Starlight

As Mina was on her knees staring at the hovering phoenix, she suddenly began to hear notes from a guitar echoing across the shrine. The sound seemed to be overtaking everything else that could be heard, and yet at the same time seemed quiet. Suddenly, she felt an intense surge of anger, a deep rage, one that overwhelmed her and made her confused for a moment before she realized something. This wasn’t her anger; this was Uraina’s anger. Then, just as she realized that, Uraina’s anger disappeared and was replaced with an intense sense of realization, and that was immediately followed by joy!

This feeling guided Mina to look up, not at the phoenix, but up at the sky. There, the clouds slowly parted to reveal a star filled night sky.

*BOOM*

Mina jumped at the sudden noise, and quickly snapped her gaze towards where it came from to find a surprise. The phoenix was back on the ground, having looked like something had just slammed it onto the ground. Surprised, Mina quickly looked around to see that it wasn’t just the phoenix that had been slammed into the ground, it was everyone who her side was fighting.

Athan and Lefteris were face down on the ground, both in a shallow crater from their landing. Nik had seemingly collapsed while Agapi had been taken down to one knee, and Iro was looking at the both of them with surprise and confusion clear on her face. And even Dory had been brought to his knees by whatever was happening, much to Natalia’s surprise, though he was getting up much more quickly than the others.

Mina then realized something else. She felt lighter. Not just lighter, but stronger too, and less tired. Looking over herself, she could see the cuts and burns she’d gotten over the course of the fight and the rest of the week were visibly beginning to heal. A quick look told her that Iro and Natalia were experiencing that as well. And then, she turned to Jordan to see him playing his guitar with a smile, creating the very sound that was echoing across the whole shrine. And then, he opened his mouth.

“Up in the morning I walk through an unfamiliar land

Surrounded by unfamiliar trees and strange feeling sand

I don’t know how I got here, and I don’t know where to go

But I’ll work with what I’ve got and I gotta take it slow.”

As he sang, Jordan slowly walked towards Athan and Lefteris, swaying side to side in his walk as he seemed almost to not be paying attention to them. Athan and Lefteris exchanged confused looks at this, slowly forcing themselves to their feet as they did. they tried to activate their sky boots, but quickly found that whatever force was pushing them down was too strong for the spell, so they had no choice but to face Jordan head on.

“Then as the sun begins to set

The sky goes dark and shows me the way”

As he sang this line, Jordan bent his knees and locked eyes with Athan, his smile going from happy and relaxed to predatory.

“Yeah the moon light shines more than the sun could ever know”

In an instant Jordan crossed the gap, his feet shining with white power as he kicked Athan in the face so fast he had no hope of defending.

“And the wolves will howl till everybody knows”

He then spun around and smashed Lefteris into the ground with his guitar, which was suddenly on fire.

“That this aint my home but I know that that’s ok”

He then hopped back and made an exaggerated strum of his guitar. This strum sent a wave of fire at the pair, and they both screamed in pain from the attack. Yet somehow, their screams were muted against Jordan’s singing and guitar.

“Because the starlight shines and shows me the way”

“AWOOOOOOOO!”

Suddenly, golden fur filled Mina’s vision, and she leaned back and looked around to see she now had 4 golden, spectral wolves surrounding her. A glance around told her that she wasn’t the only one that had wolves with them. Iro, Natalia, and Jordan all now had 2 each standing beside them, and Mina realized that Jordan must have summoned them with his singing.

Suddenly one of the wolves grabbed her and pulled her away, doing so just in time to get her out of the way of a peck from the phoenix. At the same time, the other three went in and bit into the giant bird, making it caw in pain. This made Mina snap back to attention and refocus on the phoenix. With this, she now had confidence that she could win.

“This wasn’t my choice, we didn’t want this path”

Athan managed to rise to one knee, and saw Jordan looking straight into his eyes as he sang, as if that line was specifically meant for him.

Natalia shook herself out of her confusion and returned her focus to her husband. Feeling stronger than she’d ever been, she swung her longsword at him. Dory attempted to bring his short sword up to parry the slash, only for a wolf to grab that sword and hold it in place, leaving him wide open for Natalia’s strike.

“But I’ll do my best in this unfamiliar land”

Both of Iro’s wolves grabbed onto Nik and began dragging him away, leaving Iro alone with her mom. Iro didn’t hesitate to take advantage of this, swinging the flat of her blade at her mom’s wrist and forcing her to drop her sword.

