051 - Cats and Birds

[JasonPaul]

If Glenn didn't already wish he knew a hint of magic, he most certainly did now.

The huge bird was circling around Glenn and Krivin like a vulture above a recently deceased armadillo, and Glenn found himself relegated to fending off its swooping attacks with his Zircon Blade while Krivin got the occasional spell in, lighting up the darkened area with fireballs. The damned thing was incredibly fast, though, and the huge gusts of wind it was offering up were certainly no help, nor was the extremely poor visibility from the general darkness of the area. The bird swooped time and again at the two, and every time it did Glenn was there to intercept its assaults by parrying at its talons.

"It's too damned fast," Krivin growled, unable to get any fireballs to connect.

"No luck here, either," Glenn said. "It keeps flying too high for me to get any meaningful damage in when it comes down."

"Keep it distracted," Krivin said as he chanted a different spell.

"Distracted? With what?" As he questioned Krivin's orders the bird screeched and swooped down yet again. Glenn expertly dove between it and Krivin, slashing at its talons with the Zircon blade. Once again it simply flew higher into the sky.

But it was enough, as the tip of Krivin's staff glowed light blue as he unleashed a powerful rune. "Zei...dein!" In an instant the huge bird was struck by a lightning bolt from the sky, and the electricity that coursed through the creature's body illuminated the entire area. "Well, that seemed to do something," Krivin said breathlessly.

"Yeah," Glenn replied. "But now it looks mad..." The gusts of wind were now much more powerful, and Glenn and Krivin were doing all they could just to stay on their feet. The creature prepared for another dive, but as it did the two heard some commotion to their right. In the dim light, they noticed a familiar figure falling to the ground as a result of the fierce winds. He quickly scrambled to his feet, trying to recover his swords, Rhythm and Blues, in the midst of the confusion.

"I thought I told you to run!" Krivin shouted to Logan. Worse, it seemed as though the bird heard Krivin, as it veered away from the warrior and mage and directed its attentions to Logan, who was still stunned from the previous fall. As it reached down at Logan with its talons outstretched and screeched with terrible rage, he brought his twin blades up in desperation, hoping to parry the bird's attack.

It never came. Instead it stopped in mid-swoop, its screeching drowned out by the sound of a pair of machine guns. The beast jerked and writhed in pain as a hail of bullets pierced into it. When the noise stopped, Glenn stared at the bird through the darkness with what little illumination the Zircon blade could muster and saw what looked like a blue-haired felinefolk riding the bird like an enraged bull. The bird screamed horribly as Blue plunged one of her butterfly knives into the creature's right eye, causing the monstrosity to shake violently enough to throw Blue off of it. She landed nimbly on her feet, then turned to her sister, who was pulling Logan out of harm's way and towards the main group. "Blow its goddamn head off with the big gun!" Blue commanded.

"I can't!" Red protested. "There's too much wind! I can't aim it properly!" She began reloading her Uzis as the creature rose into the air, half blinded, wounded, and very, very angry. This time, however, it didn't make an attempt to swoop down at the group. Instead it began fiercely flapping its wings, releasing an even more powerful gust of wind that sent the two felinefolk off of their feet almost instantly, and the three men were having their own difficulties staying on their feet as well. The beast used the distraction to its advantage and dove down at the group with blinding speed.

Just before the creature reached Glenn, however, the Zicron Blade became a bluish-green in his hands--a color he'd not seen before. It suddenly erupted forth a powerful gale, and Glenn could feel his energy draining as it was not only powerful enough to counteract the immense wind that the monstrosity had created, but it also struck their foe dead on and stunned it momentarily. He was sent flying backwards on impact. His spell had dissipated and left him feeling more faint and exhausted than ever.

However, Krivin was there to take advantage of the situation, raising his staff and launching a powerful fire spell that struck the bird dead on. Glenn watched and heard the bird shriek and wail as it flew up into the sky alight in flames. Horribly wounded the bird flew away as best as it could, leaving a trail of fire in its wake as it left the others behind.

Krivin turned to others. He helped Blue to her feet as Red did the same for Logan. Blue shook her head, the wind still knocked out of her. "Is it dead?" she asked.

"I don't think it'll come back to bother us for a while, at least," Krivin replied. "It's fortunate that Glenn helped us when he did."

"Yeah, it is," Red muttered, a hint of worry in her voice. "Um...where did Glenn go just now anyway?"

Logan blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he's not here," Red said. "He's gone!"