Chapter 4 : After Midnight
Fiona gasped audibly as her eyes shot open wide. Staring up at the ceiling above her bed, she breathed out a sigh of relief at finding herself back in the familiar space of her room. Relaxing enough to let her head sink further into her pillow, she began to mentally go over everything that had just happened to her.
She was still in the process of trying to decide if anything that she was remembering actually happened to her, or was all just a dream, when suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by a distinct shuffling sound coming from the floor at the foot of her bed.
Ears now poised and alert, Fiona slowly lifted her head and gazed into the darkness. For a moment everything was quiet and still, but as the dark elf watched, a blackness deeper than the darkness around it began to slowly rise up from the floor.
At first glance this blackness seemed to be a formless mass, but as it continued to rise it began to consolidate into a more solid form which began to take on a familiar shape.
"...Oh shit." breathed Fiona as the black mass seemed to turn towards her "She followed me..."
Fiona's breath got caught in her throat as a pair of eerily glowing, yellow circles suddenly winked into existence and pointed themselves right at her.
"...Uh, hey there." whispered the dark elf as the pupil-less orbs silently stared at her "...Is that really you?...Rozzie?"
The moment Fiona said the name, the orbs both shifted to an angry looking red light and the black mass reared up high into the air.
"Shit!" exclaimed Fiona as she instinctively formed an aura field around herself.
Just as soon as the bubble took shape it was immediately slammed into by a force that rocked the dark elf within its protective barrier.
Looking upwards at her attacker, Fiona's ears pointed themselves straight upwards as she watched a pair of cloven hoofed feet rear again and then slam themselves back into her bubble.
The hoofs on these feet were so sharp they were almost claw-like and they made an angry scratching noise as they were raked across the side of the bubble.
Gazing past them, Fiona froze in wide eyed panic as she watched her attackers head begin to form out of the blackness of its mass.
Far and away this head was the same size and shape as that of a large black horse, though this was easily the most horrifying looking horse that Fiona had ever seen. Its wide nostrils blew out a plum of smoke-like blackness as the two perfect glowing circles that were its eyes bore into her own.
A shimmering flame soon erupted out of the back of the head and ran down its long neck before billowing out into a blazing, silver colored mane that appeared to be made out of white fire.
Easing its head in between the legs it had pressed against the bubble, the horse's eyes seemed to boil with rage as it stared down at Fiona. Without warning it opened its massive maw unnaturally wide and let loose a bone shattering scream.
Fiona barely even registered the monster's scream as her attention was instantly locked to the creature's mouth itself. Though horse-like in appearance on the outside, the monster's mouth was filled with several rows of long, sharp, knife-like fangs that seemed to be made out of a black, shiny metal. And behind these fangs, far down within the bellowing mass, came radiating forth the fiery light from what could only be described as a living cauldron or furnace which somehow contained a literal, swirling white colored inferno deep within the monster's body.
Staring down the creature's throat and into this fiery pit, Fiona's transfixed mind was brought back to the here and now by a thin, splintering crack, which suddenly spread itself across the expanse of her bubble.
Emboldened by this achievement, the monster screamed again before rearing back up high into the air.
Raising her hands on impulse, Fiona cried out as the monster readied itself to bring its hooves crashing back down upon her.
Before it could accomplish this however, it suddenly stopped mid motion and paused as if it had sensed something was wrong. The stillness that followed was broken as Fiona let out a relived breath. She too had sensed the ominous presence filling the air around them, but for her this feeling of dread was all too familiar and at this point, far from unwelcomed.
In the next instant the bedroom door swung opened with a crash and revealed a large dark, looming figure standing silhouetted against the lights from the hall.
The monster immediately turned to the intruder and screamed again before it was cut short as it was suddenly tackled around its middle by the charging figure.
Wrapping his arms and tendrils as tightly around the monster as he could, Earlivi swept the creature up into his charge and sent them both crashing through the window. Using their combined bulk against the nightmare, he shifted the creature's mass forward to break his fall as he slammed them both onto the ground below.
"Fiona!" cried Kianna as she and Anton both bolted into the room "Are you okay!?"
"I! He!...They went that way!" stammered Fiona as she pointed at the shattered window.
Racing forward, Anton continued on to the window as Kianna went to her sister at the bed.
"Are you hurt!?" whimpered Kianna as Fiona dropped her aura field "Did she get you!?"
"No. She couldn't reach me..." said Fiona as she shakily got to her feet and made her way to the window.
Coming up next to Anton, the sounds of a fierce battle could be heard raging below them and as Fiona looked down, her breath got caught in her throat.
The two monstrous entities were indeed engaged in a viscous clash. Their large forms moving about amid a whirling maelstrom of fists, hooves and ripping tendrils. For the moment, Earlivi appeared to have the upper hand as he seemed to be having a far easier time maneuvering about. Planting his feet out wide, he continuously rolled his head back and forth to dodge his adversaries tendril attacks while constantly taking every opportunely he was given to trip the unsteady monster's legs out from under her and slam her into the ground over and over. Despite his better tactics, the homunculus was not without damage though, as the monster's fanged mouth and six hoofed legs still tore into him whenever he furiously attempted to maintain a grappled hold around the creature's middle.
"It's hurting him!" cried Kianna "Master we have to kill it before it kills Earlivi!"
"We can't, we can't kill her..." mumbled Fiona "All that's gonna do is send her back to the Void. Killing her won't work!"
"What!?" exclaimed Kianna as she turned to her sister "You don't know that!"
