Being’s Evolution

Wren stretched her arms above her head and stood. She always felt better after a good practice.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an alarm suddenly going off. She dashed out of the room, not sure what was going on, but she had that uneasy feeling again.

Talon met her at the door.

“Let’s go,” he barked, heading outside.

“What is going on?” Wren asked, jogging to keep up with his long strides.

“We are under attack,” he said.

“What?!”

“It seems that four large and very angry Beings have decided to try and take us out. They are Level IIIs and not to be taken lightly,” he explained.

Wren thought back to her instruction on Beings. There were four levels of Beings.

Level Is were weak, new to this world and their own. Level IIs had some strength and good intelligence.

Level IIIs had strength and intelligence, with some special abilities mixed in. Level IVs were nasty pieces of work if they had the chance to use their powers, but if you got to them quickly, they were not bad.

“Why are they attacking us now?”

“With Michael and Carrie gone and Eric and Lily still at work, it will be two on four since Evan and Emerald are not around,” Talon informed her, ignoring her question.

There was no time to explain now.

They arrived at the gate, and all Wren could do was stare. The Beings were large and were destroying anything that got in their way, including the security gates.

“Ready?” Evan appeared next to them, grinning when he saw Wren’s look of relief.

“You did not think we would leave all the fun for you two, did you?” he asked.

“Let’s do this quickly,” Talon growled, heading for the first Being.

“They are destroying my home,” Wren said.

Evan gave Wren a grin. “I am glad he is with us and not against us,” he commented as Emerald went flying by, heading for another Being.

“Come on, you two, we have work to do. I’ll take the ugly brute. You two can fight over the other two,” Emerald called.

“I thought they were all ugly,” Evan called out as he advanced toward the Being heading for the garden.

Talon had taken the one at the combat building, and Emerald was busy with the one who was working on the building Wren had just exited moments ago.

~Guess that leaves me with him.~ She looked at the last Being that was destroying the main gate.

She let out a sigh and headed to battle, taking her cue from the rest.

“Watch out for their abilities!” Talon called out as he slipped under the Being’s swinging arm before taking it out at the elbow.

The Being let out a roar, and rock spears flew from its chest. Talon rolled out of the way, using his fire to explode the spears.

“You will have to try harder than that.”

Talon was even more thankful he had begun training with Evan.

“You…destroyed.”

Talon froze, taking a direct hit from the Being.

“TALON!” Evan looked back where Talon had come to a rolling stop after flying by him.

“I am fine,” Talon said as he stood. That one hurt.

“I do not know what is going on, but that one”—he pointed to the Being he was fighting—“just spoke. Watch yourself.”

Evan nodded, doing a duck and roll move Talon had taught him only a week before, coming up underneath his Being’s legs. He took his spear and buried it deep into the base of the Being’s spine.

Talon gave him a nod and headed back to his own Being, who was now looking to join the one at the gate.

~Like hell you are going there.~ Talon took off at a run, determined to reach the Being before then.

***

Wren rolled to the left, came up, and sliced off the hand of the Being, before rolling back to the right, avoiding the right hand that just narrowly missed taking off her head.

“Kill.”

Wren pivoted sharply on her heel and leapt back, landing on one of the only remaining pillars of the gate.

“What did you say?”

The Being gave her a wide smile, a gaping hole oozing liquid where its mouth should have been.

Wren shuddered. ~That is scarier than any teeth.~

The Being let out a sound that could almost be identified as a laugh.

“Kill. Creatures.”

“We are not the creatures, we are humans.”

The Being lunged at her, and she flipped over it, burying her scythe deep into the Being’s shoulder, cleaving a path across its chest and exiting at the waist.

The Being froze, the deep red of its eyes slowly fading as its death approached.

“Human…”

***

Emerald opened her mouth, shooting an arrow of sound directly toward the Being’s head.

The Being gave her a nasty smile. Its large fangs pointed in all directions from its mouth as it dodged. The sound arrow destroyed the side of the house.

“Damn it. Now I have to fix that,” Emerald growled. “Stop moving, you stupid Being.”

The Being let out a gargle. “Zentith.”

Emerald’s eyes widened. It spoke. She thought it spoke.

