Charlie rocketed through the air, propelled by a well-placed pillar. Brel charged toward him, already preparing an attack with his metallic great hammer.

“Transfer! Dungeon Manipulation!”

A series of pillars rose toward Brel from a single portal on the ground, obscuring Charlie’s movement. Another appeared from his side and shot him back towards the wall. The friendly Scaler scurried out from a shadow and grabbed the back of his onesie. They made a break straight for Kyo. He knew he’d have to take on Brel, but he wanted to secure Kyo as soon as possible.

Rock shattered as Brel’s hammer tore through it, but he didn’t stop there. Brel twisted his body, driving his hammer further. It spun and collided with the wall, trailing after the Scaler and Charlie.

They were so close, a few feet away from Kyo, who still sat in the corpse’s lap reaching up for them. But the Scaler was forced to jump away to avoid the grating hammer.

They flipped in the air and the Scaler skidded away as it turned to face Brel. Charlie’s eyes widened at the indent in the wall. Brel’s hammer had carved at least a foot into it.

If Brel could do that to the walls of a dungeon, then he could hurt Charlie, too. That wasn’t good. He patted the Scaler on the back of the head.

The friendly Scaler threw Charlie into the air and onto the top of its head. “Arca!” it barked with its mouth now free. Bonehead and the other two Scalers rushed from the hallway behind Brel. Brel turned to look at them over his shoulder.

Charlie raised a hand. He used his ability and sent a large, sharpened log of rock toward Brel from his dungeon. He frowned, knowing it would use more of his dungeon integrity than he would like. Two of the Scalers clamped down on Brel’s armor, trying to tear through it. Bonehead lunged for his face. Brel grabbed him from the air and spun, holding the lizard directly in front of the pillar Charlie had shot forward.

This was exactly what had happened to Kyo. Charlie’s own attack being used against him.

“Dungeon manipulation!” The pillar burst into dust and filled the hallway. Charlie squinted. It was hard to see now. He raised a hand to shield his face, peeking through his fingers. He couldn’t see Brel, the other Scalers, or even Kyo through it all.

There were a series of Scaler cries, one after the other. The friendly Scaler tilted its head, looking into the smoke.

A shape shot forward through the dust and Charlie turned to see Bonehead fly past them, landing a few feet away.

“Bonehead?” Charlie asked.

“Arh!” the friendly Scaler cried out. A large silhouette emerged.

It was Brel, his hammer already raised above his head. The friendly Scaler jumped back. The hammer dug deep into the ground where they’d been a moment ago. Brel stood, holding his hammer out in front of him again. “You’ve got power, but no idea how to use it. I thought perhaps you were some kind of beast, but you aren’t, are you?” Brel stared at him, a confident grin on his face.

Charlie frowned. The Scalers weren’t strong enough to pierce Brel’s armor. Charlie’s attacks probably could, but so far, Brel had managed to avoid them. He needed to break through. To end this fight as soon as possible.

The smoke cleared, and he saw Kyo was still okay. The other two Scalers were on the ground where they’d attacked Brel. They weren’t moving. Bonehead was breathing, but he was out cold. That left Charlie and the friendly Scaler.

If he kept throwing projectiles at Brel, he’d only waste his dungeon integrity. He needed to end this now. Even if it cost him a little more power, it was better than a drawn-out fight.

Brel’s muscles tensed. He was ready to respond to whatever Charlie threw at him. But Charlie was going to try something that had worked against the Scalers.

Charlie held two hands out from his body.

“Transfer! Dungeon Manipulation!”

Four portals formed at once. Two of them produced descending rock walls that fell in front of and behind Brel, encasing him in a small space. It was a smaller version of the technique Charlie had used to wall in the battlefield when the Scalers had attacked the children in their territory.

Though he couldn’t see it, on either side of Brel, within the walled off space, two more walls formed. When Charlie gave the signal, they would collide, crushing Brel completely.

Charlie clapped.

