Chapter 3 - Opposing the Darkness

A deep guttural roar echoed through the mountains in the dead of night, reflecting off the valley walls and causing all life that heard it to stop in fear and seek shelter. Another roar followed almost immediately, a mixture of primal anger that tapered out to a thin scream of debilitating agony. Heavy growling breaths of a wounded beast wound their way off outcroppings and among the rusted ruins of the ancient past.

Two gryphons circled at a distance, watching and at alert as the beast staggered to her feet with glazed eyes. Shaking her head and swaying uncertainly, she fell forward, catching herself with an outstretched elongated hand and at a crouch. Ashen skin mottled with patches of reddened sores showed through her fur that was no longer soft, but bristly and falling from her in ragged clumps. Blood trickled from her maw, Kitaraiya’s new facial features further blunted and haggard in appearance with the transformation.

The web of white veins glowed in the dark, dim and pulsing sickly in time with her heart as monster tried to rise again. Whimpering and growling horribly in the attempt before her leg folded beneath her and she crumpled to the sand.

“Kit...” Rhyker said softly, his eyes narrowing, immediately noting the lack of reaction, “Kit?!”

He quickly stepped closer, again the wounded beast that was his sister did not respond to his voice or movement, instead flailing in an attempt to rise and roaring in frustration. Keeping just beyond her reach, he stood ready, carefully watching her weakening movements.

“Kit?” he whispered, growing silent as he saw the blood soaking the fur around her ears.

Abandoning his fear, he stepped within her reach and pulled the monster to a kneel, hugging her as she struggled blindly, her claws wrapping around his back and tearing at him as his eyes blazed blue with ethereal fire. Grabbing a fistful of her mane he pulled back and looked into her unfocused and unseeing eyes, her jaw wide, snapping at the air weakly. Without hesitation he pressed her snarling, open jaw onto his shoulder and its bloodied wound. A split second of silence descended on them before her teeth sunk into his flesh savagely, making him grit his teeth with the familiar pain.

The surge of blood flooded the beast’s mouth as he surrendered himself to her. Her jaw clamping and releasing slightly with every swallow of his life. Grimacing, he focused over the pain and the ragged screaming pulse of torn flesh, the blue flames held in check for the moment. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the gryphons, Hendosphyre moving closer and at the ready and Calasylara shifting out wide and to the side, her eyes sharply tracking his face. In the monster’s grasp he could feel her grip strengthening, those claws digging in and pressing him tighter as she continued to drink.

Rhyker grimaced and started to wedge his right hand in between them in preparation to break her grip to hear a guttural warning growl as she paused, her teeth still hooked into his shoulder.

“Kit?” he asked.

Again, the warning snarl. The tightening of the grip and tearing of claws making him bite back a scream as they dug further into his back, scraping against ribs. The eye he could see was now focused and watching him. Her fur no longer in clumps and her skin regenerating rapidly.

“Tiff, it is enough...Tiff!?”

In response, he felt himself being lifted. His feet left the sand as she bit in deeper, bending him over backward and pinning him possessively to her, overpowering him. A dull throb started to hammer at his chest as she continued to feed, every second growing stronger as he weakened.

“Cala!” he gasped through the monster’s suffocating grasp.

Almost instantly, Calasylara attacked the monster from the side, barrelling into her and making her lose her grip. Rhyker grunted through gritted teeth, trying his best to stay quiet as he was sent sprawling. He rolled to his side and struggled to get his legs under him, whipping his head around to get his eyes on Kitaraiya as his vision swam. Blue flames licked from his under his lids while blood ran down his back and chest, slowing to a trickle while he manipulated the ethereal fire running through him.

A sharp shriek sounded as the two beasts circled each other. Fighting vertigo on the edge of consciousness, the incessant slow hammer of his heart made the world spin. A dull thud and shriek drew his attention. Peering through the dark haze blanketing his vision, he made out Calasylara squaring off against his sister, the monster, blood staining her fur and bright blue eyes glowing fiercely. He stumbled, the loss of blood robbing him of his strength and balance as he backed away. Black tendrils started to gather akin to ebon ink in the darkness, the power once again awakened from the copper dragon’s blood, reacting protectively and finding its way to him.

An angry roar was met with Calasylara’s piercing cry as they traded blows. Feathers flying as the gryphon kept herself between the siblings. He watched as she blustered her wings in the attempt to drive the monster back, one already battered and stained, the other being favoured. A low cry from Hendosphyre caught his attention, the larger of the two gryphons watching his mate carefully as she was being methodically beaten down by Kitaraiya’s onslaught. A sharp crack echoed off the valley walls and Calasylara’s body crumpled, falling limply to the sand. Almost immediately, faint light started to stream from her lifeless body as it grew insubstantial and ghostly, returning once again to the pendant.

The monster now fully rejuvenated stalked through the dissipating light, her angry bright blue eyes finding him in the moment before she roared. In response he kept his stance, drawing himself up and fighting the wild pitch and roll of vertigo. His eyes met Hendosphyre’s and he registered shock from the gryphon as the inky shroud gathered faster around him.

“I just need a few moments more.” Rhyker growled under his breath.

