Pepper sat at the table outside Little Italy pizza shop and looked out at the long convoy of vehicles. There were military escorts at the front and back, with large crawlers in the middle. It wasn’t the vehicles that caught his attention, though; rather the pile of demon corpses they carried.
Pepper’s dad plopped a paper plate in front of him. It was piled with three large slices of cheese pizza. His dad sat down across from him with his own plate, and the two started to dig in.
He noticed the light illuminate on his father’s holodex. Trent looked down and rolled his eyes. Pepper already knew it was from his mom, but he didn’t say anything. His father hesitated, then started to tap his finger on the holographic keyboard and sent his response.
There was a look of exhaustion on his father’s face. His satisfied expression when he took the first bite told Pepper that he just wanted a moment to not think about anything. Pepper obliged his analysis of his father’s demeanor and remained quiet.
He was surprised when his dad asked, “What’s on your mind?”
Pepper thought and glanced at his dad’s holodex. The last thing he wanted was to open the Pandora’s box of his mother’s issues. He quickly shifted back to what had originally grabbed his attention and motioned with his head towards the convoy. “I was just thinking about that.”
His dad looked over his shoulder and said, “Oh, what about it?”
“It just seems interesting. The demons attacked through a rift portal and completely changed our reality. Now, only a few years later, those bodies are the most valuable thing on the planet, and organizations bid for the opportunity to recover and harvest the corpses.”
Trent chuckled. “Yeah, you kind of have a point there, Pep.” His father took a giant bite of pizza. Pepper took a long moment to think and even stared into the distance. Trent didn’t look back at him but continued. “You know, during the war… the last thing I thought about was man… we should chop up these things into pieces and try to sell them on the internet.”
The two chuckled, and Pepper felt a small amount of relief that his father could joke about the war. “How long did you serve again?”
His dad still did not look at him. “Until they told us to go home.”
“Was that hard… you know, to come home?”
His father’s face twitched slightly. “Yeah… it was. But it also wasn’t at the same time.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well… I had a home to come home to. Many of the guys I served with… they didn’t have anything. They arrived back to a pile of charred ash. At least I had you guys waiting for me. The hardest part I struggled with was sleeping.”
“Afraid of another attack?” Pepper asked.
“Well, yeah, there was that. I mean, one day you’re living life like normal … the next day you see every news station in the country replaying videos of these giant portals opening. All around the world everything being destroyed and these monsters abolishing everything they could.
“But for… what, a year and a half, I was gone fighting. You had your buddies standing guard over you every night. You knew they were on watch and protecting you as you slept. Many times, I’d get up during the middle of the night and leave our bunker to just look and confirm that they were still there and everything was okay.”
Pepper nodded and took a few more bites of his pizza. “I ran into Summer and Jackson earlier today.”
“You did? How are they?”
“They’re doing good. We didn’t get a whole lot of time to spend together before Brent barged in on us.”
Trent chuckled. “That boy has had a crush on her since I can remember.”
“Yeah. Jackson seems to be doing good, though. He wants a Mala statue, so I need to make him one later this year.”
“Well, don’t forget your sister either… If you don’t make her one, I swear she is going to keep yours. I found it just the other day in her room while you were out at school.”
Pepper smirked and rolled his eyes. “You’d think Meg would be more into horses, unicorns, and fairies. Nope… that tiny little human loves the big, ugly, scary battle tiger.”
The two looked at each other and Trent’s eyebrows leapt upward. “Some chicks like ugly things. Thankfully that means you actually still have a chance to find a chick that likes you.”
Pepper dropped his pizza slice back on his plate and leaned back. “Ouch! Wow, thanks, Dad… you jerk!”
His dad couldn’t help but laugh. “But seriously… make that little princess a scary, mean mage tiger or whatever Mala is. If Meg ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Trent finished with a wink.
Pepper shook his head, still upset at his father’s joke. “Well, I’m going to need to pick up a few more hours at work to pay for the clay, but I still have a few more months until the holidays and should be able to knock out both of those projects.”
