A Key To Another World

Chapter Twenty-one

The night sky was covered with thick clouds. No stars were visible, not even the moon. It was raining so hard that it was too noisy to be outside. Lightning struck behind the forest and lit up the whole place for a second, then a loud bang followed. But there was someone standing outside on the roof of a big castle, waiting patiently. He was tall, very tall. And one of his eyes glowed blood red.

Suddenly, the whole building rumbled. A couple of massive metal doors were blown open by a huge green fireball. Several redclaws were carried away by the explosion and flew off in all directions like boneless shreds. Most of them died from the impact. A few others crawled around a bit more until they died because they were still on fire.

When the smoke cleared, three people were visible. A fox, a vixen with a summoned green flame on her paws, and a human. The human who had destroyed most of his armies. The human who had managed to thwart all of his plans! The human he will kill first, right now.

The dark silhouette with the single red glowing eye puffed furiously. Steam poured from his nostrils.

Another bolt of lightning struck behind the forest. The flash of light exposed the redclaw general for a tiny moment. One eye was missing, and dried blood surrounded the empty socket. His other, healthy eye, however, expressed hatred as if he still had both of them. His teeth and claws were long and sharp, and with them he held his golden war axe, in the socket of which rested a glowing blue pearl, the Eye of Nibelon.

Michael hid his weapon in his right pocket. Slowly he reached in and let his hand rest in it. He didn't want to attack yet, because the redclaw general could easily teleport away. He needed a distraction where he had a clear line of fire.

All right, let's get this over with. Connor! Zoe! I need you two to distract him so I can knock him out.

Connor: "I heard you."

Zoe: "Mmm."

They communicated through Michael's mind to keep their plan secret, discussing how and when they would strike. However, the general knew they were communicating behind his back and frowned. He also noticed a glowing red spot on Michael's pocket, which meant he had the eye of Kaltraff.

The three friends tensed and slowly backed away as General Bigclaw slowly stomped toward them. With each step of his the ground shook. The blade of his massive golden war axe scraped across the ground, emitting sparks and an unpleasant sound. With his remaining eye, he gave them all a deadly look that startled them.

Michael: "GO!!!"

The three immediately separated after Michael shouted his command. The redclaw general stopped in surprise.

General Bigclaw: "Huh?"

Zoe ran to the left while Connor ran in the opposite direction. Both began to summon fireballs, which they hurled at the redclaw leader. The redclaw leader clutched his weapon tightly and just chuckled. Then he let out one of the loudest roars Michael and his friends had ever heard. Another bolt of lightning struck the forest and set a tree on fire. The whole place lit up briefly and a deep rumble followed from the thick clouds.

Connor and Zoe swung their arms as fast as they could and in just a second threw a couple of fireballs that created a rain of fireballs heading towards the evil general. General Bigclaw managed to deal with it without breaking a sweat. He deflected most of the attacks with his weapon and sent them back to his opponents. Some of the fireballs came too close, but he simply dodged them. Each fireball that hit the blade of his axe created sparks and a loud metallic impact sound.

Now was Michael's chance! The redclaw general was busy defending himself against the encroaching fire, probably forgetting about the human. Michael had already drawn his weapon and was trying to aim it at his enemy's head. It was a little difficult because his opponent was constantly moving. All he had to do was pull the trigger and hit, and the job would be done.