Just then a carriage, drawn by armored horses with extra mechanical legs and littered with magic tech so advanced that no amount of money would have afforded its purchase, burst through the underbrush far ahead of where the army of flying beast had expected. The man holding the reigns of the cyborg monstrosities that pulled the carriage looked like death itself had descended to earth. His long black cloak billowed out behind him revealing the tattered remains of a shirt and the face of a madman.

    The man’s name was Daring, Daring Feat, and despite how aptly his name had turned out to be he had never much liked it.

    Daring turned behind him, as much to check the closeness of his pursuers as the status of his companions, who were, in truth, as mad looking as he was.

    If Mr. Feat resembled Death, then the company he kept could have taken the reins as the other horseman of the apocalypse. Titanias, who for all intents and purposes had been the one to get them all wrapped up in the category 7 shit storm that they found themselves stood atop the carriage. His usual full and muscular face and body were gaunt and famished as he poured everything he had, even the fat of his body, to energize the barrier that he'd erected over the carriage. Daring Feat’s other partner in crime could have been the devil himself, with the nasty red and blue flames that he constantly licked out toward their pursuers, like the whip of the lion tamer snapping out to quell his charge, but for the sake of the our simile we will call him wrath. The angel of wrath, Jung Kuek wore the same mad desperation on his face as the rest of his peers, and as Daring Feat's eyes traveled back beyond the carriage he could understand why.

    Their pursuers were very close.

    Golden monkeys, the size of bulls, gorgon's with bodies of snakes and the tops of women, and centaurs with cheetahs and leopards for legs all broke the cover of the trees behind them, snapping at their heels.

    Daring looked ahead of them but the soft glimmer of the refractory barrier that surrounded the capital city of Midgard was still too far away.

    Daring screamed, as much to himself as anyone else, “We aren't going to make it! It's too far!” As if to emphasize his words the flying creatures had begun to dive toward the carriage, using gravity to increase their speed and catch up with their prey. The fastest and biggest was an ancient black dragon. Its body was as long as a tower of the castle and its scales ignited in the reflection of the flames that Jung fiercely threw into the crowd behind him.

    Jung looked up just as the dragon opened its mouth to roar and saw the impending doom stretch wide to engulf him, he gritted his teeth and said, “Like hell we aren't.” Against his instincts, which had far better judgment, which were screaming in at least six languages he had never learned to not go near that thing, Jung swung around to the back of the carriage. He didn't have much in the tank. In a life or death situation like the one he'd found himself in, holding back would usually be what puts the nail in your coffin, so all the reserves he did have he poured into compressing his flames as much as he could. “Hold on tight!” He screamed over his shoulder and without waiting for anyone's reply released the spell in an explosion of light, sound, and heat.

     The carriage trunk blasted forward and upward overtaking its horses and lifting them off the ground, their profuse legs still spinning beneath them. Daring Feat was slammed back into his seat with the force of the acceleration, while his thin lips were slammed back behind his ears. 

    It didn't last long, eventually the flames lessened and the explosion began to sputter out. Luckily in their confusion the horses had still been ineffectively running their legs. They were able to catch the earth and run back out in front of the carriage before being crushed beneath its weight. As the ground approached from below, Daring, who had dropped the reins haphazardly in his departure from standing, leaped forward to grab them before they fell off the side of the driver's seat and into oblivion.

    The carriage's touchdown was severely lacking in poise or grace and in any other instance would have resulted in the wheels being crushed beneath its own weight, but the golden protective barrier being maintained by Titanias absorbed most of the impact and the vehicle continued on its tumultuous way.

     “Give me a little warning next time.” Daring screamed, his voice rising to a pitch seldom heard outside of puberty.

      “I thought I did.” Said Jung as his limp hands dropped to his sides and his weakened body lurched forward. Having drawn the last of his reserves Jung didn't even have the strength left to stop himself from falling off the back of the carriage. He could only hope his last ditch effort had been enough to get his friends to the safety of the human lands.

    Just before Jung’s face could eat the speeding dirt that flew by beneath him, a hand shot out from atop the carriage and caught him by the collar.

     “Gotcha.”. Titanias said as he drew the limp body of his friend back onto the carriage's trailer, from what would have been certain death. “You're not getting out of buying me dinner that easily.”

    “But the barrier…” Jung protested weakly.

    “At this point we're either gonna make it or we won't. Hopefully the former of course. You're lucky my arms are so long.” Titanias replied.

    “Uh… guys, we might have a problem.” Daring cried out from the front.  

     The exhausted pair sprawled out in the back of the carriage, lifted themselves and peaked around its side. 

   At the edge of the barrier that separated the wild lands from the human realm an army of knights and mages had arrayed themselves in a defensive formation that spawned over a hundred yards back.  

    “Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.” Titanias muttered under his breath.

     As he said this a man stepped out beyond the barrier. Dressed in resplendent white armor that shone even in the murky light of the overcast day his illustrations form was immediately recognizable by the horsemen as the leader of the United human realm, the most powerful wizard to ever wear the mantle, Dawn Rising.

   He raised his hand slowly and at first nothing happened, but then the clouds parted as a meteor crashed through the bottom of the cumulo-form. Its edges were engulfed in fire and the expansive bottom was as big as a city block.

     At first Titanias’ heart brightened at the sight, thinking the spell had been cast to destroy the horde of monsters storming towards the city walls, but a glance behind him and a few quick calculations dissuaded him and his face darkened in his distress. The descending mountain was not aimed at the stampede of creatures but rather at them.

    Behind the speeding carriage, the flying entourage of winged creatures had been slowly encropping on the horsemen's desperate lead. The ancient dragon, Antares, led the pack with maw gaping as she anticipated engulfing her fleeing prey. She was the first to notice the blackening skies as the descending monstrosity of a boulder pierced its way through the cumulus clouds. She wasted no time in rearing back and drawing in her breath. The others instinctively gave the beast wide berth as its mouth filled with energy, which when mixed with Anteras’ own inherent poisonous energy became an entropic bomb ready to disintegrate any matter down to its cellular level.

    When She released her breath, the sky split as the clouds burst out of existence along the tract of her blast. The meteor exploded into a shower of slowly dematerializing pieces at the moment of impact.  

    Dawn Rising frowned.

    Antares smiled a toothy grin that would strike fear in even the most loving of mother's. No one gets in between her and her prey.

     Titanis thought he might cry. He watched the meteor shower rain down from the sky, and the monsters closing in on them from behind, and the wall of soldiers barring the way forward . He looked inside the carriage at his charge who sat looking calmly ahead with her head covered, as always, and thought desperately, “how the hell did I get here?”