‘So. Sparrow.’ spat the voice in the dark, ‘My mortal enemy. I have hunted you down for years, mile after mile I’ve consumed myself with the thought of sweet revenge and now… we meet again.’

Sparrow shivered slightly, cocked his head, then said; ‘Sorry to be a pain, but who are you? I didn’t know I had a mortal enemy.’

His mortal enemy in the darkness gave a laugh, that started off strong, but became almost desperate towards the end, ‘You know who I am!’

‘Right, right… ahh, Princess Jade?’

‘Do I sound like a princess?’

Sparrow rubbed his chin, ‘Oh yes… sorry. I spent a few years as a tree so everything kind of sounds… anyway… you wouldn’t happen to be Master Gochi - the king of the assassins?’

‘No.’

‘Oh, oh…’ Sparrow scratched his head, ‘those rebels in the forest.’

There was an almost weeping sigh, ‘No…’

‘Okay, okay I’ve got you now, Rhino-Xi? Tha mean kid from…’

There was a weeping sound - like a little kid trying to hide his sniffles.

The figure stepped forward into Sparrow’s light. It was a child-sized lump of rock with a face, arms, and two legs.

‘Oh!’ Sparrow said, ‘You! Umm… you’re…’

The figure slumped, ‘Megarock. My name Megarock.’

‘What can I do for you little buddy?’

Megarock’s eyes blazed with indignation, ‘I. Have. Come. To. Kill. You.’

Sparrow frowned, ‘Kill me? We don’t even know each other.’

‘Three years.’ Megarock began to advance. His rock limbs moved slowly but each step made the ground under him ripple, ‘I spend three years in that river, logs, sand bashing my face every minute of every hour. I would have sit down and died if my hate for you hadn’t been strong as rock.’

Sparrow swayed backwards a step, ‘Hold on little buddy, hold on. I think you’ve got me confused with someone else.’

‘That’s it!’ Megarock screamed, punching his fist into the ground so hard it cracked the rock in two, ‘Four years. Four years I grew my anger - hunting you down. The least you can do is show your archnemesis some respect!’

The small rock monster shifted backwards onto its butt and wiped the sandy tears from its eyes.

‘So…’ Sparrow said awkwardly, ‘You’ve come to like, fight and kill me?’

The rock monster nodded its head and let out a little sniffle.

‘Well,’ Sparrow shrugged, ‘Let’s fight then.’

Megarock looked up, ‘Really?’

‘Yeah, let’s do it…’ Sparrow wobbled slightly as another burst of whiskey went to his head, ‘I love a good old fight to the death.’

There was the sound of stone on stone as the rock monster shifted to it’s feet, it wiped at its stone tears, ‘You promise you won’t laugh?’

Sparrow smiled, ‘Of course - this is serious. I don’t want to get my butt kicked by a garden ornament.’

Megarock started crying again.

‘Oh god,’ Sparrow said - ‘That’s just pre-fight banter - I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. You know - we’re meant to insult each other, build up the tension.’

Megarock clenched his fists, ‘I spend three months on a Chincheck barge pretending I was garden ornament to get here.’

Sparrow sighed, the alcohol was beginning to wear off and his head hurt - he just wanted to go back to bed.

‘Alright, let’s fight.’ Sparrow said, rushing the hunk of rock.

Sparrow had seen how heavy the creature was - the dents it had left in the ground when it had punched it - but he’d also seen how hard it was for Megarock to get to his feet. How unbalanced he was.

Sparrow leapt above Megarock’s punch, activated stoneskin and landed a kick on the tip of Megarock’s head. The force sent ripples through Sparrow’s body, but it was also enough to send Megarock - who’d only been standing on one leg - tumbling backwards.

Megarock sprawled its legs in slow motion. It looked like a little bug that had been flipped on its back.

‘Come here. I have revenge to make with you.’ said the gravelly voice.

‘Honestly, I still don’t know who you are.’ Sparrow walked over to the armpit of the cave - the place he’d spent the last few hours chipping away at.

‘Hey Bigrock?’

There was a gravelly hiss, ‘My name Megarock!’

Sparrow grinned, ‘Yeah, sure, anyway, you ever heard the saying about two bird with one stone?’

Megarock stretched back onto its feet and landed with a thud. The little rock came up to Sparrow’s waist.

