Emma was the only one who wasn’t trying to secure the monster. She’d brought her dagger out of her cloak, and was charging it with her magic. As I looked at her, I saw a faint blue glow underneath the white cloak, and knew she was pulling magic from the wolven necklace I’d gifted her. As the dagger shone with a blue, glowing sheen, Emma pulled her arm back, and took aim. She sent her dagger flying into the cyclops’ eye.
When the dagger plunged into the eyeball of the cyclops, it let out a screech, and all of Emma’s magic went rushing outward at once. It caused the cyclops’ head to cave in, and the magic burst out the back of its head, putting a giant hole in its skull.
We unleashed our magic ropes, and the cyclops went down. The earth shook as it fell, emitting a stinking smell from its destroyed brain. The surrounding crowd cheered as the first monster died. Applause rang out, though it was scattered amongst the chaos still going on in the streets.
I turned back to the crowd. “Everyone return to your homes!” I shouted. “My team and I will handle this! Stick together— the more of you there are, the less of a target you become!”
The crowd rushed to follow my orders. We left the body of the cyclops behind, searching for the next monster, though it didn’t take us but a minute to find. The giant was swinging its massive club through buildings. The force of the giant’s blow toppled over apartment complexes and shops, and the giant beat them to rubble with no more than a swing of his club.
Around the giant lay the smashed remains of any shifter or sorceress that had tried to kill it. Fae darted out of the way as the buildings crashed downward, though not everyone was so lucky not to be crushed. If fae weren’t killed by the club as the giant swung it back, they were buried beneath the toppling of the surrounding buildings.
I flung out a hand. “Stay back!” I ordered my team. “If we get anywhere near that giant, it’ll use its club to smash us to bits. We need to fight it from afar!”
The giant must’ve heard me, because it paused from smashing the buildings to turn our way. A sneer crept across its wrinkled, wizened face, and its grip tightened on the club.
Shit. This one wasn’t as dumb as the cyclops. The giant put its head down. Pointing its twisted antlers at us, it began to charge. The ground rumbled, and most of us ran out of the way, though Theo and Odette attempted to put up a shield.
“Get out of the way!” I shouted, but my words came too late. The shield took most of the blow, but the giant’s antlers shattered it, and the blast that came as it broke the shield sent Theo and Odette flying backward. They slammed into a nearby cart, and struggled to get back up.
The giant drew its club back and began smashing the earth. Theo grabbed Odette and pulled her out of the way just before she could be crushed by the club. Stefan and Delmare began firing battle orbs at it from the back.
“Takethis, you ugly old bastard!” Delmare cried. She welled a red battle orb in her hand that was bigger than she was, and fired it at the giant. It sank into his back and sizzled, creating a large burn but not killing it.
The giant roared out in pain. It abandoned Theo and Odette, and began chasing after Delmare and Stefan. Its club smashed against the ground, and even pinned Delmare’s cloak once. She cried out, clutching at her throat before the giant raised his club again. Stefan yanked her aside, and the giant nearly missed smacking them both before they ran in the other direction.
Emma used her illusion magic to spread a large sheet of ice across the street, and the wolven necklace flared blue again. The giant slipped and fell forward, giving Delmare and Stefan a chance to scamper away.
“I’m going to rip the throat out of this thing! This would be a hell of a lot easier if I was a hundred times bigger!” Stefan cried out as he and his mate hid behind a pile of rubble.
“Don’t change!” I roared. None of us could become shifters— it would risk giving our identities away, and that would have major repercussions. Eli and Gabby might know who we were, but the Arcanea Alliance did not, and with my criminal record of vigilantism we couldn’t afford to be caught— even if we were helping to save lives tonight. Our identities being revealed would prevent us from aiding Dolinska in the future… though with monsters like this roaming the streets, we might not have a choice if we were going to save our own skins.
I sent a throwing knife whizzing at the giant’s head. It pinged off one of its antlers, and it let out a vicious groan. It swung its head at me, and one of the massive antlers caught my form. I narrowly missed getting impaled on one of the points. The giant flung its head back, and I was sent spinning through the air, the world a blur around me.
I was very certain I’d crash upon the stone and break my neck, but instead, I landed on a large, soft pillow— Emma had conjured it just in time, and it broke my fall. I staggered upward, still dizzy, and the pillow vanished behind me. Emma was at my side in an instant, though the giant had focused its sight on the griffins. Kiara and Alexei’s eyes swept everywhere, looking for a way out.
“Use its antlers against it!” Emma cried. “It’s out of control!”
They got the idea. Alexei stepped forward in front of the giant, and flung his hands out. Though I couldn’t see the magic, I knew it had to be working, because the giant’s expression became infuriated. Alexei used his emotion magic to drive the giant into a blind rage. The giant reared his head back and gave a terrible sound before it put its antlers down, and charged once again.
Kiara and Alexei planted themselves in front of the biggest building they could. They didn’t get out of the way until the very last second. The giant smashed through the building, creating a huge hole— and an unstable foundation. The giant bellowed in a panic as the building toppled around him, burying him within the rubble.
The giant squirmed amongst the concrete and bricks, and the rubble began to shift. We’d pinned it, but not for long. Quickly, Kiara conjured a glowing yellow sword with her illusion magic. The sword was nearly as big as she was. She could barely lift it— she handed it to Alexei, who swung the sword above his head with two hands. He emitted a yell, and in one fell swoop, he cut straight through the giant’s neck.
The giant’s head rolled away, and its flailing legs went still. Alexei took a few deep breaths, calming himself down. We regrouped at the giant’s feet, each of us gasping for air.
There was a shrill shrieking that signaled the raptor was nearby. This was madness— it was as if once we killed one monster, another took its place, and we barely had time to recover from the last fight before we surged into another.
Emma leaned over her knees. Through our bond, I sensed her exhaustion, despite pulling from the wolven necklace. Emma was already getting tired. She was ill— she wouldn’t last as long as the rest of us.
“We must press on,” I said. I slapped Theo on the back, who was coughing from all the dust. “We don’t have a moment to rest.”
“Bud, we’ve only taken down two monsters in the city, and Gabby’s probably unleashed dozens,” Stefan said. “We only have so much strength to spare.”
“We keep fighting until we can no longer do so,” I said. “That’s our only option.”
Emma glanced at me, like she wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t like we had copious amounts of time to discuss.
The screeching of the raptor grew louder, and it spurred us onward. Following its sounds led us back to the city square. The Choosing stage had been completely destroyed, and the Christmas tree in the square had been set ablaze, burning like a beacon against the night. The wooden toy dragon of a little boy lay by the smoldering tree, broken in two. It was accompanied by the shoe of an infant, dotted with blood.
