AZ'S POV
I was sitting by the river that morning, about 100 feet or so away from the camp. The sky was still dark and it must have been about 6 or so in the morning. I just needed some time to think. Some stuff had been bothering me. The sounds of soft talking were drifting from the camp. Some of the others must have been up.
What were we going to do next? How was Emma going to defend herself? Did Jacob like Tessa? Would Mr. Tholos be enough to keep us safe? Who could we ally with? And most importantly, why the heck had Emma kissed me last night?
Suddenly, there was a loud snapping noise from the direction of the camp, and I saw a golden flash out of the corner of my eye. The whole camp lit up bright golden for a second, then turned back to its normal colors. I drew my scythe and I was about to rush over there when the river started to bubble.
I turned and saw massive green bubbles drifting to the surface of the lake. When the bubbles hit the air and popped, clouds of nasty green gas poofed outwards. I had to cover my nose from the awful smell they released. But from under the bubbles, something else was emerging.
A yellow hump rose to the surface, followed by a massive head and torso, and finally two arms and legs. A massive creature clambered out of the river, dripping with sludge and water and giving off one of the worst smells that I had ever smelled. The creature looked like a 15-foot tall man with short legs made for bounding and long dangling arms ending in huge claws.
Its face had a long hooked nose, two red eyes, and a grinning mouth full of yellow rooting teeth. Long gray hair matted with seaweed and mud hung from its head. Its whole body was covered in a yellow hide and sludge. It wore a loose loincloth made from the skins of a bunch of animals. The creature belched and that awful green gas came out of its mouth in a cloud, nearly causing me to faint. It scratched its hunchback and looked towards me with a growl.
"Death spirit! Good eating for Tulsen! Come here, death spirit! Let Tulsen eat you!" the creature cried, lumbering towards me.
I tried to run, but the stench swept over me and I broke down, coughing and nearly throwing up. I couldn't move, much less run, with the horrible thing's stink on me like this. The creature lunged forwards and grabbed me with a massive hand. It tossed me up into the air and caught me again, standing up to its full height and laughing, breathing another cloud of gas into my face and baring its awful teeth.
"Hahahahaha! Death spirit fun to toss! Too bad Tulsen eat you now," the thing said, opening its mouth.
Suddenly, the world around me shook and the creature let out a cry of rage and pain. It dropped me and staggered backwards, crashing onto its butt on the ground. It pressed its webbed hands to its knee, which was...smoking. I whirled around and saw EMMA standing there, hands glowing with that same golden energy that I had seen flash up at the camp.
"Emma, what the heck was that? What did you do to it, and what is that golden aura?!" I asked her, looking back to the creature.
"Tessa taught me a little bit of her rune magic. I'll explain later!" she said, waving her hand and pointing to the creature's hand.
A glowing golden rune that looked like an S with a little dot inside either curve appeared on the monster's hand. Emma snapped her fingers, and the rune exploded, spraying grene blood everywhere. The creature roared again, stood up, and rushed at us. Emma was tired from using her magic though, and she nearly collapsed. I caught her and whirled to face the monster again, gripping my scythe tightly.
Just as the creature was about to smash into us, Mr. Tholos and Jacob stepped in between us and it. Jacob snarled ferociously and smashed into the monster's chest, sinking his fangs into its skin. The creature fell back. Jacob dropped off of it, and Mr. Tholos took his place, swinging a massive fist at the creature's face and cracking a sucker punch across its face.
Tessa ran up, taking Emma from me and rejuvinating her quickly with some of her blue magic. Emma struggled to her feet and wiped her hair away from her face. She looked really good...but of course there was no time to worry about that.
"Tessa, what is that thing?" I asked her.
"A Horkotroll! Horribly stinky, extremely dirty, and very very temperamental. Thankfully, this one couldn't eat you yet. It must be a wild one living in that river that was disturbed by the release of magic that came out when I tapped into Emma's power," Tessa explained.
Nearby, Mr. Tholos and Jacob's pounding had driven the Horkotroll back. Tulsen (or whatever his name was), was lumbering back into the water and clutching one massive hand to his knee. The stench lingered behind him though, and we quickly cleared out of there and got back to the camp. We needed to get on our way, so Jacob took out all the evidence of the cooking fire, and Mr. Tholos took down the cave-tent he had made.
"Alright, let's move," he said, loading Tessa onto his massive spiky back. Emma and I hopped onto Jacob and we were off again.
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EMMA'S POV
"Alright, I have a plan. I know a couple people that might want to help. The first person lives about a day away from here. His name's Solomon Kutodo, and he's a Ratchet Dog. We can get to him and then maybe he could hook up with the rest of his old pack and find some more of my friends," Mr. Tholos said as we were running.
"That sounds good. What exactly is a Ratchet Dog?" I asked.
"They're like werewolves, but each of them has a mechanical part somewhere in their bodies. For example, Solomon's mechanical component is his hand. When he presses his hand, he turns into a giant mechanical dog. They travel in packs sometimes, but Solomon was exiled from his because he...he tried to take on the Alpha for command of the pack, and he failed. When you fight the Alpha, or you fight another person for a mate, and you lose, you're exiled," Mr. Tholos said.
I gave a cringe. What if we were Ratchet Dogs, and somebody was fighting against Az for me...No, I wasn't going to think about that.
I just looked back ahead as we rode on towards Solomon Kutodo.
YOU ARE READING
Twilight Wings: A Supernatural Romance/Action
WerewolfEmma and Jacob have just begun a new school year and a really cute, but mysterious, boy named Az appears at their school. Az is the bridge to the supernatural world. They'll come face-to-face with the horrible Slate Face, battle against Sir Slaughte...
