The Great Chimera thrashed its skeletal leathery wings against the hungry wind. It made an ostentatious loop around the blinking tower and heaved a great screeching growl into the timid night air. Its black oily nails sunk deep into the paneled face of the tower, shattering glass into the midnight void. It crouched proudly on the tip, staring out at the flickering metropolitan landscape known as Avalium.

The taxis below honked and screeched madly as they crashed into other vehicles, and plenty of domino accidents had started and didn't seem to stop until they reached the fancy streets of Skavington Avenue. Screams and tearful wailings filled the air underneath the fierce creature's nose. A great puff of a fiery cloud exploded above them, which prodded a thirsting urgency of refuge for the people of Avalium. The citizens ran with desperate haste to find a shelter or a ride that could get them out of Avalium as fast as they could. Boston would be a great bet, but that was still miles away. Miles of great existential anxiety.

Who could challenge such a beast? After all, they were merely just mortals. Run of the mill ordinary people. The Chimera stretched its wings and dived down breathing a huge fiery tongue of air across the wide paved streets. A good deal of people burned and sizzled. Some had laid there, slowly bleeding to death, while the truly unfortunate ones had automatically turned to ash. The nightly beast purred excitedly, but one of its heads sniffed something fowl. The snake tail was still perked up but the dragon's head turned around. The lion and goat head irritably followed suit to see what the big fuss was all about. And indeed it was a terrible fuss.

A crew of black cloaked figures had arrived and started surrounding the three headed creature. The Chimera shot itself higher but the figures trailed after it. A ring of angry fire scratched the air but the figures skillfully danced around it as they twirled and dove ever more closely to the night beast. The Shadowers wore golden rings and as soon as they held out their hands, a tongue of fire burst out of them. One of the five cloaked men held out his hand and a huge tidal wave of water erupted out of it. The Chimera was completely windswept and barraged with pain. It screeched haughtily.

A new wave of Shadowers flew into the flaming scene. But they weren't there to destroy the dragon. The cloaked men forming the ring of fire relinquished their attacked and arrested their focus on the oncoming traitors. Green, blue, and orange fireballs licked the night air with the occasional outburst of waterballs. A procession of winged beasts and reptiles arrived stylishly into the battle tailed by the fearsome looks of the water dragon and the acid dragon. The creatures fought the remaining treacherous sorcerers giving leeway for the original Shadowers to finish off the Chimera.

"Elven! I need you to find the boy and make sure he's safe! Don't worry about his mother–we can't be too sure at this point!" cried the cloaked sorcerer sprouting water and fire simultaneously from his hands.

"But Raufus–"

"That's an order!" The Shadower grunted.

"Go now, Elven, we can't be a moment too late," said the other Shadower. His voice was much deeper and calmer.

Hesitantly, Elven let go of his line of fire and drew a sword from the hissing smoke of his trembling hands. Incredibly, they were already starting to sprout blood. Was it a simpering call of surrender? No, the spell. It must've been too much of a confounding weight to conjure.

"Here!" Elven shouted. He tossed the silvery sword to the cloaked figure across from him

and flung himself down into the scorched darkness. He narrowly avoided a green fireball that licked past his arms. Fingers were pointing up at the stars and mouths were gaping. The civilians were looking up at the sky as if it were a terrifying fireworks show. Elven pushed himself impatiently among the throng.

"Go home everyone there's nothing to see here! I mean it–you'll get seriously hurt. Go back to your families!"

But nobody moved a single muscle. The spectacle was just too alluring. Even as the ashen corpses lay there against the stark moonlight, children were starting to move up into the queue to take witness to the clashing battle above. The Chimera growled, this time as loud as thunder itself–a blow had been struck. The people oohed and whispered excitedly as more and more eyes aggregated to the fiery scene.

Elven incredulously sized up the crowd then nervously stole a glance at the vines of fire above and disappeared. It didn't take much until the sorcerer's feet landed heavily on the rocky ground. The soaring wind had blown his hoodie back, revealing his long buttery blonde hair and perky elfish ears. He walked humbly up the paved walkway to a small squashed hut of a house. It was tucked deep into the Township of Avalium, so deep that it was shrouded by nothing but pine trees and retired whimpering grove trees.

Elven had to contain himself proficiently as soon as he saw the place. He was pretty good at that, putting on a brave mask in the face of monstrosity. Something that he had been taught expertly at the university many years ago and had honed over the years. The house was painted in blood. Splattered remnants of the red stuff could be seen from every inch of the walls. As Elven crawled deeper within these walls, he heard a familiar cry. An innocent cry. Kind of like the ones he heard in the streets but much younger. Elven ran upstairs and entered the unknown bowels of the bedroom. The baby's sound was clear here and it was coming from the crib. No light shone through besides the one from the gibbous moon. It shone on the baby's mother. Her neck was slit and her stomach was gouged open. The picturesque blood must've come from her. No doubt a piece of work from the Chimera. And surely, no doubt that this boy was now a pitiful orphan.

Who would take such a frightening, unnatural, pitiful boy with blood such as his? Who would be subservient to such abnormalities? Surely, the only choice would have to be a foster home nearby in the city. And the only ones Elven could think of were the Brixons. He had read about them in a newspaper once when he was a young boy at the university. They wouldn't be happy, but they would take him. Elven scooped the boy into his arms and fled the unsettling scene. The open eyes of the mother seemed to be boring into him. Unnerving indeed. Law enforcement would take care of her. Or would they? Elven disappeared and blinked into a sleepy street with a bunch of old sedans cramped together on one street. The neighborhood was pin drop quiet except for the one raven that fluttered by and perched on top of the apartment-like building. As the Shadower stepped closer the raven fluttered its wings madly and cawed accusingly. Elven laid the baby down, cloned his Alma Mater badge and scribbled something on the conjured notepad. He lay the notepad and badge inside the baby's blanket and then conjured up a crib to put the baby in. Elven serenely knocked on the door about four times, walked out of the quiet neighborhood, and swiftly disappeared.

The Great Chimera had vanished. It had uttered a few dying fiery breaths, but Zenithclad the monstrum had jammed a few bloody holes in it and put the fear of weakness into the creature's bones. The great creature had faltered and vanished into a wisp of smoke. As to where it had gone, the other Shadowers were unsure, but they had preserved another day for the city, and hopefully a few more quiet years. The Monstrums had helped take care of the traitorous Shadowers and had locked them in a fiery cage. They stood guard around the cage like a bunch of rotating cherubs until law enforcement arrived.

The cloaked Shadowers flew down to an abandoned alleyway among a barrage of cheers. Elven had been waiting for them.

"The boy's affairs have been sorted," Elven whispered assuredly.

"And?" said the dark, soothing voice of Zenithclad.

"I've arranged him with the Brixons."

"You fool! They're the worst people imaginable in this city!" Raufus bickered. "What if they kill him? When they find out what he is I'm sure–"

"I'm sure he'll be fine," said the fourth voice in the cloaked party. It belonged to a soft speaking woman."Elven, you did the best that you could do within the time constraints that we have."

"We best venture back before we draw too much attention to ourselves. I'm not too fond of cameras."

"As if we haven't done that already!" snorted Raufus.

"Expediently said, Elven. Shall we? I'm rather looking forward to finishing my dinner, you know," said Zenithclad.

"What about the Monstrums?"

"They'll report back to us."

"And the boy?" the soft spoken sorceress asked.

"There will come a time when we'll meet him again," Zenithclad uttered deeply, yet tactfully. "And it will be at that moment that he'll have to confront his ghastly past. It won't be fun for both parties involved. But for now, let's all be glad that he's still alive. God knows when we'll need him again."