3rd Person POV (The Wall)
The air around Ellie and Helen began to vibrate, the sound around them canceled out, and all they heard was the sound of their heartbeats. The temperature around them rose exponentially; however, the soldiers seemed to be unaffected by the rise in temperature while the beasts began to smolder.
Ellie and Helen looked around curiously as the beasts began to yell in pain. The beasts surrounding them suddenly burst apart, blood and guts spreading around them like a bloody halo. The beasts in the air above them burst into flames, screaming and roaring desperately in pain as they were quickly consumed and turned to ash.
The air around them slowly stopped vibrating, and the sound returned. The temperature returned to normal, and the ash from the beasts fell over the soldiers like black snow. An immense shiver ran down everyone's spine from a significant presence, and the soldiers on top of the wall looked up. Everyone went wide-eyed with mixed emotions, seeing two figures levitating above the wall.
The first figure was a beautiful female with hair the color of fire. Her hair seemed to have a life of its own, like a flickering candle flame. She had deep crimson eyes, which matched her red shirt. She wore a black leather corset vest, which helped show off her chest, and black leather pants. She had her arms crossed while she stared at the soldiers atop the wall blankly.
The figure levitating beside her had a muscular male frame. He wore a gray shirt with a black short-sleeved leather jacket with a hood that covered his head and the upper portion of his face. He had black leather gauntlets, black leather pants, and black leather boots. He held a long crimson spear in his right hand and levitated with an aura of confidence.
The soldiers on top of the wall looked at the two figures, motionless and stunned, with a mix of fear and awe. The soldiers had no idea who these two were but concluded they were elite soldiers of Alacrya since these two were unknown to them. The soldiers didn't fully understand what happened to the beasts but knew the two figures in the sky had something to do with it. However, they didn't understand why since they were technically their enemies.
The male figure levitated down slowly, and the soldiers scattered away out of fear. The figure gently placed both feet on the ground, not making any sudden moves, making sure not to seem hostile.
Helen moved herself to stand between Ellie and this figure protectively, as Helen would die protecting her, elite soldier or not.
Multi-colored flames flared to life and coated the male's crimson spear, and the figure tapped the wall floor with the tip of his spear. The multi-colored flames dispersed over the ground, washing over the soldiers, who all flinched in surprise and fear. A feeling of rejuvenation fell upon the soldiers, their physical strength returning, and they noticed their wounds were healing.
"Helen, your wounds! They're gone!" Ellie exclaimed, looking at Helen wide-eyed in surprise.
Helen shrugged her shoulders, feeling no pain, seeing the cuts on her arms disappear, "Amazing." She looked at Ellie, seeing the wounds she had fade as well before she looked at the crimson spear wielder in bewilderment. "He healed us; why?"
The spear wielder intently looked up at the red-haired female, "They're healed."
The female nodded, "Good, now let's go. We have the rest of the horde to deal with."
The male levitated into the air and looked down at the soldiers on the wall. "Dicathens, we will handle the rest. You can relax."
"Why? Why are you helping us?" Helen asked, her brows furrowing in confusion.
"To win the freedom of Dicathen and Alacrya," The male declared.
Without another word, the male and female burst forward toward the horde at a frightening velocity.
***
"Hold pressure on the wound!" Angela yelled in frustration as she fired three more wind daggers.
Reynolds lay on the ground, bleeding heavily, coughing blood. His vision was blurry, he was light-headed, and he was barely keeping consciousness.
The Twin Horns and Claire and Theo were surrounding Reynolds protectively in a circular perimeter. Caera knelt next to Reynolds, desperately putting as much pressure as she could on Reynolds's chest wound. Caera's eyes were red and water, with remorse flooding through her veins, seeing Reynolds slowly slipping away and feeling useless for not being able to do much more than what she currently was.
"Damnit, Rey! Stay with us!" Angela yelled with teary eyes as she fired wind daggers and slashes repeatedly, trying to keep everyone safe.
Angela looked around, seeing beasts and Alacryans surrounding them. Their perimeter was slowly collapsing as everyone desperately fought back.
