“Well, hello, Sentina. You look… perfectly lost, battered, and alone.” Emer smiles as her eyes turn black.
Fuck.
I duck into the cave, not caring if there’s an animal in here or not. I would rather take my chances with the monsters I don’t know than the ones I do. As I stand and look around during the sporadic lightning, the first thing I notice is that there’s no other way out of here. I’m trapped. There are some advantages that I can use. Larger rocks to hide around, or use as a shield, but really?
I’m screwed.Fuck! I need my damn powers.
I move behind the closest rock, which happens to be the widest, keeping my eyes on the entrance, and crouch down, taking off my sling. As I carefully lay it down and reach for my glaives, I hear a snort as hot breath blows across the fine hairs on the back of my neck, making me pause, my heart leaping into my throat, and I freeze.
Shit. I really didn’t mean to take on a monster I don’t know. There are only a few options. Face this monster head-on, ignore it, and pray it ignores me too once I leave its area, or?—
I don’t get a chance to even think of the next option as the rock I’m behind starts cracking and fracturing at a rapid rate.
Heat builds, and steam hisses from the surface before it bursts open, shattering into small pieces and flying in all directions. I cover my face as much as I can, but I still get pummeled by small pieces of stone as laughter fills the cavernous air.
“There you are,” Janika, the green-haired witch, says with a glee-filled smile, her horny toad sitting on her shoulder.
Pain shoots up my shoulder as I grab my glaives and activate them, standing up tall and trying not to waver. I might be outmatched, but I’ll go out fucking fighting with what I have left.Anytime now would be great for that super helpful voice to pop up and help me. She was just telling what to do when the new portal showed up.
“Oh, this is priceless,” Serafin gloats, walking further into the cave. “How has God's Trumpet been treating you?”
“Do you feel as weak and sickly as you look?” Emer laughs as she leans against the entrance. “That color really doesn’t suit you. Janika’s toad has more color than you.”
“I can’t believe how easy it was to take you out,” Angel gloats. “It’s like you served yourself up to me in a fucking bow,” she chuckles. “I just wish you had done it sooner.”
“Yeah, you could have saved me the trouble of years without my man.” Emer hisses as she takes one step into the cave. “Look at you,” she sneers. “You’re so weak, you can barely stand, let alone hold your weapons. You really think you can defend yourself against us? Remember, there are no rules out here.” A flash of lightning strikes, highlighting her malicious expression.
Fuck, maybe I am too weak even to hear my inner voice anymore.
“Getting rid of you opens all the guys up, and I don’t have to use my spells to cut the hold on them,” Serafin boasts.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snap, backing up a little bit. Another rock is to the left of me that I can dodge behind if I need to.
“Oh my Fates.” Janika groans and runs her hand down her face. “Do you hear yourselves? This is why it takes you guys forever to get shit done,” she points out. “You're monologuing, just like bad guys, and allowing her to find ways to escape.”
Angel snorts. “There’s no way for her to leave. This is the only way out.” She points over her shoulder, and unfortunately, she’s right.
“The point is, if you’re here to kill her, then just kill her and stop messing around,” the green witch snaps.
I can’t make out Emers' expression, but I can imagine that if looks could kill, Janika would already be dead.
Janika scoffs and throws a fireball my way, and I grunt as it hits my bad shoulder, but I roll it across to my good arm and throw it back to the group, which sends them diving out of the way.
“Not so helpless, huh?” I throw out, completely faking the confidence I don’t have.
“Bitch!” Angel hisses as she gets up and pulls a knife. “I know for a fact that you’re hurt and weaker than you’re letting on.” She nods to Serafin as she pulls a weapon I’ve never seen before, but it looks like a modified Triton from The Little Mermaid.
“You’ll regret that,” Janika says, conjuring another spell and approaching me. Angel and Serafin advance behind her as I let my right arm hang, hoping to get some feeling besides the constant tingling of pins and needles of pain back into it. The burn of my shoulder is enough to make me cry, but I know I can fight through that; I just need to be able to feel my arm, to know I can control it. As Angel and Serafin split to move to my sides, Janika stays in the middle as her yellow ball casts an eerie glow in the room.
Serafin and Angel don’t take Janika’s words to heart and continue to run their mouths, taunting and bragging while they continue to shuffle my way, taking it slow since they can’t see the floor. Janika is about five feet away from me when her eyes dart to the right and go wide, and she freezes. The eerie light starts to vibrate and shake along the wall, and I notice a dark stain forming down the inside of her pants.
Did she just piss herself?
A snort-like growl sounds behind my shoulder before thunder rumbles inside the cave, right as a tree branch pattern lights up along the floor. I turn in time to see a Thunder Stag rear back onto its back legs before slamming back down with its front hooves glowing.
Pain shoots through my head, causing me to squeeze my eyes shut against the blinding light as a scream rings out. It quickly dies out as the light recedes, and I open my eyes to see the stag next to me and Janika’s charred body lying in front of us.
“Shit,” Serafin cries. “T-t-that’s a Thunder Stag,” she stutters, turning and running out of the cave.
