The Enemies
Grandmaster Feng's smile dropped, turning sad. He sighed. "I wish I could help...but I can't."
He took hold of the twins' hands and returned their pendants back to them. He exhaled and then gave them each a pat on the shoulder, giving a weak smile. "I hate when I have to be serious," he admitted. "But here, before I go, I say in the presence of an elder of my sect and an elder of Infernal Spirit Sect, the future is in your hands."
"Help us defeat the enemy. I want them to know we are not mice they can simply just trample on. We need to fight back!"
Elder Sima and Teacher Li nodded in agreement.
Grandmaster Feng exhaled. "Any words for me?" he asked.
Eryn glanced up at the grandmaster, clutching the pendant tightly in her hands. "Will...we meet again?" she asked. This man was the one who had given them everything they were able to obtain so far, wasn't it too soon for him to leave already?
Grandmaster Feng flashed a grin. "Aw, my dear Eryn is missing me already," he said cheekily. He tapped his temple with his finger. "Don't worry, I'll still be here...you just won't be able to see me."
He let out another breath. Then he winked again. "Take good care of Drachnai and Aragnes," he whispered to their surprise. He leaned in and said, "Dragons must shine."
And with that, his form started to fade.
"Till, next time, Elder," the grandmaster said to Elder Sima. "You too, Li."
The four of them bowed as he backed away a few steps. But he wasn't done talking yet.
"Eryn, Elias! You are yet to acknowledge me as your ancestor," he said cheerfully. "I suppose it's fine, but you shall address my disciple as your uncle. That way I won't feel so estranged, hehehe."
And the last they saw of him was his eye-smile before he completely dissolved away into the thin air.
The four were silent, staring at the spot where he last stood before they were awoken by another rumble of the ground.
"Quickly!" Teacher Li implored as he hurried out of the hall.
Elder Sima and the twins hastily followed him back out in the courtyard, where many of the disciples were rushing about. They ran out into the open area of the sect property and bumped into some senior disciples.
"Reina!" Teacher Li called.
The lanky girl with long black hair and sharp features hurried to stand in front to take her orders. "Yes?"
"Gather all the disciples under the age of ten and take them underground with a few guards!" he ordered. He darted his eyes about his top students and ushered a short girl with short hair towards Reina. "Take Teal with you! Defend the little ones at all costs!"
"Yes!"
The two girls ran off, leaving three of the disciples behind.
A loud bang went off and the group stared up into the sky to see the enemy's giant eagles blocking out most of the sky, their men seat on the backs of the humongous beasts. A nasty cackle rang through the air and a blue blast shot down from the beasts, knocking down one of the pavilions to shreds.
A few teachers and elders were spotted in the air, driving their power to the maximum just to barely defend the sect. A dark-robed figure ascended into the air above the Grand Hall, emitting a powerful spell.
It was the sect's grandmaster.
"Eldest Sister and Brother already went off to fight!" cried one of the boys.
Teacher Li darted his eyes around frantically and finally spotted his eldest disciple pair standing at the peak of the mountain with their precious guqins in their arms.
"Flying Chord!" the girl's voice pierced through the air as she struck her hand across the instrument's strings. The chord blasted in the air and a visible stream of magical force sliced through the sky until it hit its target sitting upon the eagle's neck.
The figure screamed before toppling off the beast and falling down hundreds of feet down to the ground.
The Senior Brother and Sister did their best to take down as many enemies as they could, but they couldn't do much to prevent their attacks on the sect.
"Surrender now!" a voice boomed. "It is what's best for you!"
The grandmaster of the sect rose higher into the air, black flames erupting to life around him. "Never!" he thundered, waving his arms in preparation for a dark spell.
Two more chords struck through the air and hit their targets.
"Someone take down those two pests!" the same voice from above shouted.
Three figures jumped off one of the four beasts and landed on the mountain, engaging in combat with the two senior disciples.
"No!" Teacher Li called out. "Go assist your senior brother and sister!" he ordered the remaining three disciples that stood dumbfoundedly in front of him.
The three boys ran in the direction of the mountain without hesitation and leaped into the air, also preparing to fight.
Teacher Li rose into the air, flames gathering around his arms. "I must assist Grandmaster Qin," he shouted. He took off in the direction of the Grand Halls just as the grandmaster summoned his raging black hose spirit to counter the attacks from above.
Suddenly, a flurry of attacks began raining down from the sky mercilessly. A few collided with the defensive shields the elders put up and shattered them. One elder was knocked out of the sky and hit the ground with a sickening thud. Agitated disciples glanced in the direction of the fallen elder, but there was nothing they could do at the moment.
The rest of the attacks flew through and hit the sect directly, tearing up courtyards and putting holes in the ground.
Elder Sima only had enough time to throw up a counter to shield the stunned twins from being hit. "Elias! Eryn! Snap out of it! You have to move! I can't just let you both stand here forever!"
He took hold of both their wrists to take them away but stopped when they didn't move. "Kids, this is real-"
"You want them dead?" Elias interrupted, still looking up at the enemies in the sky.
"Excuse me?" Elder Sima shouted over the chaos and thunder.
"I said, do you want them dead?" he repeated, shaking free of the elder's grasp.
Elder Sima stared at them, flabbergasted. "W- why, yes..."
"Well then..." Elias squinted up at the four eagles and counted the thirty-or-so opponents on their backs, including the ones that started to descend to fight on the grounds.
Eryn wrinkled her nose. "Alas...what did Grandmaster Feng say again?" she muttered, a hint of excitement in her voice. "Dragons must shine..."
Elder Sima could only stare at them. "What are you going to do?" he asked.
The twins ignored him and turned around to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, facing their targets.
"Take the leader as a hostage so we can get information on the next attack," Eryn whispered to Elias. "Everyone else dies. They can't escape, or they'll warn them about us."
"Got it," Elias responded. "What about the eagles?"
"I take two, you take two. Don't be careless, we can't miss a single one."
Elder Sima darted his eyes between them as they murmured secretly between each other. He reached out with his arm to try to get their attention when all of a sudden they stopped talking, and a slight rumbled ran through the ground.
He backed away a few steps, perplexed.
Another jolt ran through the ground, and stone dented in beneath their feet.
The disciples called out, thinking they were being fired with another round of attacks.
Eryn squeezed her crystal in her hands, locking her eyes on her first target. "Ready?" she asked her brother.
"Ready," he replied.
Together they took a few steps forward and closed their eyes, the chaos around them turning only to a slight blur.
'Dragon Summoning.'
And the whole fight between the sects came to a stop as the mountain started to quake violently beneath their feet.