Allie threw herself off of Claire as soon as they emerged from the Earth, gasping for air as she slammed against the ground.
It took her precious seconds to regain her composure, wiping the dirt from her eyes as she pushed herself to her feet.
Claire had already grabbed hold of Stephen with one of her claws by the time Allie spotted Serenity lying on the now upheaved ground.
Allie darted toward her just as two dragons emerged from the rubble, growing to their full size to match Claire. Allie prayed they wouldn’t pay her any attention. Even with the majority of the dragons missing, she’d be lucky to make it out of here alive.
Suddenly she spotted the other Immortals sprawled about near Serenity, each obviously dazed and slowly making their way to their feet.
Brianna was the first up, standing just in time for Allie to tackle her back to the ground.
“Serenity!” Allie yelled as she grappled with Brianna, trying to pin back her arms to keep her from getting up. “Frank! Get up, we gotta go!”
Brianna cursed, finally shaking out of her stupor as she fought to free herself.
Eventually, the other Immortals got to their feet. Four Immortals, including Miguel, faced Frank, Draco, and Serenity.
Miguel hesitated for the briefest of moments as the others rushed toward Brianna and Allie.
Brianna had almost broken out of Allie grasp when Claire suddenly plummeted back into the Earth with Stephen in her claws. The ground shook with such ferocity that the others were knocked back off of their feet.
Claire was immediately followed by the two other dragons, each diving underground in pursuit.
Allie used the distraction to slip Brianna into a choke-hold, throwing all of her limited body weight into the move in an attempt to knock her unconscious.
Brianna thrashed against her arms as the others climbed back to their feet, but Allie held tight, slowly choking the air out of her lungs.
Suddenly, Miguel was standing over them, holding a knife to Allie’s head. “Time to let go, darling.”
Allie spared a glance for the knife at her temple, but kept her hold tight.
The others watched them, the other three Immortals taking their place around Miguel as Frank, Draco, and Serenity faced them.
“Allie, it’s over,” Serenity said, her voice flat. “There’s no need to get yourself killed over us.”
“Oh it’s too late for that,” Miguel said with a smile. “But how you die… that remains to be seen.”
Allie’s arm trembled as they spoke, though Brianna’s resistance was weakening by the moment, her face turning a slight tinge of blue.
“We outnumber you here,” Miguel continued. “And it’s a matter of time before we catch your dragon, which I intend to re-Claim by the way. Make this easy on yourself, girl. I promise to end it quickly.”
Suddenly, Frank leaped at Miguel. “Run, Allie!” He yelled as he attempted to tackle Miguel to the ground.
Miguel pulled his knife away from Allie’s temple long enough to spin around Frank’s reach. In the space of a breath, he sliced his knives across Frank’s calves, toppling him to the ground.
But before Miguel could reset, Draco was on top of him, putting Miguel in a hold. Cursing, Miguel tried to slice Draco open with his knives, but Draco’s hold was too firm.
The other Immortals ignored Draco and Allie, focusing instead on a crippled Frank and Serenity. One of the men grabbed Frank before he could recover from Miguel’s attack, pinning him to the ground, leaving three Immortals to deal with Serenity.
Brianna finally went limp in Allie’s arms as the three Immortals pressed in upon Serenity. “Claire!” Allie yelled, rolling Brianna to the side. “Any time now!”
Serenity backpedaled, not daring to look away from her predators as she scrambled across the uneven ground. The glint in their eyes looked all the more ominous under the red light of the rising sun.
Serenity steeled herself for their attack, taking a defensive stance, when, suddenly, something behind her roared.
Serenity threw herself to the ground, expecting a dragon to sweep in and grab her, but it wasn’t the roar of a dragon, but a lion.
Jade landed right on top of one of the Immortals, thrashing at her face as her riders kicked at the Immortals on either side. “Get ‘em, Jade!” Patty yelled, looking completely comfortable on top of the murderous lion.
“Patty! Shean!” Allie yelled as she wrapped her tiny arms around the neck of the Immortal wrestling Frank. “Get them out of here!”
Serenity didn’t wait for an invitation, jumping on top of Jade just as she finished incapacitating the last Immortal standing.
All that remained beside Allie were the two pairs of grappling men and an unconscious Brianna.
Just as Frank broke free of the Immortal’s grasp, the three dragons exploded from the ground. The other two were right on Claire’s tail, nipping at her with their jaws.
