After another long hiatus, the story is finally coming to it's completion ^^ (Also hope you enjoy how my writing style has evolved each year with each part of the story being released a year apart)
This story is meant to be read in conjunction with the other parts, as the perspectives of Ion, Zephyr and Flint will come together to create one full story, Ion's in meant to be read first, followed by Zephyr's then Flint's to get the complete picture, so if you have not read Ion's or Zephyr's yet, I strongly recommend doing so before reading this part ^^
~ It was the beginning of another weekend, something Flint always looked forward to, as he would go out adventuring with his two best friends. Getting ready for the day ahead, Flint finished up fletching up the rest of the arrows he was working on the evening before and placed them all in his quiver, he checked and tightened the string on his bow before painting on his tribal warrior paint on his fur, making sure to carefully and correctly detail each stroke of the brush to the symbols that he adorned. Which everything was right, he got dressed in his gear before placing his quiver and bow over his shoulders and headed out of his cabin. "I got some time before they arrive, might of well have some fun with them" Flint thought deviously as he left the gate of his tribe's grounds, signaling the warriors guarding a good day before scouting out the road leading to the big city of Eios, looking around, Flint eyed a small patch of trees and figured that would be a good spot to get a 'jump' on his friends as he climbed up and patiently waited. A bit while latter, he heard voiced he recognized as his two friends came into view, they passed his position without ever noticing he was above them as Flint smiled deviously, he jumped down and quietly sneaked up behind his unsuspecting friends, catching them off guard and giving them a small scare. Flint just laughed at Ion's and Zephyr's reactions, before the two boys playfully chased him, trying to get a bit of revenge but Flint was just to dexterous. Giving up, Ion and Zephyr called out a truce with Flint, with Zephyr giving him a playful punch on the shoulder when he got close and Ion coming up behind him and pulling him to the ground. Seeing their truce was a lie, Ion and Flint had a playful little tussle before Flint gave in and called defeat. Satisfied with their revenge, the three boys now headed out into the woods to finally start their adventure.
Heading in, the three boys decided to go in a different direction then they normally would, as they had not explored this part of the forest yet and they were eager to cover new grounds. They have been told not to go that way, but exploring the same old area was starting to get boring and with the three of them together, outfitted they way they were, they thought there would be no issue. This lead them on a path up and around a tall ridge in the forest, where the trees looked very dense below, kind of unsettling, as they nicknamed that part the dark forest. Not wanting to go down there, the three of them decided to continue up the ridge, the path was getting smaller and the ground was crumbling a bit but they decided to solder on. The came to a part where the path became so narrow, that they had to cross it one at a time, the ground looked a bit unstable, but they were confident they could get across. Flint went first, getting across rater easily, Ion was going to go next but Zephyr was a bit apprehensive about going last, so Ion let him go ahead of him, where he would follow not far behind. Zephyr took it slow, from his body language, you could tell he was not overly comfortable in crossing, but didn't want to let his friends down. He got to the mid point, where his confidence boosted a bit but after he took his next step, part of the ground gave way, causing him to slide down the ridge but thinking quickly he reached out his hand, being able to grab a part of the ledge that was still in tact. Ion rushed over to help from one side, with Flint rushing over form the other, with Ion getting there first, grabbing Zephyr's hand with his own, as he tried to pull him up. But the ground fully gave way, causing Ion and Zephyr to slide down the ledge, Flint steadied himself as he tried to watch where Ion and Zephyr were sliding but the two boys eventuall shifted into different directions as they fell further down, cursing under his breath, Flint started slliding down the mountain himself, controlling his decent at a steady pace as he looked for signs in the oncoming trees of where one of his friends might be but no luck, he would have to do this the hard way as the thick dark brush came overhead.
