of reaching us.

I didn’t say anything, as I didn’t want to anger the woman in front of me, knowing that she had the power to do anything she wanted with the stones of her house. Connely cursed and yelled behind the new stone wall but the woman raised another wall of stones in front of it, silencing him.

“So, which orb are you trying to find in here.” She asked.

“The one of adjustment.” I replied honestly.

“Oof, that’s a tough one.” She said and I waited for her to continue. “And what makes you think that I’m willing to grant it to you just like that.”

“I don’t.” I simply said and I swear I could see the corner of her mouth lift, just a bit.

“Okay, then what do you expect in here? In my house? Some sort of trial?” She asked me then.

“Well, so far, I have experienced a lot of bad shit, so I’m guessing that receiving this orb, would be nothing less than a little difficult.” I said and it was the truth.

Everything we have been through so far hasn’t been pleasant at all, so getting this last orb will probably cause me even more trouble. However, I’m happy that I’m rid of Connely now, for the time being, so I can focus on getting through this event in one piece too. I’m still determined to save this planet and do justice to losing Neil in the process, so whatever this woman will throw at me, I will face. And I will succeed.

“Sssshow her the door.” The strange hissing voice sounded again.

“Is there anyone else in here with us?” I asked the woman at which she raised a brow.

“Please, follow me.” She said, not answering my question and turned around to walk to one of the doors. “This is where your ‘trial’ will commence.” She explained while putting more effort into saying the word ‘trial’, knowing that she said that with a certain meaning, but not one I figured out just yet.

This whole situation was strange. The moving house, the magic the woman used, the hissing voices, Connely being pushed in a corner, everything. But what am I going to do here? What will be expected from me, other than succeeding in this mission and acquiring the last orb?

“You’ll make an excellent addition to my statues!” She suddenly laughed and pushed me inside, locking the door behind me.

A/n: Let me know what you think so far! Thank you! 🦝❤