"HOLY SHIT," Jeremy said, scooting back as all the students pushed towards the center as the walls of the Academy were quickly being broken down and giants were clamoring to fit in.
"Zion..." I said, standing frozen and unsure what to do.
"We need to get out of here before they corner us," Esat said, clinging to my arm so tightly I was starting to lose feeling.
"EVERYONE, CLUSTER TOGETHER," I yelled as loudly as I can.
I released all my dark magic, letting it pour out of my arms and legs in every direction as it quickly surrounded the students. It was creating a shield quickly as my desperation fueled it to speed up. Just when it was about to close, a giant made it's way through the hole and started advancing towards us.
"Saron-" Star started.
"I KNOW," I said, quickly closing the shield around all of us. I barely closed it when I felt the violent bang of the giant attempting to punch through it. I collapsed, refusing to break concentration as I struggled to keep it up.
"I can't hold it for long, we need a plan," I struggled to say, my breath quickly becoming ragged.
"We need to get out of here. We won't make it if we're surrounded," Tom said.
"The roof," a student yelled out from the crowd, pointing up.
I turned my head up, noticing the roof cracking as the giants were breaking through from the top.
"A tunnel, can you do a tunnel?!" Esat asked.
"I can't keep up the shield and open a tunnel for the entire school," I admitted, sweat trickling down my forehead as I struggled to hold against the giants who were striking at every angle.
"What about if you had help?" Bonnie asked, her eyes lighting up.
"Witches," Joel said, looking around.
Star stood up on a nearby table, hoisting herself at a higher angle than all of us and screamed at the top of her lungs, "WITCHES WE NEED YOU."
The crowd started to slowly make a path as witches pushed and squeezed through to make it towards us.
Feeling my dark magic struggling, I reached deep inside of me and awakened my werewolf. I channeled my strength, closing my eyes to concentrate on holding the shield and drowning out the yells and panicking of the students.
"Saron, they're here," Star said, stepping aside to show about 20 witches.
I nodded, reaching out my hand to one of them. She grabbed hold, forming a link with all of the witches. I channeled their magic, allowing myself to open up a portal. I didn't have the brain power to imagine a place so I prayed it was somewhere without giants.
"EVERYONE, GO THROUGH THE PORTAL NOW!" Zion yelled as the students piled in one by one. Even with help, I could tell our magic was quickly draining. I reached deeper, activating my vampire and angel sides to increase my energy as I opened the portal wider so more students could get in at once.
"Uh...Saron," Jeremy said, pointing up.
The giants had formed a crack in my shield, that was slowly getting bigger.
I concentrated, trying to close the hole but it was no use. They'd already cracked my defense and it was going to take more magic than I had at the moment to close the crack and keep the portal open. Barely half of the students were through the portal and my defense was breaking down.
"Zion, I can't hold it long enough. We have to fight," I yelled.
He walked away without a moment's hesitation with his weapon in hand. Following his example, Tom and Joel followed him. I closed my eyes, afraid if I saw anyone get hurt I'd break focus completely and the shield would collapse sooner.
You can do this. You can do this.
My heartbeat was beating so fast I thought it was going to erupt from my chest cavity. My entire body was pulsing and aching as I felt the giants banging against the shield, inching closer and closer to taking it down.
I heard a shriek and my eyes flew open to see a giant grab one of the dragons that were spitting fire through the crack and snap him in half like he was light as a feather. I covered my mouth to stop the scream that was ready to escape, turning away. I heard more yells and screams of agony and it took everything in me not to fly up and help them. Almost all the students were through the crack now but I couldn't help but feel guilt at the ones who had to sacrifice their lives to make it. I know war had casualties but seeing it firsthand was different.
"GUYS, WE HAVE TO GO!" Esat screamed at Tom and Zion who were still flinging weapons at the giants who were poking their fingers through the crack at the top of the shield. They turned around running towards us along the others who were fighting.
"Go!" I screamed at Bonnie and Star after Esat jumped in.
"We're not leaving you!" Star protested.
"I CAN'T HOLD IT FOR MUCH LONGER. I'LL BE BEHIND YOU!" I yelled, my voice cracking.
Once they jumped in, I channeled the last of my energy to jump up in the air, advancing towards them to meet them in the middle. My shield was now speedily disappearing and the giants were frighteningly close.
Once I met them, I grabbed Zion and shoved him into the open portal before he could argue. The others hopped in after him until it was only Tom left. I reached out to grab Tom and grasped his hand but once I did, one of the giants grabbed his leg.
I screamed, letting out the last of my dark magic. My body partially shifted, my arm turning into a clawed paw as I struck back at the giant hard, breaking the bone in his finger. It was enough for him to recoil his hand in pain and I grabbed Tom jumping into the portal with him.
