A Stand Against the Monsters

A blast of green energy soared through the air from high up on one of the fort’s walls. It crashed into the side of Hydas’s head, knocking him forward a bit.

“What in the…” Hydas muttered, turning to face the source of his annoyance. There on the wall stood two teens, a boy and a girl, he with an old looking sword, her with glowing green hands.“Hey guys! Can anyone join the party, or do you have to be a disgusting freak?” Jake called out.“I’ll go up and gut them, Hydas!” a skeletal Twisted said. Hydas, however, simply grinned, walking over to the wall.“And who might you be?” Hydas asked.“Well, I’m your new neighbor, and I’ve gotta tell you, you’re being a bit loud!” Jake taunted them. “If you don’t keep it down, I might have to get a bit nasty!”“Nasty? And how do you propose said nastiness?” Hydas sneered. Another green blast shot down, blowing the skeleton Twisted’s head off.“Now I’m going to kill them slowly!” the skeleton screamed as he picked up his head.“Now now, no need to get nasty with our new neighbors,” Hydas said with a bit of a laugh. “After all, they don’t have anywhere to run to, do they?”They Twisted lined up near the wall, staring up at Jake and Elysia as they made spectacles of themselves. “It should be my job,” Alex muttered as he wandered through the shadows, the cloak around him seeming to muffle his footsteps as he made his way to the first lock. He brought out a dagger, which he inserted into the lock.“Who are you? What…” one of the trapped villagers said. Alex quickly slapped a hand over his mouth.“I’m saving your ass, is what I am,” Alex said. The dagger clicked into place in the lock, and the chains slipped free. “Trick dagger which breaks any lock, cloak which makes you quiet as a mouse. I like it! Magic items kick ass! Now, if you’ll follow my friendly little woodland companion, he will lead you to the nearest exit.”The whiptail escaped from inside Alex’s cloak, chittering and leading the released villagers into a large crack in the fort’s walls.“Give me a little more time, guys, and we can get you out of there,” Alex whispered, moving on to the next group of villagers.Meanwhile, Jake continued his performance, mocking and berating the Twisted. “Seriously, you think you scare me? Look at tubby over there!” He pointed to an obese Twisted with a gaping mouth in his stomach. “Or this guy! He’s so ugly his face melted!” He gestured to a Twisted with a gaping hole in his face, leaking black goo, who promptly reared back and shot forth a torrent of the goo at Jake. Elysia quickly put up a green shield around them to block it.“I think you hurt his feelings,” Elysia said.“Enough of this nonsense,” Hydas said. “It was fun for a moment, but I will tear you to shreds now. I hope you do not mind.”“Uh oh. Crowds getting restless…” Jake said.Alex, hearing this, worked faster on the last lock. “Come on, come on…”“You’re with Elysia?” Kraelin asked as he watched Alex. “She did it, didn’t she? Made it to the other world.”“She sure did. Though her aim was pretty sucky. Next time she needs heroes, I’d suggest she aims for a military base. There! Got it!”The remaining villagers freed themselves from the chains. The little girl Hydas had threatened hugged Alex tightly.“Thank you!” she squeaked.“Um…sure, no…no problem. Now follow my rat and maybe we can…”The little girl looked up. Her eyes went wide with fright.“I know those eyes. I’ve made those eyes before…” Alex said slowly, his voice drying up, turning to see Hydas standing over him.“What exactly do you think you’re doing with MY MEAT?!” Hydas roared.“Run!” Alex yelled to the remaining villagers. He narrowly missed death as Kraelin leapt at Hydas’s snake arm, delivering a high kick to it.Jake and Elysia fought off Twisted as they tried to climb the fort’s walls, he slashing at fingers, Elysia shooting blasts of energy.“This has suddenly turned into a terrible idea!” Jake yelled.“We can’t keep this up for long!” Elysia screamed.“Tell me about it!” Jake yelled as he slashed at more giant hands. “I thought this sword was supposed to have a special power!”“It activates in the presence of true heroism!”“Great! WHICH MEANS WHAT?!”“I DON’T KNOW!”