"Look, look at how she taints the dead. Even in death, our Savior rises to do battle once more like a slave to the very evil he fought," Lord Speaker shouted frantically pointing to the rising corpse of the Birdman.
At the center of the crater, Wynter was hovering almost unnoticeably off the ground. Her black hair floating as though she was submerged underwater. Her skin had become paler with a hint of grey, while her eyes turned black and pupils crimson red. The group Lord Speaker led would have found her horrifying if they could see her. But, they had long since turned and ran away from the various undead that pursued them.
'This power is not natural. No, no power is exactly natural, but this is not a power that should be found here. It seems more like a low-level Lordship. Though I can not determine the domain she controls I am sure no one else has any stake in it. Summoning a Soul Storm and using the language of Concepts it is extraordinary.'
Green skies were not the strangest sight over Manhattan at the moment the emerald green tornado sweeping through the city. Standing at the edge of a bridge was Ayla along with Alex, Mizuki, Edward, and a new face. Staring at the city no one could truly know what they felt staring at a city as big as New York being leveled and ripped apart by unnatural natural disasters.
"We'll split up here. Alex, Mizuki, and Edward you three will head to the north sanctuary then move east along the far north of the island and clear out the beast along the path to the east side of the island. Ayla and the straggler back there will be with me, we'll be clearing Central Park, pass by Randall's Island and finally moving down to the South Seaport. Any questions?"
"Yeah, I've got one, who are you? Aren't you taggin' along when'd you become boss?"
"I survived in this city for six months still in high school at the very start of the Gate Incident. No one knows this city or its threats better than me. That's why I'm your boss now, any more questions? No good, split up and head out."
Edward gawked at the woman giving orders. Although he also moved through the city and cleared a larger distance than anyone else, he was also adept at hiding and avoiding danger. He also had experience hunting and surviving in extreme conditions, so walking through a dangerous city filled with more than a few places to hide and avoiding monstrous beasts came naturally. But for a high school kid to survive for months running around the city was amazing.
"Anna, come out now. She knew probably knew you were following us before I did, and we have some things to talk about."
Debris not too far behind Menefer and Ayla shifted as a woman strolled over. Anna was a tall woman, with very heroic features, she had well-defined muscles, a lean figure, and sunkissed skin. She wore a skin-tight bodysuit with obvious armored plating at various points and had escrima sticks strapped to her thighs.
"How did you notice me?"
"I'm more cat-like than human these days and the girl is even better than me, depending on how you look at it," Menefer said fanning her hand lazily.
"Is she like you?"
"Yes and no. Ask her about it instead of me," she peeped at Ayla from the corner of her eye, "Oh but it may be too late for that," she chuckled.
Anna was ready to ignore Menefer's warning and directly get the answer to her question from Ayla. However, when her attention finally went to the subject of her questions she had no time to be stunned or curious as a shadow barreled at her at incredible speeds. As fast as possible she drew one of her escrima sticks and struck the ground causing it to shake, shifting debris in the path of the shadow. The shadow showed no signs of stopping or slowing down, instead, it sped up and crashed into the debris shattering it kicking dust into the air while shards of stone and metal exploded out in the vicinity. Standing at the point of impact was Ayla a strange mixture of anger, excitement, and anticipation on her face, resembling a feral beast.
"Why is she attacking me?"
"You've never heard? She's famous for being very much like a feral animal. You disregarded her earlier and now. You disrespected the leader of the Pack, Pride, whatever applies really. Anyway, either she puts you in your place or you put her in hers. Not my problem anymore."
Ayla lowered her posture and shot forward again although slower this time, it was still plenty fast. She landed face to face with Anna and brought her hand down like a claw. It found its mark early when it collided with an escrima stick, that numbed her armed for a moment. Black scales surfaced on Ayla's skin as her pupils shrank to verticle slits, her free hand shot at Anna's waist, meeting yet another escrima stick. Though the blow carried enough power to knock Anna back and disturb the recently settled dust and ash.
Gawking at Ayla, Anna found the girl remarkable and strange. Before the dust could settle she could see a strange figure hidden in it. Ayla before this point still looked relatively human, even with the scales and vertical pupils. However, now that was no longer the case. She was down on all fours covered in black scales, her hair looked like a lions' mane flowing down her back, her fingers sharper and more like claws, while her feet looked almost like talons.
"Anna, you might want to get serious now, she's losing it," Menefer who was mostly enjoying the fight voiced some concern seeing the current Ayla.
Ayla disappeared from her position arriving immediately at Anna's face with claws raised. Anna side-stepped the attack still receiving minor scratches on her cheek and side, just as she was ready to turn around she felt something wrap around her waist. Though the feeling was ethereal as just as the sensation was recognized she was flying through the air. Before she could reach the building she rocketed toward she was caught mid-flight.
