His eyes opened slowly. A boy lay on the cold black sand, head resting on the wall. Sweat was dripping like water, and fear was soaking every part of his body. He could feel the hungry, primal breath of the beast pressing on him. His hands trembled. Every part of his being told him to escape somehow, knowing that if he failed, he would die.
However, as soon as his eyes fully opened to greet the creature before him – CRUNCH!! No time for movement, no time for thoughts, no time for last goodbyes – and with every bite of the boy's skin and bones, panic grew. Kids stared with terror in their eyes, knowing that it would soon be their turn.
That turn came sooner than they thought.
The creature went on a rampage, tearing bodies and flesh apart with the simple flick of a wrist. Limbs flew and blood spattered – children were being ripped apart like broken dolls. It wasn't long before the room was drowned in cries and screams. The only sound that could match it was the cheering that came from the booth. Drunk adults were laughing and cheering like it was some party.
This wasn't a massacre; to them, this was entertainment. It was this very fact that made Malrik's blood boil.
Malrik steadied himself, readying his sword as the creature started charging toward him. "I can do this!" He gripped the sword anxiously, recalling his time watching his father swinging his own. As the monster shot a water bullet from its serpentine tail, he got into position. Malrik gave a battle cry as he turned his sword, cutting through the bullet in a downward motion. However, he couldn't quite cut all of it in half, as a bit of water still smashed into his face. Stumbling onto the ground, he watched as the creature stopped before him, raised its claw, and swung it down.
Thankfully, the creature took its sweet time with this action, giving Malrik time to dash to the side, dodging the attack quickly. He stumbled back at the shockwave produced by the smash but didn't allow himself to fall again. He turned around and started running.
"Come at me, you overgrown bastard!" taunted Malrik. Enraged at its food running away, the creature swung its tail at Malrik. Malrik quickly moved to the side, swinging his sword at it as he did. However, the boy underestimated the thickness of the tail and barely put a scratch on it.
'Damn it! What the hell is that thing made of? How am I supposed to cut it?'
Worry and doubt grew in him, but he didn't allow it to affect him. He had to keep moving. He had to survive. He dodged the second tail and proceeded to run up it. The creature was intelligent, though, as it swayed its tail wildly. Malrik could still jump on its back, though, praying to the gods he didn't land on the spiked quills. He swung his sword on the creature's back, but again, it barely made a scratch. The beast roared, dashing towards the nearest wall.
'MOVE!!'
It smashed its back against it, but Malrik launched himself off just before impact. Landing gracefully on the black sand, he steadied himself again, sweat dripping nervously. His breathing was getting faster and faster by the minute. He was already getting tired.
In the Booth
"The little kid isn't doing too badly," laughed Vale with a bottle in one hand and the other dangling on his brother's shoulder.
"Are you glad I stopped you from killing the kid then?" Dr. Helmbrecht asked with a smirk on his face as sweat started dripping from Vale. His brother and everyone around him began to glare at him.
"What's he talking about, huh, brother? You didn't try to kill the kid we almost died trying to capture, right?" The glares coming from everyone in the room sobered the drunk man instantly.
"Now, now – kill is a strong word," Vale stammered. "I was just teaching the kids some respect. I promise, Rave," Vale said. His eyes suddenly shifted to the man on the throne. The man quickly bowed down. "What I say is the truth, I promise, Master."
"Shut up. Your useless bickering is disturbing my show here."
With those words, everyone quickly pushed aside the subject and returned to partying. This was their day off, and they were not about to ruin it.
Back in the Cradle, Malrik was fighting for his life. Escaping some way-too-close calls helped open a few chances to strike the creature. However, all those chances ended with just a scratch. His sword wasn't sharp enough to land a clean strike. He was running out of ideas.
What was worse, he had no backup. The creature was solely focused on him now, and the rest of the children were either hysterically screaming or desperately searching for a way out. Every time he looked at the booth, he saw smiles and laughter, further enraging him. However, this was necessary. Anger was the only thing preventing him from letting fear consume him – it was the only thing pushing him further and helping him survive.
Of course, it was only a matter of time before that small second of distraction he allowed would backfire on him. The creature's tail smashed into his stomach as the little boy coughed up blood before being sent flying into a wall. The beast let out a victorious roar before the room sank in silence. The children stared in despair as they watched their only hope slowly crawl out of the hole and fall on his hands and knees, the creature standing triumphantly above.
"We are all going to die, oh god, we are going to die." Cries echoed out, drowning Malrik's heavy breathing.
"I want my mommy and daddy!" Children were desperately banging on a wall, trying to escape the chamber they were trapped in.
'Am I really going to die here?' Malrik looked at his hands before clenching them. 'I am really this weak. What are these damn kids doing? Are they not going to fight? Are they just going to pathetically run away? That's what my mother did, and look where she ended up. Dead! Do they not want to survive?'
Malrik tried to get up, but all that effort resulted in more blood spewing out of his mouth. Luckily, he managed to lift his upper body with his left hand, holding his stomach with his right. He gazed at the monster, who was strolling toward him. He could swear the damn bastard was smiling at him, as if relishing in his despair.
