Paige stood face to face with the fire leviathan.

“You are very small,” it hissed, sparks leaping from its lashing tongue.

“And you smell like burnt toast,” she replied flippantly, “But I wasn’t going to say anything ‘cause it is rude to insult people like that.”

The creature’s eyes were like large chunks of coal, black and emotionless. They narrowed, scanning the tiny intruder, “What does someone your size wish to accomplish by being here?”

“I’m here to take your stupid test. I’d have been here earlier but they let some losers in before me. So what’s the test?” Paige demanded.

“Patience,” the creature slowly replied, “You’re too hasty.”

Silence fell over the room as Paige waited for more of an answer.

“So wha...”

“SILENCE!” the monster roared.

Paige rolled her eyes and started tapping her foot. The creature watched her with interest before slowly moving its giant head down within inches of her face. She could feel the burning heat, but did not back away. This seemed to impress the Leviathan.

“I have the perfect test for you, stubborn girl. We will see where your true strength lies.”

The earth next to her rumbled, ripping violently apart, two large rectangular shields, rising out from the steaming fissures. They were made of thick steel and reflected the flames of the fire creating the beast, “These shields are flame and heat resistant, do you know what that means?” The creature mocked.

“I’m not stupid.” Paige retorted.

“Indeed….” The creature seemed to be struggling with sarcasm, “The shields will assist you in your test. You have a strong spirit girl, but this challenge will put that to the test.”

Paige walked over to the shields, they were cold, very cold. She tried to lift one, but the huge slab of metal wouldn’t budge. “How am I supposed to use these if I can’t even lift them?” she complained.

The creature started to leave the room, “He will help you with that.”

With its final comment said, Fire receded, the room elongating into the same hallway Rocko had fought through.

Paige stood alone in the giant room. The two large shields by her side. What did the creature mean by ‘He’? The room was completely empty. Paige placed a hand on one of the shields, “It’s so heavy, and about the same size as me,” she thought out loud.

A ghostly apparition appeared in front of her, causing her to jump back in fright.

“You are weak,” its voice wheezed. It sounded like death itself. A chill ran up her spine as she gazed at the skeleton like figure. Rags surrounded its male physique, body and bones seemingly slipping between two worlds and hollow eye sockets staring relentlessly at her. It was like staring at a hologram. “You need me,” it continued slowly.

Paige took a breath and calmed herself, “Who are you?”

“I am what I am. I will help you,” the figure said, drifting slowly towards her.

Paige started to back away, not taking her eyes off it. The figure closing the distance quickly, despite her retreat, gliding effortlessly over the ground. Paige stumbled backwards, tripping on a large rock. She fell backwards, hitting the ground hard. Screaming, she squeezed her eyes shut in terror, the figure crouching down menacingly over her. When she finally pulled herself together, she forced her eyes to open and saw the ghost had moved away.

Something’s not right here… Paige thought, Wait a second! Where are his arms?

“What’s going on?” Paige quivered, mentally assessing herself to make sure she wasn’t hurt.

The figure was becoming dimmer, fading into oblivion, “They are yours for the test.”

And then it was gone. Paige sat on the ground in shock, “What the hell was that?” She yelled into the emptiness, “Real funny prank you jerks!”

She climbed to her feet, but her arms felt strange. Like everything was almost weightless. She picked up a stone and threw it. It easily travelled the distance of the room and clattered noisily against the door at the other end. A thoughtful expression crossed her face and she made her way to the shields that were firmly wedged into the ground that had closed back up.

She grasped one of them with both hands, lifting it easily out of the ground. She found that with this new strength, she could just carry the two shields, one in each hand but not much more. She began to walk with them through the hall. It seemed she had been given strength in her arms and the weight of the shields soon tired the rest of her body. She had to regularly pause to rest the shields on the ground.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Half dragging, half carrying the heavy pieces of steel, she stared down the corridor the Leviathan had created. It was fifty meters long and she was only a third of the way down. “This test is stupid. Lugging these stupid pieces of metal through a stupid corridor,” she spat angrily into the nothingness.

Raising the shields each side, she took two steps forward. A loud blast on her right smashed into the shield, sending her sprawling across the ground. Ending up in a pile against the left wall, she pushed the shields off in a rage, “What the hell was that?!”

On the ground next to where she had been knocked to, was what looked like a small meteorite. It was glowing red hot and smoke was steadily rising from it. Paige examined the shield that was hit. There was no damage, only a scuff of dirt which she rubbed off with her thumb. She could now see the hole in the wall where the rock had come from. Paige cautiously took a step towards it, shield held nervously in front of her. A second fire ball shot out from behind her just missing her left shoulder, but clipping the shield, knocking it from her hand. The first hole soon launched another projectile, but Paige was already on the ground from the near miss.

“Stupid rocks!” she cried out.

