Liam stood alone in the narrow passage, watching the last traces of his companions disappear deeper between the mountains. The sound of hooves had already grown faint, swallowed by the twisting stone walls ahead. Tatiana was gone. Agatha, Mary, Irina and Gregor were gone. Leonid had gone with them too, his body fully recovered after drinking Liam’s blood. That was exactly what Liam had wanted.
They had enough distance now.
He no longer needed to worry about anyone getting caught in the middle of the fight.
Liam slowly turned his attention back toward the Gargoyles.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
The creatures were still perched across the mountainside, their enormous wings folded against their backs as they stared down at him. Some clung to the vertical stone as easily as a spider would cling to a wall, while others remained suspended in the air several metres above the passage. Their stone-grey bodies blended almost perfectly with the mountains around them, making it difficult to tell where the creatures ended and the cliffs began.
Liam rolled his shoulders.
Then he cracked his neck.
Crack.
The sound echoed through the passage.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"So..."
He looked up.
"It’s just you and me now."
One of the Gargoyles opened its mouth.
Screeeeeech!
The shriek tore through the mountains.
Liam didn’t flinch.
Instead, his hand moved toward the sword hanging at his side.
He drew it slowly.
The blade reflected the faint light that reached the passage from above. It was a much better weapon than the sword Leonid had used earlier. Leonid’s sword had shattered the moment it touched the Gargoyle’s body, but this one was different. Liam had trusted its quality enough to bring it into battle.
He looked at the blade for a brief second.
"This one’s better."
His eyes returned to the Gargoyle.
"So it shouldn’t break, right?"
The Gargoyle suddenly moved.
Liam moved at the exact same moment.
His foot slammed against the ground.
Boom!
Stone cracked beneath him as his body shot upward.
He crossed the distance between himself and the nearest Gargoyle in an instant, sword already raised above his shoulder.
The creature spread its wings.
Liam twisted his body in midair.
"Slash!"
The sword came down with tremendous force.
Clang!
The sound that followed was wrong.
It wasn’t the sound of flesh being cut.
It wasn’t even the sound of armor being struck.
It sounded like someone had swung a sword directly into a massive stone wall.
The impact sent vibrations through Liam’s arm.
His eyes widened slightly.
The blade had struck the Gargoyle’s chest.
And nothing happened.
Not even a scratch.
Liam’s smile disappeared.
"...Seriously?"
The Gargoyle’s expression remained completely unchanged.
Then its claw moved.
Fast.
Far too fast.
Liam’s instincts screamed.
He immediately brought his sword upward and placed it directly in front of his face.
Clang!
The claw collided with the blade.
For a fraction of a second, Liam managed to hold it.
Then...
Crack!
The sword shattered.
Liam’s eyes widened.
The blade broke into several pieces that scattered through the air.
"You’ve got to be kidding me."
The Gargoyle’s claw continued forward.
Liam twisted his body just enough to avoid the worst of the attack.
The claw passed beside his face.
He felt the wind generated by it tear across his cheek.
Liam immediately kicked against the creature’s body and used the force to launch himself backward.
His body flew across the gap before he landed on the opposite mountain wall.
His boots scraped against the stone.
He crouched for a moment before pushing himself upright.
Liam looked down at the broken sword in his hand.
Then he looked back at the Gargoyle.
The creature hadn’t even moved.
Liam slowly dropped the broken weapon.
The pieces of metal disappeared into the darkness below.
"Alright."
He rolled his neck.
"Message received."
His eyes moved across the mountainside.
The rest of the Gargoyles still hadn’t attacked.
They simply watched.
Liam noticed something interesting.
They weren’t rushing him.
They were letting the first creature handle him.
His lips slowly curved upward.
"So that’s how you guys work."
The Gargoyles remained still.
"One at a time?"
Liam chuckled.
"Fine by me."
He reached for the sleeve of his black shirt and slowly rolled it upward, exposing his forearm.
The air around him became strangely quiet.
Liam looked down at his hand.
His fingers opened and closed once.
Then something changed beneath his skin.
A faint golden light appeared.
At first it was barely noticeable.
Then it grew brighter.
Thin golden lines began spreading across his forearm like glowing veins beneath his skin.
Liam’s expression remained calm.
The golden light traveled upward.
It moved beneath his skin, spreading through his arms, across his shoulders and down his chest. Golden patterns gradually appeared across his body, almost like rivers of light flowing through him.
The blood inside his veins had changed.
It no longer looked entirely human.
It shimmered with a strange golden radiance.
Liam slowly lifted his head.
The moment his transformation stabilized, something invisible exploded outward from his body.
Boom!
There was no visible shockwave.
But the Gargoyles felt it.
Every single creature froze.
Their bodies stiffened.
Their wings trembled.
Several of them instinctively pressed themselves harder against the mountainside.
