They could hear the roaring sound of the monsters and this was too close for them to be outside of the fortress, therefore, there must be some of the monsters that managed to go through the fortress or worse... Joel and Finn failed to activate the device and now the monsters ravaged this place.
Whatever it was, they needed to go and see what was going on.
"Four of you! Come with me!" Aliana said. She handed back Abby’s baby to her. She kissed the baby cheek and reminded Abby not to go out and keep the place safe. "Hold down for as long as you can."
Abby bit her lip and nodded. "Please, be careful."
"I will." She shifted into her beast and went out of the protection shield.
With that, Aliana went away with the other four warriors and they immediately greeted by a Vermeyes and a Geromine.
She also spotted Finn and Joel’s beasts, they were struggling to move, an indication that they were breathing the poisonous miasma.
It didn’t take long for Aliana and the other to attack the two monsters. They had enough experienced with the monsters and knew what to do.
But, their real problem was the poisonous miasma, as the device from Lou could only hold back the monsters, not the red smoke and the barrier that was created to prevent it was only available around the pack house.
Aliana gestured to two of the beasts to take Joel and Finn out of this battlefield, as they could no longer fight anymore.
They obliged and took the two young warriors away from there, leaving Aliana and two warriors to deal with the two monsters.
The other two warriors would return again later to help with the fight, because they really needed to end this and return to the pack house before the poisonous miasma reached them.
However, a few minute into the fight, the ground was splitting and it swallowed the two monsters, leaving the three beasts in trepidation, as they rushed to save themselves.
Soon enough the poisonous miasma had reached the pack house.
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Iris was in pain, she was in this dark place, watching how everything unfolded before her eyes, but everything looked blurry, as if she was staring from under the water.
She was consumed by the darkness. Her body was there, standing next to Decratic, but her mind wandered. It almost felt like you were not yourself anymore.
You didn’t know the direction, up and down, or time, everything felt useless, even breathing was a labor.
She wanted to sleep.
She wanted to just let it go and stop fighting it.
However, amidst that confusion, uncertainty and vagueness, Iris saw these two little lights came to her. One of the lights swirled around actively, but the second light was calm as it approached her and rested on her shoulder.
Iris stared at the one on her shoulder and then nudged it. Upon closer look, she could see watch how it changed its shape.
At first, the two lights were only the size of a snowflake, but then it grew, she watched the two lights grew in size and took a shape of wolf.
They were her babies’ spirit wolves.
The one that on her shoulder nuzzled her neck, as it curled it body comfortably close to her, while the other chased its own tail around her legs. This one seemingly couldn’t even stay in one place for a second.
Iris had tears rolled down her eyes when she closed them and saw the light, but when she opened her eyes again, she found herself was no longer engulfed in the darkness, instead, she was in this beautiful place that she held so dear in her heart.
The place where she took Cane when he was trapped in an illusion and now, her babies took her here too.
The grass was white and the waterfall and the flowers were exactly like she remembered. She was sitting there under the shadow of the tree, while Cane was taking a nap, using her lap as a pillow. His face looked peaceful.
Iris stared at Cane’s face in disbelief, as she stretched out her hand and brushed away his hair. He snored softly, he seemed to put his guard completely down, which was so unlike him.
But then, Iris realized why. There was this barrier around them, which most likely, she was the one, who put it.
"Mama! Mama look!" There was this a little boy, around the age of four or five, running toward her with a bunch of flowers that covered his face.
He stumbled when he got close to her and Iris stretched out her hands out of instinct to catch him, but he was giggling mirthfully, as he gave the flowers to her.
"For you!" His voice was like a breeze of wind in the morning, it was very refreshing to hear and make you smile with your eyes close, just to enjoy the moment.
And when he dropped the flower, Iris could see the clearest blue eyes that she had ever seen. He had this cute curl that similar to her, but with black hair.
Iris found the smile on his face warmed her heart.
"Mama, why are you crying?" The little boy frowned. He put his small hands on each side of her cheeks and kissed the tip of her nose. "He is there."
At first, Iris didn’t understand what he meant, but the little boy pointed out something behind her and when she turned her head to see what it was, she saw another little boy, curling his body against Lil Thing, both of them took a nap.
In this moment, Iris didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh or cry.
Was this a dream? Was this a future?
There was this roaring sound from under the ground and the thunder was rambling, as the wind hollered harshly the moment Decratic’s head separated from his body and fell to the ground.
There was this harsh red light that filled with black magic, but Cane immediately shrouded him and Iris, also the other people around him, creating a barrier of what might happen.
There was this backlash from Decratic’s power that destroyed everything around him and the barrier that Cane put up was the only thing that separated them from their deaths.
Lou, Cezi, Cedric and Zale felt the divine power within them sang, as if it called for them and they used it to strengthen the barrier around them.
The impact must be so great, as they were forced to kneel down because of the pressure.
Cane hugged Iris close to him. Iris was too exhausted to use her power, but she summoned the Sylph to sustain more power for her protectors.
Iris didn’t know how long it lasted, she was not even aware when she actually fell unconscious, summoning the Sylph had drained her energy and thankfully, the air spirit lasted until the end even when she was not conscious.
In her subconsciousness, she was still fighting with them.
From the corner of her eyes, she could see her little wolves snuggled against her and Cane. Everything would be alright now.
Meanwhile, the backlash lasted for more than ten minutes and when everything calmed down and they put down the barrier, they watched the aftermath of it.
Everything had turned into sands. This place basically had turned into a desert and even the magnificent palace building was gone. There was no trace of it whatsoever, which made them thinking they were in the wrong place.
Not so far from them, they could see Decratic’s body, his body had turned very stiff, as if he made of stone and his facial expression was carved into a shock one.
His eyes and mouth opened widely, as if he was screaming, but there was no word that came out of it. His hands stretched out, as if asking for help and his fingers curled, as though he was trying to clutch onto something.
Lou was the first one, who came and checked on him and narrowed his eyes in disdain.
"Hey! What we should do with this thing?" Lou asked, he pointed his finger at Decratic, nudging its body with his feet, just to be sure that this thing was really dead.
Meanwhile, Cane was still cradling Iris in his arms. His eyes didn’t leave her face and his hand was on her wrist, checking her pulse, so he could convince himself that he didn’t lose her.
"Destroy him," he said curtly. He didn’t care how they were going to destroy Decratic. He didn’t even want to participate and leave his mate alone for a second.
Cane only wanted to cradle Iris like this for as long as it took for his heart to stop beating so hard with the fear of losing her.
"Well... If you said so." Lou cracked his knuckles. He was more than willing to destroy this creature that was more like a pain in the ass.
However, the fallen of Decratic didn’t stop the poisonous miasma. They needed to find the pillars.
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