Chapter 22: Clash of Titans

Finn urged with everything inside of him, trying to latch onto his previous feeling of connection, trying everything in his power. It was all he could do as the shadow wolf tensed in his direction, leveling its gaze like it was about to bound down the hill it stood atop.

The wolf raised its head to the sky, and a majestic howl, one that made the ground tremble, reverberated through the air like a war cry.

The trembling became stronger the more the howl went on, making Finn, who was already at a major disadvantage, fall deeper into despair. Vibrations rocked the earth below his feet to the point where he stumbled to a fall unable to keep his balance.

Finn frowned. What sort of strength was this?! The wolf hadn’t even attacked yet, but already, its howl had this much of a terrifying effect?!

No. Finn frowned deeper again. This is not from its howl!

His head sharply turned back as he saw the trees behind him parting as if being mowed down. Something was coming!

Finn barely jumped out of the way, when from behind him, a massive rhinoceros-like creature charged out of the tree-line with a roar that challenged the howl of the wolf, announcing its very terrifying presence like a declaration.

What the fuck is that?!

Finn could barely process what was happening at all.

Out of nowhere, thick, black clouds formed above, darkening the clear morning sky like a massive thunderstorm was about to descend. Lightning streaked across the dark, low-lying clouds that looked increasingly threatening, as though they could press Finn to the ground.

And at the epicenter of it, stood the shadow wolf, atop the hill, with traces of azure-blue light streaking across its obsidian-black fur.

What the hell is happening right now?! Do they wanna fight?! Where did this other beast come from?! Finn stared at the Rhinoceros creature, which also refused to be bested by the wolf. It reared up onto its hind legs like a stallion, roaring into the dark skies, before dropping its front legs with an earth-shaking thud that rocked the earth underneath like an earthquake.

And immediately, the earth nearly a whole mile around the creature shattered in a terrifying display of earth magic. It sent tremors rocking through the earth even outside its range, and if not for the fact that the beast had skidded for more than a mile after charging out the forest, Finn would’ve fallen within its impact range for sure.

The beast reared up for another impact again, landing with an even louder, more tumultuous thud this time.

The earth rose and fell in a wave around it again, as though it were a liquid, bounding and rebounding like a ripple within its one mile range. It repeated the action, roaring with increasing intensity, each time louder, each time the earth warping and moving like a fluid.

The wolf in the distance also howled with lightning streaking down from the heavens and flashing across its body in a bright display. Both creatures announcing their presence. Both creatures refusing to be bested. The war cries of two titans before they battled.

Finn was slack-jawed. At this point he knew he was not the target of the shadow wolf. But that didn’t explain what the hell was happening. He struggled to make sense of the current situation as he ran to a much safer distance from the rhinoceros’ earth-shaking impacts.

His attention was drawn back to the fight again, when, in an unthinkable move, the rhinoceros launched itself into the air using the earth like a sort of fluid trampoline that broke every law of physics.

The shadow wolf growled and leaped into the air to meet it halfway.

They crashed in a blinding flash of light.

And what ensued after shocked Finn into stillness. A fight like he had never seen, and might never see again, unfolded before his eyes.

It was like a clash of titans, and he was a pebble they didn’t consider at all. In fact less than a pebble.

They decimated the surroundings, scattered the forest on the opposite end, which the wolf kept steering their fight to. Flashes of lightning and pillars of earth disfigured the terrain. Their fight continued for miles upon miles, a chasm of destruction, stretching into the horizon in their trail.

Finn watched until they became like dots in the distance, and until he couldn’t see them any longer.

He stood unmoving for more than a whole minute, before finally coming to his senses.

This is real. He frowned in realization. Very much real.

The tremors of the fight, the fight itself, the whole spectacle that had unfolded before his eyes was too real to be a construct or anything of the like. This was very much real. And going further with that thought, he drew correlations between that fact and how he got here. And he came to the conclusion that he was somehow in the shadow wolf’s… memory?

This fight had happened during the course of the shadow wolf’s real life. And he had somehow gotten into this memory.

Which meant…

Finn’s eyes went straight to the hill in the distance that stood pristine despite the utter chaos that just wrecked the whole terrain.

…he was here for a reason. And all his gut told him the reason lied in that distant hill.

Without hesitation, he headed straight for it. It was within five miles, give or take, so he covered the distance in less than twenty minutes, panting heavily with sweat dripping down his forehead.

For a memory, this place uncannily felt as real as the outside world. The two titans had leveled the entire terrain such that his run was without obstacles and fairly straightforward, but yet, he was still huffing and puffing from the exertion.

He wiped his forehead, before peering into the massive cave opening on the side of the hill. Whatever the shadow wolf had drawn the rhinoceros away from was inside this cave.

He steeled his mind and walked into the darkness unhesitatingly, despite the fear in his heart. After all, this is just a memory, he convinced himself.

After walking for a few minutes, he noticed a light at the end of the tunnel and immediately hastened his steps, eager to find out what was at the end and then get the hell out of here as quickly as possible before the wolf returned.

He walked into the opening, shielding his eyes as they adjusted to the glare of the light in the cavern.

And when he squinted his eyes open… What lay before him was totally unexpected.

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