Wielder

Chapter 10 - Destiny

Darrel gaped at the fallen beast, his arms going limp at his sides. She'd done it. She'd really defeated it. He couldn't believe it.

He turned back to look at Michael, who had not stopped firing on the monster until it gave its last breath. He looked just as stunned as Darrel felt.

Relief washed over him in a flood. Every tight muscle relaxed. Every panicked thought vanished. Joy bubbled up from his gut, replacing the nerves that had been plaguing him since the moment they'd stepped foot in the Unknown. "It's dead," he breathed, a smile creeping over his face. "It's dead!"

He leapt into the air, overwhelmed by the euphoria that replaced the adrenaline racing through him. "WE LIVED!" he screamed into the night, not caring how far his voice carried. "Holy gods, we lived!" He fell to his knees, laughing like a madman.

Never in all his life had he been so certain he would meet his end. But somehow, they had cheated death. He whooped and hollered with all the elation of a child who had found the toy they'd wanted under the Christmas tree.

From the ooze of the underbelly of the beast, Alie lifted her sword triumphantly into the air. Breathless laughter spilled from her lips. "We lived!" she echoed.

Shaking with relief, Darrel collapsed onto the ground, spreading his arms out wide and staring up at the purple-black sky. "I'm exhausted," he declared loudly. "We should call it a night and try to sleep."

Michael, the only one of them not out of breath, stood over him with his ever-present disapproving frown. "Do you think that's wise, considering what we've had to fight out here?"

"I think Alie just destroyed the boss of all bosses, as far as monsters go," Darrel grinned. He gave her a flirtatious wink as she sauntered up to them, wiping clumps of black gook from her clothes. "Anything else that thinks they can take her is asking for death, and the Evil will know that."

"I'd rather not fight anything else for a while," Alie admitted, sitting down beside him with a tired grunt.

"You won't have to, Cupcake." He patted her knee reassuringly.

Michael sat down beside them, shaking his head. "Okay, Alie, start from the beginning. What happened out there?"

She crossed her legs and set her sword atop them. Noticing smudges of black along the silver blade, she took the edge of her shirt and used it to scrub the metal with all the vigor of cleaning dishes. "Well, like I said earlier, the crystal opened a door. Or, more like a gateway, actually. It looked just like the one we came through that led us to Safeton. And there was a woman waiting for me on the other side--"

"Was she hot?"

Michael shot him an annoyed glare. "Is that relevant?"

Darrel shrugged. "Probably not."

Unaffected by his interruption, she continued on. "The woman said that it was my destiny for me to take this sword and use it to save the Realm. It's called the Ultimate."

Darrel's eyes widened. "The Ultimate? As in, the Ultimate from the stories?"

Michael closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "And here I thought things couldn't get much worse."

Ignoring Michael, Alie's eyes widened in wonder. "You've heard about it?"

"A little bit. The Ultimate Wielder is like, some sort of mythical hero or something. The Hercules of this Realm. I think. I don't really pay much attention."

"Well, Alie's not Hercules," Michael sighed.

"I don't know, man. She gutted that monster like it was made of butter. That seems pretty Herculean to me."