The creature’s snarl erupted into an ear-piercing roar, shattering hae crystals across the ceiling, which rained down onto the surrounding ground. We all stared into its gleaming bright red eyes as it stared back. A puff of steam wafted out of the creature’s elongated snout, causing its golden nose ring to sway. The creature’s head was that of a goat, with twisted horns thicker than the trolls’ flabby arms, coloured cream with a yellowish tint. Its mane drooped halfway down to its chest; its short, entangled brown and black fur stood on end with its hackles raised . Its chiselled humanoid chest and torso were the size of a stygian tree and covered by the same fur as the creature’s head; occasionally broken up by shiny pink scars. The creature scraped its grey cracked hooves that stood taller than any of us along the sharp ground; glass shattering echoed through the cave. The veins burst out under the darker fur of its goatlike legs as it continued to scrape its hooves against the floor, still staring us down. For a second, the creature stood still, only moving its furry hand up behind its neck. Slowly, it pulled from its back a giant dadao blade. Can you call that a blade? The dadao was as long as its legs and dulled beyond belief, making it look more like a club than a sword, merely a giant slab of metal.

  All of us stood frozen, legs rooted into place, staring, petrified. Forland tried to swallow his fear and sputtered out, “W-w-why is there a Drynir here?”

  “Who cares? ” Alistanna whispered, her voice cracking with every other word. “It’s not attacking and we surely aren’t strong enough for it to bother wanting to fight us. We should run back to the entrance.”

  “It might not be attacking because we aren’t moving.” I countered, shaking at the mere thought of any movement. “And if we rush out and it does attack, we could get caved in and we’d die for sure.”

  “My lure.” Sylv sputtered, clutching at her staff with watery wide eyes. “It’s here because of my lure.”

  “If that is true,” Forland said, taking a deep breath and staring at the Drynir. “Then we can’t run from him until the lure is finished.”

  “Sylv,” Alistanna spoke softly, a pleading look glossing over her eyes, “just nullify the spell.”

  “Don’t.” Boris growled, causing us all to jump. “Casted two minutes. Wait three more. Nullify, one minute. If attacked, we die.”

  “Boris is right.” Forland said, unsheathing his sword. “There is no easy way out of this. If we try to take any unnecessary risks, we will most likely die.” The words coming from his mouth sent shivers down my spine, as if the direness of the situation had finally settled in only once said. “We just need to defend against him until the spell is finished, then it should realise that we are not worth the hassle and leave.” We all looked to each other, all shaking in our boots except him, and readied our weapons. “And after this, we can go back and gloat about surviving an attack from an s rank creature. Then they will have to make Sylv and I S-ranks . Right Sylv?”

  “Right.” s he answered, her shaking subsiding.

  “Alright, Alistanna and Sylv, you need to move to the entrance, so you are as far away as possible. You will be the only thing keeping us alive. Boris, you will be at the fr ont with Taros and I helping block any attacks that you cannot handle alone. You all ready?”

  “Do you have to ask?” I asked.

  “Mhm.” Boris answered.

  “Yeah.” Alistanna answered.

  “As ready as I can be.” Sylv sheepishly replied.

  Alistanna and Sylv quickly ran off down to the entrance of the cave. The creature’s red, gleaming eyes flicked over to look at them and it raised its blade. The blade came crashing down, air rushing off of the sides, and Boris jumped in front of its swing. His shield was raised, his legs cemented into the ground. The dadao smashed into his shield. Boris stood tall, keeping his balance, but was edged back a few feet. That had never happened in any other battle, him being knocked back at all seemed impossible, yet reality couldn’t be denied.

  The creature pulled its sword away, revealing a massive dent to the front of Boris’s tower shield, causing it to bend inwards. The creature pulled its arm back once more, holding the blade up as high as it could, sending it crashing back down onto him. Boris raised his shield above his head as Forland and I rushed behind him, raising our blades. The sword smashed straight down onto all of us; our arms buckled slightly from the blade ’s sheer weight. My arms tightened pushing against the blade, my nails dug into the skin of my palms trying to retain the grip of my daggers. How are we going to do this for two more minutes?

  The creature reeled its arm back once more, and it sent its blade crashing down again for us to blocked it again. It continued to swing while we blocked every attempt it made. Success felt in our grasp, and with each unsuccessful swing it made, we clenched on tighter. With Sylv and Alistanna’s constant enhancements and healing, we felt unstoppable.

  It swung once more, aiming for our left side, but once again our blades and shield match ed it. We were no longer being nudged. Our feet were firmly planted. We can do this. Then looking up at the beast, my gut dropped to the floor . The creature’s razor sharp, yellow stained teeth were on full display through a contorted, evil smile. To reward our tenacity, its other arm, which had mostly been laying limp by its side, moved over to the blade and clenched down on the handle with that eery, beastly smile growing wider along with its red, gleaming eyes.