Rock grated and slammed together.

He grimaced. That wasn’t a move he ever wanted to use on a human. He’d barely wanted to use it against the Scalers. But at the time, he was only focused on protecting the children. This felt different.

It felt wrong.

But Kyo was in danger, and Charlie had to save him.

Even if it meant using his powers like this.

The friendly Scaler lifted the side of its head, like it was listening for something.

Crunch.

What was that?

Crunch. This one was louder. Charlie leaned in. Maybe the other Scalers were doing something?

Crunch. A hole burst through the wall Charlie had made. A large, human hand poked through it. The hand receded, and an eye replaced it. Brel stared at him through the fist sized peephole he’d made. “There you are! I guess you aren’t smart enough to run away. That’s too bad. Give me a second. I’ll be right out.”

The friendly Scaler slowly backed away. Its entire body shivered. Charlie looked down at it, wondering what was going on.

And then he realized it was afraid.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Both of Brel’s hands gripped either side of the opening in the wall. He grunted, and then, to Charlie’s surprise, Brel ripped the wall apart. Chunks of rock fell to the ground before returning to dust.

Charlie swallowed. In that moment, he realized that Brel’s power reminded him of someone else’s.

It reminded him of Geron. Geron wasn’t the kind of person Charlie wanted to fight. Apparently, Brel wasn’t either.

This was bad.

Brel rolled his neck, popping the bones in it and then looked down at his hammer. Its head rested on the ground, its hilt lifting high into the air. Brel lifted it and spun it up right before resting it over his shoulder.

“Alright, so what the hell are you and what do you want with ole Brel? You clearly control the lizards. So, I guess the dungeon isn’t out to kill me. But you are. So, what do you want?”

Charlie shrieked. “I want Kyo back!” he said.

That surprised Brel. He’d heard Charlie.

Charlie’s brows drew inward before realizing he’d completely encased Brel in dungeon material. He’d met the conditions while trying to win the fight. Brel reached back and kicked backwards, knocking the wall behind him out as well. He pointed back without looking. “That Kyo? Why?” he said.

It was really intimidating seeing just how easily Brel could take out the things that Charlie created. How was that even possible? Surely he wasn’t as strong as the core guardian in Sirra?

Right?

Could normal humans even be that strong?

He saw Kyo behind Brel, peeking over the corpses’ arms and staring at Charlie.

Kyo was counting on him.

But Brel was focused on him. How could Charlie get past his defenses? Unless…

He had a thought. He reached out into the friendly Scaler’s mind and shared his plan.

“Arh!” it said, wagging its stump of a tail from side to side. The remnants of its tail shot forward and wrapped around Charlie, and then threw him into the air. Charlie inhaled a deep breath.

If this didn’t work, the fight would be over.

Charlie would lose.

His powers activated, and a portal opened. A pillar sent him toward the wall on Brel’s right side. The Scaler scurried forward, hopping on the left wall, and moving forward as well. Just before Charlie hit the wall, he summoned another pillar, which altered his trajectory. Now he flew alongside it.

He held a hand out toward Brel. On the opposite side of the dungeon hallway, the Scaler leapt off the wall toward Brel’s back. Brel turned and punched the Scaler as hard as he could in the center of its body.

The Scaler coughed and a transparent dungeon core shot out of its mouth and into the air. It floated away.

Charlie blinked. So that’s where the core had gone. He knew he hadn’t seen it in a while! He focused on the fight. His flight was ending now and a moment before his back hit the ground, he aimed a small, sharpened pillar towards Brel’s face. Brel scoffed. He swatted at it with his hammer, but a moment before it met his weapon, Charlie released his hold. The projectile turned into dust and shot forward into Brel’s eyes.

He could use his powers that way, too.

Brel turned away, grimacing at the dirt obscuring his vision. He swung his hammer at random, trying to ward any additional attacks away. But he couldn’t see anymore.

Charlie needed the fight to end.

