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Reece
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I remember that I had been there on that bridge with Trinity. I had been fighting with her against the humans and the monsters that were swarming our home. We had known that they were coming, but that didn't take away the unease, worry and adrenaline. We all wanted this nightmare to be over, and this battle was going to be what made that happen.
I never once doubted that we would win this battle. That might sound conceited, but I didn't care. It was the truth. I was just being honest with myself. I knew that we outnumbered them, and that we were definitely more coordinated than they were. Those were just simple facts that made our victory a sure truth.
What I didn't expect though, was that one of the monsters would get behind me. I didn't think that it would pierce me with its razor sharp claws and fly off with me. Nor did I think that those claws would burn quite so much when they pierced my flesh. It was like the place that they entered me was on fire, and I hated it. I could feel some sort of venom or poison starting to flood into my bloodstream, and that was when the real pain began.
Every pump of my heart started to feel like my entire body was simultaneously being burned and stabbed. Like I was living inside of a fire, one that actually hurt me. And it felt like my entire body was being stabbed with thousands and thousands of tiny little knives like the monsters from one of those movies. Or better yet, one of the swords from Gulliver's Travels. That was what it was like. I was being swarmed by those tiny people and they were all stabbing me at the same time.
.....
I scream loud and often. I couldn't help it. I knew that the poison that was in my blood was going to kill me if I didn't get away from here, but I needed to get free from the monster first.
We were flying through the air when I managed to start fighting with it. I had to twist in its claws, and that made the cuts and deep gashes in my sides open up even more, but I didn't care. I managed to summon my sword again. That meant that I wasn't defenseless against these things.
With my teeth gritted against the pain, I turned and thrust up with the sword. The large, pterodactyl-like beast that was carrying me screeched in pain and confusion. I had driven the sword in so deep, that it was likely a fatal wound, or I hoped that it was. And not only that, but the flames of my sword were quickly engulfing it.
I hadn't thought of one thing though. We were currently soaring through the air. I didn't know where we were going, but I knew that we were above the forest, and crashing into it didn't sound like fun to me. And another thing that didn't go in my favor, was the fact that the monstrous creature was not dead yet, so it was crashing with me. I had seen the other creatures turn to ash or other things when they died, so this one should do the same, right? Well, I hoped so. Otherwise, it was going to land on top of me and crush me before I could try to save myself.
My whole body was on fire. It was burning so badly that I could barely think. I knew that just a moment ago I was worried about something, but I couldn't remember what it was now. It was like the pain and the poison were clouding my mind. What did I need to do again? What was I supposed to be doing? Dammit, Reece, think!
That was when the sound of the trees starting to snap and break beneath the monster cleared my head just a little. I felt the jolts and the crashes, but the monster's top half was lower than its feet, and that meant that it was crashing into the trees first. That was good for me.
What wasn't good for me was the other monster, the one that was this one's twin, following behind us through the trees. It was knocking down even more of the trees in its path than the first one had done.
We were about to slam into the ground when the thing that was carrying me finally died. The thing turned into a thick heavy ash that exploded around me as I continued to fall to the ground, with the other monster following me. Shit! This wasn't over yet.
I skidded to a halt on the forest floor, flat on my back, as the monster crashed into me. It knew that its brother was dead. It knew that I had killed it. And it wanted its revenge on me. SHIT! SHIT! SHTI!
The first thing that I felt was the claws piercing through my chest. These weren't the claws on the feet that I had felt the first time, these were the ones that were on the hand-like things that tipped the double sets of wings. And the burning that I felt instantly intensified. There was poison on those claws as well.
“EEERRREEEKKKAAAAWWW!” The thing growled and then screeched in one long breath into my face. It was an unearthly sound that made my hackles stand on end, even though I was in my human form.
“I..I need to shift.” I told myself. If I shifted, the injuries would be healed and I could fight again. I just needed to shift.
That was easier said than done though. I wasn't able to get the monster off of me long enough to shift. I needed to make it move so that I could shift. It would only take a second. I just needed a second, that was all. I needed to become one of my other forms, then I would kill this thing with no problem at all. Hell, I would even take on my phoenix form if that was what it took. I just needed to shift.
As I fought for dominance and to gain the lead, I felt that my body was giving out on me. I was losing my strength. I wouldn't hold on much longer.
“Trinity.” I called for my mate. Not for her to help me, but because I loved her and didn't want to hurt her by leaving. “Trinity.” I said her name again as I thrust up with the sword that was in my hand. I noticed at that exact moment that the monster had stopped moving. It was turning to ash. Had I killed it? Or was this something else? It was dying faster than the last one after I stabbed it, so I doubted that was the reason.
I had been cut, slashed, sliced, and gouged in several places, and that doesn't even count where the thing that carried me off and stabbed me in the back and sides. These wounds were all deep and would have killed me if I were a human. I was only still alive because I was something more than human. Even so, I could tell that I was dying. My body was weakening, and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to hold on for much longer.
“I...I l...love you, Tr...Trinity.” The words were stuttered and dragged out. It was all that I could do, I was losing so much of myself, and the world was growing cold around me. “T...take c...care of our f...family.” I forced the words out even though she couldn't hear me right now.
The world around me went dark after that. I couldn't even feel the pain anymore. That was how I knew that I was dying. That I was almost dead. I wasn't scared of death, not really. I was just afraid to leave my family behind. I didn't want to hurt them by leaving them so soon. Reagan and Rika still needed me, even though they were in college, they needed me. Talia wasn't mature enough to take over the underworld yet. She still needed me. And Zachary, Zander, Zayden and Zaley were only kids. They were still so young. They definitely still needed me. Not to mention Trinity, Mom, Samuel, Eve, Wesley, Ivy, Olivia, and everyone else in my family. They all needed me, and I still needed them.
I felt numb. The darkness wasn't all that happened when I seemed to slip away. The pain that I had been in, it was gone now. I could tell that this was the beginning of the end for me, if it wasn't already the end. I couldn't be sure that I wasn't already dead. It felt like I probably was, but this was a strange way to move on if I really was dead.
I tried to look all over the place that I was standing in. There was nothing to see, or at least nothing that I could make out. It was so dark in here, and my advanced eyesight did not seem to be working right now. I was trapped in this dark place, and there was nothing at all that I could do about it.
Still, even though I was trapped in the dark, unable to see, I could still feel. And what I felt right now was that there was someone that was looking at me. Someone was standing close to me. I didn't know who it was, but I could still feel them. Just who was here with me?
