Henry was still in the arena.
The creature, which looked like a giant panther, swiftly moved toward Henry like a predator stalking its prey.
Henry raised his sword and pointed it at the beast charging toward him.
He braced himself for impact.
The creature moved fast, but as it got closer, it started to slow down and stopped right in front of him.
Henry looked into the creature's eyes, and it seemed different from before—almost as if it was being controlled.
Henry didn't understand what was happening but figured it was better not to attack.
It wasn't just the panther that acted strangely. All the creatures in the arena began to behave oddly.
The birds, horse-like animals, and everything else—inside and outside the arena—started to change.
The guards saw the moment Mournclaw halted and started to get suspicious.
"Why did it stop?" asked one of the guards.
"I don't know... maybe it's scared?" another guard replied.
"Scared? That thing doesn't fear anything. Go over there and fix it. Get it under control or we're going to have problems," said the third guard.
"Alright…"
The arena guards began to move. It had already been at least two minutes since Mournclaw stopped and didn't attack.
The crowd started to boo. They wanted blood.
A group of over sixty guards entered the arena, fully armed with spears.
They pointed their spears at the two of them and moved closer.
Far from there, the mage recited ancient magic once again.
She closed her eyes.
This time, a mist started to cover the entire arena.
You could see nothing—Henry couldn't even see the creature standing before him.
The crowd couldn't see either.
The guards' suspicion grew.
Henry was still in the arena, wondering what was going on when he suddenly heard a voice in his mind.
"Get on the creature in front of you," the voice said.
"Who's there? Who are you? Where?" Henry asked.
"We don't have time, just do it," the feminine voice urged.
Henry thought maybe he was losing his mind.
Then, all of a sudden, the creature that had previously wanted to tear him apart appeared again.
Mournclaw crouched down.
It was clear—it wanted him to ride it.
"Damn it… I hope this thing doesn't eat me…" Henry muttered as he climbed onto Mournclaw.
It felt like someone was helping him.
Mournclaw stood up.
They were still shrouded in the mist.
The guards started searching for Henry. It seemed they had noticed the arrival of the rebels.
"Find him!" a guard shouted.
The guards searched the arena, when suddenly, something leapt over them.
It was Henry, riding Mournclaw. They were heading toward the gate.
The gate was closed, so Henry had no idea how they were going to escape.
Mournclaw moved perfectly, as if it knew exactly where the exit was.
Henry couldn't see anything.
They neared the gate. Then, there was an explosion, and the gate was completely destroyed.
(BOOM)
Henry jumped at the sound of the explosion. He hadn't been expecting that.
They passed through the gate.
Inside the gate, Henry could see better now.
Several guards were fighting a group of rebels.
Many rebels were falling.
Henry felt immense guilt seeing this. All these people were dying because of him.
He rode through the corridors on Mournclaw.
For every corridor they passed, more guards fought against rebels until they reached the exit.
The rebels made way for them.
When the path was blocked, Mournclaw simply bulldozed over anyone in its way.
Henry saw the exit of the arena.
He got out.
Outside, he saw more rebels fighting the guards—a full-scale war was unfolding. Hundreds of rebels against thousands of guards.
The rebels were outnumbered, but that didn't stop them from fighting.
Meanwhile, back in the arena...
The mage stayed behind, while the crowd had already fled, hearing about the rebels.
Thousands of people rushed out of the arena.
The mage remained in place.
She put a hand to her head and then called for an eagle.
She controlled the eagle with magic and summoned it to her.
She extended her arm and waited.
The eagle descended from the sky and landed on her arm.
"Take this to them, and a gift," the mage said.
From inside her cloak, a small snake slithered out—moving like a serpent.
The snake crawled from her arm and slithered to the eagle.
The eagle picked up the snake with its beak, then flapped its wings and flew off.
The mage remained in the arena, watching the eagle carry the snake away.
Meanwhile, Henry was fleeing from the guards.
A group of rebels followed him, riding creatures that resembled horses.
Henry had no idea where he was going, but whoever was helping him, he owed them one.
Mournclaw took him to an open space.
The arena was in the heart of the city.
They were heading toward the Dead Forest in the Ghost Zone.
There was an archer in the group escorting him, a madman with a bow and arrow. He shot an arrow at every target approaching Henry.
They rode all the way to the edge of the city.
They had reached the capital.
The capital was enormous, but fortunately, the arena wasn't far from the forest.
They continued riding.
They had already gone a long way, but the guards were still following them.
There was a bridge that separated the capital from the forest.
The bridge wasn't very big—it was relatively small but wide.
They had to cross this bridge.
Thousands of guards were waiting for them on the bridge.
Henry realized where they were heading, and he couldn't help but notice the absurd number of guards waiting for them.
"How are we going to get past this…" Henry murmured.
As they thought about how to deal with it, Henry noticed something falling from the sky.
It wasn't small.
It looked small from their distance, but as it got closer, Henry could see it clearly.
It was a snake. Not just any snake.
A giant snake.
It was so big that it could probably coil around a building the size of the Empire State Building.
Not only that, but it was thick and had tough skin.
The giant snake was completely obliterating the front line of Zod's army.
It was fast and lethal.
It was decimating the army.
Henry reached the bridge.
They crossed it and reached the other side.
Thousands of mutilated bodies lay on the ground.
As they got closer, they could see the true size of the creature.
From afar, they could see the devastation the snake had caused.
It had cleared the path for them.
"That mage… reminds me not to piss her off," Reed, the archer, said.
They rode into the dry forest, moving farther away from the city.
The snake gave them a clear path to escape.
Apart from Henry, five others followed him.
After the adrenaline wore off, Henry began to feel exhausted. He wanted to rest...
Mournclaw suddenly stopped.
Henry passed out, just about to fall when someone caught him.
"He passed out," Brann, the silent brute, said.
"Put him on a horse. Leave this thing here. I don't want to be around when that mage's magic wears off, and she loses control of that thing," Reed, the mustachioed archer, said.
Brann placed Henry on a horse.
They continued their journey.
---