Selene had never met a Sprout that was as courageous and as stupid as the one in front of her. He clearly couldn’t beat them all. If he didn’t see the wisdom in surrendering, then whatever happened to him was his cup to bear. She watched as he tore through the air, evading the arrows that were shot at him. To her surprise, he sped toward another Sprout so fast her eyes could not follow his movement.

Selene walked out of the firing range of her archers while smiling at him. No matter what he did, his fate had already been sealed. Her smile brightened as he looked her way, expecting him to realize what a grave mistake he had made at the last moment before his death but the kid just smiled back at her.

More than a dozen arrows tore through the air, their pointed tips aimed toward him but he just stood there. The next moment though Selene’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

She watched, awestruck as the kid was instantly covered in metal armor that repelled all the arrows. He extended two fingers on his left hand and a thin but sturdy metallic whip extended out of them. Selene’s brows rose in surprise as recognition hit her like a brick wall.

“Jerome, stop!” She shouted but he had already lashed out with the whip. Her eyes were drawn to the glowing tip of the whip that zoomed behind him and struck the boulder.

The top of the boulder shattered with a loud bang and Trudhorn, who was about to attack Jerome from atop the boulder was sent flying into the distance. The debris from the explosion scattered in all directions, saturating the air with dust.

“Jerome, wait,” Selene said, raising her hands in the air. “Stop, all of you. Stop!” she barked at her teammates.

“Let’s take this guy down, Selene. Who the fuck does he think he is?” Ajax growled angrily, drawing his bow.

“I know you don’t know me, but I know you,” she said looking at the armor-clad Jerome. He looked like a battle-hardened warrior in his chrome-red armor. She could perceive a slight tang of blood coming from his armor and it made her feel like he’d probably killed a lot of people and drained their blood with the flowing steel gauntlets.

“Oh, I know you,” Jerome said, “And trust me, the Sovereign…” he pointed a blade that materialized in his hand at some point at those in his view, “...is the reason many of you are still standing without broken body parts.”

Ajax shivered at that. He slowly lowered his bow as did all the others. Jerome retracted his armor and turned around. The Sprouts all watched, mesmerized as chrome-red liquid steel bled into his body. It slowed down and immediately transformed into a set of wings on his back ready for flight.

“Stay, Jerome,” Selene said.

“You do not tell me what to do,” he responded in a cold and strained voice as if anger was simmering below the surface.

“Please. Please stay.”

“Fuck this,” Ajax said, regaining his wits, “He’s gonna have to prove he can stand with us.” Then he turned to Jerome. “Your gauntlets ain’t enough to scare me, buddy,” he said as a long sword materialized in his hand. The shiny sword looked out of place amidst his dirt-laden stinky armor.

“What are you doing, Ajax?” Selene demanded, “Stop this right now!”

“Ye should listen to ye sister, mate,” someone said, and the group of Sprouts chortled loudly. Many of them relaxed at that and Selene felt the tension in the air ebb.

“The kid’s intense, mate,” another said, “He’s gonna hand ye arse to ye.” More laughter.

“What is he, sixteen?” Ajax said, twirling his shiny sword in his right hand, showing off. “I bet I can take him with my eyes closed.”

Selene looked over at Jerome hoping he wouldn’t take the insult to heart but Jerome only tilted his head smiling, his gaze never leaving her brother.

“Well, he beat Alvric to a pulp when he was just twelve. I can imagine what he’d do to you now that he’s Sprout,” Trudhorn said as he popped out of the side of the boulder.

“Where’d ye run off to?” Nia asked as she saw him. She was looking better now, though signs of her injuries still showed on her shoulder.

