The tension in the air was palpable until a long dark shadow finally charged into the light from the shadows, heading directly for Eliza.

Reacting quickly, Eliza stepped to the side and stabbed with the spear at the moving shadow. She landed a blow on the thing's head that pierced through its hardened black carapace. Eliza retracted her spear, coated in an icky dark green substance.

The thing made it a few more steps toward the rest of the group before it collapsed onto the ground. It was a creature Eliza had never seen before, made up of three separate body segments; the lower two segments were similar to ants with long spindly legs. The third section held two scythe-like arms and a head similar to a Mantis. Out of the head, still twitching, extended tentacles sprawled on the ground. She could see no eyes.

Eliza looked up from what she presumed to be a Rakna to see Leah frantically looking at her.

“Dodge!” She yelled.

Quickly Eliza spun, looking back to where the Rakna had come from. She looked just in time to see several luminescent projectiles heading directly for her. Instantly she kicked the ground, dashing to the side. The projectiles flew right by her and splattered against the ground. She looked back to see a puddle of a translucent clear blue liquid pooling around where she had just been.

She almost breathed a sigh of relief when suddenly her right arm began to burn. Looking down, she saw that some of the substance had splattered onto her right forearm.

Desperately she let go of the spear with her left hand and swiped at the scalding substance to get it off. But that only worsened the situation. Swiping at it caused Her left hand to stick to her right arm; no matter how she pulled, it wouldn’t come away. And then a moment later, her left hand also began to burn.

She clenched her teeth from the pain; It was burning so intensely that pain lanced up both her arms, and her vision for a moment seemed to fill with white spots as, combined with her lack of strength due to hunger, She struggled to keep herself standing.

In the corner of her eye, she caught sight of several more projectiles heading towards her, and she dodged out of the way, making sure that no more of the substance got onto her. But no matter where she went, more projectiles seemed to find their way toward her. That was when she heard Demitrus yell,

“Stop moving, you idiot,” he said as he threw a stone.

The idea seemed so idiotic because she would surely get covered in the stuff if she stopped. But as far as she could tell, not one bit of the substance had been directed towards the others who were standing still. And as much as she hated to admit it, they understood these Demons better than her. So bracing herself, she stopped.

The stone he threw skipped across the ground in the direction she was heading. A moment later, as if magnetized, The wads of the substance flew by her and hit the stone where it landed. And then the projectiles stopped.

A few tense moments passed before the Rakna started to come out of the darkness. They moved slowly, tapping their scythe-like arms onto the ground every so often. The tentacles coming out of their heads writhed as if tasting the air. They came out one by one until there were eight of them, including the one that lay dead. On average, they stood about as high as Eliza’s stomach, making them pretty small.

The Rakna’s began to spread out. Three of them came towards the stone and, by extension, Eliza. The rest went towards the dead Rakna lying next to the rest of the group.

Everyone held still, the Rakna getting closer and closer. Finally, when the Rakna were seemingly close enough, Demitrus and Leo simultaneously struck.

Demitrus dashed forward and slashed with his sword, the blade easily cutting the Rakna in half.

Likewise, Leo dashed forward, throwing a hook into the side of the Rakna’s head. The shell cracked and splintered under the force and the hit; The Rakna collapsed to the ground.

However, almost as soon as they had moved, every Rakna responded simultaneously. Turning to face Leo and Demitrus.

When the three near her turned around, Eliza saw that as her cue to rejoin the fight.

Immediately she bolted to the right of the rightmost one, placing it in front of her and the other two. Sensing her, it turned to face her as she jabbed down at its head; the spear hit but glanced off its shell. It responded by slashing up at her with its scythelike arms, forcing Eliza to back off a step; it then scuttled back a few steps and fell behind the other two who had turned around at this point.

The two in front charged at her, and she jabbed the spear down at the left one who arrived first. The spear hit again, but the Rakna twisted its body at the last moment, turning the hit into a glancing blow. However, it did get it to back off a bit, giving her a brief moment before the next one arrived. She swung the butt of the spear, hitting the Rakna’s mid-section, causing it to back off.

She was frustrated because she couldn’t get any good hits with this blasted substance on her arm and hand. The burning seemed to only grow in intensity, and Eliza could feel her muscles beginning to spasm as she struggled to keep a grip on the spear. Worse still, she was being pushed out of the light from the torch, and soon it would be hard even to see them.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The last thing she wanted was to be stuck in the dark with these things. She started to circle towards the rest of the group, but the one in the back reared onto its hind legs. The multitude of long writhing tentacles that lined the bottom of its abdomen extended out, probing the air for something.

Seemingly finding what they were looking for, they rolled in on themselves before bursting back out, expelling a wad of the luminescent liquid directly into her path. She stopped, jumping back just before it hit her and it spread over the ground. One of the nearby Raknas’ scuttled in front of her and blocked off her path of escape.

The Rakna were obviously coordinating together somehow. A bead of sweat trailed down the side of her face as the Raknas began to close in again. The Raknas surged forward, and Eliza swung the spear, barely managing to hit them again. They backed off once more but not as far as before. They were getting less and less fearful of her.

At the rate, things were going… Eliza shook her head vigorously, clearing away those thoughts. She couldn’t afford to think like that. With one of her hands glued to her arm, she couldn’t get the leverage she needed to pierce the carapace of the two in front of her. Her foot kicked a loose stone, and she got an idea.

The two Raknas charged, and Eliza kicked the stone, sending it skipping across the ground. The two Rakna changed direction to follow it. She charged straight towards the one in the back. The Rakna responded by bunching itself up before expelling out another spit attack.

