Orison | Celeste Academy Series BK #3

Chapter Eight ۞ Largesse

Amril was silent.

'Art thou forever lost to remember? Is it not pride and strength we all boast about? Is it not the invincibleness of our fur and the beauty in our eyes? The pleasure of the hunt and the wellness of each member we enjoy? Those days roaming the mountains freely under no restraints!' There was a moment of silence as Cifaro began to look bigger than his actual size. The vicinity was void of any sound and the silence was defeaning. Like the eye of the storm, the growing tension and the goosebumps trailing the skin of every listeners increased.

'It is not about the sanity thou findest in darkness or light, but what thine heart sings about. We are all about the wind, and where it takes us is where we go! That is what we symbolize! The freedom in all things! Prove to this beast that thou art capable of living up to the name of the Gilerads! The name of the precedented Holy Beasts, Guardians of the North, Messenger of the Gods!'

With a felicitous roar of finality to his words, the other beasts grew silent. The sound echoed--reverberated across the mountains. Despite the darkness that threw their senses in disarray, a part of their innate instincts was roused by the moving words and a venerated call that vibrated straight from his heart. If initially they were uninhibitedly termagant about their desires to be free, even occasionally swiping their paws through the holes on the walls the Twelve had placed them in, they stood upright and trained their eyes forward. The darkness had faded slightly from their auras. Valeriana could see the fact that the tumultuousness of activity had receded, as hard it was to notice at first. It felt as though that call awakened something in everyone.

"Something happened." Was what she picked up on.

To live up to the drama thriving in the current atmosphere, Cifaro took the initiative to pounce as the air current shifted inside the dome. As though following his movements, the winds swept forward in a shocking suddenness, nearly throwing everyone off balance. Wild and uncontrolled like the whole area was being raged by a storm, the fight resumed in a slightly faster pace.

In a duel of power with the force of the winds backing up Cifaro, Amril found himself trying to make his body not give into the invisible force bombarding him in all directions while trying to fight off his brother's assault at the same time. There was a scratch thrown to the right side of his body as he attempted bite into the flesh of Cifaro.

'To think thou hadst managed to break free of the spell, I wonder how.' Amril grinned, his claws digging into the dirt.

'I shall leave that to thy imagination. For now, I shall have to ask thee to bring my brother back.'

"Everyone! Whatever happens, do not let the beasts escap--"

The Twelve could only watch in vain as their preys broke free of the cages they put them in. One by one, the elemental walls they conjured crumbled or vanished.

The warning faded into nothingness as the wind current grew stronger, literally sweeping everyone off their feet and sending them skidding away. As if on instinct, Brindon and Keelan projected a pillar of stone from the ground to hold on to, allowing everyone else to grab on so they wouldn't be blown away. Zevlin, Corvan, and Zion were in a slightly tougher position as nothing solid could be made out of their element. Elfre and Courtney . . . well, they were unable to do anything of significance as well.

"I'm gonna kill you, Corvan!" Zion shrieked over the howling wind. The moment he opened his mouth, his cheeks began to look like a balloon--perhaps even a dog hanging his tongue out of the window. "Why dwid you lwet thwem gwo?"

Refusing to embarrass himself like the first, Corvan kept his mouth close.

Charles procured a wall on either side of him to prevent him from being taken away, but even that proved futile against the strength of the wind. His ice was cracked along with Tamara's before he could even react.