Order Clan: 2

“Heretics!” The elder shouted. 

Griffith and Aule rolled their eyes with a sigh while Oeric was irked by the immediate revulsion. The three were more or less unphased by the group's shouting and scolding. The noise from the clan’s outrage seemed to bounce off them and when they made no show of fear or regret the elder and haedians grew more frustrated and irritated. Soon they began chanting for their leader.

The ground shook around them announcing the approach of the largest haedian yet. Oeric stood in a loose offensive stance, ready for anything. While Aule and Griffith remained still watching the shadows with a bored expression on their faces. All three maintained their positions when Shira made her appearance. The horns that adorned her head didn’t change their mood about the whole ordeal. 

The elder watched the three, if they had been followers of Oris they would have been great assets with their ability to remain calm in any situation. Shira regarded the three empyrians, she analyzed them as she stepped closer and closer. She came to the conclusion that the orange one would be the easiest to rile up. Shira focused her cold gaze on the empyrian and began to try to break his resolve. 

Unexpectedly, when Aule and Griffith saw that the large haedian was trying to intimidate their young friend, they jumped into action. Cold air blasted the horned haedian, pushing her back a few paces when Aule felt she was too close to Oeric. Surprised, but not distracted, Shira shifted her weight to prevent her from being pushed back any further. 

“Well that was unexpected,” Shira laughed cruelly, “I didn’t expect you two to break so easily.”

The cold air around her was quickly replaced with hot air that was rapidly growing hotter from Oeric. This time, there was a pause from the giant leader as if she wasn’t sure what she could do to get out of the situation. However, Shira flicked out her wings to stir up the air around her, breaking away from the effects of Oeric’s magic. 

“What’s next?” Shira taunted.

Another surge of wind rammed into the haedian, knocking the wind out of her. The strength of this burst was stronger than the two before and its strength had managed to rip rocks off the wall adding to the damage on Shira. Again, Shira managed to extend her wings and glide off the gust of wind. When the magic from Griffith died down, Shira landed with heavy steps. 

“You’ll need to do better than that,” Shira hissed. 

The three empyrians stood ready to throw more magic toward the cold haedian. None of the three would excel at claw-to-claw combat. They needed to keep their distance and use their magic to attack or defend. They each tried another round of their magic, which caused Shira to laugh with bloodthirsty delight. 

“We need to try something else,” Oeric whispered when Shira shook out her muscles as if she was finally going to attack. 

“We’ll have to do more than just temperature and air,” Aule agreed. 

“Try your fire and ice, see how she managed,” Griffith suggested. 

Oeric nodded and without another word hurled a storm of embers at the haedian. Aule followed up shortly after with sharp shards of ice. All of which, Shira managed to either dodge or take like it was effortless. Griffith’s only form of power was strong winds and when he threw another strong gust, she immediately jumped up to glide in the air. 

“That’s a little better,” Shira mocked. 

The three friends were about to talk to each other about the next attack, but Shira launched herself at them. Sharpened claws extended towards them, fortunately, Griffith was prepared and whipped up a vortex around them. Shira’s attack was reflected and she had to stabilize herself before she could properly land a safe distance away. 

“We can just try to overwhelm her,” Aule contemplated. 

“That would exhaust our magic,” Griffith pointed out. 

“It’s either we exhaust the magic playing defense or we try to take her down with one attack,” Oeric added. 

There was a moment of quiet that passed between everyone. Shira watched them, curious what they would come up with next. 

“Wait,” Griffith started, “Let’s adjust the battlefield. Aule makes it rain while Oeric heats up the space, and should create steam to block her sight. We’ll attack her then.”

Aule and Oeric didn’t acknowledge Griffith with a nod, they immediately got to work. The air around them transformed to rain while Oeric added hot air to quickly revert the water molecules. It wasn’t long before the cavern they stood in was filled with a thick layer of mist. Griffith nodded at them and slowly built up his magic. Shira could only laugh, the mist managed to dampen the cruel sound, but that only made it sound worse. 

“What now?” Shira barked, “I can’t see, but neither can you.”

None of the empyrians replied, they all closed their eyes to gather their magic for a big attack. However, before they could manage anything, Shira burst through the veil of fog and tackled Oeric to the ground. Her claws grasped his neck, while the ones on her hind legs tore into his leg and wing. The heat in the air vanished only to return in a single blast to get Shira off of him. 

Shira acted quickly as she redirected herself and launched an attack at Griffith. Though the empyrians were ready for her. She was, again blasted away by a gust of wind and ice fragments.

She landed with a twisted smile, while the three empyrians panted. 

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