Jack, Charlemagne, and Isabella heard the echoing footsteps running through the hallway, followed by the whoosh of a heavy door flopping closed.

  “Stairwell!” said Charlemagne, sprinting on ahead with the others following close behind.

  They reached just as the door settled closed and then shoved their way through. Jack leaned over the railing and could see Julie down below. She did not look up at him, even when he called her name.

  “I’ll get her,” said Isabella, vaulting over the ledge and throwing herself onto the stairs below.

  She hopped onto the railing and then jumped between the gaps, letting herself drop from floor to floor while grabbing the railings each time to save herself from a broken neck. It wasn’t long before she had outpaced Julie and then swung herself back onto the staircase in front of the enthralled girl.

  “You’re going no further,” said Isabella, lunging for Julie and restraining her.

  Julie struggled, desperately trying to escape the leather clad blonde’s grasp. She kicked, she scratched, and she bit, but Isabella did not falter. By the time Jack and Charlemagne made their way down the stairs, Julie’s struggling had eased off.

  “What happened, Jule?” Jack asked, looking at her pleadingly.

  Julie’s vacant expression returned and Jack decided chose to use the one word he knew would get a response from his sister, longing to hear her voice.

  “What does the Eye of Gra’shiya want with you?”

  “Gra’shiya,” she said, her vacant expression turning briefly manic before settling. It was the same look that Logain bore in death. “Gra’shiya…Gra’shiya…”

  “Is it coming for us? Where is it?”

  Julie’s eyes flickered towards the door. “He’s been here the whole time,” she said with a giggle. “He wants to meet met, his loyal servant. O, Eye of Gra’shiya. Guide me to you, my master.”

  “We’re getting out of here,” said Charlemagne sternly. “Wherever Alfonso is, he’s not here. Not if the Eye of Gra’shiya is too. Are we agreed?”

  “Agreed,” said Isabella, turning around while keeping her arms interlocked around Julie. Jack grabbed her feet and the two carried her up the stairs while Charlemagne watched the rear.

  “I hate to say it,” said Jack, “but we can’t stay here.”

  “No, we can’t,” said Charlemagne, pulling out the radio and pressing the push-to-talk button. “Arc, do you hear me? Over.”

  A loud high-pitched static burst out and Charlemagne recoiled, almost dropping it. It started growing louder and louder, forcing him to turn it off to silence it.

  “Shit,” he said, shoving the radio in his pocket. “I get the feeling the Eye knew what Arc was planning. He wasn’t distracting it; it was distracting him. We’ll have to take our chances on the street.”

  “We can’t leave without him!” barked Jack.

  “Easy there, fella. I didn’t say anything about leaving him behind. Same way I didn’t say anything about leaving Alfonso behind. But we do need to get away from this hospital if that bastard eye is in here with us.”

  “He’s coming,” said Julie breathlessly. “He knows you’re taking me away. He won’t let you.”

  Jack wasn’t having it. “He can try and stop us, but he won’t. We’re getting out of here and we’ll rip your mind from his clutches.”

  The door at the bottom of the stairwell burst open and the familiar sound of wildly flapping wings called upwards as a host of eye fiends flew upwards. Charlemagne aimed downwards, shooting rapidly and sending the aberrations plummeting to their deaths as Jack and Isabella picked up the pace.

  “Through the next door,” called Charlemagne. “We’re almost at ground level.”

  A sudden crash and the door below was flung from its hinges and half the wall was sent flying with it. Something much more malicious than the flying minions was stalking the four, seeking to impede their escape, and they all knew what it was.

  “He wants me to join him,” said Julie with glee.

  “Shut up, Jule!” demanded Jack, sick of listening to her possessed nonsense.

  Isabella threw open the door and everyone hurried into the corridor. They knew where they were within the hospital, having passed this way recently, but they had to get to the entrance or they’d be running through the streets blind.

