I Am The Lycan’s Luna

••• Aleena’s POV •••

I looked at the massive bird in front of me – an eagle. It was a giant eagle with a beak as big as my body and a sharp gaze that seemed to want to tear my body apart, making it look extra menacing. This was the biggest elemental being out of the three so far.

With each flap of its enormous wings, a forceful gust of wind was created; the force was enough to force me to stagger backward. I couldn’t help but feel anxious and frightened.

How are we supposed to defeat a huge bird? It can fly, for Goddess’s sake!

It flapped its wings again and let out a bone-chilling screech before it flew upward.

“Celia, any idea?” I really had no idea how to beat this being.

“We need to find the crystal! As long as we crush it, we can kill it!” Celia reminded me.

I had forgotten about the crystal. My fear caused me to think of ways to kill it by not crushing the crystal, but Celia’s words gave me hope. She’s right; as long as we destroy the crystal, it will disappear!

Looking at the huge bird floating mid-air above us, I began scrutinizing the bottom of its feet and saw no crystal there.

“Aleena, merge with me!” Celia instructed.

Merge? She wants me to shift? “Wouldn’t it be better for me to stay in my human form?”

“Not shift. Merge with me in your human form,” Celia said impatiently.

“I can do that?” I had only merged with her in her wolf form so far.

“You can. Just do the same thing as when you shift. Faster, Aleena!” she continued saying in her same impatient tone.

I concentrated and merged with her like when we were in our wolf form.

“Good. Two pairs of eyes are better than one,” she said, and I agreed with her. We could focus on different parts of the eagle’s body at the same time, making it easier and faster for us to find the crystal.

Furthermore, when Celia and I merged, my eyesight became sharper, and I could see more details of the eagle’s body even though it was way up high in the air.

We kept scrutinizing every part of the eagle’s body that was visible to our eyes.

“Celia, did you find the crystal?” I asked. I couldn’t see any crystal; maybe she could.

“No. Could it be on the back part of its body?” Celia asked.

As we were still analyzing, the eagle suddenly swooped down with its massive claws pointing toward us. I jumped aside and managed to evade it, yet on second thought, I jumped toward its foot and latched myself onto it, gripping it tightly.

“Aleena, what are you doing?” Celia shrieked in fright as the eagle flew back up into the air.

I looked down and saw the ground getting further and further away. Oh, Goddess! My body trembled, and the thought of falling and dying filled my mind. I tightened my grip and quickly scanned its body again.

“Celia, try looking for the crystal again. It might be tiny, and we couldn’t see it from far.” From this position, we could see every tiny detail. I felt Celia look around again.

“Still can’t find it!” Celia said, and neither could I. Celia must be right. The crystal should be on the back part of its body.

“Aleena, how are we gonna get to the ground?” Celia’s worried voice sounded.

I looked down again, and the ground was still far away from us. The eagle didn’t seem to want to land. How do I get it to land?

An idea came to my mind. I circled both my legs on its leg, hugging it tight like a koala bear, and took out the Elven dagger from my belt.

I stabbed the dagger into its leg, but the eagle didn’t seem to be affected. I pulled the dagger away and kept stabbing until the eagle screeched and circled the air, trying to shake us off.

“Celia, hold on!” I shouted as I kept stabbing, hoping the wounds would make the eagle land on the ground.

After Goddess knew how many stabs, it finally descended, and I jumped off its leg.

“Aleena, shift. We need to get on its back,” Celia advised, and I quickly shifted.

Before the eagle could fly again, Celia ran toward one of the hills, and once she was on top of the hill, she jumped onto the eagle’s wing just as it was spread out and started flapping, causing Celia to nearly be thrown away.

“Celia!” I shouted, merged with her, and quickly ran upward toward the eagle’s back. Before we could plant ourselves firmly, it flew and tilted its body sideways, causing Celia and me to begin slipping downward. Our claws lengthened even more, and we sank them into the eagle’s body to prevent us from slipping completely.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“That was close,” Celia breathed out the moment the eagle flew straight again.

“The crystal!” My gaze landed on our target. It was small, yet the purplish-grey crystal still glowed brightly, catching my eyes easily.

With the way the eagle flew fast, the wind nearly knocked us backward. As much as we wanted to run toward the crystal, it was impossible to do so. The only way was for us to take each careful step and stab it with our claws, ensuring we wouldn’t be thrown back.

I shifted back as we reached the back of its neck and raised my hand with the dagger on it. Unfortunately, the eagle seemed to sense us on its back and tilted its body sideways again as I lowered my hand to pierce the crystal, causing me to lose my balance and fall backward.

“Aleena!” Celia shouted in fear.

