Grian

Chapter 16

Xelqua didn't have long to dwell on the watcher who just saved his life, they were still in the midst of battle. He barely missed the shot that was fired towards him, he turned behind a slightly crumbly building to have a few moments to breathe. He knew he was coming into an active battle after he left the previous one but he wasn't prepared for the whiplash that came with being thrown into this fight. He probably should have switched into his powered-up form before he asked to be taken to the battle, so he quickly felt the core inside of him again and let the magic burst out just as he had done before and with that came a purple of purple light. Again he had another pair of wings burst out from his back, a halo formed above his head and his eyes began to glow again.

He noticed up above that Astaria was currently fighting two enemies, which made him worried as he knew that it would have been twelve enemies versus twelve of the council if he wasn't there. He didn't know who wasn't there, he didn't have time to check because he could tell that even though Astaria was holding her own she was fighting with people who came from her generation, she had years more of practice to hone her skills, but they had similar base levels of magic, to begin with. He didn't know why she hadn't powered up again, but he assumed that since she didn't she knew what she was doing. He flew up to try and get one of her attacks to focus on him, he knew they would be more powerful than him but he needed to help her, and he should at least be able to hold one of them off. At least, he hoped so.

One of the watchers did come towards him, he couldn't recognise them from what they could see but he got the feeling that whoever was in front of him recognised him. "Hello little watcher," the first generation said to him, "I saw you just had a very interesting battle,"

Xelqua drew his sword in one hand, facing it towards the watcher in front of him, his other hand had a fireball inside of it ready to be thrown. "I wish my little ancestor could have given you a better fight, I would have preferred not having you at this battle but I suppose it'll be fun to see what ⨅ᒷꖎ╎⎓ᒷ ̇/'s little ⨅ᒷꖎ╎⎓ᒷ ̇/ can do,"

He remembered Astaria mentioning an ancestor of Mirinn, one during her time at the academy, the name was on the edge of his tongue. "Xynis Syrucus," Xelqua said, holding his position, his heart pounding inside his chest.

"So ⨅ᒷꖎ╎⎓ᒷ ̇/ has told you about me, should I be honoured?" Xynis asked amusement in her voice.

Xelqua wished that he could have used the time freeze spell again, but he could tell that it wouldn't work. He still held the fireball in his hand, his other still holding his sword prepared to fight, but he knew making the first move would be catastrophic for him to do, not when his enemy was so much more powerful than he was.

"I didn't think that little ancestor of mine was going to win, he was weak. Blinded by anger," Xynis said, flying around Xelqua, keeping the high ground.

"You knew he was going to lose, but still you left him to die," Xelqua said, surprised, even if he shouldn't be.

"I was quite surprised when he brought us back, amused when I realised it was my own blood that gave us a second chance. Of course, he brought back those from the generations after us as well so we let them go first, to learn from their mistakes. We knew we were more powerful than you, but we were smart enough to wait. He could have waited, not wanting to get his silly revenge and joined us in the new world. He served a purpose, he brought us back, but I don't really care. He means nothing to me," Xynis said as she was flying in circles around Xelqua.

Xelqua at least thought that she would care for her own blood like Astaria cared for him and saved him countless times, but at the same time, he wasn't that surprised. It seemed that the Syrucus family didn't care for their own blood if Xynis was willing to let Mirinn die and Mirinn had no regrets about killing his parents.

It was then that Xynis finally started her attack. It looked like she was sending a spell towards the watcher but instead, she went in with her sword, Xelqua only barely dodged it but in a way, it still felt like it had hit. Xynis wanted to keep the high ground that she had, so she kept aiming fireball higher up on Xelqua he had to duck down to dodge and he wasn't able to fly up. It was times like this when he realised that maybe having four pairs of wings wasn't the best for close-quarters combat, and probably a reason why Astaria wasn't in a form with all six pairs of wings. He was struggling with not being able to get the advantage of being in the air and with Xynis being above him. It meant that he wasn't able to use his swords, and he couldn't dodge the fireballs with the amount that was being sent his way.

Then he had an idea, he knew that there was always a bright purple light when he went into his powered-up form, so he wondered if he could quickly change back to his normal watcher form and then back into his powered-up form and use the bright light that came out as a distraction for him to get the high ground. He didn't know if it worked but he knew that he was being toyed with and when Xynis finally felt like ending the battle the positions they were in meant that he was going to be dead meat. He changed back into his normal watcher form. One pair of wings faded away, the halo above his head fading out and his eyes changed from glowing to his normal watcher eyes. As soon as he transformed back he looked inside his core again, still feeling the magic pulsing and let it go. It seemed to get easier and easier for him to transform as the light shone out again, gaining back the second pair of wings, the halo and the glowing purple eyes. The same purple light shone out, causing Xynis to look away, and he flew up into the sky.

He tried to fly up towards Astaria, they needed to do something or they were going to be stuck. Xynis wasn't letting him go that easily, having quickly recovered she flew up after him, sending fireballs, lightning and a myriad of other spells that Xelqua barely dodged, or just managed to block. He knew that he may be able to delay his own defeat but he knew he couldn't win, even in his powered-up form Xynis was more powerful, that was the annoyance of the firsts. He attempted to do his wave of walls of fire, but Xynis simply pulled up a shield to block the attack. He tried other spells, mixing in lightning to make a spell with a wave of a wall of lightning but still, he had no luck gaining any hits. He stopped flying up, he didn't want to get too close to Astaria while Xynis was sending spell after spell, and his spells weren't getting anywhere so he needed to try a new strategy.

He pulled out his blade and readied his other hand to cast shield spells that would be able to block magic and sword strikes if Xynis switched to her swords, but he would be surprised if she didn't focus on magic as hers was so much more powerful than his. He flew back down towards her with all the speed he could muster to try and aimed a strike at her chest, but she easily blocked with a shield. He was surprised when she pulled out her own blade, but as soon as she saw his face show that surprise she sent forth a bolt of lighting. Xelqua pulled a shield with a millisecond to spare, it was so close that he felt small electric shocks spread across his skin. A fireball was then sent straight into his shield; he wasn't sure why Xynis did that attack until he saw her appear with a slash of her sword behind him. He could feel some of the tips of the feathers of his second pair of wings get cut, at least it was his second pair of wings so they healed quickly. Xynis had used the way the fireball spread out when using a shield to allow her to make a surprise attack.

"You know Xelqua I thought this would be a harder fight, I guess Mirinn was just weak. All you young ones really think that you have a chance fighting against us. We are the firstborn of the magic, not gifted it but born of it. We were the ones who started the war that lasted for generations. Even in your powered-up forms, you are weak," Xynis said.

She kept coming with attack after attack, Xelqua knew he had to get away but he didn't know how. He tried to get closer to Astaria, he still didn't want to but he hoped she would know that he was coming. The attacks kept coming, he would need a moment to breathe to actually get away. It was then when a red light appeared behind him and flying there was Kelin, "Sorry Xelqua, got a bit hurt," Kelin said, sending a fireball towards Xynis.

"I need to get to Astaria, we won't win at this rate and we are already losing so many," Xelqua said, pulling up a shield to block Xynis' attack.

"I can hold her. Go!" Kelin said, sending more fireballs in Xynis' direction.

Xelqua gave her a nod and flew up to their High Leader. 

WC~ 1704

A/N: Sorry for being late again, school is so mind-filling! Only four more chapters (including the epilogue) left! I hope you've all enjoyed the journey so far with the end so close in sight! Next week's chapter is going to be a fun one :)