  High-tailing it through the hospital, another swarm of eye fiends flew at them from the front, trying to block their escape. Jack released Julie’s feet and Isabella continued restraining her with one hand, leaving all three of them to unleash a barrage of bullets at the fiends. One of them reached Jack and was inches from sinking its claws into him when he smacked it in the eye with the heel of his gun, making it recoil and giving Charlemagne the chance to perforate its body with a well-placed bullet.

  The door further down the corridor was thrown from its frame and it smashed to pieces against the wall as a huge shadow was cast. With the eye fiends dead, the trio sprinted for dear life with Isabella carrying Julie over her shoulder once again.

  As they rounded the corner, a droplet of acid singed Charlemagne’s mohawk while the rest of the splash struck the wall and began quickly burning through it. To the group’s great relief, the front door was in sight, but their relief was short-lived as another wave of eye fiends soared down another corridor, making for them.

  “Eyeballs be damned, don’t stop running!” ordered Charlemagne, shooting into the swarm to slow them.

  So exhausted were they from their escape, the trio were not moving as quickly as they wanted to and the bat-like eyeballs were closing in on them. They refused to resign themselves to being caught, but they knew they were in a precarious situation.

  “Split up outside,” said Charlemagne. “I’ll stall them for as long as I can.”

  As nearby window smashed and two figures leapt inside.

  “Surprise, freaks,” said Alfonso, whipping his shotgun out and blowing half a dozen of the eye fiends to pieces.

  “Good timing, baldie,” said Charlemagne in relief. “I was just about ready to sacrifice myself.”

  “Eye of Gra’shiya!” called Jack, looking to Arc and pointing to the acid.

  “Get behind me!” Arc ordered, holding his spellcaster high as the Right Hand of Obsidian gunned down the charging eye fiends in a flashing storm of unrepentant bullets.

  The five waited with bated breath as the shadow of the Eye appeared on the ground. Slowly, it came into view, floating around the corner. Unlike its minions, it possessed no wings. Rather, it was a hovering orb as large as a pickup truck. Its fleshy body was covered in veins and pulsated intermittently while its large tendril-like tail followed it, swaying erratically. Its giant eye was heavily bloodshot with a pupil as black as night. Its lidless stare permeated the hallway, fixing its gaze on the five who stood before it.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  As it unleashed a burst of acid from its eye, Arc pulled the trigger on his spellcaster and his Minor Shield spell formed an arcane barrier that protected him and everyone behind him from the acid which fizzled and bubbled against the surface.

  “I told you I was coming for you,” said Arc as the barrier faded. He reached into his pocket and tossed the keys to the pickup truck to Alfonso. “Get out of here now.”

  A deep, warbling voice spoke called out from the mouthless eye. “You think I will let you leave without consequence? I must feast.”

  “Go,” said Arc to the others.

  “But—” began Jack, only to be cut off.

  “Go!”

  The five fled with Charlemagne forcing Jack along, the young man not wanting to leave his friend behind. The ravenous eye, hungry for fear, unleashed an Arcane Shot from within, aiming straight for Arc. He raised the Golden Hawk to his head and pulled the trigger while closing his eyes tightly.

  The Arcane Shot struck Arc square in the chest, however, when the light faded, he stood still standing. But something about him had changed. He was no longer a man of flesh, but one of stone. The blue cartridge within his gun had cast the alteration spell, Stoneskin, granting him that very boon and letting him weather the powerful spell.

  “You are no mage,” boomed the eye, shaking the room. “You are a but an imitator, possessing only a fraction of my power.”

  “Is that so?” asked Arc, pressing his trigger four times and unleashing a flurry of successive Arcane Shots. All four struck the Eye of Gra’shiya, leaving burning sores across its eyeball, but it still stood strong. “Ah…I thought that would be more effective.”

  “I feel your fear,” said the Eye, its emitted voice revelling as though intoxicated. “I want more of it.”

  “Enjoy it because it’s your last meal,” said Arc, casually reloading his spellcaster.

