Alister weaved around trees as he ran, panting for breath. The slate-colored basilisk was fast, but its large size meant it had to shove over trees as it slithered toward him. These trees were mere sticks for the snake, but having to snap through the wood and foliage at least slowed it down ever so slightly. He needed any advantage he could get.

Its dark scales tore gouges into the underbrush as it moved, as rough as razor blades and far tougher than normal metals. This was not where this beast was native to, not by a long shot. How far away did it summon the stupid thing from?!

Natively… what was it? Underground or desert, he was pretty sure. He couldn’t remember with the sheer panic he was feeling. If he could just FLY, this wouldn’t be so bad!

Bolt! Speed boost!

It wouldn’t be so bad if he could use any other significant spell, either. Damn it, he was such an idiot. Thinking he could kill even a deer like he was right now!? He was a kid! He could barely even hold his short sword! He… he wanted his mom and dad! He didn’t want to die so young!

He was barely keeping ahead of the gaining basilisk, when the creature decided it was annoyed by the tiny thing running away from it. After all, it had just gotten ripped from its home, had eaten a decently large meal, and now had to chase down this pest. It opened its left maw and lunged towards him. It wasn’t close enough to sink its teeth in, but instead, it spit out a large stream of venom. It wasn’t particularly accurate, luckily, as the prey it usually hunted was much larger than Alister.

The spray went wide, smashing into a tree with enough force that it snapped the lighter branches and stripped leaves, the dark grey fluid reflecting light ominously as Alister sprinted past it.

Seeing that it wasn’t that good at hitting small targets, Alister tried to calm his panic enough to weave and bob through the trees and brush. Unfortunately, he was slowed down just as much or more than the snake itself was, so this effort wouldn’t get him far. This was only cemented as another spray of venom landed closer this time, the snake reading his movements.

He couldn’t make it. Not without help. Not without his magic. Not without at least getting severely injured. Not without- his thoughts were interrupted by a noise. A deep… rumble, almost. The noise shook him to his core, and he stumbled and fell. But the snake didn’t take advantage, as it wasn’t looking at him anymore.

It stared intently into the distance.

Salvator, his recent memories told him. That’s how his father described Salvator sounding! He had only met the wyvern a couple of times, and never heard its call, but his father had told him of the bizarre rumble he made!

He was saved! Ode had lived, and gotten help. That or they were shadowed. Either way, it made tears well up in his eyes… but he wiped them away as soon as they formed. He couldn’t let his vision be blurred. Just because the snake was distracted by Salvator didn’t mean that Salvator would win, or that he wouldn’t get crushed in the meantime.

Getting up and wincing at the pain from his scrapes, he kept moving… but it didn’t take long for a giant cat to appear, with Ode herself on its back. “Ode!” He cried, breathless from his multi-kilometer sprint, “It’s a… a double-headed… basilisk king! Its venom will… freeze you! Can’t be… cured! Has lightning!”

Trying to rush out the words, Ode listened intently before nodding. She didn’t know what the duke knew about basilisks, so she conveyed the message by telepathy before gesturing Alister onto the coeurl, “I’m happy you're still alive, kid!”

With a nod, he hopped up after she offered a hand to climb the beast. Alister clung to the feline’s thick fur and tried to peek around where he sat, sheltered by Ode’s body.

In the sky was what appeared to be fifteen pegasi and what was now the second-largest creature he’d ever seen in his new life. Salvator, the great Wyvern. The fifteen riders were wheeling around the great snake in an overlapping ovular pattern, crossing each other's paths but never getting close to each other. Occasionally, the pattern would shift abruptly, getting closer and further, with the knights switching to different kinds of spells or projectiles.

The wyvern wasn’t doing much itself. It didn’t have the chance. One of the snake heads was focused solely on Salvator, forcing his father and the wyvern to constantly evade the bolts of lightning and streams of venom. If it was struck by the paralytic, it had more than the snake to worry about and quite a fall below it.

The same could be said for the knights, Alister realized. They cast lots of cantrips and small spells, but they couldn’t do any real damage. Every time any one of them went anything short of full speed, they nearly got blasted by the monster.

“Ode! Wait!” Alister cried, seeing that things were beginning to get dicey. One of the knights got blasted by a lightning bolt when they slowed too much. The pegasus’ leg was evaporated as it spasmed, and the same could be said for the knight. They were immediately knocked out of the sky, plummeting like a rock.

From their height… they were dead. No doubt. Even if they had a feather fall on, their hearts probably failed in their chests. “No way, kid! There’s nothing we can do!” She said, only pressing him more tightly to her chest as she sped up.

A jostling elbow to the ribs distracted her briefly. “No, damn it! We can’t just… leave them! You don’t need to kill it, you just need to give Salvator a chance! Keep one of its heads towards the ground, and it can’t stop all of them!”

A moment of silence passed as the woman considered, grimacing as she realized the merit of his words. The Duke was gonna be so pissed at her later for this… but if they didn’t help, what if the snake destroyed the town, next?

“Hey. Marble. Let’s go save Duke Severin,” she called as she tugged on the whiskers. The cat didn’t slow down; it was clearly following direct orders. “He’s not going to make it if we don’t,” she said grimly, projecting telepathically what she meant. This brought the cat to a halt, growling angrily.

“Stay here, Alister. We’re far enough away you shouldn’t get hit or anything. Just… be careful, kid,” she said, turning the coeurl around. “Alright Marble. Let’s fucking do it,” she said, doing her best to calm her heart beating out of her chest.

This might be suicidal… but if the Duke fell here, she wouldn’t have time to save anyone. Not even her brother. Where was he in all of this? If she left, what would happen to him? A powerful fury rose in her chest as she thought of him crushed under rubble as it rampaged.

Fuck the snake.

Alister was left staring at the scene from a great distance, arms folded in frustration. She just… left him! Damn it, he knew he wasn’t useful, but… Gah! This was so humiliating. To be totally left out of the fight… any childish dream left in his head of somehow contributing to the death of this creature were dashed like a torch in water.

If only he had some snacks to watch the show, he thought dryly, though internally he was still worried for his father and for Ode as well. He had just been scared out of his mind by this terrifying beast, the thought of them fighting it… of anyone fighting it… it was a tense one.