Mina hopped onto the back of the wolf that saved her, and once she was firmly on it’s back it began circling the phoenix just like Mina had with Iro, allowing her to shoot her ice bow safely. At the same time, the other 3 wolves backed off from the phoenix just in time to avoid a small burst of fire.
“Embrace this life and don’t look back”

Lefteris got up and began to cast a spell, only for a wolf to pounce on him and smash him back against the ground. Athan took his sword and went in to slash the wolf off, only for the other one to grab him by the foot and pull him away.

Iro blasted her mom away with a sky blast, sending her tumbling back and giving one coyote an opening to come grab her dropped sword. Nik tried to stab the one remaining coyote on him, but the coyote caught his wrist in its jaw and bit down hard, forcing him to drop the knife.
“Till I greet my home with a starlit kiss”

The phoenix beat its wings to send a wave of fire at Mina and her coyotes, but Mina countered by creating a snow storm that completely nullified the fire, and two of the coyotes jumped up and chomped down on its wings.

Natalia followed up her first strike with another, and Dory opted to dodge back instead of blocking this time, but the wolves didn’t let him and bit into his legs making him fall backwards onto the ground.

“Yeah the moon light shines more than the sun could ever know”

A burst of white power. A fist, a sword, an arrow, and another sword, all covered in it, all hitting their mark.

“And the wolves will howl till everybody knows”

4 people working towards one goal, all their reasonings different, but all their hearts the same.

“That this aint my home but I know that that’s ok”

A pack has come together to ensure the safety of one, even knowing full well they may never see the one again.

“Because the starlight shines and shows me the way”

And all the while, the stars shine down on them, blessing their goal and cursing their enemies.

Athan tried to get up and slash at Jordan with his sword, trying to take advantage of his distraction as he played his guitar, but it was useless. Jordan easily danced and wandered out of the way of his strikes, looking almost lazy and casual about it. And, as his playing relaxed, the song hitting a bit of a lul, Jordan locked eyes with Athan and shot him a look that screamed ‘I’m already winning this fight, you’re not a threat to me in the slightest’. Meanwhile Lefteris was too busy getting mauled by a pair of coyotes to even try to cast a spell.

Iro showed her mother that even though Agapi may be her parent, she was still stronger. She slapped her in the shoulders and sides with the flat of her blade, countered every sky blast with a stronger one. She swiftly circled around her every time her mother tried to escape, not letting her get any distance, gain any advantage, and within seconds her mother was down. Off to the side, Nik filled his whole body with magic, making an explosion all over his body to finally knock off the coyote. But it was too late.

Dory barely managed to block the double downwards slash Natalia used on him to take advantage of his position. Despite the starlight pressing down on him, he was able to kick off both the wolves biting his legs, then rolled aside to get himself out from under her. He popped back up on his feet just in time to block a slash from Natalia, and their duel began again. He was weaker and she was stronger, but he still remained the most skilled between the two, and quickly regained the advantage in their clash. But it was too late.

Mina frowned as she fired another arrow into the phoenix’s wing. She was doing even more damage now, and the wolves were easily keeping her safe, but that also let her realize that the phoenix was regenerating thanks to the fire around them and the shrine. The phoenix cawed in pain once again and sent out another fire blast at her, but Mina countered it with an arrow. As far as she could tell, no matter what she did she wouldn’t be able to do enough damage to it to put it down. But she’d lasted long enough.

The coyotes mauling Lefteris suddenly stopped, and abruptly ran over to Mina. Confused but grateful, Lefteris climbed back to his feet and prepared to rejoin the fight with Athan. Athan himself was growing more and more frustrated at his inability to hit Jordan, at how the starlight even seemed to force his flying slashes to the ground before they could really go anywhere. And all the while Jordan looked at him almost mockingly, knowing exactly when it was time.

Jordan ramped up the music, strumming his guitar faster for a moment before suddenly throwing it up into the air. And up in the air, the guitar erupted with arrow shots of shining white light and power.

The shots began slamming into Dory’s side, pushing him towards where Jordan was while one wolf bit his arms to stop him from defending against them. The other wolf gently grabbed Natalia’s arm and pulled her towards Mina and the phoenix, and Natalia quickly got the massage and started running on her own.

Two arrows struck Nik before he could reach Iro, knocking him clean out. Iro didn’t need a wolf to let her know now was the time to go help Mina, and she activated her sky boots to fly over there.

