The black ocean stilled and roared; its waves hungrily tried to reach the sky, hoping to devour it. And amidst the chaos, from moment to moment, there shone bright orange light.
The creatures that had stood guard above Qatan had long noticed it by now and were departing one by one to confront whoever was crazy enough to provoke them.
They were soldiers of one of the highest authorities of the sehra; even the weakest of them was a powerhouse. They all held different applications of Parvaaz, meaning their powers were mostly mysterious.
Qatan squinted his eyes against the water and saw a few of them flying towards the light, only to be devoured by it. At this, a few more flew away, and sirens blared when the mysterious orange light grew even closer.
'Perfect timing, little sister,' Qatan smiled.
A shockwave of immolating heat washed over the world, melting even the stone and dissipating the cage of water in an instant. All the creatures that stood upon the cliff burned down to ashes, and their armors melted on top.
Qatan flew up, still feeling lethargic as he bared his teeth in a heartfelt smile upon looking at the orange flame.
"You don't know how to hold back, do you?" He said to it.
"I learned from the best," a voice came from within the orange flame as it dimmed a bit, revealing a beautiful figure that looked like Qatan but far slender and prettier. Its eyes held a bright golden light, and its tail and ears were made up of flowing flames.
"It's good to see you, Aatish; thank you for coming," Qatan said.
"
On this, Qatan sighed and said in a resigned voice, "Amawas is long gone, Aatish; she's not herself. She has completely lost her mind."
He paused and walked to Aatish as they both started walking towards the citadel; hundreds of soldiers had already lined up in front of them.
"So the last time we met, she tried to bite my ear off, Aatish. I mean, what kind of frantic elder sister does that to her young brother? I told her that she had gone and crossed the limit at that." An arrow flew towards them only to be melted before ever reaching them, as a second later, thunder struck the creature that had shot the arrow. Hollowing it out.
Aatish gasped.
"No, she did not. That is awful. Do you want me to talk to her?" Aatish said; they both kept walking towards the soldiers, completely ignoring the warnings.
"'You have the last chance, baadlbilli, surrender both of yourselves, and we will cage you without any harm.'"
"Yes, please, for now, let's focus on the task," Qatan said.
He paused and looked at Aatish.
"Do you remember the plan completely?"
"Yes, I do, Bhaijaan. Engage and distract, then run away when the sovereign comes," she said.
"Yes, run away when he appears. Leave him to me; you must not stay here, Aatish. I will come and find you later." Qatan looked at her and hugged her.
"Alright, Bhaijaan, I won't; go now," she said.
Qatan disappeared.
A spear with an elongated sharp tip appeared in Aatish's hand as her lips curled up in a sincere and humble smile; she was fond of Qatan. Her bhaijaan had taught her everything she knew.
She looked at the mass of soldiers standing in front of her, atop the sharp citadel walls and on the rocks in front. They all looked like dark silhouettes against her shining bright light.
'Here I come.'
Her spear suddenly ignited at the tip, and that was the signal.
Hundreds of arrows flew towards her from the top of the walls as they burned and melted.
Aatish smiled, and a moment later, what looked like a deformed gaunt fox grabbed her neck, only to watch its hand being melted a second later. Aatish pushed her spear deep within his chest and threw it at the next oncoming enemy with lethal precision.
It drew an orange string of condensed flame from her hand to the base of the spear; she then grunted and moved it in a wide arc, decapitating some more of the enemies and lifted her left arm up to block. An instant later, a strong shockwave threw her back as she rolled against the stones.
She lifted herself up and smiled again; despite being made of literal fire, the first lesson her bhaijaan had taught her was how to keep her cool in battle. The enemy took advantage of the moment, thinking they had her cornered, moved to the long-ranged attacks.
Their plan was simple; since she was made of fire, incapacitate her and push her into the sea. But she came prepared; Qatan had long advised her against it.
Suddenly, countless sharp blades of pure amethyst energy struck her as her skin tore open, revealing magma. In return, her spear shot through the entire line of the ranged soldiers from the side, piercing through them.
Aatish then struck the ground beneath her as the stone melted, and she propelled forward, landing right between. The soldiers reacted a second too late as Aatish mowed through them; her spear swinging in huge wide arcs, she slew tens of them in seconds, but more replaced right after.
Her plan was not to eradicate the armada.
She shoved her spear in the throat of a soldier and left it and then punched another with so much ferocity; he died at an instant. She then took out the spear and maneuvered herself under the strike of an especially tall creature that looked like a wolf with wings. And shoved the spear straight through its chin.
Aatish then moved deeper into the lines, getting hit and picking herself back up, obliterating. She was too brutal and cool-headed at the same time, and just the sheer combo of these two traits made her into a menace.
After a while, she reached the walls of the citadel. It was time for her main objective.
She melted the stone and moved in, pushed the ground behind her and flew; that caught the soldiers off guard as those who could fly within the ranks rose into the air to intercept her. She punched through one, but the other struck her with a deadly strike of a long axe, pushing her tumbling to the ground from mid-air, completely destroying a smaller structure.
Her spear was lost for now; she picked herself up and saw the same beast who struck her landing in front of her with a loud boom. He was a towering creature, more than 2 meters tall and looked extremely formidable.
She picked herself up, tore a big chunk of stone with her right hand, then she started running towards the hulking creature without wasting any second as the stone in her hand melted and changed into a makeshift spike.
She then dodged and ducked below a horizontal slash and climbed on top of the creature from behind, smashed the spike into his neck and pushed herself against it, taking flight.
She landed near the main tower of the citadel.
Breathing and huffing heavily.
'I hope Bhaijaan is right about this.' She thought to herself then placed her hand against the tall four-cornered spike-like structure; it was so high that it parted the clouds.
Aatish screamed as her golden eyes shone even brighter, and the structure under her hand started crumbling, and in the next moment, it completely collapsed on the entire citadel, leaving nothing but ruin and chaos. And fire.