The Story of Evil: Volume I - Heroes of the Siege (20 page)

The phoenix and its rider flew in close to Wildwing and shot out a freezing vapor all over Wildwing’s exposed underbelly, arms, and wings. The gryphon’s green feathers were frozen into solid ice where he had been hit. Ty felt his stomach twist as they rapidly began to fall down toward the earth. The phoenix flew down after them, waiting for its stamina to build back up, so it could produce its next attack. Ty knew the monster would try to frost the rest of Wildwing, so that he would have no chance of breaking free of the ice.

The orc fired a fleet of arrows down at Ty. They had all missed him, but each one painfully lodged into Wildwing’s topside. Ty needed to do something to save his gryphon from the onslaught of attacks. He reached behind his shoulders and took out his two swords. He quickly brought them out and dangerously swung the tips towards himself, cutting the leather straps of the harness that attached him to Wildwing. Ty wasn’t afraid of cutting himself; his accuracy with the two swords was beyond excellent. He always landed his attacks precisely where he wanted.

The tension of the straps released, and they flew behind Ty, flapping in the wind. The Elf removed his feet from the stirrups and let himself fall off his monster. He felt like he hovered in the air for a brief moment as he saw Wildwing plummet down towards the Circle City without him. Ty turned in the air, facing towards the white and blue phoenix flying down at him.

The phoenix tried to bite him in the air, but Ty bent out of the way as the phoenix’s large jaws snapped just inches from his face. The Elf stabbed his swords into the side of the enemy monster. Ty almost lost his grip when it felt like his shoulders were going to be ripped out of their sockets from the change of direction, but he had successfully transferred monsters in a death defying move.

With no holds for his feet, Ty used every ounce of muscle in his arms to pull out each sword and then plant it higher than the previous impalement. The phoenix stopped giving chase and leveled out in the air, unsuccessfully trying to reach his neck around to bite off Ty, who was in his blind spot.

Since the beast was at the same horizontal level as the ground, the orc got out of his saddle and began walking towards Ty, who had been able to pull himself up onto the phoenix. Ty was lying on his back on the phoenix’s back, exhausted from the physical toll climbing the monster had taken on his biceps and shoulders.

He rolled out of the way to avoid the orc stomping down in an attempt to crush his face. Ty created space by spinning on his butt and somersaulting towards the phoenix’s saddle, rolling past the orc. He stood up and turned around to face his enemy.

The orc had already drawn an arrow from his quiver and was pulling it back in his bowstring. There was no way Ty could kill the monster before he released, so Ty ran at the gray orc with his bloodied swords. The moment Ty saw the orc’s bicep twitch, he ducked, and the arrow sailed over his back, grazing his cross diagonal sheaths.

Ty stood back up to a full upright position and continued charging towards the orc. He swung both swords down onto the enemy. The orc dropped his bow and caught both of Ty’s wrists in his hands. The two struggled. Neither had an advantage in leverage. The savage monster reached his head down and bit his sharp teeth into Ty’s right forearm. Ty yelled in pain and reeled backwards from the unexpected attack. He accidently let go of his primary sword as it bounced off the phoenix and fell down to Element.

The orc bent down and picked up his steel bow. He brought it up in defense to block the warrior’s downward strike with the secondary sword in his left hand. Sparks flew as steel hit steel. With the sword being the more balanced weapon, the orc needed to use both of his hands to hold up the bow.

Ty used his free right hand (covered in blood from the deep bite) to reach down into the small sheath on the right side of his thigh to pick up the only other weapon he carried – a dagger. Every warrior, no matter what, carried their main weapon, and then somewhere on their person had a secondary backup weapon. Ty had his attached to his leg.

The orc saw him pull it out, but there was nothing he could do to stop Ty. He could not let either hand off the bow which defended him from Ty’s sword. He would not have the strength in one hand to hold up the skinny bow against the power of the heavier sword pushing down in the center of it.

