Mythshaper

The monsters weren’t huge, though they were arguably the most hideous things I had ever seen. Their sinewy forms were supported by two pairs of dark, dragonfly-like wings that beat furiously as they shot towards us, emitting high-pitched squeaks.

The sound was grating, piercing my ears so sharply that I had to press my palms against them. The largest of the ghoulish creatures was about the size of a chicken, entirely black with eyes that glowed in malevolent dark light. Each one was armed with two pairs of limbs ending in claws, sharp and menacing. But the most terrifying feature was their hideous maws, lined with two sets of barbed teeth and a long, palp-like tongue that flicked out grotesquely.

"Get behind me!" my aunt shouted, charging forward. She already had her ice spells prepared but held back from firing directly at the creatures, worried she might hurt Aleya and Priam in the process.

Meanwhile, she did something completely beyond me. Wind and some other force combined between her palms as crackling lightning formed. But instead of launching the lightning at the monsters, she shot it upwards.

A flash of lightning pierced the sky above the towering armoured trees, erupting into a deafening roar of thunder.

Aleya understood Rosalyn’s plan and twisted along a winding path, leaving enough room for my aunt to target the blighted creatures from behind.

"I don’t know where they came from!" Aleya cried, her face pale as a sheet. With the ice attack distracting the dozen creatures, she finally managed to reach us. Priam appeared unconscious in Aleya’s arms, his head lolling with each step. "Priam was already fighting them when I arrived. I think it had—"

"Let’s talk later," Rosalyn cut in. "Let me deal with these flies first." She positioned herself in front of us, protectively like a guardian knight.

Winds swirled around her, curling fiercely as she summoned her powers. Rosalyn launched ice projectiles at the flying creatures, each shard whistling through the air towards its target. Over a dozen were unleashed, but only three of the monsters fell to the ground, twitching before going deadly still.

The remaining creatures were terrifyingly fast, darting through the air with surprising agility that her wind-shaping struggled to counter. Nor were the monster flies perturbed by the loss of a few of their number; they charged at us with the same relentless intensity.

Rosalyn set her jaw, her palms trembling as crackling lightning danced between her fingers once more. The spell took longer to cast than her usual ice attacks, but when she finally unleashed it, it struck with devastating power, scorching three or four of the creatures into blackened husks.