Humanity's Future

Salvation

Spark's P.O.V

   How can we beat him?

   The thrumming of my heart pounded in my chest, stuttering when Herald swung another quick fist at my shoulder.  We were evenly matched in speed– but I could tell there was a clear power difference between him and me.  With Kaiden's combined efforts, we managed to hold him back, but the battle was beginning to drag.

At one point, another Titan Shifter appeared– a 4 meter class with a mop of brown hair and glowing blue eyes. What was even weirder, was the fact that all of his fingers save for his thumbs, were replaced by sharpened tree branches. One of Herald's subordinates? Kaiden glanced over at me and I nodded, gesturing toward the new enemy. I was certainly fast, but I had the feeling he would fair better against an opponent such as that. The fight had drawn closer to the forest, to the tall trees and dark shadows stretching across the ground.

Herald had some sort of rhythm.

Over time, I realized that his fighting method had indeed been greatly revised– but that also meant he followed a specific pattern. His attacks were like lightening, and he struck continuously over a long period of time in order to force me on the defense. However, he retreated to a safe distance every once in a while in order to rest his body before beginning his counterattack.  It would have been much easier with allies, but I knew I had to take the opportunity the next time Herald paused his assault.

   A few minutes of tense dodging and blocking passed, before I narrowed my eyes.  Now!

   I swung my fist toward Herald's chest, and he was forced into a defensive stance.  Adrenaline coursed through my system as I kicked and punched, my injuries healing on their own.  Herald seemed unsurprised by the fact that I had discovered his rhythm, though this didn't deter me.

  There was a sudden pain in my abdomen, and I glanced down to see Herald's foot embedded in my side.  How did he attack so quickly?! Heart racing, I leapt backward, just as Herald sprung toward me. His hand shot forward to grab my hair and I growled, reaching forward and snapping his wrist in retaliation.  I had no way of knowing how to win against him, but I had to find some way to use my environment.  And then it hit me.

   Herald is a terrible influence... if I can beat him with the help of them...

   Waiting until Herald had to retreat to rest, I steadied my nerves and released a loud roar, calling out for help.  Herald peered at me under his mess of chocolate-brown hair, uncomprehending of my actions until chitters spread all around us.  It definitely wasn't as loud as any Titan, but the approaching sounds were enough to set him on edge. He turned, quickly assessing his situation as the animals appeared. Hundreds of them– deer, squirrels, bears, birds– all appeared from the trees. Herald's eyes swept over the creatures, before finally settling back on me.

And that was exactly why he missed the well-aimed punch that connected with his jaw, sending him reeling back. I don't know what it was that set him on edge, but I continued my attack, reinvigorated. When Kaiden reappeared, it was clear that the fight had turned in our favor. Herald's response were quickly becoming less coordinated and more violent. The look in his eyes resembled that of a wild animal, feral and trapped.

It was I who landed the final blow, punching Herald hard in the throat and connecting with his human body. He died with a look of shock and denial on his face as his body thumped to the ground, steam beginning to curl around the edges of the Titan corpse. I turned to the animals all around me, and released a roar of gratitude for their distraction. They scattered through the trees with a final goodbye, and I faced Kaiden to nod my head in acknowledgement.

"If you did not show up when you did, I fear this fight would have ended much differently."

"Don't worry about it." Was his only response. Accepting his answer, I startled and glanced around. Rachel! She still hasn't returned yet...

I quickly focused my hearing on my surroundings; careful of soft, distant noises. An irregular breathing pattern reached me, and I struck out in the direction of the noise. Kaiden followed closely– though he followed my example of taking light steps, to which I was grateful. The breathing lead me to a spot of heavily condensed trees, all of which were smaller than those surrounding them. The sight at the base of one of the trees tore at my heart, dropping a stone in my stomach.

Rachel sat, curled up against one tree with her wings curled around her. Her chest rose in shallow imitations of breathing, and her eyes were clenched shut in pain. I knelt and peered more closely at my companion, and felt my throat run dry.

There was blood surrounding her.

How much, I couldn't tell. Where it was coming from, how severe the wound was– all of that was put to the back of my mind as I scooped Rachel up in the palms of my hands, before glancing over at Kaiden.

"Find Jean and Sasha. Lead them safely back to the walls." Without waiting for a reply, I raced off, careful not to jostle the hunched figure cradled in my hands. My heart clenched painfully with each groan, and I grit my teeth as worry flooded my system, pushing me to run faster.

Please, please be all right, Rachel.

A/N
   Hey guys, finally an update. I'm not planning to discontinue this story, to any of you who are wondering. Sorry about the long period of inactivity, but I'm feeling really unmotivated when writing both this and Attack on Vampire, so I've been putting off the chapters for a while. You guys deserve better, so I'll do my best to get back to updating frequently.

~Rainy