Ty watched the orc’s already ugly and disfigured face become even more twisted in anger. Usually in the moment when a person or monster knows that they are about to be killed, they will either choose to surrender or die.

The gray orc did not surrender.

Ty drove his dagger three quick times upward into the orc’s unarmored stomach. The orc stumbled backwards, and backwards, and right off the back of the phoenix. Out of the corner of Ty’s eye he saw a green beam shoot through the air. He jumped off the back of the phoenix and into the air. The powerful blast of wind energy smashed into the face of the phoenix he had been on, knocking it unconscious.

Ty began spinning and twisting towards Celestial. He knew his gryphon was alive and was the one who had just shot the phoenix. Wildwing would have easily been able to shake free of the ice before he hit the ground.

In the air, Ty put his dagger away and sheathed his only sword across his back. He enjoyed a minute of free falling until Wildwing flew over to him. The gryphon came in next to Ty so that they were falling together. Ty easily grabbed onto Wildwing’s green feathers and pulled himself into the saddle.

The two continued fighting, killing monsters from behind who were trailing warrior friends. Overall, the warriors were vastly outnumbered. Friendly monsters were dying fast. They might have been able to take out two or three enemy monsters before ending up plummeting down soon after them.

Ty and Wildwing had lasted for a while when a huge black dragon being ridden by a hooded man cloaked in black joined the fight. He and his dragon took total control over the battle. The dragon was by far the largest Ty had ever seen. He had heard about this beast. Its reputation was notorious. Ty had never seen him before, but he knew who it was the moment he saw the size of the obsidian-scaled dragon.
We as people of the four races have our heroes of legend. Among the monsters, Nightstrike is considered a monster of legend and he hasn’t even been alive for fifty years.

As he moved through the center of the aerial battlefield, Nightstrike blasted water, wind, electricity, and earth elements into every warrior’s monster. He had an amazingly high level of stamina. Nightstrike didn’t need to wait to recover energy before using his next elemental attack. Right and left, Ty watched dragons, gryphons, and phoenixes ridden by warrior friends be brutally defeated. They were encased in ice, paralyzed, and suffered broken limbs. If the first impact didn’t instantly kill them, it hurt them enough that the remaining enemy monsters quickly finished them off.

Ty watched all of the warriors’ monsters die:
Lavaflame. Rip Claw. Whirlwind, and two of his three sons: Whirlwind Brother 1 and Whirlwind Brother 2. Flashbolt. Stonescorch. Starfire. Aftershock. Pyrosurge.

He knew all of them. His father had introduced him to most of these friendly monsters. These monsters had known Ty for his whole life. Pyrosurge, Father Whirlwind, and a couple of others had known Ty’s grandfather Jackson Canard and even Ty’s great grandfather before him. The large monsters had been through many generations of people’s lives since they lived for hundreds and hundreds of years. Their lifespan was far greater than even the 150 year lifespan of Elves. Each one of the ancient monsters had scars, acquired from countless battles from wars of the past.

Ty could not believe what he was seeing. It was hard to say goodbye to friends who had been so stable and dependable for so long. Ty always thought they would still be alive in his children’s lives and their children’s lives as well. These monsters had helped build Celestial. They had helped the civilians of Celestial and saved the Circle City from fires and other natural disasters.

It was not only the monsters Ty was saying goodbye to, it was their riders as well. Some of them were veteran warriors that had grown up with Caesar Canard. After his father’s death, when Ty passed his test and was accepted into the warriors, these men took the young warrior under their wing in memory of his father. The veterans taught Ty the strategy and tactics he frequently used in battle. These men were like uncles to Ty. He watched in horror as each one died in pain.

Ty was the last one to be attacked by Nightstrike and its hooded rider. Wildwing was zapped with a huge blast of lighting from the giant black scaled dragon. It was much more powerful than the blast they had gotten hit with from the yellow gryphon earlier. Ty felt the breath leave Wildwing as the electrical surge passed through the gryphon’s body.