Allie could feel her exhaustion. Could sense their plan falling apart. She’d never be able to out-fly the other dragons, especially carrying extra weight.
“Throw him!” Allie yelled as she held on tight to the Immortal that Frank was now beating to a pulp. “Leave him here!”
Claire understood immediately, dropping Stephen in the middle of a maneuver through the clouds.
Stephen’s dragons immediately cut off from their chase, both diving to catch Stephen before he hit the ground. Their default orders were to protect their master. That came first. Always.
Even as Stephen fell through the sky in the distance, Frank knocked out the last Immortal, leaving only Miguel, who was still grappling with Draco.
“Change of plans! We’re taking everyone except for Stephen,” Allie said as she rolled to her feet. “Load them up on Jade and get ready to hop onto Claire when she comes.”
Frank gave her a look, but said nothing as he went about loading the unconscious Immortals onto Jade’s back.
“You’re not going anywhere!” Miguel hissed, holding a knife to Draco’s neck.
Even as he spoke, Claire landed beside Allie, panting as she lowered her wing for everyone to climb on.
“You’re outnumbered,” Serenity said, seeming to have regained her haughty composure. “Put you’re knife down, and I promise to end things quickly.”
Miguel hesitated just long enough for Draco to throw his elbow up into his jaw, snapping his head back.
Miguel staggered backward just as Draco spun, kicking him in his jaw once again, dropping him to his knees. And with one last punch, Miguel was out.
Frantic, Allie watched the dragons in the distance circling their master, waiting for him to awake.
“Get on!” Allie yelled, pointing to Claire.
“Why are we taking them?” Draco asked as he threw Miguel on top of Jade, completing their stack of Immortals.
“So we can end this war,” Allie said, exasperated. “Now climb on. Patty, you too, switch to Claire.”
“I’m staying with Jade,” the girl said firmly.
“The lion can’t take six people,” Allie shot back. “Get on Claire. Now.”
Sulking, Patty did as she was told. As soon as she climbed on Claire, they took off, leaving only Stephen and two of his dragons behind.
——
The resolution = the most important part of the story.
(Disclaimer – this chapter is not the resolution of this story, but the mere beginning of it)
The resolution tells us why the story matters. It defines the story as tragedy, comedy, good, bad, surpassing, boring, etc.
It’s not the hardest part to write (The middle) but it is the most important. So how do you write a resolution?
First off, you won’t have a satisfying ending if you don’t have a character arc.
Story is about character, so if there isn’t an arc, somewhere for the character to end up, then there is no story, and there is no way for you to write a satisfying ending. (There are few exceptions to this)
So the first principle to writing a good resolution, is writing a good character arc. (Which has been covered already and will be covered again in the future)
Sherlock Holmes goes from a cold calculating genius to someone who would die for his friend(s). Frodo Baggins goes from someone scared to leave their town to someone willing to go through hell and back for other people. Etc.
Have them go somewhere. (Metaphorically, sometimes represented physically) Have them accomplish something. Redeem themselves. Stand up for themselves. Whatever applies to your character arc.
Secondly, do it in the right order.
Ideally, there will be many different arcs happened in your story. All of them should resolve by the end of your story. If it’s just the first part in a series, fine, we’ll tackle how to navigate that. But everything needs to get resolved, or there will be a feeling of loss and dissatisfaction for the reader/viewer at the end.
So let’s say in a show, you have a side character in a love triangle. Another side character dealing with family problems. And then your main character trying to open restaurant. Then by the end of the show, you will need to resolve them in order of importance.
If this love triangle is least heavy/least important in the story, then you resolve that first. Then the next scene is the family problems resolving. Then you finish with the main character successfully opening the restaurant. Always go in order of importance. Go watch an episode of a show for this and you’ll see it Every. Single. Time.
Lastly, if possible, resolve them all in quick succession.
This isn’t absolutely necessary, but it helps in delivering on emotional endings. If you can resolve everything quickly after one another, the impact on your reader multiplies. Even better if everything is resolves virtually at once.
This is why you see stories resolve around one big set piece. (Let’s say a big battle) The writers will match their characters up with whoever their nemesis is. Whoever represents the obstacles they have to overcome. Then they show them winning/losing one at a time in order of importance for maximum impact.
Honestly, doing this right is a true art form that takes practice. But following these guidelines will help tremendously as you develop your own writing skill and style.
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