Bʀᴏᴋᴇɴ Hᴀʀᴍᴏɴʏ || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ: Fᴀʟʟ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Bᴇᴀsᴛs Bᴏᴏᴋ Oɴᴇ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴇɪɢʜᴛ || sᴘɪʀᴀʟs

Sasha

At first, nothing happened. Tyler turned around. "I guess no one is home." He frowned.

"Or at least not answering the door." Niko agreed. He reached out and placed his hand, palm flat, against the wood of the door. A gentle push had it creaking slightly open.

I reached for my sword, suddenly alert. "Wait," I started in a hushed voice. "This doesn't feel right."

"Of course it doesn't." Lucia twisted her lips, her hand drifting toward her own weapon. "It isn't right."

Tazi rolled his eyes at our caution. He pushed Niko away from the door and kicked it fully open with a loud crash.

"Tazi, no!" Sabien leapt forward, grabbing the stingray summoner's arm.

Tazi shook him off and spun, fists raised and a snarl on his lips. But he never got the chance to take a swing at Sabien, because of the thing that flashed out of the farmhouse.

It was a blur, too quick to see, as it threw both Tazi and Sabien away from the door.

"Sabien!" Navia cried out.

The blur came to a halt. It looked almost human, save the pale grey of its skin and its pale pink eyes. A spiral writhed, sickly and silver, on its forehead.

"What is that?" Lucia asked. She had her long sword out now, raising it defensively.

"Ugly, that's what." Niko wrinkled his nose. He spun his quarterstaff and lunged forward, swiping at the beast.

I drew my own sword, moving forward and matching Niko step for step, blow for blow.

But no matter how much we battered it, the creature kept fighting for back. The others all joined– except for Navia, who was checking on Sabien and Tazi. The movements were so familiar, almost eerily so, that I didn't even have to look to know that Zay was at my side.

The creature was fast, faster than any human could be. Even with Delar's speed, I was nowhere near a match, only just able to keep up with my eyes– let alone the rest of my body.

"There's no way to beat this thing!" Niko exclaimed over Tyler's grunt of surprise as he was thrown by a punch from the creature.

I hated to admit it, but Niko was right. Despite its arm being broken and having numerous oozing slashes across its body, the beast wasn't giving up.

"Sash, watch out!" Zay's shout pulled me starkly back to the fight. The creature had hurled something at me– it looked like a silver worm?

I reacted without thinking, slicing it midair with my sword. The two pieces fell to the ground, but continued squirming their way toward me. I stomped on the one, grinding it into the dust. When I lifted my heel, it was gone.

"These things are creepy." Hoya muttered under her breath as she squashed the other under her own boot.

I nodded, too breathless to reply as I dodged a lightning fast blow from the creature.

Zay skidded back a few steps, doubled over from a kick she'd received to the stomach. "I really... hate this thing." She growled between pants.

I offered a hand, which she used to straighten up, and a rueful grin. "You and me both. You okay?"

"Fine. Nice worm fighting." She winked.

I wanted to protest at that, but Niko was flung directly into my chest– don't worry, I caught him– and interrupted me.

"Thanks for the save, big guy." The Niloan patted my bicep as I returned his feet to the ground.

I grunted in reply, quickly shoving him aside so the creature didn't crash into him as Hoya knocked it toward us with a vicious kick.

"Lay off my friends, ugly!" Sabien growled as he swung a dagger and joined the fray.

It was now nine to one, with Navia and Tazi by our sides as well, and somehow we were still getting our butts handed to us.

"How is this thing so strong?" Niko panted as he, once again, was flung into me. "It's not fair."

"Nothing ever is." I grunted back.

The creature launched a volley of worms at us, making me duck.

"I don't know what those are, but I don't think we should let them touch us!" Lucia called out.

I'd already decided that I didn't want to be attacked by worms, but I appreciated the warning as I slammed a few more into the dirt.

There was a slight whoosh beside my ear, then another worm fell from the air, knocked down by a rock.

A few more whooshes, accompanied by pebbles, took out the rest of the worms.

I glanced around, momentarily stunned. It appeared that we had an ally, at least I hoped they were an ally.

More rocks flew, these now targeted at the creature. Only two or three met their marks, burying themselves into the creature's wounds or hitting its eyes. That was enough, it seemed, for the beast let out a gargled howl of what I assumed to be fury and pain. It shook its head and threw one last punch before scrambling away so fast that pursuit wasn't even a possibility.

None of us lowered our weapons, aware that the rock slinger was a likely enemy.

"Who's out there?" Tyler called out, his voice echoing slightly.

A creak from the roof had us all leaping back a few steps.

"Show yourself!" I called defensively, eyes darting. An unseen enemy is the most dangerous.

There was another creak or two, then a head popped over the side of the farmhouse roof. It was a kid, I realized, lowering my sword slightly. They couldn't have been more than 13 or 14, with tousled black hair and rounded cheeks of unfinished childhood.

"Who are you?" Zay asked from beside me. She hadn't dropped her guard yet, looking at the newcomer with hostility.

The kid pasted on a toothy grin. "I'm the one who just saved your butts. You're welcome!"

7/08/21
new character!!! that has not happened for a hot minute
i think you'll like them ;)
anyway stay safe my lovelies! xx