Giants

Beltran dropped onto the Griffin in a burst of black feathers, coughing as smoke rolled off him.

“And that’s a Warlock,” Beltran said.

“Bel!” Ignacio said. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better,” Beltran said, glancing down at the charred, bloody mess that was his chest and stomach.

Ignacio placed a hand over his mouth. “You’re…”

“I’m fine,” Beltran said.

Ignacio’s stomach churned. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was lasting too long.

“Hold on,” Beltran said.

Ignacio’s arm flew up in the air as the Griffyn dropped, a bolt of lightning arching above them.

“That thing… it looks like a god from Greek myth,” Ignacio said.

“Yeah,” Beltran said. “That’s a Thunder Aspect Warlock for you.”

Ignacio narrowed his eyes. “You think I should take him?”

Beltran paused. “No, wait for-”

Another roar broke through the air, like the cracking of glass beneath a boot. From behind the Sentinel emerged another creature, wisps of iridescent white smoke curling from it. It stood on two legs, its body and legs completely human. But its head was made of three giant white crystals that ended in a three-point crown atop its head. It had no eyes, its hands gauntleted in the same sharp crystals, teeth made from pointed shards of the stuff. Its chest had a white chest embedded in it where a heart should have been, pulsing white veins spreading from it.

“Hallowed Titan,” Beltran said. “That’s what you should go for.”

The Titan raised a crystal hand, and it began to glow with an iridescent light.

“Ace,” Beltran shouted. “Cover your eyes, now!”

Ignacio lowered his head, hands over his eyes. The sound of glass shattering rang around him, like someone emptying an endless box of window panes onto concrete.

The shattering stopped, and Ignacio lifted his head. Beltran glanced over his shoulder, his eyes fluttering open.

“I’m going to get you close,” Beltran said, the Griffyn’s wings tilting as it looped around. “If you can absorb that thing, we can get your sister out.”

Ignacio’s heart leapt. But he nodded. “Just get me close, Bel.”

The Griffyn swooped down towards the Titan’s side, behind the Sentinel as it raised its axe again.

Just past the Titan, Ignacio could make out Ezequiel fighting the Jotunn, the two wrestling and slamming each other with blows that cracked like earthquakes.

Ignacio frowned. “Where’s Kiyomi?”

“I was just about to ask the same question,” Beltran said. “Just focus on getting the Titan, I’ll find her.”

Ignacio nodded, pulling his legs onto the Griffyn’s back. They soared towards the Titan, just as it began to turn toward them. The Griffyn’s wings paused as they lifted, then blasted downward and launched them higher. The Titan reached for them, its fingers dragging through the air beneath them.

Ignacio sat on his haunches, hands on Beltran’s shoulders as they soared over its arm, and then…

“Now!”

Ignacio leapt off the Griffyn, his stomach sinking as he fell. The Titan’s massive arm careened towards him. He was so close, a mere seconds away from landing, when the arm pulled away, and he zipped past it.

Dammit!

His eyes widened, the dirt road now careening towards him.

But we just touched Beltran… surely…

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he fell. It wasn’t something to control. It was something to know was there. His fall began to slow, and his eyes opened. He glanced over his shoulder, and a pair of black bird wings sprouted from his back, flaring open and dragging through the air.

He smirked. Until he spotted the Titan’s open hand swinging towards him, that iridescent glow burning along its fingers, the jagged seams in its crystalline palm.

His wings flapped frantically, arms flailing.

You can’t-

The Titan’s hand slammed into him, and the world went dark.

Koharu slashed her hand to the side, sending a beam of light out one portal across to the next, slicing through the Jotunn's leg.

The frost giant growled in pain as it toppled, its white eyes widening as Ezequiel slammed a stone fist into the side of its jaw, knocking it over.

“Yes, Zeeq!” she shouted, swiping both hands to the side and driving two beams of light from the next portal through the Jotunn’s shoulder, smoke curling from the wound.

It roared in pain, lifting itself up just in time for Ezequiel to grab it by the horn.

“This,” Ezequiel said, his stony voice echoing as he slammed a fist against the Jotunn’s head, “is why,” he slammed it again, blood spraying from the giant’s mouth, “horns on your head,” he slammed it again, “are a bad,” again, bone crunching, “idea!”

He hammered his fist, breaking the Jotunn’s jaw off. He panted, holding the giant’s horn as he turned, using the momentum to sling the body. It crashed into a nearby hill, its eyes losing their glow.

Ezequiel turned to the Sentinel as it raised its axe, and swung down.

“Nope,” he shouted, curling into a ball of stone and rolling out of the way.

The axe cleaved into the ground where he’d been standing, leaving a deep gash in the Earth.

“Hey!” Koharu shouted at the Sentinel. “Pick on someone your own size.”

She sliced her hand through the air, sending a beam of light across the hexagon, from one portal to another. It sliced through the axe blade, cutting it in half as the Sentinel tried lifting it.

“Yes,” she shouted, the beam meeting the Sentinels leg and fizzling out.

For some reason, she just couldn’t burn through the thing’s hooves.

Ezequiel stood up, turning to the Sentinel. The Thunder Warlock cast another flash of lightning at him, but it just sparked off Zeeq’s stone head.

“My turn,” Ezequiel said.

He held a hand out to the side, and the ground trembled.

Koharu smiled, flinging a ball of light at the Thunder Warlock as it caught another bolt of lightning from the sky. A boulder tore from the ground like a giant tooth, flying into Ezequiel’s hand.

Koharu whooped. “Get him Zee-”

A red blast knocked her in the side, sending her careening through the air. She crashed into the grassy earth, sliding to a halt.

She groaned, placing a hand against the soil.

Get up, something told her. The longer you’re down, the longer they have to kill you all.

She pushed up with both arms, wincing as the burn on her arm flared with agony.

The sleeve of her robe was gone, the side tattered and charred.

What was that…

She face planted into the dirt, wind knocking out of her lungs as something landed on her back.

“Turn off the portals,” a low voice said.

Koharu grit her teeth, cheek squashed against the soil. “Go to hell.”

A red blade lowered beside her face, her eyes widening. It was a shifting, almost electrical blade, its warmth pressing against her cheek as if it were a flame.

“Last chance, Koharu.”

Her heart sank. “Kiyomi?”