Wolf warrior, p.4
Wolf Warrior, page 4
“No.” Joki shook his head.
“We only just reunited,” Jade explained. “We all had been captured, and it looks like our captors all had a desire to Bind us, but they only succeeded with Saphera.”
LesArbola nodded. “We’ll figure everything out later. For now, we have company.”
Chapter Ten: Dark Reunion
Saphera followed her gaze, and behind the Wolf Warriors and Fox Fighter stood Wallenstein, his daughter Clairvanna, and Ms. Whisper, Crow still perched on her shoulder.
I wish we could have sensed them coming, or at least sensed most of them… Clairvanna had been experimented on by Wallenstein, losing her ability to sense and be sensed. Clairvanna now was a leader of the Moon’s Silver, having survived her battle against Saphera and her allies, and she had been reunited with her father. Why Crow and Ms. Whisper were with them, Saphera wasn’t certain.
Jade had already pulled out her sword, and Costall, who had returned to her warrior form when she escaped the building, assumed an aggressive stance. Joki stood by LesArbola’s side, whose sword was also drawn.
“Time for me to get rid of the trash.” Crow was finally speaking, and raising his wings, he lifted his talons from Ms. Whisper’s shoulder, and the woman dropped to the ground. Crow perched next to Wallenstein, looking tiny compared to him.
Adding why he was so small to Saphera’s long list of questions, she demanded, “what just happened?”
“My use of her is finished,” Crow answered. “I was just using her as my puppet, so I could look more intimidating. I decided to utilize her body. It’s the only use she has to us.”
Saphera had been right. Ms. Whisper had been training as a Darkness member. But why did she never join?
“Why are you even here?” Jade taunted Crow.
“Crow has new responsibilities as the new leader of Howling Shadow,” Wallenstein replied.
“Howling Shadow?!” Joki exclaimed. That must be the name of the new dark alliance. Yet another had been discovered, but all they knew about it were two of its members and that Crow was apparently its leader.
“How did you get that job?” LesArbola taunted her former ally. “You had your wings ripped off last I saw you.”
“That disabled my larger form,” Crow growled back to her. “But I have plenty of other abilities, like commanding the knights to fight my enemies.”
“Aren’t those the same knights as the ones in the building Blackhead and Kyrie held Saphera and me hostage in?” Jade asked.
“The very same ones, Side Warrior, and now they’re mine to control.”
“I had him control Ms. Whisper’s body so you wouldn’t immediately suspect his new identity,” Wallenstein explained. “You may have weakened him, but I suppose this means you never did truly defeat him.”
“The same can be said for you, master,” LesArbola taunted. “Would you mind telling us what happened while we were asleep, or maybe why you decided to attack Earth before our world?”
All Wallenstein did in response was laugh. Slowly, Clairvanna spoke again. “There are three dark alliances against four wolves and a fox. Do you think you’ll be able to kill even one of them?”
“Why don’t we start with you?” Jade shot back. She’d always had a vendetta against Clairvanna, the former Side Warrior before her parentage had been discovered.
Clairvanna sneered back at her. “Your desire for vengeance once again clouds your judgement, Side Warrior. But it would still be better to leave here now before they follow through with that threat, father.”
“I agree, my daughter. I see being the leader of an alliance has upgraded your maturity. We leave you here, Wolf Warriors, but I do look forward to your visit.”
Jade shot forward, but the Darkness members were already too far away to chase, and Crow was completely out of sight. In search of Viper, Saphera guessed.
“Well, we know our target,” LesArbola declared. “The Darkness, the Moon’s Silver, and Howling Shadow. And we know we’re the only ones here on Earth.”
“Can’t we create a portal back to the Underworld?” Saphera asked, her voice beginning to turn desperate.
“I already tried,” Joki replied. “It looks like our ability to create portals has been disabled. Even if we could leave, we can’t leave Earth unattended with dark alliances crawling all over it.”
“Are there even any creatures left alive?” Saphera found herself feeling a surprising shock of sympathy for the humans she’d known. And her friends in the Feral Forest. What had happened to them?
“There’s only one way to find out,” LesArbola declared, already beginning to make her way away. “Since we can’t sense, we’ll need to search this area and all others surrounding it for survivors. Once we find a safe place for them, we can come up with a strategy for the dark alliances.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to begin attacking now?” Jade argued. “We know where some of the dark creatures are located, so we can begin thinning their numbers.”
“They were way too strong for us,” Joki reminded her. “Besides, Saphera’s not in good shape to fight.”
“It’s alright.” Saphera landed, having been hovering in her owl form during the confrontation with Wallenstein and his allies. “I think the Binding’s almost completely healed.”
Joki’s eyes widened. “Binding never heals that fast. Your theory must be right. We’re suffering from losses as well as gains. But none of us switched soul allegiances.”
“Someone must be controlling us,” LesArbola pointed out ominously. “Or something.”
“Whatever it is must be controlling the dark creatures as well,” Jade added. “None of them have been able to sense.”
“That we know of,” Joki reminded her. He turned and looked around. “We have a lot of ground to cover. We’d better get started.”