Does he have enough power to break the walls? Sparrow thought to himself, I guess I’m about to find out.

Sparrow waited patiently as the little angry rock marched its way across the cavern. Megarock was incredibly slow, each of his steps ground on the rock beneath him.

But he was also relentless. His pace neveer slowed, it was constant - closing the gap between him and Sparrow.

When Megarock was just a metre away the little rock monster raised its fist and punched towards Sparrow. The punch was slow, Sparrow laughed as he flew upwards, missing the fist.

Megarock’s punch continued on its path - smashing its fist into the wall, sending cracks shooting right through the spot Sparrow had been working away at. Pieces of rock began to fall backwards on Megarock.

‘Good job,’ Sparrow said, ‘Now, if you’d kindly hit the wall a couple more times…’

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There was a crunching sound - like bones being put through a meat grinder. Sparrow covered his ears, then realised the sound was Megarock screaming.

‘I destroy you Sparrow. I snap your bones. I…’

‘Yeah, yeah…’ Sparrow lowered himself into the area Megarock had just punched, ‘do it then.’

Again, Megarock went for a punch. His fist was slow - and Sparrow yawned as he shot upward.

Megarock’s fist caused an explosion of rock when it hit the wall. Shards flew around the cavern, with a ping, ping, ping.

Sparrow was thrown forwards by a gust of air. A shard of sharp rock sliced its way across his right shoulder, drawing a stinging line of blood.

He hit the opposite wall and slid down it, leaving a trail of blood.

‘Woah. for a little guy. You’re tough.’

But Megarock was gone, buried under a mountain of rubble that his fist had shaken loose.

And that was when Sparrow saw it - a blue gem the size of his fist.

With shaky legs Sparrow walked closer. He held up his hand and a flame appeared. Its light sparkled through the gem.

‘Wow.’ he said as he picked the brilliant blue gem up, completely transfixed. Gazing into the gem was like gazing into the universe. It was so clear and pure and…

From behind Sparrow came the sound of footsteps, then an almost silent chiiiink of a blade being pulled from a pouch. Sparrow turned.

It was Old Bultred, the same man who’d shared many nights of laughs and songs with Sparrow, who’d bought a woman flowers instead of getting a haircut.

And the knife was clutched in his hand.

‘Hey Sparrow.’ Bultred said, ‘That’s a pretty gem you got there.’

‘Hey Bultred,’ Sparrow tucked the gem in his pocket, ‘I’m sure there’s more around if you…’

But Bultred had already flicked his wrist, a knife soared through the air towards Sparrow. Sparrow ducked, then spun throwing a blast of fire straight at Bultred’s face to distract him.

Only… Bultred was a miner, not a proper fighter, the fire caught him square in the face and singed every hair on it, leaving him bald, and very angry.

From the other side of the cave came the sound of clapping.

Sparrow looked, turned, raising both arms to defend himself. And there, where his bottle of whiskey had been, stood Digger.

‘I told you, Sparrow,’ he laughed, ‘I’m going to teach you how to run.’

And so Sparrow ran, he ran and jumped over Bultred, who started to scream ‘Gem! Gem! The boy has a gem!’

And as he screamed it Sparrow heard the rushing of feet.

Sparrow tore down hallways and up sets of crude stairs, and then found himself in a large cavern. On the other side of the cavern stood a large stone archway - the way to the outside, but between Sparrow and the archway stood a hundred miners, pick-axes in hand, and torches at their feet.

Sparrow swallowed and looked up at the roof. It was too low for him to fly over top of the miners, and there were too many of them to go around.

Sparrow breathed deep, then tightened his belt.

‘He’s gone!’ Someone shouted as Sparrow disappeared.

‘I knew it!’ shouted a boy Sparrow had shared his rations with the night before, ‘I knew he had some demon in him.’

Oh really? Sparrow thought, I’ve met demons. I’ve met the demon king - err, queen. You wouldn’t last an instant if she was standing here right now…

Still, the whole demon thing gave Sparrow an idea. He twisted his hands in an arc, like he was carving a body from marble.

The air in front of him rippled and cracked as fire started to take shape. First it was a ball floating in the air, then it grew a body, arms shot off to the side, then two stick-like legs.

Sparrow stared at his awkward flaming creation and laughed, ‘yeah, I gotta work on this one.’