Claire waved her rapier in the air, firing two wind bullets at an approaching beast. The wind bullets struck the beast in the head, and it skidded to the ground. An Alacryan soldier dashed in from the side and sliced Claire on her left side with his sword. Claire yelled as she fell to the floor, clutching her side in pain. The Alacryan stood over her and was about to stab her when Angela hit him in the chest with a wind blade. Theo jumped over Claire and slammed his fists into the Alacryan, crushing his skull into the ground.
Jasmine moved fluidly as she slashed at the surrounding beasts and Alacryan soldiers. An arrow flew in and embedded itself into Jasmine's left shoulder. Jasmine grunted as she grabbed the arrow to pull it out. But, Before she could, a fire slash flew in and sliced Jasmine on her right thigh. Jasmine yelled in pain and frustration, fell to her knee, and a beast pounced at Jasmine.
Two water beams coated in lightning struck the pouncing beast in its side before it landed on Jasmine. The beast fell to the ground, and Aaron dashed in, stabbing the beast in the head with a murderous and protective glare. An Alacryan closed in behind Aaron, wielding a sword coated in fire. Jasmine went wide-eyed, seeing the Alacryan closing in on Aaron, and quickly slashed her dagger sideways, sending a crescent of wind that sliced the Alacryan in the neck. The Alacryan fell to the ground, and Aaron moved to Jasmine protectively, refusing to let anyone near her.
Adam waved his spear, firing multiple water slashes. An Alacryan dashed toward Adam from the side, and Adam fluidly maneuvered around his attacker by spinning on his heel. Adam shoved his spear through the Alacryan's chest, piercing their heart, and the Alacryan's lifeless body fell to the ground.
Before Adam could pull his spear out, a beast dashed in from behind Adam and deeply slashed him across his back. Adam yelled as he fell onto his side and rolled onto his back. Adam looked up, gritting his teeth in anger, fear, and frustration, seeing the beast move on top of him and raise its right claw.
A large rock slammed into the beast's side, and it flew off Adam. Durden moved in and slammed his foot onto the beast's side before it could get up. The beast roared at Durden before Durden crushed the beast's head with a rock, painting the floor red with its blood. Durden quickly reached out to Adam and helped him up before Adam painfully retrieved his spear.
"Close the circle!" Angela yelled loudly over the sounds of soldiers dying, seeing their defenses faltering.
The Twin Horns made their perimeter smaller, closing in on Angela. They desperately fought, but it was getting more challenging due to their wounds and slowly becoming fatigued. It was slowly dawning on them that this very well be their last fight, and so they would go out with a marvelous death, taking as many of their enemies as they could with them.
"Caera," Reynolds said as he coughed up a significant amount of blood.
"Shhh, save your strength," Caera said through teary eyes and a small smile, knowing Reynolds wasn't going to make it.
Reynolds's vision darkened, but he mustered as much strength as he could to stay conscious. There was something he needed to tell Caera, "Caera, listen. I need you to tell my family something."
"Shhh," Caera said, her lips quivering and tears flowing down her cheeks, desperately trying to keep her composure. "You can tell them yourself."
Reynolds's blood-coated lips curved in a small smile, "I'm afraid I won't be there to tell them. So I need you to pass a message." Caera's lips quivered more, and she nodded, nonverbally telling Reynolds okay. "Tell them that I love them. Tell Alice *cough* that I'll always be with her. Tell Ellie and Arthur I'm proud of them. And tell Arthur I know he will be a great father."
"Rey, stay with us!" Angela yelled as tears fell from her face, seeing him fading.
"Promise me, Caera. You'll tell them," Reynolds said hoarsely, his body incredibly weak.
Caera sniffed, "I-I will. You have my word."
Reynolds slowly nodded, maintaining his small smile, "Thank you."
SCREECH!!
The Twin Horns looked up, hearing a high-pitched screech, and saw a flaming bird the size of a hawk quickly flying down from the sky toward them.
Angela gritted her teeth in frustration, seeing the hawk, "Incoming!"