She retreated, crawling over and sitting against the wall near the beginning of the corridor. One shield lay against a wall and the other on the ground where she had dropped it, the first in the line of fire from the vicious rocks. She rested for a few minutes before returning to her feet. A large bruise had formed on her left thigh, she hadn’t noticed it through the adrenaline, guessing it was from the shield slamming into her. Trudging over, she picked up the shield that lay against the wall. It was still the same weight, and still comfortable to carry for her. She angled the shield and walked forward. Another rock shot out of the wall, this time deflecting off her shield and embedding itself into the wall across the room. The hits force caused her to step backwards, but the impact was a little less severe. The holes in the wall were moving, somehow repositioning so that they would always hit her.

Ok, I won’t be able to dodge these, I just need to keep deflecting and make my way to the end.

Another fired out and hit her shield unprepared. The force sent her rolling backwards and onto the floor where the other shield rested. She groaned and shakily returned to her feet, dragging herself out of the firing line, she collected the second shield and now had one in each hand. She formed them into an ‘A’ frame over her. Crouching down she slowly started walking through the hallway.

‘Bang!’

The first rock hit her hard on the right. She staggered sideways, ears ringing, but carried on forwards.

‘Bang!’

A second bounced off her left shield, shunting her back to the desired path, she crouched more so the shields had even more angle, deflecting the shots easier.

Her body was cramped with pain. But she pressed on down the line receiving blow after blow, the randomness of the projectiles kept her guessing which side would be struck next. Her arms on the other hand remained strong. She could now feel exactly where the strength ended in her arms and tiredness flowed through from that distinct point. She had only twenty meters to go but the rocks seemed to be coming faster now.

“Get it together Paige. You are not going to let some stupid rocks beat you are you?” her anger seemed to renew a bit of strength, she kept talking as she walked, spurring herself on, “That’s right, they are just a bunch of stupid rocks. Sure, they hit hard but that’s all their shit life consists of. Firing at Paige and being denied the privilege of knocking her down!” She yelled.

She neared the end of the hall when her left leg gave out and she collapsed, shields clattering to the ground at her sides, she tried desperately to crawl out of the kill zone when rocks blasted from both sides of her simultaneously. Paige shut her eyes, losing to stupid rocks, this is embarrassing… she thought, waiting for the excruciating impact, but none came. She slowly opened an eye and saw the rocks barely moving in midair, as though the air around them had become a thick gel. The ghost returned, now fully complete. His arms were horizontal, holding both projectiles.

“Who are you?” Paige muttered bewildered.

“You have true strength and determination Paige. You only quit when your body would no longer allow you to operate. You are worthy to pass these doors,” the figure breathed.

“But I can’t move,” Paige cried.

“You may borrow my strength once more,” he slowly vanished, the rocks falling stiffly to the ground.

She felt strength return to her body. It was not the same strength that had filled her arms, but it was enough for her to move. Paige wobbled to the end of the hallway to where the pair of doors faced her. A yellow orb poked out from between them at her eye level like some sort of weird key. She examined it closely, it was nearly golden in color, with a black image of a fist inside it. Paige couldn’t help but run her hand over it. As soon as she made contact, it jolted out half an inch. Paige’s hand jumped backwards before cautiously holding it, giving a testing pull. It slid out easily. The orb sat on top of a metallic rod about a foot long.

The heavy doors unlocked and Paige limped through. Jake, Rocko, and Sam looked up when she entered.

Sam looked at the bruises covering her arms and legs, “You look like someone just beat the crap out of you.”

“Watch your mouth or I’ll beat the crap out of you,” Paige shot back before falling to her knees.

Jake ran over to help her up, “You ok?”

“I’ll be fine pretty boy. I don’t need your help,” she tried to push him away but her own shove sent her falling backwards.

Rocko was still staring the orb he had obtained, “Just leave her if she is going to be a cow.”

Paige struggled to her feet, “What the hell is your problem? When did what I do concern you?” she staggered over like she was half drunk and stood in front of a seated Rocko.

He stood up and looked down at her. Jake chuckled, this must have been what it was like watching David fight Goliath.

“Nothing you do concerns me. I know your type. All fiery because your short and have a compulsive need to prove yourself to the world,” he glared down at her.

“Please wait for me to give a damn about what you think,” Paige screamed, “You think you’re so tough because you’re a giant, and built like a rock. Well I just fought over a hundred rocks, ‘Rocko!’, and let me tell you something, they hit a hell of a lot harder than you ever could.”

Jake let out a laugh, “Rocko... Heh, I am definitely calling you that from now on.”

“Shut up Jake,” Paige screamed.

“Rocko and Psycho...” he muttered.

Paige glared at him, “I will pretend I didn’t hear that!” She turned back to the large man, “Just stay out of my way Rocko.”

“With pleasure. I am out of here after this any way. So I will gladly never see you again,” he muttered.

Sam sat on his chair, his eyes shut and a strange smile spread across his face.