by Samuel Small
“Our bullets don’t work too well on them, but your sword will. Don’t worry about the small fry, we’ll take care of them.” Bolt reloaded his pistol and nodded. “Everyone, cover Jake!”
Jake heard muffled pops as the smaller monsters exploded and dropped. He had to trust that their aim was accurate enough not to hit him, and from what he’d seen it was. Running forward, Jake brandished his sword behind him and wound up. He darted from side to side, avoiding the tiny creatures as he closed in on the brutal monsters before him. In one big slash Jake cut one down then turned toward the others.
There were three more of them, and all had their attention focused squarely on Jake. They stomped toward him with an uneven gait, leaving sticky black ooze on the grass as they went. They were unarmed, but sported claw-like fingers and thick muscular arms. One at the front of the pack reached for Jake. He cut the creature’s limb off then stabbed down until the crossguard stopped his blade from penetrating deeper. The foul-smelling muck and viscous discharge dripped onto his hands, making him feel unclean.
The beast didn’t move and instead raised its remaining arm. Jake struggled to free his blade, which had been lodged tight within the creature. He kicked into the beast’s belly and managed to pull it out, a black liquid spraying from the wound and staining the grass. Jake jumped back just in time to avoid the downward slash of the creature’s arm, which thudded into the ground and caused a plume of detritus to explode upward.
The three creatures looked like silhouettes in the haze created by the dust. Jake coughed, then prepared for another attack. As expected, the one-armed creature jumped toward him, winding back for a strike. Jake rolled out of the way, came up, and chopped off the creature’s head. The body crashed to the floor and began to dissipate into black mist that wafted upward in the breeze. Jake jerked his head toward the remaining monsters.
Two of them stood side by side, walking toward him with a purposeful step that Jake could have sworn exuded confidence. He raised his sword before him and bent his knees. These creatures were mindless and used simple attacks, so they never took proper advantage of their numbers. Given that, whenever he had to fight more than one at a time Jake tried to take a defensive approach.
Then Jake’s eyes widened. One of the creatures branched out to his left, the other to his right. Jake stepped toward his left and tried to keep the enemies to one side of him, but they quickened their pace and were quickly on either side, closing in fast. With few options left, Jake cut into the one on his left, then turned around and thrust his blade into the other. As he pulled his sword out of his foe, Jake felt wet fingers reach for the back of his neck. Before he could turn around and confront it, the creature hoisted him by his collar and threw him backward with force.
He slammed onto the hard ground on his rear and tumbled over onto his belly. He came to his knees and tried to stand but the creature had already made its way toward him and now stood over him. Its shadow blocked out the sun and Jake couldn’t make out what its next move would be.
Blackness squirted out of the creature’s head and it took a few faltering steps backward. Jake seized the opportunity to jump to his feet and lunge at it. He cut it in half and wasted no time going after its comrade, who stood just behind the now dissipating body. Jake cut the creature’s head off then hunched over and began wheezing in tight breaths. That was close, he thought.
Behind him, the grass crunched. When he turned he saw the Lightning Gang, Bolt at the front of the pack shooting Jake a thumbs up and Thun at his side glaring at him with his arms folded. The rest of the members nodded at Jake with a ‘not bad’ sort of approval. Jake smiled, then hobbled toward them.
***
“You shoulda seen ’im. It washa mazing!” Bolt said. He continued stuffing his face and pointed at Jake. “He was like Bam! Bam!” He punched at the air and shouted, bringing the curious eyes of the children who sat about the cafeteria. “He plowed through two of ’em in an instant!”
“Ooooooooh,” Carol said, staring at Jake from across the table. “I didn’t think you looked like much, but you really are amazing!” Jake sunk into his chair and smiled at this, but quickly returned back to a normal sitting position when Thun slammed his tray onto the table.
“Hardly amazing. He got overrun by two of them back there. Bolt had to save his ass,” he said as he sat down.