Wildwing was killed on impact.

The gryphon’s large body absorbed most of the surge, sparing Ty. But the Elf was still electrocuted. He felt numbness move through his entire body. The feeling would not go away. He could not move his legs at all, which were tightly hugged to the gryphon’s body since he had cut his harness earlier. Ty struggled to move his arms. He could only move them slowly and restrictedly.

He used his bodyweight to lean back with the reins he held, hoping to steer Wildwing. He didn’t want to believe his best monster friend was dead. He wanted to take him into future battles, to play around with him in the barracks, and to tell him his problems and worries. Ty would always voice and vent his issues aloud when he was with Wildwing. Wildwing always listened to Ty. Even though he couldn’t understand Ty’s words, he always cared about his rider. Everyone needed someone they could talk to freely without having to feel like they were being judged. Wildwing was that to Ty.

Ty let go of the reins and laid his head down on Wildwing’s soft, feathery neck. He slid his fingers deep into the green feathers and grabbed on for support as they spiraled down toward Celestial. The Elf spoke to his monster even though he knew his words went unheard.

“We began this fight together, so we’ll end this fight together. I’ll see you in a minute, Wildwing.”

It seemed like slow motion as Wildwing fell, with Ty saddled on his back. Ty’s heart beat faster as the buildings got closer. Celestial was quickly growing in size below him.

The Elf feared he would end up just like so many people whose lives were lost on this terrible day. Each one of the deaths played out in his mind.
The people in the stands of the joust, the burned squire, the mother and her girls, Klar, the veteran riders I fought alongside, Wildwing.
I am going to end up just like my father and grandfather. Continuing the legacy they left: warriors who die in their youth, before we ever really have the chance to live. At least the cursed legacy will end with me since I left no child.

Deep down, Ty rescinded his last thought. He had always wanted a child. Every man wants to leave a legacy, for his surname to live on. Unlike Ty, his child might have finally been the one to break the curse.

Ty thought about all of the girls he dated in his life. He had always had some girl he took around wherever he went, but he never met that one girl that stood apart from the rest. That was completely his fault though. He had always been interested in quantity over quality. As soon as he went out on a date, he purposely found a flaw with the girl so he could be with someone different the following week. Finding flaws in others was easier than confronting his personal flaw: the fear of commitment.

Ty somewhat regretted not taking the time to get to know the girls he dated on the inside, rather than just on the outside. Maybe if he would have changed his perspective and given more of himself, he might have found someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Maybe he would be married already. Maybe he would have already had a kid by now.

Would’ves, could’ves, and maybes. There is so much more in life I haven’t experienced yet.

Ty closed his eyes to avoid the sickening pit in his stomach as his worst fear came to mind.
I’ve done nothing in my life to be remembered by. I’ve lived a wasted life. And now it’s too late to change that fact.

Precious seconds. If only I could have had more precious seconds.

Chapter 17

The wood splinters filled the air after Celestial’s hometown jouster landed a devastating blow on his yellow armored opponent. The red armored warrior removed his helm and trotted in front of the stands on his way back to his side of the arena. Kari Quinn felt like there was something wrong with her for not being able to take her eyes off him. He was such an attractive man. It wasn’t his physical looks that captured her gaze. What caught her eye was the warrior’s huge smile and the fact that he was having fun. He wasn’t nervous about the match, (from what she could tell) he was simply enjoying his life in that moment, smiling, and playing to the crowd who loved him.

When he looked directly at her, she quickly darted her eyes to the side, pretending like she hadn’t been staring even though he was the center of the entertainment. When she looked back, his horse was riding back to its side, but the warrior had turned in his saddle and craned his neck, still fixated on her.

Kari couldn’t help but smile back. She didn’t even realize she was holding up two fingers towards him, showing him how many points he needed to advance to the championship match.