-Callen-

  The route north wasn’t nearly as overgrown as the road from Eldraine. Callia even managed to improve at passing affinity enough so that she was able to get back to scouting with Lexia and Freema while I cleared the roads. However, the path itself wasn’t nearly as peaceful as the prior roads. Despite having our scouting team intercept most of the more difficult monsters, it seemed a lot of the monsters were locking on Hew as a weak link with a high level. Originally I thought bringing along the team of guardsmen would be a waste, but they were proving their worth now.

  Having the extra hands available for night watch was especially helpful. Lexia had no issues, but it was soon apparent that we didn’t stock enough arrows for Freema and Callia. Ironically, because most of the usual troublesome monsters lacked sufficient defense, Callia had switched to her training bow, which generated fragile temporary arrows. It was a cost-saving measure that had made training powershot and similar skills harder but also saved a small fortune on arrows. However, in this case, the bow combined with enough precision was more than enough to deal with the rodents.

  After a long day of persistent attacks, we settled down, and I summoned the stone camping bunker for us to rest. Everyone settled into the structure, and two of the guards who had been on the resting shift took post above. I slumped onto my bed, letting the exhaustion from long, intense focus spellcasting and occasional assistance to the guards overcome me. I was out like a light, and many others also slumped down, resting from the full day.

  ‘Bang’ The sound of a heavy impact spooked me, and I barely had time to make sense of what was happening as screams from the guards echoed out, waking everyone else. Instinctively I looked up towards the roof where the screaming guards were. The ceiling suddenly shook as something struck it violently, the sounds of flesh being crushed and the runes supporting the structure flickered violently. One guard covered in gore dived down through the hatch but was briefly suspended as a massive beak pecked into the hatch, catching the man's foot. It was only brief, as the leg was ripped off by the beak that was quickly pulled back out of the hatch.

  I jumped across the room, pulling the man away from the hatch while hastily patching the massive flesh wound. Everyone else was hastily arming themselves, and Callia had her bow trained upward towards the hatch. She didn’t get a chance to shoot, but the bird didn’t keep us in suspense long. A thunderous crack rang out as the bird's beak hammered into the roof and shattered the already strained runes. I had little time to shift the debris into the void while Callia sent an arrow off in retaliation.

  Above us was the former symbol of freedom. A massive bald eagle easily 4 times bigger than a man menaced over us. Its beak was coated in gore, and the clouds above spun as if forming into a tornado. Seeing us, it gave a mighty cry, and immediately its eyes locked onto me. We were fish in a bowl, and I was its favorite.

  Immediately I tried to shift the stone walls into the void, but felt an immovable weight stop me. The eagle’s talons were clinging onto the stone, anchoring it from my voidshift. With little time to react, I summoned my emergency shelter. A small block that fit easily around me and was isolated from attacks by a whole day's labor of runework. I focused on my mana sense just in time to feel the bird's beak slam down into my structure.

  I shifted the structure away to join the others in my chance to retaliate. Callia’s arrow whizzed and nearly struck the bird's eye, which twitched and moved aside at the last moment. Lexia had her claws in the bird's talons and was pulling her way closer to the body proper. The guards scattered around, some retaliating, others pulling Hew to safety through the shelter door. Just as Lexia’s fingers sank into the feathered flesh at the bird's calves, it squawked and launched itself upward.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The force from the takeoff threw Lexia back into the shelter, and the wind generated sent everyone flying into the walls. Except for Hew and one of the guards who had pulled him outside. One guard in the doorway was flung into the air and tumbled off into the dark of the fields. Seeing the man separated, the eagle dived down and caught the man midair, ripping him to ribbons with a squeeze of its claws. Ok, maybe removing our walls wasn’t a good idea. Hew and the other guard outside seemed to agree with that sentiment as they both rushed back in and closed the door behind them.

  I summon a smaller stone structure for the guards and Freema to hide in while Callia, Lexia, and I jump onto the walls, looking out towards the eagle as it slowly circles back around on us.

  “Any ideas?” I ask the others while stumped, trying to find any solution.