The hawk rapidly flew around the Twin horns in a circle, setting the beasts and Alacryans around them ablaze. The Twin Horns flinched slightly, feeling the immense raging heat from the flames. The beast and Alacryans yelled in agonizing pain as they burned to death from the intense heat. The Twin Horns look at each other, perplexed to see the hawk avoiding the Twin Horns, like it was protecting them, and also feeling glad to have a momentary reprieve.
The flaming hawk flew up from the raging flames and flew directly at Caera. Caera grew wide-eyed in concern, thinking the bird would attack her. Suddenly, the flames around the bird extinguished, revealing a beautiful hawk with crimson black-tipped feathers. The hawk approached and gently landed on Caera's left shoulder, looking around like a sentry guarding its post.
Caera looked at the hawk curiously until she went wide-eyed as realization set. Memories of the hawk flooded her mind, with it playfully chasing her and a white-haired golden-eyed boy around her parent's estate.
"Seraphina?!" Caera yelled in disbelief, seeing the summons from her childhood. Caera went teary-eyed, seeing the hawk since she never expected to see it again.
Suddenly, an immense shiver ran down the spines of all the soldiers on the battlefield. All the soldiers seemed to stop fighting and looked up, with their eyes falling on two figures levitating in the sky. Caera's eyes settled on the firey-haired female and immediately recognized her.
"Lyra?" Caera breathed out in confusion.
Her eyes then flicked to the figure levitating next to her. Her eyes narrowed on the figure, feeling a sense of familiarity from them. However, Caera couldn't be sure who they were since their face was covered. Thoughts about who this person was flooded her mind until she remembered Seraphina, who was sitting on her shoulder.
"It can't be..." Caera whispered to herself, feeling her heart racing in her chest.
"You know them?" Angela asked as she knelt next to Reynolds.
Caera nodded, looking at Rey, who had visibly paled and lost consciousness but still breathing. "The female's name is Lyra. She's Scythe Cadell's retainer. The male... I'm not sure."
Caera's eyes flicked to Seraphina, sitting on her shoulder, almost protectively. Caera looked back up at the two individuals, seeing fire surrounding the male over his clothes like a second skin. The atmosphere around him began to distort with heat waves.
Void wind began to swirl around Lyra, and the air around her began to vibrate.
Both figures all of a sudden shot toward the beast horde. They flew parallel with each other, flying over the beasts and soldiers. The beasts and Alacryans the male flew over, combusted into flames, and the ground underneath them grew red hot as the temperature around them increased exponentially.
The beasts and Alacryans Lyra flew over shook before they exploded in a shower of gore. Bloody halos covered the ground from where they exploded. The Twin Horns looked in awe as the beasts and Alacryans were annihilated under the strength and power of these two figures.
Suddenly, the male figure closed in and flew over the Twin Horns. The Twin Horns flinched as they expected to be engulfed in a fiery death. However, the tsunami of flames harmlessly passed around them, burning the beasts and Alacryans and leaving the Twin Horns and Dicathens unscathed.
The Twin Horns huddled close together, worried the flames would jump at them. However, Caera wasn't concerned as she had seen this power before. The ability to control the atmosphere's temperature to the point of combustion.
Seeing this familiar power and feeling Seraphina on her shoulder, a small smile formed on Caera's lips, and tears formed in her eyes, thinking her assumptions about the male were true.
Soon, the raging flames around the Twin Horns began to die down. The atmosphere around them cooled, and smoke rose into the air. The Dicathens on the battlefield looked around, seeing the ground around them where the male flew had been chard, except where they were standing. The Alacryans and beasts that were previously on the battlefield were burnt black husks, with ash falling out of the sky.
The area where Lyra flew was covered in blood, intestines, and severed limbs from beasts and Alacryans alike. The Dicathens shook the guts of their enemies off them in disgust.
There was an eerie silence on the battlefield as no one cheered. They knew what had just transpired, but they didn't know why.
Everyone's eyes fell on Lyra and the male as they flew over everyone. They both flew down and landed beside the Twin Horns. Seraphina flew off Caera's shoulder and landed on the males. Seraphina turned into fire before being absorbed into the male. Caera's eyes widened, and her mouth went slightly agape at seeing this, knowing there was only one person Seraphina would return to.
