Golden Dawn

|Chapter 34 ~ The Ertheon|

The Defender's eyes widened as he jerked his head into the direction of the terror that lay in front of us.

"We need to fly. NOW. " He ordered, his voice so serious I felt my heart collapse.

Quîncîn growled in frustration.

"Look Angelus, we are only three able to fly out of this place and there are four Aliums. How in the realm's name do you expect us to carry all of them?!" He yelled above the loud and sinister rumble of the earth below.

Lex suddenly yelped from somewhere behind me as the very ground seemed to tilt and cause her to collapse unto the dark rock.

"LEX! " Christa screamed and tried to reach the blonde, her own balance betraying her as the very valley continued to crumble around us. Angelus clenched his jaw at the desolation and without warning, grabbed Christa and I within two rough grips.

"Ferîan, you take Lex. Quîncîn, carry Jacob. We will have to manage it this way." He huffed as he started to prepare for take off, our bodies seemingly weightless to him.

"No Defender, you won't be able to stay airborne for long! How are you going to carry both ?!" Ferîan yelled as a boulder - the size of an entire house - shattered right next to us. The stone exploded into millions of shards that shot into every possible direction.

Before Angelus could reply, I saw something much, much worse than mere wreckage.

Voltaic blue liquid advanced towards us with lightning speed. As if things weren't able to get any worse, I realized the liquid burned away at everything it touched. It would soon be us who would be ablaze in its blue fatality if we weren't able to escape the ridge. The thought made my blood chill.

Without a word, Angelus shot into the sky and my thoughts immediately vaporized.

I imagined the Defender's wings many times before, always trying to somehow envision their prowess and colour in my mind every time.

The rumours did certainly not lie.

The Defender's wings were truly otherworldly. A sight I observed in disbelief.

They resembled galaxies, the milky way captured in-between the darkness of onyx feathers. Angelus' wings consisted of thousand twinkling lights, billions of stars shining across the feathery expanse. It almost made me feel like I was cocooned in pure space, able to see as far as the next universe.

The night sky around us seemed to draw out the image of cosmos his wings created, making it look even more stunning. It was truly magnificent, enough to cause me to entirely forget about everything that happened around us.

I suddenly wished I was able to stay trapped in his comfortable darkness for the rest of my life. His arms were strong, a shield against the horrors that we were about to face.

Unfortunately I was quickly awoken from my stupefied trance as searing hot wind blasted into my face. I felt sweaty with the amount of adrenaline that ran through my veins - for once - feeling utterly fine in the high air.

It was obviously better soaring through the skies than burning to a crisp down in the valley below.

When I eventually looked down, it was utter dread that filled my chest.

The Ertheon was awaiting us in the middle of an ocean of blue magma.

My blood chilled.

The beast was monstrous, a perfect symbol for both death and sheer alien power. Its strength seemed to radiate in waves of energy from its very skin. The sheer power made my own body burn and tingle.