Oh no! I don’t want to fall! I don’t want to die!

I quickly stabbed its massive wing in front of my face, hoping it would save me from falling once it was embedded in the eagle’s wing.

But that wasn’t the case. Once the dagger stabbed the eagle’s wing, the weight of my body and gravity pulled me down, creating a long gash instead of being planted firmly.

The eagle screeched and flew around, flapping its wings with me dangling from one of them. At this point, I could only hope and pray that I wouldn’t be thrown off as I kept my grip on the dagger, hanging onto it for dear life.

I felt myself slipping further down as the eagle kept screeching from the wound I inflicted and flew with its body tilted sideways.

Goddess, is this the end? Please don’t let me die yet. I still want to see Kyson and Night!

And the Goddess answered my prayer. The eagle landed heavily on the ground just as my dagger slashed the last inch of its wing, and my feet touched the ground.

My heart was beating fast, and my knees weakened. I nearly died!

“Aleena, shift!” I heard Celia shout, and I shifted immediately after hearing her command.

Celia jumped backward, and I saw the vast beak peck on the ground before us. If Celia hadn’t commanded me to shift… If I hadn’t followed her order… That huge beak would have cut us in half! And the thought made me tremble even more.

“Aleena, I got this. Calm yourself down first and merge with me after you are calm!” Celia ordered, and I let her. There was no point in merging with her now; I would only be a hindrance since I was feeling too terrified from the near-death experience.

Celia ran toward the tallest hill and jumped onto the eagle’s back again before it could fly, but the eagle managed to shake her off. She somersaulted backward and landed on the ground safely.

They repeated this cycle a few times before the eagle flew to the mountain’s side instead of flying above us. It seemed to realize that Celia would be able to keep jumping onto its back, and it decided to fly around the mountain.

Celia ran toward the eagle but stopped at the edge of the cliff. “What should we do now?” she asked as she looked down the cliff. It seemed even higher now than before. Did the mountain move without us knowing?

I quickly calmed myself down. Get a grip, Aleena. This is the time to be scared. We need to defeat the eagle!

I looked over the cliff, and there was nothing there except a few protruding vines and branches every few meters or so along the ridge. There was only one thing to do if we wanted to win…

“We jump onto its back,” I told Celia and merged with her.

“Are you sure, Aleena? It doesn’t seem like it’s going up anymore. If we fall, we’ll die,” Celia said with hesitation in her voice.

“I’m sure. This is the only way,” I said my decision firmly. “It looks like it wouldn’t feel us on its back as long as we didn’t injure it too much.”

“You are right. It doesn’t seem to be affected even if we sink our claws. I believe in you,” she said.

“Wait for my signal before jumping,” I told her and unmerged from her. Since Celia was a wolf, she naturally had a wolf’s instinct and abilities. When I merged with her, our movements were not as wolf-like as when she was the one in charge of our wolf form, so this time, it was better for me to unmerge from her and let her use her wolf abilities. She could jump faster, higher, and further if she were in charge.

I kept looking at the eagle and timed its movement. Once I was sure, I prepared myself to signal Celia to jump. When I saw it fly nearer to our spot, I quickly shouted, “Now, Celia!”

Celia jumped and successfully landed on the eagle’s back neck, where the crystal was located. She dug her claws into the eagle’s neck, but we were so unlucky that it felt our presence.

It began screeching and tried to shake us off while still flying around the mountain.

I saw that the distance between the eagle and the edges of the mountain wasn’t too far and decided to shift back into its human form. Celia could jump onto the mountain from this distance after we crushed the crystal.

There was no time to be hesitant with how my body swayed from the eagle trying to shake us off. I quickly took the dagger and slammed my fist down, successfully piercing the crystal.

The eagle screeched loudly, nearly deafening me, and the light caused by the crystal’s breaking blinded Celia and me.

I quickly shifted and asked Celia to jump back onto the mountain. Celia jumped, but I miscalculated the distance, and she couldn’t reach the edge of the cliff.

“Aleena, I can’t reach the mountain!” Celia shouted in alarm as she realized that we were going to fall.

“Shit!” I cursed for the first time in my life but fortunately saw a branch protruding from the cliff. I shifted back to my human form and reached out my hand just in time to grab the branch and stop us from falling. Goddess, that was close!

“I’m sorry, Aleena,” Celia was aggrieved because she failed to jump further.

“Don’t think about it. Think about how we are going to get back up,” I told her and looked up to search for something to grab onto so we could climb back up.

I was dangling with just a branch to hold onto, not knowing if it would break or not. It would be best to get back up as fast as possible.

As we were still searching for ways to climb back up, I felt the mountain shake violently, just like before when the ocean transformed into hills.