- Heaven's Last Breath -

The Deep End

At once, numerous shadowed figures leapt out from the trees and the bushes. I turned to face the oncoming enemies, seeing that Death was also ready to deal with these people quickly. I raised my right hand, feeling energy pool in my palm I clenched my fist shut.

Deep ocean blue sparks jolted from my fist as I raised my hand to aim my attack.

But before I made my move, I heard a voice calling out from my left.

"Hey! Those two are mine!"

In a flash, Ariel sprang down from a taller tree. She landed gracefully on the grassy path while the oncoming attackers still flew at us from the bushes. There was a faint glimmer in the amber eyes of the rose haired girl as she lifted her gaze toward where Death and I were standing.

"White Soulfire!"

Ariel quickly pushed forward with her right hand, a small white light circle appearing in her palm as she held her position. Then in a flash, glowing white hot flames burst out from the small window Ariel had made. Even from the distance she was stood at, most of the attackers weren't able to avoid her powerful attack.

Neither Death nor I moved from where we were stood, seeing Ariel almost wipe out the people who jumped out at us. The dark toned young man by my side looked back to the rose haired girl, a small smile on his face at her display of strength.

As I turned around, I noticed that we were still one short of a group member. For whatever reason, Ariel had waited for us while Jade had continued through the forest.

"Ariel, where's Jade? Weren't you two just together?"

Sheepishly, the rose haired girl looked away. That was all I needed to know. I thought for a moment, thinking about what lied beyond the forest.

After a moment of deliberation, I remembered that it was a dead end. If Jade had already gone ahead, we'd meet up again outside the forest.

"Anyways, we should catch up to her."

I lead the way, Ariel and Death following close behind. But we hadn't taken more than five steps before rustling and grumbling caught our ears. At once, the three of us spun on our heels, seeing that the group of shadowed figures had returned to their feet.

Now that I was getting a closer look, I guessed they weren't much more than night bandits and nothing too serious. They all wore dark coloured clothes, and even bandanas and scarves to cover their faces.

But that thought was shattered quickly. One of the group stepped forward, letting out a low growl. He hunched his back over, crouching to the ground as he planted his open hand onto the earthy path.

For a moment, nothing happened but I knew to wait. Death was also watching on, curious as to what these grunts were capable of. I shoved both hands into my pockets, knowing that the two beside me would have no problem taking care of them.

Then the grassy path beneath the night bandits started breaking apart. A deep fluorescent green light burst out from the cracks, dirt and small rocks being kicked up. Then, a shadowed creature jumped out from beneath the ground.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness, seeing that the four legged creature was fixated on the three of us. As I looked closer, the creature was a large canine, its fangs sharp, claws tough and eyes fierce. Its dark skin was patchy and missing in come places, bones visible from the outside. A thick green smoke oozed out from the holes in the canine's body as it took a step toward us.

There was another rumbling and as we looked up, several more undead canines were being reanimated to attack us. Each of the group of night bandits looked confident now, their back up staring us down with bloodthirsty intent.