I shift to another tree that is closer to the creatures. My movements went unseen by them; either I am now a bit better at this, or whatever they are doing has distracted them too much to notice me. I am one hundred percent sure they are planning on throwing the boy in a hot boiling pot to make stew. Why they did not just eat him and the man is beyond my understanding. Though, I have strong doubts that cooking both of them would make them taste better, then again I have never eaten human before.

“Want leg of big one mother” One of the monsters said, in a slow voice. It is how you would expect someone that is mentally challenged to talk. Which felt like a compliment, the fact that they have a grasp of human language is surprising to me. The monsters start to argue, presumably about who gets what piece of who, the whole charade sickens me.

I take stock of the man tied to Isaac, he wore leather armor that is gray and black in color. The armor looks custom made to fit his body, it reminds me of camouflage. The only thing he wore that is metal on him is his bracers. He also has something strap to his back, but I cannot make out exactly what it is. He has auburn hair, and a black bandana is around his neck. His eyes are close and he is muttering something, it almost looks as if he is praying.

I shift my sight to my mana vision to gaze at the man, curious to see if he is a mage. I have never seen a mage, well I have seen Isaac, and he has plans to become one. If the boys’ glow is like a mage, then that would be an easy way to spot one. The man strapped to Isaac has blue mana, which would mean he is probably not a mage. I also check the colors of the monsters around the pot. They have the same blue mana that I am use to seeing about most living things.

I watch as the man opens his eyes, he focuses on me. I pull back behind the tree, to avoid his gaze. He saw me, as if he already knew I where I am. I look again, slowly moving my head out from behind the tree.

Isaac is still unconscious, the man is trying to twist his hands free from the rope, but making little progress. I inspect my surroundings for a closer tree I can move towards. I can kill them one by one, by leading them into the forest while I hide behind the trees. I began to weave a spell as I run to another tree.

My skeleton body collides with a woman behind the tree. I quickly turn, my surprise shown by how long it takes me to react. The woman steps quickly away from me, but she stumbles. She trips and is about to fall, like a snake my hand shot out and coils around her waist, I pull her against my skeleton frame, her hands pull her against me. I feel her struggle. The shock is still plain in her eyes, she goes still as she looks at me.

“What! -” She said, in a sort of half shout, half whisper. I raise my hand to place a finger to my mouth. Her eyes grew wide, then I hear her mutter a short pray, something about guidance and protection. Honestly, what she was saying was not my current focus, it is her profound beauty that gains my attention.

I can feel her sand glass figure as I hold her. She wore tight leather, with iron bracers and knee high heel boots. Good thing I grabbed her, if she had fallen that might of been the end of me. I can always run, but then I would be back to square one, with me in a forest.

“What that!” One of the creatures said. I think may have jinxed myself, our little bump, or her voice must have alerted the creatures. I assume that they have extremely good hearing, their ears must have their uses. The situation just got worse now that they are all alerted to my position.

“Go see!” The one who is steering the pot said. The voice sounds like a cynical old lady. I start to hear footsteps, the sound gets closer, as one of the monsters is walking towards our direction.

I notice a blink in the corner of my sight, the same blinking glow of Nia’s mana. She is trying to get my attention. The fairy climbs up on the branch she is hiding behind, and starts to jump on the offshoot. The short, thin branch broke after a couple seconds of Nia jumping on it. I have never seen Nia fly away so faster after the branch breaks.

“What that.” I heard the nearby creature say. The sound of his footsteps get further away as he moves to inspect the fallen branch.

I am surprise the woman in my arms is so calm. I expected her to break away, or even stab me with one of the two daggers she had strapped to her side. My khopesh is close by, I will kill her first if she ever made any stupid moves. My hand is still around her waist, and I remove it slowly, hoping she would not fall again.

I would not save her again if she did fall. I rest my back flat against the tree, looking at the monster as he walks to the branch. Occasionally, I take quick glances back at her, she is still staring at me, I found the attention I am getting to be disturbing. I am probably overthinking it, a moving skeleton is probably not something she has seen before.

