Loy and Lila

Lila stood with her spear, looking at the crowd of villagers. They cheered on her and the Agents to kill the monster. Her eyes searched for someone, but she couldn’t find the person.

‘Kill it for us!’ a man shouted.

‘Bring peace to the forest!’ shouted another.

The leader of the Agents, a man with large stature and mane for hair, waved at the crowd. ‘We will not disappoint,’ his voice roared. ‘Today you can all sleep soundly, for I will slay your nightmare!’

The villagers roared back with cheers.

‘Let’s go,’ the leader tapped on Lila’s shoulder.

‘Let’s.’

Before stepping into the forest, Lila gave a last hopeful stare toward the crowd. And to her delight, Loy pushed his way through. He wore a forest-colored outfit and carried his own spear. He joined Lila.

‘I knew you would come,’ Lila said to Loy with a smile.

He didn’t say anything back to her.

*

‘I coated the blade of my spear with deadly poison,’ Lila told Loy as they were both leading the Agents. ‘Just a drop could kill a bear immediately.’

She looked at Loy. He was facing forward and not at her.

‘You are a quiet brother, Loy. But this is too quiet. Come on,’ she elbowed him, ‘speak to me.’

Loy brought his hand up, pulling the group to a halt. He looked at the ground and saw trails. Inhumane steps left on dirt.

‘We’re coming close?’ asked the Agent leader.

Loy nodded.

They pursued the trail.

‘Okay, I get it,’ Lila continued, voice a whisper, ‘you’re mad. But I have to do this.’

‘For your stupid revenge,’ added Loy. Eyes still on the trail.

‘It’s not stupid!’

‘It is! The monster killed our father! Do you really believe that you can kill a monster that our father can’t kill?’ Loy finally looked at Lila. ‘Stupid!’

‘What’s the holdup?’ the leader asked.

‘Nothing,’ Loy answered. ‘Just a little discussion. We’re carrying onward.’

Loy hastened his steps, causing difficulties for Lila to follow along.

‘It’s not… stupid…’

‘It is.’

‘Elis has nightmares… About the monster… She’ll break if it continues…’

‘She won’t. Because we’ll be there for her. She will, however, if we both die on this hunt.’

‘Then why come?’

‘I can’t lose Elis or you.’

*

The monster was a faceless humanoid thrice the size of a human.

When an Agent cut its skin with a blade, the monster would regenerate its wound at an astonishing speed.

‘According to the record we have!’ shouted an agent.

‘Good!’ shouted the leader. ‘Circle it and we slay it without activating our Artifact!’

The agents worked together and circled the monster in unison. When the monster was focused on one side, the Agents who weren’t within its focus struck with a stabbing weapon. While the monster could regenerate wounds, it couldn’t do so if an object blocked its regeneration.

After going at the monster for a while, the leader delivered a finishing blow by stabbing his great sword at the monster’s head. It fell down and went motionless.

‘Good work!’ praised the leader. When he pulled his sword, the monster no longer regenerated.

He then turned and smiled toward Loy and Lila, ‘The village has nothing more to fear!’

‘Looks like we weren’t of any help,’ exhaled Lila to Loy.

No response.

Lila looked at Loy, but he wasn’t happy. Rather, he was skeptical.

‘Our father and a group of hunters were killed by that monster?’ he asked.

‘I suppose the Agents made it look easy.’ Lila shrugged.

‘Could there be more than one monster?’ Loy shouted to the leader.

‘What? That’s—’

In that blink of a moment, a monster appeared behind the leader out of nowhere. A 4 limbed monster thrice the size of bears. With its claws it swiped the leader and smashed him to the ground. Killing him in an instant.