Then she heard the roar.

The Speaker turned to look at the sound and her eyes began to blink furiously. She had thought the bad habit she picked up as a human had been cured but it obviously hadn’t. What was worse was the fact that even with the blinking she still couldn’t believe her eyes.

The roar came from the entrance of the Morningstar Maze but unlike the simple hard-to-find entrance she first saw, this entrance was fearsome. The entrance itself looked the same but now on either side of it was a horrendously looking demon statue. On one side was a huge four-armed demon that had an oversized head. There was a different weapon on each arm and the statue had a pained look on its face. The other statue was much smaller but just as bad looking. This demon statue looked crazed with a smile that was as wide as her face and four sharp spikes on the top of her head. The statue was holding something circular in her hands but the Speaker had no chance of identifying what the thing was.

The pair was the most disturbing statues she had ever seen and the Speaker was thankful she had missed them till now. In her mind, the Speaker wondered why the Red Creator had created the ugly statues before quickly deciding that the disturbing ugliness must be deliberate. If the demon statues could disturb her, she can’t imagine what they would do to humans. The sight of the statues was even enough to make her temporarily forget the cause of the roar!

Between the two statues, charging out of the entrance of the Morningstar Maze were the demons of the Red Creator and in the lead was the demon the Speaker knew as Hellmight. In itself, that wasn’t surprising. However what he was riding was; the demonic bear was riding a T-Rex! The Speaker could not believe her eyes but even as she continue to blink, the sight was still there; the demons really were riding on the T-Rexes!

Everyone froze; Humans and Kin alike. No one could believe what they were seeing and then the Speaker heard a chuckle. She turned and saw that the sound was coming from the Alpha. The Speaker glared at her mate furiously. This was hardly the time for a laugh! Then the Alpha did something she did not expect; the Alpha looked to the sky and…howl!

Suddenly, it was as if a weight on her body was lifted and the world…it turned red for the Speaker.

***

“You guys seeing this?”

“Of course we are! We are a hive. If you are seeing this, so are the rest of…”

“Alright already! What are the Kin doing? They’re going into frenzy.”

“No idea. Maybe it has something to do with the owl we heard. A new ability?”

“Let’s ask the Hive later. Now let’s help.”

The Fire Hive gathered energy and move it. The battler was near but actually a distance away from their home. They need to a Boss that could reach the battle quickly and help their creatures but the spirits did not want to waste too much energy on the effort. They need to turn the tide of battle, not stay to help. The energy responded to the spirits’ wishes and began to change. Mount Morningstar erupted for the first time in decades and lava shot out of the formerly dormant volcano. The energy the Fire Hive had gathered grabbed hold of the lava and the instinct of the spirits took over. The lava gathered, it condensed, and formed a shape. The shape was a bird thrice the size of an eagle with scarlet feathers and within the Boss was one of the Fire spirits of the Fire Hive. Flames surround the Boss and the light was so bright it was as if there was a second sun in the sky.

Humans, Demons, and Kin saw the bird and exclaimed. First in surprise, then in marvel, and finally as the Firebird flew towards the battle, in fear! The Fire spirit controlling the Firebird flew straight towards the battle. As the Boss flew, the ground below the Boss burst into flames and soon a path of fire appeared heading towards the human army. The Boss never touched the humans but instead flew overhead. Even then the heat of the Firebird was so strong, humans below the raging heat from above and several humans exploded into flames. Screams filled the battlefield as the humans screamed in terror. They were not alone.

Delighted with the power of the Boss, the Fire spirit in charge flew on; over the Kin and the Demons! Several of the Kin burst into flames and even the more fire-resistance Demons were hurt by the flying Boss. Seeing this, the rest of the Fire Hive screamed at the Fire spirit controlling the Boss.

“YOU MORON! Fly over the humans ONLY!”