Wind howled with teeth, shattering the wards in one simple wisp. I didn’t even know how that was possible.
“Wake up!” I shouted to my squad.
Rune was on her feet, pulling Slater and Zuko up with her.
Vines erupted from the soil, and the night split open from every direction at once.
Rune moved first, and I noticed that was becoming a pattern. She spun low with the dagger made of bone and glass she had enchanted in Essence Craft in her hand, flipping over a lash of several vines that split the ground open where she had been.
She twisted midair, landed on her palms, and kicked a thick root coming at her clean in half. She had agent-born precision and intense predator-like grace.
It made sense, knowing who her parents were.
My speed and strength were my main advantages as I avoided the vines and roots. One thing I loved most about being a vampire was the speed.
“Shit!” Slater roared, demon form cracking into place as his chaos magic pulsed off him.
His black snake writhed into existence. It struck fast, wrapping around and crushing vines, biting deep into wood that bled sap like blood.
Koa’s body ignited, feathers made of flames ripping through skin as his phoenix form took hold. He rose along with a columnof fire, wings scorching the treetops as he flew around the clearing, dodging the sentient trees.
Roots whipped toward him, but he burned them away with one sweep.
The sound of the trees’ screams echoed horribly.
Bark peeled like flesh.
The night smelled of decaying ash.
Aura didn’t move. She curled inward from where she’d been sleeping, into the fetal position. Her imp-magic sparked out like static across her skin. Little bolts skittered into the soil, deterring anything that reached her.
Her blue eyes were wide and unfocused, as if she were somewhere else entirely.
Surprisingly, her imp magic was enough to repel the magic going haywire around her.
Hawk wasn’t so lucky. A root slammed him in the chest, crushing him against the ground. He choked on blood. Another vine snapped across his throat and yanked him sideways.
His scream cut off, then his body went limp, dragged into the dark.
“Simulation death: Hawk Moonfang.”rang out in a haunting screech just as the magic onslaught increased.
Rune cursed as she hacked up another vine with her blade.
Zuko split his human shell apart. Scales shimmered, sunset-orange bleeding into crimson and yellow as he grew. His serpentine jaws snapped at the earth itself. He tore into the ground, ripping vines free, venom slinging like molten lava.
The ground hissed as if it were in pain everywhere his venom landed.
Raze was already beside him, albino scales glinting pale in the firelight.
Two basilisk forms, mirrored in similar frenzy. They struck as if trying to tear the mountain’s flesh apart.
Then, a wolf came bolting out of the tree-line.
Lorian roared as he shifted into his grizzly bear shape, claws moving at the wolf that padded from the trees. It was much worse than any wolf I’d ever seen.
The wolf wasmassive.Its eyes burned with the mountain’s eerie glow. They collided with teeth and claws, but I couldn’t focus on their fight when I had one of my own.
My fist cracked through the large root that swung my way, and I barely dodged another.