But no one else was laughing, they were staring in horror as the flaming stick figure walked towards them.

‘A demon!’ A man in front shreiked, pushing people aside to get away, ‘An actual demon.’

Isn’t it funny? Sparrow thought, everyone’s so tough when it’s a human that you’re calling a demon. But when an actual demon shows up they wet their pants.

Sparrow floated behind the ‘demon’ he’d made from fire. He scraped his head on the roof and cursed, then lowered himself a little. Creating the fire was easy - getting it to appear to walk was much harder. The thing looked like it was constipated.

The crowd parted before him in a choir of screams.

A few brave souls made the mark of the blessed, then threw iron at the flaming image. When that did nothing, they screamed all the louder and pushed back on eachother, squishing those at the back as they tried to escape the space.

Sparrow laughed and kept his flaming puppet walking, right up until he was standing in front of a little girl. This girl was a few years younger then Sparrow, with eyes pale all the way through.

Sparrow made his flaming creation wave a hand in front of her face.

‘Hey!’ He whispered, ‘are you not terrified?’

The girl smiled and whispered back, ‘Of course I am…’

‘Well why aren’t you running?’

She held a hand up in front of her face, ‘I can’t see you. But I can feel the heat you’re giving off Mr Demon. It’s quite nice - warm, like a campfire or a nice bath.’

Sparrow circled her, they were almost alone in the cave apart from a few miners peering out from archways.

‘Must be hard not being able to see.’ Sparrow said.

‘There are benefits.’

‘Like?’

‘Like I can feel heat coming from in front of me - which is where everyone thinks the demon is, but at the same time I hear your voice coming from behind me. Clearly, the demon is only real in their minds. Of course, you could be something much worse than a demon.’

Sparrow smiled, ‘Well, I’m not. Not yet anyway. In fact, I’m going to give you a gift.’

‘I don’t want a gift. I’m blind. Someone will just steal it from me.’

‘Oh no,’ Sparrow gazed at her worn shoes, backwards jersey, and holey, dust-clogged clothes, ‘This is a gift that no one can take from you.’

She bit her lip, ‘That sounds like a fake gift.’

‘What’s your name?’

‘I’m Lah roth.’

‘Well, Lah roth. I’m here to tell you that the best gifts are ones that carry no weight.’

Around the cavern miners were starting to creep back in, weapons drawn, wondering why the demon was still stopped.

Good, thought Sparrow, I need a crowd.

‘This gift is called Fear and Awe.’ Sparrow said, and to receive it you need to twist your hands in a circle three times then push them towards the flame. Can you do that?’

The girl nodded, she crouched slightly, took a deep breath, then spun her hands three times. As she lifted them she thrust her fists in the direction of the flaming man.

In the same moment, Sparrow flicked out his hands and sent the burning figure spinning backwards, cracking and exploding as it hit the roof, then spreading out into a cloud of smoke.

The miners around them shielded their eyes, then as they saw the demon gone and the little girl standing there with her hands raised, they came rushing in.

Sparrow swallowed and took a few steps backward.

As they reached her the men dropped from their feet to their knees, in a circle around the little blind girl. She seemed to know theatrics because she raised herself to her full height, then took a bow.

‘She is an Ugnage!’ someone shouted, ‘A Demon Killer!’

The rest of the room shouted ‘Demon Killer!’

And then money and food and jewels began to fall at her feet.

‘How can we repay you Demon Killer?’ An older man shouted out, ‘Ask anything, and we will give what we can.’

And that was when Sparrow made his exit. He walked from the mines the same way he walked it - upright, and breathing.

Just past the entrance, he wiped his face on a cloth, then stopped by the woman they’d bought supplies from when they entered the mine.

‘Just for the record,’ he said, ‘I made it out alive.’

The woman nodded, ‘Well done. Not many do with Digger.’

Sparrow bought two bowls of beef noodles, and a new shirt.

‘You going back in?’ she asked as he handed over a few bronze coins.

Sparrow shook his head, ‘I think that’s enough mining for me.’

‘Well… you learn anything kid?’

Sparrow shook his head, ‘Nothing.’

But then as he walked away, along a mountain road with a sign that read Valley of the small mushroom, he realised that yes! He had learnt something in all that time.

‘I learnt you should never trust a god.’ Sparrow said to himself.