Let there be Light

“HEEEEEELLLLLP!”

Arata’s clone raced through the forest with the Hammer close on his tail, chanting “Hunt” louder and louder, until he was right on top of the body of ink. The splat of liquid smashing into the ground replaced the plea for help quick enough. The Hammer lifted his weapon slowly and examined its now blackened side. “Awww… another fake…” he moaned. Like a child kicking rocks, he punted a boulder like a team of… rockets? The forest regained its silence again, but the brush not far away shook to life. The Hammer took notice and stood low. “Hmm?” The glint of metal caught his covered eyes, the smell of flesh and blood.

“God damn woods…” She muttered through a shaky voice. She walked past without a clue of the beast stalking her, and unfortunately, that Axe would not swing this day.

*-*-*

The sway of the forest could not penetrate the falling waters in this hideout, only the roar of the falls themselves and the crackle of the fire could be heard. Still, each snap had Arata darting a terrified glance at the watery entrance, imagining the horrible hammer making his way through.

“Fire’s going down.” Elara pointed out to him, and he quickly threw another log on top. “Might need a bit more kindling soon, ready for round two, Mayumi?”

She was not impressed and he could tell, dropping his joke when she glared through him. They had realised that this hideout of theirs had more than one entrance, and the other, led to the forested area a little further from the water.

Arata returned to his work as fashion designer, finishing a new shirt and pulling it from the air. “There… your new shirt is done, Mayumi.”

She snarled. “I’m not wearing that.” It had the words “I love dad” emblazoned on it in rainbow letters and a big drawing of Arata’s dumb smile next to it. Reluctantly he drew another one for her, more in her taste.

Elara had given herself the duty of watching the falls but she hadn’t fully kept focus on it for a while now. Another thumb search of her spear’s blade, another retightening of her leather armour until her fingers went numb, anything to keep her mind from Dolos and what Arata had told her. She hadn’t spoken a word since. “What does that make me?” The words replayed in her head like they were mocking her. “You’re lying!” She had screamed at Arata… but she knew he wouldn’t do such a thing, it wouldn’t make sense if he was. All she could see now, as her hands shook, was Dolos reaching for Elysian’s hand, and falling to the void, losing grip just seconds before the hero could come to the rescue.

Tears threatened her eyes, and she wiped them away before they could fall, before the others could see.

“How are they, Elara?” Arata asked while she was still miles away. “Hmm? What?” She stuttered.

“The clothes.”

“Oh. Yeah, good. Thanks.” She tried to force a smile but felt her lip quiver for just a moment. Arata hadn’t seemed to notice.

“Arata…” She mumbled. “I’m sorry… for shouting earlier. If I had kept my cool we wouldn’t be in this mess.” She felt defeated just saying the words. But he waved them away casually. “I mean, I appreciate it but, its not exactly your fault…”

“No.” She snapped. “The Hammer wouldn’t have found us if it wasn’t for me losing control. If you hadn’t used your clone we wouldn’t be alive right now. That was good thinking.” Her smile looked more genuine this time - warm, yet tinged with sadness.

Arata on the other hand grew a dumb toothy smile to match his inflated ego. “I’m a genius, ain’t I?”

“Don’t push your luck.” Mayumi sassed while still focussing on the entrance. Arata’s face grew red, and, uncharacteristically… Elara broke. First a light chuckle then becoming a loud giggle. It was enough to even make Mayumi’s smile rise.

“Then what does that make me?” It repeated again, shocking her back to a deflated darkness.

He could see the pain in her as she fiddled with her spear, her hands trembling against her will - and he knew the reasons why. “Elara…” He spoke, his voice wavering ever so slightly. “I…”

The roar of the waters. The crack of the embers… they lost their sound to the explosion beyond the blue.

The rockface shook, the stone that had been eroded over centuries began to crumble away like dust and rain down on Arata and Elara. Mayumi dropped to a knee, unable to keep her aim true.

