The Other Side/Rise Of The Crow

The snow is starting to pick up and the battle is growing closer. With only five minutes left until Marda's barrier falls down, everyone is hugging each other, praying, pumping themselves up, and chanting. Vedora was absolutely right, Frodians and humans are so similar it's actually scary. My ragtag team is waiting in front of General Daris' tower as Mari and I give them the news.

"Well, it's about time you two idiots figured it out! I got tired of watching you two make googly eyes at each other!" Layla points out as she puts her arms around both of us.​​

"Pretty smooth Crow! Telling a girl your feelings right before you die, you sly little fox!" Landon jokes as he punches my shoulder playfully.

"A pretty good strategy indeed! Look at that Landon, Crow is younger than you and he managed to get a good girl!" Marda teases as she laughs at Landon.

"Well, I'm actually a pretty direct person! I don't have to or want to use tricks in order to find myself a good woman!" Landon replies angrily.

"What? It's not like I tricked her or anything! I was just being honest!" I snap back as everyone laughs at me.

"I'm happy for you two, I've been rooting for you two to work out since we got here. Glad to see both of you grow up a little bit." Sachi admits as she smiles.

"Ugh, I'm not looking forward to Jack and Kira's reactions… Something tells me Jack will tease us forever and Kira is probably going to lecture us about staying focused. " Mari sighs her voice full of worry.

"We'll worry about them later! We won't be able to tell them anything if we don't stop Honos!" I remind as everyone nods their heads.

"Listen guys! Marda and I talked about this earlier but if things get too ugly out there we want all of you to run away!" Landon discloses as he leans against a wall.

"What? Don't be ridiculous, we can't leave you guys out there against that thing!" Layla refuses.

"Your lives are so much more valuable than ours. You three Chosen Children have the potential to surpass all of us one day! Adora didn't bring you here to die so young! Layla, you might not be a Chosen Child but your skills are years beyond your age! I'm not an oracle or anything but I can tell that all of you will play a vital part in the future of this land. Please, just let us take responsibility." Marda insists her voice full of seriousness.

"I'm sorry but we can't accept this! This is what Vedora wants, for all of us to be in fear! We can't run away from this anymore, we have to show Vedora that we aren't afraid of her or her Colossi!" I deny adamantly.

"We didn't have a good strategy before but I believe that this time will be different. We aren't in the dark anymore and that's better than nothing!" Sachi reminds as she prepares her bow for battle.

"To be honest I hate all of this fighting, but I know it's necessary to keep those I care about safe! So we have to fight on regardless if we want to or not!" Mari adds her voice full of passion.

"More importantly, Kira and Jack will never forgive us if we don't come back to them in one piece! We won't fall to her no matter what!" Layla promises as Marda and Landon are speechless.

"Ugh, you all are stubborn as hell! You know that right?" Landon asks as he pats Layla's head.

"Of course we do big brother! That's the only way we know how to live!" Layla responds as she smiles.

Suddenly, we can see Marda's barrier is about to fall.

"Uh oh, even I can feel that it's about to end! Get ready kids! The second it falls down those Colossi will be running straight to us!" Marda acknowledges as she prepares her staff for battle.

"Have faith in the General! Those Colossi won't stand a chance with him on the field!" Landon reassures as we all join the rest of the forces for the opening charge.

"Marda how much time do we have left?" General Daris asks as he approaches us.

"2 minutes sir!" Marda replies.

"That's more than enough! To all of my Crimson Blade family! This will very well be the hardest battle we've ever faced! Over the years we've completed millions of jobs, tasks, rescue missions, security missions, and so much more! But this battle right here is the real deal! The stories we heard about as younglings are very much real and we now have to face them head-on! If this is where we die, then we'll take down damned things with us! But we will protect our great land to the very last breath! Now, Windian Art: Army of Daris!" General Daris shouts as he summons thousands of clones of himself.

"Holy… " I remark as I marvel at the sight.

"This is a rare sight indeed! General Daris' ultima attack, Army of Daris! I've only seen him use it one other time and that was during the Guild Wars!" Landon points out as all of our forces start chanting.

"Ready my comrades?" General Daris asks.

"AYE SIR!" We all shout back.

"Let them feel our pain from losing our comrades! ATTACK!" General Daris commands as the barrier falls down and we charge towards the enemy.

The stampede of clones already proves to be effective as they start taking out the army of Colossi with ease.

"Archers and Mages! Fire!" General Daris commands as they all launch their attacks and start to open up a path for us.

"Come on, pick up your step! This might be our only chance!" Landon orders as we use the chaos of the battle to run past the Colossi.

"Keep up that fire! Don't let those Colossi stop our elite team!" General Daris directs as we keep running towards Honos.

We run for a very long time until we finally get pretty close to Honos.

"Damn, didn't know he was this big!" Landon comments his voice full of nervousness.

"Having second thoughts big brother?" Layla asks as she smirks at him.

"Of course not, Jax would knock my head off if I did!" Landon responds as he smirks back.

"Enough chatting, we're here!" Marda points out as we slowly approach Honos who is staring at us.

Honos stretches his arms out and lowers his head to observe all of us as we ready our weapons.

"Finally, you've arrived!" Honos roars his voice very deep and menacing.

"So you can talk?" Marda asks as she aims her staff at him.