Trent tilted his head. “I thought you just said the other night that you were going to pick up more clay. Now you need even more?”
“Well, I have to repair the entire left arm of my golem. And I need to do it fast before my club match. Otherwise I’ll be at a huge disadvantage.”
“Too bad your golem can’t utilize some of the demon armor,” Trent said as he motioned with his head towards the convoy.
Pepper’s eyes widened and he smirked. “Ha! Mala and I would be unstoppable if that was the case.”
***
The loud explosion rocked him awake. His eyes immediately caught sight of the flickering glow. Pepper launched himself out of bed and peered out the window. The giant glowing mushroom cloud in the distance instantly caught his attention. Where are the sirens? Why haven’t we been warned? he thought.
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His hands began to tremble as he watched more streaks of red and orange light blaze across the sky. The ground trembled and the house shook as thunderous explosions rocked it again and again. Pepper couldn’t take his eyes from the window, his body frozen in fear.
“Dad!” he screamed as loudly as he could. But there was no answer. He could feel the tears begin to swell in his eyes, and he cried out again with all the energy he possessed. “DAD!” Nothing.
Pepper felt the first tear fall down his cheek. His hands were shaking almost uncontrollably now. His eyes widened as they locked onto the fireball that was headed straight for their house. The entire event seemed to move in slow motion; the flaming ball of energy inched closer and closer until it finally arrived.
Pepper flew backwards and crashed into his closet doors. Shards of glass peppered his face from his window exploding. He lay there for a minute, covered in the dirt and debris of his home. The chaos of war echoed in the distance, and soon he could hear the screams of people nearby.
He called out for his family, but still he did not hear a reply. Pepper finally began to make his way out from underneath the rubble and up to his feet. He staggered through the doorway and had to force himself to keep moving. His mind stuttered in fear as he took in the scene of destruction that he now found himself within.
He made his way to where the back door used to be. His legs trembled as he walked down the back steps and looked down at the ground. There lay his clay statue of Mala. He narrowed his gaze to a small braided bracelet Meg had made.
His heart shattered into pieces. He felt as if his soul was on the verge of departing his body. The life he knew had come to an end.
Pepper stood there and was ready to meet his end. The sound of death seemed to inch closer as more explosions erupted nearby and the earth trembled even harder under his feet.
A second later he heard it. The insidious roar of a demon. The deep, dark, cavernous voice of a monster nearby that had come to devour his existence. A fresh river of tears fell down his face and his gaze slowly drifted to his work shed. There was no use in even trying… until… he heard it.
The tiny scream that cut through everything else. “Pepper! Help me!”
Meg! he mentally cried out. “Meg! I’m here!” he bellowed into the void and prayed that she heard him. The strength he needed returned. The tears of sorrow were quickly replaced by a glaring look of rage.
Pepper leapt into a sprint and charged directly into his work shed. He immediately grabbed his Gladiator Carnage optical helmet and put it on. The gloves that went along with the helmet were next, and he didn’t even waste time tightening them around his wrists. A quick twitch of his wrist and an adjustment of his thumb activated the power sequence.
The white tiger’s eyes glowed with the bright blue energy that soared to life within it. The energy pulsed out of the different slots Pepper had designed to vent the heat. His massive golem began to rise. The giant claws of his battle tiger flared open.
Pepper activated the follow function and launched himself back out the workshop door. Mala roared and plowed ahead. Pepper had just made it a few feet out of the shed when his golem busted through the front wall.
He rushed to the front of his house and into the street. There was no longer a neighborhood to greet him, rather a hellscape. He balled his fists and frantically looked around. “Meg!”
The only response he received was the roar of the demon brawler. Pepper watched as the massive red-skinned demon walked towards him. Four large horns jutted from its head. It had a metal shackle around its neck with spikes protruding outward. A black chest piece of armor formed a baseplate. On top of the baseplate was an exterior armor comprised of carved bones.
