My Brother Is The Hero Of Earth

I launched myself into the air and used my mana to propel myself towards the falling dragon bird as it landed hard on its back. It flattened a few trees and Gustavo was flung out of its claws by the impact, his body rapidly shrinking to normal size. I charged up my Chaos Lightning then curled into a ball right before I smashed into the bird. Although it gave an ear-shattering shriek louder than all of the others, I couldn"t hear anything as I nearly blackout from the crash. Without the support from my first transformation, I couldn"t take the collision and I could feel all of the bone in my body fracture.

The Piasa Bird flailed as my Chaos Lightning ravaged its body until it forced me off. I tumbled away as it found its footing and gave me a cry of fury. Although I couldn"t check the charm, I knew I had pumped three regular amounts of Chaos Lightning into its body before it knocked me away.

The Piasa Bird"s whole body sizzled and released thin wisps of smoke. One of its wings hung limply from its body, obviously broken by Gustavo"s attack. It kept flexing its four talon-tipped feet into the dirt as its orange eyes stared at me in an almost palpable rage. Its body was covered in golden scales while its wings were covered in red feathers. It was covered flesh wounds, dying the ground below it in a crimson-gold color as its blood slowly dripped off. Most of the wounds were healing, but there were still a few that were just too large for its natural regeneration to handle without rest.

It kicked up dirt as it flung itself at me, trying to bite me with its jagged beak. Despite the pain in my body, I threw myself to the side and rolled away, barely missing the hook of its bill. I channeled my Chaos Lightning into my body, magnifying my pain, but at least now, I should be able to keep up with its speed.

I stood back up and dashed forward. Defending itself, the Piasa Bird swiped a clawed foot, that was nearly as big as myself, straight for me. I was forced to use a Flash Step to avoid the attack and ended up right under the belly of bird. I pulled out one of my golden spears and filled it with my Chaos Lightning before thrusting it upwards.

Before my attack could land, though, a sharp, scaled tail shot under the body of the bird and impaled me through the gut. I dropped my spear as pain over took my mind and I hunched over the tail, still deep inside my stomach. It pulled its tail out from under it, dragging me along with it, then flicked it over its head, sending me flying out. I crashed through one tree before smashing into a second one which stopped. I coughed up a large mouthful of blood as I slumped against the roots.

"Becca!" Terri cried out, but it only sounded like a whisper as the world around me started to fade to black.

Although it took time to explain, the exchange between the Piasa Bird and myself only lasted, at most, two minutes. Unknown to me, Terri followed me off the back of the ship, albeit at a slower pace. Terri watched as I impaled and flung yards away. A golden arrow, with its own natural glow, made of pure Coeles metal, appeared in Terri"s hand which she knocked and drew back her bow as she skated down the air. When she released it, a beam of white light shot from her bow and straight at the dragon bird, an eerie silence falling over the area.

It was on course for its head, but Piasa Bird sensed the danger in her attack and desperately tried to escape. It got its head and the majority of its body out of the way, but its hind, left leg and last quarter of its tail touched the beam, slicing off the chucks of flesh. The moment the light faded, Terri collapsed to her hand and knees, as most of her mana was put into that attack.

"Becca"s condition is unknown, but it definitely isn"t good, if she is still alive. I don"t see Gustavo, and I"m nearly out of mana," Terri breathed through the intercom as the Piasa Bird flailed on the ground again.

"I"m not in a much better condition as Terri," Lesedi said as jumped off the silver crane and she landed next to Terri.

She pulled out a high-grade mana potion and pa.s.sed it to Terri as she watched the bird try to stand. The crane stood over the two women, but its semi-transparent body didn"t give either of them too much hope. The moment the Piasa Bird righted itself on its three feet and glared at the pair, a sense of hopelessness welled up inside them.

When I finally regained consciousness, I realized that I was no longer in control of my body. I could still feel what I had thought was an impossible amount of pain, but there was a strange, powerful energy burning through my body, slowly easing the pain. Crimson light began to seep out of my body as I could feel a familiar change starting. I shouted inside my head and tried every technique Alice had ever taught me to help control my bloodline, but nothing worked.

Midnight black scales began to sprout up my arms and legs, extending from where my "enhanced human" form"s ended. My body rose in an unnatural fashion, from my back to my feet without using my hands to help, and then I heard the charm around my neck shatter like gla.s.s. My transformation didn"t stop there as it continued into its second form. My wings ripped out of my back as my long tail grew until it touched the ground and part of my horns branched backwards, following along my skull.

"No way..." Lesedi breathed.

"Becca..." Terri whispered.

I could still hear them, but I was trapped within my own body. Suddenly, there was a crack of thunder as my body became covered in my Chaos Lightning and the Piasa Bird turned its attention towards me. Unlike before, when its eyes were filled with rage and fury, only an instinctual fear was present now. It tried to back away, but my body locked onto it after all of the pain it had caused me. It seemed to feel my intent as it turned and tried to run, flapping its good wing while the other twitched weakly.

There was a crack of thunder and I was suddenly in front of it. I couldn"t tell before, but now that I was standing next to it, I was nearly at eye level with it. My body had grown even larger than Gustavo"s when he was in his "t.i.tan" form. I watched myself reach out and try to grab the Piasa Bird by its long neck, but the bird yanked back the moment it saw me. With the missed grab, my hand formed a fist and punched the dragon bird, sending it flying for a change. It didn"t even try to fight back as it used its momentum to increase the distance between us.

