In The End: Gargoyle Saga

Chapter 8: Soul Saving and Sacrificing

Chapter 8: Soul Saving and Sacrificing

'TYR!' Hadriana shouted and ran full pelt to the giant. She hastily pulled out some strange objects and threw them at the huge entity. Colourful blue, green and black explosions erupted around the giant's body. It roared in anger and squeezed Tyr with its bony, enflamed fist. The god of the Norse wind screamed out in pain.

'That's not working!' Dean hissed, bending his head down like a bull charging for its target, he rushed straight at the demon.

'You think that will?' Hadriana screamed at him.

Stabbing the giant with Dean's horns right in the middle of his shin, the demon yelled in agony and promptly dropped Tyr. The god of wind caught himself with a cushion of air and ran towards us, wheezing from his partially crushed chest.

'I think we're near the centre,' Tyr told us. 'This is penitence for cheating.'

'Too right!' Rowan frowned and, bringing out a sword, charged for the demon.

'Not another one!' Hadriana said what I was thinking.

'Well, magic isn't working, is it?' I snapped. 'Give me a quiver of arrows and a bow. I'm not a damn shot, but I force the arrows to the target with my magic.'

Tyr magicked up his own set of magical arrows and a bow and began to pelt the giant with the pointy tips. They shot lethally into the air and rained down on it, stabbing it in the face and hands.

Below, Dean and Rowan were goring the shins and calves of the monster, and after a good minute of attacking, I began to notice the flames of the giant were diminishing. It was working.

'Keep going!' Hadriana called.

All of us were attacking the flaming giant, and once Tyr had sent a fantastically aimed shot right into the giant's right eye, it stopped moving and began to pitch forwards.

'RUN!' Dean bellowed as he and Rowan were the first to get squashed if they didn't run quick enough. And like a toppling mountainous tree, the giant collapsed, but as it fell, it began to turn to ash. When its body hit the ground, a large clump of ash fell on top of us, coating us head-to-toe in grey and black soot instead of being squished.

Coughing from the lack of air, the five of us emerged unscathed, apart from Tyr, who looked a tad worse for wear.

'You alright?' Dean asked. Tyr nodded and brushed the soot from his hair. 'Wow, now I look like a demon.'

I felt a bristle of annoyance creep up my spine, and I stormed off. We spent a long time in this hell hole, and I wanted to get out soon.

'It's that way,' he pointed to the left when we go to a crossroads. 'Being hefted up into the air, I got a good look at where we were. But there's something you aren't going to like,' he muttered as we followed his direction.

'Dare I ask?' Hadriana sighed. I turned to see her pained face, and glancing at the others, they all looked the same. Everyone was completely drained of energy.

'There are three giants that seem to be guarding something in the centre of the maze.'

'Of course, there are,' Hadriana sighed annoyingly.

I didn't want to groan or grumble. Everyone was already irritated, distant and not themselves and adding my insults would more likely start a fight. Though I wasn't in the mood to fight with my friends, I did want to vent some anger and the only targets now were the giants that were guarding the centre of the maze. And I had a bad feeling that the Watchers souls were the ones being guarded.