Converging Destinies: Part 1

Chapter 78

       The next day, the group once again felt that strange feeling of strength within them. Cedric prepared the usual meal of water and magical berries. However, each one of them noticed that their bodies faintly glowed with golden light.

       "Zerai, this looks like your magic." Cedric said, observing his faintly glowing arm.

       "I feel it too, but I'm not entirely sure what it is." Zerai replied.

       Then, the group followed Cedric back to the portal. To the group's relief, it hadn't grown any larger, and had stayed in its shrunken down form. The party stood around Cedric, who held his hand forward.

       "Okay, here goes nothing." Cedric's hands began to glow with emerald light, and his arms began to shake. After almost thirty seconds, sparks of red power began to fly out of the portal, and then the rim shrank. Cedric collapsed the ground, breathing deeply.

       "Good job Cedric." Eris said.

       "Thanks." He replied. His heart was pounding and he was out of breath.

       "Do you all mind if I take an hour to get some of my power back?" Cedric asked.

       "If that's what you think you need, then it's totally fine." Eris answered. And so, the group on the ice waited. Ella practiced with her blade. Ara' Sei let light dance between her fingers. Eris stood near Cedric as he meditated. The portal was now less than a quarter of the size that it was before Cedric had started closing it. After an hour passed, Cedric stood up again. The group once again surrounded him protectively.

       He extended his hand forward, and it began to glow. He was muttering frantically. His arms began to shake. After another thirty seconds, the edges of the portal began to contort. Then, with a high pitched sound that pierced the group's ears. The portal vanished.

       "Look at that, he did it!" Ella said. The party cheered and Eris patted Cedric on the back. The party gave Cedric a minute to catch his breath before beginning to head away. But Cedric was still unease, something felt wrong. Then, the group heard it.

       It was a whine, a whistle, and it was loud. It was just in the range of what someone should be capable of hearing, but the sound itself was powerful enough that everyone could feel it. They felt it in the faint shaking of the ground, the rattling of their bones, and through the pain in their ears.

       "It's the portal, get ready!" Cedric shouted. Zerai summoned his blade and Ella prepared herself. Eris began searching for a place to hide out of view. But before they could fully do it, the portal and veins returned. The portal was just as full as it was before Cedric had started closing it, but this time the veins around it were pulsing, as if the portal was some kind of heartbeat, or something within it.

       Then, it exploded with a blinding red flash. The shockwave sent the whole party collapsing to the ground. Everyone scrambled to get back up.

       "Umm, guys!" Cedric shouted, pointing in horror at what had replaced the portal. It stood at thirty feet tall, with a fifty foot wingspan. The air around it shimmered with heat, and the ice it was standing on rapidly melted and boiled. In its left hand, it held a whip that appeared to be made of fire. In its right hand it held a blade crackling with lightning. Two horns adorned its head.

       "It's here." Ara' Sei whispered, utterly horrified.