As soon as my hands had made contact with the hilts of the twin lion swords. The two lion statues set behind seemed to come alive, pouncing at me and I was consumed in their power.

The white winged lion held power over white flames, far hotter than the flames of the beast I had faced in the orchard.

The black winged lion held power over black lightning, faster to strike and more devastating than ordinary lightning.

I could feel their power circling aggressively within my body. I thought I was about to become consumed, but it all came to a standstill as I stood before them.

They stood there so proud, their gaze upon me. I noticed the white lion had golden decorations with green gemstones in places on his body. On his shoulders, head piece and on some of his wings. On the black lion he had the same decorations but in silver with blue gemstones.

“You think you can handle our power,” the black one spoke first.

“Yes,” I responded without hesitation.

“He is from the same city as that last one,” the black one looked at the white. “He wants nothing but power.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t want power… Well, I do but that’s not why I am here.”

“Then why are you here?” questioned the white lion.

“Tigra believes I am the one who is meant to release you from the pedestal,” I replied. “I didn’t even want to come, but when I heard Dumah wanted to destroy you, I had to try.”

“Try what?!” Snarled the black lion, he didn’t seem to like me very much; I suspect that was the same with most Animalia who came to claim their power.

“To save you,” I responded strongly.

“Save us, you are a fool,” snapped the black lion ready to pounce.

“I’m the fool, you’re the ones who have been calling me here, are you not,” I snarled back.

“How dare you?” he growled.

“Calm yourself,” the white lion stepped forward. “Yes, we did call for you, after all you already have Larana and Mila. I sense their power within you, the bond you share with them is strong but still needs much work.”

“They align themselves with you,” said the black lion almost sounding disgusted.

“I have known Larana my whole life. Mila was given to me by the queen of Cathopia and helped to heal a friend in need.” I began to explain myself, even though it was none of their business. “I know, you know them well from the old stories of Fang as you were his talismans.”

“Indeed,” nodded the white lion. “It may be a little early, but we shall test you.”

“Fine,” snorted the black lion.

“Test?” I repeated.

“If you can call our names before our power overwhelms you, then you are meant to wield our power,” said the white.

“But I don’t know your names,” I protested.

“You didn’t know Larana or Mila’s either,” commented the white lion. He was right about that, but I was never forced or given a limited amount of time on discovering their names, they just came to me.

“Well, you better hear them quickly because I am not holding back,” snarled the black lion. “I am sick of Animalia thinking they can tame our power.”

“We don’t want to kill him.” The white lion shook his head, definitely the more reasonable one. “But…” Great I thought, a but. “Considering he carries Larana and Mila’s power, perhaps going all out wouldn’t be a bad thing.” Suddenly his whole body set a light with white fire, blindingly hot and destructive, yet I felt calm.

“Now you’re talking,” roared the black lion; his body sparking with black lightning, flickering off in every direction, some even came close to hitting me, but I did not move.

“Are you trying to frighten me?” I questioned feeling he had aimed those at me on purpose.

“Don’t test your luck, boy,” snarled the black lion.

“Remember you must hear our names before our power overwhelms you,” informed the white lion. “If you feel it is too much remove your hands from our hilts, we do not wish to kill you.”

“You don’t,” commented the black lion.

I had no time to react as they both pounced at me. My eyes widened as they made contact. The white lion biting my right arm and the black lion biting my left arm.

I felt their power course through my entire body, filling it with unbearable pain, just like when I connected with Yuuma, but this was two talismans of two different elemental power, my body hot and burning.

I wanted to scream out, to let go of their swords, but I bit my lip and held on even tighter, trying with all my might to pull out the two swords.

“Alex.” I faintly heard Tigra’s voice. The danger of the cloned knights would slowly be approaching, I needed to protect her.

I fought the pain of heat and electricity pulsing through my numbing body. With every second I found the pain worsening, getting harder to breathe as the heat caught in my breath.

“Call our names!” I heard the white lion’s voice piercing through my mind.

“He is a tough one,” commented the black lion. “But I doubt he will last much longer.” I felt his teeth dig in deeper. I let out a yelp and almost let go of the black lion’s sword. “That’s it, let go,” he snarled.

“Never!” I refused to give up, gripping tighter to the lion’s swords.

Clinging on with only my will power left as the remainder of my body had become completely numb. A part of me wanted to give up, but knew their power was what I needed to protect Tigra and Brendan, if I did not draw them we would never escape this place, the temple perhaps ending up our graves.

Through the blindness of the heat, the pain, and the numbness, I could hear the sound of whispering, two words, two names.

I had almost fallen into an endless daze, slowly closing my eyes; gradually I could hear the names more clearly than before, getting louder in my head. I knew them.

I opened my eyes and with the remains of my strength I began to pull the two swords with weakened strength calling out their names and as I said those names the two swords released themselves from their pedestals.

“Raziel! Arata!” As their names left my lips I felt I knew them so very well.

Raziel, the white winged lion of fire, a knowledgeable advisor to his master, calm one of the two, he was a gentle spirit and was more than happy to give help to anyone who asked him for it. His fire abilities were powerful, fierce like a wildfire, capable of burning through anything, almost like lava.

Arata, black winged lion of lightning, he preferred you to figure things out for yourself, silent and disapproving from a painful past he refused to show me, but I could already tell he had your back when called upon. His powerful lightning could strike an enemy from miles away, extremely accurate, burning like fire and explosive; he was a far faster flying than Raziel due to his power of lightning.

I could feel their power continue to flow through me as my own power began to connect to theirs. Their power was just as great as Larana and Mila’s, I could feel their powers greeting each other within me, as old friends came together ones more.