"What in the h.e.l.l is going on down there?" Yue yelled through the ear cuff.

That snapped Terri and Lesedi out of their state of shock and Terri responded, "Becca... she"s... she"s..."

"She"s kicking that thing"s a.s.s!" Lesedi shouted excitedly.

If I had control of my body, and if it wasn"t such a tense situation, I would have laughed.

"Becca"s charm is clearly gone! Find Gustavo while you can and bring him back here! We are going to have to run once she kills it!" Yue ordered.

"Thank you, Yue," I mentally exclaimed since I couldn"t say anything with my mouth at the moment.

"It"s not Becca, though. Her dragon-half has taken over," Terri said quietly, as she watched "me" fight.

"That doesn"t change anything right now! Find Gustavo!" Yue repeated.

I watched as the two of them split up and run into the trees in the direction that Gustavo had been thrown. While I listened and watched my companions, my body had not remained still. I had finally managed to get a hold of the bird, s.n.a.t.c.hing it by its tail. Obviously, my body remembered the tail as I swung the whole d.a.m.n dragon bird over my head and smashed it hard on the ground.

A number of trees were reduced to splinters as the body of the Piasa Bird crashed hard into the ground, kicking up lots of dirt and debris. It cried out painfully, its voice noticeably weaker. Although it was still moving, it wasn"t moving fast enough to escape my hands as they closed around its body and its broken wing. I viciously jerked and tore off the wing before moving onto the next. The dragon bird gave a mournful cry with the loss of each of its wings, getting weaker and weaker by the second. My talons sunk into its neck next and I ripped its head off, letting out an echoing, challenging dragon"s roar, still holding the head.

My roar lasted for a minute before I slowly closed my mouth and turned my head to the white, winged serpents that circled the zeppelin. Thankfully, I saw the silver crane flying back with three figures on its back, although one was being held onto by the other two. I "felt" my body lock onto the crane and, to my horror, I threw aside the head then chased after it.

"Becca! What are you doing?!?" Terri"s voice shouted through my head.

I screamed and slammed my mental energy against the barrier that kept control of my body away, but it didn"t budge. The crane managed to slip inside the barrier, but my hand followed after it and slammed hard into the golden light. The whole ship was knocked back nearly thirty yards, dimming snakes as a spiderweb of cracks raced outwards from the point of impact. The crane lost the protection of the when the ship was thrown and, once again, my body focused on the crane, reaching out another hand.

"Jump off! I"ll try to lure her away!" Yue said.

Terri and Lesedi, with a limp Gustavo cradled between them, jumped off the crane, heading for the ship. If things weren"t bad enough as it was, the moment they moved, my body ignored the crane moving off in the opposite direction and my hand after the three of them. The silver crane pivoted in the air and sent a barrage of silver feathers at my body while, a moment later, it crashed into my hand. I roared out painfully as the purifying effects of Yue"s Moonlight Crane"s feathers negated the defenses of my scales and burned as they sliced through my body.

With the anger triggered, I gave up on the trio and attacked the crane. No matter how fast my hands moved as they lashed out, the crane graceful weaved around, dodging my talons by inches. The zeppelin moved forward, scooping up the small group, but before I could let out a sigh of relief, my Chaos Lightning activated. The s.p.a.ce between my hands crackled with crimson lightning and the crane was caught in between. Electricity wrapped around its body for a moment before it exploded into a silver mist. I could just make out a scream of pain as the crane was destroyed, no doubt Yue suffered a major backlash.

I tried and tried to break through, but nothing happened. There was a searing pain, unlike anything I had ever felt, as I rammed the barrier, but I continued none the less. I had to; I couldn"t let myself hurt them!

My body flapped my wings as they crackled with crimson lightning. The zeppelin was already pulling away, but they weren"t going nearly fast enough. I sent a fist into the winged serpent barrier and it shattered, dissolving into a gold mist. Suddenly, a blinding violet light erupted from the main deck of the ship before a violet glowing figure flew out, straight at me.

Less than a fourth my size, Katye stopped right in front of me. She was shrouded in a violet glow that breathed like flames and her eyes were a solid deep, dark violet color. Her hair floated upwards, rippling with her aura to some intangible wind. Despite my fear, my body remained frozen in the air, without even flapping my wings.

"Being called out twice in a day is far more than what this poor girl can handle, let alone twice within an hour," Katye said in a chilling, strange voice. I could hear Katye"s normal voice, but it was as if another voice or two were superimposed over it. "But your blood can make up for that fact. That it as payment for returning your body back to you."

I was confused by what she meant, but I didn"t care as my body began to shrink. Next, I felt my wings and tail pull into body which was a strange feeling. There was no pain, but I could feel the bones in my back shift around. I could feel my scales retreat under my skin and my horns lightened as they shrunk down to their smallest size.

Although her wings were flapping, Katye stepped on the air with her tiptoes as she neared me. My head was drawn down as she reached out and touched my stomach. There was still a hole through it that was pouring out blood, but when she touched my skin, it started closing at a visible rate. When it completely closed and the skin returned to normal without a blemish, she lifted her hand, which was stained with my blood, to her lips and licked it.

"I know you have lost plenty of blood already, but the nice thing about you dragons is that you never run out as long as you have a source of energy. Sleep, now. She wouldn"t like it if she knew you watched," Katye said then waved her hand in from of my eyes.

The world started to grow dark once again as I felt her pull me into a tight embrace.