Joel stood in an an echoing black hangar by a big, smooth pod the size of a building. He was cold.

“Okay, Joel. You don’t have to act like you’re not here now.”

He blinked. Frantically he turned to look around. He heard the Gabriel but he couldn’t him. The voice was nearby, just behind him. Whichever way he turned.

“I know you tricked something up, Joel. I expect it’s the thing attached to the back of your head.”

Joel’s hand almost twitched but he forced himself not to move.

“Admirable in a way.” The Gabriel’s voice was sad. “Well, there’s only so much I can do. How does the song go? ‘Die in my dream, I’ll die in your game.’ This is it, Joel. We may as well have some fun with it. Are you ready?”

Joel thought, No!

The sarcasm was thick in the Gabriel’s voice. “Good.”

Joel stood in a hot, gray, blasted desert under a sickly reddish sky. Gray mountains stood all like a far off ring of shattered glass in the far distance. The ground was thick with soft ash.

A creature that looked like it as made of stone rose up out of the cinders. Seven feet high and red-eyed, its wide body seemed to be very roughly chipped out of broken, jagged rocks. The dome of its head jutted like a pebble between the wide, craggy shoulders. It stood on three short, thick legs.

A single red eye burned in the center of its head. Four arms were multi jointed like a crude string of misshapen beads. A big boulder hung on the end of each arm. It lumbered toward Joel. Joel tried to move away but he found that he couldn’t. He was rooted to the spot.

The mass of rock drew back and pulled all four arms behind its head. As it swung them at Joel he couldn’t make his body move. The four boulders swung at him. they were almost at his head when he found he could jump. Straight up. That was all that he could do.

He was out of the way when the boulders shook the ground and pounded up a cloud of thick, choking dust.

He cleared about twelve feet in the air and came straight down again. But he was able to land both feet in the middle of the rock-critter’s back. the stones that made up the beast all shuddered and shook.

When Joel hit the ground, the creature pulled back its arms for another strike. Timing the jump as late as he could, Joel sprang into the air. He felt one of the bludgeoning boulders graze his cheek. It stung.

When he landed on the monster’s back again, it rattled and rumbled, like it could fly apart. But it didn’t.

The rock creature swung its huge stone hammers at Joel, time and again. Each time, Joel barely avoided being crushed or smashed. Each time, when he slammed his boots into the creature’s back, it came closer to rattling apart. Joel knew that it would break sooner or later.

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He didn’t know if his strength would hold. Or his luck.

The Gabriel wouldn’t let him move at all. The pogo jumps, straight up, were all the fighting ability he was going to have. The ash choked him. The movement of air on his cheek was worryingly realistic.

The next time he jumped on the creature’s back, it fell to the ground. Even before he had landed on the ground and gotten his balance back, the monster rose back up onto its short legs. As the great rocks at the ends of the four arms swung upward, a sharp edge of one of them gashed his cheek.

Out of balance he jumped too soon, but he got out of the way of the huge rocks. When he fell back, this time he landed straight on the stone creature’s domed head. The arms flew up and the big pummeling blocks spun past his face. One ripped into his chest but the creature came apart completely.

The rocks all disconnected and separated. All of the boulders rained down over the spot where he crouched. Still unable to move. Two big stones landed on his right shoulder and one hit his left thigh.

All the separated hunks of rock sank and buried themselves into the dusty ash on the ground. Joel heard the mournful wind as all became quiet. The gash on his chest hurt. His cheek stung and he felt a warm flow of liquid down the side of his face. He was light-headed and breathing hard.

~~

The ground rumbled. Then shook. Rising up, shaking through clouds of ash, two more rock beasts stood either side of him. They were both bigger than the first. Maybe half as high again. The stone monster on his left slung his arms back over his shoulders. His red eye gleamed and flashed as he leaned, ready to thunder the four enormous blocks onto Joel.

Joel waited, tired and hurting. He ached so much he wished the creature would move. Standing ready felt like an almost impossible feat. His shoulders and thighs were weary and his back felt like it had been knotted.

When the rock creature moved, Joel’s reaction was slow. He still had nothing but the wild pogo jump to defend himself. The upward heave took him into the path of one of the monster’s swinging boulders. His arm took a heavy slam and the rock caught his hip on the way down.

As he fell back, Joel aimed his feet for the creature’s head. His aim was good. But the other rock beast slammed the center of his back. He fell, sprawling painfully over the rocky back of the creature he had aimed at. His hands and face took grazes as he slid down to fall on the soft ash.

He saw the second creatures arms flail toward him. He rolled painfully and was agonizingly slow. He pulled his legs to get his ankle out of the way of a huge rock that thudded and bounced on the ground. He was able to scramble and crawl to his feet, but he didn’t feel like he had the strength to stand.

The two creatures turned to face him and both pulled back their arms ready to strike. Exhausted, he waited, hunched down and gasping. When they swung he jumped. Every bone and muscle felt like it was being bent in fire. At the top of the jump, he was only just above the heads of the massive things. He kicked out with both legs, aiming for the tops of their heads.

The ground shook as their eight blocks pummeled the ash. Gray clouds burst and rose up. Joel’s heel caught the top of one creature’s head, but it slipped straight off. His other leg twisted as he wheeled in the air. His balance was lost. He slammed his fists toward the head of the nearest beast. All he did was hurt his wrists.

The other creature was swinging its rocks back up. One caught Joel in the stomach and he cartwheeled up in agony. As he fell, he twisted. The creature saw him coming and swayed to avoid him. But his heel slammed down. He connected with the center of the dome.

It seemed like slo-mo as the rocks lost connection with each other and tumbled back to the ground. Joel tumbled in the middle of them. And the other creature swung all four of his fist rocks, straight at him.

Painfully tired, rolling against his momentum, Joel struggled to move out of the path of the boulders. His movements were agonizingly slow. But he got out of the way of the first and second and he hauled his body to avoid the next. It slammed into the ground and the force of the vibration shook his insides. But he’d dodged them. All of them.

All except for the one that smashed his knee.