The creature moves far enough to the west of the tree that I am able to fully see it. The back of the creature is lumpy, and the only clothing it has on is a loin cloth. I move my body around the tree, so I can a better look at the others. The one referred to as mother is still steering the pot while the other two watch. Whatever is inside the pot is now starting to bubble, I may not have much time left.

I gradually start to formulate a plan in my mind. If I am quick enough I can kill the one by the branch first. I turn around, and look at the girl. Whoever she is, she is probably here to save the man tied to Isaac. Even with her long daggers, she would most likely die if she tries to fight the creatures. I point my finger to her, then to the ground, in a command to stay here. I did not want her interrupting.

I wait for the perfect moment; which is when the monster bent over to pick up the branch from the ground. I hold my khopesh in my hand tightly, then I dash forward. My body is light, and skeletons are terrifyingly fast. Combined with the black cloak I that is wrapped around me, I think look like a shadow moving in the night. I leap as I reach the monster, and land on top of its back.

I stab my khopesh firmly into its back. Despite my powerful stab, the khopesh only went halfway into the body of the creature. I hope that is enough to kill it, I thought. The monster lets out a vulgar scream, then bends backward from the pain. I hold onto its shoulder and I pull my khopesh out of its back. The creature’s throat is now exposed from arching his back, so I trust khopesh into the side its neck. This time my khopesh went all the way in and through its neck. I feel my sword cut flesh and muscle while grazing against the creature’s spine. Black blood sprayed all over the grey trees as my sword came out the other side.

I quickly jump off the back of the creature, as it goes limp. I leave my khopesh in its neck, to let it choke and die. The monster hits the ground with a thud, the impact causes a small dust cloud. I start to weave a spell, not wasting any time. I watch the beast, it coughed, then its mana blinks and fades. The beast dies, and its soul floats up from its body. I snatch the soul out of the air and squeeze it with my hand. I watch the mana from the soul flow down my arm as I absorb it. I swiftly take slide my khopesh out of its neck. Disgusting creature, but sweet sweet soul. The power that flows through me is like a drug, and I am desperate for another fix.

“My son! My boy!” The monster referred to as mother, shouted in rage. Mother takes out the branch she was using to steer the pot. She snarls and points the branch towards me.

“KILL IT!” Mother shouts at her sons. Without even a second thought they start to run towards me. Both of them push each other, as if there is a reward to whoever got to me first. They are equipped with tree trunks as weapons, they lift the trunks onto their shoulders as they run. They showed little care for their fallen brother, and are more concerned about who gets to whack me first.

Thankfully, they did not seem to be as smart as mother. The one on the right slams his brother into a tree, tree almost uproots from the impact. However, the one on the right manages to push his brother just a bit. I take several quick steps to right, hoping to dodge the incoming tree trunk. The push may have been light, but it was enough to cause a significant drop in accuracy. Everything happened so fast that I was unable to run. The branch slams down, missing me by an arm’s length. My cloak flutters from the wind made by the swing of the tree branch. The edge of tree trunk smashes into the ground, shattering and sending broken pieces of wood everywhere The swing was powerful, and I had no doubt that I would have died if it hit me.

I reinforced the weave that I have been creating all this time with most of my mana. I have to time this spell just right. I have no other choice, this spell would need direct contact with the beast. The spell is just like a really long repair thread, but instead of repairing, I reverse all the sub threads. I also changed most parts of the stop thread, so that all the intended damage would happen instantly, rather than over a period of time. I take a few sub threads from the bone thread, to use in this new spell. It is safe to say, someone is about to get their shit fucked up.

I run up the branch that the monster failed to hit me with, then I jump again. I can see the surprise in its eyes, the poor thing is still trying to catch up on exactly what is happening. I stab the creature in the shoulder with my khopesh, the pain brings it to its knee. I then slap it with my left hand hard, holding onto its puffy and fat cheek. I feel the power of my spell coiling through my arm. In my mana vision it looks like blue electricity wrapping around my arm.

I welcome the unleashing of the spell as dark blue light explodes out of my hand. The explosion consumes the creature's head with its glow.

Yippy-ki-yay, motherfucker!!!

I watch as skin, flesh, and bone peel off the creature's face in an explosion.