Chapter 459 Purple Skies

"Hurry! Get in!" Bright turned, motioning for the soldiers to run inside as villagers cowered with their heads poked out. The Cursed Shades flew at the back, tackling them down and slashing at them with their claws and weapons. Screams erupted from the back as soldiers flew through the door. "Go! Go! Go!" Bright motioned as they went through.

"ARGH!" Screams erupted all around them. "RUN!"

"DAD, HURRY!" Bright shouted. Fan'r deflected a four-way attack and quickly made work of the Shaded Goblins. Cursed Soldiers jumped at Fan'r, forcing him to fly into the sky as they slammed into each other.

"Sleep." Fan'r commanded. The Cursed Soldiers below Fan'r dropped as Fan'r lifted the bodies up. "There's too much people who are cursed… What do I do?"

"Dad, hurry!" Bright shouted, again. "Before they come!"

"I must protect the Cursed! Guard the people!" Fan'r ordered.

"I'm not gonna let you do that alone!" Bright protested. Arrows sailed through the air at Fan'r. Fan'r managed to dodge the attack, watching as the arrows impaled into the Cursed soldiers.

"Dammit!" Fan'r cursed in Fox tongue. "This isn't going to work. Chima and I need to group up so he can block these off of the monsters!"

"Shut the door and protect the villagers, got it?" Bright turned and looked at the soldiers waiting for him.

"What about you, Bright? Your dad gave you an order." A soldier asked.

"I'd rather be by his side than run. I'm not that tired. I've gone longer than this!" Bright smiled at the soldiers.

"If you say so." The soldier nodded. "Get to safety once Sir Fan'r is able to, alright?"

"Don't worry about us." Bright smiled, giving a thumbs up. "We'll easily get through this!"

"MAGIC!" A villager shouted, pointing. Bright spun around, quickly slamming his blades together, creating a vibration as soldiers quickly slammed the door shut, Energy shimmering over the door. The sound waves and magic impacted into each other, forcing Bright backwards into the house. Villagers screamed as Bright landed on the ground. His scimitars bounced off to the sides as he winced in pain.

"This is fun." Bright stood up and grabbed one of his scimitars.

"Discordant Sound." Fan'r spoke. A high pitch ring shot through the air, forcing Bright to cover his ears as Goblins and Hobgoblins' heads exploded. The Shades covered their ears as they screamed in pain.

"Amplify." Winn spoke. The high pitch ring grew louder, growing completely silent for their ears as Shades started to fall unconscious. "Dad!" Winn appeared below Fan'r. "Is everyone retreating?"

"What're you doing here, Winn? I thought we made ourselves clear! You were to go inside as well! Leave this to the few Nine-tailed Fox Spirits that are here!" Fan'r shouted at his son, landing on the ground.

"There are some who still want to fight even if they aren't nine-tailed Foxes like you and Chima." Winn remarked. His eyes went to the right, noticing Bright on his knees, clutching his ears. "Bright didn't go inside, either. Bright! Are you alright?" Winn jogged over, moving past the dead bodies.

"Argh." Bright groaned, clutching his head. Winn lowered his head to poke his head into view of his brother's. Winn didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, at first, as Bright looked up. "I hate that noise."

"You're fine." Winn chuckled, letting out a smile.

"Nobody listens to me in the family." Fan'r shook his head as he landed. Fan'r's tails shot out in different directions, grabbing the Cursed soldiers and pulling them into the floating pile as he scanned the area. "Where's Jacob and Lily?"

"Jacob was over there." Winn pointed at the other Village gate. "He was with the Priestess."

"Lily's… with Mom." Bright answered. Winn helped his brother up as Fan'r retracted all of his tails back to him.

"Good. It seems like most of the horde has died. We just need to wait for—"

"WATCH OUT!" Jacob shouted.

"SKRA!" A large bird torpedoed itself straight down for Fan'r. Fan'r's eyes widened for a milli-second before he raised his hand up, creating a shield. The bird slammed into Fan'r, sending him flying as his concentration on the floating bodies dropped to the floor.

"Dad!" Bright and Winn shouted. Winn released Bright as Bright moved to grab his scimitars. The two twins and Jacob ran for Fan'r. Fan'r groaned. The shield he threw up wasn't enough to protect him from the direct it.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Jacob cursed, skittering to a stop next to Fan'r. "Dad, are you okay?"

