Fallen One (Book three of Alfireán age)

- Clash -

With a soft hiss, Drake and the maids vanished from view. Alf's knees crouched and his shoulders fell into a fighting stance as his head snapped up to see where the voice had come from.

There above the trees, standing on an invisible force, three blood oaths gazed down at them.

Stepping ever so slightly back, Alf raised his hands, ready to charge a spell. But the blood oath in the middle, who was strangely clad in shadowy grey leather armor and wearing a mask over his face, said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Then the masked enemy flicked open his hand, and the trio dropped out of the sky. Descending through the leaves and tree limbs, the three blood oaths landed several feet in front of Alf and the others.

"Yeah, you wouldn't want us to have to mess up The General's prize now would you?" the blood oath to the left sneered, his sharp teeth cutting through his deformed lips as he smiled.

"Oh I don't know," the blood oath on the right answered back. "I was thinking of having some fun with her myself."

Suddenly, the blood oath on the left looked around in confusion. "Hey, where did the others go? I was hankering for the chubby one myself."

"Looks like you'll have to do some hunting," the former blood oath cackled, his bald, bruised head glistening in the dappled light.

As the two bantered back and forth, righteous anger burned deep in Alf, and energy flowed through him like a live wire. The world shifted colors, taking on an orangish hue as lower and higher spectrums of light and frequencies came into view.

Immediately, a thick magical wall guarding the perverse trio from the front and sides came into view... but there was nothing protecting them from above.

"I'd watch out for the big one though if I were you," the blood oath on the right side guffawed. "From the looks of it, he has prosthetic Dragon eyes and he might just try to sto-"

Alf reached out and mentally claimed the large pink sphere the champion had been sitting on. Then, with every ounce of strength he could summon, he swung his arm over his head as hard and fast as he could.

Wind howled and the earth shook while the invisible sphere rocketed into the sky and then slammed down on the blood oath, cutting him off midsentence and squashing him to the ground.

Crunch!

The snapping sound of breaking bones and a half-gurgled cry echoed throughout the forest as the purple-skinned spawn of Vackzilian met an abrupt and permanent grisly end.

The forest fell into a haunting silence. The distant echo of the sudden boom slowly faded away, and all eyes turned to gaze at the blood oath that was no more; then they slowly swiveled to Alf, the one who had put an end to him.

Without warning, the jungle exploded in movement as the masked blood oath in the middle, threw out his arms. Leaves, branches, and twigs levitated up off the forest floor and broke off from the surrounding trees. Then a mighty wind solidified into a dark wall and rocketed straight towards Alf and the group.

Zaphaniea raced forward, threw out her hands, and a swarm of pink spheres collided with the oncoming attack.

As the two magical forces sparked and hissed against each other, the grand champion's feet sank into the soft dirt, and she hissed, "Help me."

Alf pulled back his still extended arm, then twisted to the right and punched with all of his might.

His giant sphere plowed a deep furrow in the ground as it raced back to Alf and then shot forward. Humming with energy, it slammed into the blood oath's attack and shattered the twig laden, solidified air into thousands of tiny pieces.