“Should we split up?” Jade suggested.
“Yes, good idea. We’ll cover a lot more ground that way. Saphera?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. The pain is healing.”
The five creatures went their separate ways, Saphera taking on her wolf form to give her owl form a break. Running through grass and even sidewalk soothed her paws after spending so long flying.
Chapter Eleven: Rise of the Beasts
Since the Wolf Warriors and Fox Fighter still didn’t have their communication devices, the five creatures agreed to meet up later in front of the building all of them except LesArbola had been held hostage in. All the houses Saphera checked had dead humans in them, none were ones she recognized, and there was no sign of the Feral Forest or any of the creatures in it, at least not in the areas Saphera searched.
I hope my friends there are safe.
She wouldn’t have put it past Wallenstein to target her friends first, but the ferals would have had the sense to hide or flee if danger was approaching, and Saphera had warned her friends previously about her enemies. They would have known better than to try to fight back, but what if Wallenstein or someone had gotten to them anyway? They wouldn’t have been capable of fighting back. All they had were spears, stakes, and Dragon’s gun. None of these weapons would be enough to hold off Darkness members even for a moment.
A swift, giant figure in the distance cut Saphera’s worries off, refreshing them with new ones. Without her ability to sense, she couldn’t tell what that thing was, and she hadn’t gotten a good enough glimpse of it to identify it.
Were there others? The area Saphera was exploring was vast. Whatever the creature was that had evaded Saphera may have been some kind of patrol. There could have been several around.
Saphera decided these were her targets for the rest of her search. She already knew she wasn’t going to find anything else of interest in the houses, but she had found something of interest in the field. The creature had fled too fast for her to follow it, but if they were patrolling as she suspected, she was likely to find another one.
The time to meet up with the others was fast approaching, but none of the creatures showed themselves. Saphera growled. Had the one she’d seen spotted her and decided not to show itself anymore? Saphera may not have gotten a very good look at it, but she could tell it had been huge, many times the size of even her Wolf Dragon form. She could tell by the way it had pounded the ground as it ran, and the strong gust of wind that had followed in its wake. She had something to report, and the time to meet with her allies had come.
Joki, LesArbola, and Costall were already present, standing in silence as Saphera approached. They had agreed they wouldn’t share any news until all of their group was present, in case they were attacked immediately after and needed all of their members to fight.
The very short minute felt like an eternity to Saphera, until eventually Jade’s brown wolf form stood between Costall and LesArbola. Nodding an apology to her allies, she waited in silence, as did the rest of the group. This was something else they had agreed on. Even when they were all gathered, they would wait even longer to speak, hopefully giving time for any listeners to lose interest. This served another purpose; it gave the creatures time to plan, for what they were going to do about what they reported and how they were going to share this information with the others. The expressions of the four wolves and one fox, all in their warrior forms except Joki, who only had his wolf form, were unreadable, giving the impression to any listeners that none had any to share. If there were no listeners around, all this silence was for nothing, but without their sensibilities, it was the only precaution they could take.
Enough time finally passed, and Saphera was the first to begin her report, speaking as quietly as possible, almost whispering, so listeners from a distance wouldn’t hear and become curious. It wasn’t only Darkness members they were cautious of. It was any surviving humans.
“I found something in my area. I didn’t see it, but it ran past me. Large, fast. I think it was patrolling.”
LesArbola nodded, and Joki added, “I found something similar in my own area. Nothing else could be found except for houses with dead humans. It may have been the same thing Saphera saw, moved to where I was searching.”
“I found one of those as well,” Jade spoke up. “That’s why I was late. I was trying to get away without it spotting me.”
“Did you get a good look at it before you got away?”
“I was only able to catch brief glimpses, but it looked like a giant snake, or maybe an eel. It was black, so it blended into the darkness well.”
“I didn’t see any giant creatures,” Costall now spoke. “But I did see Crow, and I heard him talking with Viper about the creatures Saphera and Joki are describing.”
Already, the dark creatures were being less cautious than the light ones.
“He told Viper that the Beasts were out,” continued Costall. “He said their enemies were sure to run into them before they got to him and Viper.”
“So Howling Shadow has their own Beasts,” Joki pondered. “And unlike The Darkness, they aren’t a last resort.”
“They seem to serve the same function as the Gatekeepers,” LesArbola announced. “If we’re going to get to Viper and Crow, we need to get past them first.”
“LesArbola, you haven’t told us your report yet,” Joki pointed out.
“I found one of these Beasts, as well,” she began. The others had to lean in to hear her. “Unlike the ones Saphera, Joki, and Jade found, mine wasn’t moving.”
“Crow spoke of that one,” Costall told her. “Was it a giant eyeball?”
“It’s like you saw it yourself, Costall. Yes, that’s exactly what it was.”
“The Vision Beast, Clear.”
“He mentioned their names?!” Joki exclaimed, only barely managing to continue keeping his voice soft.
“He did, and I was able to memorize all of them before I left.”
“How many are there in total?”
“Ten.”
“Ten?” echoed Saphera. The Beasts of Howling Shadow would be empowered, as well, and with that many on the prowl, a long war was expected.
