His spear pierced the thick scales of the nearest Hellwolf, the monster collapsing to the ground as black ichor exploded from the new hole in its head. Florian held his ground, waiting for the next of the numerous creatures around him to challenge him. The driver, in the meantime, unloaded her ammunition at the beasts, dropping them as the bullets found their targets.

Fearful of the ranged weapon, the six or so Hellwolves around them immediately tried to run past Florian and to his reluctant ally. Wiping ichor from his face, Florian ran to meet them in their charge. At the last moment before impacting with them, Florian lunged and speared a Hellwolf through the roof of its open mouth. It, too, stopped moving very shortly afterwards.

Withdrawing the weapon, Florian had barely a second before some of the thing’s allies were on him. Knowing that it would take too long to extricate his spear, Florian used a tactic that only worked at this close range; he summoned a small orb of water and launched it into the mouth of yet another Hellwolf. It crumbled mid-charge, writhing on the ground.

Turning his attention to the other three creatures, Florian found that one of them was already downed by the driver’s supporting fire, and the other two had backed away. They regarded him with much more caution than before, but ultimately attacked – this time with their maws closed. Unable to abuse the previous weakness, Florian imbued his spear with even more mana, the blue glow brighter than he had ever seen it.

Then he swung the weapon, the small edge of the spear cleaving the monsters in half as they crossed into its path. Their heads landed a few feet away from their bodies, their eyes dead and coal-like. A small headache started to build, but Florian did not feel relief. Loud thuds echoed throughout the fortress, and a pair of those giant monsters appeared. With flaming hair and hulking frames, Florian felt the grin on his face grow even wider.

“Come on, you fuckers!” he yelled, brandishing his spear at the crimson-skinned titans. His taunt, surprisingly, seemed to work. They looked at each other for a moment and charged simultaneously. Florian was more than happy to meet their charge with spear extended, much like the pikemen of old defending against a cavalry attack.

But unlike the pikemen of old, Florian’s spear literally dissolved into a molten mess upon contacting one of the giants’ skin. Instead of pushing the weapon deep into its body with the help of the giant’s own momentum, Florian found himself without a weapon. The crack of gunfire barely registered at this point, and Florian focused hard on something he felt might work.

Before he could begin, however, the giant closest to him – the giant he had tried to spear – slammed its weapon down on the ground next to him, missing him as he dodged just in the nick of time. The blow still managed to throw Florian off his feet, and he landed closer to the other giant, who looked on at him with its brutish features locked into what might have been a smirk. It too, swung.

Here, Florian knew that he needed to succeed. A globe of water appeared in front of him. It began to quickly change, narrowing into a spike and rapidly solidifying into ice. The headache that had begun to build reached a new crescendo, but Florian ignored it absolutely. His enemy’s tree-club was already on a downward trajectory when Florian launched the table-sized icicle into the monster’s eye. Already committed to its attack, the giant could do nothing as the icicle drove straight through its eye and into its brain.

Unfortunately, while it meant that the thing should die, it also meant that Florian was, for lack of better terms, in a serious pickle. He pushed off with all his might, gaining just enough ground that the bat only impacted with his wooden leg, turning it into a pile of splinters. Alas, this most recent maneuver put him even closer to the other giant. It wanted revenge.

His head, like his heart, pounded like a war drum. Task not yet finished, Florian began to form another icicle. And yet, this giant would not give him the chance, smashing the unfinished projectile as it formed with a meaty fist. The rage coursed through his veins, adrenaline replacing the Control Florian had exerted on his spells.

This time, he heard the gunfire more clearly, and as the bullets forced the giant to move its hands away from him, Florian knew that this was an opportunity. Focusing all of his remaining mental stamina on one final spell, Florian pulled the water from the air. Another table-sized glove formed, but this time it was directly above the giant. And now, Florian pulled the heat from the water, imagining the excess flittering away into the surrounding area.

A massive icicle hung over the giant’s head like a sword of Damocles, and as the mostly-naked creature reached to swing its club for the final time, Florian let his weapon fall. No longer suspended in the air by virtue of Florian’s magic, it crashed to the Earth immediately. The ice clashed with the hotness of the creature’s skin, creating a cloud of steam that scalded him. But the shard was large, and Florian had caught his enemy unawares. A portion of the icicle was left after the giant had exhausted its natural defenses, but it was enough to knock the creature onto the ground, clearly stunned.

Florian stumbled to his feet, refusing to answer oblivion’s call as he felt the blackness close around his vision. “Give me your gun!” he called, catching the rifle as the driver through it over. Then, pointing the old-age weapon at the giant’s face, Florian paused.

“This is for George and his family,” he whispered, pulling the trigger. The gun cracked, its muzzle flashing and delivering a bullet onto the thing’s nose. But Florian missed his target. Then he tried again, and again, and again. Eventually, until one of his bullets had found its home in the giant’s eye, and the thing stilled.

The last thing he remembered was falling to the ground, a lady hovering over him with a worried look on her face. He tried to assure her he was fine, but the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth. And then the darkness claimed him too.

His hands went for his chest, gripping the silver locket he found there tightly. As his vision turned to black, Florian just hoped that he would be able to open his eyes once more. He wasn’t done.