“Is that fucking Opal?” Salem blurted as soon as she spotted what Star pointed at. The wyvern, far larger than when they’d left, touched down with enough force that the ground shook. Star stumbled slightly at the force and all around her people were screaming, in a panic to get out of the door.

  Star squinted; from where she stood Opal looked to be towering over the castle. All she could see from the window was her back legs and tail. “What the hell is she doing here?” she asked in disbelief.

  “I don’t know,” Salem kept her eyes on Opal. She watched as the wyvern bent down, bringing her head to the window, her blue eyes staring into the ballroom.

  Salem grabbed Star’s arm just as Opal opened her jaw revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth and roared. Star and Salem turned, covering their ears and protecting their head as glass rained down. Star looked up as her ears rang, drowning out sound. All around her was chaos. Several people had fallen to the ground; more were making a mad dash to the door. She watched as one man shoved another down, nearly trampling over him to get out the door. The knights were moving forward towards Opal, readying weapons and magic.

  Salem tugged Star to her feet, “Come on! Before Opal eats someone!” She shouted, her voice barely audible over the ringing in Star’s ears.

  She turned, shaking her head as they dodged past a guard, who she faintly heard shouting at their backs. They made it halfway to the shattered windows before the ground shook again. More violently this time. Star stumbled slightly, managing to keep her balance despite the tremors. Distantly she could make out the sounds screaming coming from where the nobles were retreating to. Screams quickly drowned out by the sound of crumbling columns. The sound was deafening as the columns right outside the room splintered and crumbled, shattering on the ground.

  Heart hammering in her chest Star watched as a massive cloud of dust washed into the room quickly obscuring what was happening outside. She looked back through the haze just in time to see Opal shrink in size. She jumped through a broken window with a roar, the sound echoed by something just outside the ballroom doors.

  Pandemonium erupted. The few people left in the room seemed to freeze, locked in on the Wyvern. Everyone seemed to hold their breath as silence fell, suffocating in its sudden entirety.

  “Opal.” Salem’s voice cut through the dead silence of the room, urging Opal to her. The dust was still thick and heavy in the air, making it hard to breathe and see more than five feet ahead.

  Opal stalked towards her, her fur standing on end, a low rumbling growl directed toward the doors. Her growl was once again echoed by a much deeper one. In an instant she took off, darting through the dust out the door towards the sound.

  “Fuck!”

  “Shit!”

  Salem and Star cursed before taking off after the wyvern. As they passed the threshold, they found themselves navigating through the rumble of the columns they’d been admiring not five hours prior. Many had been destroyed, toppled over, others only severely damaged. Opal flew ahead of them before suddenly diving down, disappearing.

  As Star and Salem reached the place she’d disappeared into they halted. Before them there was a massive hole in the ground. They couldn’t see the bottom, unable to see past the inky darkness that laid below as they peered over the edge.

  “Star,” Salem started. “We need to—”

  The sound of a wall breaking on the other end of the castle caught their attention. Two places in the castle had been comprised. Star and Salem froze, listening closely.

  “This was a coordinated attack.” Star spoke she heard distant screams, “The guard is in complete disarray.” She could hear her heartbeat.

  Salem seemed to stiffen for a second, “Where’s Zane?”

  “Shit.”

  “Shit.”

  Opal’s roar echoed from the pit in the ground.

  “We need to split up.” Salem concluded, already bunching up her skirt.

  “What?!”

  “Look from Zane! I’m going to help Opal!” She jumped into the hole before Star could get a word in.

  “Salem!” She yelled as she watched Salem disappear into the dark.

  She waited a few tense seconds before hearing a soft thud followed by Salem voice.

  “I’m fine! Go! Now!”

  “You motherfucking—” She turned on her heel, taking off in a sprint to where she’d heard the other wall breaking, “Shit, fuck, goddmanit!” She cursed as she ran, following the sounds of screaming. The shouts slowly grew louder as she ran at a dead sprint down the castle halls.

  Distantly she started to make out what was being shouted, orders it sounded like. As she rounded the corner she came face to face with the monster that’d been the cause of the commotion.

  It was an ugly thing, around 15 feet in height it was a nauseating green color. It had claws, teeth, and a nasty looking spiked tail. It stood on its hind legs and was covered in scales. Its snot was long, similar to an alligator’s and it seemed to ooze blood lust. Its eyes were red, its pupils were in the shape of a diamond.

  Before the monster were the royal families, the bodies of their knights either crumbled somewhere nearby or barley standing. The royals themselves seemed captivated by the monsters, seemingly frozen in place.

