We took off at dawn with our horses into the forest. The corrupted forest twisted and pulsed around us, a living nightmare filled with the twisted forms of the chimera. Their howls echoed like screams of the damned, the stench of blood and decay thick in the air.
Bran's voice cut through the chaos. "Hold the line! If you break now, you die here"!
But holding the line against these monsters was easier said than done. The first wave had been nightmarish enough-beasts with claws that could rend steel, and teeth designed to tear through flesh. Yet what emerged from the shadows was far worse.
A creature the size of a small building lumbered forward, its flesh pulsating and shifting as if alive. Its body was a grotesque fusion of muscle, bone, and writhing tendrils that lashed out unpredictably. Its roar sent a wave of fear through the remaining cadets, several of whom froze in place.
"Lovely", Xeraniel muttered, stepping forward. His grin was unnervingly wide, his glowing eyes locked on the monstrosity.
Before I could attack the monster, Xeraniel raised a hand, and the air grew heavy.
The creature roared, charging forward with a speed that defied its size. But as it neared, Xeraniel clapped his hands together. The ground trembled violently, and the beast froze mid-charge, its massive body caught in an invisible force.
"What's wrong"? Xeraniel asked, his tone mocking. "Can't move? That's disappointing".
With a flick of his fingers, the creature's body began to collapse inward, its flesh compressing with sickening cracks. Bones splintered and organs burst under the immense pressure as black ichor sprayed in every direction.
The beast's eyes bulged in silent agony as its body was crushed into a grotesque sphere no larger than a human head. Xeraniel held the compressed mass in his palm, inspecting it like a curious child.
As the other chimeras hesitated, he turned his gaze to them, his grin turning cruel.
"What's wrong"? Lost your courage"? He taunted, extending his hand to the nearest group. "Allow me to help you…. Fall apart."
The beasts lunged, but before they could reach him, Xeraniel twisted his wrist. The chimeras' momentum was snatched away as if the world had turned against them. Their massive bodies stopped mid-air, limbs jerking unnaturally.
"A little heavy", he said, mockingly contemplative. "Let me lighten the load".
They screamed as he compressed the air around their legs. Bones cracked and splintered as their lower half was crushed into a pulp. Xeraniel raised his hand higher, and the chimeras growled in pain as they floated upward their bodies distorting as gravity toyed with them, he clenched his fist, and the monsters imploded with a deafening sound, reduced to a bloody mist that rained down on the forest floor and surrounding area.
"Such a satisfying sound", Xeraniel murmured.
His brutal methods left a stark silence among the squad, but I couldn't help but feel the fire inside me burn brighter.
The pantheon thought their creations could stop us.
They were wrong.
This wasn't just a rebellion. It was mankind striving for freedom.