I can't possibly describe how awful the experience has been waiting for the lights to come back on. The emergency steel doors had closed down on all exits, forcing us to sit and listen to the cries and explosions of the elf citizens and soldiers fighting for their lives and Krah screeching their judgement upon them. The electricity didn't return to us until long into the morning. It took Rilien and Tinco hours to access the wires and reroute them to the emergency power source.
We all solemnly rejoice when the lights burn to a low glow. Rilien blushes as we applaud his and Tinco's work. "I'm afraid that's all we can afford to spend on lighting, the rest is going into the door hydraulics." He says with a frown.
The steel doors creak as they inch upward. Bellsulion hops up to the top step and rallies everyone together. "My brothers and sisters, it seems fate has brought the battle to us. The Mist have slaughtered thousands, and they are out there right now slaughtering our brethren! Will you sit idly by and watch?"
"No!" We all cry out with sentiments.
He then leaps to the top of the steps that take us upstairs, "Then let us take back what they have stolen from us!"
Warrior cheers gradually become louder as we all stampede up the stairs to the outside world. What we see is a massacre in progress. Many are already dead, blood stains the streets and streaks across the walls like graffiti. It is all I can do to keep my lunch and emotions inside myself. Wolfwyres of all shapes and sizes trample through the streets howling gleefully as they maraud the town. I can see Krah engaged in warfare against a fleet of airships who aren't fairing well.
"Shall we, friend?" Hotaru growls with a mischievous grin. His stance is nothing more than fearsome, even with the metal boot attached to his injured leg. I nod silently to him, and we both charge into the swarm of angry beasts.
I roar, claw, and charge at anything that moves- enraged with the audacity of the League of Mist. Harming innocent civilians for nothing more than the fun of sport; it is putrid and revolting, making me nearly want to vomit with disgust.
Piercing shrieks from above let me know that shadones are now infiltrating the skies. A moment of distraction allows a wolfwyre to pounce atop my back, grabbing hold of my antlers as if they were reins and tries to straddle me like a pony. I indulge him for a mere moment, rampaging through streams of hairy wolf-like bodies.
"The ride stops here!" I hiss in a menacing tone I never knew I had and I buck him off of my back and into the wall of a cobbler's store. The dear owner looks out of the window in shock of the thud the body makes against his wall. I make an embarrassed face and a polite nod in apology for the disturbance. His wife appears and gives a loud shriek of fear and pulls him out of view.
I assume that it was me that frightened her, but to my surprise, it is the dark and looming creature behind me. Bulging shoulders and a massive cranium are the first two things that come into view. The rest is pure blurry horror as whatever this beast is plows straight toward me. My feathers puff up in response and I release another menacing sound. I can't quite explain how a lion roar and bird screech mend so horrificly well together, but that is the intimidating sound that emanates from my maw.
I do not think before I rear up on my hind legs, preparing to rush ahead at this new assailant. My antlers duck under the brute's massive forearms to strike at the chest of this mutant. It gurgles a sickening sound as it falls on its side. Wings now appear from its back and a whip-like scorpion tail lashes around, attempting to strike me. I now realize what this thing is: a wolfwyre hybrid.
'It must be one of the first batches the Mist cooked up.' I think to myself, now remembering the two manticores I faced before. Who knows what other creatures are willing to defile themselves for this unworthy cause of destruction and conquest.
The thing scrambles to upright itself and I lower myself into a defensive position. "You will not win," the monster spats, standing on his hind legs with his wings spread out. "We have glorious hybrids on our side. What are a few elves and yourself worth against an army of gods?"
I hiss with defiance. "You. Are. No. God. We shall win, because ye f'erget one thing. I am a hybrid- I am a dryphon!" With that statement flowing through my veins I charge the villain with utmost ferocity. My arms swing madly as I run head on to the brute. He readies himself for my attack, but I don't. I jump high over the creature, flapping my wings for extra lift, and land on the other side of him.
He turns around madly and laughs. "I believe you missed." I only smirk, knowing what is coming next.
Fwaap!
