How a Sullen of this size had survived so long was a mystery. It would take a village to feed this beast. Standing as tall as a building, with the width of ten elephants, it was easy to understand how the ravishers demolished our world now. When they had creatures like this at their disposal, they were unstoppable.

It raised it's massive feet up and lunged at the lost ones. They all separated in efforts to not get squished. Like some cheesy romantic film, Vinny ended up falling on top of Ghost. The two stared at each other for a minute like a deer in headlights. He had to think, just for a split second, how he never really got to see her in the light. Their intestacy was always spent in the dark. Now, in the blaring white landscape, he took note of how gorgeous she was.

He looked around the barren wasteland to try to find something, anything. A few trees were left standing in the distance. "Go," Vinny nodded his head towards them, "Take Ash an' go hide. We're gonna hav'ta fight it."

Hesitantly, she replied, "Okay... Vinny?" Her soft voice could always hold his attention, even in a fight. Ghost laid a deep kiss on him, adding, "I love you. Don't die, okay?"

It actually had to sink in, what she said. A smile swept onto his face as wind blew his hair in his eyes, "I love you too."

Vinny got up off of her and she scurried off. Ghost grabbed Ashley out of a mound of snow and dragged her off to a safe distance. She glanced over her shoulder to get a look at her mate before he was out of sight. He reached behind his back and pulled his sickles out from their straps. The blades shined against the sparkling snow.

Kuza got back up, drawing out the double sided blade he carried on his back. He and Chris had yet to attempt to use Ryan and Ricky's Arcadias, but now seemed like a damn good time to try. They were given those gifts to fight, to survive. It was about time they started showing that fact some appreciation.

"Keep your distance." Kuza told his mate, "We can't have you getting hurt."

He smirked as he drew up his bow, "I need the distance anyways."

"Light the way." He said, twirling around the sword in his hand to an attacking position.

Chris pulled back three arrows on the bow. There must've been a sense of irony in the fact that a creature so cold was given the power of fire. The ends of his arrows suddenly ignited. He released them into the sky, seemingly effortlessly. Their flames trailed a path through the wind and snow until they struck the top of the beast. It's fur began to catch fire, but it wouldn't be enough to take it out.

Nikki took his fist and pounded it against the opposite palm. From his body emerged three shadow versions of himself. His eyes flushed yellow and glowed brightly. The yellow energy sparkled along his frame, causing twisting horns to emerge from beneath his hair.

Jeremy finally managed to get his small self out from a mountain of snow he'd fallen in. He shook his head like a puppy, trying to get all the snow out of his hair. A smile graced his face as his eyes turned a mystical purple. The fairy like lights danced around his head, forming horns that curled under his ears. He reached his hands above his head, then sharply turned down into a bow. Three figures, similar to Nikki's shadows, broke off from his frame. The difference being his were made of pastel colors instead of pure black; One light green, one light blue, and one light yellow.

"Nikki!" Vinny yelled over the winds, "Gimme a boost?"

He smiled and revealed his sharp teeth. His shadows knelt down, each at different heights to create a form of a staircase. Vinny ran up the dark matter in front of him. As he jumped off the end, the last one gave him a big shove. He went flying towards the Sullen and latched one of his sickles onto it's tusk. Vinny twisted around until he acrobatted his way onto the top.

The creature was already roaring around unhappily due to the fire burning on top of it's head. Vinny stumbled forward, managing to catch himself on the edge of the tusk. He ran back to the base and began to hack away at the bone with his blade. Once it started to crack, he used his own weight to stomp on it, making it break off.

Pissed, the Sullen hurled Vinny off of it. He went flying in the air and screamed when he realized how fucking high up he was. Ghost watched in the distance in horror. If someone or something didn't catch him, he'd surely break his back. Worse, he could snap his neck. No one was close enough to even manage that save.

Then, it returned; That cosmic creature they'd seen at the old theater. It no longer was gone in an flash. As the elusive being caught Vinny mid air, it gently floated back to the ground. He set the now traumatized boy in the snow in front of his mate. Standing back up slowly, Ghost could finally see what this guardian was. She felt her heart skip a beat out of shock.

