When he knocked one off, three more swooped from the darkness onto him.
"Terra!" a voice cried above.
"Kyrie!" Terra shouted. "Get out of here. You fight the nightshades."
Kyrie swooped down on his griffin, his sword drawn. Ash painted his face and hair. Blood trickled down his cheek. I remember him a boy, Terra thought through the haze of pain. He is a warrior now. As the mimics bit him, and as the fires burned, Terra felt pride well inside him. My brother is a warrior of Requiem.
"You've got something on you," Kyrie said, hovering over him. His griffin leaned sideways, and Kyrie swung his sword, hacking off the bats. They shouted and fell into darkness.
Terra shook himself and turned around, and Kyrie hacked at the other bats, slicing them and knocking them off. Terra's wings blazed in pain. He could barely flap them. He felt the wind rushing through holes the bats had left.
"How are those nightshades?" he called over the roar of battle.
Kyrie ducked, dodging a salvanae that roared above him, flying at a mimic dragon.
"We're handling the nightshades," he shouted back. "It's the ground I'm worried about. The Earthen are being butchered down there."
Terra nodded. "Going to swoop again. I—"
A great dragon of rot and stitch burst from the clouds, tumbling toward them, blazing. It crashed into Terra with smoke and heat and howls, and he saw nothing but fire and darkness.
"Kyrie!" he shouted. He tried to flap his wings, but they burned, and he grimaced. The mimic dragon blazed, but still lived, snapping its teeth and clawing at Terra. He growled and bit into its neck, tearing out a chunk of arms and legs, but could not shake the beast loose. Its weight shoved him down, and he tumbled. He crashed against a salvanae who flew below, and then more mimic bats were on him, biting his tail and legs.
Terra roared, tumbled upside down, and crashed into the ground.
The mimic dragon rolled off him, and Terra shoved himself up. He swung his tail, knocking the mimic's head aside, then spun to face a horde of skeletons racing toward him.
He lashed his tail, knocking them over, and slashed his claws, hitting leaping wolf mimics.
"Kyrie!" he shouted. He looked up, but saw only smoke, coiling salvanae, and flaming arrows. He tried to flap his wings, but the mimic bats were covering them again, biting and weighing them down.
Roars pierced the night, and footfalls shook the ground. Terra turned to face the sounds. From the smoke and fire, three towering reptiles charged forward, each the size of a dragon.
"Perfect," Terra muttered, howled, and roared fire.
He had been blowing flames for hours, and could muster only a weak spray. It barely fazed the reptiles. They crashed forward, stepping onto mimics, and leaned in to bite.
Terra lashed his claws and lacerated one's head. He swiped his tail, hitting another's flank. The third bit his arm and tugged him down.
Growling, Terra kicked and hit one. It fell back, and he blew whatever fire he still had, hitting a second reptile. Each was his size, with claws and fangs like swords. Claws scratched along Terra's back, and he rolled over, kicking and biting.
A reptile crashed down onto him, knocking his breath out. Terra clawed at its face. He pushed it off and tried to fly, but could not. The bats tugged on his wings, pulling them to the ground.
"Here goes nothing," Terra said... and shifted into a human.
The bats fell off him. The reptiles crashed around him. Terra ran between one's legs. He drew his sword as he ran and swung it, slicing the creature's hamstrings. It fell behind him, and Terra ran through the snow. He jumped into the air, shifted, and flew.
The reptiles howled. Terra spun, swooped, and rained his last reserves of fire. The creatures blazed and fell, burning.
Terra soared into the aerial battle, flying through smoke and fire and battling creatures. He gazed over the battle and his heart sank. Thousands of salvanae and griffins lay dead upon the ground, mimics tearing into them. Dozens were falling around him from the sky, bitten, bristly with arrows, crackling with fire. Terra searched the air for the other Vir Requis, but couldn't see them through the smoke and lightning.
When he looked below him, Terra's spirits sank deeper. Dies Irae's ground forces still covered King's Forest, stretching as far as he could see. Lacrimosa and Silva still stood by King's Column, swinging their swords, but their forces had been decimated. Hills of dead Earthen