I didn't understand why I was still alive.
It wasn't possible.
The electric blue magma that was about to incinerate us, blasted past my face. My skin was unscathed as if the liquid suddenly decided against burning my flesh and bones into a bloody puddle.
I was at first too shocked to move, but when it finally felt as if my limbs were able to operate again, I looked down at the piece of metal against my neck. The pendant didn't seem anything other than what it really was, a piece of jewellery.
The absolute power it radiated was however far from normal.
The energy felt like a cool cocoon. An invisible power that enveloped my entire being in a protective shell. I felt my heart contract when I remembered my friends and spun around, dreading the worst.
They weren't dead.
Mouth open, I glanced at the others and almost wanted to collapse from relief. The seven of us were all okay - very terrified - but at least alive.
Whatever triggered the unbelievable power from the necklace - saving everyone from certain death - immediately faded. When I again looked at the sapphire, the beautiful blue stone was the colour of murky swamp water.
A sudden wind exploded behind me, giving me goosebumps and making me turn.
Angelus was already in the air, heading straight towards the Ertheon.
Seeing the Defender preparing for batting, Ferîan and Quîncîn immediately followed. The three Lesphares were utterly calm as they approached the deadly monstrosity up ahead. I respected their bravery, but didn't waste any time as Christa and I regrouped with Lex and Jacob. Christa already activated her equipment like she did a while back and was aiming directly at the voltaic dragon hovering far above us.
"You think it will hit?!" Jacob screamed over the raging wind and gurgling thunder.
Our setting was that of pure chaos.
White bolts thundered across the purple sky, illuminating the valley ever so often and then leaving it in deathly shadow. Blue fire burned everywhere, the obsidian of the valley liquidating thanks to the horrifying heat of the Ertheon.
"For all our sakes, I sure hope it does!" Christa yelled back, voice rigid with concentration.
An explosion - so loud it made my ears ring - suddenly sounded across the expanse.
I looked up to find Angelus and the rest had already begun their attack. Dark matter that resembled pure universe followed by frosted winds and hardened rock impaled the Ertheon from three different sides.
I gaped at the Lesphares.
The warriors' elemental attacks were terrifyingly stunning as the radiances lit up the midnight sky in different hues of powerful energy. Thunder boomed far above us and the amount of smoke in the air made my lungs burn. I knew Jacob was readying his weapon when the click of metal sounded behind me.
Christa also fixated her weapon on the giant target coiling in the clouds and a menacing grin spread across her face.
"Let's see if Huang's hard work pays off." She growled as the familiar blast from our earlier confrontation with the alien weapons, escaped the futuristic gun.
Pure and fatal ivory light blasted into the sky.
Heading straight towards the hovering figure of the Ertheon.
Since the beast was distracted by the three Lespharian warriors, the Ertheon's front received the full blast of Christa's weapon. An ear-splintering howl - making the very obsidian glass of the valley shatter - echoed across the vastness. The very thunder clouds parted slightly at the mere velocity of the Ertheon's growl. Its roar forced the storm to reveal a wisp of night sky.
I couldn't afford to waste any time on the magnificence of the scenery nor how alien it all looked as I gazed at the three Lesphares in battle.
The combat seemed horrifying and the Ertheon quickly recovered from the lustre blast as if the attack was merely an insignificant irritation. A very improper curse escaped Christa as the beast readied its skeletal wings and lifted a pitch black claw, blue magma dripping from a talon so long it made my skin crawl.
Pure dread filled my chest.
Even though we tried to take the Ertheon's attention away from the Lesphares, it only caused the horrible opposite.
The beast was now livid with voltaic hunger.
That very, very long talon slashed across the sky as fast as lightning. I tried to scream over the blasting wind, tried to fire my weapon so that I could give him at least some kind of opening, but the storm was too loud and the Ertheon too enraged.
One black rapier as strong as pure chaos was all it took. All it took to cut through both Ferîan's armour and flesh.
There was not enough air in my lungs as he fell through the sky, a beautiful fallen angel leaving behind a trail of snow as he tumbled towards the fatal blue beneath.
"WHAT THE HELL?! We have to save him!" Jacob yelled. "He's going to burn alive!" The latter'a brown eyes were wide with terror. His lips, purple and mirroring the lilac cloudburst above.
