Daydream (ONC 2024)

Chapter 17: The End of the Dream

The watchers took off, but I couldn't tear my eyes from Xin's. The moment I faltered, he would go for my throat, and alone I was fodder. All that kept me alive was his amusement with my suffering and two giant wolves that would merely stall the inevitable end.

"Boreas!" Faella called behind us, and the crash of bodies had even Xin turning as the watchers slipped and slid on a field of ice. Several dug claws into the sheen to right themselves but only long enough for Sven to bash them with his tail and send them flying.

"Such antics won't prevail for long," Xin dismissed the scene with a flip of his ponytail behind his shoulder. "The watchers are not living, and your friends will tire. Why not run like all the other cowards?"

Xin brought his glaive to eye level, balanced in his hands, and thrust forward. It cut across the wolf on the left, and he used his armored body to slam the other to the side before he spun the glaive and bought it down like a cleaver on the chipping block. I rolled to the side, but it did little as the blade hit the ground into a sweep that came after me.

An inch from my cheek, pastel blue divided me from my end, and stuffing exploded everywhere as the blade diced a stuffed animal in my place. My jaw hung open as a plush bunny the size of a gopher picked up its insides and put them back in its body only to have them fall out again. Xin looked on bewildered as the bunny held the hole in its side and swiped at the blade to knock it away. The attack was utterly ineffective, but the distraction bought enough time for talons to screech on the tile as the familiar hind legs of a lion landed at my feet.

"Violet," I whispered as she slid off her griffin with her bow ready and her braids whipping behind her.

"The only one running here is you, Xin." Kearo's voice rushed relief down my spine, and I lifted myself to find him standing beyond Lexington and Ray where they grappled with the watchers. "And you're no deity. What you failed to observe here, is that we have the advantage. I know your weakness."

"Oh pray tell, what is that?" Xin scoffed but remained watchful of the griffin as it circled.

"No matter what façade you wear, you're a decent man," Kearo said as he suspended himself with his wind. "And decent men don't kill children."

Xin's smug expression fell as the children of the valley filled the room behind Kearo, all of them side by side with their dreams. Unicorns stood next to Pegasi, stuffed bears the size of real bears smacked their hands together ready to fight, and above them, their dragons and pterodactyls flew with screeches of support.

"Let's beat up the big bad wolf." Kearo cackled as the kids charged, screams of delight and determination echoing as Xin backed away.

The moment Xin retreated, Kearo rushed him with his wind, and they tussled in the air. With a whirlwind, Kearo tore Xin's glaive away, and a bear swiped it before he could pick it up. It snapped it in half over the arm of the living tree that spread its roots to yank the watchers' legs out. Undeterred, Xin pulled a sword from his sheath, and Kearo went on the defensive as he slashed and hacked for his limbs.

Without the threat of Xin cutting me in two, I moved quickly to reclaim my crowbar where Lexington had left it, and I looked for a way to get it to Kearo. A bird of flames the size of an eagle soared above me, and I whistled to grab its attention. It landed with a tap of its claws on the tile and scooted closer as I waved my hand.

"Can you get this to him?" I asked, and it cooed as it took the crowbar in its beak and took off.

The phoenix circled Xin and Kearo as they exchanged dodged blows until it found an opening and dropped the bar into Kearo's waiting hand. With it, Kearo met Xin's sword with a clang that shook Xin's hold all the way to his shoulder. Xin dropped his sword with a grunt of pain but pulled two daggers from their side sheaths quick enough to deflect Kearo's next strike.