Sol Boxset

by Samuel Small

  Dante could never feel bad for those people.

  Although Lennon clearly didn’t share that opinion. He flowed through her attacks, keeping that same pitying look on his face the whole time. Finally, she roared, letting out one last fierce attack, and Lennon caught it with a powerful hand. Tears reflected in the girl’s eyes as Lennon stared into them. She tried to keep her glare, but her tears overtook her and she dropped to her knees, sobbing. Lennon fell with her, wrapping his arms around her, and muttered some soft words as she desperately tried to wipe away the tears. Dante turned his back on the scene, as he couldn’t deal with that mushy shit.

  He heard some soft murmuring and a few sniffles. Dammit, Dante wished he could plug his ears too, but then Floff would think he was really fucking weird. He toughed out the awkward exchange, confident it was over when he heard the grass shift under Lennon’s weight. The girl was still on the ground, looking down, but Lennon seemed renewed. Whatever issue he had with the girl, he had worked it out, and she wasn’t trying to fight them either. Dante turned away from Lennon and back toward the creature floating in the air. It beat its wings ferociously, then raised its head back. Dante’s eyes widened as he realized what it was doing, and he ran forward with Lennon closing in behind him. He watched helplessly as the thing jerked forward and puked up a stream of black gunk – the origin of what Dante called ‘the shit monsters.’ No doubt bedhead and the others were there fighting, but since he hadn’t seen any actual attack thrown at that thing, he doubted they were being very effective. Obviously, they needed him to bail them out.

  ***

  One Malice. Two. Three. Four. Jake cut through them like butter, not stopping for breath or looking back. He knew by now that Sara and Elizabeth could handle themselves, and as he brought down the last Malice before him, he glared up at the sky, unable to think of a way to prevent what would happen next. Sara had the same idea, and launched some icicles at the creature before it could begin its torrent of wind again, but it did little damage to such a fearsome thing. The wings began to beat faster and faster.

  Once again, Jake had to find cover. He ran forward, but something was wrong. His movements were sluggish, and each step seemed to take an eternity. It wasn’t because he was tired, he was in decent shape and the last fight hadn’t left him too drained. It was the pressure bearing down on him. That creature wasn’t flapping its wings like it normally did, now it was going absolutely mad, and the rush was enough to drive Jake down to his hands and knees. Each monumental beat of its wings brought forth a burst of energy that pushed Jake down, and every time he struggled to stand up it forced him to the ground again. He pushed against the wind to turn his head and make out what the thing was doing, and his eyes widened as he realized that it had pulled its head back once again, no doubt ready to unleash more of that black liquid – the black liquid that created new Malice. He didn’t want to imagine what would happen if a human was hit with it directly.

  He cried out, the sound lost in the torrent of wind all around him, and he forced his palms into the ground and pushed with all his might, but it wasn’t enough to fight against the attack even a little bit. Inevitably, he would be hit.

  But then the wind stopped abruptly, followed by a piercing cry of pain from the monster. Without the force bearing down on him, Jake leapt to his feet, glaring upward. The dragon was reeling backward, as if it had just been attacked, and upon closer inspection Jake saw there were little wisps of smoke floating in the air. He searched frantically for Dante, only to hear some more vicious attacks shoot by. The dragon jerked back as if hit by several large-scale attacks then cried out once more. Wind attacks, meaning Lennon—

  “You guys couldn’t do anything?” Dante said as he rounded the bend, running toward them along the street. “Jeez, it looks like it hasn’t been hit at all!” He raised his hands to the sky and gathered energy there, then let out a monumental blast, which tore into the dragon’s belly and sent it reeling back into the sky. It screeched once again, then beat at the air with its ferocious wings. “Like hell I’m gonna—” Dante began, but stopped, his eyes widening as he focused on something. Jake followed his gaze to see a silhouette of a human in robes flying through the sky and chasing after the monster. Dante scoffed and muttered something about showing off, then raised his hands to the sky again. He turned to Sara as the particles of light gathered in his palms.

