“Kah, kah, kah…” The monster limped towards Flint.

The boy stepped back. “It’s coming closer!”

Barama sighed. “Stop playing around, the mangolins are waiting.”

The creature only had a single empty eye socket under its charred brow since only half of its face remained. Yet the gaze of that hole injected uneasiness inside Flint. He felt a chill digging under his skin. That monster wasn’t a zombie, neither a ghoul. It was something unknown.

The crackling noise from the joints grew louder as the creature arched its spine forward. Before the boy had the time to react, the monster lunged at him. It sprinted, although most of the muscles had been lost to the rot. Tall legs provided it a speed boost.

“Shit!” Flint turned back and tried to run, but a burning pain erupted by the back of his waist, forcing him to stumble and fall. He used his arm to protect his face before hitting the sand of the shore. The monster had swung its arm to strike a blow in his hips.

“What? Who’s there?” Barama believed the boy now. “Show yourself, coward! Face me!”

The lizard-man dropped the sack off his back and unfolded a sharp machete. Rushing back to the lake, he randomly swung the blade against the air, in the hopes to hit the invisible creature.

Flint system started to mass produce adrenaline. Raising his head, he looked at the creature. Eerily unmoving, it was standing still over the spot where the boy was previously. He tried to get back on his feet, but his legs felt weak. He only managed to scrape his sole against the sand, and the stinging pain on the back of his waist didn’t make it any easier.

As he struggled to get up, his trembling fingers touched a solid and cylindrical object.

It was a spear. Flint grabbed it and got back on his feet with the support of the rod. He held that wooden lance close to his chest with both of his hands.

“Where’s it?” Barama asked. “Where’s it Flint? I’ll kill it!”

The boy took a second to answer. He raised his right arm and pointed at the unmoving corpse. Barama dashed and attacked its back. The lizard still couldn’t see the monster, but the blade of the machete had connected with its charred skin. Something was there, invisible.

But what would be its next move?

What if it was now in a defensive position?

What if it had moved away?

What if it was about to counter-attack?

Barama repeatedly swung his blade against whatever was in front, but all the doubts made his grip hesitate. The creature kept still while being repeatedly attacked. All the machete strikes didn’t make the monster even flinch.

“It’s dying!” Barama exclaimed, now using both of his hands to hold the machete.

“No… It’s alive… Looking at me…” Frozen in place, Flint couldn’t keep his gaze away from the monster’s hollow eye.

A cold consumed his limbs, growing from the tips of his fingers. Not because of the air, nor the fog. His body didn’t wish to move, he already gave up. That creature was the reaper. Death had come, and life can’t escape. It was that simple. He ran out of time, that’s why only he could see this death angel. Why even fear? All life dies anyway, he just had to give in. A dry laughter forced its way out from his freezing lips.

“Boy! What’re you doing?” Barama yelled as he kept swinging his weapon. “I fight it! Run! RUN!”

As lightning and thunder, those words pulled Flint from a trance.

Fear had overwhelmed him, to the point his own mind tried to convince itself that giving up and dying was for the best. But Barama shook him off with a gleam of hope… Flint could still use his arms to fight. Determined to act, he tightened the grip on his spear. The lizard-man had ordered him to run, but was that the right thing to do? No. He would attack the monster as well.

But… That corpse… The void in his gnawed head… Flint stared deep into that charred hole again… It whispered Death, Death, Death… For each Death, a dreadful shiver grew on him. How ironic, earlier that day he almost killed a person, and a few minutes ago Barama had reaped the life from two living beings. Yet, now that death had come for him, the world warped and twisted. How can death be something so meaningless and meaningful at the same time? Maybe it isn’t death… Maybe life is at fault… What’s the difference between the two anyway? He should just give–

“What’re you doing? Move!” Barama shouted.

Flint snapped out of it again. Every time he looked at the monster, he would be imprisoned in a trance. He couldn’t fight it… There was no way. What kept locking him in that state? Was it fear? Or was it magic? He didn’t know.

“Kah! Kah! Kah!”

The unmoving creature started to flail its arms short of notice. Its limbs swung like an enraged drunkard. One of the arms delivered a liver shot on Barama with its right forearm. His organ stretched and twitched inside the ribcage. A sparkle pinched his brain, sending a crude shiver of agony down his spine.

“Agh!” The lizard bared his teeth trying to withstand the pain. He lost his balance and abruptly fell backward. A thorny bush swallowed his body.