Carol then turned her perhaps too energetic head to Bolt, who folded his arms and nodded. “I may have helped him out a bit, but I wouldn’t use the term ‘saved his ass.’ I stunned the monster with one tiny little bullet, then Jake went into beast-mode and took the rest of them out.”
Thun scoffed and focused his attention on Jake. “You’re not bad, it’s just the way you fight that could do with some… finesse. You charge in and attack the enemy as if you expect them to go down with one blow. When that fails, you lose all your mojo. I don’t know what kind of battles you’ve experienced before, but you’re not going to be handling frail opponents round here.” The boy couldn’t be much older than Jake, but his paternal attitude and critical eye made Jake feel like a child. He nodded and almost uttered “yes sir” but caught himself.
Bolt shot his hands into the air. “Why do you gotta be such a downer, Thun? It was his first mission and he did great! I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“The big deal is that he may be a liability if we ever come across more intelligent opponents. Running about swinging your sword like an idiot may be all well and good against those morons, but what if we come across something that can think?”
“More intelligent?” Carol muttered and Thun winced. He must’ve forgotten she was there, but Jake knew what he meant by ‘more intelligent.’ Human opponents, but Jake got the sense they didn’t want Carol to know about that. Jake waved his hands in front of his face.
“You’re right, you’re right. The things I fought in the past were very… weak, so I’m not used to these big monsters, not completely anyway. I’ll have to focus more on light combinations.” Thun nodded, which Jake couldn’t tell meant ‘thank you’ or ‘good that you know your place,’ then Carol beamed and leaned in toward Jake.
“Woooooow. It sure does seem you know a lot about sword fighting, huh?” Jake glanced at Thun and Bolt. Neither looked at him and pretended to be more interested in their food, but he could tell that Thun at least listened intently to what Jake was going to say. Well, the joke was on him, because in this regard Jake didn’t need to lie.
“Oh, not really,” he said, “I’ve just read a lot of books on the subject y’know? I don’t really get the opportunity to put the theories into practice though.” Thun smirked a bit, then Carol sat back.
“So you’re like an ultra-powerful nerd!” Jake recoiled and jerked his head toward a pained noise coming from Thun. The boy’s head was down and he covered his mouth. For a moment Jake thought something was seriously wrong with him. Then he released his hand from his mouth, held his head back, and bellowed laughter.
“Ultra-powerful nerd!” he wheezed. “Mega Nerd, Fearsome Guardian of the Lost Library!”
Carol and Bolt both tried to stifle their laughter, but soon gave way and hunched over, cackling. Jake pouted, as it was disappointing that they didn’t find him useful. Then an image flashed through his mind. One of a boy with orange hair, looking on in frustration as his comrades laughed. He had tried to reassure the silver-haired girl by acting way too macho and got a rise out of her. Her image was clear as day, laughing, silver hair glistening in the light of the fire. Then a pink light raced from out of the darkness of the forest and painted the team in an otherworldly glow. The girl’s neck snapped, and her eyes were robbed of light. A single tear ran down her cheek, the last remnant of emotion she would ever feel.
“Jake? Hello?” Fingers snapped in front of his face, waking the boy from his terrifying reverie. He looked about, now aware that he was not in the forest but rather a cafeteria. Carol leaned over the table, looking at him with concern. Bolt and Thun had stern e
xpressions, but Jake got a sense of understanding from their gazes as well. He shook his head, trying to get the lingering image of Sara’s blank face out of his mind.
“You kinda spaced out for a bit there, yeah?” Bolt said. He smiled, obviously trying to ease the tension. Jake smiled right back, trying to emulate the wide yet dishonest grin he felt Bolt always wore.
“Yeah, I was just thinking of fighting strategies to implement.”
“Fucking nerd,” Thun muttered. The way his lips quivered lead Jake to believe he was stifling a grin.
“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Bolt said, “this is your first night with us, yeah?”
Jake turned his head from Thun and was caught off guard by Bolt’s statement. To be honest, everything happened so fast that he didn’t even think about his accommodation arrangements. He stared at Bolt, blinking.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t think about where you’d sleep?” Bolt snapped his fingers, then pointed at Carol. “Show the man to his room.”
