"Ken, where are you? If you don't hurry up, you can forget about your wedding, today will be my funeral. Seriously, my sister has been pacing up and down for the last hour and if looks could kill, I would already be six feet under. Don't tell me you're getting jittery." The teasing voice of David King sounded from the phone speakers into the ears of Keiren Kendrall.
The two men had known each other since they were born and exactly that long since their mothers had been the bestest of friends, to the point that they had not only given birth in the same hospital, on the same day, but also in the same room. Ken was five minutes older than David, a fact that he had often teased his oldest friend about during their childhood.
However, today their relationship would graduate from milk-brothers, to brothers-in-law.
"Sigh, what do you want me to do, brother? I texted her an hour ago that I got stuck in traffic and there is barely any movement at all. Heck, I even sent her my live feed and pictures about the situation.
"Anyway, there's no need for her to stress like this today, not when she should be all smiles. Try to cheer her up with Vera's help. Isn't that the bridesmaid job anyway? Feel free to partake in the booze, if it helps her calm down. There are still more than five hours until the ceremony starts, so everything will be just as perfect as she always dreamed about." Ken instructed David.
"Alright, I'll see what we can do, but try to hurry. I wasn't joking about her not being her usual self. The longer you take, the more reasons she is coming up with why today might be a bad day. Like, how the hell could the sunrise have been too slow, and what difference does the greenness of the grass possibly have on your marriage?" His best man complained on the other end.
"Believe me, if I could, I would fly through the sky to my wedding. Can you imagine how epic it would be to descend in front of the ceremonial hall on a giant eagle?" Ken daydreamed, ignoring the honking all around him. He never understood why people in traffic did that, not like it magically solved any problems.
# Do you wish to summon the giant eagle Galatris into this world to carry you to your wedding? #
"Galatris? Dayum, that's a sick-ass name. Sure, I wish I had him here to take me to my wedding." The groom answered, mistaking the voice for David using a voice changer which he must have procured for who knows what little party trick.
# Please be aware that this will have consequences that are not predictable and will offend the Goddess of Time and Space of this world! #
"Man, are you alright? Whatever, as long as I can get to my wedding and give my future wife some peace of mind, I don't care about offending some Goddess of Time and Space." Ken played along.
# Your wish shall be granted! #
# The giant eagle Galatris will spawn in front of you in 5 seconds #
"Alright. Once it does, I shall mount it and head to my wedding. Haha." Ken began to laugh, and David on the other side of the phone joined in, believing the other to have gotten slightly crazy from waiting around too long in the sun.
However, soon enough, the groom stopped laughing because a summoning circle had appeared around the car in front of him. The next moment, a giant 20 meters tall eagle crushed the vehicle underneath it, and spread his wings in the air.
"FUCK, I must be dreaming!" Ken rubbed his eyes, but he could still see the majestic creature. Just to make sure that he hadn't fallen asleep while waiting for the traffic to move again, he also pinched himself. The pain certainly felt real, and the giant eagle hadn't disappeared.
In fact, it was staring at him with an expectant gaze.
"Master, it would be wise to move as fast as possible to accomplish my mission before the Goddess of Time and Space notices my arrival. I'm sure she must have already noticed that I forced my way through her barriers to heed your summon. Let us depart now, so I can bring you to your wedding before she tosses me into my own world." Galatris spoke to Ken who had dropped his phone out of shock
"David, tell everyone to head outside and watch me descend on a giant talking eagle in front of the ceremonial hall!" Ken prompted his best friend as he picked it back up, before disconnecting the call and mounting the eagle. With adrenaline pumping from the idea of having summoned the eagle and his usual fuck-all attitude, Ken ignored the weirdness of the situation.
"Is there a way to bring my car with us?" Ken asked Galatris as he climbed on top of the eagle.
"Your car isn't heavy at all, I can carry a dozen of them without losing speed." Galatris answered while grabbing the car carefully, making sure not to damage it with his sharp claws.
"That's great. By the way, how fast are you?" Ken asked the summoned being.
"At my top speed, I could reach your destination in less than five seconds, however, that would damage the surrounding area and leave behind a wasteland that will take more than a millennium to recover. Forgive me, but it will take me a minute to deliver you to your wedding without causing this world any harm."
With this, Galatris lifted into the air, easily accelerating to a speed of around 750km/h. Ken was surprised that he didn't feel any wind pressure or discomfort, but then again, he was riding a magical being that shouldn't exist in this world in the first place.
Sixty seconds later, Galatris descended from the sky in front of the ceremonial hall to the complete shock of David, who was staring at the 20 meters tall giant eagle with his jaw left wide open.
"Master, I have fulfilled your wish, we have arrived at your wedding location. I shall take my leave, as my appearance has caused some trouble, and I'm afraid that the Goddess of Time and Space will surely punish you for what you did today. I hope we will see each other again in the future. If you can, it would be my greatest honor to welcome you on my planet. Farewell, Master." With this, the giant eagle vanished into thin air, but not before placing down the car and allowing Ken to dismount him.
"Did I drink too much yesterday?" David muttered to himself. He slapped his own face four times, turned around, and looked at his best friend, who was currently picking something from his car, seemingly unperturbed by the earlier scene. The best man looked around some more, but there was no sign of any giant bird, so he focused on the groom.
"Glad that you're finally here, Ken. My sister will certainly be pleased. I will go and tell her that your lazy dumb ass has arrived." He chuckled nervously, still not sure what was up with his active imagination.
------
Just like Shyla King had always dreamed about, her wedding was accompanied by the sounds of 19 so-called bridal-flutes present, one for each year of her life, as well as 21 'groom-drums'. According to ancient tradition, the tone of those instruments playing together would symbolize how the marriage between two people would turn out, and theirs were playing in perfect harmony from start to finish.
Alas, soon after the kiss, just when the newly married couple and their guests had gone over to cut the cake, a huge explosion resounded, making half of the hall disappear into dust. As the smoke lifted, a stunning beauty appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Have you completely lost your mind, human? Do you have even the smidgen of an idea what sort of damage your actions have caused to this world today? What gave you the gall to meddle in my affairs in the first place?!"
"I see you have some guts, that is remarkable, but I don't need you here. If you like tearing Space apart so much, do it somewhere else! You and your friends are no longer welcome in my world!" With that, the ethereal beauty waved her hand and a black hole appeared on her palm.
"Don't you dare to ever come back! If I so much as sense your presence, I will kill you, no matter the consequences!" The Goddess of Time and Space shouted at the five fading figures, before vanishing herself.
Left behind was a ruined wedding venue without a bride, groom, or groomsmen, the only witness of this supernatural phenomenon was the only bridesmaid.