The Last of Us

They all watched in horror as the definitely human-looking creature approached. He was as tall as the tunnel they had come in, his red skin glowing in the dim light. His tusks, curved and menacing, jutted from his mouth like sharpened horns. His enormous, muscular arms hung at his sides, and the light highlighted his bald, red head. His well-developed muscles were clearly visible behind the piece of material intended for clothing thrown over him. It was like a–.

"An oni." Haku blinked up at the large creature with sparkling eyes. 

"I thought you said all the oni were extinct and you were the last one." 

Haku's lips trembled as she stammered, "I-I thought so too." 

The giant oni leaned down curiously and examined the intruders. "A short oni? How did you survive the massacre? And why are you with such humans?" he sneered. 

"I... they're my friends." 

"Friends? The ones who slaughtered our people?" he looked at Zel with contempt, as if his very existence was infuriating. "And the other two, who can't even hurt a fly? You've gone soft. But that's okay, I'll help you wake up so you can find your way back to who you really are."

He slammed his fist against the ground, the impact a deafening BOOM that rattled their teeth and sent a shockwave of dust and debris flying. Their shoes slid back with a screeching sound. 

"Ren, watch out for Lily!" Haku yelled without even looking back. She leaned forward, placing her hand on the ground like a professional runner, then shot forward and attacked the giant oni. 

Zel hesitated in place, then looked at Ren meaningfully, "You have half of my power. We can help her together!" 

Ren looked worriedly at Haku, who was fighting nonstop, then at Lily, because he didn't want anything to happen to her. 

"Don't worry about me! I can see this much power even with my eyes closed. And I'm stronger than both of you!" 

Ren stepped closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "I know, and that's exactly why I'm afraid! Just don't do anything you don't have to!" 

The boys rushed toward the giant to help their friend.

"What's the plan?" Ren shouted.

"I don't have a plan!" Zel replied, his voice a shaky bridge over a chasm of fear.

Ren had zero experience with close combat, so he wasn't eager to get close to that monster. The many video games he had played with Toya came to mind. The cliché giant enemy boss was a favorite trope. And then he remembered. 

"What if we try to immobilize it?" 

"How?" 

"It stomps its feet a lot, as if it has to shift its weight constantly. I think if we can force it to its knees, its hands would be much more uncoordinated." 

Zel looked at Ren in surprise at his idea, as if a new person was standing in front of him. The Ren he knew didn't know anything about magic or this world, but the one who stood before him now was much more confident, experienced, and wise. A flicker of surprise flashed across Zel's face, quickly followed by a spark of admiration, then a hardening of his jaw that spoke of a more profound anger. Ren couldn't make sense of this spectrum of emotions, but he couldn't say anything because Zel veered off and headed toward the oni's leg. The magic shot from Ren's finger did not bother the red creature at all. It was like a hair that constantly tickles, but you can't get it off. Haku slammed into the ground. Her body had made a hole in the ground. The oni was ready to crush her bones with his fist, but his hand stopped right in front of the girl. The oni angrily took his eyes off the red-haired girl and looked at Lily, who had immobilized him. 

Haku, without blinking, ran up its arm, swinging her glowing red sword in her right hand, the blade leaving a fiery trail in the dim light. The oni broke free from Lily's grip and went after Haku as if she were a bug, but it was too late. She plunged her weapon into his shoulder—a painful scream. Haku jumped down, and Zel's tireless sword strikes had borne fruit. He had cut the same spot multiple times until the oni's ankle could no longer hold, and he fell to one knee, the thud of his immense body shaking the very earth beneath them. Zel stabbed his sword through the oni's leg, causing him to shriek in pain again. With his working left hand, he swiped at Zel, who stood his ground, unafraid of being hit.

Haku blocked the attack with her sword, challenging the oni's strength with her own. She shouted in a confident voice, "We're not the same. And my friends don't make me soft; they help me become a better person."

"You're very naive, Hakuka."

Haku's eyes widened as he stepped closer, his disbelief evident. "How do you know my name?"

The oni fell silent, his lips pressed together as if he already regretted what he had said. The silence that followed was a living thing, heavy and tense. Something ignited in his red eyes, and he turned his head away.

"How do you know my name?" Haku repeated the question, but the oni was still, like a statue. If he hadn't moved, maybe they wouldn't have noticed him.

Zel, agitated, stepped beside Haku and reached into his back pocket. He triumphantly pulled out the diary and waved it in front of the oni's nose. For a fraction of a second, its face changed. Ren couldn't pinpoint exactly what he saw on it, but it was clear that the diary was not unfamiliar to him.

"Where did you find that?"

The oni snatched at the diary with his working arm, but Zel jumped back before he could reach it. It was clear that he could have done more, like jumping after the boy with his good leg, but he didn't. It almost seemed like he didn't really want to harm them at all, as if he was toying with them.

Haku flipped through the notebook, searching for something.

"Gōwan, is that you?"

The oni's muscles tensed. He let out a resigned sigh, shaking the boys' balance.

"You were friends with the Mage, weren't you?" Lily hobbled closer, her eyes fixed on Gōwan. "Tell us what you know."

Gōwan sat down cross-legged, sending a slight tremor through the stone beneath them. It promised to be a long story.

"I've known the Mage for a long time. He must have been about your age when we met. He was young, talented, and full of ideas. He attracted people to him."

"I don't want to go back to the day of the shattering!" Haku stamped his foot, agitated. "Where and why does he know about the human world? How does he know Ren?"

The great oni seemed to be weighing what he could and couldn't share.

"I haven't seen the Mage in a long time. But not long ago, he visited me. He said he had found something, another world directly beneath ours. And he thought something strange was there. The Shattering caused a rupture, allowing the phantoms to enter our world from there. He wanted to close it, once and for all."

The information left a bad taste in their mouths, but also gave them a new goal. They have to close the rupture, the gate.

Gōwan let his thick eyebrows fall from his forehead. "He went to the other world. But I can't say more," he said, his voice a low rumble, and his face a mask of resignation. "Kill me if you want, but I won't say another word."

Zel pulled his weapon out of the oni's leg, the sword dragging with a sickening pull as he put it on his shoulder and turned his back. "We're not going to kill you," he stated, and headed toward the barricaded exit.

"You don't get to decide that! Don't act like a hero!" Haku shouted after him.

"But I am one!"

Ren cast one last glance at the oni, Gōwan. The oni's face had smoothed out as if he had found peace, almost looking happy. Ren turned his back, but for a moment, it seemed like a faint shimmer of light moved in his field of vision. He snapped his head back, but saw nothing.

"Ren, are you coming?"

Ren shook his head to ward off the thoughts rushing through his mind, and then he shattered the rock to leave with the others.

The four figures pushed deeper into the darkness, each step taking them farther away from the light. When the sound of their footsteps was finally gone, nothing was left but the absolute stillness of the underground. 

Gōwan let out a small laugh, the sound surprisingly light in the heavy air. "Well, what do you think about them?" he asked, his voice a low, interested rumble.

The reply came from everywhere and nowhere at once, a voice that seemed to echo from inside the very stone. "They're interesting."