Her eyes darted past the creature, seeing Kuza go flying from another attack. He landed deep in the snow with Chris rushing over to heal him. With only one tusk to guide it's way, the Sullen was off balance. Though it left the creature at a disadvantage, it was also causing it to stumble around carelessly. Any second it could easily stomp any of them.

Nikki's shadows rushed over to protect Chris and Kuza. As one of it's massive hooves was about to crush the pair, the three figures stopped it. Their strength was inhuman and enough to stop it. Unfortunately it didn't seem like enough to push it back entirely. Jeremy's yellow figure ran up the Sullen's leg, somehow settling it ablaze as it did so. Though his shadow disappeared once it'd used up it's power, it had done it's job. The Sullen started to panic as it jumped back.

His green ghost used the distraction as an opportunity to run up the back leg. Vines and roots broke out through the layers of snow to capture the creature. They managed to entangle the majority of it's back leg, trapping it in one place. The cosmic being, having seen all of this, realized Kuza was too weak to deliver the final needed blow.

It bolted across the battlefield. Literally, it turned into a beam of light for a second as it jumped to the other side of the creature. As it reformed, it swiped up Kuza's double sided sword from where it had landed in the snow. The way that being could wield it, you would've thought it was his weapon from birth. The sword and the cluster of stars worked in such harmony, it was almost as if they were one.

He expertly slit the Sullen's throat, putting it out of it's misery. Then, the sword went flying and sharply landed beside Kuza. Nikki brought his shadows back to him suddenly. He ran over to Vinny, scooping him out of the snow to get him out of the way. The girls ran along side him as they attempted to escape being crushed by the massive body about to collapse on top of them.

Snow exploded everywhere from the impact. It made them fall over, but thankfully they hadn't gotten smooched. In all the chaos, the cosmic entity had managed to disappear. Though it was stuck in the back of their minds, they were more focused on making sure everyone was alright.

"You idiot!" Ghost frustratedly hit Vinny's chest, "I told you not to get hurt!"

"You told me not'ta die." He replied quietly, "Never said nothin' 'bout getting m'ass kicked."

She was trying to hold back a laugh and hit his chest again, "Can't you let me stay mad at you?"

Vinny laughed along with his love, "Nah."

Chris removed his hand from Kuza's face reluctantly. He knew he had to go heal Vinny but he was rather enjoying being on top of his partner. Kuza sat up slowly once his weight was lifted away. He felt like... Well, how you would feel if you just had broken bones magically fused back together in sixty seconds. It was a weird feeling but what affected him more was the way it made him feel towards Chris. Anytime he'd healed Kuza, it felt like their connection intensified.

That wasn't a problem with other people. Obviously, as he was knelt over Vinny to heal him, it wasn't affecting either of them. There was no loving or lustful connection under their skin. What exactly made it different for Kuza? He didn't know, and he had yet to decide whether or not he liked the sensation.

"So," He groaned as he stood up, "Is now a fair time to ask what the Hell you three are?"

Ashley laughed, "You could've asked before! We wouldn't have minded. We're gypsies. The supernatural kind, though. Not the human kind."

"I didn't know there was a difference." He replied.

"Well, obviously, humans don't have horns and can't manifest themselves into shadows." Nikki muttered.

"I see that now." He responded with the same level of sarcasm.

"Why don't you leave them out all the time?" Ghost softly asked.

"People stare." He grumbled.

"I don't care but Nikki makes me because if people ask questions about me they'll ask about him and he doesn't like that." Jeremy explained.

Kuza pulled his sword from the snow. It had really gotten stuck in there but nothing he couldn't handle. He did feel a connection with his weapon, as he should with Ryan's Arcadia. A part of him always knew, though, that this sword wasn't truly his. It belonged to Ryan. He knew this, and the sword knew he wasn't Ryan. Hence the reason they couldn't work as well as they should be able to.

Chris rose to his feet, offering Vinny a hand. He was now pretty drained from healing the others but he could manage to make it to the next town. It shouldn't take them more than an hour to get to their destination, provided their predictions were correct. There was always the chance the town was gone, too. Many were completely wiped out. For their sake, they hoped they could find even the littlest bit of shelter soon.