THE VURHAN FROM THE EAST II

"How many are there?"

"For the time being, I just smell one!"

Alicia couldn't understand what those people were talking about. She stood there watching as the man sniffed his way into the trees. He finally came to a halt in front of one and exclaimed,

"It's here!"

"What is here?" Alicia asked herself.

Slejj screamed at Alicia and Lisa as he turned around.

"Hurry! Get behind us!"

She became agitated, and her legs froze once more. Lisa threw her sweater aside and dashed over to Slejj. Slejj noticed that Alicia had remained unresponsive.

"Didn't you hear what I said? Get behind us, I said!"

She ran over to the sniffing tea boy, assuming a solid posture behind him, ready to fight, when his booming voice shook her awake. She was a state guard! Their was nothing she couldn't handle, except for a strangely talented man, a weeping young child, and, of course, a rusty old man. Her confidence was waning, and she began to doubt if she was still qualified for the state guard honor.

She shook her head, trying to shake off the self-doubt that had crept into her mind. When there was an oncoming danger around, she couldn't let her worries stop her from performing what she had been commissioned to do.

Finally, the sound of dry leaves crackling and shrub branches splitting could be heard. They became more hostile and louder as time passed. A piercing screech rippled throughout the woods, upsetting the serenity. The noises became louder, and they appeared to be coming from the direction Alicia and the gentleman were staring.

Another wail resonated through the entire field, weakening Alicia's limbs. It was right there, approaching only a few inches into the night. After the screaming and its effect died down, a shrub fell way, showing a giant monstrous foot striding into the light. Scales were integrated into the entire leg and arm. Finally, the figure desired to extend its entire body.

It was horrible, with a large maw ripping up half of its face and gigantic arms with claw-like nails protruding out the end. It had fangs that jutted from its muzzle, one of which was tangled in a vine, most likely from racing around in the woods. As it got closer to the man in front of Alicia, it gathered traction. The limbs of Alicia were immovable. She'd succumbed from being frozen to death. Her fingers twitched violently, nearly slipping out of their respective arms, and her eyes were wide open.

"Get a grip on yourself! Cowards have no place here."

In quiet tones, he spoke to her. She had grabbed his cloak and crouched behind him, fully ignorant to the circumstance. Alicia had never seen a vurhan before; the stories she'd read had scared her, but seeing one in person was horrifying on a whole new level.

The man loosened the cloak's back strap around his neck, allowing it to fall on Alicia's arms and reveal his muscular body and broad shoulders. His hair danced gracefully from one side to the other as he sped over the earth, carving his path towards the vurhan.

Alicia felt her hand being yanked by Lisa's small hands once more.

"Come on over here," said the little girl.

She drew herself back to the tents and began repeating an invocation with her eyes closed. The air above them suddenly became heavier, making Alicia feel fuzzy. As distortions rippled through the air, blurring the eyesight, trees appeared to curl out of nature. It was as though the air had been transformed into glass.

The air steadily cooled down after the distortions lasted a few minutes. Alicia observed that her surroundings had changed; they weren't the same as before. She appeared to have been imprisoned in a jar.

"Don't worry, I've set up an air shield. Vurhan will be unable to close the distance between them. Is everything okay with you?"

Alicia's breathing had gotten out of hand. She was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. Her trachea sounded as if it were about to collapse in on itself. Lisa ran over to her and put her shaky hands around her in an attempt to calm her down. After it looked to work, Alicia began to control her breathing.

The Vurhan pumped energy into its hind legs and charged towards them. Because the old guy couldn't move as quickly as he could in his younger days, he knelt and raised his spear to defend himself. Daito, on the other hand, fired blue energy streams into the earth with both fists, propelling him into the air and above the vurhan itself.

Between them, the beast flew and landed on the opposite side. Daito somersaulted back down to the ground, leaving a trail of spiraling blue embers dancing in the wind.

“Are you all right?” he inquired of Slejj.

“I'm alright, kid, We can't continue in this manner. It leaps too much, putting me at a disadvantage; if I keep fighting like this, I'll only slow you down,” Slejj explained.

“So, what do you advise we do?” Daito asked, clutching his arm and helping him to his feet.

“Take off its feet, that way we eliminate its movement and we don't have to fight a moving target, which makes firing your blasts a lot easier now, I'll take the right, you take the left, we attack at the same time”

They started going towards their objective, and the vurhan kept an eye on them, growling and drooling as he tried to find a target.

‘The vurhan is presumably aware that I can withstand its aerial strikes, so it will most likely target the old guy; I could take advantage of this,' As they squared themselves up for another attack, Daito had a thought.

Soon after, the vurhan did exactly what he had predicted, leaping into the air and speeding towards Slejj. He was a little late to react, and his hand slipped as he reached for his lance, which dropped to the ground. Daito paused for a moment, intending to attack immediately after Slejj had blocked the Vurhan's strike, but the elderly man was now defenseless.

“Slejj!” He screamed, his hand pointing in their general direction. He unleashed a gigantic blast of blue light that radiated across the night sky, illuminating the woodland and hazing the atmosphere. Daito reappeared in front of Slejj. They both disintegrated into flaming embers once more as he reached for his arm and gripped it firmly. All of this happened in a matter of seconds, and the vurhan was still inches away from grabbing them. They reappeared near Daito's prior location, where the blast had been unleashed.

The vurhan had deftly deflected the explosion, allowing it to whizz by it and burn down the trees along its path.

“What in the world were you thinking?” We were meant to assault at the same time! " Slejj growled at him.

“I'm sorry, Old Man, but I had another thought...”

“I'd like to know the next time you set me up as bait!” ”

“Will do, old man,”

They stood up again. They seemed to be having difficulty bringing down this vurhan. It appeared to be aware of their patented moves and had prepared countermeasures to thwart them.

Slejj remarked, "Damn it, my lance, I left it on the other side."

Daito said, "I'll wait for it to charge towards us, then we'll teleport to the other side.". He seemed to be stumbling, but was this due to the air's distortions? Alicia had no clue what was going on.

''Wait, did he just refer to him as Dai?'

Her mind kept returning to the name. Lisa waved her hands once more, and the thick air parted, allowing Dai to pass through. Alicia found it difficult to balance on her own two feet.

'Daito?' Was this vurhan-sniffing, tea man the crybaby she met a long time ago? 'It can't be!'

"Who... who are you?"

He was questioned by Alicia. They also seemed to be tired. He approached her and removed the robe that was already draped around her head back onto his neck. From behind Alicia, Slejj emerged.

"That was too easy."

He added on to the conversation.

"Either this isn't the village we talked of, or it can't be the one that was causing all those deaths."

Dai replied.

The fact that they were avoiding her was beginning to irritate Alicia.

"Hey! I asked you a question! Who are you and wh..."

She felt a surge of nausea rush through her. Her head was pounding, and the world around her was blurring. She became unable to move her body and began a clumsy descent to the ground, only to be broken by Daito, who grabbed her just in time. She wrapped her arms around his shoulder, attempting to regain her balance and stand up, but her eyelids began to close in on themselves. She was rapidly losing consciousness.