'It's time for the third phase.' Judith had said, and at once Qui Lin had yelled.
"Evade!" With that command, the Tethereds had stopped attacking and began to run around the Parabeast.
For good reason too, because not long after the order was given, the Parabeast had spit out a liquid which ate into the sand it landed on for several depths before stopping.
Upon witnessing this, a fear that had seemingly left the Tethereds by their consistent and successful assaults on the Parabeast had returned in full force.
One Tethered in particular felt this fear like none other, which had caused him to stumble and…
"Ahh!"
His scream had torn the very air, chilling everyone to the bone as he began to dissolve before their very eyes.
The pain in the Tethered's scream had eaten into Judith like a blade rending the skin.
At once she had shut her eyes, so she wouldn't see the visceral scenery before her of the Tethered being melted by the acid.
"Why hasn't he taken the shot yet?"
"Why haven't you taken the shot yet?!"
Judith had asked Qui Lin, at the same time Qui Lin had asked the Tethered standing next to them, a Tethered who was frozen in place.
"Tethered, Tethered!" Qui Lin had screamed, trying to wake the Tethered from his daze.
She attempted to slap him across the face, when another Tethered had called her attention.
"Lady Qui Lin, we can't hold it down much longer!" One of the Tethereds beside Qui Lin had said.
"Lady Qui Lin, the ice on the Parabeast's scales are melting, it's not going to stay above ground for much longer!" A Tethered evading the Parabeast had screamed.
"Qui Lin, this plan is falling apart." The prince had said.
Qui Lin all of a sudden began to feel the pressure of it all eating into her. The same pressure Judith felt.
The more the seconds went by, the more Judith's fear ate into her and she began to breathe hard, until a memory had surfaced in her head.
She found herself amidst some sort of chaos.
A building, she thought, a lobby of some kind, which was crumbling chunk by chunk.
Screams had filled her ears, the smell of dust, smoke and blood had permeated the air.
Judith in the middle of it all, was trying to get a young boy — a teen — out of a pile of large rocks and huge chunks of wood that had fallen onto him.
Judith didn't know this boy in particular, but he was begging for his life, he was begging to be rescued.
And no matter how much Judith had screamed and asked for help, her voice was both drowned out by the sound of chaos and the purposeful ignorance so many took on, as they had friends and family to protect, who needed help, who needed rescuing.
Left with no option, it was up to Judith to save this boy, so she did her best to pull the enormous piece of rock keeping the boy trapped.
The boy knew Judith was doing her best, but out of fear, he couldn't help himself from crying and begging.
She did everything in her power to save this boy, but then, before her very eyes, a pile of rubble had crashed into this pile of rubble, successfully crushing the boy underneath.
Judith…couldn't help the boy when he needed it, when he asked for it. He died before her very eyes.
And though now no one asked for her help, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was responsible for these people's lives, especially considering the fact that she knew what was going to happen and how to avoid it.
And yet, she watched again, as...people died before her.
Without wasting anymore time, Judith ran up to the prince and said, "I need to borrow this." She then pulled his sword from his sheath and ran down the hill.
"Girl, what are you doing?!" Qui Lin asked, watching Judith barely keeping her balance as she ran down the sand hill.
"I'll get its attention, you blast it!" Judith had said, continuing on her way down.
She didn't think on what she was doing, or what the consequences of her actions would be, should this go wrong.
What she kept saying in her head was that she was going to die anyways, so it would be better to be of use before her inevitable demise.
But no matter how she looked at it, risking her life, was no easy task.
Which was why she hesitated when she stood before the Parabeast, as it was fixated on the other Tethereds.
With one gulp, Judith winded her arm back and then tossed the sword at the Parabeast.
"HEY!" She yelled and *CLING* resounded into the air, which made the Parabeast freeze in place, before it finally turned to Judith and stared her straight in the eyes.
As the Parabeast began to hiss and vibrate its flaps, Judith felt her nerves giving out on her, because she knew the Parabeast was building up its acid in its throat.
Qui Lin had informed Judith that she wasn't a good shot, which was why that role was tasked to someone else. But with no other choice, Judith had to burden Qui Lin with the role
Which was why she felt a great fear dwelling within her. If Qui Lin had missed this strike, it would be the end of her.
Trying to fight this fear, Judith started screaming at the top of her lungs.
The seconds felt like hours as Judith continued to scream and Qui Lin awaited anxiously for the Parabeast to act.
She stared the Parabeast down as she continued to scream, facing it head on. But in the blink of an eye, her forced courage had completely disappeared when she found the acid had already escaped the Parabeast's mouth, and was making its way toward her.
Judith saw the world slow to a crawl as the grim reaper took on the form of a corrosive liquid which was inching towards her in intervals of milliseconds, with its scythe at the ready.
Even though her demise was all but assured, she looked the Parabeast in the eyes, never backing down.
The Parabeast's acid didn't go much further, when an orange flick had flashed by at the top of Judith's field of vision. And in an instant, the acid overturned to flames which exploded into the air.
The might of the explosion was enough to fling Judith a distance back.
But even though the kickback from the blast had slammed into Judith like a sledgehammer, she couldn't help but get off the sand and onto her knees, so as to behold…the Parabeast being engulfed in flames.
That is, before an ear deafening explosion had torn into the air, so that flaming pieces of the Parabeast came raining down like shooting stars.
As all of this unraveled before Judith, a strange elation and excitement began to consume her, becoming all that she was to the point that she felt it becoming the very blood that ran in her veins.
With this strange euphoria coursing through Judith, a memory had surfaced in her head.
She was standing, at the edge of a building that overlooked the city of New York.
Before her, was a child, floating in the air and resonating an ethereal glow.
The child smiled and said, "You will be given a new world, make it yours and live the rest of your very long life..." the child paused then placed a hand on Judith's forehead. Immediately afterwards, she felt herself become whole. "The way you want to."