Spacial Illusions

Chapter Nine

NOT PROPERLY EDITED

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Deimos woke to the unfamiliar ceiling of Callisto's bedroom and the purring snores of Ursa curled in the middle of the floor. Nightlight was suspended in the high corner of her room, slowly brightening and fading with each breath. The blue alien was nowhere to be found so he figured she had gone to see Hydra like she usually does on days they weren't training. Deimos stood and stretched out his cramping muscles before checking on his bite wounds he sustained from the Tao Cat that was a few feet away from him. Screams ripped through the stale air and caused the mutant Doberman to launch into the air with his pierced ears pricked upright and at stark attention.

"Shit! Deimos! Ursa!" Callisto's shout caused the huge feline to instantly shoot into an alert position before flipping his massive ears around with his flat nose twitching insanely and firing through the house like a lightning bolt. Deimos raced along behind him and flung open the front door to let them both out. The first thing he could focus on was the blue streak that was Callisto as she rocketed across the porch like a bat out of hell. Seconds later the porch to his left collapsed to show the greatest predator of Praesidium. The Mors Magna.

The beast shook free of the rubble and leaves before it opened its icy blue eyes and its pupil-less orbs turned to focus on Deimos and Ursa who stood frozen at the sight of the huge monster. Yellowing razor teeth were bared at them as the air rumbled with a deep and deafening growl. Light grey fur blocked out the world from the long head to the wide paws with toes parted in the middle to allow for climbing the ancient trees to the behemoth tail that curled around behind it, broken by a darker slate grey set of stripes to camouflage from its victims until it was too late to make an escape.

"Deimos, run!" Callisto's voice drew the focus of the Mors Magna and a hateful hiss escaped from its open jaws before it launched forward, wide paws and deadly claws splintering apart everything in its path. Ursa dug his claws into the tall boy's shoulders before spreading his wide wings and dragging Deimos off the porch and to the closest tree. Once he landed on the branch and caught his balance, he whirled around to see if the Mors Magna was following him or dead set on catching Callisto. The said female had launched up into a knotted tree in hopes of slowing the raging beast down enough that she could get to the training pad and her katana. Chancing a glance over her shoulder she was met with the wide maw of the predator snapping closed on her tail plume.

"Ursa!" The Tao Cat was zooming between branches to attack the huge beast without hesitation to protect his pride partner. Ursa bit down on the thick fur and muscles of the back of its neck, causing the grey creature to snap its head around to react- flinging Callisto through the air and into the trunk of a thick elm tree. The Mors Magna reached a wide split paw back to close down around the Tao Cat's head and yanked the feline away from its body before throwing him in the opposite direction from Callisto.

Deimos kicked into action and took a running start before launching through the space between the dreaded monster and himself. Sliding the push dagger pendant from his necklace, the dog hybrid jabbed the sharp tip deep into the rippling muscles of the right shoulder. He expected the jaws to whirl around and snap at him, but he wasn't prepared for the long tail to whip around and slap his across the chest and shoulder to send him flying backwards onto the ruined porch. The noise of their battle reached the village and a shriek pierced the sky, drawing the bright eyes of the Mors Magna away from Callisto as she struggled to work air into her lungs again and to the frozen villagers.

"Mors Magna! Run!" Helix's voice sent the people into a wild frenzy to search for a safe place to hide from the blood thirsty beast. The Mors Magna unhinged its jaw to emit a blood-curling, ear-splitting roar that shook the leaves around them. Callisto finally caught her second wind and pushed to her feet before she launched at the monstrosity to dig her clawed feet into the skin of its face, leaving deeply gouging wounds in two sets of four over the nose and left eye as she used its head for a springboard to the closest branch between the Mors Magna and the village. Once she landed, the blue-hued female let loose her own lion roar as a challenge to the much larger predator.

A wide paw came swinging down at her and she just barely twisted out of the way. Glancing back over her shoulder, she ensured that the villagers were out of harm's way before deciding to go for her weapons again. She leapt up a few branches before she realized that the beast wasn't wrecking a path behind her. And that was when she heard the screaming.

"Mishal!" It was Helix's voice again, the owl boy yelling to another his age with the genes of a common Dormouse to give him the large ears, tail, and whiskers of the rodent. Mishal had decided he wanted to kill the Mors Magna himself and so stepped out with all his trembling bravery. The icy gaze fell on the shivering boy and its muzzle curled into a hungry grin as it started to race for the the young Praesidium tween. Helix flew to his friend's side to forcibly move the mousy boy before he end up like so many others lost to the Mors Magna's unending hunger. Blue streaked towards them and Callisto used all her weight to shove Helix into Mishal and across the market seconds before the long teeth snapped shut on the air that replaced them. The trio of humans slammed to a stop against the wall of a hut before Callisto turned to glare down at Mishal and Helix beside her.

"Are you two complete idiots? That thing will kill you without remorse." Mishal spoke in his quiet voice that matched his mouse features.

"It killed my parents. I need to avenge them." As sad as his words were, Callisto couldn't let Mishal continue his revenge quest. Not today, she could barely keep herself alive against the unrelenting monster.

"Maybe but not today." She stood and pushed both boys through the open door and into the arms of a man with huge moose antler and a woman with the skin pigmentation of a chameleon before slamming the door closed and turning to find the Mors Magna again. It was on the other side of the huge fire it had kicked and scattered across the market when it tried to eat Mishal and Helix. The flames were wolfing down everything it touched with a starving vengeance, collapsing homes and bits of trees to force the humans inside to either fall with the inferno or escape into the hunger of the Mors Magna.

"It doesn't like the fire." Callisto mumbles as she scoops up a blazing branch and throws a bit of rubble at the predator as it slapped around Deimos, Ursa, and Stratus that Europa had called for as she was saving and scolding the tween boys. With one final swipe to throw all four backwards, the Mors Magna turned to growl at her and her fiery weapon. Callisto took a running start at the beast before launching the branch at it, the charred end stabbing into the animal's shoulder with a hiss of burning flesh and fur. The Mors Magna flailed around until it ripped the pike free, destroying homes and trees in its thrashing. By the time it has removed the burning polearm, Callisto had armed herself with another and a loud roar of domination ripped through her lungs. Accepting this battle as a loss, the Mors Magna gave its own promise to come for her again before it turned and limped dejectedly into the trees.

Callisto had won again.

Or so she thought.