Hendosphyre gave a clipped nod and reared, beating his large wings heavily, kicking up sand and blustering the beast with an enhanced gale. Rhyker watched while she shielded her face, snarling in defiance as Hendosphyre managed to keep distance between them for those few seconds more. A strange silence surrounded him as the beast reached Hendosphyre, the black of the shroud complete. Quickly glancing at his forearms he saw the fiery paths slowly building under his skin.

Time slowed, the darkness deeper than night. He could feel the sluggish swell of power turn into a torrent, the black feeding his strength. He stepped toward them as Kitariaya rained blows, her clawed hands meeting feathers instead of flesh while Hendosphyre gave ground. Gesturing to the surrounds, more darkness was drawn to him until finally he drew upon the ethereal flames to bolster him, sharpening his perception and granting him a margin of readiness.

Another roar tore through the air as Hendosphyre was pitched sideways, scrabbling to right himself. Rhyker saw the blood drip slowly from her claws, the victorious growl as her blazing eyes landed on him, the first step before the second as time equalised. The beast charged and collided, jaw wide and snapping at his chest, catching his left arm as he offered it in defence. He growled in pain, pushing his arm in hard and to the back of her jaw, feeling her teeth slice deeply into muscle and not letting her withdraw. Blue flames flared in response while the unnatural darkness constricted around them. His free arm hugging her closer as numbness spread throughout his body, the tearing of her claws at his back almost going unnoticed.

His eye met hers, the sudden fear as the beast understood, his voice close to her ear, “I have you, Tiff.”

Holding on as best he could while she thrashed, the darkness reacted to his command, smothering, strangling and binding her. It compressed around them, robbing the beast of her drive and delivering fear in its wake.

Once again, he looked into her eye as fear now screamed in its depths, her jaw locked around his savaged arm as a whine came from her throat. Attempting to withdraw, the beast tried to pull back, Rhyker hooked his right arm in harder, locking it around the back of her neck.

“No Tiff…” he growled, his eyes blazing violently.

The shroud of darkness swept around them, further tightening its grasp on Kitaraiya until her legs buckled. Standing over her kneeling form with his lacerated arm forcibly keeping her jaw locked open, he felt her claws slowly grow weak, her hands dropping to her sides.

“Sleep.” he commanded through gritted teeth.

Kitaraiya sat, looking at the flames that flickered, the occasional snap and pop of the arid woods that fuelled the fire. She glanced across at Rhyker, his propped up form, eyes glowering slightly in the reflected light.

“Rhy…” she whispered.

“There is nothing to say, Kit.” he responded, “We have survived.”

“Rhy, I… You know that I was not in control?”

His blue eyes moved slightly before returning to the flames, her question remaining unanswered.

“All I remember are wings of flame.” she said, staring into the night, “Wings and death.”

The silence grew between them, an expectant hush as the sound of wind on wings echoed down from above. She watched his face, the hollow eyes of fatigue.

“You used the second last…” she said, stalling as he closed his eyes, “You saved us both, Rhy.”

A low chuckle shook his shoulders, finishing in a dry cough, “…Saved us? It is just survival using whatever means necessary.”

She met his eyes, “Would the last…”

“The wounds are healing and fast. But it will not replace lost blood.” he grimaced, shifting slightly, “Using the last would be a waste.”

Kitaraiya nodded, a frown on her lupine face, “I know how much they mean to you, but…” she said, her voice trailing to silence as his eyes met hers, “I know why they are more important now than before.”

She quickly shifted around and knelt in front of him, “Why did you not tell me?”

Rhyker smiled slightly before looking down at his hand, shaking his head.

“Rhy, why did you not tell me that Lia is…”

He looked at her, his expression softening, “This world’s Sialin?” he chuckled softly, “She is… Definitely her.” he said, letting a finger trace behind his ear, “From when we first arrived, my connection to our Sialin should have been severed. But when I first laid eyes on Lia, it made sense.”

“It was her; so Sialin’s mark on me remained.” he said with a small shrug, “You know what that means.”

Kitariaya looked at him, “To Sialin, you would be dead. Your mark would be dark where we came from.”

“Why make matters worse and destroy a dream, no matter how slim it is?” Rhyker said, his voice low, “I did not tell you, because you still had a thread of hope.”

Kitaraiya smiled slightly, her teeth showing, “Do you believe me to be so fragile?” she said, looking at him sidelong, “How did you know I still hoped?”

“How many times had you checked behind my ear while I slept, Kit?” he replied, meeting her eyes.

Kitaraiya nodded slowly, sitting back on her haunches and giving a small smile, “Too many times.”

He smiled wearily in return before glancing at the ruins shadowed in night, “I almost lost you in there.”

“I almost killed you out here.” she said softly, reaching out and carefully touching his cheek, “We must be more careful.”

He grimaced through a smile, lifting his right hand and rubbing the side of her jaw and up behind an ear, watching as she leaned into his hand, “We must, Kit.”

She took his hand in her own, carefully inspecting it, “How bad is it really? The injuries?”

Rhyker just raised an eyebrow, “I need mother or father… Kit, you know what I did.”

Kitaraiya stared at him, the memory of his pain haunting her.

She quickly glanced up, picking out constellations and frowning, “Almost midnight, can you ride?”

He tilted his head and gave a slight shrug, shaking his head, “Ride? The real question is, can you?”