Kaavi got his spear out. He stalked closer to the sleeping cyclops, his spear trained on the beast. The cyclops’ eye was open but it was the slumped shoulder, the pregnant belly softly drifting up and down, and of course the drool, that let us know it was still asleep.

Kaavi crept around the center campfire, The hues illuminated the hate on this kind boy’s face.

“Buddy,” I hissed at him, “Buddy you gotta go easy,” I shimmied up to him and whispered in his ear, “A couple of pieces of meat go missing, they won’t do anything. Kill the mate? That cyclops is going to come after us.”

“You see it?” Kaavi said, drool dropping down his lip, “You see it, don’t you? The… the… the…”

“What do I see, Kaavi? What? I see a sleeping pregnant cyclops and I see our escape ten feet the opposite direction. We gotta make sure Huy and Barth are okay too.”

Kaavi stared at me and suddenly, I saw him. Kaavi the orphan. Kaavi who’s village had been slaughtered. Kaavi who had been holding a grudge all this time, “It’s chest,” Kaavi said.

You had to think cyclops were rare. They were dangerous and big. It was a priority for human civilization to kill them. My guess is there were only a handful in this country. So the fact that the pregnant cyclops had a giant ax-wound on their sternum shouldn’t have been that big of a shock. By Kaavi’s expression, I could tell this was the very same cyclops that rampaged through his village.

“Kaavi…” I said, “I don’t care. How do you know stabbing that thing is going to kill it? A true strike? That only helps our strength out a little. We don’t know if a stab to the heart is going to do it in.

“Maybe not an adult cyclops…” Kaavi said as he approached, not the cyclops’ chest… but its engorged stomach.

“That kid hasn’t been born yet. It doesn’t deserve to go down for what its parent did. Let’s go.”

I grabbed his shoulder, and he shoved my arm away.”

Kaavi turned to me and said, “Egen. I’m your leader. I order you to take all the rest of them and leave. Just leave. I’ll stay.”

Kaavi and I finally made it to the cyclops. The lazy inflation of the belly drew it closer to Kaavi’s spear, then receded.

“Okay.” I whispered, “Throwing your life away is important to you. I get that. I’ll take them and we’ll leave. But just know… just know you would have made a great paladin. Because you act in everybody’s best interest. Because the Kaavi I know wouldn’t do this. So go on, kill yourself. As an act of revenge, kill the last breath of Abnub.”

Upon hearing his village’s name, he looked back at me. And suddenly, I saw him again. A look of eternal sadness behind his eyes. Kaavi who had suffered too much to not be friendly to everyone he met. This was Kaavi too. Side by side with the terrible burden of what he lost.

“Let’s go.” I said to Kaavi.

“Yeah,” Kaavi agreed.

Just then an ear shattering roar rang out. Even though the cyclops had been lead away, it felt like it was screaming right in our ears. We all dropped to our knees as we heard it, covering our ears as the pain rattled our senses.

The scream subsided and Kaavi and I both looked up at the cyclops. Eye still open. Shoulders still slumped. Pregnant belly softly goin up and down… and a finger wiping off the drool. Its singular eye twisted in its socket and landed right on us.

“Intruder.”

“Fuck.” I said.

I pulled Kaavi and we ran. The cyclops raised its hand and twisted its body, slamming us with an open palm. It caught me and ratcheted me to the ground. Kaavi turned to me and I said, “Run!”

“NO! I won’t leave you with this!” He sheathed his spear and took his sword out. The cyclops picked up its hand again and swung. It launched Kaavi against the wall of the hut. He cried out before collapsing to the ground. I wobbled as I attempted to get up.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Ynec jumped up, dangling his bone knife at her but he was clearly still shaking. Ghala ran for his and Apep’s weapons. He grabbed his sword and tossed Apep’s to him.

I stuck my sword out too, “Ghala!” I yelled.

“Aura of Shielding!” Suddenly that holographic shield appeared on all of us. When did Ghala level up?!

“Thank you!”

I turned to them and said, “Apep! Get the duchess and Porta out of here!”

“No!” Kaavi said as he wiped the blood from his mouth, “There’s too big a chance they will see the other cyclops,” He looked at Yajaira and said, “Stay at the far end of this thing. With us.”

I nodded and said, “Good point.”

The cyclops tried to waddle themselves upward, but their engorged belly made it difficult.

“Now!” Kaavi said, we all leapt forward to try to strike it.