  My heart was pounding, my hands began to turn clammy with my blades slipping around in them. My legs trembled, my mouth dried, and my eyes were locked onto that blade. The beast lifted it with both its hands wrapped tightly around the handle. With the snap of its torso, it swung the blade down to our left sides once more. The three of us raised our weapons to our sides, tightened our grips, and dug in our heels. The dadao crashed into us. A joint in my arm popped as my bones splintered. Daggers stabbed into my muscle, but then it quickly dissipated. “Maria!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, shaking my arms to my side. It’s always felt strange to have pain one second just for it to be gone the next.

  “INCOMING!” Forland shouted, swinging his blade to the other side.

  My blades were raised once more, pushing against the dadao. The metal screeched as it grinded against each other, sparks flew up around us, and the sound of metal chipping came through my ear. The beast withdrew its weapon. Looking down, both my spare daggers had cracks coursing halfway across them. These won’t stop another attack. “Guys, my blades are-.”

  “INCOMING!” Forland shouted once more.

  The drynir’s weapon was on us within a second and my daggers intercepted it for only a moment before the creaking of metal stopped and two pieces of metal flung upwards towards the sky. I stared as the pieces rolled up and over, almost floating above the blade now swinging directly at me. My hands let go of the handles on instinct and tried to push against the dadao itself, to no avail . The blade pushed past Forland and Boris, knocking them onto their backsides. My hands held on for a brief second before my grip was lost and I was sent sprawling onto the other side of the cavern. My body felt numb as blood left it from the little crystal pieces which riddled my body. Even with Alistanna’s quick healing, my body shook staring at the blood, frozen in place.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Taros!” I heard them shout. They felt so far away, muffled by something. My blood ran down my arms, wrapped itself around my fingers like a glove. “TAROS!” My eyes went wide, my heart no longer beat, and my lungs were empty . My body felt cold as I looked up to see the dadao raining down from above. Jumping to my feet, I tried to run, rush to my friends, but there was no escape. The blades shadow loomed over, consuming my body and soul. This is it. Oh Maria. THIS IS IT! NO! NO!

  The dadao continued to fall; a split second was all that separated it from my head. Goodbye. Before my body was crushed , the ear-piercing sound of metal colliding rung throughout the cave, echoing off of the walls. My legs wouldn’t stop moving, but my stiff neck was able to turn enough to see Forland standing below the dadao, holding his longsword by both blade and handle. Blood gushed down his left arm as his face and muscles tightened, pushing against the blade. Boris was running by my side as my legs stopped and my body turned, rushing back to Forland alongside Boris. A crack slowly began to appear on Forland’s sword. Boris and I were rushing over, but felt frozen in time as we watched the crack grow from one side of the blade to the other. Even with this, staring at his blade crumbling before him, Forland was smiling. Nearly ear to ear. His eyes were bulging and watery, but he forced them shut, only letting out a single tear. “Til death do us part.” he chuckled.

  With the final word leaving his lips, he opened his eyes to see his blade snap in two. The dadao crashed down to the ground, shooting a puff of dust into the air. The cloud engulfing Forland seeped into my mind. My eyes were trained on the dust cloud, waiting for movement, any dark shadow to stand, any noise to ring out other than his blade clanging on the floor. But the blade was all that I heard as the monster pulled its dadao from the floor, back into the air. Slits of skin, flesh and oozing blood dripped off from it; falling onto the floor where Forland stood. Maybe? He can’t be.

  The smoke settled down and revealed the truth, Forland had not been sliced by the blade, but instead was bludgeoned, crushed to death. The sounds of his bones cracking didn’t even ring out, nor his joints popping, just his blade falling to the floor. He was now nothing more than sludge on the floor, chunky squashed flesh and a pool of crimson blood with hints of blue lights flashing within.

  My blood ran cold, my eyes doubled in size, leaving my mouth ajar and reopening a hole in my heart. A scream caught inside my throat; my hands clenched as my eyes locked on to what was left.

  “Heal him.” A weak, breathy whisper passed through the cave. My head grinded to the side, my dull eyes stared as Boris tried to say the words again, but they caught in his throat. Tears swelled in his eyes, his shield clattered on the ground, but his grip on his blade tightened. His contorted face began to stir; his soft eyes filled with malice, his brow grew stern and his teeth clenched as he hunched over himself. He began panting, clenching the blade hard, blood began dripping from his hands, a red mist started pouring from under his hid e, and his panting turned into a roar. A roar filled with misery, hatred, regret. A roar that made my skin crawl, jolting me back to reality and filling my mind with that same misery, hatred and regret.