  The Eye of Gra’shiya launched itself towards him. Arc dove out of the way, but took the brunt of its whipping tail and was thrown into the front desk and smashing through it. He was unharmed thanks to his Stoneskin spell, but he knew it would not last forever and even before that, he was only stronger rather than invincible.

  He leapt over the remains of the desk and found himself face to face with the Eye of Gra’shiya. He pressed the Golden Hawk to its eye and pulled the trigger. The point-blank Arcane Shot petered out immediately, having been repelled by a magical shield of the Eye’s own.

  “More fear,” said the eye gleefully, relishing the moment.

  “Not quite,” said Arc, leaping aside and storming through the front door and into the streets while the Eye pursued him, in no rush to apprehend him. It wanted to feed off him for as long as it could and then it would come for the others. No matter the distance, it would catch them, for nobody knew this city like it did.

  Arc hurried back the way he and Alfonso had come, knowing that he was not going towards the bridge where he had parked. No, he had to buy as much time for the others as he could. This time, the Eye’s gaze was truly fixed on him.

  Taking a chance, Arc flipped his revolver underneath his arm and shot at the Eye. He heard a distinct squelch and a groan as his shot penetrated the creature’s flesh. He leapt onto the ground as a wave of acid came for him, soaring over him and landing a dozen yards in front of him.

  As he climbed to his feet, he saw that his hands were quickly changing back from stone to flesh, leaving him unprotected. He scrambled to the top of a hill and peeked over at the Eye slowly coming after him. He shot another round at it, but the bullet bounced away as though it was nothing. This gave him an idea that may just save his skin and, thus, save the others. He headed for the nearest pile of rubble and scooped up a brick. The second the Eye ascended the hill, he tossed it, only for the malevolent being to obliterate it with an Arcane Shot and then shoot another at Arc, who dove behind the pile of stone and narrowly avoided being blasted to pieces.

  He shot himself with his spellcaster once again, activating a new Stoneskin spell and taking a wave of acid to the back. While it would have killed him instantly a second prior, it merely stung under the effects of the protective spell.

  Arc rolled aside and shot the Eye with his revolver, only for the bullet to bounce away again. As he leapt to his feet, he was thrown into a nearby brick wall by an Arcane Shot courtesy of the fixated Eye of Gra’shiya. He was feeling the strain, but he knew that the eye could not protect itself and attack him forever, for it was a mage. Much like Master Dusk, it could only commit so many spells to memory before its mind went blank. At least, he hoped so; he wasn’t certain.

  “I felt that last thought,” said the Eye. “A spike in fear for a moment. I demand more.”

  It unleashed five Arcane Shots in a row, each of them pummelling Arc and forcing him through the brick wall. He grunted in agony, the mighty of the magic breaking beyond the limits of the spell’s armour.

  He shakily raised his arm and shot at the eye, piercing its sclera and sending a burst of blood across the sand. The Eye winced but it continued to encroach upon the spellslinger, confident in its victory. It could have protected itself from that, but it didn’t. While another thirty bullet may not have been enough, Arc had something that may do just the trick.

  He raised the Golden Hawk, but his arm was struck by another Arcane Shot that almost snapped his wrist. The force sent his gun flying into the building and he twisted to crawl after it. If his spell wore off before he could reach it, he was a dead man.

  A heavy bang filled the air and a warbling groan called out as the back of the eye was struck by a dozen pellets courtesy of Alfonso, who stood at the base of the pile of sand. So focused was the Eye that it had not seen him coming, but it knew he was here now and it also knew he did not share the mage-imitator’s powers.

  As an arrow-like blast of acid flew from its eye, Alfonso ducked and his armour was grazed. The Eye of Gra’shiya was about to unleash another attack when it groaned from being struck by another bullet in the side. Charlemagne stood holding dual pistols. With a smirk, he emptied his magazines into the beast who turned to him. Isabella and Jack joined the fray, shooting at the terrifying beast, who was now surrounded and out of ways to defend itself.

