Screams in the storm part 3

The new night screamer jumped into the air and took flight. Its flying looked clumsy like the wind was blowing it around, but it quickly flew high enough to vanish behind the sandstorm blowing high above.

Rufus summoned his divine wings and flew high up, yelling to the others, "Take care of the others while I follow the one that flew up."

Instead of attacking, the night screamer remained on the ground screaming at the preacher.

"Bring the vases!" the fanatic preacher ordered.

The zealots brought a case, and inside were three vases. They were pitch black, with markings on them.

The preacher gave them to the demon, and it crushed them inside its fist, releasing a dark miasma outside of it. The miasma formed into dark bird-like beings that had no eyes.

The night screamer screamed and pointed at the dune where the rest of Rufus's friends were. The miasma monsters turned back to black smog and glided in their direction.

"Get ready, guys!" Doreen yelled.

"We're ready," Edward said, brandishing her sword.

"Do we have to be?" Yosef asked.

Amala drew her bow and readied an arrow, while Pema summoned his carbon armor.

When the miasma monsters got close, they expanded and covered them all. Both Joan and Edward slashed their swords, but it did nothing.

The smog then disappeared, and they wondered where they had gone.

"That was it?" Edward thought.

"Umm....how many Edwards did we suppose to have in our group?" Gadaric asked.

There was another Edward, an identical copy from the body to clothes. The other Edward then tried to slash Satifa.

Gadaric responded by snapping his fingers, creating a blast of sound that caused the fake Edward to turn to black smog that fled.

The group quickly realized that the miasma monsters were shapeshifting copies, mimicking their forms. There was a copy of Joan that was cut down by her, and the third hadn't yet appeared.

"What the fuck are these?!" Joan cursed.

"They must be black djinn. Djinns that made a deal with a demon and are now forced into servitude," Doreen yelled.

They continued to battle, using their unique skills to differentiate the real from the fake and defeat the miasma monsters.

~~

Meanwhile, Rufus flew ever higher, trying to catch up to the newly created night screamer.

As the battle raged on, the wind grew stronger and the sandstorm intensified. Rufus himself was being pushed around by the strong winds and sand kept getting into his mouth and eyes.

He then heard screams, a loud noise that got louder and louder. The night screamer flew and cut Rufus on his chest with its claws and quickly disappeared into the sandstorm once more.

Rufus wasn't badly hurt, but when he flew in pursuit of the demon, the winds blew him around and the sand eroded his sight. The screams of the night screamer got ever fainter, indicating it had already gotten away.

Rufus felt a rush of anger. He wasn't going to let the night screamer escape after injuring him. He summoned his divine spheres, which began to orbit around him.

The winds and sand grew even more intense, and once more, a menacing screech started to be heard. Rufus was ready, but instead of going to claw out Rufus like last time, a blast of wind slashed Rufus and ripped his divine wings.

Rufus started to fall, with the night screamer flying down, letting out another bloodcurdling scream and lunging at him with its claws.

Rufus managed to dodge the demon's attack, but he was still free-falling toward the ground. He tried to summon his wings again, but they wouldn't appear. The night screamer started diving down towards Rufus, ready to finish him off.

Rufus closed his eyes and focused. When the demon tried to kill him once more with its tough claws, Rufus grabbed hold of its hand and released his divine power, making half of the night screamer turn to dust.

The night screamer screeched in pain. It flew back, its wings flapping wildly as it tried to escape. But Rufus was relentless. He summoned his divine spheres and sent them hurtling toward the demon.

The night screamer tried to dodge, but the spheres were too fast and too many. They smashed into the demon, exploding and evaporating it.

Rufus then fell to the ground, luckily the sand softened his fall.

~~

As the fight raged on, the group was pushed to their limits as the shapeshifting monsters continued to mimic and attack them. The ground shook with each impact of the blows and the air was thick with the sound of clashing steel and magic.

Satifa summoned a vortex of locusts that sliced through the miasma monsters, but each time one was defeated, they just reformed and re-emerged.

Joan's sword arm was slick with sweat and her movements were becoming sluggish. She was badly wounded but refused to fall back. Suddenly, one of the miasma monsters lunged at her, its form shifting into a copy of Pema.

Joan hesitated for just a moment, but it was enough. The monster was upon her, its hands closing around her throat.

Edward roared and threw himself at the monster, his sword a blur as he struck with deadly precision. The black djinn just turned back to miasma and flew high up.

"You okay!" Edward asked his sister.

"FUCK! This is so frustrating," Joan said as she got up.

The group fought on, desperation fueling their attacks as they battled to protect each other.

Panting and sweating, they stood in a circle, weapons at the ready in case any more of the creatures appeared. But the area was eerily quiet.

They saw the three black bird-like demons hovering up. They locked hands and started to fuse. The winds of pandora grew as the three black djinns started to fuse.

Suddenly, the sky turned dark and a massive shadow covered them all. A huge, demonic entity towered over them, its eyes glowing with malice.

"Fuck..." Yosef said.

The large black djinn turned into a black leviathan, with three heads and large wings. It must have been a type of dragon one or all of the black djinn had seen once.

Amala shot an arrow at one of the heads. First, it didn't do anything, but then expanded, making the head impaled by a large stone arrow, that was a size of an entire pillar.

"We should run now!" Doreen yelled as they started to flee.

All seem to agree, but Satifa didn't. She touched the red sand and spread her divine power all over. Thousand upon thousands of locusts were created, covering a large sway of the ground with them.

"You go ahead. I will deal with this," Satifa said.

One of the heads of the monster ripped the stone pillar of the head with its jaw. The mutilated head quickly healed, but when it began to continue with the fight, it saw a massive cloud of locusts swirling in front of it.

The locusts formed into a dense pact and like a fist punched the monster, making it fall. He then ordered the locusts to swarm the massive demon and start to consume and eat it.

"Finally have you all in one place," Satifa said as she was controlling the locusts.

The demons all yelled trying to escape, but the locusts didn't allow it.

As the locusts consumed the demon, its massive form started to shrink and its roars turned into weak whimpers. The group watched in awe as Satifa's powers seemed incredible, almost as strong or on par with Rufus's.

Slowly the demon faded away as all of the black djinns had been dealt with.