I Release The Monster Within

The wind howled in my ears as we fell. I slammed down hard onto an ice patch floating in the air, punching my lungs out of my chest. A slick, glittering ice slide had burst into existence beneath us, curving around the fortress' towering walls. Bjorn lay sprawled beside me, arms outstretched, his face twisted in concentration as he wrestled the arcane into shape, the slide bending and wobbling ahead of us with every twitch of his fingers.

All manner of deformed beasts hurled themselves out of the windows above, trying to land on our escape route. They slammed down all around us, bursting on impact and splattering us with black goo.

“Hang on!”

I grabbed Bjorn’s arm as he suddenly sped forward, my arm yanked so hard I spun round and found myself watching our backs.

“Go faster!”

The demons that jumped out of the fortress figured out that they could follow us through the slide, and they were dying to eat our brains. They crawled and launched themselves forward with their additional legs and arms, moving so fast they caught up to us faster than Bjorn could get us back into the castle. I threw spear after spear, sometimes hitting two or three of them at once, but the swarm kept growing. This isn't working…

I looked at Bjorn as we circled around the fortress again, the man fighting to dodge all the flying beasts. A crazy idea popped in my mind, my lips stretching in a smirk. Yeah, this might just do it…

“Hey!” I pulled his arm, the slide swinging left and right as I did, “Come pick me up!”

“What?!”

I yanked hard on his arm, the ice sending us much closer to the obsidian structure in a near ninety degree angle turn. I let go of Bjorn and took off, the ridge not high enough to stop me from going overboard.

My spear grew larger and wider in my hands as I cruised in the air.

“Hope you enjoyed the ride!”

I launched my missile, the spear whistling through the air and smashing through the ice slide, a huge gap appearing right before the beasts. They all went hurling down towards the grounds hundreds of meters below. Yes!!

Gravity caught up to me, my hair flying back upwards as my body sank in the air.

“Whooo!!”

Bjorn came flying on his ice as I reached out to him, grabbing my hand and pulling me back on the slide as he spun around.

“That was insane!” He laughed at me.

I smiled at him, about to answer when a shadow appeared ahead, falling straight down at us.

“Watch out!”

I'd barely had time to warn my friend when the beast smashed onto the ice right beside us, so close its claws raked my sleeve. Bjorn lost his hold on the arcane completely, and halfway through a turn, the slide dissolved into glittering mist beneath us. I was sent flying, my arms flailing. Ah shiiiiiiiiiii-

CRASHH!

I burst through a massive stained-glass window in an explosion of colour, tumbling across the floor until I finally scraped to a stop. Huge shards jutted out of my palms and thighs. I groaned, gritting my teeth as I pulled a jagged piece of glass out of my hand, and struggled back onto my feet. Blood dripped from my fingertips, pattering onto the stone.

"Bjorn?"

The wind whistled through the broken window behind me. Damn it, we are completely separated from the others…

The vast, abandoned room I'd landed in was barely lit, thin rays of sunlight straining through the dark clouds and the shattered glass. Shadows swallowed every corner the light couldn't reach. I narrowed my eyes and fished one of the sigil pills out of my little pouch, swallowing it whole.

Energy surged through my body. My senses sharpened until I could hear a bead of sweat roll off my eyebrow and splash onto the floor. Beyond the walls, stone thundered and collapsed, closer now than before. What is going on out there? I prayed none of my friends had been caught, or worse.

My stomach twisted as the pill forced my body to work overtime, knitting my wounds shut. The cuts in my palms itched, then burned, then sealed. I doubled over, bracing my hands on my knees. It really does have a kick!... Damn, ughhhh.

Roars echoed ahead of me. I let out a long breath as the pain ebbed away. It seems I have bigger issues now.

Beasts and monsters poured out of the darkness, piling up at the far end of the room. Snouts, claws, far too many eyes. I cracked my neck and gave my sword a lazy swing, rolling my wrist to loosen it up. Let's go!

I lunged into the crowd. The first beast barely had time to open its mouth before my blade split its jaw in two. I wrenched the steel free with a wet tear and pivoted into the next, driving my sword deep into its collarbone, the impact jarring my forearm all the way to the elbow. My mind raced ahead of my body, catching every twitch, every shift around me. I ducked under a swinging claw and dropped into a slide, my blade carving through legs one after another, tendons snapping like bowstrings. A fist the size of a boulder hurtled towards my head. I stepped aside and let it sail past, straight into another monster's face with a sickening crunch.

Pathetic!

I smirked.

Black blood sprayed across my cheeks, warm and bitter on my lips. My grip grew slick, the leather wrapping on my hilt soaked through with sweat, and I had to squeeze until my knuckles ached just to keep hold of it. My blade revelled in every drop spilled. My heart pounded in my ears, and I'd never felt so alive.

Allow us.

Have at it.

Shadows crept over my hand, coiling around my fingers. Something dark flowed into my veins, black lines spreading up my wrist like ink seeping into paper. A rush of power crashed over me, so strong I was shaking head to toe, my sword humming in my grip. Frost raced across the floor at my feet, faster and thicker than ever before.

