No time to hide, I grabbed Alice and lifted her up as Freki materialized below us. She gripped his fur and leaned forward as we bolted through the forest. The monsters followed, the howling falling behind but a shrill whistle pierced my ears and I swung my axe.

The cheetah-like monster leapt off my arm and crashed through a tree. The wood exploded beneath it as an ash cloud formed above. Freki took a sharp left turn and zig-zagged through a dense section as the creature tried to stand up.

“Three on the right,” Alice said.

She released a wave of frost that stopped one monster and they sank to the ground. The other two dived out of the way. One rammed itself through a tree branch, the other kicked off the black bark and snapped at Freki’s tail.

Before I could unleash an attack, Freki’s tail erupted with flames and swiped diagonally. The monster tried to dodge but the fire engulfed its head and left it a spasming mess as he sprinted further away.

“Anything else?” I said.

“Nothing right.”

“Nothing lef-” A fireball shot between the trunks and was flung aside as the behemoth from before launched one of the smaller monsters clinging to its back into the attack. “Leader, left side. Keeping up.”

We gained distance but the monster gripped a trunk on both sides and jumped back

What is it doing?

I got my answer.

Its limbs stretched out like rubber-bands and it grinned with a shark-toothed maw.

Oh that’s cheating!

It kicked off the tree it clutched, sending shrapnel flying. Its limbs snapped to its side but it carried the living missile directly into Freki’s path. I raised my arm, and mana slid into my palm but I couldn’t conjure the mental runes in time.

Luckily, Alice was prepared, and she swung her axe, slicing cleanly through its shoulder. It crushed the dirt beneath it, but its other arm wrapped onto Freki’s legs.

I pulled Alice into my chest as we were launched off Freki’s back. We slid between two trunks and rolled to our feet as four of the smaller bastards charged.

Alice cut through one and I chopped a second. The third I kicked away but the fourth sank its fangs into my arm. Its teeth were dull so I slid my fingers between the gaps and pried its jaw apart.

As I looked up, Freki dived in front of another monster, one shaped like a gorilla but with knife-like fingers. He unleashed a torrent of flames that bathed the area before I raised my arm and added my own.

Monsters burned and their bodies bubbled before they crystalized and popped in an explosion of dust. The leader was just out of range as its brethren kept rushing through the fire. It wailed, and grabbed one of the smaller monsters before it dived in, throwing it into another before the two reached the flames.

It’s green eyes flashed and it opened its jaw wide before releasing a screech that froze the other monsters. They became statues, some sliding forward but keeping their limbs unmoved as the momentum carried them closer.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

I cut the incantations and Freki did the same. His growl rumbled through the ground, disturbing the ash but the leader stayed back.

It turned its head, dragging its fingers through the fur of another.

“It’s toying with us,” I snarled.

Ice grew over Alice’s arms. The crackle drew the leader’s attention but it kept still, waiting.

“No. I don’t think so,” Alice said.

“Then what?”

A caw rang from above but before I could look up, the monster gripped the monster it had been stroking and flung it at our feet. The hamster monster lost a leg but it jumped.

Freki snapped his jaws around its body before knocking us back with his tail.

Pain lanced through the connection along with Freki’s whimper.

Freki!

Bones snapped, nails elongated. The flames became a cloak along my arms that burned brilliant green. I rushed for Freki but the monster removed its claws drawing a swath of shadow that oozed out of Freki’s side.

The shadows roiled together with licks of orange caught in-between. Seeing it felt wrong. It was something it shouldn’t have but it spilled from between its fingers.

I raised my arm to throw my axe but Alice dragged me out of the way. The monster landed where I stood. It spun in place but her blade bisected it down the middle.

“Focus!”

Freki returned to my shadow, his side continuing to leak the black haze. As he settled into the shadowrealm, the pain stopped and the grating buzz to our connection cooled long enough for me to take a breath.

Monsters continued to emerge from the forest. They surrounded us in a semicircle, pushing us back.

“There's more than before,” Alice whispered.

I scanned the crowd.

Crap.

She was right. There were significantly more of the smaller monsters, the smallest crowding around the leader while the rest stared us down. To the right, one of the trees crashed to the forest floor.

If a hawk and a lizard had mated together, and grew the arms of a man, they would have fallen short of the monstrosity that flapped its wings. It cawed again, scratching at my eardrums. It looked to the leader but it didn’t respond.

It held up the roiling shadows and dropped it into its other hand before clumping it together. Its head moved like an owl, shifting positions by the second.

They’re not attacking… they’re waiting for orders.

“What did it pull from Freki?” Alice asked.

I growled. “No idea. It hurt.”

“Look.”

The hawk screeched and hopped off the log. The monsters scattered out of the way, and it stopped a foot away from the leader. When the leader didn’t respond it kicked a smaller monster into its legs, but the leader crushed it beneath its foot.

The ash pushed away the rest, leaving the hawk alone.

Crawgh!

When the leader continued to ignore him, it hopped closer, pushing its beak next to its chest. The leader leaned away, still transfixed by shadows. The hawk stomped the ground and when that didn’t work, extended its wings and flapped, sending ash flying.

The shadows dispersed, but not before the leader dived forward. The hawk cawed but the leader grabbed its beak and yanked it down. It tried to flap its wings out of its grip and grasped the leader’s thick wrist. Its claws barely wrapped around but it managed to push it away while it tried to hop out of its grip..

It happened in one clean swipe. The leader’s claws tore through the feathers and meat, slamming the hawk into the ground. It pushed it deeper into the earth, as it held up its fist.

Slowly it released its grip and revealed the smattering of shadows, now marble-sized rather than the puddle it was before. It closed its hand and shoved its arm down its throat, before pulling away slime-covered claws.

Its body rippled as pieces of its skin crystalized and sloughed off. It convulsed, clutching its chest, while the hawk beneath it struggled to get free.

The other monsters had backed away, even those that remained rabidly focused on us, turned around and joined in the retreat.

“Craaaawgh!”

The leader collapsed, its face melting into the forest floor. The ooze mixed with the ash and ate away the dirt before it spiked together, forming jagged spines that jutted out of the earth.

The hawk squirmed out of the leader’s grip, the weight holding it down, collapsing as the leader fell. But it managed to extend its remaining wing before claws wrapped around its throat.

The leader’s mouth opened wide, and spat a torrent of flaming specks.

Crunch!