“I… I can’t fight it…” Flint muttered to himself.

His determination loosened, as did the grip on the spear. At that moment, he knew there was only one thing left to do…

“I have to run…”

He had to go back to the castle, and barricade. Those walls would protect him. Even that pesky Demon Queen could help. But what about Barama? The lizard was defenseless and thrown on the ground…

“There’s nothing I can do… It’s not my fault!”

A bitter swallow ripped its way down Flint’s throat. His trembling legs started to move following the line of the shore. He ran away from the monster, and his hunting teacher.

“Even said to me run! It’s his own fault…”

Even though that lizard hadn’t hesitated to jump at danger for his sake, Flint just fled. What thoughts jolted inside his head?

I’ve known this dumb lizard for just a day anyway, why should I care?

Oh… Then just keep running, fucking idiot.

Flint feed himself excuses to justify leaving Barama at the mercy of the monster.

“KAH! KAH! KAH! KAH!”

But that creature wouldn’t let the boy go so easily. A single horn grew out from the remains of its half-forehead. It had the same shape of a unicorn horn. No, the same shape of a horned rabbit’s. The corpse stopped flailing around and concentrated.

If life isn’t going towards death, the reaper can just walk and cut short the string of the living. That’s what the monster did. Arching its back, the creature prepared to sprint against Flint for the second time, but now, it had a horn with the size of a foot.

“KAH! KAH! KAH! KAH!”

The boy looked over his shoulder. The monster lunged forward, aiming his chest!

Three seconds left.

Live or die! Flight or fight!

Two seconds left.

... Just aim a spear at it, the creature kills itself for you. A brief memory encouraged Flint to return his grip on the spear. Furrowing his brows, he turned back to the monster.

One second left.

Pointing the spear to the front, he firmed his feet on the ground. He tried to shut his eyes, but the adrenaline denied it.

Zero.

The corpse charged against the spear, impaling its neck. That wasn’t enough to stop the momentum. Cracking in two, the pole gave in to the impact. Unfortunately, the horn kept going forward and pierced through Flint’s left forearm. It drilled a hole over his skin, fat, muscle and bone. A desperate cry escaped his lungs.

As the boy screamed, their bodies started to fall. The horn detached from the monster’s forehead and kept stuck inside Flint’s forearm. They collapsed on the ground.

Silence at last.

*****

Barama, putting his hands over his chest, struggled to get up from the bush. For how long was he unconscious? The lizard hoped that his apprentice managed to run away. Unfortunately, the boy’s body was over the shore.

“Boy! Boy!”

Something was floating close to his body… It seemed like some sort of wooden rod. The lizard-man gasped. Not even taking the time to grab his machete, he sprinted towards that floating object. His assumption was right: It was the front half of a spear.

He tackled it, taking down something invisible to the sand. Holding it with his left hand, Barama raised his right arm and exposed five sharp claws. Without hesitation, he slashed whatever was lying down with him.

He didn’t know what he attacked, but he his claws sank deep on its flesh. A flame burdened his heart.

Not enough.

Swing after swing, his right arm got tired. His biceps contracted, but he still wanted to keep attacking that thing… He would start using his left now. As the lizard started to raise his arm, he saw Flint lying on the ground. Barama had forgotten about him …

The outrage vanished. At that moment, there was a matter more important to be dealt with.

“Boy!” Barama held him by the shoulders.

Blood was gushing out from the left forearm. There was a nasty hole, bits of broken bone mixed within. The lizard-man ripped the right sleeve from the cotton shirt of the boy and used it to cover it. “Hang in there!”

He took Flint in his arms and ran towards the castle…

*****

“Uncle! Uncle!” The little girl desperately grabbed the feathers from the old man’s wings.

“What is it?! Can’t you see I am in the middle of something?”

“He… He’s dying again!”

“Just let it go this time, I bet there are better-”

“I. Want. That. One.” She stomped her feet for each word she said.

“Ah… Fine.” He turned to me. “Hey, do your thing again…”

No.

The little girl scowled. “WHAT?! WHY?! He ordered you! OBEY HIM! NOW!”

I said no. I already intervened once, if I keep invading, I might get revealed.

The old man shrugged. “She is right… It would be a disaster if she was discovered”

“Then… Then… What do I do? I don’t want him to die!”

It’s simple… We pray.