Looking around the area was dark, there was no physical sign of anything being disturbed in this area, save for where Flint was walking from, knowing he needed to track his friends down, Flint refocused himself, seeing if he could find another way to pick up a trail, closing his eyes he focused on his other senses since his eyes were not doing him any good at the moment, the smell of the air was not out of the ordinary for a forest, as to the sounds but there was one thing that was standing out to him, this wind whistling through the trees he could feel, it didn't feel natural, though it felt like something he had felt before, wind pulsed from Zephyr. Ever since that one time Ion was able to shoot lightning out from his hand, Zephyr almost had a constant wind aurora emanating from him while they were out adventuring in the wilds, Ion did say after that event there were dormant powers inside of them all, everyone had a tie to an element of the world but Flint was dumbfounded on what his was, as Ion had lightning, Zephyr seamed to be able to control wind in some respect but for Flint, nothing had appeared in the same time since that incident. Still though, it was a sign that one of his friends was nearby and Flint had to get to him as quick as he could, following his senses, he pushed further into the woods towards where the winds were coming from as a small cave came into view. Flint peeked in as the winds wee coming from within, "was Zephyr in here?" Flint thought as pondered on what to do next, "well if he is, I do need to get to him, what if he needs my help" Flint continued thinking as he stepped into the cave, only for a much larger gush of wind, different from before came out as glowing red eyes came darting towards him, Flint ran out of the cave as a giant bat followed pursuit. Flint darted from tree to tree as the bat gave chase, trying to claw down every place he was standing as Flint just kept on running, he couldn't do this forever, hopefully the bay would just give up but that didn't seam likely, he would have to face off against it. Darting to the next tree, Flint swung around, his bow already in position, arrow in hand as he took aim, the bat came with it's claw down as Flint fired a shot straight on his mark, hitting it in the shoulder near the wing as the bat crashed to the ground, Flint dodge rolling to avoid being caught up in it's decent. The bat got back up quickly though, but Flint fired a few more quick shot, hitting the bat each time as it flew off back in the direction for where they came as Flint took a moment to catch his breath, Zephyr was either in that cave or on the other side of it and that thing was blocking his path to him, Flint would have to find a way around or, maybe he could get help, Ion was also out here somewhere, maybe he was closer by, Flint quickly refocused himself to see if he could feel any signs.
And in that moment, the sound of thunder boomed through the woods as a small bolt could be seen striking down from the sky, not too far in the other direction, "hehe, found you" Flint said with a coy and devious smile as he rushed towards the direction it came from, he pushed trough the trees and bushes until he made it to a small clearing were he saw his friend kneeling on the ground which brought a smile to his face, only for it to be dashed as Ion was shaking and convulsing uncontrollably as he fell to the ground. "Ion!" Flint called out as he rushed over to his friend laying on the ground, he quickly placed an ear over his friend's chest to see if he could hear anything, "heart is still beating but it is getting weaker" Flint thought as he wiped the tears from around Ion's eyes, then he noticed the blood coming from one of Ion's paws, he turned it over to see a bit mark. "Venom" Flint thought as he traced his finger up Ion's arm, "hopefully it didn't get too far up yet" Flint thought as he widened his mouth and dug his fangs deep into Ion's upper arm, causing the boy's eyes to pop open, "ahhhhh!" Ion yelled out" as he struggled a bit but Flint was able to keep him pinned down, "hold still, don't be such a baby" Flint said as he raised his fangs, them covered in Ion's crimson blood as he spit a bit of it out to his side, "Flint! Thank goodness I found you" Ion started to say, "no, thank goodness I found you" Flint cut in keeping Ion pinned, "now again hold still, I need to get all the venom out" he continued as he readied another bit, Ion winced as Flint's fangs pierced him once more, Ion remained calm as he trusted his friend to help him as it was starting to work, he could feel his strength returning. Spitting out more blood, Flint wiped his mouth with his paw, "I think that is all of it, or enough anyways for you not to die" he said as Ion slowly stood up, his left arm now covered in blood as more blood was dripping down to his fingers, "you should see a doctor when we get back but for now we will have to deal with that" Flint said as he pointed to Ion's arm which Ion was now holding over with his other hand, "do you have anything to stop the bleeding?" Ion asked. 'No, but you do" Flint said as he took Ion's sword and cut short one of Ion's belt tassels, then taking the fabric, wrapped it around Ion's upper arm tightly as the blood trickling started to stop, "there that should do" Flint said as Ion looked down at his mangled belt, "sorry about that but it is all we have at the moment" "it is ok" Ion replied, "better then being dead" he continued with a small smile, "think you can continue? Flint asked as Ion nodded, "good, because we still need to find Zephyr.
"Have any leads?" Ion asked as Flint nodded, "I can sense his wind coming from a coave not too far over there" Flint said pointing Ion's sword in a direction, "what I don't know is if he is in the cave or on the other side of it, but there is a giant bat guarding the cave, that is basically how I ran into you." "Knowing Zephyr probably the latter" Ion said as Flint seamed to agree, "only thing now is how do we get through it" Ion continued as Flint held out Ion's sword back at him, "we will have to fight out way through, that is why I went to look for you, I know your left arm is injured but you think you can still fight with this thing?" Flint answered as Ion grabbed back a hold of his sword with his right hand, "sure, I think" Ion said with a nervous smile, now wishing he had paid more attention when his father was teaching him how to use his off hand. The two boys traveled back to the entrance of the cave and stepped in, the gush of win came, as did the glowing red eyes of before, but instead of running back out, Ion and Flint dashed in, avoiding the swoop of the bat's claw. Smaller bats now came at them as they ran deeper, Flint firing off arrows while Ion swung his sword at them but was having trouble connecting with his off arm, switching to bow mode on his sword, Flint tossed him some arrows which Ion had greater success with but the pain in his left arm was beginning to take a toll, "we don't have to fight them all, just keep running and push through" Flint said while Ion nodded, as dim light started coming into view, they were near the end of the cave. Running out, the small swarm of bats flew up into the air, as the giant one came out after them but Ion and Flint had hid themselves in some bushes, after a few minutes the bats could not locate their prey and circled back into the cave, giving Ion and Flint some calm. "Ok, can you locate him now?" Ion asked as Flint closed his eyes before giving off a worried look, "no, I have no sign of him now" he said as the mood darkened, "wait what is this?" Ion asked as he pointed out something glistening on the trees, "looks like blue... slime?" Flint responded giving Ion a look as the two followed the trail as the slime got thicker and thicker until they saw large blue blobs compounding themselves into one.