“I do not care what you call yourself, you are not going to destroy my home.”

Emerald drew back her bow and shot an arrow, anticipating the Being’s movement and quickly releasing a second one, piercing the Being’s left eye socket. Thick black liquid immediately poured out.

The Being roared. “Kill… Creature.”

“Human, you ass,” Emerald corrected it as she released another arrow from her bow, followed by a sound one.

The first missed the mark, but the sound arrow drilled a hole straight through the Being’s chest, destroying its heart as it passed.

The Being slowly dropped as it muttered, “Zentith… Human…”

***

“Thanks for getting the last one for us,” Evan commented as they regrouped.

The yard was destroyed, but the buildings had not been hit too badly. There would only be minor repairs to be made.

However, they were all cut up and covered in grime. Luckily, no one was hurt too badly, and they all were able to heal in a matter of minutes.

“Shall we head to the outdoor baths?” Emerald asked as she picked some gore from her hair.

“Huh?” Wren turned toward the teenager.

“We always head to the bath after a fight. We get clean while discussing the battle, all at the same time. It is much better than waiting for everyone to clean up on their own.”

“By that time, we are all tired and cranky, and things get forgotten or remembered incorrectly.”

“Uhh, no, thank you. I will pass on this one,” Wren backed away.

“Oh no, you do not. It is mandatory. Let’s go.” Emerald grabbed her arm and started dragging her toward the baths.

“Give us five to get in, then you boys can come on in,” Emerald called over her shoulder as she dragged Wren.

“Come on, hon, get moving or you will be seen naked by the boys,” she warned her. Wren let out a groan and picked up her pace.

Like hell she would let Talon see her naked.

Five minutes later, Wren and Emerald were in the baths, with Wren behind the rock as low as possible in the water. She had made sure to get in before Emerald had even emerged from the changing room.

There were things that she did not want to explain.

***

She almost fainted in shock as she watched Emerald immediately curl into Evan’s lap after the gentlemen had entered the pool.

You would never know they hated each other in that moment, Wren thought as she watched them cuddle.

Emerald sighed and pulled away. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Evan said with a shrug.

Emerald pulled Wren out from behind the rock. Wren was careful to keep her back toward the rock. “Come on. You need to join in this conversation as well.”

Wren blushed as the two men looked at her for a moment and then continued where they had left off.

“Did any of you have anything unusual happen with your Being?” Emerald asked.

“Mine spoke while having used a human as a disguise,” Talon commented.

“Same.” Wren was glad she was not the only one who had it happen to her. “It called me a ‘creature.’”

“So did mine,” Emerald added. “It mentioned ‘Zentith’ when I called it a Being.”

The other three looked at her.

“Zentith?”

Emerald nodded. “Do you think it was the Being’s name or race?”

“No idea, but I am more worried about them speaking our language when they are not using a human disguise than I am with what they call themselves.”

“If they are learning to speak our language without… What does that mean?” Evan asked.

“I do not know,” Talon replied. “I suspect it is not a good sign for us, though.”

They all fell silent, each in their own thoughts.

“Are you done?” Emerald asked after the silence stretched out for a quarter of an hour.

“I believe so,” Talon replied. He was leaning back with his eyes closed.

The water felt good after a hard fight.

“Good. I am going to start dinner.”

Three pairs of eyes turned to stare at her.

Emerald never cooked.

“Can you cook?” Talon asked.

“Of course.”

“I will help,” Evan said as he stood, and Wren immediately closed her eyes. The boy had no sense of—

“Are you getting out too?” Talon asked, having noticed her reaction.

“Uh, I will in a bit.” Wren flushed even more.

Talon came toward her as Evan and Emerald headed for the changing rooms. They shared a grin.

Just as they had planned. They gave each other a high five as they headed to get dressed and cook supper.

“What better place than the tub to clear the air between two people?” Emerald snickered as they headed to their rooms.

“If only we could be flies on the wall. I would pay to hear this conversation.”

“Let them be, Evan.”

Evan sighed. “I know. I will. But still…”

Wren backed up as he continued to come closer. Her back hit the side of the pool.

“Are you scared?” Talon asked.