Hearing the shriek from above brought us back from our ecstasy and I suddenly became hyper aware of my surroundings. The forest around us, the breeze blowing through the clearing, our sweat covered bodies, And the blinding light radiating from the creature directly above our woodland sanctuary.

Disentangling from each other Allegra and I rose from the grass and I observed the intruder. It had a terrifying beauty to it and I took note of its contrasting features. The wings attached to its back were covered with dazzlingly white feathers pure and clean, yet the sword it held had a wicked sheen as if it was alive and thirsted for the taste of blood. 

There were only a few moments to take stock of the situation however. As we gained our feet and eyes adjusted to the light the creature descended at a rapid pace directly towards me. With its sword poised to strike I knew immediately that it was intent to kill and that we were horribly outmatched.

I leapt to the side and rolled back to my feet, yelling for Allegra to fight, we could not run. I caught her movements from the corner of my eyes and saw that she had dove for her visor and was gathering her energy while the creature was preoccupied with me.

The creature landed in the spot that I had been standing just moments before and stalked towards me. Its eyes were blazing red as if they contained all of the fire and fury of heaven, Intent on destruction and death. As it glared at me I was frozen in terror, as if some otherworldly force were rooting me in place, helpless as a newborn babe.

I noticed a trail of energy snaking its way towards me through the grass and as soon as it reached my feet I could feel the muscles in my legs react and break free of their paralysis. Pumping with all of my strength, and then some thanks to Allegra’s assistance, I raced around the creature and made for my robes where my dagger was still nestled. 

Barely dodging a swing from the creatures blade I silently thanked Allegra for the strength she provided, without it there was no way I would have been able to move this quickly. I snatched up my dagger and turned to face the creature, I knew I would not be able to match it in a contest of raw strength even with the added strength flowing into me. 

I needed flames. I yelled for Allegra to start a grass fire, and she understood my plan immediately, withdrawing her focus from me and hurriedly searched her robes for anything that could start a blaze.

The creature had drawn close again and swung its sword in an arc intended to separate my head from my body. I was able to parry the blow with my dagger but the force of the swing left my arm numb and nearly knocked my dagger from my grip.

Lunging at the creature I stabbed for its midsection and it twisted just in time so that my blade grazed its stomach but could not find purchase. Realizing that this was no mindless killer I continued my lunge tumbling past and dodging the creatures own blow. Now behind the creature I could see Allegra had found a box of matches and was striking one furiously to start a fire in the long grass.

The creature saw her as well and changed its focus from me to stalk towards her, sword raised.

The match struck and I quickly directed the heat of the flame to the nearby grass, creating a wall of flame between the creature and Allegra. 

The creature bellowed and swung its sword through the blaze clipping Allegra on the shoulder. I could hear her cry out but could not go to her as the creature had rounded on me and had changed from a deliberate gait to a full on sprint. Raising my dagger to block the creatures next blow I focussed on gathering the raging flames to me.

I was knocked backwards by the force of the blow and the creature fell on me biting and clawing at me with animalistic ferocity. Enveloped in it’s wings I forced myself to focus on the flames, the inferno had reached a critical point and suddenly washed over the creature and I.

The screaming creature rolled from on top of me and attempted to extinguish the flames that were now consuming the feathers of its wings. The heat of my anger now manifested in the raging flames engulfing the creature as I conducted my crescendo of fire and fury, burning the creature to ashes.

Returning to Allegra’s side we embraced, hearts racing and naked in the moonlight.

Alexander Motus, Guardian # 51