  “Well? You gonna help me? We’ve got four people here, and two of ’em can’t even use ranged attacks. I at least need you do some shit.”

  Sara was still laying on the ground from the effect of the dragon’s pressure attack, staring at Dante as if in a trance. At his words, she shook her head and stood up, dusting off her dress. “Of course I’ll help. It just looked like you guys had it covered.”

  “No way,” Dante muttered, narrowing his eyes at the dark silhouettes in the sky. The one that Jake presumed to be Lennon was flying all around the large dragon, which snapped and twisted to try to hit him to no avail. Dante’s body tensed, and another wave of blue energy streamed out of his hands, the force so powerful that he had to take a step back to recover. As the energy rushed out of his hands, Dante’s foot dug deeper into the earth, sliding the grass and dirt into a mound. The attack hit its mark and the dragon roared out in pain. Dante jerked his head toward Jake and shouted, “Spread out now!”

  Jake immediately complied and ran as fast as he could, aware that the giant dark shape in the sky was now hurtling toward the ground courtesy of Dante. He heard the thing’s body tearing through the air as it rushed downward, and his muscles tensed in anticipation of inevitable explosion it would create when it landed. Right on time, there was loud crash and a rush of air hit Jake’s back and sent him to his knees. He got up and turned around, brandishing his sword, and was ready to lay into the wounded creature.

  It lay on its side, Dante running along the length of its body and punching fist-sized orbs of light into it at every opportunity. He laughed manically as he weaved around every part of the creature, sparing nothing. Jake brandished his sword in front of him, running at full speed, and drove the edge into the creature’s belly. He heard a squish to his side, and turned his head to see Elizabeth following suite. She glared at the creature’s mushy hide and tore her sword out as if it’d been buried in a pile of garbage. Jake followed her example, and wound up to make another slash, but heard Sara call out that they should once again retreat. He didn’t get it, the creature was done for, and he looked around for what the heck she was talking about. His eyes focused above him, where Lennon rushed toward the creature, his arms outstretched and pumping wind that propelled him downward at a frightening speed. Such a speed, in fact, that they’d be collateral damage if they stayed too close.

  Jake shouted that Elizabeth should run, then said the same to Dante who was frantically punching at the creature’s crotch and having a blast doing it. He turned to Jake, confused, and gave the creature one last punch. He looked up and took in the impending threat, then turned and bolted.

  “Run for your fucking lives!” he shouted, and Jake agreed, kicking up dirt with Elizabeth at his side. He realized he wasn’t getting far enough away as he had to take so much time to warn the others and he dove to the ground just as there was a giant splat. Something rushed overhead, and Jake looked forward to see black bits of Malice spray all over the nearby buildings. He was shocked, and slowly got back up, looking around at the remains of the creature that was once such a fearsome opponent. The blackness had exploded out from a single point, a wide circle where there were no stains, wherein stood Lennon giving a playful salute, his body dripping black.

  It was an unreal sight. The last one took all of their combined effort, but this one was easily dispatch by essentially Dante and Lennon alone. He continued to look around, trying to confirm whether or not this was some strange feverish dream, but his eyes locked with Elizabeth’s who was doing the same. Seeing her disbelief seemed to reaffirm his own, and he knew this was real. They both smiled a
t each other, the moment would have been tender if it hadn’t been for Dante shouting insults at the piles of black innards. Jake hated that he ruined the moment, and he glared at the boy.

  He was leaning in, a ridiculous smile on his face, flipping off a particularly large pile of gunk while calling it an ‘asshole.’ Jake opened his mouth to yell at him, but then he saw the playful demeanor drain from Dante’s face, his eyes focused on the pile of vile remains. Jake focused on them too, then saw them twitch ever so slightly.

  What the—?

  But that was all Jake could manage to think of before the remains rushed back toward Lennon. He blasted himself into the air just before all of the black chunks smacked together into the impact point. They writhed and twisted, growing bigger as they recovered more remnants of the creature. It rose up to full size, and the big black ball began to stretch out. Jake could hardly believe his eyes, but after only half a minute the giant dragon was restored to full health, standing and poised to attack once again.