Mina was surprised as a storm of arrows came in and rained down the phoenix, followed close behind by 5 more wolves who pounced on the bird to bite into any piece of flesh they could find. Mina saw this and changed her tactics. She focused all her arrows on its head, keeping it from pecking at any of the coyotes or using its flame breath. Momets later, Iro appeared and joined the assault. She began running around on her own, firing the most powerful sky blasts she could muster at it. Natalia soon followed, jumping right into the fray by getting on it’s back once again and stabbing her swords over and over into it.

Jordan moved like the light he wielded, throwing punch after punch into Athan, Lefteris, and Dory. He weaved between them with ease, each punch hitting their mark. Any time they tried to block, any time they tried to attack, any time Jordan wasn’t punching them, the arrows from the guitar rained down on them. The last remaining wolf with Jordan dragged them in, fangs digging into them and pulling them into any punch that was about to miss, or stopped them from leaving any time they tried to flee.

Then, as the music began to soften once again, Jordan backed off. The guitar stopped raining arrows and dropped down from the sky into his hand. The still conscious foes looked on in confusion as he slid over and sat down on a rock, the wolf still with him sitting obediently beside him.

“Ohhhh oh, oh-oh-oh

Ohhhh oh, oh-oh-oh

Ohhhh oh, oh-oh-oh

Ohhhh oh, oh-oh-oh”

Everyone but Natalia turned to look at him as he made himself comfortable on the rock, not having a clue what he was doing. Jordan then closed his eyes, the music relaxing even more as he began to look at peace.

“Then as the sun begins to set

The sky goes dark and shows me the way

Cause the starlight’s going to guide me home”

Then, all of the sudden, there was nothing but Jordan’s voice and his guitar. All the background music, the sounds that could only have been made by his magic, stopped. And suddenly, the effects of the star’s light, the weight on the foes and the empowerment of the allies, suddenly stopped.

“Yeah the moon light shines more than the sun could ever know”

He’d underestimated them, they assumed. He thought they were down and out, they believed. He’d dropped his guard, they decided.

“And the wolves will howl till everybody knows”

The phoenix screamed, forcing Natalia and all the wolves off of itself. Athan, Lefteris, and Dory all shared a look, making a silent agreement to take advantage of this and hit Jordan with their most powerful attacks all at once. They really should have realize that the wolves were still there.

“That this aint my home but I know that that’s ok”

The three of them charged Jordan all at once, roaring and screaming out the names of their attacks. But it all fell quiet beneath the sound of the still calm music. And by the time Jordan opened his eyes once more, and the three saw the predatory gleam within, it was too late.

“Because the starlight shines and shows me the way home home home”

The starlight power came back all at once forcing them to the ground right in front of Jordan, and directly in line with a swing from his light covered guitar.

“Yeah the moon light shines more than the sun could ever know”

The wolves jumped back onto the phoenix, the three fools attacking Jordan were sent flying.

“And the wolves will howl till everybody knows”

Mina let loose the arrow she’d been charging and encased the bird’s head in ice. The wolf caught Dory and used him to bat the other two back to Jordan.

“That this aint my home but I know that that’s ok”

Iro and Natalia let out a unified scream as they put all their power into their swords and attempted to cut off the phoenix’s wings. Jordan sent another wave of fire at the three before him.

“Because the starlight shines and shows me the way”

The stars shone down on them; the sound of victory echoed throughout the land.

“I’ve done my time, I’ve staked my claim”

Jordan struck the trio into the sky with a barrage of kicks both light and fire.

“I’ve changed this world while I’ve made my way”

One of the wolves dove beneath the phoenix’s feet, causing it to slip and fall completely to the ground.

“I’ve traced the path, I’ve drawn the map”

Jordan leapt upwards above the trio, and smashed them all back down to the ground with one last smash of his guitar.

“And now the starlight’s going to send someone home home home”

Iro, Natalia, and the wolves all jumped forwards to pin the phoenix to the ground, leaving it wide open for the finishing blow.

“Yeah the starlight’s showing the way back home”

Jordan landed beside the trio, the music momentarily calming down, and saw they were now well and truly unconscious.

He then turned back to Mina with a smile, that same smile he’d given her when he’d first told her to fight the phoenix on her own. Mina felt her heart soar, her confidence soar. She knew she could do this, and would here and now. As the music raised in intensity one last time, so too did the power that was inside her as she felt Jordan’s blessing fill her. She channeled all her power into one last attack, pointing a hand to the sky for the finisher she’d decided upon, then brought the hand down.

“URAINA’S JUDGEMENT!”

A bolt of lightning fell from the heavens, crashing right down into the pinned phoenix. Then, as the coyotes slowly faded away, so too did the phoenix. The fight, was over.