As the ENTITY continued to release its deafening sound from its ribcage that was protruding out, Aethon was kneeling on one knee and covering both his ears with the palm of his hands. As he moved his head to the left of him, he saw Hienz who was curled up in a ball, covering his ears and screaming. He then shifted his focus to the citizens of VARIA, who were also doing the same. He looked around to see if any soldiers were near as they might have been able to do something, but all he saw were soldiers injured, missing an arm or a leg, or they were dead. So with without thinking, Aethon took his right hand off his ear and created an ice blade and shot it at the creatures ribcage.
The creature closed its protruding ribcage and let out a ghoulish scream. It then just stood there, like it was frozen in time. The only thing that showed signs of movement was it's blue flame. As this was happening, everyone who was near the creature began to run away further into the capital. The creature did nothing, even has the large crowd running generated a large noise, it did nothing. Aethon wondered to himself, why? Why is it not moving. Not chasing the people to kill them?
The thought scraped itself across Aethons mind like a whisper from something he can't see. Has he watched the ENTITY closely, he was expecting the creatureto lash out at the crowd that was running away, just like it did at the Market Square. But it didn't.
Then, in the chaos, the creatures body began to move slowly.
A small figure stumbled into view. A little girl, she looked like she was around 10 at most, was shoved forward by the press of large bodies. She fell down but picked herself up, but fell down again due to the rubble that was on the ground. She landed around just under a meter away from the ENTITY that was beginning to focus in her direction.
Something round rolled out of her small satchel, faintly clinking as it stopped between her and the ENTITY. It was a mana stone. It's shape was that of a hexagon that was made of glass. It had a faint glow. It simmered with pure mana.
As Aethon wondered why the ENTITY didn't attack any of the people like it did in the Market Square, he noticed the girl and the mana stone.
Just has he noticed the girl, a piece of metal from a sign of a Cafe fell on the mana stone and shattered it.
As it shattered, the mana that was in the glass prison seeped out, which caught the attention of the ENTITY.
The mana seeped itself into the girl.
After sensing the pure mana, the ENTITY, stared at it seeping out from one spot and then getting absorbed by the small girls body.
It turned to face her. It then froze in place, and then began to scream. But this scream was different from when it made such a deafening sound, thst it made it unbearable to listen to. This sound was soft at first, like a rumbling moan that seemed to rise from deep within the earth itself. Then it picked up and was a deep ghoulish scream that was amplified 100 times louder.
Everyone who was running froze as they heard this, and then began to run away frantically towards the center of the capital, running over dead bodies, rubble, and pushing one another to get away from the ENTITY.
As Aethon stared at everyone running, he saw no one stopped to help the girl. He then stared at the girls face.
Her lips trembled, her eyes went wide and glassy, locked on the nightmarish creature who was now walking towards her. She didn't scream nor did she move. She was too scared.
Aethon looked to Heinz and told him to get to someplace safe and handed him his houses sigil. He then looked to his left and saw a stand that was broken with its blackened wood littered everywhere, but he could make out what it was. It was a medicine drug cart. He ran to it and saw 2 green tablets that were inside a see through pouch with a clover on it. {in VARIA, anything that had a clover on it signified it had ties to healing properties}. Without thinking, Aethon opened the pouch and crushed the bitter tablets in his mouth. He then felt mana flow through his body {These were tablets that were made using mana unlike the Vital Tablets that Vaerion had that were made with magic}.
Aethon then used wind magic to propel himself forward to get to her before the ENTITY did.
The ENTITY'S black arm rose, long claws curling like hooked blades thst were covered in dry blood. The dark blue flame on its head began to flare brighter.
Aethon flew past the ENTITY and scooped up the small girl in his arms without losing his balance. She was shocked and scared- like a wild bird caught in a trap-but didn't resist. With another blast of wind magic from his feet, he launched himself upwards, with his boots that just grazed the claws of the ENTITY'S outstretched arms.
As they shot upwards into the air, the small girl buried her face into Aethons neck and gripped his shirt tight, noticing this, Aethon said in a loud but comforting voice, :"It's ok."
As he said those words to her, he looked down to see that the ENTITY was chasing them.
It didn't leap like a human would, it bounded, light for its size, it was using the buildings as foothold. Each time it landed, the structures cracked under the impact of the landing, and showers of dust and debris rained down into the streets.
