The Stone Warrior

 “We are under attack!”

The alarm horn blew with a dreadful strike through the town. They had just fended off one raid already. Now, there was another.

“Get in line, men!” commanded the captain of the watch. “Load your crossbows and get your spears at the ready! Do not let those monsters breach the gate!”

The giant lizards stampeded forth through the main road, raising a cloud of dirt on their wake. On their backs were cannons, aiming directly at the town gate, and with their string already lit.

“Open fire!” commanded the watch captain.

A volley of arrows rained from the top of the walls and down to the invaders. Some stuck through, with a lucky few piercing through the head. Those that struck made their kill burst into a purple mist, leaving only their equipment behind, such as their harness and their cannons.

Most of the lizards, however, trampled on, going after the main gate.

“Pull back, pull back!” commanded the captain.

The fuse of the cannonbacks depleted almost in unison, and their iron munition flew across the air and into the city gates.

The strike sent dreadful echoes across the town.

“No way…” murmured a guard.

“The gate is gone!” replied another.

The captain grabbed his spear.

“Get down there, those who have any courage!” he commanded, rushing down the stairway.

Some guards followed, readying their spears against the incoming horde of hungry monsters.

“We are dead, we are dead, we are…” went a guard.

“Stop your nonsense!” ordered the captain. “The goddess is with us, we will…”

A shadow overtook them from the sky.

It was the passing of a giant griffin.

“Reinforcements?” said the captain.

Something was falling down from the sky and down to the horde of lizard monsters. It was some kind of rock. Falling down like a comet, the rock smashed into the ground, halting on the incoming lizards on their tracks.

The lizards eyed the rock, surrounding it with hissing and with caution.

Then, the rock stood up. It uncurled into the shape of a giant of a man, towering even above the tallest of the guards. It was no human. That much was certain. However, it was no monster either. There was none before made entirely out of rune-carved stone.

“What is that, captain?!” said a guard. “Is that a golem?”

“I…” he replied. “I don’t know. Golems can’t just wander around like this. This is some kind of other construct...”

The lizards charged the newcomer.

The stone man seized one by the neck and snapping it, turning the creature into a cloud of smoke in an instant. He followed by grabbing its cannon and hurling it towards another lizard, turning it into smoke as well.

Some of the monsters had given up, and rushed towards the town rather than fight the living bulwark. They could not eat rock, after all. The construct grabbed one of them by the tail and swiped it against the others incoming, but it could not go after those already past its guard.

“Men, assist that stone man!” said the captain. “Those that break past him, you will bolt down or skewer through!”

The iron bolts flew from their crossbows and down to the monsters. Spears met their flesh. Their claws met the guard’s metal breastplates. In this exchange of brutality, it was a battle for survival, one whose brunt was only held at bay by that lone stone man.

“Stone man!” said the captain.

As the stone man battled against the incoming monsters, the broodmother had come. She was a colossal lizard, easily the height of the stone man, but many times longer.

The stone man stomped down on the head of another lizard, and braced for impact.

The broodmother snapped her jaws at him, crushing shards of stone out from his body. She tried hurling him around, but he refused to move, planting his feet on the ground, and not yielding her more than an inch.

“Shoot the broodmother!” said the captain. “Do not let him fall!”

The bolts unleashed towards the giant lizard, but only managed to strike as deep as her skin. Her whole back was covered with iron-like scales. Even magical attacks would struggle against them.

“Hnng…!” the stone man groaned.

He grabbed the jaws of the broodmouther and slowly forced her mouth open.

“…!”

The broodmouther unleashed a storm of flames into the stone man. The fire’s heat melted at the cracks, and soon the joints of the stone man. Even if he endured the fires themselves, he was being welded shut into a statue.

Struggling against it all, the stone man aimed his right hand into the lizard’s mouth.

He cracked.

His whole left arm collapsed under the pressure, and crumbled to pieces. The broodmother’s jaw closed on the stone man, and ceased casting the flames. The stone man was hers to destroy now.

Then, the stone man’s arm glowed. His runes hued a vibrant green, and then, blast!

Energy unleashed from the runes, and blasted through into the broodmother’s core. Her whole body burst into the air, and her remains turned to purple smoke.

“Stone man!” cried out the captain.

There were no more lizards out there, but the stone man was wounded. Most of his body was molten shut, and his arm crumbled. As the town guard approached, however, something strange happened.

The smoke from the broodmother flowed into the stone man’s runes. His body absorbed it all, and with more that he absorbed, the more did it become restored. The cracks on his body vanished, and his arm’s fallen pieces levitated back to their place, until not a dent was left. It was only the molten pieces that did not heal, but after forcing open new cracks, the stone man’s mobility was restored.

“By the Goddess…” said the captain.

The captain went to his knees. The guards beside him followed, and clasped their hands together in prayer. They had been sent an angel, it seemed.

“You saved us,” said the captain.

The stone man turned around and faced the guards with a stoic, unmoving expression. He was a man of stone, but his eyes of light shone with unmistakable life.

“Stone man,” said the captain. “Just who are you?”

After a moment of silence, the solemn construct gave his answer.

“I don’t know,” said the stone man.