AETHER BEASTS

"How much longer are they going to be?" Sandra asked as we sprinted up another dune. It had been around half an hour and we'd neared the tower, but there hadn't been any sign of fernecks.

"They will come," Zirani promised. "Even if we don't make it to the meeting point on time, they will find us."

"How can you be so sure?" Misty questioned.

"Because fernecks are not malicious creatures." she glanced back at us. "They don't lie or go out of their way to fight. It's not that they cant, but they don't understand the concept. They don't get saying one thing and then doing another."

A sad expression marred her beautiful face for a moment. "It led to problems for them in some places. It's easy to take advantage of someone who doesn't understand lying."

Her words eased my worries somewhat, but I still found myself glancing around for any sign of them, however, what alerted us to their presence wasn't any physical sign of them, but the sand shaking.

The rumbling didn't start until we were just a mile away from the tower, and at first, I mistook it for an earthquake or sandquake or whatever it was called, but I quickly realized it was the same sound the fernecks made, and moments after that realization, over six of the beasts burst out from the underneath the red sand, only a few feet away, which sent sand raining down on us.

"Oh come on," Sandra grumbled as she created a small dome of darkness above her head like an umbrella. It startled me for a moment how quickly she'd formed and created the technique, but after a closer look, I saw that it wasn't that complex, especially not after everything we'd learned. I could from my wood in different shapes easily enough, though I had a hunch Zinrai still had much more to teach me on that front.

Misty created a small shimmering wall of death above her head, and when the sand hit, it vanished, or decayed? I wasn't sure, but it got the job done. As for myself, well I formed a circular shield of wood and raised it overhead.

Once the raining sand had died down, I lowered and dispersed my shield to see Zirnai walking up to what I assumed was the ferneck from earlier. I honesty could really tell the difference between them, though one did have scarring on its left side, which looked to have been inflicted by a blade, then again it could have been a beast. It's not like the beasts couldn't have blade-like appendages or claws.

The three of us watched as Zirani began to speak with the beasts, every now and then stopping to let one of them say something. At one point it got heated as the one with the scars let out a deep rumble and its eyes narrowed at Zirani who shook her head glared right back at him? Or was it a her? Thank god I wasn't speaking to them as I would no doubt make a few blunders.

"That doesn't look good," Sandra noted, taking a few steps back.

"She can handle it," I assured. "It's Zirani we're talking about here."

I meant my words, but I had to admit I was also a bit worried. If they wouldn't fight with us it would be a shame as we'd wasted time on them, but if they turned against us then we would be screwed.

They went back on forth for a few more minutes before the sacred ferneck finally seemed to relent, and Zirani walked back over to us with an annoyed look on her face. "We had a hold-up."

"Why?" Misty asked, glancing over at the fernecks who were forming patterns for the sand wave the first ferneck had used earlier.

"She wasn't sure about this," Zirnai replied and her annoyance turned into sympathy as she glanced back at the beast in question. "She lost one of her sons to the twin horn, and the ferneck we spoke to earlier is her other son."

"Oh." Sandra sounded a lot less worried now, and she looked over with a sad expression on her face.

I didn't have a mother, but I did have my aunt, and I could only imagine how she'd feel if she lost me, not to mention that this mother had more to lose in the form of another son, who was about to head into a battle for us.

"We will avenge her son," I said, anger clear in my voice. The twin horn really was a damn scourge to everything they came across.

To my surprise, Zirani didn't have us begin our spring again, instead, she informed us that we would be riding on the ferneck's backs as they could travel far faster than us. I was hesitant at first, but a look at the scarred ferneck, and her resolve pushed me on. I climbed atop the first ferneck's back with Sandra and Misty while Zinrai rode on the mother ferneck, patting it gently and speaking low rumbling notes, which I assume was to comfort the sacred ferneck.

When we were settled, Zirami let out a long rumbling note that the fernecks echoed before their techniques formed and we shot towards the tower.

Wind whipped through my hair and the occasional bit of sand lashed at my face, but at my level, it was just an annoyance and nothing more.

"Zirani," I said mentally, getting her attention. "So do we just rush in when we get there?"

"There's isn't much else we could do," She replied. "Though we will wait for the fernecks to draw some attention first."

That seemed as good of a plan as we were going to get.

I felt my heart rate increase and my blood practically began to boil as the tower became clearer and clearer. It was nowhere as large as an aether tower, but it still rose into the sky at around sixty feet, with dour spikes at its top, angled towards the center of the top floor, most likely where the ritual would be talking palace.

"Here they come," Zirani shouted. "Get ready!"

