The nights at the Cairns were never dark. Every torch and cresset were set ablaze and the fiery light of their flames was reflected back to sea by the uniform white walls of the huts. The whole cliff was like an enormous torch.

Tonight, the moon had hidden half of its face. The clouds had long been driven away by the persistent wind revealing a generous sprinkle of stars twinkling high above.. It was cool and calm with the music of the waves rushing towards the bottom of the cliff. The harbours and the docked ships were all quiet. Only the nocturnal animals, cats, dogs and rats seemed to still roam around.

Hours passed and it was already late in the night. Even the guards at the sentry points were dozing off. Suddenly the flame of a lantern that was hung not far away from the old elf’s hut, became erratic spinning in all directions. Quickly, it spun itself into a little cyclone, and it kept growing until the red hot flame pressed upon the glass panels of the lantern melting them down. The fire cyclone tumbled out of the lantern and melted the air into a big hole. The air kept melting all the way down to the terrace leaving a gloomy dark doorway, so dark that it looked distinctly separate from the darkness of night. Out of this dark doorway emerged three figures.

The middle one, a lanky being with dark grey complexion, wearing nothing but a leather skirt adorned with strips of steels, seemed to be the leader. He was about eight feet tall and had a rather mischievous handsome face and clumpy hair of darker grey. He also had on a metal headband with engraved runic symbols all around. From his back sprouted two giant dragon wings, which looked as if he was about to take flight. His upper body, arms and legs, were covered with runic symbols glowing faintly in blue. He was holding a large black sabre of odd shape. His eyes perused the situation and said,

“Hmm, what a miserable place.”

He was flanked by two angular beings. They had flat sharp foreheads, bulky sharp-edged muscles and were at least one head taller than the middle being. Their eyes glowed in eerie blue.

“What’s your order, Master Deth?”

“Well,” he answered in a bored tone, “grab the old fart, like the other old fart had said. And be quick. I want to get out of here. This is such a horrible place. And why they have to bother me? Such an elementary task. You two could have done it. Urggh. Such tranquillity, this place is sickening.”

Without a word, the two angular beings stepped forward and headed to a hut in front. They were so heavy that their steps shattered the bricks. Suddenly, the small table in front of the old elf’s hut trembled and fell over. It caught their eyes and the two stopped. Deth thought it strange. Did the wind do it? It doesn’t feel windy.

A black goo flowed out from the table top and formed a big puddle right in front of the hut. It looked like someone had just spilled a barrel of black oil on the terrace. From the puddle of blackness, a different being rose up, completely black like the shadow itself. As it rose, the puddle of goo contracted. It looked exactly like the one from the card that Finkler imprinted into the table, only now, it was huge, almost fifteen feet tall, with comically short legs and long fat body, holding a long oversized broadsword that was wider at the point and sporting a bull horns helmet. When the monster was complete, the puddle was gone.

Deth could see right through its eyes and mouth, right to the dark sky with twinkling stars behind. His body was completely smooth and without a single wrinkle, line or edge as if he was made of black glass. It was unclear what kind of monster was this and he was standing right in front of the old elf’s hut facing the three beings.

“Who are you?” one of the angular beings asked. The leader who remained behind became intrigued by the nature of this monster. “Move away.”

The monster did not reply. But a voice came from behind it.

“I thought I recognized a rat hole. And out came the rats.”

The three were surprised. They could not detect his presence. Only the really powerful ones could evade their senses like that. “Show yourself,” the angular being said.

Slowly, the owner of the voice walked out from behind the monster and stood calmly next to him on the side nearer to the door of the hut. The proportionality was humorous. He was only as tall as the black monster’s waist.

“Get lost, this is none of your business. And we are not rats.”

“How do you know this is not my business?” By now, it was clear that the person was Finkler.

The grey being continued, “O, shut up. Interrupter. Rescuer. Can’t you see. He’s protecting the old fart. We’ll settle this. All you need is a good slash right across the stomach. You get to watch your guts falling out, baldy.” Deth laughed in a maddening tone. “Finally, some action. Let’s start.” He strengthened his stance and got ready to pounce with his giant dragon wings.

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As if the consciousness of the three dark beings were connected, the two angular beings charged, one at the monster and the other, at Finkler.

Finkler whispered to the black monster, “Get the one behind. He’s interesting.”

The black monster nodded and leaped forward in one massive jump. It catapulted itself over the two angular beings who could only looked from below, somersaulted and descended towards the one they called Master Deth. The swiftness and height of the jump caught the two by surprise. Actually, no one would have thought a monster of this size could jump so cleanly and so gracefully as a catman. The two, having made their charge were caught by their own momentum. It was quite impossible to reverse. They looked at each other and decided to charge on, at the diminutive one.

