The forest changed before the sound reached us.
The wind stopped. Every leaf turned upward. The parasitic vines hanging from the branches drew tight like bowed strings.
The air thickened as if the world was inhaling.
Something is coming.
The thought hit me before I could put words to it.
A low, distant moan drifted from above the canopy…
Phoebe looked up first. Her pupils tightened.
"…Did the mist just move?"
mist.
But not the normal mist that drifted lazily between trees. This was high mist the unnatural pale shroud clinging to the upper slopes of the main peak adjacent to us. The one we'd been avoiding eye contact with since entering the Chained Forest. The one Veyra never talked about.
And right now, that sick sky was… pulsing.
The mist bulged outward like something massive was pushing at it from the inside. A dull thoom echoed through the trees, deep and heavy, as if it came from miles above yet weighed on our ribs.
Nolan whispered,"…What is that?"
Another pulse. The mist shuddered, then tore open.
Like flesh splitting.
A dark shape plummeted through the tear.
Straight down. Towards us.
Branches exploded overhead.
"MOVE!" Veyra shouted.
The creature struck the ground like a meteor
The shockwave slammed into usLily was thrown into a tree, Vivi hit the dirt, Nolan shielded his mother with his own body.I felt the breath punched out of my lungs as I rolled across the roots.
Soil sprayed in a radius.Bits of stone stung my face.The air smelled of burned iron.
A crater smoked where the beast landed.
The cleared as the monstrosity stood upright, It seems to assess
It towered over us even on its sidea three-storey a twisted fusion of serpent and raptor.
Its lower body was a massive snake's coil, scales black-green with sickly purple veins pulsating beneath.But above the midsection, its torso rose upright like a birdwith ragged wings spread half-open, feathers shredded and dripping silver ash. It had two horn one of which was broken.
Its beak was long, serrated like a saw. Its wings had massive holes.One eye was gone and was melted shut.
It moved faster than anything that big should move.
The serpent tail whipped across the ground,I barely ducked as it tore through a tree behind me, splitting it clean in half.
Lex charged in, bone-reinforced arms glowing faintlyThe beast's wing smashed into him like a hammer.He flew backward, skidding across the dirt, coughing violently.
"HEY!" Lily yelled.
She dashed forwardonly to get caught by a gust of cutting wind.
The creature flapped its ruined wingsand blades of compressed air ripped toward her.
Lily deflected one with her katanathe next carved a gash across her thigh.
Blood sprayed.She stumbled.
"LILY!" Vivi screamed.
Vivi ran toward her, but poison mist erupted from the serpent's open mouth a thick, oily haze sweeping across the battlefield.
Nolan thrust out his hand.
A glowing barrier shimmered into existence, protecting Vivi.
But the pressure made his knees buckle.
"Can't hold-this-long!"
Phoebe darted in from the side, her platinum eyes shimmered for a second.She hurled icicles at the creature's eye, which was still intact.but before the icicles could reach, It lunged.
At me.
The serpent tail crashed down just where I was.
I rolled, chains shooting from my fingertipsSnaring its wing for a split second.
Just long enough.
Veyra appeared behind it in a flicker,She stabbed with her sword, driving it deep into the joint of its wing.
The beast cried then turned on her instantly.
The creature opened its beak and went for a bite, with its huge size the maw seemed to swallow her torso whole. but instead of evading she called forth her chains
For a heartbeat I thought she'd lost her mind.
Then
Clang!!
A pair of massive spectral chains snapped into existence, slamming around the beast's beak.Links the size of wagon wheels wrapped across the upper and lower jaws, sparks flying as corrupted scale ground against metal.
instead of freeing itself the creature splattered poison across, She used her Slip step but some of the poison landed on her cheek and her skin sizzled.
Veyra jerked back clenching her teeth.
'Not good' I thought
The beast swung its wing again She blocked, but the force sent her crashing into a tree.
For a moment she didn't rise.
The serpent-bird abomination slithered toward her, wings half-raised, poisoning the ground it slid across.
It was going to kill her.
I rushed across, Chains burst from my arms, sharper, harder,Restricting my Glass Thread to boost my physical speed. I leapt, chains lashing onto its broken horn.
I pulled with everything I had.
Nolan created a drag point across its neck.
For a momentthe beast's head dipped.
Veyra rose in that instant.
Bloodied she held the sword and drove it upward, straight into the creature's throat.
The beast convulsed. gasping.
But didn't die. Instead poison mist erupted from the it's open mouth spreading across.
It pulled back violentlydragging me with it for a horrifying second before I released the chain and dropped to the ground, gasping.
Wind exploded outward sending all of us sprawling like ragdolls.
The serpent-bird staggered forward bleeding and hissing.
Lily dragged herself to her feet, blood soaking her leg.
Lex too had recovered setting his skin ablaze he brought his fist infront assuming defensive stance.
Vivi was protecting Nolan's mother from a safe distance.
"NOW" Veyra screamed
I summoned my chains to bind its wings.
Phoebe slowed the time around its winds helping me and rushed to towards its tail.
Lex met the beast head on to grab its attention.
Within the chaos
Veyra extended her hand.
A faint black shimmer wrapped around her wrist.
A spectral chain materialized from thin air and lashed towards the beast.
The moment chains wrapped around the beast stilled for a second, and remembering the worst memories, it thrashed around violently.
Taking the chance
She appeared above the creaturemidair raising her sword.
Her blade pierced straight into the creature's skull, right through the melted eye socket.
CRKKKK SHHK!!
The creature spasmed.
Its wings convulsed.
Its tail thrashed violently, tearing trenches in the ground.
Lex grabbed Lily and rolled away.
Nolan threw a fading shield over Vivi and Sara.
Phoebe ducked behind a toppled trunk.
I was pulled upward as the beast thrashed, my chains tightening painfully—
Then the spasms stopped.
The beast fell.
Its massive body hit the ground in a final quake.