Twilight Wings: A Supernatural Romance/Action

Chapter 6: Fugitives

AZ'S POV

"Emma, I'm sorry, but you need to stay. I'm not having you get hurt in this fight. I'm going in there with Tessa, Mr. Tholos, and Jacob. You need to stay on the boundaries of the fight and when we start running, get with us," I said.

We were on the very boundaries of the forest where Slate Face had said the summoning would take place. We could hear Slate Face chanting really loudly from a short distance away. Mr. Tholos, Jacob, and Tessa were all a little ways away, still getting ready. I had pulled Emma aside and given her the news that she wasn't coming in. And she was pretty angry.

"Az, what if you go in there and you get hurt, or tortured, or you die?" she asked, going red in the darkness. Her breath misted in the cold night air.

"Then I go in there, and I get hurt, tortured, or killed. Even if you were in there, you wouldn't be able to stop it," I said.

Emma gave a sigh and gave up. She reached out a hand and put in on my shoulder, sending a jolt of surprise up me.

"Ok, I understand. Just come back safe," Emma said, leaning in and kissing me.

I had never kissed anyone before, let alone a human. But as she put her lips to mine, I didn't do anyting to break it off. On the contrary, I wrapped my arms around her and ran my fingers through her air. Suddenly, from behind us there was a snap and we hastily separated. Jacob was coming through the trees in his wolf form.

"Well, are we going or not? Come on, Az!" he called. I nodded and turned away from Emma.

"Alright, let's do this. Emma, you'll probably be able to see the fight from here, so don't get too freaked out or anything," I said, following Jacob into the forest.

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We walked for a little bit until we came upon a large clearing. Inside the clearing was a really odd sight. Slate Face was standing there with his arms in the air, screaming out random magic words. He was standing in front of a purple-black portal that looked like a rip in the air. Inside of the portal, energy was swirling around. Slate Face was surrounded by a chalk circle of magical runes that he had drawn on the ground.

"Alright, Jacob, you get in there and try to get into the circle since you're the strongest of us. If you can't, Tessa, try to use your magic to counteract his and break the circle. Az and I will stay back and get ready to attack Slate Face or the people that will come out of the portal if you two fail, since we're the best fighters," Mr. Tholos said, as captain of the whole operation.

"Tessa, you look really nice today..." Jacob said almost dreamily as he looked at her.

"Alright, lover guy, get in there. You heard the witch," I said, giving the big wolf a pat on the back.

Mr. Tholos and I got back a safe distance and crouched down behind a big boulder where we could see but Slate Face wouldn't notice us. I waved my hand, and instantly my black cloak swirled into existence around me. I summoned my black-bladed scythe also, and gripped it in both hands. Next to me, Mr. Tholos had started to shiver and quake.

"Mr. Tholos, what's happening?" I asked him, concerned.

"Just the transformation, my brother," he said.

Suddenly, two massive silvery-black blades burst out from his hands. His body grew a black coating of overlapping plates of the same color. One big triangular plate came down over his face. Runes were inscribed on this final plate, and they glowed blue. Spikes burst from the plates on his back. Finally, he looked like a massive hunched-over giant with two massive blades instead of hands, spikes coming from his back, and a sleek metal triangular face that glowed with blue light.

"Alright, finished. I'm a creature known as a -" he started.

"A Steel Monger," I finished. He nodded approvingly.

Suddenly, from ahead of us, there was a big red flash. Jacob had hurled himself at the circle, but an invisible barrier had repelled him with a flash of red light. Slate Face had definitely noticed, but he was continuing with the summoning. Tessa raised her hands and they glowed with red light also. She sent a multitude of red magic spears shooting at the portal, but the spears simply disentegrated on contact with the barrier. The barrier shook but it didn't fall.

"Ok, if Jacob couldn't get through then that means we can't either. Should we just sit back?" I asked him.

"Yes. And if they can't break the barrier, then we'll fight," Mr. Tholos said, his voice metallicaly ringing around and grumbling from inside his plates.

Tessa flung a massive hammer of red light at the barrier next, but the hammer simply bounced off and exploded. The barrier wasn't showing any signs of weakening, but it started to tremble as Slate Face screamed another word. From inside the portal, a glowing green arm crept out.

"They're here! Tessa, Jacob, pull back. Az, let's move!" Mr. Tholos cried, smashing through the boulder and barrelling down the hill towards the barrier, shaking the ground underneath us.

I followed him closely, whirling my scythe. Jacob and Tessa rushed back to us and the four of us stood in a line before the barrier. Slate Face backed up a few steps and whirled to face us, taking out and loading his Desert Eagle.

The portal trembled again, and finally a huge glowing green man stepped out following the arm. The man was at least 8 feet tall, and he wore medieval knight's armor. He carried a massive bloodstained battleaxe. Following him, a bunch of walking skeletons came out of the portal. The skeletons wore the same type of armor as the glowing green man, and they carried longswords, shields, spears, maces, axes, and spears. The man turned to face us, his glowing grene cape fluttering in the wind.

"Sir Slaughter and the Clattering Cadavers..." Mr. Tholos muttered.

After the skeletons, a bunch more creatures came out. They all were about 6 feet tall, and they were made out of black energy. The energy smoked off of them, and they had glowing red eyes on their featureless faces. Their hands were tipped with massive claws. They were the Nightmares of Lord Malice. And following them was one last enemy. This enemy was about the same height as Sir Slaughter, and he looked just like a Nightmare, but he wore armor of the same black energy that he was made of. He carried a massive sword that he whirled.

When I saw him, immediately, my mind started to crumple. Horrible visions and nightmares started to flit through my mind. I wanted to turn tail and run, but Mr. Tholos slammed his blade togethers, and the thunderous crash that they made shocked me out of my trance. If Lord Malice could do stuff like that from afar, I didn't want to meet him up close.

"Alright, now we fight!" Jacob yelled, as the portal closed and the barrier around the horrible army dropped.

"Yes, we do! Alright, welcome back to the human world, folks. Those four there are the ones I've been tellin' y'all about," Slate Face said.

"The ones who have hindered us from coming back into this world for so many days...I see," Sir Slaughter said in a horrible rumbling voice.

"Kill them," Lord Malice said simply, in a raspng hissing voice that sent chills up my spine.

He pointed a finger at us, and instantly, all the Clattering Cadavers, Nightmares, Slate Face, and Sir Slaughter rushed at us.

We were going to die.