On the left, the second guard had a thin sheen of purple aura, ready to strike with a brutal swiftness. The last guard, his arms and legs glowing with a deep red aura, cracked his knuckles as if preparing for something even more devastating.
The three guards moved as one, executing a perfect synchronized assault. The middle guard threw a crushing punch that Zay barely managed to deflect, but the guard's strength was overwhelming. The guard on the left followed with a rapid series of jabs, each punch landing with a force that left Zay reeling. His violet aura flared desperately, blocking the blows, but it wasn't enough.
Before Zay could recover, the red-aurora guard launched himself into the air, using his enhanced speed to deliver a knee to Zay's chest that sent him sprawling to the snow.
The combo was relentless. A fist to the face, a knee to the stomach, and a swift kick to the ribs had Zay gasping for air, his strength faltering with each blow. His body was bruised and battered, his violet aura flickering weakly, no longer able to keep up with the unrelenting assault.
Zay staggered back, barely able to keep his feet beneath him. The pain was unbearable, but he gritted his teeth, refusing to go down without a fight. But the guards were too much—together, their combined force overwhelmed him.
The guard in the center, his yellow aura flaring with triumph, grabbed Zay's arm and twisted it behind his back with brutal force. Zay's breath hitched, the sharp pain shooting up his spine. The other guards quickly wrapped chains of ice around his body, locking his arms and legs in place with no escape.
One of the guards slammed his leg into Zay's back. Knocking his breath out as his eyes widened.
"This was the easiest shit we've done today," the guard sneered, his yellow aura flaring with victory as he tightened the chains.
Zay laid in the snow, his breathing ragged, as he was barely keeping conscious.
With no more strength left in his body, Zay was tossed like a ragdoll into the back of the caravan, landing beside Lily, Renzo, and seven other captives, all bound in chains of ice. The door slammed shut, the sound of ice sealing it echoing through the air as the caravan began to move, its wheels creaking under the weight of its new prisoners.
Nearly twelve hours had passed, and the weather had grown increasingly hostile. Snow fell harder, faster, and thicker, blanketing everything in an endless white veil. The rain that had once poured down had vanished, replaced by the biting sting of hail, pelting the caravan as it trudged along a snow-choked road. The wind howled, sweeping icy blasts over the frozen landscape.
"Damn, what the hell is going on with this shitty weather?" one of the guards muttered, his voice tinged with irritation. "I know it's always snowing out here, but this? This is getting worse by the minute."
He pulled off his helmet, revealing short black hair matted with snow, a jagged scar slashing across one of his eyes. His lips were marred by burn marks, and his hands trembled slightly as he lit a cigarette, the flickering flame briefly illuminating his hardened features. With a deep inhale, he exhaled a plume of smoke that swirled into the cold air.
"How much longer till we hit Zia?" he asked, his voice thick with frustration.
"Another seven hours, at least," came the gruff reply from the guard in the front of the caravan.
The first guard sighed deeply, slamming his gloved hand against the side of the caravan, the harsh sound echoing through the otherwise silent, snow-covered wilderness. As he did, a faint scream echoed from inside the caravan, sharp and full of panic.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he bellowed, his anger flaring as he slammed his hand against the wooden walls once more. The sound of the blow reverberated through the air, and immediately, everything inside fell silent.
The guard exhaled sharply, throwing his spent cigarette into the snow, watching the embers fizzle out almost instantly as smoke rose into the frozen sky.
Inside the caravan, the tension was thick. The ice that had sealed Lily and Renzo's lips had finally dissolved, and the two of them shifted, trying to adjust to the new, uncomfortable reality. Their eyes met as the cold continued to settle in.
Lily leaned against the wooden wall, her breath clouding in the frigid air as she broke the silence. "What's the plan for this one?" she asked, her voice steady but laced with an edge of uncertainty.
Zay, his body still stiff from the earlier ordeal but slowly regaining some of his strength, shook his head in frustration. His breath came in uneven gasps. "I don't have a damn clue."
Lily and Zay looked at each other for a second before they both glanced over at Renzo, whose eyes were wide and wary under the weight of the moment. "Why the hell are you both looking at me?" Renzo asked, his voice tinged with nervous confusion.
