Kaia the Argent Wing

“Hey, you!” I called, pointing my axe at the massive mountain lion. “Uh… turn around? Go away?”

The massive cat hunched its muscled body and leapt forward into a galloping run. Right at Immie, who was not prepared to deal with a charging lion. Crap.

I unleashed my aura of weakening, but the cat just snarled angrily and kept charging. I ran, sprinting to intercept the huge, deadly monster. My feet kicked snow up behind me, leaving a trail of powder that floated lazily back to Earth.

I wasn't going to make it, so I raised my axe to the sky and yelled, “Hey, you! Burn!”

Moonlight descended from the sky in a torrent, the force of it hammering the green mountain lion so hard it stumbled. Whoa, that hit harder than usual.

I hit the cat’s side at speed, axe leading the charge with an overhand swing that bit slightly into the coiled muscle near an armoured plate on its shoulder. Shit, the fur was tough as hell. The mountain lion yowled and spun, finally giving me its attention.

Its attention came in the form of a massive paw swiping for my chest, which I just barely managed to dodge. Fucking hell, its claws looked like polished bronze or something. They were each as long as my hand!

“Hey, Silver!” April called from the back of our group. “You need that shirt and jacket you're wearing if we're heading back to town! Don't let it hit you!”

“I'm trying!” I screamed as another paw swiped at me.

When it lunged and tried to bite me, I wedged my shield between its teeth and frantically hacked at its mouth with my axe. Blood flew, and the cat growled with pure animal rage. To my surprise, the shield didn't break. The kitty tried to crunch it, but it was too tough, so it shook its head until the offending item flew off into the snow somewhere.

Shit. My shirt was totally screwed… unless…

Keeping an eye on the cat, I grabbed the bottom of the tee with one hand and whipped both it and my jacket over my head. Of course, they got caught on my axe hand, so I swapped my weapon to the other one and shook my clothes off.

“Kaia, what the heck?” Ollie asked as she rushed in from the side with her mace. “Do not seduce the cat!”

“I'm not, I'm making sure my clothing is intact after this!” I said defensively.

She laughed. “Take your pants off too, then!”

“Do not take your pants off!” April called from behind us.

“Mixed messages everywhere,” I grumbled, and leapt at the cat again.

A dagger whistled past me, not close enough to startle, but close enough that I was keenly aware of it. The blade had been aimed at its eye, but it blinked at the last minute, and the knife bounced off it. It had solid metal eyelids. Great.

“I had some success with the mouth!” I called, taking my axe in both hands as I rushed in and hewed at a leg.

Ollie laughed, wound back with her mace, and smashed it down onto the ferocious cat’s paw. The cat swiped at her, and she leapt back out of the way.

Frustrated at missing its small, fast target, the mountain lion readied to try again, but abruptly, a series of ethereal strings were lashed around its front paws. The bindings quickly failed, but by that time I'd interposed myself between Ollie and the monster, and she'd backed away.

Roaring with rage and frothing at the mouth, it swiped at me again. The claws connected, hooking around my waist and digging in. I spun from the force of the blow and flew sideways into the snow.

“Silver!” someone called urgently, while another voice panicked, “Kaia!”

It took me just a moment to get my bearings and realise that, holy shit, I had barely taken any damage. All it did was stun me and maybe dig a couple of claws a quarter inch into my waist.

Alright. This thing wasn't going to kill me in one or two hits. I could work with that.

I was up a second or two after I got hit, and with an outstretched hand I called my axe back into my hand. “Ah hell yeah!”

Seeing me get back up was all the massive, rabid lion needed to concentrate on me. I couldn't imagine it'd met many foes that could take a hit like me. Too bad it wasn't going to get a chance to learn from this encounter.

Flicking my arm out like I was trying to shake water off my axe, I doused it in moonlight fire. Already running towards my enemy, I pulled my arm back and yote the axe with all the strength and accuracy I could muster. To my surprise, it actually landed, carving a small furrow into the shoulder of the beast. Holy energy sprayed across its side, while the axe bounced and fell steaming into the trampled slush.

It'd barely touched the ground when I pulled it back to me, and just like in the library, sparks shot out to zap the ground and the lion. Huh. I'd been wondering about that. I guess whatever was happening with that was repeatable? Additional effects from comboing abilities, perhaps?

The hide on this monster was incredibly tough, and chopping attacks weren't working. So…

Rushing forward, I leapt as high as I could, which turned out to be a significant distance, well above shoulder height for the mountain lion. Eyes wide with rage, it reared up to meet me, but at the last moment I threw my axe with all my might down to the side. My trajectory shifted, and now I was going to glance off its jaw rather than fly into its mouth.

Catching its nose with a hand, I swung around to land on its back. Oh boy, but the massive cat did not enjoy that. It bucked and twisted, yowling with seething fury. I held on, gripping a handful of steel-bristle fur for stability in my off hand, while the other recalled my axe.

When it landed, I spun it, bringing the spike around. With a savage and wordless cry, I brought it down right in the centre of its forehead. Flesh parted and bone snapped, and suddenly there was very little resistance. The cat slumped lifeless into the snow, slush, and alien grass.

Everyone was silent, staring at me in shock as I wrenched my weapon free. I grinned.

“Fuck me,” Alec said into the silence.

A few nervous chuckles rattled through the group, and suddenly I was feeling a little self conscious.

“Hey, Kaia?” April called from the back, a lop-sided smirk on her face.

I blinked. “Yeah?”

“You need some tattoos,” she said. “Perhaps some… some cuneiform script framing your abs, and some crescent moons around your boobs. You know, to be in theme?”

I blushed and rolled my eyes. “Shut up, April.”

“What?” She laughed.

Trudging through the snow, I ignored her and swiped my shirt off the ground. “Shirt is fine, and the jacket too.”

I put them both back on, still fighting a losing battle against the fire in my cheeks.

“How can you be that badass, but you're embarrassed by the horny lesbian?” Scott asked with a laugh. “Damn. I was getting a little intimidated there, but it's nice to be reminded of the dork inside the amazonian.”

I poked my tongue out at him and shifted, shrinking into my Kaia body. “Let's cut these trees down. Oh and… crap, figure out how to get this carcass home.”

A couple of hours later, we’d felled three trees and had thrown them onto a large hitch trailer we found in someone’s car port. The mountain lion was deposited on top of the three logs, although it was actually too long and its legs trailed in the snow behind the trailer.

Of course, we didn’t actually have a car to pull the trailer, so we all worked together to pull it towards home. Thanks to the monster in the trailer, we had an excuse for our absence. Our story? That this thing had been stalking us since yesterday afternoon. We’d only now managed to lure it into an area where its size worked against it, where Scotty lashed it down with magic while we pelted it with attacks. The killing blow came from April, using her blacksmith’s strength to pierce its thick skull while we did everything we could to keep it immobile.

It took us several hours to pull it all the way back to the school. In that time, a search patrol that'd been looking for us arrived and began to help, after sending one of their number to report back.

By the time we pulled the load in through the side gate, there was a small crowd waiting for us, ready to gawk at the massive beast we'd felled. Honestly, it'd been a fun day, and I was kinda kicking myself for being too scared to tell my friends earlier. Adventures and hijinks are always better with friends.