“We’d better get started,” Joki declared. “LesArbola, did Clear see you?”
“That’s impossible to tell, but he would be the easiest start to them.”
“How do we know? No dark creature we’ve seen so far has been an easy opponent.”
Chapter Twelve: Vision Beast Clear
Joki’s words were chilling, but they were true. Even with all five of them, there was no guarantee they would stand a chance against the stationary Beast, if indeed he was as stationary as he appeared. They also had no idea of the Beasts’ powers, so they had no idea what they were up against.
The area LesArbola had explored was close to the glass building she was almost Binded in, meaning Sinistar or someone else inside could have been watching her every move, and was now following the rest of her allies, reporting to Wallenstein, Clairvanna, or Crow. As LesArbola had reported, however, one creature in the area seemed to be watching everything. As LesArbola described, Clear was a giant eyeball, with six black tentacles moving seemingly on their own, three on his top, three on the bottom. He was completely stationary, floating in the air above the almost completely open field, above and in the middle of two bushes.
“Good. He hasn’t moved,” Joki commented. “That means he didn’t see you, LesArbola.”
“This thing sees everything,” Costall whispered.
“Costall, did Crow say anything about the Beasts’ abilities?”
Costall reluctantly shook her head. “No, he only mentioned their names. We don’t know what this thing can do, or what any of the others can do.”
“Everyone, keep a distance!” Joki warned. The group were all in their Beast forms, and began to move far apart, not just from Clear, but from each other, in case he was considering attacking all of the light beasts at once.
Clear wasn’t even blinking. If he had spotted the wolves and fox, he wasn’t reacting to them.
“What even is this creature?” Joki asked, trying to focus his own eyes on the single one.
“Could be a creation of Crow’s,” Saphera suggested. “He did say he was controlling creatures now.”
“Wallenstein may have had a hand in it, as well. I think it’s safe to say The Darkness and Howling Shadow are on the same side.”
“Clairvanna leads the Moon’s Silver. They have to be allies, as well.”
“Quiet, guys,” Jade interrupted, “I think he’s starting to attack.”
Before anyone could react, a beam of light shot from Clear’s pupil, aimed at Costall. The fox moved out of the way quickly, but severe burns in her fur, even exposing some of her skin, were visible.
“We’ll be obliterated if that thing touches us for too long. Be careful!”
The creatures splitting up seemed to throw off Clear’s aim, however, and he couldn’t hit more than one opponent at once. Saphera and Jade took on their owl forms, and as soon as they did, Clear changed his aim. Now he focused entirely on the great gray and great horned owls in front of him. The two owls tried to fly in for a direct attack, only to be obliterated by a light blast.
“We can’t attack him head on!” Joki warned. “We have to attack from a distance. Looks like Tachi’s elements are our only hope.”
LesArbola possessed warlock magic, but this was given to her alongside her spider form, so the rest of her current allies knew she would refuse to use it when she had a light soul. The blast from Clear’s light made Saphera feel like she had been burned by the sun itself, and there were bare patches in her feathers. She landed and took on her wolf form right before Clear launched another attack, this one hitting Joki. The black wolf roared furiously before LesArbola pushed him away, getting herself burnt in the process.
Saphera could wait no longer. She had to attack now. Raising Tachi on her back, she aimed a lightning bolt at Clear’s pupil. The Beast roared and blinked several times, but didn’t stop attacking. But this didn’t matter. Saphera had discovered a way to weaken him.
Not letting him launch any more light blasts, Saphera kept aiming her lightning. Clear’s roars grew louder, and his eye stayed closed for longer and longer periods, until finally it didn’t open again.
“Did we kill him?” Jade asked.
Her question was answered when Clear fell from the sky and crashed to the grass, his eye still closed.
“He is dead,” Costall admired her mother’s work, before looking her in the eyes. “You killed him.”
“I was starting to wonder if it was possible to kill any creature anymore,” Joki admitted, before also turning to Saphera. “Does Tachi’s water element still work?”
“Let’s find out.” To Saphera’s relief, her sword slowly started to heal her wounds, but some faint red burns couldn’t be healed. The sword worked its magic on the other allies that had been injured in the battle, all leaving marks behind.
“Does anyone know where we start looking for the second one?” Jade wondered.
“This area was covered,” Joki answered. “The next one must be in another field. I don’t imagine Crow would feel the need to send multiple Beasts to guard an area if all he needed to guard was humans.”
“But that’s not the case anymore,” LesArbola warned. “Now we’re here.”
“But our enemies are much stronger,” Costall pointed out.
“There’s only one way to figure this out,” Joki declared. “Let’s search this area and see if any more Beasts are hiding here, then we’ll move on and search for them in another area. They shouldn’t be too hard to find; they’re huge.”
The rest of the area was empty, but the wolves and fox spotted a bright light in the distance. Upon closer inspection, they discovered it was fire. After Saphera frantically put it out with Tachi’s water element, they spotted where the fire had come from. A flaming bird was flying in the center of the field, already starting to set it on fire again.