Trudhorn raised a hand at her as he sighed and sat down beside the boulder to catch his breath.

~~~

“Leave him be,” Jerome said smiling, “Perhaps he wants to prove himself.” He felt like he understood the Sprout. He wanted to prove himself to his teammates, to himself…maybe to his sister. Ajax reddened in embarrassment and Jerome’s lips couldn’t help but tug upward. He too was once like that—perhaps he still is.

Jerome observed the Sprout with his short silver-white locks. His hair gave him a different kind of presence, just like his sister. No one else on their team had hair like that.

“A tale as old as ale,” Selene said with a shrug, standing with arms akimbo. Her stained silver-white hair, a stark contrast to the dark armor she was wearing. The rest of the Sprouts laughed loudly.

Jerome looked around at the Sprouts, seeing the similarities between them and Abbott and his men—Kilian’s guards. He was starting to like them. They didn’t carry themselves high and mighty like the Royals and they didn’t look down on others, which told a lot about their maturity.

“Very well,” he said, spinning his spear in fast circles behind him with one hand. The odd movement of the spear generated a lot of wind which attracted weird looks from the Sprouts around. “Let’s see what you got.”

“Ahem. Did I mention we’d soon come under attack?" Trudhorn’s voice cut through the air, halting everyone in place.

“How many,” Selene said, already pulling out her bow and a quiver of arrows from her spatial ring.

“Thirty in front. Maybe more,”

The team of Sprouts took action immediately, taking positions and aiming into the distance—Jerome’s and Ajax's fight forgotten. Jerome jumped on top of the boulder and also looked into the distance. The creatures racing toward them were exactly thirty in front a few dozen yards away, but there were more behind them.

“The Children must have been attracted by the explosion from before,” Selene said, walking towards Jerome. The top of the boulder had been blown off clean leaving a nearly flat surface. She inspected the surface surprised at the level of damage done.

“Is that what they’re called?” Jerome asked as he went down on one knee.

“Children of the Mother,” she said.

Jerome paused to look at her, “...the Mother,” he said with unbelieving eyes, “What does that mean?”

Selene took a deep breath and exhaled. The air was cool and fresh, infused with the unique scent of earth and wood. But the forest was quiet, awaiting the battle that was to come.

“It wasn’t explained to me too in detail,” she said. “Some books say the ‘Mother’ is Mother Nature, some say its something else.”

“But what did the Matriarch say?” Jerome asked.

Selene looked away unwilling to give an answer. This kid was too smart for his own good.

Jerome's unblinking gaze remained on her for a few breaths before speaking, “Some of them have long-ranged weapons—spikes laced with poison. Be careful.”

Before Selene came to Terra Praeta her mother had admonished her that there was someone in Terra Praeta she must absolutely not offend. Now it seems it might be Jerome was that person. Although, if he wasn’t, there was nothing to lose and more to gain by having him on their side.

As the stampede of the Children approached, the earth began to tremble beneath their feet. Jerome noticed that every Sprout around him was poised with their bows drawn in focused readiness. Surveying the scene, he couldn't help but imagine that this could have been him and his friends fighting side by side. He remembered their faces—Doti, Dreamer, and Whisper; and the many children from the orphanage.

Jerome took a deep breath and exhaled, bringing his focus to the present moment. The tension in the air was high—almost palpable. Everyone was on edge waiting for the battle to begin. The Children soon ran into their shooting range and with a word from Selene, the Sprouts let loose a rain of arrows upon them.

~~~

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Hedon Alvric plunged his sword into one of the Children attacking him and jumped backward to evade the clawed hand of another. His hands were going numb already. He couldn’t remember how many he had killed. Thankfully they weren’t surrounded and had made it close to the exit of the mine already.

A Sprout next to him sliced upward with her sword and a Child battling with her screamed. She kicked it in the gut and shot compressed air at it. The Child stumbled into the others behind it giving him and his team enough chance to back up. However, the Children stomped on themselves to reach the team, not caring for their kind.

This was the fifth cave they had searched for his grandfather’s damned treasure. He had already lost three Sprouts searching for the treasure.

“Watch out for those with bladed arms!” someone screamed. The tunnel they were in was wide enough for four people to stand side by side and narrow enough that the Children couldn’t surround them. They edged closer to the exit, step by step, blocking and dodging claws and bladed arms. But they were not as fast as Hedon wanted.

Hedon quickly stepped to the side as another Child attacked him. He ducked as the Child’s clawed hand aimed for his head. Hedon concentrated wind essence on his blade and slashed at the arm of the Child. The Child screamed in pain as its limb was almost separated from its body.

“Fucking sturdy bastards!” He cursed. The bones of these creatures were sturdier than some metals on their plane. The stench of their blood, however, could choke a full-grown magic beast to death.