Finkler took note of the two and cast a fairy shield, they called the Resplendent Shield on himself. The spherical, bluish, almost translucent, with a tinge of rainbow colours when light was coming at a certain angle, shield would protect anyone within from any physical or magical attacks. It was one of the best shield in the business of shielding. Finkler could cast the shield in a blink of an eye, a mark of a powerful magician.

Almost simultaneously, they all reached their targets. The black monster was crashing onto Deth, feet first. It delivered a massive downward cut from above. Deth had little time to react and so, he clenched his grey sabre tightly and blocked the cut. Immediately, he felt the massive downward force exerted on him through the sabre. It bent his knees but he withstood the force transferring it all to the terrace which shook and cracked. The impact eventually went to the foundation below which were cantilever beams, with diagonal braces, extended out from the cliff. The beams were solid. The tremor only shook out all the dust which had been collecting on them all these years.

The two angular beings reached Finkler and delivered their blows. They hit the shield and their fists stopped there. They could not go forward, not even a tiny fraction of a feet. Finkler could see them now clearly, upclose, right in front of his eyes.

“What are you? You are not rock monsters.”

Finkler could see the beings were made out of rocks and boulders seemingly glued together by some energy. The rocks and boulders still had some plant life like algae and mosses on them. Their eyes glowed in eerie blue. They had no mouth nor nose. They looked as if they were wearing helmets, from which only the eyes were visible. Finkler’s held his right hand up, as if he was cupping his favourite brandy. Immediately, a cloud of pink twinkling swirling dust appeared and collected above his palm like a cloud of imminent storm.

The pink dust blossomed into Hexes, which were planar hexagons, very pink and partly translucent. As the angular beings began punching again, the Hexes stirred and flew like shots from a gun slicing through the rock beings. The upper body of the rock beings cracked and chipped off. They were thrown back by the impact and fell onto the terrace. Their enormous weights made the terrace quake and several crack lines formed circles around them. Their bodies were now cracked in many places but the strange energy held them together as if nothing had happened. The large boulders which previously formed their chests and biceps were now cracked and shattered into smaller pieces. Each crack and each shattered pieces represented the path that the Hexes had went through.

Almost at once, they got up and darted towards Finkler. They began pounding the shield with their fists of rocks and with every punch, the rocks that formed those fists fractured. Their punches were mighty. Every punch shook the terrace for the shield transferred the punching force to where it sat, the terrace. On the other side, the black monster and the grey monster were exchanging blows with their enormous weapons and at a very quick speed, leaping here and there, one charged while the other dodged, one attacked while the other blocked, their weapons clanged hitting each other and also the huts and the balustrade, destroying the facade and disturbing the sleep of the residents. Some came out to see, some stayed, some went back to sleep. Fights were pretty normal. The guards would soon be here to settle the score. Nothing to be alarmed about.

Then a strange voice was heard. He was speaking clearly but slowly, drawn out, word by word.

“At … this … rate … they … are … going … to … destroy … my … hut … before … you … can … destroy … them …”

It was the old caretaker. He said it as he walked out of his hut step by step, slowly but resolutely, towards the two rock beings. He had been standing at the doorway, observing and shaking his head slowly as a sign of his utmost displeasure.

By nature, he was a slow being. His walking was slow, even his talking was slow. And due to his slowness, he would usually avoid all motions, even the motion of his mouth. His favourite activity would be sitting on his favourite chair by the window in the kitchen, dozing off or watching the cliff wall very attentively. He had never cooked for he was too slow to work with the fire. All foods were ordered from the nearby cafés. He had not even swept the floor or cleaned the bathroom. The old elf had to hire extra help. Though the old elf was very displeased with the situation, but he had never reproached the caretaker. Somehow, he accepted the nature of this being and there was no reason to push on things endowed by nature. Thus, instead of the caretaker taking care of him, he took care of the caretaker, providing him with lodging, foods and helpers, all at his own cost. On top of that, he also gave him a generous salary.

But tonight was different. The fight rocked the terrace. Finkler examined the caretaker and thought it odd that a feeble slow old apeman like him would want to get involved in the fight. Perhaps, he’s not that feeble after all, he thought.

The two beings stopped punching and turned to the caretaker. One of them charged towards him. Finkler thought of casting a Bubble Shield to encase the being but thought better of it. He wanted to see who the real caretaker was. But he prepared the spell anyway and would cast it at the very last moment if the caretaker was indeed a feeble slow old apeman.