The Blood Moon Killer

Chapter 43: Ritual

Winter and Snowslide were flying as fast as they could. 

They didn't see Astraea or Whiteout. Surely, they couldn't have been that far behind? They were only out for half hour. Unless she had the speed of ten Skywings combined, then it wasn't possible for her to be so far out they couldn't catch up.

They got to the base of the desert. The wind currents from the storm left powerful currents that would make the top speed of a Skywing look like a walking pace. They had made good time.

"My Prince!" Snowslide yelled, causing Winter to look at him "the moons!" He yelled, pointing up in the sky. 

They were glowing orange.

"Astraea only has about two hours before the deadline! We must go faster!" And they did. With the help from the wind, both Icewings were able to go so much faster. However, along the way, they saw Qibli, Peril and Turtle hovering in the air, seemingly frozen. Snowslide approached first, making sure it wasn't some trick, then called over Winter with a claw.

"What happened? Why aren't you guys going after Astraea?" Winter asked hastily, his icy gaze going to each dragon. "She drank the blood of an Animus - not Turtle's - and then made it so we can't go after her. She even added the fact that Turtle can't do a counter spell to unfreeze us." "And Whiteout?" Snowslide asked, checking them for any injuries. "Alive. But Astraea still has her." Peril replied with a sneer. "I should've done more! Fuck it!" She roared in anger and blasted some fire into the air. "I'm sure you did all you could." Winter said, his voice softening, only a little.

Turtle shook his head as Qibli spoke. "Winter, I'm so sorry. I-I had her in my claws and then Astraea did the enchantment and I wasn't able to protect her." Winter sighed and placed a claw on his friend's shoulder. "I know. For now, you guys go guard Moon just in case. Stay with her. Snowslide and I, we'll take care of her."

"Winter?" Peril said, grabbing his attention. "Go for the head."

Right then, Turtle raised his arms "you'll get there first. I enchant Snowslide and Winter of the Icewings to be teleported to the Blood Moon Altar." Snowslide smiled as their visions began to blur. "Thank you."

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Kelp led the way with his night vision and Jet helped find torches to illuminate the paths. "We're almost there." Kelp announced while looking back to the rest. "I haven't been down here in ages." Soul said, looking around the cave walls. "What happened last time you were here?" Aardvark asked, looking at his friend "we buried Scarletnight and sealed up the entrance and then hid it away." "You didn't dispose of the materials?" Kelp questioned, very confused "obliviously not," Soul replied with a roll of his eyes "we needed this for evidence and the records helped the law enforcement discover who was who and all that."

Once they arrived at the site, Kelp and Jet opened the stone door which allowed the Skywing to light the torches around the room. They all looked around for a bit. "Now what?"

Aardvark sighed "best case scenario; Astraea doesn't come and we can all go home and pretend this was a bad dream!" His gaze lowered and he faced the ground "worse case... She comes, Whiteout in tow."

Soul smiled, none of the boys seemed to notice the smoke materializing out of thin air. "You seem worried about her." "Of course I am!" He snapped back "she's my friend, how could I not be worried?" Jet sat back and crossed his arms "of course. We're all worried too, but we're not snapping left and right."

Aardvark grumbled and muttered "it's different. You wouldn't understand..." "Understand what?" Kelp asked, approaching the Sandwing. "Different how?" Soul asked, crouching down.