  “Cal, you're on defense. Counter its winds and do what you can to stop its attacks. I’ll run interference and distraction; it's too fast for me to land a good hit, so unless I get an opportunity, I’m going to be the distraction. Lexia, you are the only one who has drawn blood. Hide and wait for a chance to get in real damage. If you can ruin a wing and ground it.” Callia seamlessly takes command.

  Up above, the clouds continue to swirl ominously and the eagle circles. Its eyes are carefully watching for an opportunity, but it seems to be watching me in particular. I almost want to complain. All I did was not get eaten, but it seems nearly losing an eye to Callia and getting its thighs cut by Lexia doesn’t even seem to register for the bird. In the next moment the bird broke from its circling and launched itself into a dive. The air shook as it accelerated, and the signature burst of clouds of a jet exceeding the speed of sound formed.

  I really wanted to complain about Callia’s order to focus on protecting. How was I supposed to stop a bird the size of a two-story house that can break the speed of sound? Still no time to complain, I pull out my Earthshift wand and supercharge it. Immediately spikes of stone grew at my command, pointing toward the rapidly approaching bird. At the same time I stretched my mana over the stone pillars, using mana to engrave reinforcement runes along their length. Just before the bird closed in, I summoned my panic shell, having done everything I could.

  I stretch my mana zone to encompass Lexia and Callia just as the bird makes impact. It ripped through the spikes with ease; it formed a wave of stone like an avalanche. Callia and Lexia both duck to avoid getting caught in the torrent of stone, but I shift it all into the void, shielding them. The bird itself was slowed massively from the impact, but it was hard to tell just how much damage it took through the feathers. The bird came to a stop right before my shell, and instead of pecking it, it grabbed me in its talons.

  Callia’s arrows whizzed off towards the bird, making it duck and twist off balance, and one even bit deep into the chest. Lexia also jumped from the shadows of a shattered stone spike onto the bird. Her claws dug deep and sawed through the feathers of its wing. It flapped its wings in a panic and even lost its balance, rolling over onto its back. There was little I could do from inside my panic shelter as the bird's grip tightened and began to threaten to overwhelm the runes.

  Callia jumped up onto one of the mainly intact spikes, firing wildly at the torso of the bird. Meanwhile, Lexia’s claws finally dug through all the feathers and bit into the bones of the wing. The bird, however, wasn’t done yet. It rolled back onto its talons and finally, with a powerful swing, shook Lexia off. One of its eyes was torn open by an arrow that had pierced the eyelid and then had been dragged through the eye when the eyelid opened. The other eye now narrowed at Callia with a wrathful vengeance. In the blink of an eye the bird's beak tore through the space between the two, but even that wasn’t fast enough as Callia jumped just above the attack. With nothing separating the two, Callia loosed an arrow into the remaining eye. It dug into the flesh, and for a moment the bird recoiled violently before losing balance and falling over.

  Winner Winner Eagle Breakfast

  Callen and the rest of the team slowly gathered, surveying the aftermath. Two men died, one was crippled, and the prize was one dead symbol of American freedom. Callen would’ve felt bad, but he felt confident this was a case of self-defense. He wasn’t even American anymore anyway. His mana was nearly emptied, and honestly it was a miracle that the eagle didn’t manage to take off again. If it had, then they would’ve been done for. However, most notably, Callen felt his skin tingling in an unfamiliar manner. Thankfully the feeling began to fade as his mana slowly recovered.

  Any smaller monsters were nowhere to be seen, so the group had time to recover. After some time to recover his mana, Callen got around to treating the others' injuries. Meanwhile, Callia seemed excited to try cooking the biggest drumstick in either of her lives but faced the issue of the meat being too thick to cook the center of the meat. Instead, she sliced it into massive eagle steaks and passed those out to the group.

  The meat was, in fact, amazing. Who knew that giant bald eagles would be perhaps the best thing Callen had ever tasted? The others also relished the exotic meal. Eventually the sun rose, and the rest of the eagle was packed away into the void space for special occasions.