The blast faded out to the robotic voice, no longer contained to a small radar. Safety be damned, they jumped through the waters and sure enough, the sky was bright with the image of a woman with blonde hair, and an axe near her. “That’s… Skotta, I think… from I was reborn as a toaster in another world, now girls want to bathe with me! … Who the hell names these things anyway?”

“Huntress Skotta, The Axe wielder, has been deleted.” sure enough, that red x covered her picture, another one gone. Arata’s hands lost all strength, dropping into the still waters below while Elara and Mayumi stood beneath the barrier Arata had drawn as he leapt down. “Think that was the Hammer?” Mayumi posed quietly. The thought crossed their minds, they had sent the monster on a hunt for a fake, the fact that fake had led him to the Axe was a possibility they did not want to ponder.

Back under the falls, under its cover knowing that at any point the Hammer could be in search of them next. They sat prostrate, rigid like the floor they sat upon. Sweat dripped from their brows, despite this alcove feeling the chill of the fresh water.

“That… that was…” Arata stumbled over his thoughts.

“We don’t have time for that.” Mayumi interrupted, now forsaking her role of rear guard. “That thing has been hunting us since yesterday, clearly it's doing a damn fine job tracking.”

“It’s likely it’ll be here next.” Elara added, her voice monotone and low. Arata’s head switched between the two devils at his shoulders, panicking each time he saw their calm. “We need to move. If we go to the heart we can find a hiding spot and when time runs out we can go through the portal!” He grabbed what was left of their belongings, sloppily drawing a large bag and dumping everything in without care. No one stood there with him, no one helped. They kept their position, still holding that daunting calm.

“Well? Come on, we have to leave before anyone gets here!”

“We aren’t going to hide Arata.” Elara explained. “It’d be what they will expect.”

He was at a loss for words, unable to move a finger, his mouth agape. Mayumi, who he had turned to, hoping for some sort of agreement of this “flee” plan and yet she was the same as Elara.

“You want to fight that?” He mumbled, fear quivering his lip.

“What other choice do we have? Like Elara said, he’s only gonna find us again and if we go hide somewhere we can’t defend we may as well just put a big sign up saying hey, we’d like to die!”

“And if we go find it, what then? We aren’t enough to overpower it.” his hands were now trembling uncontrollably, even as he tried to stop it, the fear overwhelmed his being.

Elara pondered for a while, running simulations of their options in her mind. Each one ended the same way, they could do damage… but ultimately, the trio would colour the ground red. “I… we could come at him from different angles. He can only crush one of us before he gets hit.” Even in her head it sounded stupid, for some reason each time she imagined that plan it was her being crushed, like it was something she felt was supposed to happen.

Mayumi recoiled, her face twisted with disgust. “A suicide run? Really? That’s all you’ve got?”

“How about you come up with something then, instead of just standing there criticising.” Elara snapped like a whip in the air.

The archer gave it thought. Much like Elara, nothing came to mind immediately. But, her mind clicked into action, the air around her dissipated and she looked almost confident. “We lose without the initiative. But we can’t sneak up on him. So.” She paused, looking at the other two like she was expecting them to catch on, and catch on Elara did. “We set a trap.”

“Bingo.” Mayumi playfully responded. “Set some fires once it gets dark, draw him in and hit him with everything we have.”

Arata did a double take, “You’re being serious… you want to bring that thing here?”

“Not here. The forest.” Elara replied.

*-*-*

Night fell while they tirelessly worked, and the darkness formed a veil atop the distant woods, a playground for the twisted. Now only an hour remained in this sadistic game - one more hour to survive. Arata watched it tick by like the sands of an hourglass falling, one by one until the emptiness signalled an end of the burial.

The pyre awaited him ahead. The torch in his hand, the microphone - calling out to those that wished them dead, a dinner bell for the demon’s favourite dog.

Against every bit of sense screaming run away, his grip slowly loosened on the ignitor, and as it fell, so too did his heart. The embers danced in the night sky… and the hunt began.

He exhaled every ounce of fear he could - the tip of the iceberg…

“Let there be light.”