Fallen From The Heavens

The boys stood in a glowing ring of Pegasus feathers still flickering from the last fight. The wind slowed. The sky above trembled like ripples across black glass.

"It's happening again," Rain muttered, gripping his uzuka.

A crack split the horizon.

The light died.

The wind vanished.

And in the silence… came the drop.

A loud clang echoed as a massive stone slab fell from the sky and embedded into the grass like a fallen god's tooth.

Another slammed beside it. Then another.

The ground began to tremble.

"We're not in the Plains of the Lion anymore," Kazin said darkly from behind them. "Welcome to the Stone Veil."

As the Pegasus's fading light clashed with incoming darkness, the land became unstable. Half-grass, half-stone. Floating platforms began to rise. Some were glass-like, some pulsing with ancient carvings.

The boys found themselves surrounded by rising obelisks. At the center of the field, a massive statue stood, cloaked in obsidian wings.

"Is that it?" Rain whispered.

"That's a warning," Kazin corrected. "The real one moves."

The sky cracked again. This time, a boulder above them unfolded—massive wings split outward, dragging air with them.

A Gargoyle, bigger than a horse and twice as armored, dropped to the ground like a meteor. Its claws were swords. Its jaw split in two. And its eyes… glowed like lava behind stone.

It roared—

And the statue shattered.

"Two of them?!" Oni shouted.

"No," Kazin said, grim. "That was its reflection."

Oni took the first move, his wings spreading with Pegasus speed. In a blur, he circled around the Gargoyle.

But stone shifted mid-air, reacting to sound and pressure. Spikes rose from the ground wherever he dashed.

"It's reading my steps!" Oni growled.

"Then don't step. Fly."

Oni lifted, faster now, creating friction trails in the sky. His wind-based mobility gave him an edge—but the Gargoyle leapt to meet him, mid-air.

Clash.

Oni spiraled down with blood running from his mouth. One strike nearly caved his ribs in.

"Uzuka… Ater. Caeruleum. Viride."

The sword expanded into a long greatblade, humming with power and magic. Rain charged, slashing down a floating stone platform with one swing.

The Gargoyle blocked with a wing.

Clang.

But Rain cast through the sword:

"Crimson Arrow!"

The crystal spike shot from the blade—not his palm—piercing the Gargoyle's left shoulder.

It roared but grabbed Rain by the neck—slamming him through a slab of obsidian.

As Rain fell limp and Oni gasped for breath, the battlefield rotated. Platforms flipped. The grass fully disappeared. They were in a cathedral of ruin, floating in night.

Statues of failed warriors lined the edges. The Gargoyle now flew, its wings glowing with stolen magic.

"It absorbed Pegasus magic," Kazin whispered. "It learns."

Blood leaking from his lip, Oni stood. His Mark of the Beast glowed—brighter than ever.

"If it's using flight, I'll show it real flight."

He vanished—then reappeared above the Gargoyle, using Pegasus-invisibility while airborne. His divebomb was enhanced with:

"Crimson Arrow—through the chest!"

A perfect strike.

But the Gargoyle broke its own ribs to avoid death. A brutal snap—then a howl that shattered the closest statue.

Rain stood, swaying. He gripped the uzuka and shouted:

"Uzuka… Purpureum!" (Strength & sharpness)

He clashed head-on, parrying claw strikes, then—

"Aurantium!" (Strength & weight)

Hammered the Gargoyle into the ground.

But it recovered—charging straight up a wall like a spider.

Rain switched again:

"Dark Blue!"

Then whispered:

"Cristilian…"

From his sword, magic-canceling crystals launched like spears, trapping the Gargoyle's wings mid-flight.

Oni didn't waste the moment.

He descended like lightning.

Boom.

He destroyed it Wing-to-wing.

The Gargoyle began to crack—but then…

It laughed.

And from the broken tiles rose three more, smaller but faster Gargoyles. A final trial.

"No way…" Rain muttered.

"Then we die fast," Oni said, blood dripping from his mouth.

Smoke curled from Rain's mouth as he gasped for air, blood soaking his collarbone. Oni's chest—the Mark of the Beast—flared like fire through torn flesh. Behind them, the cracked battlefield spiraled into floating ruins.

And before them…

The original Gargoyle now hovered, wings broken but fused with stone slabs. Around it, three smaller Stoneborn Gargoyles screeched like banshees—faster, sharper, nearly blind, but relentless.

"They're split versions of the original…" Kazin whispered. "Don't let them surround you."

Rain grinned through cracked teeth. "Then we surround them."

Oni rose, Pegasus magic glowing from his back. His eyes pulsed with speed-sight—seeing flickers before movement began.

"I'll keep the fast ones distracted."

He blurred into the air, twisting with invisible speed. One Stoneborn darted at him—only to be sliced through the wing mid-turn. The second tried to predict him—but Oni vanished again.

"Still too slow."

Meanwhile, Rain planted his uzuka deep into the stone and murmured:

"Uzuka… Caeruleum. Ater. Viride." (Sharpness, magic, size)

The blade grew twice its normal length, glowing blue-black with magic.

Then he triple-cast:

"Cristilian. Mother Nature. Provocation."

From the tip of the blade:

Crystals launched forward, boxing in the third Stoneborn.

Vines erupted beneath it, binding its wings.

And an illusion of Rain appeared behind it—drawing its strike wide.

The real Rain took one step forward and split the creature in two.

Above them, Oni was caught mid-air—two Stoneborn flanking him now.

One cut his leg—blood sprayed. Another rammed his ribs.

He fell—wings flaring in panic—but as he spiraled, the Mark on his chest began to glow with a second light.

He heard Kazin's voice deep in his bones.

"The Mark of the Beast is more than strength. It's will. It's acceptance. You can't just use the beast's power… you must understand it. Let it become you. And survive."

Oni's breath hitched.

Then—he whispered:

"I accept you."

And his body twisted. Horns of wind burst from his back. His wings became sharper. His pupils vanished into glowing silver slits.

He became the black Pegasus—fully transformed for the first time.

And in that instant, he moved faster than thought—reappearing mid-air behind one Stoneborn and snapping its spine with a magic-charged kick.

The last one turned, but it was too late.

Lightning bloomed.

Its body scattered like ash.

The ground exploded beneath Rain. The original Gargoyle descended, body warped with cracks and glowing red.

"Just you and me," Rain said, lifting his sword.

It snarled, dragging molten claws against its own ribs.

Rain roared:

"Uzuka… Purpureum. Atrum. Caeruleum!" (Strength, magic, sharpness)

The sword glowed violently violet, blazing with power. Rain dashed—then suddenly vanished behind the Gargoyle using Provocation to draw its attention away.

Clash!

They met in a fury—stone scraping metal, claws ripping skin, but Rain refused to yield.

He slashed its wings off—but was caught in the chest.

Blood. Pain. Darkness.

The Gargoyle lifted him high, aiming to drop him from the sky—

When suddenly, the wind split.

"Let him go!"

Oni crashed down like thunder, slamming into the Gargoyle mid-drop.

They all fell—cratering the battlefield.

The Gargoyle, pinned and bleeding black stone, let out one final screech—then faded into dust.

The world held its breath.

Rain crawled up on one knee, sword buried into the stone.

Oni collapsed beside him, his body returning to normal.

The land fell silent. The ruins retracted. The floating slabs slowly returned to solid ground.

Kazin stepped forward.

No praise. No celebration.

Just silence. Respect.

Oni stood and walked to the Gargoyle's cracked heartstone lying in the center.

He bowed deeply, placing a palm on his chest.

"You fought with honor. I will carry it forward."

Rain followed, kneeling beside him.

"Another part of this world… that lives in us now."

They stayed there, unmoving, the wind rising around them—quiet. Mourning.

Then the map in Kazin's hand glowed, revealing the next path:

A dark valley with howling silhouettes and spiraling bones.

"It's not over," Kazin said. "Not even close."

The battlefield had gone silent, but the air was far from still.

Rain's shoulder ached where the Gargoyle had struck him, the pain deep in the bone. Oni stood in the center of the clearing, shirtless, his chest glowing with the dual sigils—Pegasus and Gargoyle, the first two beasts of the Plains of the Lion—burning side by side on his flesh.

Across from them, Kazin paced slowly.