"I'll… be fine." Fan'r brushed it off. "I don't think it opened any wounds."

"That Greater Skull came outta nowhere! It almost got the Priestess." Jacob told them.

"Where is she?" Fan'r asked.

"With Chima. Chima's binding her as we speak."

"It's cursed?" Fan'r looked at Jacob. Jacob nodded.

"SKRA!" The Greater Skull twirled up into the sky and dived for another attack.

"It's coming! What do we do!?! It's going to get us!" Winn shouted.

"F-fall back!" Fan'r climbed to his feet, motioning his sons to start running. "Go!" Jacob, Fan'r, Winn and Bright turned and started to make a sprint for it. The Greater Skull was a huge threat that not even they were ready for.

"Ah!" Bright shouted in pain, dropping to his knees.

"Bright!" Winn shouted, turning.

"Go! That's an order!" Fan'r ordered with enchanted speech. Winn and Jacob's eyes glistened as they forcefully peeled away from the sight of their brother and sprinted away. Fan'r sighed, pulling at the string around his wrist. "Remove Bind." The string pulled away, ripping into the air as Fan'r's form turned to pink and green. Musical notes and sound marks appeared all around him as he flashed in front of his song and stopped the Cursed Greater Skull in it's place.

Wind exploded all around them as Bright watched his father's true form in front of him.

'I… I've definitely seen this before.' Bright thought. Memories of the similar form appeared in his head. He was only a kid, then. He and Winn had gotten lost in the woods from playing. Bright had found Winn and they unfortunately were too close to an Ogre Mound. The two little boy's cowered as the Cursed Ogre swung its club downwards.

'Dad appeared right in front of us that day, too… He's doing it again…' Bright thought. Fan'r's grunt snapped him out. Bright witnessed the winds slash at him, cutting his father's arm as blood dripped. Cursed energy shot out of the Greater Skull and flew straight for Bright.

"Dad!" Bright shouted.

"Begone! Tormenting Shriek!" Fan'r shouted. Pink and green energy erupted out of the Greater Skull, exploding it to bits as the Cursed energy fired off at Fan'r. Fan'r blinked straight onto Bright, taking all of the Cursed energy blows as Bright watched in horror.

The moment felt like forever. Bright watched in horror as blood poured from his father. Silent screams echoed through the air as purple smoke flew up all around them.

"DAD!" Bright's screams pierced through the silence. Fan'r toppled over his son, forcing him onto the ground. "Dad! Dad!" Bright lifted his father and himself up. He wrapped his arms around his Dad, trying to flip him over. Purple spots glowed all around Fan'r as Bright ignored his injuries. His panic and attention was solely on Fan'r.

"Dad, please say something!" Bright shook his dad. Fan'r groaned as Bright turned him around. Fan'r looked at his son and smiled.

"You're not.. Affected. Good…" Fan'r's smiled ate at Bright.

"Don't smile right now. It's not the time, Dad! Stay with me, alright?!?"

"Bright… You have to bind me now… Get Chima… hurry… Before I… Before I— ARGH!!" Fan'r's body erupted in purple energy. Bright recoiled as Fan'r lifted into the air. Fan'r's screams grew loud as the purple energy began to pull from the Cursed, flying straight for Fan'r.

Lily didn't know how long it had been. Her and her Mom sat on the couch, waiting for some sort of sign. There wasn't any. They couldn't hear anything down here and Lily had lit a single glow stone just to be safe. The room was lit in pink light as she stood up for the millionth time.

"It's been a while, Mom. Shouldn't I go check?" Lily looked at Mother Wang.

"You already know what we must do, hun. We wait until there's a signal from your father." Mother Wang told her daughter, again. Lily impatiently paced from the ladder to the door.

"Something bad is gonna happen. I feel it, Mom. I should be up there with them." Lily told her Mom. "Something's gonna—"

A strange set of chime noises went off. Lily suddenly stopped in her spot and turned to look at her Mom.

"Did you hear that?" Lily whispered.

"Hear what, dear? I didn't hear anything but you talking." Mother Wang replied. She gave her daughter a worried look. Was her daughter trying to make up noises to get out of this? "Your father's sound is like—"