We landed roughly on the other side, on an empty terrain with the thousands of students breathing heavily on the grass. There were no giants in sight, to my relief. I laid my head back on the grass, closing my eyes as I struggled to breath.
Even through my exhaustion, I could feel my dark magic replenishing. I didn't know how close we were to the giants or how long we had until they found us again but I wasn't thinking about it at the moment.
"Thank you," Tom said, pulling me into a hug. I tapped his shoulder, unable to hug him back since he had my arms pinned.
"It's nothing," I said, coughing.
"Sorry," he said, letting me go once he realized he was crushing me.
"Are you okay?!" Star said, running over to us and looking down at me in concern.
"Yeah," I said, sitting up. I winced at the aches up and down my body. The shield took more out of me than I thought. I guess having an unlimited supply of magic didn't mean I wouldn't feel the exhaustion of using it all.
Zion came over, grabbing me and pulling me into his arms.
"I'm fine," I said, cupping his cheek.
"Don't do that again."
"Zion, I'm too tired for this. Where are the giants?"
"Where we left them. We probably have a day until they find us again," he replied.
"Are you sure?" Tom asked, looking away from us.
"Yeah, positive," Zion said, settling on the ground beside me.
"Then who is that?" Star asked, pointing up to the sky.
I scrambled up, placing my hand on the knives on my waistband as I noticed them. It was a crowd of supernaturals flying towards us at an alarming speed. I looked around to see students scrambling around yelling in confusion while others held onto their weapons in preparation for an attack.
"Wait, isn't that-" I started.
"The Delegation," Tom finished, scowling in disgust.
I pulled out my knives, getting into my fighting stance as they descended quickly. None of them had weapons out but I hadn't forgotten the last time we'd seen them. They locked us up and tried to kill us. I wasn't going to be so quick to trust them this time around.
"Lower your weapons children," one of the witches called out as she waved her arm. On cue, weapons fell to the ground as a crowd of students in front of us suddenly forgot that they were poised and ready to attack a second ago.
I let dark magic seep out of me in her direction when I heard her sharp voice echo in my mind.
"Sergewaio, we are not your enemy."
Hearing the name given to me by the prophecy was enough to break my focus and the dark magic began to travel back towards me. Something inside me told me loosened up at the sound of it and all the distrust I had formerly felt dissipated.
"What are you doing?" Star asked, staring at me in confusion.
"They're here to help," I said confidently as it all started to make sense in my mind.
"Are you su-" Esat started.
"Saron," a familiar voice rang out from behind me.
I swiveled around, frowning as I greeted her.
"Meda."
"Why are you here?" Zion spat, looking at her with suspicion.
"Would you rather fight this war on your own?" Meda hissed, returning his distrustful gaze.
"You tried to kill us," Bonnie said angrily.
"Water under the bridge. We have a bigger threat that needs our attention," Meda responded nonchalantly, waving her hand in the air as if it was nothing.
"If you're really our allies, tell your friends to back off," Joel said, nodding over to the group of witches inching forward on a handful students, shivering in fear as they backed away.
"All in good time. First, I must speak to my sister."
At the mention of Oreres, my eyes welled up as I shared a glance with Zion.
"What is it?" Meda asked, her brows furrowing in confusion as she noticed our quiet exchange.
"She's gone," Zion replied, saving me from saying the words out loud.
"Gone? Did she flee before the battle? That's unlike her."
"No, she's- dead," Zion elaborated, his voice cracking as he said the words.
The tension was thick in the air as her face changed quickly, leaving a cold expression as her brows relaxed and her lips formed a straight line. It was hard to read her, her brick wall of nonchalance covering any sign of emotion.
After a long silence, she spoke, the slight waver in her voice the only indication of her sadness that her sister was gone.
"It was her time. This was how she wanted it."
"No, it wasn't her time," I argued, angry at how quickly she had brushed her death under the rug.
"Death is a part of life. If you let every casualty effect you, we'll all be dead," she said, her gaze piercing into my soul before turning away. At a loss for words, I had no rebuttal and silently watched her walk away along with her horde of supernaturals.
"Children, silence. My name is Meda. I'm a part of the Delegation and everyone you see here is here to help us win this war. You were able to escape the enemy for now but we have less than a day until they catch up to us. There's no reason to fear. We have brought weapons and supplies. Eat. Drink. Rest. Tomorrow, the war continues."
I felt a sigh I didn't know I was holding release itself as I heard Meda's declaration that I was no longer in charge. I didn't trust them, but we needed all the help we could get. I looked around, seeing students huddled all across the extensive plot of land. There were thousands scattered about, starting to settle and build camp. Our numbers had almost tripled with the addition of the Delegation's help. I felt a ting of hope as I looked around, seeing more and more of us. Our numbers seemed to multiply, giving us more of a fighting chance than we had alone.
Even if they came to save their own hides, I was grateful that we were all able to come together for this despite our many differences.