Ion and Flint hid as they stared at the new creature in front of them when Ion noticed something within the slimes body, a person floating there with a scythe nearby, "Zephyr!" Ion called out as he ran towards the slime, Flint tried to pull him back but to no avail, there was nothing that was going to stop him. Ion rushed over and shoved his hands inside of the slim, grabbing a hold of his friend as he tried to pull him out, the slime seamed to notice new beings around it as it tried to pull away but Ion was not letting go, "give me my friend back!" Ion called out as his body became electrified, he darted himself into the slime and pushed not only himself through it, but Zephyr as well. Falling to the ground, Ion quickly got over to where Zephyr was and started pumping on his gut, Zephyr coughed as he spit up slime liquid and started breathing normally again, "I knew you would come" Zephyr siad with a small smile as Ion smiled back, "what happened to your arm?" Zephyr asked as he noticed Ion's injury, "oh that, nothing much, it is ok, Flint just took a bit out of me, that's all" Ion replied, "wait what?" Zephyr called out which shock as he got up with Flint coming over, "we can fill you in latter but now we have bigger problems" Flint said as the slime towered over the three of them. Ion then got this determined look on his face as his body amped out more electricity, he slowly turned towards the slime and walked forward, "no one is harming any of my friends any more!" he yelled out as blue sparks emanated from his hands before bolts of blue lightning shot out, striking the slime and liquifying it in a large splash, both Flint and Zephyr looked at him with awe as the lightning swirled around Ion's arms, looking to be more controlled, Ion himself looked at his arms in disbelief as he felt the bolts retract back inside of him, "you ok?" Zephyr asked as Ion turned to them and nodded, "I think so" Ion said as Flint grabbed a hold of one of Ion's hands, "they went inside of you, you think you can try summoning them out?" he asked as Ion raised his hand up and concentrated, the blue sparks came back as he was able to fire lightning from out his fingers, controlling the direction, pitch and wavelength of it all, making Flint smile, "I think we need to put your new ability to good use" he said as he looked back towards the direction of the cave, "it is getting late, night will be here before we know it and we need a place to shelter until the morning" Flint started saying as Ion caught his drift though Zephyr looked puzzled, "only thing is....." Flint started saying again before he was cut off, "only thing is there is a horde of bats in the way and we need a easy way to take them out' Ion cut in with a devious smile as Flint nodded, "bats? what do you mean?" Zephyr asked and Ion and Flint filled him in on what happened before they found him.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Zephyr asked as they approached the cave, "now more then ever" Flint responded, "especially now since we have Ion's powers" he continued with a small laugh, "it is not like we have any other choice" Ion jumped in, "it will be night soon and this cave is the only shelter around" Ion finished as Zephyr sighed, "now that is settled, here Flint, take this" Ion said handing Flint his sword which Flint promptly took, "with my good arm the way it is, it would be useless for me to use it and besides, I have another weapon to concentrate on" Ion continued as Flint nodded, "ok lets go!" Flint and Zephyr entered the cave as Ion stood just outside, the sparks forming around his arms once again, as it did the last two time, a gush of wind came from the cave with glowing red eyes coming towards them, the smaller bats came first with Flint and Zephyr taking them down with ease, Ion watched and was impressed with how efficiently Flint could use the sword that he gave him and his own bow, effortlessly switching back and forth between them, the skill something like that took, it look like it was nothing to him. The wind gush became stronger as the large bat appeared, Flint and Zephyr then ran out from the cave as the big bat gave chase, only for the moment it flew out into the open, a bolt of lightning from the sky rang down and pierced it's body, making it fall to the ground with a thud. The remaining smaller bats were noting now as a few arrows, swings of scythe and sword and many lightning bolts took them all down within a few minutes as the boys entered the cave for the first time without anything getting in their way. With another enemy down, the boys would rest here for the night and try to get out of the gorge the next day, as they needed their rest for that task ahead, but as the sun set and darkness crept in, what could feel like the eyes of many were watching in..... ~
And that is the true end, thought I would leave it a cliffhanger since it has come so tradition with this story :3 ^^