A deep pressure filled the entire passage.
It wasn’t killing intent.
It was something more primitive.
Something that made the creatures’ instincts scream that the being standing before them was dangerous.
The Gargoyles began screeching.
Screeeeech!
Screeeeech!
Their cries echoed through the mountains.
Liam watched them carefully.
"So you can feel it."
The golden light around his body became brighter.
The Gargoyles didn’t retreat.
That surprised him.
Despite the fear spreading through their bodies, they remained where they were.
Then two of them suddenly detached themselves from the mountainside.
Their enormous wings opened.
Whoosh!
Dust exploded from the cliffs as they launched themselves into the air.
Liam’s eyes narrowed.
"Two?"
A third Gargoyle moved.
Then another.
Three creatures now flew directly toward him.
They had understood something.
The first one hadn’t been enough.
Whatever Liam was, he was a threat.
And they had decided to deal with that threat together.
Liam smiled.
"Now we’re talking."
He bent his knees.
The three Gargoyles accelerated.
Their wings beat violently as they crossed the distance between them.
One came from above.
Another came from the left.
The third came directly toward him.
Liam didn’t retreat.
Instead, he jumped.
The moment his foot left the mountain, a burst of white light erupted beneath him.
Boom!
The force launched him upward.
For a moment, Liam seemed to disappear inside the brilliant flash.
Then he emerged from it.
His golden veins glowed brightly against his skin.
His fist was already clenched.
One of the Gargoyles reached him.
Its enormous claw swung forward.
Liam’s fist met it head-on.
Boom!
The explosion of force was deafening.
The air itself seemed to bend around the impact.
The Gargoyle’s arm was thrown backward.
Then its entire body followed.
It flew through the air like a stone launched from a cannon.
Liam remained in place for a fraction of a second.
Then the Gargoyle slammed into the opposite mountain.
BOOM!
Stone exploded outward.
A crater appeared in the cliff.
The Gargoyle’s body was embedded in the rock.
For a moment, everything became silent.
Then its body slipped.
It fell.
The creature dropped from the mountain wall and began tumbling toward the ground far below.
The other Gargoyles stared.
Their eyes followed the falling body.
For the first time since Liam had encountered them, there was something unmistakable in their expressions.
Fear.
Liam looked down.
He realized something.
He was falling too.
"Ah."
He had forgotten one small problem.
He could jump.
He could launch himself through the air.
But he couldn’t remain suspended in it.
Not yet.
The mountain walls were enormous, and the passage was far higher than he had initially realized.
Liam’s body began dropping rapidly.
The Gargoyle he had punched continued falling below him.
Wind tore against Liam’s face.
His clothes snapped violently around his body.
The ground was still far away.
Liam looked upward.
The remaining Gargoyles were no longer watching.
They were moving.
All of them.
One after another, their wings opened.
Then another.
Then another.
Until every single Gargoyle along the mountainside had detached itself.
There were twenty-eight of them.
Twenty-eight enormous creatures now descended from the cliffs.
Their wings spread across the sky.
Their bodies blocked out what little light reached the passage.
Screeeeeeeeech!
Their combined shrieks shook the mountains.
Liam looked around while continuing to fall.
Twenty-eight.
They were coming from every direction.
Some descended from above.
Others moved along the mountain walls before diving toward him.
A few were already positioned below him.
They weren’t giving him anywhere to escape.
Liam stared at the swarm.
Then he laughed.
Not nervously.
Not desperately.
He actually laughed.
"You think you’re the only ones who can fly?"
The nearest Gargoyle opened its mouth.
Its claws stretched toward him.
Liam’s smile widened.
"That’s cute."
The wind roared around him.
Then Liam’s expression changed.
A strange pressure began building behind his back.
The golden light flowing through his veins intensified.
His body suddenly became surrounded by a faint white radiance.
The Gargoyles sensed it.
Several of them screeched in alarm.
But they were already committed.
They continued descending.
Liam closed his eyes for the briefest moment.
Then he opened them.
The white light behind him exploded outward.
Whoosh!
Something burst from his back.
Two enormous wings unfolded behind him.
Pure white.
Brilliant.
Majestic.
They weren’t monstrous.
They weren’t corrupted.
They were completely different from the Gargoyles’ grotesque wings.
Liam’s wings were clean and radiant, formed from an almost heavenly white energy that illuminated the darkness around him.
They spread wider.
The wind changed.
Liam stopped falling.
For the first time, his body remained perfectly suspended in the air.
The Gargoyles froze.
Their eyes widened.
Liam slowly looked from one creature to another.
Then he smiled.
"Now..."
He flexed his new wings.
The air exploded outward.
"Let’s see who’s faster."
The twenty-eight Gargoyles surrounded him.
And Liam was no longer falling.
He was flying.
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