Order Clan: Sisters 3

“Time’s up,” Shira called. 

The three sisters opened their eyes from one last mediation and gave each other a nod. 

Cheiro started first, shifting her shadow form as black wisps and particles whirled around to create an empyrian-looking beast. The legless form rushed Shira. Cheiro used her new mobility to twist around Shira, landing a hit every so often. From Cheiro’s perspective, this was easy, Shira wasn’t putting up a fight. 

However, from Furor and Kaimana’s view, it looked like Shira was planning something. 

“Chiero, stop!” Kaimana shouted once she realized Shira was smirking and the erratic movements of her sister were slowing down. 

“What’s going on?” Furor stood straighter. 

“I don’t know,” Kaimana said, “Give us cover.”

Cheiro whirled slowly through the air, dropping out of her form every so often. As she reached her sisters, Furor pulled out her clouds forming a blanket of black between Shira and where they stood. Cheiro landed hard at Kaimana’s feet with the last of her magic fading away. The state of their eldest sister shocked them. Furor’s magic faltered upon seeing her, but Kaimana insisted she remain unmoved. 

“Tetra,” Kaimana whispered, using an old nickname, “What happened?”

“It’s… all reflected… back,” Cheiro sputtered. 

“Shit,” Furor murmured as she maintained her magic. 

Shira's voice pierced through the temporary silence, “Don’t keep me waiting.”

“We have to move,” Furor urged. 

“What can we do?” Kaimana shot back. 

“Heal… me…” Cheiro coughed. 

The sisters paused. It was an odd request because they didn’t bring potions with them and neither of them knew that sort of magic. Except, Furor remembered something they learned on their journey with the Tranquil clan. 

“Kai,” Furor urged, “That’s you, remember what Pyrri taught you.”

Kaimana nodded quickly and pulled her enchanted runes away from her body. She built the phrase and spell out of the runes before she wrapped the ribbons of magic around Cheiro. Kaimana closed her eyes to focus on the spell. Furor watched them but knew Shira wouldn’t wait forever. She leapt into the air pulling her cloud formation with her. Until she moved to land attacks on the massive haedian, her clouds settled around them so no one could see inward. 

Cheiro felt her sister’s magic wrap around her and could sense her wounds healing. Slowly at first, but as Kiamana gained some confidence the healing sped up. Cheiro opened her eyes, feeling refreshed. Without thanking her sister, she immediately noticed that Furor was nowhere to be seen. 

“Furor,” Cheiro whispered and looked around until she noticed the black cloud formation ahead of them. 

“What is she doing?!” Kaimana exclaimed when she opened her eyes. 

Cheiro and Kaimana switched to their respective second forms. One shadow and the other a pale ghost. They raced into Furor’s clouds and found a localized storm raging. Furor and Shira were close in size and with the ice and snow whipping around it made for a different fight as the pair grappled with each other. Shira had a slight advantage with her dexterous hands. 

Cheiro weaved through the air until she coiled around Shira to whisper an illusion in her ear as she had with the Brutes’ leader. Shira froze, eyes wide, and watched Cheiro’s projection play across her vision. While Cheiro held the leader, Furor slumped to the ground as Kaimana raced to her size, phasing out of her ghost. Without waiting, Kaimana pulled her ribbons of magical runes toward Furor to heal her. 

Shira watched the illusions pass by. Cheiro assumed because of her devotion that illusions of Oris falling to Cosmosis would be something Shira feared. At first, they paralyzed her, not with fear like Cheiro usually illicit, but the illusions filled her with anger. Shira roared and broke away from the illusion. Furor wasn’t completely healed because Shira’s unexpected break from the hold surprised all three sisters. 

Kaimana and Furor moved away from the newly enraged haedian as she swiped around blindly. Shortly after clawing the air around her wildly, Shira directed her claws toward her head. The first attack landed, causing Cheiro to pull away from Shira, giving her vision back. 

“Petty tricks,” Shira hissed. 

Cheiro smirked, “I had you for a second.” 

While the pair glared at each other, Kaimana sent magic in the form of ropes enchanted by her runes out to wrap around the leader’s legs. Furor followed up with more ice thrown toward the trapped haedian. Shira took the attacks without flinching. 

Shira gave them a chilling smile, “You’ll need to do better than that.”

In the next moment, Shira ripped the rune ropes off of herself. Kaimana hissed, but out of the three sisters, she was the most tired. The healing had exhausted her, especially because it was a power she wasn’t used to using. Shira clocked this weakness and charged the pale empyrian. Kaimana was knocked to the ground and chose to stay down. 

Cheiro retaliated with another flurry of attacks as she had done earlier, but in her fury, from seeing the leader take Kaimana down she forgot about the reflecting damage. It took half as long as it did earlier for Cheiro to fall away. She landed next to Kaimana. 

Shira made a move to attack the two incapacitated empyrians, but Furor quickly formed a thick cloud between them. The air in the cloud was heavy and Shira chose to retreat temporarily. In the safety of Furor’s cloud, she looked at her sisters and knew it was a lost cause. They were going to lose this battle. 

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