  It flicked its tail forward, and the entire four-man team was caught in the attack and sent spiraling across the market place. Jake hit the ground and rolled, aware of the dim pain but ignoring it for fear of the thing’s counterattack, and he quickly rose to his feet brandishing his sword. The monster stomped toward them and Jake bent his knees and readied himself to plunge headlong into the creature’s throat.

  “How is it still alive?” Elizabeth called at his side.

  “It just… regenerated,” Sara added.

  “That attack wasn’t enough to kill it. We’ll need to hit it harder,” Dante concluded dryly.

  But what attack could be stronger than Lennon diving from high in the sky and slamming into it, an attack powerful enough to leave the creature a mess of liquid? Jake added this to the conversation, but Dante shut it down as if he already knew the question was coming as he ran toward the enemy.

  “The pieces that are left of the creature will just reform. We need to vaporize the thing completely!” he called and unleashed his energy into the creature’s snout, causing it to screech and withdraw. Even Dante’s potent energy wasn’t enough to fully vaporize the creature, so what else could they do?

  Jake became well aware of the additional weight bearing on his back.

  “Dante!” he called. The boy leapt out of the way of the dragon’s mouth as it attempted to bite him, and turned his eyes to Jake. “Use as much Sol as you can!” He swept a look at Sara to his side and then to Lennon, who was coming at the creature from behind. “All of you!”

  They all responded by unleashing a coordinated attack, Sara sending countless icicles into the monster, Lennon lashing into its back, and Dante clocking it on the snout. The creature reared at the onslaught, raised its wings, and took to the sky.

  “It’s trying to flee!” Elizabeth called.

  “Lennon!” Dante shouted, and the two flew into the sky, tearing after the creature. They were going fast, but that thing was quicker. Jake turned to Sara.

  “Do you think you can create some ice deposits on that Malice? To slow it down?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” Sara said, then extended her hands out. Jake could feel a chill in the air, so he knew she was using her ability. With all seeming to be taken care of, he tore at the ground, sheathing his sword and pulling his Sol rifle from his back. He felt the weight in his hands, and inspected the dial on the muzzle. It had several bars running up it, and the first three shone with a faint blue light. Not enough.

  He continued rushing forward, the rifle swaying in his hands with each stride while Elizabeth followed behind. If he could catch up, he could collect Dante and Lennon’s Sol as they fought, and perhaps with all of it combined…

  He clenched his teeth and ran harder.

  ***

  A tail whipped through the air, and Dante found his body jerked out of the way. There was a constant up-current at his feet keeping him in the sky, which was pretty cool, but he didn’t like having no control over his movements. Still, when he asked Lennon to do this it was just a hopeful suggestion, he couldn’t have imagined that the guy could actually make two people fly and manage to dodge attacks as well. The two tore through the air as they chased the creature and steadily gained on it. Now they were locked in combat, the thing snapping and flailing its tail at them as they unleashed their Sol.

  But the thing was pretty damn quick, much faster than Dante and Lennon when it took off. He couldn’t really imagine it running out of steam, since it just shrugged off blowing up, so he couldn’t figure out how they managed to catch it. Then Dante caught a glimpse of something shimmering in the light, cladding the creature’s black body. Ice.

  “So that’s it,” Dante said, a smirk rising on his lips. The tail whipped at him again, but he was jerked to the side. He gathered energy into his hands, trying to coalesce as much as he could. Bedhead said to unleash as much Sol as I can, he thought, as his palms got hotter. He glanced behind him for just a second, taking in the island that he’d just been on. They were flying just off of its north coast, fighting the creature in the air. Dante turned his attention back to the beast and unleashed his energy. His arms hurt from withstanding the force of all those full-powered attacks at the request of a certain nerdy swordsman, and he wasn’t sure how long he could keep this up. He withdrew his hand, it shaking against his will, and focused on Lennon. He was making a good show of acting tough, but Dante could tell that his attacks were getting slower. He was good, yeah, but he wasn’t without limits, and he was giving these attacks all he had. Regardless of your stamina, you could only go all-out for so long.