Carol puffed her cheeks out. “Why do I have to do it?”
“’Cos me and Thun are gonna be busy going over some things. It isn’t a big deal, so will you just do it? Please?”
Carol turned her head away and scoffed. “I just really don’t want to go to a boy’s room at this time of night.”
“Technically,” Thun interjected, “it isn’t his room yet.”
“That doesn’t matter. The only boy’s room I want to be in is Bolt’s.”
Jake opted to speak up before Carol casually blurted out more of her crushes. “It’s fine, I can find it myself if you just point me in the right direction.”
Chapter 3
The man’s large boot slammed into Elizabeth’s abdomen, followed by the now familiar sting of a wooden sword coming down hard on her wrist. She winced and pulled back, rubbing her now red skin and glaring at her opponent. The man was clean-shaven and had a mop of curly hair. He shook his head.
“You must perform better than this Lady Elizabeth. The rebellion is in a week.”
Elizabeth looked down. She knew better than to argue with Mr. Smithers. Still, she thought she was plenty strong already. Strong enough to take out all those guards during her practical training, and strong enough to fight those strange creatures. She knew not to speak, though, and kept her mouth shut.
Smithers crossed the training hall and opened the sliding door closet in which Elizabeth kept her clothes. He went deeper inside, searching for a particular piece of cloth. The remaining garments swayed as he rummaged, a cloak with a mask among them. The mask’s tongue stuck out at her and rocked back and forth, seeming to mock her. Elizabeth scoffed at the costume and turned away. She kept this gesture up until Smithers returned, brandishing a black full-length cloak. She thought it looked eerily similar to the one the man wielding the guns wore.
“What’s this for?” she asked.
“It’s a disguise,” Smithers said, while donning his own. “We’re going to the Republic.”
***
Elizabeth felt the familiar clack of concrete against her boots. She looked about the city she briefly called home, acknowledging that not much had changed since she had left. The buildings were still impossibly tall, the technology almost otherworldly, and the people loud and in a rush. She followed Smithers to a strange platform upon which a long vehicle was waiting to depart. Elizabeth recognized it as the city’s transit system, known as a train, but she was always too afraid to ride on it. Smithers ushered her on, and she figured she had no choice but to comply.
Stepping on board, Elizabeth saw seats on either side of the long cabin, then quickly pulled her hood further down over her head. Across from her a few primary education students sat and gossiped. She took a seat opposite them, as did Smithers, and listened to their conversation with her head down.
“Did you hear about that guard Jake? They just sent him out on some super-secret mission!”
“I know, I heard about it. But doesn’t he seem a little bit less, I don’t know, heroic in person?”
Elizabeth smirked. She had to agree, the boy was a certified goofball and a hopeless idiot. How he could ever be the talk of the town puzzled her. A light rumbling started and the train lit up with a blue glow. Elizabeth marveled at the sight, it made the space seem almost magical. Then the buildings in the distance began sliding across the window as they gradually picked up speed.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. He was all shy and awkward when we met him.”
As he was with me, she thought.
“It’s hard to believe he was involved with the whole Niflheim thing.”
“I heard Lady Sara isn’t feeling too well.”
“I heard she hasn’t gotten out of bed since.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. She was aware of the incident in Niflheim and that apparently there were only a handful of survivors, but she hadn’t received much information on the aftermath or who was involved. If both Jake and Sara were there, then in all likelihood it had to do with that demon they saw in the abandoned village. Only Elizabeth thought that buffoon took care of things, she heard some edited story about how he died killing an insect queen or something. Then again, she had also heard of a loud-mouthed character causing a ruckus at an All World meeting, and she thought of him as the prime candidate. But if he was there, why didn’t he take care of things as he did with the Voids?