“PERFECT!” Jake stabbed into reaching monster flesh in frustration.Alex ducked and dodged Hydas’s hands, Kraelin blocking blows with mighty punches and kicks. As he ran Alex held the little girl close to his chest, making sure to get her to safety. The hole in the wall was right there…“We’re not going to make it…I’m not fast enough…” Alex knew it for certain. Kraelin was only delaying Hydas. He would be caught before the hole. But…Kraelin could make it. He was stronger, faster. Alex could make sure only he was caught.“Kraelin! Hole! Now!” Alex yelled. The warrior boy looked at him. Alex held the girl up. His look said everything. Kraelin took the girl in his arms, and with a burst of speed, made it into the hole in time to see the mouth of one of Hydas’s snake arms close on Alex.Alex’s scream echoed through the night. The other Twisted stopped their assault on the wall. Kraelin looked on in horror, as did Elysia. But Jake…Jake couldn’t feel anything. For a moment, his brain stopped.“Alex?” Jake whispered.The mouth of the snake hand clamped down a bit tighter. Blood started running down Alex’s side.“Now, meat. Do you surrender? Or do I chew on your friend?” Hydas gloated.Alex looked to Jake. He reached with his arm.“R…run, stupid!” Alex screamed.The sword fell from Jake’s limp hand.“Don’t…please, don’t. I said I’d protect him. He’s my friend. I give up. Please don’t hurt him.”“A true act of loyalty. Touching.” Hydas threw Alex into the air. He couldn’t even scream as he plummeted back down, only to be caught in the vicious jaws of Hydas’s snake hand. Thick fangs pierced Alex’s body. Blood shot from him mouth. “But ultimately…pointless.”Alex’s body fell limply to the ground. There was silence for a moment. Nobody had time to process what had happened. Nor could they process how quickly the boy leapt from the top of the wall, sword raised, eyes locked onto Hydas.“GET AWAY FROM HIM!” Jake screamed. He turned the sword down as his arc descended, and the blade plunged through Hydas’s skull as Jake’s momentum drove him down into the ground. In a flash he was up, standing above Alex’s body, facing the other Twisted.Within seconds they were on him. It would be a lie to say it was a good fight. He got a few good slashes in, but the Twisted were too numerous and powerful. In mere moments Jake’s beaten body was dropped unceremoniously next to Alex’s.“Hells! Hydas is dead! The meat is gone, and I don’t think any of us want to walk to that damn village again! Grab the loot you can carry and lets move! This has been a complete waste!” the skeleton Twisted shouted.“What about her?” the obese Twisted with the mouth in its stomach grunted, pointing at Elysia. She sat on her knees on the wall, staring ahead, stunned, her face ashen.“Pointless to try and kill her. She’s useless, and as good as dead inside anyways. Come on!”The Twisted marched out of the fort, some with arms loaded with treasures from Lugara, and disappeared into the darkness toward their boat. The silence was only broken by Jake weakly lifting his head.“Alex…”“Alive…they’re alive!” Kraelin ran to Alex and Jake, the little whiptail joining him. It nestled into Alex’s side, nudging him with its head to wake up. “Elysia! Come down here! Quickly!”“My fault…all my fault…” Elysia whimpered. “It happened again…”“Elysia! Now!” Kraelin’s words shook her out of her daze. She ran down the stairs of the fort and towards the broken bodies of the two boys.“Jake…I don’t think…I’d recommend this place…for a vacation…” Alex weakly choked out.“Dumbass…” Jake said, his arm reaching out to his friend. They grabbed hands tightly.“Did they all make it?” Alex asked.“Yeah. I think they did. You did good, bro,” Jake said.“I’m…I’m scared Jake. I don’t want to die. But you want to know the real screwed up thing? I’d do it all again…”“Yeah. Me…me to…”And then the miracle happened. The sword and the cloak, the artifacts of the legendary heroes Malitan and Astaven, exploded in energy. Arcs of light crackled around the boys, enveloping them. They screamed, not from pain, but from the pure power filling them.“When held in the hands of true heroes…” Elysia said.“What? What is this?! Elysia, what’s happening?!” Kraelin demanded.“The dimensional tuner was right. It worked. It found heroes. They simply weren’t ready yet.”“But what is happening to them?!”“I don’t know…”The white hot power burned through them, their bodies rebuilding themselves into something stronger. Though into what, they had no idea.