Quest 50 | ONC 2024 HONORABLE MENTION ✨️✨️

Five:

Once the winds grew too violent to continue, we held our arms over our faces. I peered between the gap of my wrists and eyed the massive creature growing within the storm. White glowing eyes appeared twenty feet or more above the ground. The silhouette of legs solidified and widened, creating the shape of a terrifying monster. Once the winds calmed and we were able to lower our arms, I saw the alien demon in full view.

And I wasn't scared of it.

I twirled my sword in one hand and then passed it to my other. "Level four hundred and thirty-two, bonus quest in Fantasy Scrolls," I muttered.

Damon snorted, readying a weapon in each hand. "Fuck, we were teenagers. You still remember that?"

"Of course," I smirked, eyeing the beast. "Boss had over five hundred thousand in health—"

Damon looked at me. "We died over a hundred times—"

I met his gaze with my own. "—But we beat it and the experience was worth it."

Damon raised one hand enclosed tightly around his weapon. He pointed it to me. "Think we can do it again?"

Ahead of us, the beast roared, a bellowing sound that tore through the clouds. The storm only intensified, escaping the skies, and cascading to the ground with such a force I felt it under my feet.

I didn't budge. I gave Damon a fist bump instead. "It was a game."

He shrugged. "What is a game but a reflection of life? We did it then, we can do it again. What's stopping us?"

He was right. Nothing was stopping us unless someone considered the humungous monster a mile away. I stared at it before gripping my sword even tighter. "If life couldn't take me out, this digital alien won't either."

"That's the spirit, baby," Damon cheered as he held his weapons firmly at his side. My heart fluttered as I looked back at him. The sound of his voice soothed me, the depth and pull of flirtation masked by the need to win this fight. We would win. And I'd gladly accept his offer for breakfast.

As soon as Damon broke out in a run for the beast, I followed.

***

We stopped ten or so feet from the beast. Ten other players stood alongside us. If only a few came over and stood in front of the boss, I worried about the rest. Had they died? I couldn't think about it. We had a task to complete. I took a deep breath as everyone readied themselves for battle.

"Survivors." The alien from the night before appeared in the skies behind the monster. A sinister grin spread over its face. "You have made it to the boss, I see. The beautiful beast before your eyes is number forty-nine."

I straightened and as raindrops slid down my cheeks, cocked my head. The creature had a number, like all of us players. In our previous quests and missions, had those alien demons been given one, too? Were they taken captive from different planets? They weren't digital creations for a video game at all, huh? If that was true, I felt bad, but I had no time to be curious. This thing could crush us with one step.

"Those of you who made it to this point are the sever the head from this beast—"

"Head!" The word rang as a chorus of shock and frustration. My jaw simply dropped. How would we accomplish that? It was taller than all of us combined!

"—and once completed, you will advance to the next boss!" The alien cheered. "Just need to live through this fight before you see another."

Before any of us could complain, he disappeared and vanished like an old television set shutting off. I blinked at where he was but the beast snarled. My eyes fell on it next. Its yellow teeth glistened with slime and dirt. What appeared to be skin stuck between the largest tooth and canine. I was sick and gulped away the bile moving up my throat.