The train came to a halt, and Smithers tapped Elizabeth on the shoulder. She stood with him, and they both left her former classmates to their gossip. They walked down the long steps that led from the train station and went further into the city’s winding streets. After about a five-minute walk they stood in front of an apartment building. Smithers rang the doorbell, and they waited.
The door creaked ajar, and the man Elizabeth knew as Leal Miles stuck his head out and looked nervously from one end of the street to the other. He unlatched the door, then gestured for them to come inside.
It was cozy apartment, lined with furniture that felt too good for the small space it occupied. Elizabeth wondered why Leal Miles, who was currently a Major, lived in such a dainty apartment, but the furniture seemed to indicate what he spent his coin on. She gladly took a seat on one of the fine sofas and looked with apprehension at Leal and Smithers, both of whom exuded an air of solemn authority.
“Regarding the surprise units we can use...” Smithers began.
“There’s already one very powerful fire Sol user in prison. He was captured a few months back, but still remains loyal to our cause. He alone would be—”
“I took him out for a reason,” Elizabeth interjected, “as he was brash and attacked those people without just cause. The guy was a maniac, and we have no need for someone like him.”
Smithers stood up, grinding the ornate scrolled feet of the fine chair he’d been sitting in across the wooden floor. “You don’t have a choice in the matter. He was a very powerful ally and you squandered the opportunity.” He returned to his seat, but still glared at Elizabeth. “Be grateful that your actions have actually put us in an advantageous position. Since he’s been imprisoned, the Republic won’t be expecting him to attack at all.”
“My Lady, he’ll be instrumental in reclaiming the Republic back to its rightful owners,” Leal said.
Elizabeth scoffed and crossed her arms. “There won’t be a Republic if he burns the entire city to the ground. Why don’t you call that Pure Sol user while you’re at it?”
Leal cowered slightly at Elizabeth’s words, almost as if it offended him that she called the buffoon a buffoon, but before she could analyze his reaction anymore Smithers yelled once again.
“Crazy or not, he’s extremely powerful and he’ll be necessary if we want to defeat the Republic! Guards are trained to deal with moderate threats from Sol users, not something like him. Like it or not, he’s assisting us.”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and looked out of the window. It was strange – outside the concrete structures gave no indication of the frigid
temperatures: there was no frozen water, no flags or awnings blowing in the cold breeze, but despite that Elizabeth still felt she could see it. As if the buildings were cold from some incredible sadness. Perhaps, she thought, they can feel the incoming rebellion and are weeping.
“Do you know what happened in Niflheim?” Elizabeth asked, turning her head away from the melancholic buildings and toward Leal Miles.
He began to explain.
***
Jake walked down the hallway, his eyes just about adjusting to the lack of light. Everything was painted with a kind of swirling darkness, and he could only vaguely make out the shapes of lanterns on the walls, apparently only there for decoration. Like it or not, Jake was here for a reason, and that was to spy on the Lightning Gang and find out why they were attacking the Republic and what their plans were. So far he hadn’t heard a single thing about it, and that worried him. If they were really planning on attacking a major nation, then why were they casually running around helping random villages?
Unless, Jake thought, it’s possible that they’re just that confident. He thought back to the expert marksmanship of the men, the way they killed the tiny Malice beings without effort, and the way Bolt managed to shoot just the giant creatures that were upon Jake, avoiding the distressed boy completely. He shook his head. Regardless of how good marksmen they were, they couldn’t hope to take out an entire country. Could they?
He continued down the corridor, not sure what he was looking for. He had received no training on espionage or spying, and only vague instructions as to what his mission entailed. Jake found himself at the top of a winding staircase with what he assumed to be red carpet draped over the steps. He walked down it, feeling the cold stones of the wall with his hand as he descended.
Each step felt heavy, and he was well aware of the audible clump his foot made as it hit each successive step. Every sound of the house seemed to be magnified – the subtle clank of his sword as it swayed on his back, the slight whispering of his breath, and each subtle shift of the mansion made Jake double take. He was suddenly aware of how vulnerable he was and how screwed he’d be if someone caught him wandering around for no apparent reason.