"God he'a going to die if we don't do something!" Lex shrieked as we beheld the terrifying sight of Ferîan falling to his inescapable death.
It was kind of ironic that the one with wings would perish by falling to his death.
The horrible thought surprised me, actually horrified me more than anything else. I was furious at myself for conjuring up something so cynical and not being able to do anything about the fact that Ferîan was about to die. Kind and helpful Ferîan that could have both judged and insulted my humanity many times over, but never did. The one who even - though he did not have to - helped me face my fear for heights that had terrified me all my life.
I knew even the Defender of The Realm with his ocean of unbelievable abilities couldn't save Ferîan if it meant turning his back on the bloodthirsty demon who could destroy the rest of us in a single volcanic breath.
My head felt light, so light my vision began to blur and suddenly an ancient calmness entered my soul. It was as old as the very earth beneath and effortless as the water flowing in a stream. I shuddered at the sudden centuries of experience stacked away in my mind.
The feeling was uncanny to everything I've ever experienced.
So alien yet simultaneously familiar. It was the exact same way I felt back in the Sandrîanî desert palace, now the feeling that resided in my very bones much stronger and profound.
My eyes adjusted to the night air, my skin to the heat of the flames around me and I could finally see.
See how I could save Ferîan.
How I could grow wings as great and captivating as those of Angelus.
Wings as strong as a hawk's, as beautiful as a butterfly's.
I spread them after what seemed like lifetimes of keeping them hidden.
Before I could blink, my shaking hand was clammed around Ferîan's snow tunic. There was new strength in my arms as I lifted him up and away from the voltaic magma that was about to incinerate the both of us. I did not look at my friend's face nor if Ferîan was even alive. My mind only kept focusing on our safe journey back to the ridge.
When we managed to make it to safety, the shared expression on the other's faces were beyond shocked. They were rattled to their very cores, pure horror blatant in their haunted looks.
I didn't care.
In my strange state of absolute transcendence, I focused on something entirely different.
Namely the remains of glass mountain in the distance.
Although the Ertheon destroyed the entire left side of the previously enormous and magnificent mountain range - there was surprisingly still much to work with. When Ferîan and I collapsed on the ledge, a solid plan had already taken shape in my head and I immediately met my friends' shocked stares.
"Will you be able to target something far larger than the Ertheon?" I asked, voice so even it sounded surreal to my own ears.
My three friends first glanced warily at one another as if to confirm I was indeed not an alien and then nodded slowly.
"Artemisia... you..." Lex begun to stutter, but I shook my head.
"No time. Listen, do you see that mountain just beyond the valley?"
Three pair of eyes followed my gaze.
"I want you to bring it down."
There was absolute silence until Jacob shook his head.
"What on earth do you need the mountain for?!" Christa yelled over another loud explosion followed by a horrible roar. I inspected every face, making sure I explain exactly what needed to happen.
"We won't be able to bring down the Ertheon with mere elemental strength nor will blasts dent its hide."
I felt my lips curl into a cruel smile and felt shocked at how easy it was.
"Why not bring down the entire mountain on top of the beast and bury its fury once and for all?"
A smirk caressed Christa's exhausted features.
"That sounds like one hell of a plan. Who knew you had such an interesting knack for strategy!" She mused. Jacob shook his head in defeat again. "Even if it worked - which it will definitely not - we are way to far from the mountain to even hit it. How do you expect us to bring down a damn mountain when we aren't even in range?"
His voice was overpowered by a sudden thunderous blast from above as Angelus - once again - attacked the Ertheon on its left wing with a roar of galactic darkness. Quîncîn groaned as he barely avoided getting his bones crushed by the sheer power that one flap of the Ertheon's enormous wings conjured.
Wings.
I met Jacob's gaze.
"The three of us will get you across the valley and close enough for fire range."
There was tensed silence until Lex released the building tension with a nervous sigh.
"There is about a million things wrong with this plan." She mumbled, blue eyes directed at the mountain in the distance. A hidden fury hid behind those orbs, one I had come to learn was not to be messed with. Lex then smiled at me. Whatever she felt, beyond me.
"I'm in. Don't see us having another choice in the matter."
And suddenly I realized her gaze was once again warm.