  “This shit better work, bedhead.”

  ***

  Jake ran so fast he nearly tripped over his feet and went sliding into the grass. Dante and Lennon were fighting that thing alone and in the air – its own territory. He had to get to them and provide backup, but they’d flown across nearly the entire landmass they were on. Jake sped across it as best he could and soon arrived at the edge. A few hundred meters ahead the creature floated, Dante and Lennon’s silhouettes flying around it and unleashing their energy.

  Jake dropped to one knee, inspecting the Sol rifle’s energy gauge. It was rising fairly steadily now and was pretty close to full capacity.

  “What’s that?”

  Elizabeth leaned in to peak at the gun Jake was inspecting, but she got a bit too close. Her hair rested on Jake’s shoulder and if he turned his head their cheeks would probably graze each other. Unable to move, he glanced at her. “Uh, it works by absorbing any Sol in an area, with it—” Jake began, but his eyes focused on a slight shifting behind Elizabeth, in the shadows of a building. A Malice perhaps? No, if it was it would have already attacked—

  Beep!

  Jake drew his attention downward once again, and saw that the rifle was at full capacity. It must have absorbed a ton, since they were so close to Dante and Lennon who were unleashing an insane amount of energy. He pointed the weapon at the giant creature that was lashing out at his comrades.

  “Get back!”

  The two figures flew away from the winged creature, and touched down on the land. Lennon leaned forward and collapsed. Out of the corner of his eye, Jake could tell Dante was eyeing him suspiciously, but he was more focused on getting the shot lined up. The dragon was still reeling from a goodbye blast Dante had sent it, so it was temporarily stationary. Jake shut his left eye, got it well into his sights, and placed his finger gently on the trigger.

  Jake’s eyes widened as he saw light blue streaks of energy slide out of the muzzle, and begin to fuse together. Dante too seemed equally awestruck. The energy gathered and grew brighter, shining and radiant. Jake held the trigger tight, aware that as soon as he let go, it would unleash.

  SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

  The entire rifle jerked skyward and sent Jake sprawling onto his back. He shook his head and looked forward, able to catch the instant the Sol made contact. The giant blue ball of energy tore into the creature and expanded into one l
arge flash of light that left Jake momentarily blinded. In that blindness, the beast let out one final cry. There were no chunks of the creature left falling to the ground, the whole thing was completely vaporized into a mist of hot light. Jake looked at his own hands, not believing that such an attack could of come from him. He looked back up, Dante staring at the space where the dragon had been just moments ago. He turned his head to Jake, his mouth agape.

  “The fuck was that?”

  Parting

  Everyone was silent. The space where there had just been a rampaging monster was now completely empty, not even a lingering puff of smoke remained. Everything was unnaturally quiet, but the creature did not reform. Dante peered at Jake’s weapon, although he didn’t get too close, probably because he didn’t understand how it worked. Lennon was on the ground, but his chest rose and fell rhythmically, indicating that he was just exhausted. He’d probably be awake in a few minutes, give or take. Sara stared at the space where the monster was, and Jake followed her gaze, but there was still nothing there. He looked down at the charred rifle smoking in his lap, then at his own hands. That power. It was unreal.

  There was some shifting just in front of him, and Jake looked up, taking in Dante intentionally looking away while extending a hand. “Not bad, I guess,” he mumbled. Jake smirked and grasped his extended hand, slinging the remains of his Sol rifle over his shoulder with his unoccupied one. Dante hoisted him up with powerful force, and they took each other in with their hands interlocked, nodding. Sara leaned in between them, breaking their grip, and her face lit up. “Great job everyone!”

  “Yeah, that wasn’t half bad at all,” Dante said, rubbing his nose with a finger.