He shot a series of sharpened rocks at Brel’s torso. Even blinded, his hammer managed to hit several of them. But others made it past. The shrapnel penetrated Brel’s armor, and he roared out in pain. The blow sent him stumbling backwards. But he did not fall.

Brel reached for his belt. He was looking for something, Charlie realized.

“Where’s my damn canteen!” He rubbed his eyes with his finger, and then looked up, squinting at Charlie. His eyes were reddened and irritated. Blood poured from his wounds.

Charlie let out a breath. Maybe Brel would run away now. He was hurt.

Brel looked backward at the route into the dungeon and then looked past Charlie at Kyo, who was somewhere behind him. He shook his head. “Varroc, next time you’re running your own errands.”

He charged toward Charlie.

Guess he wasn’t running away after all.

Brel lifted his hammer up to crush Charlie.

Charlie opened a portal and sent a large, sharpened pillar upward towards Brel’s core.

Kyo cried out.

Both of them froze. Their attacks halted.

The hammer came to a halt only a few feet away from crushing Charlie.

The sharpened pillar halted about the same distance from Brel’s body.

They both turned to look at Kyo, who was crying now and reaching out toward them.

“Charlie!” a girl’s voice called out in the distance. Lyra and Tomas had finally caught up. The Scalers had outpaced them by a lot more than Charlie realized.

Brel cursed. “Great.”

But they weren’t the only ones to arrive. Somewhere behind Brel, another voice spoke. Charlie peeked past him to see who it was. A man with long black hair and green robes.

It was another snatcher.

Charlie used his ability and a pillar shot past him, maintaining its connection with the ground as it grew instead of breaking off like usual. He grabbed it by the tip and went flying away from Brel and out of reach.

As he left, he passed where the other two Scalers were unconscious on the ground. He activated his ability.

“Transfer!” The two unconscious Scalers disappeared.

Bonehead and the friendly Scaler were too far away. The pillar stopped when Charlie reached Kyo. Lyra and Tomas caught up with him.

“Charlie…are you okay?” she asked. She went to pick him up, but he pointed at Kyo instead.

She hesitated but nodded and hurried over to him. Lyra paused when she saw the gruesome corpse Brel had rigged up to keep Kyo hostage. She quickly lifted him, frantically trying to wipe blood away. She let out a breath of relief when she realized it had come from the corpse and not from Kyo.

Brel stared at Tomas and the others. He shook his head. The snatcher behind Brel spoke.

“Retrieve the boy at once,” it said. Charlie hadn’t heard any of the snatchers talk besides Tomas. It surprised him.

Brel looked up at Charlie and Lyra. Then his gaze fell on Kyo. The boy giggled. He was happy. He was back with his family. At least, part of them. Brel spat on the ground. It was as much blood as it was saliva.

“Get the kid yourself if you want em. I’ve gotta tend to my injuries.”

The snatcher paused, and then it turned to look deeper into the dungeon. It was silent for a moment before nodding. “Your presence is requested. You may treat your wounds in the center of the dungeon. These children will deliver the baby to us of their own free will.”

Brel scratched the back of his head. “Alright, but if you try to kill me, I’ll bash your head in, freak.”

The snatcher didn’t react. It turned and walked deeper into the dungeon.

Brel looked over his shoulder. “You’re tough kid. I’ll be waiting for round two. Haven’t had a fight like that in a while.”

The friendly Scaler covered Bonehead with its body. It hissed at Brel and the snatcher as they approached. But the two men ignored it and kept moving.

Tomas watched them intently before kneeling beside Charlie. “Are you okay?”

Charlie nodded. “Yeah. I’m just glad Kyo’s alright.” But despite his words, the fight was bothering him. Why had Brel held back? Why had he stopped just because of Kyo? It didn’t make any sense.

Charlie turned to look up at Lyra. Her smile was wider than it had been in days. But Kyo caught his attention. His head was turned toward the retreating Brel, and he watched as the large man disappeared into the darkness.