“Retreat!” he screamed. Hopefully, he hadn’t lost anyone here today.

They gathered wind essence at their feet and when they saw an opening, shot backward at full speed. The Children pursued, gaining on them easily. The space in the tunnel was too narrow for all of them to speed out at once.

Team Alvric slowed down once more. Backing up slowly out of the mine, shoving back the Children with their wind essence, and killing those that came too close. It took a lot of time for them to get to the exit before they took to the skies, fleeing as fast as they could.

“We lost another brother, Hedon,” someone said as they flew through the sky. “Did the Patriarch not tell you what we’re looking for?”

Hedon shook his head. “He only said it would make the Argonaut more powerful. And to bring it back at all cost.”

“At all cost,” another person said, glaring at Hedon with hate-filled eyes. “And how much cost are we to bear for this?”

The whole team went silent at that. Nobody wanted to go against the instructions of the Patriarch. They didn’t like it, but they could do nothing about it. They landed on a rocky hill and decided to rest there for the time being.

“Arkesha,” Hedon called out. “You’re on the first watch. The rest of you should get some rest. We’re gonna need all our strength if we’re to survive out here.

“Trust me, I don’t like it any more than you do. But it is what we have to do. We mourn our fallen when we get home,”

With that he found a spot for himself and laid down to rest. The rest of the team shuffled about before their new camp settled in silence again. Hedon opened his eyes to look around at his teammates. He was also angry with the task they had been given. They had been searching for heaven knows how long but hadn’t been able to find his grandfather’s lost treasure.

And then there was the night that never ended. How the hell were they supposed to find daylight without anything as a guide? He closed his eyes in frustration once again to rest. They’d figure it out as they went along. Hopefully, they wouldn’t lose too many Sprouts.

~~~

The whole camp had descended into chaos. Yet, amidst the pandemonium, the Itakars held themselves together. Hence, giving Jerome the chance to unleash the true power of visha stirh’aun upon the Children. He emerged from the shadows like a vengeful deity, adorned in armor glinting with the crimson tint of blood that told of past battles. With each swing of his spear, he tore through the Children, leaving a trail of devastation in his wake.

Every now and then a flash of blue light could be seen followed by a loud bang. The Children stormed toward him as they tried to overwhelm him with their numbers, but the flowing steel tore through their ranks. Bodies dropped like flies around Jerome and once in a while, he could hear an arrow or two whiz past him.

Five Children attacked him from behind intending to catch him off guard but Jerome spun around and stabbed one of them, headbutting another with sharp blade-like points on his helmet. His helmet and armor changed form every time so as to cause the maximum amount of damage.

One of the Children grabbed his arm and Suzie flowed onto its hand ripping it to shreds. The Child roared in pain but its head was taken off mid-roar. Jerome swung his spear taking off three more heads at once. He spun his spear in the same motion and sliced the last Child from top to bottom, shattering bone along the path of the spear.

He quickly turned around to stab another but an arrow pierced through the back of its head and came out of its mouth as it froze over. Jerome shattered its remains. He stretched his hand and whipped to the side and another Child exploded in a storm of blood and guts.

Jerome walked forward taking in the scene around him. It felt like he was in a nightmare and yet he was oddly calm. Like he belonged here, on the battlefield. Bodies were stacked on top of each other, many of which had lost a good amount of their parts. Limbs and organs littered the ground and trees. A black eye, held by a strip of flesh from a tree branch stared into empty space as he passed by.

He shifted his gaze to the distant trees from where more Children were advancing. Jerome stopped to calm his racing heart and breathed in the air. The air was filled with stench of the Children, but it did not deter him from doing what he needed to do.

“Mother Nature provides life…” Jerome recited under his breath and took a step toward the incoming multitude of Children.

“She provides vitality and protection…” His heart seemed to beat a lot stronger and Jerome tightened his grip over the shaft of his spear.

“To wield the power of the earth is to be a protector…” Jerome’s voice rose a notch and the earth seemed to move towards him.

“To become a shield…” A verdant glow of light lit up his footprint, flooding him with vitality. Jerome increased his pace from a slow walk… to a jog…

“To stand in the way of the oppressor and shield the weak…” Jerome ran toward the army of Children.