'I can't survive in this stupid world by running away. I got to fight! I got to dig deeper for more strength. Get up, Malrik! Fight! Fight! FIGHT!'
As Malrik chanted his internal pep talk, a blue aura started swirling around him before stretching across the room. It created powerful winds as it pushed everything around him back, sending children and toys flying. Bits of sand were also affected, riding the winds like flies. Only the creature and a few kids were able to withstand the pressure, which was gradually growing.
"I am going to fight!" Malrik screamed as the pressure turned to the maximum level.
Everyone had grown quiet from the booth, staring at the boy in a mixture of shock and curiosity. Even the cloaked man had stood up. No one could see or tell what he was thinking, but one thing was obvious: his interest had peaked. Golden glowing eyes ignited under the darkness of the hood, gazing directly at Malrik. He could see the light blue aura enveloping the room and those in it.
"Such an impressive magical aura, and at such a young age, too!" came the voice from under the hood. One couldn't see his face, but one could guess he was smiling.
Having had enough of the annoying breeze in its face, the beast lunged at Malrik — and everything stopped. The winds stopped, the sand dropped, and the children hung in the air for that one second as the aura travelled through Malrik's body and into his hand — and then,
Boom!
The creature was sent crashing into the wall.
Malrik looked at his hand in confusion. His eyes shone blue as he watched the strange blue energy surrounding his arm. It was warm, and it felt safe. He discovered he could control its flow and guide it to any part of his body. However, his exploration was cut short as the unrelenting monster began charging at him again. He cocked back his fist and prepared to strike until — Boom!
Smoke rolled off the creature's face as it shook its head in an attempt to shrug it off. The fireball that had hit it came from the right. Malrik looked over to see a boy surrounded by a calm green aura. What's with these different coloured auras?
The boy walked over to him. "Nice job holding it back." Malrik glared at him. Who the hell did this kid think he was?
"Hey, kid, what the hell are you thinking? Get back before you hurt yourself. I got this," he shouted. This earned a glare from the strange newcomer.
"Who you calling a kid? I am seven years old!" the kid shouted.
"So what? I am six!"
"I am older than you!"
"Does my face look like it cares? No! Besides, I am more mature than you," Malrik said, folding his arms.
"Mature!? You just answered your own question, LITTLE KID!" The two kids glared at each other, getting closer and closer into each other's faces as they bickered. The creature started getting up, shaking off the last few stars in its head.
"Who you calling a kid!?" shouted Malrik in shock.
"You, you damn kid." The creature suddenly lunged into the air, preparing to strike the two boys. The boy raised his hand as another fireball formed before it was sent flying at the monster's face, causing it to tumble backwards. Malrik then leapt up, sending blue energy to his feet as he kicked the creature, eliciting a small cry of pain. However, the two boys could see that the creature was recovering quickly.
"Damn it! No matter what we do, this stupid animal just keeps getting back up," whined Malrik in frustration. The boy just stared at the kid. A few minutes ago, he was fighting like a full-fledged warrior, bursting with energy in his rage, and now he was whining like a baby. The boy smiled.
"Listen up! My name is Thomas, and I admit, for a second, I did let myself be consumed by anger. I apologise." Malrik raised an eyebrow at Thomas.
"That doesn't matter. We need to figure out how to beat this thing. I obviously can't do it myself."
"I know, and I am about to tell you." Malrik looked at Thomas in surprise.
"You know how to beat this thing?"
"Yeah. Hey, run." The two boys started running away from the enraged creature. "Look, I let myself get consumed by fear until I saw you bravely fighting. However, I know I wouldn't be of use. Its damn skin is so hard and durable, it's like hitting metal with your fist. So, I decided to look for a weak spot."
"Well?"
Thomas glared at the impatient Malrik. "It's his stamina," he sighed. "Don't you think it's odd that a powerful creature is struggling to hit mere children like us? We might be strong, but we cannot take on that thing." The creature swung its tail down. Thomas cursed before jumping to the left as Malrik slid underneath and gave an uppercut, sending the creature flying. The two quickly began on the move again.
"Like I was saying, it's only pure luck and instinct that the people in this room are still alive. Haven't you noticed? Throughout its fight with you, it's been slowing down more and more. The only time it could even hit you was when you looked up at those pricks." Malrik frowned, feeling anger rise at the mention of those fools. "The point is, I think it's wasting its strength and energy. After all, that thing could easily throw water bullets like balls, but instead, it's just mindlessly attacking us. Maybe it can't because it uses too much magic and power. It's the same with my fire bullets."
"Ok, so the thing has low stamina, great, but that doesn't explain how we can kill it. The skin is still too tough to put a dent in it." Thomas sent more fireballs at the creature before answering.
"Who said we have to kill it? All we need to do is distract it long enough till it gets tired, and we can knock it out."
"That's great and all, but if we keep distracting it, won't we get tired, too? I'm already at my limit."
"That's why we will distract it one by one." Thomas suddenly changed directions, shooting a fireball to get the creature's attention. The creature obeyed, mindlessly charging toward Thomas now.
"Hey, what are you doing!?" Malrik called out.
"Taking one for the team for now. Just get your strength up and be ready to attack."