Caveria woke me way too early the next morning and dragged me away for more “hero training.” She didn’t mention my bridge building, but I was still so pleased with myself that I tolerated her better than usual. This time she made me practice throwing and dodging things. That is, she threw stones and rocks at me and I dodged them, or tried to.

She was stronger and faster than I’d thought, and after a first few hits with smaller stones she began picking up large rocks and throwing them at me. Some of them were big enough that it would be downright dangerous to be hit by them. She aimed at my head, too. She aimed everywhere.

I got to throw them back at her, and I slowly got angry as I realized I couldn’t even lift the bigger ones, while she handled them easily and could even throw them.

“Are you cheating with your magic?” I panted after just managing to dodge and large one and dropping to the ground.

“Cheating,” she said, her voice dripping with contempt. “Are you really sure there was no magic in this... place you came from?”

That was good at least - she didn’t seem to question my story. Perhaps that was because she’d thought I was a fraud from the start. On the other hand, that made it harder for me to question it. I thought less and less about this whole thing being a dream. It had been - what, a week? - and it was still going on, in tedious and excruciating detail including things like brushing my teeth and other bathroom needs. That didn’t happen in dreams.

It all felt very solid and real too, except for the strangeness of everything and the sheer impossibility of it all. If it was dream, I’d decided, it was, and I would just have to deal with it. Meanwhile, I would deal inside the dream. Maybe my subconscious thought I needed to be more heroic.

“There is - was - no magic,” I told her. “We had science.”

“Zaijensss,” she sniffed. “Which you can’t even explain, or demonstrate.”

I groaned. “I built the bridge. That was science.”

“Get up,” she said, kicking me lightly. “We have more rocks to throw. And the bridge... that was carpentry. Mister Peter Aenjinear.”

She was insufferable, but at least annoyance was good fuel for rock-throwing.

Just before she called a stop and we went back for breakfast I finally managed to hit her with a large rock. Square in the face. She flew backwards and crashed to the ground. I stared in shock and ran over to her.

She squinted up at me.

“Ouch,” she said. “That hurt. And you did it just when I was distracted by the noise.”

“I’m sorry,” I began, but stopped. She was chortling as she got up.

“Well done. Not really well done, but not useless, like your usual attempts. I’ve told you, you can’t do that fair play crap you talk about. I could have killed you six times over today if I wanted. But this, this was good.” She touched her nose and winced. It was bleeding. And she was laughing. Crazy woman, I thought.

Caveria went over to Serah and got some help with her face. I tried to watch, but had to turn away when Serah held Caveria’s face between her hands and the swelling just... faded. It was unnatural. I knew it was the healing magic, but it looked too weird. Afterwards, Caveria was back to normal. I was almost sorry. It would be nice if she had a reminder that I wasn’t the useless loser she thought I was.

“Today we will cross the Valley of the Ferns,” Arndrir said when we are all ready. “It’s usually know as Monster Valley. There is a cave system under the hills to the east, a deep and large one, and for some reason, there are terrible monsters in there. Lots of them.”

“What kind of monsters?” I asked. I felt a bit bolder after yesterday.

“All kinds,” he said and looked at me gravely. “There seems to be some kind of corrupting magic at work, because creatures that go in, or are dragged in, are twisted into hideous and deadly shapes.”

“There are goblins with eight arms and claws as long as your arms, fire-breathing wolves and foxes, and lightning-fast venomous rabbits.” Serah shuddered as she described it. “But worst of all are the humans.”

“Humans?” I said.

“Former humans. Sometimes people go in there, or are dragged in. Sometimes adventurers think they can clear it out. The magic transforms them too.”

“I wish we had a hero who could go in and cleanse the cave,” Caveria said innocently. Mock-innocently, I saw as I glanced at her.

“I wish we had some scientists,” I muttered back. “Some guns and TNT would chase off all those monsters in no time.” She glared at me.

“The monsters come out of the cave mouths and roam the valley,” Arndrir warned. “Be on your guard, and stay together and close to the road. Alert us all if you see something.” He looked at each of us. “Let’s go. Stay alert.”

We set off down the road and reached the valley floor after a couple of kilometers.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Groups of armed men sat beside the road. A couple of them jumped up when we approached, but stayed put when they saw us.

“Hey,” one of them called out. “You do not need our help, I see.”

“No,” Arndrir called back.

“Who are they?” I asked Serah.

“Armed escorts. They help people who can’t defend themselves like we can. For payment, of course. It’s lucrative for a lot of people, this valley.” She shook her head.

We continued into the valley, and still hadn’t seen any monsters when it was time for coffee.

“How far is it through the valley?” I asked.

“A normal day’s march,” Arndrir said. “Unless you get delayed from fights. It is very dangerous to be trapped in the valley by nightfall. That’s when the strangest things come out.”

“There are fewer about than I expected,” Caveria said, looking around and frowning. “I don’t like it.”

“Let’s be on our guard,” Arndrir said.

We’d been on our way for only a few minutes when we got a partial explanation. Just beyond a small hill we encountered a large, scattered group of people, hurrying along the road in the opposite direction, looking scared and harried. There were around thirty of them, mostly fairly young. Arndrir hailed one of the older ones.

“Why the hurry?” he asked. “Are there monsters about?”

“Yes,” the man said, his face white. “We have been attacked three times today. Our guards are... I think they are gone.”

