“Easy now…” Verlais muttered as he supported the webbed-up creature and Arksi slowly cut through the mess. “Careful…”
“You’re not helping…”
“Sorry… How many have the others done?”
Arksi rolled his eyes and sawed harder at the webbing, his blade going nowhere. “Including this one and that one? None. Don’t get why this isn’t working…”
A growl echoed behind them. Ct’Era had gotten angry and thrown her blade down. Kindyna hissed at her to stay quiet, not wanting to disturb the Zonta behind the golden wall. Ct’Era growled again, then slashed at the web with her claws.
The web immediately tore, and a small Thraki fell to the ground, bruised all over.
“T-t-thank y-you, Banikan…” it cowered, bowing in their presence.
Ct’Era glanced at Kindyna, then back at the Thraki.
“Um. You are welcome. Why are you here?”
Before the Thraki could answer, something shook the ground, and the sound of a portal opening up filled the air. Something strange was going on behind the golden walls that kept the Whenvern trapped.
“I KNOW YOU ARE HERE, KRONARON. IT DOES NOT MATTER. I HAVE ALREADY WON. BUT JUST FOR FUN, KILL THEM, MY ZONTA.”
The little Thraki quickly flew off in a panic, leaving the four beings behind.
“Kronaron? Does he mean us?” Verlais asked as he drew a sword.
“YES, I MEAN YOU. YOU’RE KRONO-DESSARON. KRONARON.”
The voice laughed as the heavily built Zonta started climbing over the walls. Knowing that their guns were of no use, both Arksi and Kindyna threw them at the incoming horde, surprisingly taking one Zonta out.
As the first Zonta approached, Ct’Era responded by picking it up and throwing that too, before spearing one with her horns and tearing another one apart. Verlais and Kindyna took out stragglers while Arksi made sure that they didn’t get too close, generating telekinetic shields to thin out the horde. Zonta were swiftly falling left and right, only to reform and get back up. The only ones that stayed down were the ones bitten or otherwise torn apart by the rampaging Banikan.
Suddenly, a tortured roar filled the air. Behind the golden walls, a white and blue glow appeared. The Whenvern was screaming in pain.
“We need to get in there!” Verlais shouted as he stabbed a Zonta in what he assumed was its face. “We need to free it!”
Kindyna slit the throat of a Zonta, then turned to face the wall. “How do we get in there? Arksi can’t fly us all up there!”
“I could drop you in there though,” Arksi suggested as he grabbed a Zonta by the tail and flung it over the wall. “Not like that though. You get in there, we’ll distract the rest.” The young Rethavok created a telekinetic platform which Kindyna jumped onto. He then pushed Kindyna up towards the edge of the wall and she disappeared from view.
Inside, Kindyna could finally see what was happening. In front of her was a squirming, draconic being, with strange, white feathers and four eyes, its body looking like it was slowly dissolving into shards of glass. On a platform above it stood a gold, black and brown being, with metre-long claws and a pair of antlers sticking out from its skull-like face. The shards of dissolving Whenvern were slowly floating upwards towards the humanoid creature.
“YOU’RE TOO LATE, KRONARON. ALL OF YOU CHILDREN OF KAIROS. BUT WHEN I BECOME BOTH STASIS AND TIME, YOU WILL BE MY CHILDREN TOO, STARTING WITH THESE DRAKIAN SOULS.”
Kindyna ignored Stasis’s boasts and rushed straight over to the nearest chain. She pulled put a dagger and considered sawing it but quickly realised that would do nothing. But as the Thanatian placed her hands on the chains, they started withering away. Once the chain disappeared completely, the Whenvern’s free limb started to move and she moved over to the next one.
Noticing that the mortal being was ruining his plan, Stasis leaped down from the platform, blocking Kindyna’s path. The Whenvern screamed in pain again, flailing its body, unwillingly giving more power to Stasis.
“YOU THINK IT WOULD BE THAT EASY? THOSE CHAINS ARE NOT CHAINS.”
Stasis stepped forward, creating a large blade out of thin air. Kindyna stepped backward, drawing her own blade. She couldn’t help but feel slightly nervous.
“DUCK!”
Kindyna ducked, but Stasis ignored the shout, only for Verlais to land on his head. He spun round, pulling Stasis down by the antlers.
“Get those chains broken!” Verlais commanded, just as Stasis broke free. The Vrekan slid between Stasis’s legs, keeping himself between Kindyna and the Deitic.
“They’re not the only chains though!”
“They’re dealing with it!”
Outside the golden walls, a new roar filled the air, as Arksi and Ct’Era worked to free the trapped Thraki. In return, the Thraki helped fend off the Zonta, levelling the playing field. But for each Zonta they killed two more would spring up, as Stasis created more to replace the fallen monsters.
Several Thraki flew upwards, only to be knocked to the ground by Stasis. Some Thraki helped carry their fallen brethren away, but as the numbers of Zonta only increased, many of the Thraki started to retreat, fleeing towards the dark portal-walls back to reality.
Back inside, Kindyna was nearly finished. She only had one more chain to break, a large, golden collar around the Whenvern’s neck. She climbed up onto the gigantic dragon’s back and placed her hands around the collar. This time though, it was taking much longer to disintegrate.
Below, Verlais was starting to struggle, and Stasis was pushing him into a corner. He rolled out of one of Stasis’s swings, only for Stasis to slash his leg with his gigantic, toothed blade. Having wounded the Vrekan, Stasis held his sword up high, ready to finish him off, but the final blow was blocked by a familiar shield.
“Thanks, Arksi.”
“No need to thank me,” Arksi smiled as he leaped forward, throwing Stasis off by slamming his shield into the Deitic’s side. Ct’Era joined in the fight, leaping over the wall and charging straight into Stasis. Predicting the impact, Stasis muttered something, and Ct’Era found herself running straight through him.
Rolling his eyes, Stasis flicked his wrist, effortlessly lifting Ct’Era into the air and chucking her blindly at Verlais. Arksi jumped up, clinging on to Stasis’s arm and stabbing him repeatedly, only for Stasis to throw him off and fling Arksi to the ground.
With the other three defeated, Stasis turned his attention back to Kindyna.
“DID YOU FOUR REALLY THINK YOU COULD DEFEAT ME?”
Kindyna shook her head and smiled, as she held up the remains of the golden collar.
Suddenly, the Whenvern took off, flying into the air, taking both Stasis and Kindyna with him. Stasis tried to slash and swing his sword at the Whenvern, but Kairos was having none of it. He grabbed Stasis, wrapping him up in his massive, feathered tail and took off skywards. Between Stasis’s flailing and the powerful flaps of Kairos’s wings, Kindyna struggled to hold on, before being thrown off the Whenvern’s back.
As she fell, Kindyna watched as the two gods tore at each other, only to be separated by a third being, flying through the black inky sky and out into reality.
The strange, dark world Stasis had created began to crack around them.