Heavenly Mortals-Act One

XI-Calum ( I )

For a second, Calum thought that Aetos was talking to himself due to sleep deprivation. It turned out that Vouno was speaking to him in his mind.

Calum heard a familiar swooping. He jumped aside when he heard Aetos say, "Wait, excu-"

A dark figure swooped between them. An Apoklestus. They had somehow caught up to them. Without a second thought, he leapt to Aetos, who caught his hand with one set of talons, while cradling Aella in the other. "You know the drill," Calum told him. He heard Aetos groan as he sped up, Calum dangling behind him.

He made a mental note not to take Aella acting as a cocoon of wind for granted. Without her protection, the winds tore at his face, even if he was looking down. He shook dangerously. It was all he could do to hold on to Aetos and both of their bags.

Most sounds were lost in the wind, but Calum heard Aetos trying to wake Aella up. Some time later, she wrapped around them in a shell of wind. Aetos sighed in relief.

Calum was about to do the same when he saw an Apoklestus directly in front of them. "Aet-" Was all he could manage before Aetos was plucked away.

For a moment, Calum fell into free fall, but Aella wrapped around tighter and kept him aloft. It was like he was slightly brushing against a hurricane.

Calum looked back to see Aetos bound in the whip of an Apoklestus. Three more surrounded him. "Aella! We need to help Aetos!"

Aella couldn't talk in her current form, it seemed. But she stopped and Calum turned upright. She seemed to be torn.

"Launch me at the one that had Aetos. Then, when he's free launch me at the others, and help Aetos if he can't fly. You got it?"

Aella seemed to be okay with the plan, because Calum was spat out shortly after he finished his sentence. He drew his sword and impaled the first Apoklestus. He pulled out his sword from its body and attempted to cut the whip. He was saved the effort when he found that Aetos had been freed when he killed the Apoklestus. He attempted to flap his wings, but couldn't get then in sync.

Aella launched him to the other three Apoklesti and flew after Aetos, as planned.

His sword out, he stabbed the second one in the chest. The other two lashed out with their whips, but Calum jumped towards them with Chakra in his legs. He was well aware that what he was doing was insane, but at this point he didn't bother thinking anymore.

He left a huge slash across the third and stabbed the last one in the arm. He had been aiming for the chest, but it swerved at the last moment. They dropped out of the sky.

Calum clambered onto its back and attempted to stretch out its wings, like last time. It swerved again and again, Calum barely managing to hold onto its neck. Apparently Apoklesti were quite fast.

It dawned upon Calum that he had only been able to kill the other three because he had taken them by surprise. This one knew what would happen to it.

They swirled around in a dangerous dance in the air. Finally, Calum managed to land another stab to its back. The Apoklestus shrieked in pain fell limp.

Not again! Calum wailed in his mind. Gods be with him if Aetos couldn't catch him this time.

Thankfully, Aetos didn't disappoint. He regained his senses and managed to fly up to Calum and catch him. Aella wrapped around them and they soared off.

Calum tried not to end up hyperventilating processing what he had just done. Oh, Gods, oh Gods oh Gods. He had flown through the air and killed four flying mystical creatures. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath.