Beneath the Surface

They say nothing, simply staring stoically forward like they had been trained to do.

This went on for about ten minutes. Another pair of blue changeling eyes stares at them from inside the forest, but this time it does not run away.

Griff motions the mages to prepare the shields again and waits for changeling's move.

The shields return, albeit somewhat weaker than earlier. The changeling stares at them, sighs, and walks further into the forest.

A few seconds later, through the burning front trees, another barrage of magic missiles fly towards the shields, battering them.

She dodges the blow behind her, her sword darting towards his chest.

Ruby nodded. "I think we should."

"Let's go then." Ician moves quickly off into the forest.

The sword meets the changeling's chest only briefly, its sideward leap just in time to save it from being skewered. The other changeling, however, now steps in and launches a powerful upwards slash towards Divine's body.

She spins again, catching his strike with her sword before striking again.

This time, the strike is close enough to draw blood; the changeling's left foreleg is severed, falling limply to the ground. It is not deterred, however, although it toppled over to the ground it still swung its sword at Divine with as much force as it could muster.

In the meantime, Ician emerges into the clearing. His eyes widen as he sees the battle, and for a brief moment he is stunned. Then, all four swords fly out of his scabbards, and he advances.

Divine decapitates the changeling and waves to Ruby and Ician, before searching for the last changeling. Ruby kissed her happily.

The last changeling eyes all three of them, then bolts suddenly, further into the forest, and disappears into the ground.

"Well, that was anticlimactic. Thanks though~" She purred happily.

"We didn't really do anything..." Ician walks forward slightly and tries to see how the changeling disappeared. "I think there's a... hole in the ground. There might be a changeling hideout there."

She shrugs and hugs him. "Can we rest a moment? I'm you know, tired and stuff~"

"Of course, of course." Ician continues staring at the spot and thinking. "If they've got a hideout underground, though... then burning the forest isn't going to hurt them. We can't smoke them out this way." He grins. "But at least we'll remove their cover. Then they won't be able to hide between the trees any more."

"Dodge!" Griff yells at the two mages. He starts effectively dodging the attacks.

"Uh..." The mages look around the flat, open desert. "Yes, sir!" They move to either side of their shields, trying to outrun the projectiles. The changelings soon realise their tactic, however, and begins to strafe the area, coming close to hitting them several times.

"No... cover around here, sir!" One of them shouts.

"God damnit..!" Griff says, still dodging. "Cover me, I'm going in." He says and transforms into his eagle form.

"Yes, sir!" Their shields return, now fuelled by adrenaline-boosted magic, and they charge forward at the burning forest and the changelings within.

The rush of magic bolts stop immediately, and instead, the glow of a dozen magic swords pop up in the darkness beyond the fire.

Griff waits till the mages get their full attention before darting down behind the changelings, transforming into unicorn form and starts slicing at the changelings backs.

Two of the changelings fall immediately to the ground, the first victims of Griff's attack. Three of the others turn to him, swords flashing at his legs and head, while the rest struggle to penetrate the mages' shields.

Griff effectively dodges the attacks and counters them with ease, stabbing and slicing them apart before continuing to help the mages. "Five..." he says to himself.

Four of the others turn to Griff now, two focused to parrying his blows while one other slashes at his chest. One final one, behind the first three, charges up and fires a beam of magic at Griff.

Griff blocks the changeling's attack with one sword and slices his head off with the second sword before just barely dodging the beam. "Six.." he quietly says as he throws one of his swords into the head of the changeling who cast the beam. "Seven.." he throws his second sword at one of changelings, the sword penetrating his skull. "Eight." Griff says and grins, swordless.

Suddenly, the last changeling attacking him stops. He looks at Griff for a full moment before he begins to laugh, hard.

"And what might be so funny?" Griff asks with faked curiosity, still grinning.

"Just... nothing." The changeling shakes his head, wiping the grin off his face. "See you." He suddenly bolts, running only two metres away before stopping over a patch of grass, which collapses under his weight. He disappears into the ground.