"I suppose now it is my problem."
"What is that girl?" Anna asked not taking her attention off Ayla for even a second.
"It's kinda funny actually. Although we call that thing over in Central Park the King of Beasts. The actual King is more like a Queen, and she's right in front of us."
Ayla's transformation had gone even further since her last move against Anna. She had sprouted a long black tail with barbs on every side, her trademark half-mask had begun to crack revealing sharp fangs. She resembled a miniature dragon at this point only lacking wings.
Ayla stood and the scales and fangs were retracted. She stared at the two women facing her. They could have taken it as a sign of her regaining herself if it weren't for the arrogant look of a predator staring at prey trying to fight back. Her vertical pupils dilated a bit, her hair returned to its normal length, and the tail shortened. However, this was the start of her transformation. The tail split into two, each sporting the previous black scales, her previous reptilian eyes became more feline-like, her already slim and lean figure shrank a size, the previously retracted fangs appeared once again though now she specifically sported elongated canines only. Finally, her clothing had exposed both her legs on the sides and her thighs and calves became extremely muscular, now incredibly defined.
"What is she doing," Anna asked Menefer still not taking her eyes off of Ayla, "Did you know about this transformation ability?"
"I know her only by her fame," she also watched Ayla cautious and carefully, as she stared back at the two women, "Like I said she is famous for being much like a wild feral beast, but I've never met her until now. I didn't know anything about this."
The two women were dumbfounded. But they didn't have much time to remain so, even under their watchful eyes Ayla had silently disappeared. Immediately weary they pressed each other back to back and watched their surroundings, where they would occasionally just barely catch the silhouette of Ayla's fast-moving figure. Ayla hid in the darkness and debris so expertly as if she had lived in the area for years, her silent stalking quickly taking its toll on Anna and Menefer mentally. Both women were experienced fighters, Menefer had survived in New York City from the very beginning of the Gate Incident and run missions to and from the city since her arrival at Liberty Fortress. As for Anna, although unknown to everyone else she had far more experience than anyone else in this kind of environment it was her life story. Yet Ayla put them both to the test. Her strength, speed, patience, all of it marks of a seasoned hunter and dreadful adversary. It was possible only Astrid or the even more legendary Alexander Woods, would be capable of dealing with the threat she posed in a relaxed manner.
Just before reaching her breaking point Menefer noticed something, her pupils shrank becoming cat-like as well. She easily followed Ayla with her eyes staring gleefully at something only she could see.
[We surrender]
"Anna, you have something like low-level hypnosis right. Get to it and put her to sleep when she drops her guard."
Anna listened and started to hum a soft tune. It was too quiet for even Menefer behind her to hear, however as it continued it slowly grew more audible. Meanwhile, Ayla had stopped stalking them from the dark and appeared a short distance from Menefer.
[ We do not want to fight anymore, you win]
Menefer continued to purr at Ayla. Ayla who heard them slowly approached the woman though she looked slightly dazed. Menefer could see that Ayla remained guarded toward her and still carried the air of superiority, which somewhat infuriated her. Anna's humming became a wordless song, only a melody escaped her lips and the dazed Ayla approached closer to her bypassing Menefer entirely. Arriving in front of Anna, Ayla was no longer only dazed she slumped onto the ground easily falling into slumber.
"What is she, I've never seen anything like this," Staring dazedly at the peacefully sleeping predator Anna and Menefer both were at a loss for words. Anna continued, "I've seen many special abilities and people, but no one likes her."
"I have no idea. At first, it looked like she was turning into a dragon or something and I've seen that before. If I weren't sure that person didn't have kids and it had been more than a year, I would suspect she was his daughter."
"You knew someone who could turn into a dragon?"
"Yeah, a classmate of mine and my best friend. Turns out his family is really weird, his cousin was Damian Mallory."
"Damian..." Unnoticed by Menefer, there was slight anguish in Anna's voice and pain on her face, "We should move, we're too exposed here and she won't wake up any time soon," she lifted Ayla's body not ready for the weight or lack thereof and nearly threw her into the air.
"Wow, she is incredibly light. It's like picking up a feather."
In one of the more stable buildings, they rested in an apartment that still maintained most of its furnishing almost entirely untouched. They drew the curtains to keep the light from escaping outside.
Without waiting for Menefer to agree or not Anna removed Ayla's mask from her face. What greeted her was an eerie sight that made her go pale. Menefer was similarly stunned seeing the face hidden behind the mask and turned her gaze to Anna. Only to see the woman ghastly pale and seemingly close to retching.