The Spell

Alec shifted his gaze beside him to glance at Eryn, who seemed strangely calm even after that quick incident with Shane. It was like she had already forgotten what had happened.

Still, Shane only got what he brought onto himself. Those endless taunts and cursing, acting like he was above everyone else even when he was warned multiple times. But then again, he was absent when the dragons appeared; he didn't know who Eryn and Elias were.

However, that was Shane's own problem he had to deal with, Alec and the others had no time to pay attention to him, now.

Scary, Eryn was, and she definitely deserved to be a dragon.

"Though the hostage claimed that the next target was the Blue Feather Sect," Gena began, "we are still not safe, for the people they've sent to attack us are all dead. The enemy has no idea what happened to them, they are bound to send more people here."

She ran her hand through the air, her black and red guqin materializing before her.

"The center mark is the cloud that is drifting above the Grand Hall of the sect," she reminded, pointing at the bright loud diagonally above them. "Don't mess this up."

She ran her hand outwards across the seven strings of her guqin, sending a ripple up in the air until it hit the cloud. She repeated it again and again, sending different chords up every time until a small boom was heard in the sky, sending a wave of clear ripples flying out in all directions from under the single cloud.

"Guard," Wilson murmured as he began to pluck a fast, powerful tune on his matching guqin.

Alec watched closely as a faint, red, circular diagram started to form in the center of the sky, quickly expanding in its size and power by the second.

Gena hastily started to pluck at her strings, her smooth melody contrasting with Wilson's, and the diagram and the ripples in the sky wove together, securing the base for the energy shield.

"Okay, go now!" Wilson called whilst he continued his piece.

Milan threw up her arms and shouted, "Sword Flames!"

Bright, magnificent streams of fire shot through the sky from her palms, taking the form of multiple, giant, blazing-red swords that struck the diagram true in its center.

The magic circle absorbed the flames and glowed red increasingly, and a sparkling crimson, liquid-like energy started to flood throughout the sky from the diagram.

Alec held up his arms in front of him and formed a small ball of clear energy in between his hands before starting to add elements of his crane spirit into it. He grimaced as he felt the strain of forcing energy and strong components of his spirit in a compacted ball. Quickly, he released it and sent the glowing sphere flying up to the diagram.

"Teal! Hit it!" he instructed.

Teal giggled excitedly and pointed a dainty finger up at his flying sphere that neared the diagram. "Winged Halls!" she sang. A little spark flew from her finger at a frightening speed and collided with the sphere just at it reached its point, sending an explosion through the air with a loud bang.

With the addition of more magic, the red dome energy shield began to take shape, spreading throughout the sky and closing in on the ground, surrounding the entirety of the sect and mountain.

Teal clapped her hands together in glee, the curled tips of her hair bouncing on her shoulders. "Yah! Is it done? It looks beautiful!" she exclaimed, pointing up at the red sky.

Wilson shook his head. "No, it looks like we're missing one component. Strength and solidification. Otherwise, it still wouldn't be red," he explained. "We need to find a solution, quick."

The senior disciples glanced around agitatedly, trying to think of a solution before their spell becomes a fail.

Alec noticed Eryn glancing up at the diagram, her brows furrowed together as if she were deep in thought. "Miss Eryn, do you have a suggestion?" he asked.

Eryn glanced back down at him, her expression turning back to normal. "You said you need a strengthening component, right?" she inquired.

"Correct," Wilson answered for him. "Do you have a way? We can't just go back down the mountain right now and ask an elder for help, that'll take too long."

Eryn reached up and tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. "I don't know if it'll work, but I think I can," she said. "I just have to send up a spell or something of the likes, is that right?"

They all nodded.

Eryn smiled. "Well then..."

She stepped forward and raised her hand, her palm up. A wisp of glowing white air circled around in her palm, creating a separate miniature form of her white spirit dragon.

The senior disciples' jaw all dropped. You can do that? It was hard enough to form your actual spirit animal and try to get it to the solidifying stage, and yet she not only can do that, but she can also create a new one without summoning her original one.

"Dragon scales," she declared.

The miniature spirit dragon nodded its little head and twirled up and away from her palm up into the air, pulsing a glowing white color. They watched as the dragon went up the diagram and disappeared.

Nothing happened at first, but after a couple of more moments, the red energy shield glimmered, translucent white scales blinking throughout the dome.

Gena grinned and Wilson smiled as they struck the final chord on their instruments, ending the spell formation. Teal squealed and pumped her fist into the sky. "Sister Eryn is the best!" she cried happily.

The visible red of the dome slowly faded away, showing the clear sky once more as if it weren't there.

Gena and Wilson's instruments dissolved back into their possession as they turned back around to face the others. "We have to thank Miss Eryn this time for the success, otherwise we would've had to restart the whole thing all over again," Wilson said as he rolled his shoulders back and stretched his arms.

Eryn glanced up at the clear sky, marveling at how the dome quickly faded from view after the formation was done. "It still works even if you can't see it, right?" she asked.

Milan nodded. "It works perfectly. Enemies won't even know it's there until they hit it. And with your dragon scales, I'm sure it'll be much sturdier than the ones we have set up before."

Eryn opened her mouth to say something when a thunderous boom echoed through the sky, rattling the grounds. The dome above them rattled slightly from the impact.

Teal's expression quickly dropped as they held their balance atop the rumbling mountain. "Are the enemies here already?" she cried, grabbing onto Alec's sleeve.

Gena scowled as she brought out her guqin once more. "It's coming from below. Something or something must be attacking the shield at the point where the shield connects the ground."

Another boom sounded, rattling the shield once more.

Milan looked up uncertainly at the transparent dome. "Do you think it will hold?" she asked.

Wilson shook his head. "Don't know. We have to go check it out before they destroy it," he insisted. He sprinted back away from the edge and down the trail they came up from.

Gena and Alec quickly followed, then Teal, Eryn, and Milan, completely forgetting about Shane, who lay defeated on the ground near the boulder at the top of the mountain.