The vines snap around the mutt, closing around him tightly. "Ye were saying?" I reply sarcastically and command the Hookthorn vines that encompass my enemy to hurl him off the edge of the plateau. His fiendish screams can be heard echoing back as he plummets into the abyss below, being carried by my vines.
Just then, I spot Hotaru. He's looking at me with a blank expression, holding the throat of a whimpering wolfwyre. "Remind me to not make you angry." He says in a sarcastic, sheepish tone of voice. I nod with a smile and dash away to serve the next opponent his daily dose of vegetables.
'The place is a massacre,' I think to myself as I circle the battle from the skies. My battle plan is to help aid the remaining airships anyway I can. Krah has blasted two of the five battleships out of the sky in a freezing frenzy, turning them into ice cubes.
The ships cheer when they see me fly by their flanks and heading for Krah. I know the only way to defeat this beast is with a hearty force of flora, but can I hold concentration for that long? We'll have to find out the hard way.
The ships realize what is going on once the vines come to life, so they surround me for my protection. I summon as many powerful plants as I can think of: oak trees, the smelly rafflesias, cactus, and anything else, hoping that my measly powers can subdue the creature. The vines grasp on to clods of dirt, allowing the other plants I am summoning to grow directly onto the vines.
"I didn't come here for a garden show!" Aaryan reveals himself from behind the ominous neck of the ice wyvern. He's clad in an armor in all sorts of vibrant colors of the jewel beetle; his helmet has one long horn protruding from the forehead region and I cannot see his eyes through the visor.
"Aaryan!" I roar out. "Surrender y'er forces or face the inevitable!" I command the snaking vines to point their tips at the wyvern's chest.
"You cannot win," is all he says in reply. A fluent hand motion triggers a scream from Krah as the wyvern watches Aaryan's every move. The wyvern's head turns back to me and creates a gurgling sound which makes me shake, knowing what's next.
"Run!" I cry out to the airships, hoping they can steer away in time. Their frames slowly bank outward, chugging hopelessly away from Krah's firing range. I know they won't be able to make it, so I must strike first.
The vines answer my plea for help with a swift attack. From each side of the wyvern, vines dive in for the kill. Krah senses the danger and diverts their fire to the targets closing in at a deadly pace. My heart is pounding like a drum on steroids as I charge blindly at the wyvern.
As Krah turns around, their thick, icy tail swipes past me, nearly catching onto my antlers and flinging me toward the ground. With a barrel roll that I can actually say I'm proud of, I slide past the beast's tail and onto the back of Krah.
"You," Aaryan snarled, unsheathing his sword, "I've about had it with you and your meddling. You just don't give up, do you?"
"As a scientist, I find it rather illogical to give up on one's work." I say without a hint of sarcasm.
He growls, "Well as a scientist, why don't you study my sword fighting technique as I ram my steel through your chest cavity!"
"Um, no thanks." In a rather surprised tone I jump back, avoiding his lunge. I parry another lunge with one of my scaled wings, using the other to strike a blow to his side. Aaryan topples over, gasping for the air that I shoved out.
I reach for his sword, but he strikes a blow to my hand. The clinking of dragon scales against steel rattles my teeth and I roar in surprise. I pull back my arm expecting a nub to be in its stead, but I am luckily still intact. Hissing in anger, I lower myself, preparing to pounce.
"Pitiful mongrel." He spits blood at me. My jab to his side has created a flesh wound, bleeding through his armor. "You have made a grave mistake in choosing sides. The Mist will win, that is for certain. They have power, numbers, and money- oh, lots of currency. If they don't conquer Yugure by force, they will just buy it out, as they have done with me. You will lose." He rattles his armor as he coughs up blood.
I now notice the horrible craftsmanship in his armor. If the smithy who made this armor had put the armor together correctly, Aaryan wouldn't have a metal plate slicing through his rib cage right now. Either they didn't know what they were doing, or they did know and I should thank them for it.
"If I will lose then I shall do so with honor. At least I didn't sell out my homeland f'er mere shinies and baubles." I growl.
I approach him to put him under arrest, but with a shove in the right direction, Aaryan rolls himself off the flying wyvern and into the haze of clouds below us. Krah doesn't seem to mind me on their back much, but I know I must subdue the creature and force it to land, lest they cause any more damage to the remaining airships.