Zay's gaze hardened, irritation bubbling over as he leaned forward. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you're the dumbass who SPUN IN CIRCLES TO PICK OUR DIRECTION!?" Zay's voice was sharp, each word dripping with frustration. He shook his head in disbelief. "We're all stuck in this mess because of you."
Renzo, looking increasingly sheepish, scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Well, I... maybe... yeah, you're right." He grimaced, a sheepish chuckle escaping him. "That was my bad. But in my defense, I didn't think we'd end up like this. I thought we'd have more time before things got... this bad."
He rolled his eyes, a gesture that almost seemed like an attempt to shrug off the weight of their predicament, but the tension in the air was too thick for anyone to feel relaxed.
Zay and Lily exchanged a brief, weary glance, their expressions reflecting the growing frustration that seemed to permeate the entire caravan.
As the caravan rumbled on, the ground beneath it suddenly trembled. A deep, guttural hiss split the air, and before anyone could react, a massive, frost-covered serpent surged up from the snow-covered ground ahead, its colossal form coiling and writhing like a living avalanche. Its scales glistened with the cold bite of winter, shimmering with an eerie blue glow that seemed to reflect the bleakness of the storm around them. The beast's serpentine body towered over the snow, its head rearing back with deadly grace before it let out another spine-chilling hiss.
The serpent's piercing eyes locked onto the caravan, its long, venomous fangs glistening like daggers, ready to strike. Then, with a fluid, unsettling motion, the beast dropped back onto the snow, sending a cloud of icy mist billowing around it. As quickly as it appeared, the serpent slid back into the ground, vanishing beneath the snow as if it had never existed, leaving only a fading trail of frost in its wake.
One of the guards, his face pale, took a shaky breath and looked around nervously. His eyes widened as he processed what he'd just witnessed. "What the fuck was that?" he asked, turning his attention to the other guards.
They all gulped. "Never seen that before," one of them muttered. The guard who had his helmet off silently placed it back on, opting not to speak further on the matter.
"If we don't speak of it, maybe nothing will happen," he said, closing his eyes.
The others exchanged uneasy glances before nodding. "Sounds good to me," they both said in unison.
A sudden, bone-rattling howl tore through the frozen air, the horses reared, their frightened whinnies piercing through the howling wind as the caravan lurched to a halt. From the swirling snow ahead, a massive figure emerged—a Sumi Fox, its sleek fur a mesmerizing shade of pink, shimmering beneath the overcast sky. Golden eyes burned like twin suns in the snow, and its six tails writhed behind it, wrapped in coils of dark amethyst aura that pulsed like living shadows.
The beast exhaled sharply, mist curled from its nostrils.
One of the guards, a burly man with a thick coat of fur-lined armor, stepped forward, his breath coming out in visible puffs. "The hell is that?" he muttered, his voice laced with unease. He glanced at his companions. "I know Sumi Foxes prowl Frostvine, but I've never seen one this big... or with that color."
Shaking off his hesitation, the guard gritted his teeth and summoned a scythe of ice, jagged and cruel, its blade gleaming like a frozen crescent moon. Without another word, he lunged forward, swinging down with all his strength.
The Sumi Fox's gaze flicked upward, its eyes flashing with unreadable intelligence. One of its six tails twisted with inhuman speed, the tail acted as a barrier with aura.
CRACK!
The moment the scythe met the barrier, the ice weapon shattered into shards, scattering across the snow. The guard's momentum nearly sent him sprawling, but he managed to leap back just in time, his breath hitching in disbelief.
A second guard hopped off the caravan, laughing coldly. His helmet clinked against his armor as he adjusted it. "You weak little bitch," he sneered, shaking his head. "Can't even take down a damn fox?"
With a smirk, he summoned a katana, its ice-carved blade sharper than broken glass. "Let me show you how it's done."
Without waiting for a response, the two guards rushed the fox, boots crunching against the frost-bitten ground.
The Sumi Fox reacted instantly. Its muscles coiled like a spring, and in a blur of movement, it leaped into the air, propelled by the sheer force of its tails.
Six spheres of blinding pink energy crackled to life, hovering at the tips of each tail like miniature suns.
They shot forward, tearing through the air like meteors, each one leaving behind a searing trail of vibrant light as they hurtled toward the approaching guards.