Overwhelmed

Kieran gritted his teeth and pulled back with all of his strength, but the hand refused to budge. The creature inside the spawner gave a low growl as its arm pushed further through the opening. Then it stepped out.

The first thing Kieran noticed was its size. It was larger than any goblin or hobgoblin he had ever seen . Its body was covered in rough dark skin, its shoulders broad enough to fill the opening it had emerged from. A pair of thick horns curved from its head, framing a face that looked almost human beneath its monstrous features. An orc.

Kieran’s eyes widened. The orc gave another growl and pushed back on the spear with its full might, thrusting him back onto his heels. He dropped to his knee as pain rippled through his body.

“Kieran!” Seraphina’s voice cut through the ringing in his ears.

He tried to move but even his arms shook beneath him as he tried to steady himself.

Then the spawner burst apart. A violent explosion tore through the cavern. Black stone and twisted flesh were thrown in every direction as the remains of the spawner collapsed in on itself. The shockwave sent the others stumbling backward, while Kieran raised an arm over his head to shield himself from the flying debris.

For several seconds, there was nothing but dust swirling in the candlelit air. Then something moved within the cloud. A goblin stepped out. Then another. Then dozens.

They poured from the shattered remains of the spawner, scrambling over the broken stone and one another. Goblins flooded into the cavern, followed by larger creatures that towered over them. Ogres. Several of them.

More and more emerged from the remains of the spawner. Kieran slowly rose to his feet. There were too many. Far too many. And they weren’t stooping.

The monsters streamed past them toward the entrance of the cavern. Goblins ran alongside the ogres, all of them moving in the same direction. Down the mountain and towards the town.

Kiearn stared after them. Then he noticed something moving among the crowd. At first he thought it was simply another orc. But this one was different. Tall and lean. Its body was built more like a person than a beast, and its horns were far more prominent. He could only catch a glimpse of it as the army moved around it.

He didn’t know what it was. But something made the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

“Kieran,” Seraphina called out once more. But he didn’t answer.

The creature he had been watching suddenly stopped as the others continued moving around it. Slowly, it turned its head. Kieran felt his blood run cold as it looked into his eyes.

The creature’s face was almost human, excluding the long protruding nose of its. Its skin was a deep red, its hair long and almost white enough to be mistaken for moonlight. Two sharp horns rose from its forehead. Its eyes were strangely calm beneath such furrowed brows.

There was no animalistic rage nor mindless hunger emanating from it. Unlike any other monster he had ever faced before, it simply looked at Kieran. Then its gaze dropped to the spear in his hand.

Kieran tightened his grip. The creature turned and stepped toward him and the others. But he moved first. He couldn’t allow it to reach the others. He rushed forward and thrust his spear toward its chest.

In a flash, the creature’s hand moved. So fast that Kieran didn’t even see it happen. Its fingers closed around the bladed tip of his spear. In an instant, he had been halted again.

Kieran’s eyes widened. He pulled back, but there was absolutely no give this time. Like the blade had been locked in stone beneath a mountain, it wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he tugged on it.

The creature looked down at the spear, almost curiously. Then it looked back at him. Kiearn felt his stomach drop. This was no ogre or even an orc. Not even close.

With curling fingers, the creature tightened its grip and the metal of Kieran’s spear bent like it was made of paper crumpling in its hand. With almost no effort at all, the creature pulled.

Kieran found himself airborne before he could realize what was happening. And in that same instant, his body struck the far wall with a deafening crack. He collapsed onto the ground. For a moment he couldn’t hear anything. He could barely breathe.

The creature released the bent spear with a clatter on the ground before continuing toward the entrance.

Turning his head to the side, Kieran stared after it with trembling hands. He knew what he had just seen. A monster capable of overpowering him without even trying. A monster with enough intelligence to command an army. A Tengu. A monster of legend.

Kieran’s blood ran cold. He had heard stories told only in hushed whispers as if just speaking the name aloud would cause it to appear. Tengu weren’t monsters you could just hunt. They were monsters that entire parties were warned to flee from. Near the very peak of what a monster could become.

And there was an army with this one walking toward his town.

He closed his eyes tightly. He knew he couldn’t do this, not this time. The weight of everything settled over his beaten body at once.

He had been too slow. Too weak. Far too stupid to understand what was happening in time. And now, because of that failure, an army was marching toward the people he had sworn to protect when he was a small child.

“Master!” Akane’s voice reached him first. But he didn’t respond.

Luna rushed to his side, shaking his shoulder as she watched the cave’s entrance, “Big Bro! Monsters are going toward town!”

“I know,” his voice was barely more than a silent whisper as tears welled up in his eyes.

Seraphina joined Luna’s side, checking Kieran for wounds.

“I should have known,” he muttered as they turned him over on his back.

“Kieran-”

“I should have come sooner.” His fingers culled against the stones beneath him while tears streamed down his dirty cheeks. “If I was stronger, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Kieran!”

“If I was smarter, I would have figured it out sooner. If I had just-”

A sharp smack struck his cheek. He froze other than a hand that slowly rose to the spot.

Seraphina stood in front of him, her hand still raised and palm pulsing read from the impact. Her expression wasn’t the same as it always was. There was no playful smile. No warmth meant to make him feel better. She simply stared at him with her burning amethyst eyes.

“That,” she started with a trembling voice, “isn’t the Kieran I know.” She lowered her hand. “The Kieran I know wouldn’t sit here blaming himself while an army of monsters marched toward his home.” Her voice was firm but calmly quiet. “He’d already be thinking of a way to stop them.”

Kieran scoffed and turned his head away from them, “But I don’t know what to do.”

For a moment, Seraphina said nothing. Then she grabbed his cheeks and forced him to look at her. “Then figure it out!”

He looked up at her. Though her eyes were fierce, her cheeks began to rise from a smile forming on her lips. It wasn’t a particularly large smile, but at that moment, it didn’t have to be. “I’ve always known, if anyone can do it, it would be you, Kieran.”

Kieran could only stare. Behind Seraphina stood Luna, watching him with her ears lowered in concern. Akane stood beside her, one hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Even Celestia, who had been staring at the destroyed spawner with wide eyes, had turned her attention toward him.

None of them had run. None of them were looking at him like he had failed them. They were waiting. For him to tell them what to do next.

Kieran’s chest tightened again. But this time, it wasn’t from fear. He remembered the first time he had stood beside a party. The first time he had been called a Lancer. The first time someone had trusted to watch their back.

And then he remembered everything that had happened since. Being cast aside. Coming home. Reuniting with Seraphina. Following Luna through the streets in hot pursuit. Akane bowing her head and calling him master.

He had spent so long believing that he had lost everything when he was thrown out of the Hero’s Party. That all of his life had meant nothing and all he held was meaningless ideals. But standing there now, surrounded by the people who had chosen to stand beside him, Kieran felt something click inside him.

He slowly pushed himself to his feet. His legs still shook, but he forced them to steady. Glancing towards the cave entrance he saw the last of the monsters disappear into the mountain path. They were heading toward town, his home.

He reached down and picked up his spear, the bent metal reflecting a smile on his lips. He looked at it for a moment before gripping the shaft tightly. It wasn’t broken, and neither was he.

“We will defend the town,” he announced, turning back towards the others.

Akane’s eyes sharpened. Luna’s ears perked up as her tail wagged behind her. Seraphina nodded with her soft smile.

Kieran took a deep breath before continuing. “No matter how many of them there are,” he turned toward the entrance and took a step forward, “We stop them before they reach home.”