She twisted to the side, and it flew by, barely passing by her hip. She charged forward, and the Rakna attempted to cut at her with its arms, but Eliza dodged its attack. Putting all of her body weight into the attack, The spear pierced through the Rakna’s chest.

Some of the luminescent liquid burst out of the wound and fell, landing onto her foot. She yanked her spear out and tried to move, but it was too late. Her foot was now stuck to the ground. She turned to see one of the Rakna charging at her while the other was preparing to spit.

With her foot stuck in place, preventing her from turning around, she knew there was little she could do with so little time. And for a brief moment, she thought that she might actually die.

It was then that Demitrus appeared, his sword flashing out and easily cutting the charging Rakna in half. As for the other one. Unexpectedly, Leah was the one who took it out.

She ran up to it and whacked its head with the burning torch. Some of the flames touched the tentacles, which immediately lit on fire. It only took a moment for its mouth to be completely engulfed in flames.

It let out a screech that abruptly cut off as it sagged to the floor.

Eliza looked around the street to see all the Rakna were dead. Realizing the battle was over, relief flooded over her. She looked at her hand that was stuck to her arm.

The burning pain had diminished to a dull ache on both her arm and hands. Now she just had to figure out how to free her hands from this blasted liquid. Demitrus, sheathing his sword, walked over and took out his water pouch.

“Idiot,” he said as he poured it over her hands. She felt annoyed, but that disappeared when the hardened luminescent spit quickly liquified, and before she knew it, her hands were free.

He handed her the water pouch, “Take care of the rest yourself.” He said before walking off to join Leo.

Taking the water pouch, she used some of it to clean off the rest of the luminescent spit. Once it was off, she saw that the affected skin was beginning to blister. She flexed it painfully and sighed.

She looked up at the others to see that only Leah was nearby, holding up the torch for everyone. Occasionally she would look over at Eliza in concern, and Eliza looked away.

Leo and Demitrus were cutting into the Rakna’s and pulling out small sacs of what looked like the liquid the Rakna had been spitting at them.

Eliza bent down and poured some water onto her boot, and as she started finagling it free, she reflected on the battle.

As much as she hated to admit it. If everyone else hadn’t come to her aid, she would be seriously crippled, if not dead, had the battle continued the way it was going. She reluctantly acknowledged that she was out of her typical element here. All the demons she had faced before were well known. The Empire had been fighting against them for many years, and naturally, they were trained to fight off those demons.

However, it didn’t take a genius to recognize that experience fighting the demons she was used to didn't translate to fighting all demons. Something had to change. If she kept going as she was, she would most likely die amongst the rubble of this ruined city.

Her dying here wasn’t acceptable; she couldn’t fail and leave Mom and Dad unavenged like that. She looked at the other members of the group.

If she wanted to get through this, she needed help; these people were the best candidates. She knew it, but still, she hesitated at the thought of relying on people who, honestly, she hardly knew anything about. Her stomach voiced its opinion, and that was the deciding factor.

Her boot came free as she decided, and she followed the group. Leo and Demitrus had finished their work and started walking down the road. Once Leah saw that Eliza was moving, she started as well. She was keeping up with the other two.

Eliza trailed behind the group, making sure to stay well within the torchlight. She felt a little awkward as she observed them. Leah was worriedly looking between her and Leo, which confirmed Eliza’s suspicions. Leo was pissed.

The uneasy silence pressed down on Eliza. Finally, Leo stopped, and Eliza felt her gut drop; she could practically hear the scolding. Nevertheless, she kept walking until she caught up with the group.

Leo took a deep breath through his nose and slowly let it out as Eliza approached him. As expected, Leo turned his head to look at her when she neared.

“What was that back there?” he asked in a terrifyingly calm voice.

“Which part?” Eliza asked, looking away.

“You fought as if you’ve never fought a Rakna before; you realize that had the Rakna been older than hatchlings, that could’ve turned out very differently. Tell me now, have you ever fought Rakna before?” He said, his voice still deadly calm.

“No.” Eliza hesitantly admitted.

“And you didn’t think to ask? We could've died simply because we expected you to know what you're doing.” He said, a hint of the anger bleeding through.

“I’m aware,” Eliza said; she tried to clench the fist of her free hand but stopped almost immediately when her blistering skin screamed in pain.

“Is that all you have to say? We had to put ourselves in harm's way because of what, Your pride? You didn’t want to lower yourself to ask us? Did you learn that in the army, or did your parents teach you that?” He said, no longer attempting to hide his anger.

At his words, Eliza felt her anger flare up and glared at him.

“Berate me all you like, But do not bring my parents or the army into this.” Eliza snarled.

“If that’s what it takes to make you see sense, then I’ll do it all day. From the looks of it, all you got from your parents and the army was semi-decent fighting skills and an over-inflated ego. No discipline, No Teamwork, and most importantly, No common sense. Like that, you’ll do little more than get your friends killed.

Eliza clenched her fist, this time ignoring her hand that screamed in pain. It began to tremble from pain and anger as Dyrene’s face flashed across her mind.

“Shut up,” Eliza said, the rage barely suppressed in her voice.

Sorry, but I can’t; your actions put my younger sister and a friend in danger today. I’ll keep going until it gets through your thick skull. As you are now, your parents would be ashamed of you,” Leo said, folding his arms across his chest.

His words struck Eliza’s last nerve; before she knew it, the point of her spear was pointed at Leo’s neck. He didn’t even flinch.

“Shut. Up.” Eliza seethed in unbridled rage.

Leo sneered, “why don’t you make me?”