  Boris leapt at the monster, sword held high overhead. The monster stumbled back, its eyes locked onto Boris and the misty red trail left by him. “A red mist. I didn’t think he could do that?” Alistanna uttered, smacking her cheeks with her hands before aiming her staff at him.

  I raced over to Forland’s remains. Seeing his blade broken in two down the middle, I lent down and picked both ends up, clutching one in each of my hands. Blood seeped down my fingers as the blade dug into my palm. “How much longer do we have Sylv?” I barked.

  “Only a minute, I think.” She replied, shaking and clenching her staff while tucking the end between her legs.

  The blade glistened in my hand, shining brighter through the blood than I had ever seen. The monster and Boris continued their bout. Boris missed his first swing but immediately swung back around just to be blocked by its blade. Looking back down, the blade shone even brighter in my hands, my hand was shaking from holding it. Forland? I pulled my left arm back behind me, turning my whole body with it. Standing still, waiting for a moment, metal clanged behind me. My body jolted into action, my calves turned to steel as I whipped my torso to the side, swinging my left arm forward and launching the shining blade, shooting it through the air. It sparkled and shined in the cave, reflecting off of every crystal still hung above our heads making it look like an army of arrows.

  The soaring blade came piercing down into the monster’s right eye. The monster screeched, howling out in pain. My bleeding hand clenched into a fist. That was for you. A smile grew on my face as Boris charged in with his sword to end this nightmare. But his charge slowed before stopping prematurely. I quickly looked up to see the monster’s eye was no longer bleeding. My legs begun shaking at the sight of it staring at us with its one good eye. Its howls of pain morphed into those of laughter, turning a knot in my stomach. The Drynir tossed its dadao aside like it weighed that of a feathe r, even though the blade crushed the ground beneath. It took its clawed hands and raised one of them in front of the injured eye. While cackling, the monster plunged its hand into the socket, pulling out the eye without a single bit of blood pouring out and crushed the mushy eye in its palm before turning its attention back to us.

  I leapt forward, Forland’s blade in hand , to Boris’s side. Boris raised his sword back up in front of him, fingers tight around his handle. The monster leaped forward as I took one last step to be by his side, but it was too late. The monster swung its cracked hoof directly at Boris. He swung his blade down and slotted the blade into the crack in the hoof. Veins bulging , he pressed down on his handle, digging the blade deeper into the hoof. His face beaded with sweat; his fur became glossy. I’ve got you!

  Both my hands turned red as they tightened around the swords handle. With one final leap, Forland’s sword was plunged into the open crack in the hoof. My feet struggled to stay put as they continued to slip on crystal shards. Boris and I were being slowly pushed back.

  “THIRTY SECONDS! YOU CAN DO IT!” Sylv shouted at the top of her lungs.

  A flame was lit in my heart from these words. THIS IS IT! My eyes were shining , my grip unwavering. We were going to do this . Looking to Boris as we slid further back, his eyes were wide as he stared up at the beast. His skin all over had fallen pale with a quivering lip. His head turned to me; his eyes were almost lifeless as he raised his hand. “BORIS-” I quickly shouted. He flung his hand into my shoulder, pushing with all the remaining strength he had. “DON’T!” I cried as I fell to the side.

  The monster’s hoof swung up in the air with Boris trying to hold on. Just before the cusp of the swing, Boris’s hands gave out, sending him flying into a wall beside the entrance. The sound of his joints popping like bottle caps and shattering like glass rung out as soon as he was impaled by all the crystals hanging on the wall. No blood was splattered against the wall as his muscles barely twitched before falling limp and lifeless.

  Turning back around, it was nowhere in sight, but a large shadow loomed over me. Looking up, a hand was coming crashing down at me. My arm rose to block it, but the attempt was futile. The claw sliced down the middle of my left hand, cutting off three fingers along with nearly half of my forearm, before crashing down and slicing off all my right foot’s toes. A wave of nausea overcame me, a searing pain grew stronger by the second across my arm and foot as I collapsed to the ground. My body grew cold as the monster stood over me, its shadow searing itself into my mind. Words were spoken around me but not heard. The shadow was consuming my vision, consuming my energy, consuming my life.

  My eyes closed only for a moment, but when they opened again, they were no longer buried under that shadow, but instead heading towards the light. Sylv passed by me on my right, saying something as I dashed past her, but her words were lost on me. “Sylv.” I tried to call out, but my throat was shot, my lips barely moved. All I could do was raise my bloodied hand to reach for her. But still, I tried to call out to her as she stood behind with the monster now looming over her too. Not her, she can’t die too. I’ve lost too much already, Sylv don’t leave me! My words went unheard as we turned down the cave’s passageway. My arm fell limply by my side; my mind empty of all thoughts other than Alistanna’s continuous sobs echoing in my ears.

  “I’m sorry. Maria, forgive me. I’m so sorry Sylv. I’m sorry.”