Figures became visible as we cleared the last hundred feet to the tower. Twin horn arcanists began to rain down techniques upon us, but they did little damage to the fernecks thick hide, and I already had my bark armor and shield formed to give me and the ladies protection. Balls of flame, boulders of sandstone, and even bolts of lightning struck us, but the fernecks kept on going, waves of crimson sand pushing them onwards towards the tower.

There must have been at least two dozen of them outside the tower, and from what I could tell none were beyond their first core, which either meant they had no elders left or they were all inside the tower. Whatever the reason, the twin horn arcanist realized too late just how futile their efforts were as the fernecks, swung their long necks around and begin to use them as clubs to smash the enemy all while the waves of sand engulfed them.

"Jump!" I roared as the fernecks crashed into the tower.

I landed on the sand as the fernecks let our rumbling roars of anger, and wrath, at least that's what it sounded like. Shouts and screams sounded from around me, though not from my allies, but the enemy.

"Door to the let." Misty's voice sounded in my head, greater than it had the first time we'd communicated mentally.

I glanced over to see her pointing towards an opening in the tower, guarded by a group of four twin horn arcanists, who were looking around at the chaos with terror

"Let's go!" Sandra yelled over the din of battle

I formed four impact seeds, and let them fly at the same time, dagger of darkness and a slash of death launched from Sandra and Misty. The twin horns arcanists didn't stand a chance under the onslaught and the one that had managed to dodge was quickly taken care of by a ferneck who leaned over and grabbed him using its mouth. I watched in morbid fascination as it bit down, breaking the arcanist in half and then swinging its head around to launch the corpse at another enemy.

"Damn," I muttered as we entered the tower. "Not so docile after all."

The tower was only a single large room with an ascending circular staircase. The tower seemed to be made up of sandstone and was pretty barren for the most part.

"For the twin horn!"

I glanced over at the stairs just in time to see a twin horn disciple appear and charge at me, a sword raised to strike. A spear of darkness flew by and impaled him on the wall before I could even raise a fist.

"Thanks," I said to Sandra before turning my attention to everyone. "Let's go. Be on your guard because there's bound to be more."

Sandra's cloak and tendrils had formed around her and MIsyt death claws looked longer than ever. Zirani had no techniques formed, but I knew she could handle herself far better than any of us. I felt pride and joy that I had these three by my side and as I marched up the stairs, my allies at my back, I couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for the twin horn. We may have lost against that elder, but I was going to take Zirani's advice and words to heart, and not let it get me down. I would try my hardest and Zirani needed to take over then so be it, but I wouldn't let that happen until I was bleeding and surely out for the count.

Two arcanists waited for us on the second floor of the tower, and before they could even ready their techniques, I formed two thorn vines and sent them to wrap around their throats, then I willed my vines to tighten and untighten, the sharp thorns tearing their throats and necks apart. Blood sprayed and both toppled to the ground as I dispersed my vines.

"Is this all they have guarding the tower, first core disciples?" I shook my head.

"The elders are most likely near the top, or taking part in the ritual," Zirani suggested. "So let's not waste any time."

The next three floors were filled with more first core disciples that fell easily to us, and when we arrived on the sixth it was to no challenge, which was odd, to say the least. Nevertheless, we kept moving and as we climbed the tower, I couldn't help but start to feel tinges of worry. By the time we were on the second to last floor, my worry had turned to confusion. Was there another trap like the elder had been, something lying in wait for us?

I took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts away, in favor of focusing on the upcoming confrontation, because there would undoubtedly be a confrantaion. Their lost king knew we were coming and just as Zirani had said, the strongest the twin horn had at their disposal would most likely be at the top, guarding or taking part in the ritual.

"This is it," I said as I glanced over at the stairs that led to the roof. I could feel enormous amounts of aether gathering above us, along with the sound of chanting voices, and whistling wind.

"Remember, disrupting the ritual is our main goal," Zirani said. "If they have guards then try and get past them and aim for those taking part in the ritual."

We nodded and I took a deep breath as we began to walk towards the stairs. I stopped when I felt a hand grasp my shoulder, and I turned to see Zirani giving me a look that conveyed a number of emotions from love to fear and more.

"Do you remember what we spoke about?" Zirani asked nervously.

I nodded with a small smile and tried to convey my feelings through our bond. "I'm fine with it Zirani, but only after I've tried my damndest."

She smirked, looking relieved. "I can agree to that."

Her smile morphed into a vicious grin, the beast showing itself, as she turned to consider all of us. "Now let's end this, shall we?"