As Aethon saw this, he realized he had to get it away from the citizens or due to him he might end up getting innocent people killed, like the small girl he was carrying.
As he thought that, the small girl clung to his shirt even tighter, he could feel her grip had gotten more stronger on his shirt, has he saw this, he began to move away from the people who were running away from the ENTITY.
The ENTITY'S scream cut through the air, it was catching up. Aethon slowed down to see where the ENTITY was, he glanced over his shoulder briefly, the Entity's black limbs were a blur, it's blue flamed head was streaking across the skylines and skyfins like a ghostly torch.
Then came fire.
The first blast streaked past Aethons left. It hissed through the air like an arrow. Aethon braced for the heat, for the blistering agony of a burn has it passed near him. He held the girl more tightly to try and shield her if the heat was intense, he braced himself has he heard it coming-only to feel a shock of cold as it passed. It was so sharp that it bit through his shirt and skin like winter steel. His breath began to fog in the air around his face.
Aethon then twisted hard to his left, he used mana to enhance his bodies strength and used more wind magic to carry them into a big alleyway that was made by 2 long buildings. As he flew into the alleyway, he saw it ended by a merchant shop. He flew directly into it, going through a big window, he shielded the small girl. As they landed in the merchant shop, a fireball just missed Aethons face. It hit the wall of the merchant shop. Instead of it burning the wooden wall, it began to freeze it, the entire room began to get cold. Both Aethon and the girls breathing created mist.
The girl began to whimper against his chest.
He got up holding her tightly and said, :"Hold onto me just like that. OK?" As he said that he ran out the merchant shop and used wind magic to propell himself out the alleyway.
Has he did this he saw the ENTITY. It wasn't just following them, no, it was cutting across the intricate layout of the capital like it was following a tracker to the exact spots it was. It was jumping over 10 meter houses in length and 20 meter skylines with ease. Aethon saw that whenever it landed it dug it's claws into the surface, leaving behind deep grooves into both stone and marble. All it left behind was a trail of broken architecture and a jagged frost.
Aethon seeing this began to increase the amount of wind magic his body was producing, the wind began to roar in his ears. As he tried to create distance between him and the ENTITY, He was starting to get tired, and fearing of dropping the girl, he darted low over a narrow street, his boots skimming over the top of hanging laundry lines that flapped like tattered flags. Citizens below scattered away from the street, some tripping over each other as they saw the monstrous shape chasing Aethon was closing in.
As Aethon was trying to create distance between them, another blast came. It was from above. It struck the roof to his right, forcing him to make a left which was a narrow alleyway inbetween two 10 meter buildings. The alleyway was barely wide enough for them. The ENTITY caught up. Aethon thought that it would get stuck there and it would give them some breathing room. He was wrong. As the ENTITY got stuck, it started screaming and firing fire balls everywhere. Seeing this, Aethon used his mana to enhance his body and forced his way through the gap while clutching the girl tightly. They shot out the alleyway and into an open area filled with trees. As Aethon got up, he put the girl down who gripped his leg tightly out of fear. He looked around to see a crowd of people were staring at him. Has he turned around, he saw a lake behind him. And then their attention was turned to the alleyway. A howling ghoulish scream was been released from the ENTITY.
Aethon thought to himself that this can't go on. He knew that he was strong, but he wouldn't even last 2 minutes fighting that thing. He also couldn't use his hybrid skills as they took too much mana and magic to create along with time. Things he didn't have enough of right now. He looked around and saw that the guards and soldiers were either severely injured or dead. He then looked down at the small girl and then back at the alleyway. He truly was caught inbetween a rock and a hard place. He had to either fight and try not to die or flee with the girl. He didn't know what to do. He also didn't have mana dampening chains to try and restrain it. As he was thinking what to do, the ENTITY appeared in the sky. Aethon stared at it and looked at the girl, he picked her up and waited for it to get close. Just as it was around 1 meter away from him, Aethon shot water out of his left hand and made the ground muddy. As the ENTITY landed onto the soft wet ground, it got stuck in the mud and sunk abit. Aethon then shot a full blast of water onto its flame head and then shot wind out of his feet and propelled himself upwards, his left leg nearly touched the ENTITY'S blue flamed head as he headed for the sky above the creature. As the ENTITY tried to jump it landed into the lake that was infront of it. Aethon then shot ice into the lake and tried to freeze the ENTITY in place.