  Not that any of that was what Star was focused on. She was locked in on Zane. One of his arms was mangled, bleeding profusely and bent at the wrong angle. He stood in front of the monster, his back to Star. He raised his good arm gathering magic into it.

  Several things happened all at once. One Star took a step forward, two a blinding flash of light overtook the entire room, and three Zane screamed in pain.

  When Star blinked, eyes adjusting rapidly, she first saw the monster shaking its head, clawing at its eyes. The thing appeared to be light sensitive. She then noticed Zane’s body laying on the ground. He laid motionless, blood beginning to pool around his head and body. Distantly Star heard Mason and a few other people scream in horror.

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  She slowly looked back to the monster. It was recovering quickly refocusing on the group of screaming royalty. Star felt an overwhelming sense of…calm almost, she could feel rage bubbling beneath the surface, but she ignored it. She didn’t quite know why but at that moment everything seemed to slow. She had one goal and one goal only.

  Kill this monster.

  Everything else faded out. She pushed past one of the kings. Her hand reached out tapping twice on the screen that’d appeared before her. Three weapons materialized, falling to the ground. She caught one, a set of Kamas. They resembled a sickle, though the blade wasn’t as rounded and the handle was longer. The blade itself was a deep black color with a gold accent, the handle bone white.

  Star hadn’t used anything like this as a weapon before, but she had used a sickle when she was farming not all that long ago. Same concept, she was sure. Her eyes locked with the monster. She was going to ripe this things throat out.

  As the other two weapons clattered to the ground Star launched herself at the ugly thing. One of her blades sunk into its thick hide. She ripped the blade down and out, causing black blood to begin to spill, a pungent smell filling the room.

  The monster roared its front legs coming down in an attempt to crush Star, who jumped to the side in the nick of time. The force of the monster’s attack made the marble floor splinter. It didn’t relent. Its head came down to bite at Star’s off. She ducked, sinking her other Kama into the underside of the monster jaw, tearing down until she’d cut a long gash down its maw. Thick viscous blood poured onto her as it reared its head.

  It’s clawed foreleg swiped at her, attempting to render her flesh from bone. Star skidded to the side of its claw barley catching her hair, ripping the wig from her head.

  “Son of a bitch!” She cursed as her real hair fell in front of her face. She raised her arm, wiping its blood and her hair away from her eyes.

  Distantly she registered gasps from behind her but paid it no mind, instead choosing to throw herself back at the monster. It was far too tall for her to reach its eyes, but she had a better plan. Barly dodging around it attacks she dug a Kama into its side.

  It roared, its head coming down to eat her again. As it rapidly closed in, she grinned. Raising her other arm, she stabbed the monster in its eye digging the blade into its skull. It roared, once more raising its head to get away from the attack.

  Star didn’t let go this time. She ripped her Kama from its side as she held tight to the Kama stuck in its eye. The monster swung its head side to side, trying desperately to dislodge her. She brought her second Kama up to sink it into the things eye along with its twin before jerking down. She felt herself be lifted as the monster bucked its head. With a grunt she adjusted her grip slightly, swung her legs, and used her momentum to dive herself and the blades down.

  An ear-splitting roar echoed, drowning out the sound of breaking bone and tearing flesh. Star’s feet hit the ground as blood poured out the monster’s face. It staggered, crashing into a wall and causing it to crumble. The monster fell into the next room, followed shortly by Star.

  Star noticed two things about the room right off that bat. One, it was lit by candlelight and two, there were a group of robed people standing in a circle. Now staring right at her.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Star couldn’t help but blurt, temporarily forgetting about the alligator monster.

  She eyed each of the people and frowned, they all wore black robes that covered their faces and the robes themselves had runes all over. One person stuck out in particular though. They wore a big red diamond shaped pendant around their neck and their robe was blood red. She could make out little runes in each. With a glance at the monster, she could see its one good eye was the same shade, the pupil matching the diamond shape.

  The monster roared stumbling as its head swung down jaw opening to eat the closest member of the group, only to stop halfway. It shook its head, backing up, hissing at the person. A member of the group of probably cultist stepped forwards.

  “Foul beast.” The cultist, probably the group’s leader judging by the gaudy jewelry he wore, spat. “Can’t even complete a simple task.” He walked forward, towards the hissing beast.

  Star stared. “What the fuck?”

  The leader of the group turned to address her, “And you,” He pointed at her, “What do you think you’re doing ruining our carefully laid plans!”

  “What.” Star deadpanned.