"You now carry two powers, Oni. But what you have gained is not simple strength. It's a burden of identity."

The wind stirred. Oni's eyes drifted down to his hands—light scars tracing lightning from the Pegasus, deeper fractures from the Gargoyle's stone pressure. His fingers curled.

Rain knelt in the background, speaking softly to his sword—Vermillion, Eater of All—as its red glow pulsed with awareness. His voice barely whispered Latin:

"Viridis. Ater. Caeruleum." (Size, magic, sharpness)

Vermillion twisted shape, adjusting automatically to match Rain's intentions without further command. It pulsed once—understood.

Kazin raised a hand, and a summoned mirage of the black Pegasus appeared—blazing around the clearing.

"Oni. To master the Pegasus, you must chase it. You must outpace your own hesitation."

The mirage bolted.

Oni launched forward—wings flaring out behind him—but he was slower. The mirage danced through trees, turning at angles no living thing should move.

Oni snarled, veins in his temple tightening. Again.

This time he felt it—wind vision. The Pegasus sight, gained in battle, activated again. The mirage blurred, but Oni could see the echo of its path one second before it moved.

"Now."

He curved mid-air, speeding faster than sound—passing the mirage. Then… stopped.

Hovering above, heart pounding, eyes blazing silver, Oni whispered:

"I don't need to chase it anymore."

His wings stabilized, no longer pulsing erratically. His body was one with wind. He could now summon lightning bursts to jolt his flight mid-dash, changing direction instantly like a war hawk.

"But you are not only wind," Kazin said, summoning a new figure—a statue of the Gargoyle, towering over Oni. "The second soul is stone. Fear. Rage. Endurance."

Rain watched with curiosity, sword across his lap.

"Let's see what he becomes…"

Oni approached the statue. His chest burned again—the second Mark opened.

Instantly, stone raced over his arms, crawling like armor. His back cracked—two stone-like wing stubs forming behind his flesh Pegasus wings.

Then—

CRACK!

The statue slammed its fist into Oni's chest. He flew back, coughed blood—and stood.

The Mark flared again.

"You don't dodge stone," Oni growled. "You carry it."

The next punch came. Oni took it—but his skin now shifted into partial stone, absorbing the blow. He slammed his elbow into the statue's neck and cracked it in half.

Kazin nodded.

"You now have a second form—a stone-armored Oni. Slower, but nearly invincible, capable of tanking spells and spells alike. And that rage? The Gargoyle's fury… you'll feel it in battle."

Oni knelt, chest pulsing with two forms—Pegasus and Gargoyle—each fighting for dominance in his soul.

Rain, meanwhile, stood apart.

His sword hummed. Its core gem blinked like an eye.

"You're not fast enough. You rely on me too much."

The voice came from inside the hilt. Vermillion's spirit—awakened now that Rain had named it.

"You're alive?" Rain blinked.

"Always. You just never earned the right to hear me."

Rain laughed once, softly. He raised the blade and whispered:

"Purpureum. Ater. Flavus." (Strength, magic, weight)

The blade grew heavier—not in size, but in gravity.

He swung once—and the weight bent the air itself.

Then he tried something new: triple cast into blade swings.

"Crimson Arrow. Abyssal Tide. Provocation."

Three spells layered into one swing. A red crystal spike burst out in the center of the wave. The area flooded with inky water, draining strength from anything it touched. And illusionary Rain stepped from the wave—mocking, laughing, drawing attacks away.

"That's better," Vermillion said. "Now fight like we're one."

That night, they sat under the broken stone arch where the Gargoyle once fell. Oni sat in meditation, shifting his body slowly between wind-light and stone-heavy, mastering transitions. Rain carved spell marks into a boulder with Vermillion's tip—leaving trails of red fire behind.

Kazin watched silently.

"Next is the Manticore," he said finally. "King of the Plains."

"The one who commands both sky and stone," Rain murmured.

Oni opened his eyes, breath steady.

"We've tasted both."

He stood. His chest bore both symbols now—tamed, not just branded.

"Let's hunt him."

Before the go to bed Oni lies thinking about the past 4 months and these new beasts inside him. Even on how much Rain has grown. We really are reaching for the stars with powers like these.