The Mountain Weeps

“Hurry! We must get to the crystal! The matriarch says we’ll be saved there!” said the older harpy to the younger ones that flew in front of her. “There, it should be on the other side of this ridge!” she told the girls as they raced to the location. However, right when they were about to turn the corner and get sight on their target locations, ropes flung out around their necks and yanked them out of the sky. The four harpies hit the ground hard, disorienting them as their captors quickly moved in.

“Make sure not to rough ‘em up too much, boys,” the leader of the group of orcs hunting these harpies said. “We need as many alive as we can. It’s gonna be a lot of work repopulating after that war with the elves,” he told his troops.

“We can, eh, clip their wings tho, right?” asked a rather brutish looking one.

“Why’d we do that?” asked a rather stupid looking one.

“So theys can’t flap away, stupid,” said a less stupid looking one.

“What, don’t you boys like it when they struggle to fly away?” asked a rather sadistic looking one.

“No! I won’t let you!” screamed the eldest harpy as she used the claws on her feet to cut the ropes around the necks of her young charges. “Quckly, fly away!” she ordered them.

“But..Maestra…” one cried out.

“Go! Don’t worry about me!” she told them as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Look at ‘em cry!” laughed the stupid one.

“I’mma make ‘em cry even more back at camp!” said the less stupid looking one.

“Hunting them down is always fun,” said the sadistic looking one.

“After ‘em, boys,” said the leader of the orcs. The other four laughed happily and dashed after the fleeing harpies. “Meanwhile, what do you say me and you get better acquainted?" he asked as he pulled the still captured harpy towards him.

“No! I won’t let you!” said Maestra as she struggled to stay away from the orc.

“It’s always more fun when they struggle!” he laughed as he slowly but surely pulled her closer to him.

“I’ll kill you! I swear to you I will!” she said as she tried and failed to get away from the orc.

“Hahahahaha! I’ll have fun pumping my seed into you all ni…” The orc could not finish his sentence as his head was severed from his neck in a flash with a spinning blade of light. Maestra followed the strange light as it twirled behind her and there she saw it: hope. There stood a man dressed in black armor, who caught the light, surrounded by three girls, all clearly battle hardened. Behind the four, were the four young harpies, completely safe, with a strange looking harpy comforting them.

“Are you alright?” asked Miho as she quickly rushed over to remove the rope from the harpy’s neck.

“Y-yes, thanks to you all. Are...are you John Newman? Mate of Princess Idena?” asked Maestra.

“I am,” he said. “And here is your princess,” he said as he motioned to Idena.

“No, that is not Idena. She’s some monster!” Maestra said as she stared at the very different looking Idena.

“No, Maestra, it is I,” said the neo-harpy as she moved from the young harpies to her old friend. “I have transcended to a neo harpy,” she said as she reached out and grabbed the hands of the scared harpy.

“Neo harpy? But...but that’s just a legend!” she exclaimed. “We joked about being ones, knowing it was impossible!” she rambled.

“And I became one. Thanks to the love and power of my master and king, John,” she said as she brought her old friend in for a hug. “I have missed you all dearly and am upset with myself that it took this incident for me to come back here,” she said with a sadness in her voice.

“I’m happy you are back, Idena. I missed you so much,” Maestra said with tears streaming down her face. “Why didn’t you come back earlier?!” she asked between crying.

“I-I don’t know!” replied Idena, who was crying now as well. “I was ashamed at first, then in love, and then just so busy. I wish I did make time. I didn’t want to come back to this!” cried Idena as she squeezed even tighter.

“But you’re here now, and you’ll save us, right?” asked Maestra as she wiped away her tears.

“Yes, we will,” confirmed Idena as she, too, wiped away her tears. “My love and my friends will crush these orc scum and make sure my sisters are forever safe!” she declared.

“You heard her, girls, it’s orc hunting time,” John told his companions.

“Yay! That’s my favorite pastime!" Miho happily said as she rushed forward in a tornado of wind.

“We literally spent the last two months hunting orcs, how are you not tired of this by now?” asked Mikuru as she used the earth to move her forward at a breakneck speed.

“God damn elemental mages. Always having fast moving abilities. Wait for me, you Asian bitches!” yelled Tanya as she chased after them on foot.

“Your friends seem quite enthusiastic," Maestra noted.

“Yes, they are a good family,” she said with a smile.

“I’m glad you found a good family to go into,” Maestra said with a smile.

“Yes, but now it is time for my old family and new family to unite. My master will make it so,” she said in a firm voice.