~~~

Jerome zoomed through the battlefield, a red blur that cut down everything in its path. He moved from one end of the battlefield to the other. Creating sonic booms with every twist and turn.

Selene and her teammates couldn’t help but stop and stare. The very air they breathed had been charged up with waves of energy emanating from Jerome with every movement he made.

They couldn’t see his image anymore, just a red blur. Sonic booms ripped the air and stirred the wind wherever he zoomed through, almost affecting their senses. The essence in the air had also begun changing, becoming more concentrated than it was when the battle started.

“How is he doing this?” Trudhorn asked in awe, bringing them all out of their stupor.

“Get ready everyone,” Selene said looking at the edges of the forest. The Children were still pouring in like a massive tide. “There’s nothing we can do to help him right now. He’s taking all the workload including ours and he’s gonna burn out soon.”

Selene whipped around and fired three arrows at some Children that went around Jerome. Her hands were literally shaking now but she pushed her core to calm down. She wasn’t going to show weakness now. Not now when her team needed her the most.

“The moment he needs to rest, we take over,” she continued, her voice almost unsteady at the end. “And if we can’t hold them back, we take Jerome and run.”

Selene’s teammates all prepared themselves for the inevitable. Readying themselves to jump in when Jerome got tired. There were no quirky jokes this time around and no cussing out at anyone. They all focused their attention and energy on the battle that was to come.

~~~

Boom… boom… boom…

The ground began to shake all of a sudden. Selene and her teammates looked down at the ground as their countenance changed.

“Whatever that is, we don’t wanna be here when it gets here, Selene,” Ajax said.

Selene looked at the battlefield and noticed Jerome had taken to the skies. He stayed hovering there as he flapped broad red wings for a few breaths. Selene waited to see what he was going to do; what choice he was going to make. It didn’t make sense that he still had this much energy in him. If anyone could outrun this plague that was the Children it was him. She had her teammates to worry about and they were waiting for her to make a decision.

Jerome didn’t spend too much time in the air. He flew toward them killing some Children that were foolish enough to reach for him in the air.

“That thing is huge,” he said breathing heavily as he sat down on the boulder. He had used up a lot of energy and he needed to recuperate.

“Then we should leave,” Selene said and her team split up and started packing.

“I’ll be staying,” Jerome said and everyone paused for a breath.

“I’m sorry, say that again?” Ajax said.

His sister glared at him…as did Jerome.

“There’s something here I need…under the earth. I’m not leaving until I completely extract it,” Jerome stated resolutely.

“Well, all the best for you then,” Ajax said and shuffled away.

“We never leave a man behind,” someone said.

“You don’t have to stay,” Jerome said, he got up to his feet trying to show he was still full of energy. Nevertheless, he was touched by the Sprout's words. “I have a plan to take care of that thing,” he said and the giant's foot came down once again shaking the ground beneath them. It sounded closer.

“Bram’s right, we never leave a man behind,” another said and Jerome had to turn and look at who said it.

Almost everyone stood around looking at him, their expression one of resolve. Jerome was truly moved this time around. He felt a lump in his throat. His eyes watered and he had to blink back tears. He had only known them for one night but they had opened up and accepted him as one of them.

“Seems you're one of us now,” Selene said to him with a smile.

Trudhorn walked up to him and bumped fists with him. It gave him a strange yet comforting feeling.

The earth shook once again with the footstep of the colossal Child.

“I do hope ye all know we ain’t shootin’ for sport down here,” Nia spoke up from down below after a while. Some of the Sprouts were still taking down the Children that were left while the rest of the team spoke with Jerome atop the boulder.

“We’ll take over,” Ajax answered, “And we’ll probably die here tonight…if it’s even…night.”

Bram smacked him on the back of the head, “Focus.”

The creature was getting closer with every breath, and they could feel the ground shaking beneath their feet with each thunderous step it took. The tension in the air was palpable as the group readied themselves.

“Any moment now,” Jerome said as a blue flame sprouted on his palm. He quickly began compressing it, preparing for the biggest and brightest shot he had ever taken.