“You what?” Willow said, her voice dropping to a dangerous tone as she leaned forward. Her hand that held the phone shook, her eyes glowing gold. The light in the room was dim— it was almost midnight, now, and they had just sat down after dinner in the little cabin. The couch was gigantic, and deformed as she leaned forward with stress, the little, wooden walls of the place seeming to press down around her.

“I’m coming.” Willow said, hanging up the phone.

“What? Can’t work wait another day?” Rose pleaded, throwing an arm over Willow in a hug. “What is it? A gate break?”

“No. Its a search and rescue.” Athena held her face in her hands.

“There are plenty of capable Awoken in the city. It will be fine.” Rose yawned. “Can’t we go to sleep for tonight? I don’t want to drive anymore today.”

Willow stood, Rose sliding away with a pout.

“It’s Rain. I have to get there fast. I’m going to run the whole way.” Willow replied, then moved to ruffle Rose’s hair. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back before the sun rises. He is my brother. I’m sure he is fine.”

The Lizard man stood across from me in a rapidly forming circle of Kobolds kettling us in with crude and dull weapons. They beat them on the stone, the sound of metal on rock a discordant symphony of tinkling noises. As they beat the stone, they slowly fell into a rhythm, more and more of the noises coming at a steady heartbreat of tink, tink tink, tink, tink tink faster and faster. Me and the large lizard man exchanged feints, playing back and forth as the circle of Kobolds closed around us in a strange and savage ritual.

Then the monster tried to tackle me.

It wasn’t a martial artist, or trained. It might have looked like a man, but it fought like an animal. I kneed it in the stomach and it fell back with a cross between a roar and a hiss, stumbling backwards. The sound of the weapons beating on the stone paused, then became discordant as it worked back towards gaining its rhythm, and I stepped in a circle, moving around the lizard as it grabbed at its stomach, hissing and squeaking.

It made more noises— it was talking to all the Kobolds around us, who answered in occasional, tiny roars.

It was cute.

I shut it up with a punch, earning myself a roar, and it retaliated.

I caught its arm between mine, my left arm pinning his left arm over my shoulder, holding it straight as he tried to jerk it backwards and out of my grip.

I slammed my right fist on his elbow, and he squeaked as I bent his arm out of shape, bones snapping as it folded the wrong way. I hit it again, and it screamed in pain, but I stepped forward, my left leg finding the inside joint of its knee, and I pulled its arm towards me, making it stumble.

Its leg cracked, bone ripping through flesh to expand out the other side. The screaming didn’t stop from there. I disengaged as it thrashed, and the monster toppled to the ground, screaming and clutching at its leg.

My boot found its neck, and I leaned down. It didn’t crack right away, not as soft as the Kobolds. It grabbed and clawed at my legs, earning cuts in my pants and flesh wounds on me as I pressed down harder and harder until—

Pop.

It stopped moving, falling back limp.

I realized then that at some point a smile had crossed my face, wide and toothy, my eyes wild and fully open, and I looked up in time to earn an arrow in my arm.

Pain erupted in my arm, the raucous noise of the monstrous ritual having ended when I brought the giant Kobold to the ground. Fuck. They had bows. It didn’t matter if I could kill them all if they filled me with holes before I got to them, and I was surrounded. I was stupid not to notice.

I only stopped for a second to grab the bag of fruit before sprinting towards the line of Kobolds with weapons extended. As I came within three feet of their weapons, I jumped, sailing over their heads and passed their line. Arrows sung in the air behind me and I fell to the ground with a roll before running again.

Fuck fuck fuck. The river was on my left, which meant the nearest exit was dead ahead. I didn’t see it. What I saw instead was a pile of sacks, furniture and wagons laid to waylay me. Blood dripped down my arm. As soon as I reached the wall, I slammed into the wagon. There was barely any furniture blocking its movement, though it was probably heavy enough that Kobolds couldnt lift it. Arrows sung, and I lowered myself, shrinking down so that I was a smaller target. One arrow thumped in the wood beside me, and then the door way was wide enough for me to escape.

I ran, my body absolutely boiling with Qi after killing the giant Kobold. It was steaming off of me in a trail, and with great effort, through the pain of the hole in my arm and the distraction of the chase, I began to cycle it through my Meridians until it felt like there was fire in my veins.

This tunnel was long and winding, opening here and there to confused Kobolds looking down the hall. They didn’t give chase as I blew by them, heading further and further into the dark. I shot off into an open corridor.

At the end of the tunnel was another door, sealed with a wooden bar, which I lifted free before heading into the dark.

I slowed down to a jog, now, panting, until I crossed a corridor that opened in a widened chamber, stepping inside. The ashy remains of a fire still glowed with occasional embers here, though this room was smaller than the one that had burned in my previous fight. I sat against the wall, opposite the exit so that I could watch it, freeing a healing potion from my pocket.

But first, I had to remove the arrow.