  “How is it even possible someone like you could go toe to toe with a monster like this!” The ringleader raged, stalking up to her.

  Star blinked, “Are you controlling the monsters?” She looked between the hissing monster and the cultist. “Why?”

  “Why? Why do you think? It’s the perfect plan.”

  “What’s the perfect plan?” She prodded.

  The cult leader scoffed, “Why would I tell you that?”

  Star raised her arm whipping the blood away from her eyes once more, “Because if this conversation is over I’m just going to beat the shit out of you and leave you to the guards.”

  The cult leader sneered at her.

  Star scowled, “Talk.”

  “Fine, if you must know we are the organization for structure and salvation.”

  Star felt that sounded familiar, “The terrorist group?”

  The cultist scowled, “We simply carry out god’s will.”

  “Debatable.”

  “Do you want me to explain or not?”

  “By all means.”

  “As I was saying then, we are dedicated to carry out our gods will. The world needs structure, it’s too disorganized. The world should be united under one rule, our rule.”

  “Oh, so your just egomaniacs trying to take over?”

  “Would you stop interrupting me!”

  “I’m just saying you sound like a narcissist!”

  “You—” The cult leader took a breath, “Basically, we used these monsters to attack the castle in order to take out the royal families—”

  “Actually, I’ve decided I don’t care that much.” Star’s fist collided with the cultist nose, breaking it.

  He stumbled back cursing. He clutched his nose as blood poured out. Star reached out and ripped the totem off his neck, breaking the chain with a hard jerk. She brought her knee up into his gut causing him to double over and before he could react hit him upside the head with the end of the Kama.

  The rest of the gathered cult members shouted, stumbling back as the monster roared, turning its ire onto them. With a quick glance up at it Star could see its good eye had turned to a deep blue, its pupil now a slit. Its tail swished side to side before it pounced, chopping down on the nearest cult member and knocking the rest into a wall with its tail. It raised its head meeting Star’s gaze.

  “Sorry bub, didn’t know you were being mind controlled.” Star raised her hands, taking a step back. “My bad.”

  The monster hissed, before turning bounding out of the hole in the wall. Star sighed, grimacing as she became conscious of how much of the creature’s blood had gotten onto her face. She lifted her gown skirt and wiped as much as she could off. There was still copious amounts in her hair but she wasn’t getting that out without a nice long shower.

  Shaking her head she walked back to the hole in the wall, exiting it just in time to see the tail of the monster disappear around the corner.

  “Guess it decided we were worth it?” Star commented glancing over at the gathered royals and the few knights left standing. She was surprised they’d stuck around.

  The group gaped at her.

  “What?” Star blinked, “Ah right.” She dropped the Kamas, kicking them to the side.

  “Star…” Mason started, trailing off, then tapped his cheek a few times. He still had Zane in his arms. Zane’s eyes were open now, but he didn’t look like he was aware of what was happening around him. A concussion most likely.

  “Some thing on my face?” she reached up touching her cheek. “I know I’m covered in blood but that was on occupational hazard.”

  “You’re a spirit.” One of the queen’s stated, Star could not remember which nation she was the queen of.

  “What, no, no.” Star quickly rejected. It was one thing to have a little village think you were a spirit. It was an entirely different story when the world leaders thought you were a spirit.

  “Is Salem a spirit as well?” Mason asked.

  “No! Neither of us are spirit. This is all a misunderstanding.” Star denied.

  She was not convincing. Luckly for her they were interrupted.

  “Star!” Salem rounded the corner, Opal by her side. Opal fur was ruffled, her fur stained black in some places but otherwise fine. Salem seemed no worse for wear either, though her makeup had been smeared and her hair messy. Her real hair, she must have lost her wig somewhere in the chaos as Star’s did.

  “You are.” Mason spoke softly, reverence in his tone.

  Star cringed, choosing to ignore that comment. “Salem, what happened?”

  “Everyone’s aright, Opal got there in time. She broke one of her claws in the fight but other than that we’re alright.”

  “That’s a wyvern!” Someone from the crowd exclaimed with a gasp.

  “Of course Opal’s a wyvern, no wonder she was so big…” Star heard Mason mutter.

  “We should get out of here.” Star said to Salem, walking to her side. Opal leaned down to sniff her, bumping her head against her side.

  “Wait!” One of the queens called stepping forward.

  “Hang on!” Mason stood with Zane in his arms.

  Salem ignored both, opening a portal big enough for them and Opal to pass through. Before anyone could stop them, they stepped through, the portal closing behind them.