The Twin Horns gripped their weapons tightly, looking at the two figures cautiously. The male raised his crimson spear, and multi-colored flames suddenly coated it.
Adam flinched slightly, seeing the flames wrap around the male's spear, and stepped toward the male aggressively, thinking the male was going to attack them.
"Wait! Stop!" Caera yelled, seeing Adam out of the corner of her eyes, with her eyes locked on the male. The Twin Horns all looked at her curiously. "They mean no harm."
"How exactly do you know?!" Adam yelled defensively.
"Lady Caera is right. We are not your enemies. We did save you after all." Lyra said, placing her left hand on her hip.
The male beside Lyra tapped the ground with the tip of his spear, and the multi-colored flames burst across the ground like a tidal wave. The flames washed over the Twin Horns and the surviving Dicathens on the battlefield, healing their wounds.
Caera looked down at Reynolds, smiling joyfully, seeing his wounds healed and his color returning. Reynolds's eyes slowly fluttered open, and he looked around groggy and confused.
With everyone healed, the male stored his spear in his dimension ring and stepped toward the Twin Horns.
"Hold it!" Angela yelled, pointing her wand toward the male defensively.
The male stopped and raised his hands in a non-threatening manner, "Easy, I'm no threat." He gestured toward Reynolds, "I did just save him, after all."
Everyone but Caera looked at Reynolds and went wide-eyed with relief, seeing he was awake and healed.
"Rey!!" Angela yelled, tears of happiness flowing down her cheeks, relieved to see Reynolds okay.
Reynolds groaned, "What happened?"
"You almost died but didn't!" Adam yelled.
Durden smacked Adam on the back of his head, "Adam!"
Adam flinched and looked at Durden irritatingly, "What?! Am I wrong?!"
Renolds looked to the side, seeing Lyra and the male standing near them, and sat up, feeling slightly tired. His eyes narrowed on the two curiously before asking, "Who are they?"
"They saved us, and the guy saved you," Angela said, gesturing to Lyra and the male.
Everyone looked at the both of them, while Caera had been eyeing the male curiously ever since he spoke, recognizing his voice, which sounded like a melody in her ears.
"Why?" Reynolds asked, eyeing the two Alacryans inquisitively.
"To win the freedom of Dicathen and Alacrya," Lyra declared.
Caera's eyes widened at hearing the exact words Seris told her. Caera elegantly stood up and slowly began to walk toward Lyra and the male. All eyes flicked to Caera as she walked up to the male, slightly trembling, hoping her assumptions about him were true. Lyra smirked knowingly as her eyes darted between Caera and the male.
Caera approached and stood right in front of the male and stared at him for a heartbeat, two, before she shakily reached out and grabbed the edges of the male's hood.
Under the hood, the male's lips curved slightly, seeing Caera before him.
Caera's heart was beating rapidly in her chest, and her breathing was staggered, hoping she knew who he was. She slowly lowered his hood, and her eyes immediately went wide. Tears of happiness formed in her eyes, seeing his handsome features, medium-length white hair, and beautiful golden eyes.
The male smiled warmly at Caera and said, "Hey, Caera, long time no see."
"C-Cal?" Caera said in disbelief as she began to shake.
Caera moved quickly as she wrapped her arms around him, holding him in a tight hug. Callum chuckled warmly, feeling Caera physically shaking, and wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug. Callum held Caera tightly as she shaved her face into the crook of his neck, crying happily in a warm embrace she never thought she'd feel again.
"I-I t-thought you were d-dead." Caera cried out as she lifted her head and looked into Callum's eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Callum shook his head and smiled, "The Vritra put me through extensive training and testing, but I'm not that easy to kill." He raised his hand, and gently caressed her left cheek, wiping her tears with his thumb.
Caera smiled warmly as she closed her eyes. She nuzzled her head into Callum's hand, enjoying the feeling of his touch.
Behind Caera, the Twin Horns stood there a little bewildered at what was happening but were glad to see Caera happy.
"Callum," Lyra said, getting everyone's attention. "I hate to break up this reunion. But they're here."
Lyra pointed into the sky, and everyone looked at where she was pointing. Their eyes fell onto six figures, who were flying toward them.