“Come at me!”

A whole pack of monsters charged at me. I slashed through the air, and my blade stretched far beyond its length, a black crescent ripping through floor, flesh and ceiling alike. For a heartbeat, the monsters stood perfectly still. Then they slid apart in halves, collapsing in steaming heaps. My smile widened. I love it!

I cut down every last one of them, until the room fell silent but for my ragged breathing. I need to find my way back.

I roamed around the room, and pushed on into the first corridor I could find. It stretched on far longer than I thought it would, its floor and walls carved from the same glassy obsidian as the rest of the fortress. Braziers hung off the walls at regular intervals, their purple flames crackling without a hint of warmth, painting the black stone in sickly violet. To my left, tall archways lined the wall one after another, each filled with a flawless stained-glass mural. Kings, battles, and beasts I didn't recognise glowed in the dim daylight, every shard fitted so perfectly it looked like a single sheet of coloured glass. At least someone around here had taste… before they were all slaughtered.

The moment I ran past the first doorway, long, coiling limbs burst out of the adjacent rooms, twisting around one another as they lashed out to snatch me or crush me flat. I leapt between them, twisting mid-air and threw myself onto my back before I slid beneath a tangle of flailing flesh, the stone scraping through my heavily damaged leather armour.

At the far end of the corridor, towering black skeletons knocked arrows as long as my leg. Their bows creaked under the strain, the strings groaning as they drew back. They loosed, knocked again, and fired once more, over and over. I batted some aside with the flat of my blade, each impact ringing up through my bones, and twisted away from others, feeling them hiss past my ear. Somehow, I made it across the corridor without getting pulped by the oversized limbs.

Now only threatened by the monsters ahead of me, I allowed myself to take a breather, resting my back against the wall, looking up to the ceiling, breathing slowly.

What a day.

I turned my head towards my enemies drawing their bows. My sword hummed in my hands.

“Yes, yes, I'm getting to it. Damn,” I whispered to the blade.

I lazily raised my arm, deflecting the incoming arrow into the ceiling, sighing before I straightened up. Let's get to it then!

I walked towards the skeletons, dragging my hand against the wall, their friends’ black blood trailing behind me. I smiled as some drew the swords at their hips while others backed away, still firing at me. This is getting fun!

I slashed at the nearest one, and it blocked me cleanly, steel grinding against steel. A simple feint won't be enough for those.

I snatched an arrow out of the air an inch from my face and threw it back at them, hitting one of the skeleton square in the chest. I kept advancing on my target. The skeleton rained slashes and cuts on me, and I dodged them by a hair, weaving and ducking with my hands clasped behind my back, my sword pointed down behind me.

“Is that the best you can do?!” I grinned from ear to ear.

The second skeleton launched itself at me. I called my spear out of the shadows, impaled the falling skeleton on it and flung the whole thing at the archer, bones clattering as they collided. In the same motion, I snatched an arrow out of the air and spun back towards the first skeleton, smashing the arrowhead through its skull.

The skeletons stayed on the ground.

The walls rippled like water. Two armoured knights stepped out of the stone, towering above me, and drew their swords without a moment's hesitation.

Their blades came faster than the ice knights I had fought before, but I met them strike for strike. Sparks burst with every clash, the shriek of metal ringing in my skull. Each blow I blocked jarred my arms to the shoulder, my palms stinging, my blood-slick grip sliding a little further down the hilt every time.

I slipped between their swings, carving shallow gashes across their armour, looking for a gap. A blade grazed my ribs. Another nicked my ear. I barely even felt it through the haze of the adrenaline.

I kicked off the wall and swung my leg around, my boot catching the first knight's sword right at the hilt. The weapon spun out of its grip, flipping end over end through the air. Before it could react, I sliced through the back of its thigh, and it crashed down onto its knees. I caught the falling sword with my free hand and drove it down between the disarmed knight's shoulders, then flicked my own blade backhanded without even looking. The second knight's throat split open with a hollow crack.

Both of them toppled to the floor.

I stood there in the silence, chest heaving, sweat and black blood dripping off my chin. A giggle bubbled out of me, high and breathless, bouncing down the empty corridor.

“Hahaha!” I burst out laughing, “This is so much fun!!”

The ceiling caved in a few metres ahead of me, crushing a multi-headed serpent of some kind beneath a mountain of rubble. Dust billowed through the corridor. When it settled, a grey-haired man was standing on top of the dead beast, brushing himself off and sighing heavily.

Who is that?

I raised my sword, aiming it at the stranger before he could make a move.

"Who's there?!"

The figure froze and glanced back over his shoulder.

My sword slipped from my fingers and clattered onto the stone. My eyes went wide.

W-what, h-how?! HOW?!

Atos stared back at me, his mouth hanging open. I recognised the look on his face, the same one he pulled every time he knew he was in trouble.

“How the hell are you alive?”

"What are you doing here?"