Ravens and Thunder

Four?

“They’re wearing… robes. Black robes and hoods. And their faces are…” Beltran paused, then opened his eyes. “Their faces are masked. I think they just killed the Jackdaw.”

“That makes one for each of us,” Ezequiel said, pounding his fist into his open palm.

Koharu held out a hand. “No, no. Wait. There’s something wrong.”

“Yeah,” Beltran said. “I can sense it too.”

Kiyomi stood. “Then we’d better make the first move.”

Ignacio stood, glancing at Koharu. He offered her a hand, and she turned, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Nice try,” she said.

He shook his head. “I’m going to accidentally absorb more than one Aspect, regardless.”

Beltran raised a hand as he stood, poising his fingers to snap. Koharu’s blue light ignited on her hands and feet, flicking her hair from her face as she turned to Ignacio.

“Don’t die,” she said.

“Not possible,” he said, smirking.

Ezequiel stood as Kiyomi produced her carpet with a hand, laying it flat on the ground. She stepped onto it, sitting down as Ezequiel followed, hands on her shoulders. He glanced up at Ignacio.

“Patience, Iggy,” he said, smirking. “Earn your place in Genesys.”

Ignacio nodded. “I won’t let you down, Zeeq.”

Kiyomi glanced at him sideways. “Don’t get yourself killed in the process.”

“Oh, now you’re so caring,” Ignacio said.

She smiled. And the carpet zipped out of the mirror ball.

Beltran snapped his fingers, and that black Griffyn swooped down from above, its gigantic wings blowing back all the bushes around them.

Koharu turned to Ignacio, her eyes wide. “I’ll meet you in the air.”

He nodded, and she rocketed into the air with a flare of blue light, jetting towards the Sentinel.

Beltran somersaulted onto the Griffyn’s back with a huff. “Hop on.”

Ignacio walked past the creature’s head as it stared him down with black slits against yellow eyes.

Its breathing was like the hissing of a serpent, the feathers soft as cotton as Ignacio grabbed hold and climbed on, keeping his hands away from Beltran.

“Hold tight,” Beltran said.

They swept into the air with one gust of the Griffyn’s wings, and circled around the back of the Sentinel. Ignacio could see Koharu between the Griffyn’s beating wings. Like a little blue comet, Kiyomi and Ezequel a red blur darting towards the wagon.

Koharu stopped in the air ahead of the wagon, and six dark blue portals opened around the wagon and Sentinel in a hexagon.

The Sentinel stopped, its hoof landing a final time with a deafening stomp. And beams of blue light, like strings, began weaving between the portals, creating a ring. Creating a cage.

Step one, Ignacio thought.

The Sentinel raised its giant stone battle axe overhead, and Koharu darted backwards as it slammed the axe down with a boom that echoed like thunder.

Ignacio winced. “Beltran, move faster.”

“We’re going at top speed,” Beltran said.

He held out his hand to the side, and a clockwork rifle materialized in his hand, black feathers popping around it and twirling to the ground.

Ignacio leaned forward as they got behind the Sentinel, its back rippling with all the muscles in a human torso, just assembled from stone bricks.

Ignacio scanned the battlement, and he spotted one. A man stood between two, his hand on one, red mask following Ignacio as they flew past. A green mask the shape of a Dragon’s head.

Beltran reached inside his black leather jacket, pulling out a coin and flipping it into the air. He reached his rifle back, the black metal gleaming as it pointed right past Ignacio’s ear.

Ignacio ducked, and Beltran fired, the bullet ricocheting off the coin and flashing towards the battlement.

“Did you get him?” Ignacio asked.

“Raven eye,” Beltran said, pulling out another coin. “I never miss.”

A roar shattered the air, and Ignacio turned to find a giant man bursting behind the Sentinel. Ice burst around him, a cloud of snow rolling off his skin. He panted, fists on the ground, then turned to Ignacio.

The giant’s beard was made of ice, his eyes the same glowing white as the dire-bear Ignacio had fought days earlier. His long hair was braided and platted, a pair of ox horns sprouting from the sides of his head.

“Come on, then!” the giant roared, fingers curling in rage.

“Jotunn,” Beltran said, sighing as he flipped the coin into the air. “Ezequiel was right.”

He leaned his rifle back without turning his head, shooting the coin. The bullet ricocheted with a boing, zipping through the Jotunn’s eye. The giant roared, lowering its head.

“That’ll keep him distracted,” Beltran said, circling around the front of the Sentinel.

They were so close, Ignacio could see all three of the remaining hooded figures on the battlement. He turned, spotting Ezequiel as he jumped off Kiyomi's carpet.

He plummeted, spinning mid air and pulling a fist back. Rocks began to pull off the ground. From the sides of the mountain, ripping free from the grassy earth and raining dirt as they all gravitated towards him. They clumped around his body, one after another, stone after stone clacking and thudding together until he wore a suit of them. He grew bigger and bigger as he fell. And the eye sockets of the Golem gleamed red. He let out a roar that rocked the air.

“Get her, Ezequiel!” Ignacio shouted.

He was about to touch down on the Pegasus crew, the rider running away. But the Jotunn came thundering from behind the Sentinel, jumping and tackling him mid-air.

“No,” Ignacio said.

He startled, grabbing the Griffyn’s feathers as they swerved in the air, a ball of green fire streaming past him and exploding in the air.

He turned back to the Sentinel, the creature leaning its battle axe to the side. But that man with the Dragon mask still stared at him from between the battlements, unmoving. Like he recognized Ignacio.

A shiver ran up his spine. “Bel, we need to get another one of those masked guys to activate their powers.”

Bel grunted, and Ignacio grabbed hold of him as the Griffyn launched higher into the air, the Sentinel’s axe swinging beneath them. The gust of wind in its wake sent Ignacio’s hair billowing upwards, the Griffyn’s shadow lingering on the pale stone blade.

“I’m trying,” Beltran said, “they don’t even look-”

Thunder cracked as lightning ripped through the air, blasting Beltran on the chest.

Ignacio screamed as Beltran fell, dark smoke curling off his body. “Beltran!”

Bel spun around mid air, his body popping into black feathers. A raven swooped up from the flurry of feathers, circling towards him with a distant caw.

Ignacio sighed, then grunted and grabbed onto the Griffyn as it swayed to the side, letting out an eagle-like screech.

Ignacio turned back to the battlement, and his eyes widened. Atop it rose the opaque top half of a man, his beard a giant cloud that rolled in the wind, eyes electric blue.

“What… is that,” Ignacio breathed, the Griffyn’s muscles pumping harder beneath his hands.

The man, or whatever it was, raised a hand, and a branch of lightning struck into it.