Across the clear stream and up the rocky bank, another young human stepped from the shadows of the forest, the long, broad-bladed weapon in his hand glinting as sunlight struck the metal. He faced the other boy, his eyes hidden behind a streamlined headset. A radio antenna and microphone were attached to the right side of the eyegear; beside the mike, his mouth was grimly set. His armor was in the same style and color as the other boy�s, though his cape looked to be lined with a dark fur, and elaborate etchings ringed the neck of his broad, leathered shoulder plating.
The forest grew silent as the two faced off, each staring rigidly across the stream at the other.
The sparrow flew away.
After a pause, an enormous roar rolled from the forest just behind the gun-wielder, and both boys sprung into action to confront the predator. The first fired off a few rapid shots into the undergrowth and quickly darted away, just as a wave of cold air was fired back at him from the wood, the vegetation withering quickly as a column of lethal ice tore a frosty hole through the undergrowth. The white beam shot out over the water and splashed a coat of ice across the riverbank on the far side of the stream; the sun-baked rocks burst with the sudden exposure to cold.
The second, older boy shouted into the mike as he dove across the stream to face the attacker, his heavy boots splashing through the water and his free hand drawing forth a dark pistol. �It�s here!! Makz--�
From the brush, an enormous white tiger emerged, its shoulder matching height to Makzin�s head. It bounded through the wintry hole it had blasted through the streamside vegetation, brandishing its frosty muzzle in a snarling roar. Makzin pulled up the gun and fired at the white beast; it roared again in anger as a splash of red stained its white chest.
The older boy reached Makzin and pulled him further back away from the raging beast, the two quickly rolling away together as the tiger fired another icy blast from its frozen maw. As the boys scrambled to their feet, the tiger bounded forward and swept an enraged paw at the older teen�s head.
�Zane, watch it!� Makzin warned, whipping the light-weight gun back to bear and firing another few shots at the beast. The monstrous cat, ignoring the gunshots pelting his side, roared as its claws were deflected by Zane�s machete, which had suddenly broadened itself to form a sort of shield. Zane, his expression that of complete concentration, stood his ground against the heavy blow to his blade, the rocky streamside ground at his feet seeming to shift and stabilize his footing. "Damn it, Makz, it's not working!"
Makzin, clenching his teeth, shifted his aim to the cat's head. One shot sprayed a streak of vivid red across the frosty fur of the tiger�s muzzle; the other hit right in the ear. The cat winced and backpedaled from the grounded Zane, then blindly fired another four-foot diameter beam of ice at its prey as it wiped in pain at its wetly red ear.
The column of ice hit the ground just in front of Zane�s wet boots and skipped along in an icy wave, covering his boots and lightly armored legs in a thin layer of frost. �Gideon, Timber, where are you?!� he shouted into his mike as he backed away from the frantic cat. His blade, now even broader than before, bent itself around to guard his hand as well, forming a better shield. The stones around his feet fell away as he moved back to put more distance between himself and the tiger. "We need you up here NOW!" he continued into his headset.
Makzin had stopped at the edge of the shallow stream and was using the moment of distraction to concentrate on the metal vambrace fitted over his lower left arm. �No time, cover me,� he half-murmured to Zane before closing his eyes, focusing. A dark gem set into a recess in the metal began to glow a dim blue as Makzin struck up a quiet spell. �Light now the path of mystic will, the wisping threads of starlight��
Zane, hoping to buy Makzin a bit more time, reholstered his pistol and pulled a belt-pouch open, withdrawing a single tranquilizer dart. �Shouldn�t have given Gid' my gun,� he said aloud to himself as he lunged forward at the tiger, plunging the fuzz-tailed dart into the cat�s flank. The dart seemed to have no effect, however, as the tiger only roared in further anger, twirling in place after him. Zane brought up his sheild-blade as he backpedaled away, grabbing for his pistol again and firing at the beast.
Makzin's chant quickly turned surreal as his own words began to echo back to him; even though he never repeated himself, his own whispering words could be heard chanting back to him in an eerie chorus.
��to guide me through this mist��
��this mist�� ��the path of mystic will��
��the wisping threads�� ��starlight��
��guide me�� "...this mist..."
Makzin�s continued spell was drowned out by a rush, like wind, and a flash of blue-white light. Though he had stopped the chant, his words seemed to echo on, a steady background as he now finished his incantation. He whipped his head up, his eyes unseeing to the blue sky, his lungs roaring in exertion even as the whispers of his own voice echoed around him. �Stand by me now! NAIDAAAAAA!!�
The faint outline of a serpentine dragon coalesced into full being above him, clad in tiny blue scales and sporting a decorative pair of white. finely feathered wings. The roar of wind died down as Makzin lowered his gauntlet, panting but bright-eyed. A steady, soft breeze now stirred the mountain air, breaking the early summer stillness. Compared to the rush of wind, Zane's gunshots, and Makzin�s accompanying cry, it was eerily silent.
Naida, an avesaur, uncoiled her 12 feet of streamlined length and blinked down at Makzin, then brought her black yet innocent stare upon the raging ice-beast. The white tiger had paused in its attack to measure its new threat, snarling ominously. Zane's small pistol had turned its chest and fore-legs into a swirl of blood and matted fur, though it seemed unphased by its injuries and the loss of one eye to Zane's bullets. Zane continued backwards, quickly dropping the empty shells from his pistol and reloading as he moved.
The avesaur cocked her head at the tiger. �A bayyo�� she said softly, musically. �An ice-element maow� injured��
Makzin nodded. �Naida, we need to detain it��
�Understood,� was her soft but firm reply. Naida drifted slowly towards the bayyo, the white feathers of her wings wavering gently in the breeze.
The bayyo roared at the approaching dragon, now ignoring Zane in favor of the larger threat. Naida paused, for a moment fearful, but then narrowed her all-black gaze and whispered into the breeze, pulling up a protective wall of wind between herself and the bayyo, and preparing a more aggressive attack spell. As the bayyo crouched to charge at the hovering avesaur, Naida cocked her serpentine head in an innocent fashion, like the sparrow before her, watching the cat as she worked up her magics in the air around them. Her black eyes were soft; Makzin watched her for a second, then looked away to the winds that Naida was manipulating and the bayyo who was snarling frostily at her, his head low and body coiled, ready to pounce. Wind whipped in a warning around the stones between them, but the bayyo, blind in its cold fury, sprung, leaping forward and bounding with great speed towards Makzin and his maow companion.
Naida sadly lowered her eyes with a forlorn shake of her head, then spread her wings wide, unleashing her spell in a furious blast. The bayyo had reached halfway between the treeline and the Makzin-Naida duo only to find itself suddenly spinning in the clutches of a small twister, a hail of rocks from the streambed spinning up into the air with it, bashing into the cat maow�s flailing body. The tiger scrabbled at the ground to stop but was ripped up and into the air with immense force, spiraling up a few feet in the small cyclone before the wind tunnel dissipated and dropped the bayyo to the stones it had vainly been reaching out for.