  When they expended their bullets, Charlemagne grabbed two more of his guns and joined Alfonso in pummelling the Eye with firepower, yet the sturdy beast would still not fall. No matter how many rounds pierced it, it continued to hover before the humans, grunting as more and more bullet holes dripped blood onto the ground. There was a veritable pool of beneath it when it finally spoke.

  “It was foolish of you to return, but I am so grateful that you did. I feel the fear in each of you; it’s growing with each passing second that I live, but you also know that you are moments from dying. Ah, how I love it. I will miss it.”

  A high-pitched whistle called out from behind it and the Eye spun around. Arc was standing in the flesh, clutching his side while pointing the Golden Hawk at it.

  “We’re not finished yet,” he said, his voice strained from the pain.

  The Eye realised that he was no longer afraid and could not as much as twitch before the spellslinger pulled the trigger. A fireball erupted from the golden gun, aiming straight for the Eye. It hurled acid at the billowing flames, but it could not overwhelm the power of Arc’s spell. For a split second, the Eye of Gra’shiya felt fear and the fireball exploded on contact. The flames coursed through the bullet holes in its eye and incinerated it from the outside in as the evil aberration was blown into a hundred chunks that rained down upon the street, soaking both stone and sand with purple blood.

  “Holy shit!” cried Charlemagne, unwittingly dropping his guns.

  Jack bolted through the flaming rain of eye. “Arc!” he called out, unable to see the spellslinger.

  “In here,” grunted Arc from inside the building he’d been forced through.

  Jack rushed inside and saw Arc lying on the rotted wooden floor, looking exhausted and more than a little singed. The young man grabbed Arc’s arms and sat him up.

  “I thought you were half the chunks of flesh out there,” said Jack, falling back and joining Arc on the ground.

  “I always find a way to pull through,” said Arc with a side smile. He held up his hand and pointed to Jack’s neck. “Nice scarf, by the way. Looks better on me though, boy.”

  Jack couldn’t help but laugh as he unwrapped the scarf and threw it over to Arc. “It’s not my colour.”

  He stood up, helped Arc to his feet, and then put his arm around his friend to help him outside. Arc batted him away, insisting that he was fine.

  “You’re a madman,” said Charlemagne, retrieving all six of his guns and holstering them. “Took out a bloody Eye of Gra’shiya? That’s one to tell Lancelot.”

  “He won’t believe us,” said Isabella.

  “He will,” said Alfonso pleasantly.

  “Julie?” asked Arc, looking around for her.

  “Julie!” wailed Jack, running over the hill and looking for his sister. She was lying motionless on the street where Isabella had left her.

  As Jack shook her, she groaned. “Stop it…”

  “Thank Anateer,” said Jack, unable to think of who else to pay reverence to than the god whose church had given them brief refuge. “She’s okay!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

  “Good,” said Arc, as he and the others passed over the hill. “Can we get out of this hellscape? There’s an army of orcs just waiting for us back in Nuvaria and it would be nice if we could reach Cliff Town before they slaughter everyone.”

  “You make a good case,” said Charlemagne, picking up Julie. “I’ll carry her this time.”

  “Thank you,” said Jack.

  “Don’t mention it. Thanks for the rescue.”

  “Yes, thank you,” said Isabella, kissing Arc on the cheek and then doing the same to Jack, who turned beetroot red.

  “A-all…all in a day’s work,” he said, avoiding eye contact with her.

  “I will drive,” said Alfonso.

  “Nice try,” said Arc, holding out his hand. “Give me back my keys.”

  “If you say so,” said Alfonso, passing them over. “But you are in no fit state—”

  “Don’t argue with him,” said Jack. “You’d have a better chance wining a fight with another Eye of Gra’shiya than you would convincing him to let you drive.”

  “Too right,” said Arc with a grin.