CHAPTER 42: 42: BROKEN BRIDGE PT 2

Drake and his cohort waited as the sound of wings grew louder. The rhythmic beating of large leathery wings, clapping against the wind, was rapidly approaching the rim of the ravine, growing louder. The sound rose to a deafening volume, threatening to shatter their eardrums. It was a terrifying sound that vibrated the ground around them.

As the first forms ascended out of the ravine, breaking through the darkness, Drake tensed, ready to defend himself and his cohort. The others were doing the same.

A cloud of darkness broke through, bursting into the sky above, rising in a fluid flow of bat-like beasts. There were hundreds of them. Chad released his first arrow, then quickly notched a second. He fired in rapid succession, hitting one after the other. His arrows were nonstop. Fear gripped their hearts as they witnessed what was coming out of the depths of the ravine.

Drake slashed his whip, releasing his ethereal whip, slicing through several at once. He kept repeating the process. The longer he fought, the brighter his eyes glowed. He was getting stronger with each kill.

The bats were large, but not too large; they were the size of an eagle. They resembled bats with large leathery wings and large ears. Red eyes pierced through the darkness as they flew up and into the clouds, making room for more to ascend. They were fighting level 3 beasts. They didn’t seem too difficult to fight; it was the quantity. There were just too many of them. Drake feared the moment when the bats would begin their descent to attack them.

{You have slain...}

{Your cohort has slain...}

{You have slain...}

{Your cohort has slain...}

{You have slain...}

{Your cohort has slain...}

The messages kept coming; they were taking out dozens as Drake and Chad fought. Mike had no idea what to do. He was a swordsman, and he needed something that could kill at long range. He stood watching his friends do all the work, but only for a moment. He remembered a skill he hadn’t been using.

Renn was jumping up, catching, and eating those she could reach. Her massive fangs biting through their dark bodies as she bit them in half. Unlike those Drake and his friends fought, Renn’s didn’t turn into light particles. She was able to devour them as she snatched them out of the air with her powerful jaws. The bat-like creatures stayed away from her, but not far enough away. There were enough beasts close enough for her to reach so that she could pull them right out of the air.

Mike filled his sword with a white glow of energy, forming the white, razor-sharp blade. He shot the sharp energy blades up at the bats. He was finally able to contribute. He shot them as quickly as he could, killing them one after the other. Each blade killed several as it passed through the dark cloud of wings, fangs, and bright red eyes.

{You have slain...}

{Your cohort has slain...}

{You have slain...}

{Your cohort has slain...}

{You have slain...}

{Your cohort has slain...}

Drake kept hearing the soft voice as the system messages kept going. All of them could feel their power growing: their powers, strength, and speed. The cloud of bats was giving them power, making them stronger. The problem was, they weren’t sure if they could survive so many. The bat beasts were still flying up, seemingly with no end in sight.

The bats kept coming. They were an endless stream of blackness ascending out of the ravine in a dark cloud of flapping wings. They knew they could never kill them all.

The sound was high-pitched. Strong enough to shatter glass. The cloud was still ascending; The massive cloud of darkness growing larger with every second that passed.

After what felt like hours, but was only minutes, the end of the cloud was seen. The beasts gathered in the sky, forming together as if they were becoming one. Drake’s eyes widened as he realized what was happening. They were becoming one. They were forming into one large beast.

As they began to form together, the screeching started. Drake and his cohort fought the urge to cover their ears. The sound pierced their eardrums. Blood poured out of their ears as the screeching continued.

They couldn’t stop fighting. They had to keep the bats from forming into one massive, towering beast.

Drake abandoned his whip and pulled out his bow. Using his explosive arrows, he shot at the merging bats. As he did, he kept looking at Renn. He wanted to make sure she was safe. His friends were still uninjured, fighting with their respective powers.

His eyes widened as he realized what needed to be done. It was a gamble, but it would solve more than one problem.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Mike decided to try something. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but there was nothing else he could do. The white energy was fading. He was running out of it, unable to refill his sword. Filling his sword with electrical power, he shot lightning into the sky. It was a constant stream of lightning. As it touched the cloud of bat-like beasts, it struck several all at once. The lighting in the cloud spread like wildfire as bat after bat fell back down into the ravine.

***

The Dimension Master watched as the trio fought the bats. It was no easy task. He had remembered when he had fought them during his own ascension. If they didn’t prevent the bats from merging, the fight would become nearly impossible.

His two companions had left to retrieve an artifact, to see what he could do to prevent Drake from destroying the dimension. The Dimension Master knew that there were two sides to the prophecy. He didn’t know which side Drake would follow. He feared that his heir would destroy what they had been fighting for so long and hard to protect.

He hoped that the artifact could tell him how to keep his heir going on the right path; the path that led to saving the dimension.

Drake would be the last dimension master, his friends the last cohort. If he passed the trials, which there were seven of, he would become immortal, something that no other dimension master had ever achieved. They all had passed the trial, but they just never became immortal. Only the beast master would become immortal.

He knew the boy’s heart. He was a good person with a gentle soul. However, many things can change people. One of those things is the hardship of what he is going through now. He was afraid that if what Drake was going through kept up, he would hate the dimension so thoroughly that he would rather destroy it than keep it safe. If Drake were the one in the prophecy, he was the last dimension master who would have a legion of beasts that he would use to either destroy or save the dimension.

Pulling him out of his worries, his eyes widened as he witnessed what was happening on the screen.