Arndrir and Caveria exchanged a look.

“And the children...” A woman came up to him, crying. He put an arm around her but looked like he was about to cry himself.

“There, there,” he said awkwardly. Then he looked at us. “Who are you? Are you adventurers?”

“Yes,” Caveria said.

“Oh thank the gods! Perhaps you can... there was a group of people traveling with children. We caught up with them just as monster goblins attacked them. There was a horrible fight, and some of the children were...” He looked down. “I think they were dragged off.”

Caveria spat on the ground. “Arndrir,” she said.

He looked at her with an unhappy expression.

“Arndrir,” she said again through clenched teeth. “Children. Kids. Dragged into the monster cave.”

He sighed. “Yeah.” Then he nodded at her. “Yeah. Right.”

They set off down the road at a brisk pace. I wanted to ask where we were going, but I was afraid I knew the answer.

We hadn’t gone far when we found bodies lying by the road. Two were adult men, wearing leather-and-steel armor. One of them had a sword in his hand, and a deep gash into his back. The other didn’t have hands any more, or a head. It looked gruesome, but it was nothing compared to the child lying a few meters away. The girl looked like she’d been trampled by something big and heavy. I very nearly threw up.

“Come on!” Caveria barked. Her eyes were glowing red again. We trotted down the road, and suddenly heard screams from off to the right. Arndrir held up his hands.

“Caveria is right. We cannot let children be killed by monsters, in good conscience. But beware. These are dangerous enemies.”

The others nodded.

“Serah?” Arndrir said. “Will you manage?”

“I will,” she said. Her voice was flat, and when I met her gaze I almost recoiled. She’d always been so friendly and helpful, but now her eyes burned with fury.

I glanced at Tiriel. She had her bow in her hand and looked intensely focused.

They drew their weapons, so I did too. I wished he would ask how I felt, but he just nodded at me and turned to jog off into the forest.

We moved quickly towards the screams, and as we came near, Tiriel bounded away and up into a tree. She disappeared ahead like a shadow on the wind.

Up ahead was a clearing, where the screams came from. There were also grunts and shouts, and something that sounded like a very big, very angry animal. Just before we burst through the foliage into the open, Tiriel’s blood-curdling scream filled the air.

Six or seven children were cowering by a tree, with a women huddled over them. Three men were trying to protect them, but one of them looked almost dead already, with one legs twisted strangely and blood all over his face. They were fighting a whole crowd of green monsters. Goblins, I realized as we ran across the grass, but they had four or six long arms, and terrible long teeth protruding from their heads. Not just their mouths - their heads. They didn’t look normal. They were running on both hands and feet, like grotesque, distorted monkeys.

Monster goblin bodies dotted the grassy floor of the clearing.

Tiriel had already downed two, but they had caught on to her. Two goblins were rapidly climbing a tree to chase her. Arndrir ran over to the men and thrust his sword straight through one goblin, in a spray of blood. The men stared at him, shocked by his sudden appearance.

Caveria was standing still, scanning the air with teeth bared. I didn’t know what to do, so I followed Serah clumsily as she hurried over to the children and the injured warrior.

I was about halfway when the ground shook, and the most awful thing I’d ever seen came crashing through the trees and into the clearing.

It was big as an elephant on two legs, with huge horns and claws. It swiped at the nearest fighter - missing, or it would have sliced him in half. The thing lumbered towards us staring evilly with small, deep-set eyes. I heard Caveria curse behind me.

“Peter look out!” Thord shouted, and I whirled. A goblin was rushing towards me, and I had no time to react. I leapt aside, leaning over as I landed and slashed with my sword. It went right through one of the goblin’s arms. It screamed and jumped at me. I was already standing on one knee and reacted on pure reflex, stabbing the sword into the goblin’s chest. It’s face contorted and it flailed around, but then it died, impaled on my sword.

It was heavy, and pulled my sword to the ground. I stared in sickly fascination, but just then the giant monster roared, pulling me back to here and now. I frantically pulled my sword free from the goblin and looked around for other enemies.

There were fewer left. Arndrir and Thord had killed several goblins, and as I watched, another one dodged a fighter and ran towards the children. Towards Serah.

I raised the sword but didn’t even have time to run when she straightened from her crouch and took three quick steps towards the goblin, raising her arms as if for an embrace. It crashed into her, and - crumpled. It just dropped dead on the ground. She looked down at it, eyes still burning, but then she bent down and seemed to say one of those prayers.

Over to my right, a goblin dropped out of a tree, dead, with several arrows sticking out of its throat. Behind me, the huge monster roared again, and I whirled around. It was battling one of the original warriors. Caveria circled a few meters away, looking frustrated.

“Get away!” she shouted, but just then the warrior missed a dodge and was thrown into the air by the monster. He should have died, but he landed weirdly softly. I didn’t have time to look more closely, because just then Caveria’s hands flashed red, and she launched a - fire spear, is the only word I can think of, right through the big monster. It exploded in a gut-wrenching mass of charred meat, blood and inner organs.

I staggered over to the guy on the ground. He was alive, and was staring in fear at Caveria. I could agree - her expression when she killed the monster had been absolutely terrifying, her face contorted by fury and rage.

She strode over to us. “Good. You’re alive,” she said to the warrior, but she also glanced at me. “Bloody useless - orc!” she snarled, looking at the carcass that lay twitching and jerking behind her.