"Down!" I yell to the ice dragon who rumbles irritably at the new commanding voice on their shoulder. It obeys, nonetheless, and lands on a small, uninhabited plateau. I hop off - gracefully I might add - and pat the creature on the muzzle. It is now that I notice that my icy opponent is a male. Krah has never really given me a chance to get an up close look at himself, but now I can see the sadness in his eyes along with the many scars riding down his neck.
"A prisoner. Poor dear," I say in a gentle tone, patting his cheek. He opens his mouth as if to say something, but I realize, to my horror, that he has been forever silenced; muted by having been had his tongue cut off. "Not everything is as it seems, yes?" I remark to the dragon and he nods slowly.
I excuse myself from Krah's presence to aid the elves in removing the remaining Mist forces. The wolfwyres and their shadone assistants have already begun to flee in all directions. The elves take aim to the cowards with their bows and plasma-filled arrows. Bloody howls rant on through the hours as they fall one by one. Although at one point I would have loved to have seen a demonstration of these plasma arrows hitting their targets and then exploding it to bits, the use of it on actual people was not what I had in mind.
I help in the cleaning process. Disposing the dead bodies of our enemies goes by much faster when you have plants to aid you in the task. Our losses seem few and far between for now.
"Enoki!" Adlanniel cries out, running in my direction.
"M'dear!" I reply in the same anxiety filled tone as she, dropping my concentration along with three vine conveyor belts holding wolfwyre carcasses. Hotaru makes a disgusted noise as he nearly gets touched by one of the dead.
"Please, come with me." She ushers me to a crowd of Yugurian Guardians standing by the steps to the entrance of the YGI. Bellsulion is lying there on his back; he doesn't look well.
"Enoki," he begins in a weakened voice. "We have some bad news." I look at him, frightened at what he might say next. "This was all a ruse. This battle was a distraction from what we feared most: the First Realm has been attacked."
"No!" I cry out in agony.
"I'm afraid so," he says, choking on tears. "The dragons did all that they could, but the Mist ransacked Blacktalon's laboratory. The books are gone. The gryphons fought valiantly, but they couldn't hold them off."
I lower my head in sadness at the thought of my homeland being desolated. Bellsulion reaches in pain for his back pocket to pull out a note which he reads, "I'm so sorry Enoki, but there's one last thing I must tell you. 'Dear Mr. Gryphoclaw, it is in our greatest regrets that we must inform you of the death of your mother, Zana Gryphoclaw, who was killed in the fire from a dragon clad in red Tavellian armor of the Mist's forces. If any new information is received it will be delivered to you promptly.
"'We realize the heavy burden of emotions this news brings you. Let the knowledge of her dying honorably for the freedom of your world give you comfort in this hardship.' I'm truly sorry, Enoki."
I nod while quietly sniffling, keeping my head lowered. What is there for me to say?
"I know you've only been here for a mere three days and everything is toppling onto your shoulders, but," he coughs, "I'm going to need someone to take my place."
"Oh, but sir, ye mustn't just give up. The Yugurian Guard needs-"
"I'm not dying, at least, not yet," he produces a downhearted laugh but groans afterwards from the pain. "I'm just not going to be able to do my duties for a long while. The board has all voted and agree; you are our best choice for success. Will you, Enoki Verdell Gryphoclaw, promise your loyalty, your protection, your strength, and your wisdom, to the good and wellbeing of Yugure?"
"Aye." I say with a solemn sigh.
"We, the Yugurian Guard, then hereby decree you an official member of the Yugurian Guard. All hail the Guardian of the Green!"
"Hail!" They all say in triumphant agreement.
"Alright everyone," Adlanniel politely interrupts their rowdy cheering- most likely for my sake. "We've got some cleaning up to do. Make haste." She frowns at me and gives me a long hug around the neck. Her head then turns to her party and she leads them away from me so that I may get some time to process all that has happened.
I must say, Dear Readers, that I never thought it would come to this. I hope you will excuse me from my duties to this journal for the rest of the day so that I may make peace with my sorrows. . .