“True Strike!” Kaavi yelled, the tip of his sword glowed white and he connected with the Cyclops. It entered about an inch in, Barely piercing its flesh. The Cyclops kicked Kaavi from their lying position. Kaavi dropped backward, blood splattering on the wall behind him.

“True Strike!” Ghala yelled as he approached. Ghala aimed for the face, the cyclops blocked and Ghala connected right with its palm. The sword Ghala was holding did not make it past the thick hide.

“It’s not working!” I yelled, “Ghala, we’ve got a second level spell for this.”

The monster once again rocketed their hand down on Ghala. Its hand slammed on Ghala’s head like a hammer. The holographic shield broke as Ghala fell against the ground. Ghala’s cries of pain rang out.

“Righteous Blade!” I called out, the entire weapon zipped with white energy. I ran toward it, but it braced against the ground and twisted its lower body at an amazing speed, launching me up into the air and hitting the slanted wall of the teepee, before dropping to the ground. My floated shield had broken, and when I looked at my weapon, the divine energy had dissipated..

Ynec came at it with the bone knife, snuck through the chaos and made some minor abrasions before the cyclops took notice. It grabbed ynec’s whole arm and twisted it. Ynec howled as he dropped to his knees, fully under the control of the cyclops.

“What are you doing in my tent?” The cyclops asked.

“You were going to make us dinner!” Ghala said as he tried to get up.

I came at it once again, but it socked me in the stomach. I have never felt a stronger force in both lifetimes. The sheer force of the punch worked its way through my parry and collided the steel of my blade with my chest, dropping me back on to my ass. I twisted and rolled to get up.

“We can't handle one,” I said to Kaavi “We can’t handle one big pregnant one and there’s a second, able-bodied one coming.”

“I know,” Kaavi attempted to get close, slashing at it but it kicked at Kaavi, and he jumped back. Now knowing how powerful those kicks were.

Fuck. There must be a spell I could do. I looked at the fire in the center. I could cause it to raise, to get so big it burned the teepee we were in. Leaving it and it’s spawn to die. I looked at Kaavi, then back at the pregnant cyclops. Or, I could focus on getting us out of there.

I took a step and Ynec howled as it squeezed his arm.

“We’ve got to get Ynec out of there.”

Ghala leapt in the air, The pregnant cyclops stuck its hand up, I ran to the middle. It stuck its other hand up. Ynec was free. He leapt behind us as we both attacked. Kaavi joined in. We all cast True Strike one more time and did our worst. Ghala got it in the same hand as before, I got it in the other hand and Kaavi got it in the thigh. This did not deter the monster. It thrashed while still on its back, knocking us all back. But Ynec was safe.

“Okay,” I said, “Everyone’s by the door, right?”

The cyclops bobbled as it tried to get up, its huge distended belly dragging on the floor as it shifted its weight. I could see the cyclops baby pressed against the edge of her stomach, already our size. Squirming from within its cavity.

As easily as I could cast fire as an elf… I could uncast it. “I reached my hand out, focused on the fire and with some Sylvan, I dimmed the fire. The quick change of light meant as the cyclops got up, it was not able to see us as we scurried out of the door.

We all got out. Some of us were more injured than others. Ghala, Kaavi, and I had sustained the most damage. Ynec’s arm was wrenched out of its socket and would need to be put back in place. Yajaira, Apep, and Porta were relatively unharmed.

Our eyes adjusted to the darkness of the night sky. We could hear the shrieking of the cyclops behind us as it began to crawl toward us.

“Run!” I yelled but as I tried to move, I noticed that something had snagged my tunic. I looked back and saw the cyclops’ finger looping through my collar.

“Wait!” I yelled at the others.

“Lose it!” Ghala yelled. He was right. Ynec reached in and snipped my tunic with his knife and we suddenly got free. We all started to run… but something was sprinting after us.

I heard Huy’s signature high pitched howls, before his furry body slammed into Kaavi’s back and dropped him to the ground. Huy rolled on the ground and sprung up.

“What happened?” I asked.

“He threw me.” Huy pointed behind us. The Cyclops’ eye glowed yellow as it barrelled toward us.

In no time, it was upon us. We drew our weapons. Kaavi gave the order for Apep and Ynec to take Yajaira and Porta and escort them safely. Us three were bloodied, bruised, and circling the drain on mana, but there was no way we could outrun this thing.

We would have to fight.