"Of course I can! We legendary Colossi have been gone for quite some time but it definitely feels good to be back! I was tired of sleeping because of that witch Adora!" Honos shares as it feels really weird just having a casual conversation with him.

"I'm sure it does since you seem to be having fun murdering innocent people!" I reply as Honos darts his red eyes towards me.

"I see, so you're the boy that Vedora told me about! One of Adora's children! I can't wait to see her face when I crush you to death!" Honos laughs as I grip my dagger.

"Shut your mouth you scum! You killed a mentor of mine and I'll never forgive you for it! You hear me you Colossi?" Landon shouts as Taqa starts emanating from his body.

"Do you mean that stupid Bracadier? No need to fret, you'll be joining him very soon! I'll crush you little bugs and then I'll destroy all of Goliath! I will have my revenge!" Honos shouts as he finally gets up and attacks all of us with his claws.

We all manage to dodge his attacks but now he's starting to unleash that deadly Taqa again!

"Come on girls together! Mardian Art: Elegance Blast!" Marda shouts as she shoots a pink magic blast at Honos' legs.

"Windian Art: Blazing Arrows!" Sachi yells as she shoots four giant flaming arrows at Honos' chest.

"Mardian Art: Volley Blasts!" Mari commands as she shoots a bunch of blue magic blasts at Honos's face.

"RAGHH! That actually hurt! Colossi Art: Tundra Push!" Honos shouts as he blasts all of us away from him.

We all take massive damage from his attack as Honos' Taqa grows even larger.

"Crap, that was just one attack too! A long battle against this guy means game over for us!" Sachi remarks as she slowly gets up.

"Let's not forget! He does have a weakness!" I remind everyone.

"You're right! We gotta get this perfectly! Layla! You and I will go for his ankles, Crow use those wings of yours to get behind him, Marda and the rest of you just keep attacking him! Let's give this attack everything we've got!" Landon commands.

"Right!" We all say in unison.

"What are you little pests whispering about? Whatever plan you thought you had in mind won't work against me! Come to me, my brethren!" Honos commands as black portals appear below him and at least 30 Colossi pop out of them.

"Of course it couldn't be that easy! No matter, Scavian Art: Flight of The Crow!" I shout as my wings sprout and I fly towards Honos.

Landon and Layla fight off a group of Colossi slicing and dicing them as they sprint across the icy snow. Marda, Mari, and Sachi continue to shoot with their long-ranged weapons as they fight off Griffins and giant bats. I fly towards Honos but he keeps attacking me making sure that I don't get close enough to his weak spot.

"You're quite fast! But one swat from me means the end for you!" Honos taunts as he keeps narrowly missing his attacks on me.

"Come on! I'm so close!" I yell in frustration as I fly at even faster speeds just so I don't get swatted.

"Close your eyes, everyone! Mardian Art: Light Flare of Adora!" Mari shouts as she shoots a blinding light beam around us.

"Ugh, what the?" Honos screams as he covers his eyes.

"He can't see! Now everyone, attack!" Landon commands as cuts down the last of the group of Colossi.

"No you don't!" Honos yells as he starts swinging around like a wild beast.

"Come on girls, don't be afraid! Mardian Art: Death Scent Blade!" Marda commands as she shoots a pink magic slash that's heading straight towards Honos' arms.

"Windian Art: Bullseye Double Arrows!" Sachi shouts as she shoots two green magic arrows right into Honos' eyes.

"Mardian Art: Wrap of Adora!" Mari yells as she puts a blue giant magic wrap around Honos that prevents him from moving.

"No! This can't be!" Honos yells his voice full of anger.

"Alright Layla, let's cut him down! Scavian Art: Dark Resonance Slash!" Landon screams as he launches a dark slash from his sword that cuts one of Honos' ankles off.

"Scavian Art: 1 Point Slash!" Layla yells as she cuts off Honos' other ankle with extreme precision.

"Now Crow! Finish him off!" Sachi yells her voice full of desperation.

Honos finally falls down on his stomach and I can finally see his weak point. It is a red eye on his back that almost looks like a huge pimple.

"Take this! Scavian Art: Avian Slash!" I caw as I fly down at staggering speeds and cut off the weak point with ease.

"NOOO! This can't be the end! VEDORA! Vedora help me!" Honos screams as he now sounds like a baby crying for its mother.

Suddenly, another black portal appears and Vedora comes out.

"Who is that?" Landon asks as he aims his short sword at her.

"It's her, it's Vedora!" I respond.

"What?" Marda shouts her voice full of disbelief.

"Oh brother, put those little toys down! None of you could ever stand a chance at defeating me in battle but unfortunately, I can't fight you either. I think I'm smart enough to know when I've been defeated! Come on Honos, you're going to need to sleep again for a long time." Vedora replies casually as she and Honos start disappearing.

"Wait!" I yell as I fly after her.

"Crow stop!" Mari yells as she holds her hand out to me.

"You're quite strong boy! You'll prove to be a very entertaining opponent for me in the future! Next time will be very different I assure you! I'll ruin everything you love and then some! Until next time, Chosen Children!" Vedora taunts as she and Honos disappear.

"That was rough… " Marda sighs as she falls onto the ground in exhaustion.

"Oh well! For now, victory is ours!" Landon cheers his voice full of relief.