The brawler continued to close the distance. Its stance was of such strength that its shoulders swayed forward and back with each step. Pepper could see the bulging of its muscular arms. The demon’s wrists were protected by black spiked bracers that matched the rest of the set. Its lower half was kept safe by a dark metal. The demon chuckled and twisted its head and started to speed up into a jog.
“Let’s do this!” Pepper cried out. He launched Mala straight into the fight. The golem moved with a speed that the demon was not prepared for. The massive battle tiger began to launch a volley of punches and strikes.
The training Pepper had received from Nate was paying off. Mala hacked and slashed at the demon with ferocity, and Pepper poured every ounce of emotional energy into the fight. The brawler was now backpedaling and trying to fend off the attack any way it could.
Pepper didn’t let up but quickly shifted Mala around. The tiger performed a sweeping kick and knocked the demon off its feet. The brawler landed on its back, and before it could counter, Mala was bearing down upon it.
Pepper continued to pummel the demon, and when the opportunity presented itself, he activated his gravity force rune. Mala’s magically imbued punch landed square on the armored chest plate of the demon. The hit landed with such force that it created a small crater in the ground. The asphalt alligator cracked as the demon sunk further into its resting place.
Mala stood over his defeated opponent, but Pepper could now sense the thumping of footsteps. He turned his head and saw a new brawler approaching. Pepper turned around and commanded Mala to start moving into position to engage.
The brawler’s hand began to glow, and an instant later it burned with a massive flame. The fire grew into a large basketball-sized sphere and was then flung directly towards him. It raced across the sky, and just as it was about to hit him, Mala’s giant claw swiped it aside. The giant explosion cast flame and debris upwards. Pepper felt the intense heat upon his skin as it did so.
Mala roared and clasped his paws together. He began the sequence for his energy beam attack. The blinding white and teal blue light radiated from the center of Mala’s claws. Pepper watched in his HUD as the energy reading shot up to one of its most powerful ratings and he finally commanded the attack to commence. The demon tried to counter with another fireball. Both attacks collided in midair and a giant shockwave clapped. Mala’s energy beam didn’t stop, however. It finished clashing against the fireball but continued onward and pierced through the demon’s armor.
Pepper launched Mala up into a powered jump. Pepper activated his gravity force rune while Mala soared through the air. The devastating blow was about to land when Pepper was whipped around. The first brawler was back on its feet and towering over him. Its claw gripped tightly on his shoulder while its fist barreled down on him.
In an instant Pepper launched himself out of bed. His feet hit the floor in a panicked reaction, and he went to run for safety. Rather than finding the carpet, his feet stepped on Golem League Monthly. The slick magazine slid from under him when he went to put his weight down. He fell at an awkward angle, but instead of finding the floor, his face caught the edge of his nightstand in the process.
His night terror of a dream had awoken him and now the pain in his face brought him fully back to reality. There was no attack. He lay there and rolled from side to side, rubbing his face in an attempt to soothe the pain.
Pepper lay there for a few minutes. He finally made it to his feet and looked outside at a pitch-black sky. The only glow came from the amber streetlights. He opened his window to find the only noise was that of some crickets nearby.
He brought his hand up and ran his fingers through his hair. A quick turn and he navigated through the scattered items on the floor. He softly turned his door handle, a few steps across the hall, and then another soft turn of Meg’s handle. His head leaned in and he glanced over at her bed. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw her sleeping in peace.
Pepper closed the door and began to stagger towards the kitchen. He arrived at the split entrance that led to the right and the left, but the figure standing in the living room startled him. “Mom?”
She didn’t move. She continued to stand with her back to him, facing the large bay window. He could see that her arms were folded in front of her chest.
She didn’t respond, so he continued. “You okay?”
At last he heard her let out a long breath. “Yeah… I’m fine. Thanks, Pepper.”
Pepper turned and began to walk behind his mom as he retrieved a drink from the fridge. He headed for the back door. “I’m gonna be in the work shed for a bit.”
“Okay, Pep,” was all she said.