Wisdom schemed an intricate plan where she forged documents detailing her as a sanctioned inspector of the castle’s sacred relic, giving her the authority to have the golden bell carried out and delivered to her carriage by the very soldiers tasked to guard the bell. But in her presentation of the papers to the soldiers at the gate, the tired guard found himself annoyed at the arrogance and demands of Wisdom, and in his spite, he double checked the veracity of the papers with the ruler of the castle himself. Her plan foiled, Wisdom was forced to give up her charade and flee.

Charisma used her great beauty and influence over others to convince a mercenary group to raid the castle for the bell. The mercenary group was successful where all the rest failed. But upon gazing at the beauty and worth of the golden bell, the greed of the mercenaries was raised and they decided to keep it for themselves. For even the influence of Charisma was not enough to completely overcome the baser nature of humanity.

- Excerpt from “Fables of the Five Siblings”

The wood creaks eerily as I step into the house. The front door leads immediately into a hallway which runs to what appears to be a combined living room and kitchen. On either side of the hallway, there are doorways, presumably leading to bedrooms.

Staring down the hallway, I consider yelling out -- after all, if there are people who need help or hiding, the quickest way to find them would be for them to come to us. On the other hand, that would also be the quickest way to find any monsters in the house.

Decision made, I continue the slow trek down the hallway, Melete and Styx right behind me with Pallas bringing up the rear. When I glance back, he’s still staring backwards, following us only by looking into the house out of the corner of his eye.

I admire his self-control and trust in us -- willing to walk backwards into this place…

I refocus back to what’s in front of me. No more getting distracted: Pallas is guarding our backs, but it’s our responsibility to explore and guard the front.

Arriving at the edge of the first door on the left, I slowly lean my head forward, peeking around the frame. The door is opened inwards, and the room is illuminated from a pair of windows on the far wall.

I glance around the room. There’s a bed in the corner, carefully made, with a chest of drawers next to it. Other than a few decorations and pictures sitting on top of the drawers, the room is spotlessly clean and empty.

After a quick second glance, I turn to the next doorway, a few feet further down the hall. “Empty,” I whisper. We can come back and search more thoroughly later -- for now, I want to clear the rest of the house.

Creeping slowly forward, I notice the doorframe to this room is also broken inward, and my heart beats even louder in my chest. Taking a deep breath, I prepare myself, only to freeze in place. That smell…

My stomach drops, and I stifle a shudder. I recognize that smell. After all, I lived surrounded by it for several days only a week ago.

I round the corner of the doorway knowing what we’ll find, but still partly hopeful. My hopes are dashed, seeing the blood and crushed remains.

It looks like this was a guest room, just as immaculately clean as the other, but without the few decorations that made the first room feel lived in.

A pool of blood runs from the bed to the wall. Taking a slow step into the room, the source of the blood is clear. With half his body under the bed I see the crushed corpse of an older man, grey haired and grizzled. His eyes stare sightlessly at the roof, his mouth frozen in a rictus of pain. His stomach and lower body appear to have been crushed -- by what, there’s no sign, but I can see the destroyed floorboards underneath the body.

I assume the old man must have run in here and tried to hide under the bed from the monster, based off the way the body is still partially below the bed frame. Obviously, he wasn’t successful.

I shake myself. I don’t feel as if I’m about to fall apart, but I don’t want to stay around any longer looking at the body. And who knows where the monster responsible for this is? We need to stay alert. The pool of blood is dried along the edges, so I don’t think this happened too recently, but I can’t say with any certainty. And I don’t want to get any closer to investigate further.

I turn around, only to see Melete and Styx behind me in the room, and Pallas behind them in the hall. Styx is staring wide-eyed at the corpse, tears dripping down her cheeks, and Melete has her hands in front of her mouth, eyes clenched shut as I hear her muttering to herself the same thing over and over again.

“Not here. Not here. Not here. Not here…” Her muttering continues, and I realize I need to take charge quickly.

Gently laying my hands on the shoulders of Melete and Styx, they both start as I turn them around and guide them into the hallway. I glance to a pale-faced Pallas, who is resolutely staring back down the hallway. Keeping watch or just avoiding the scene of horror I don’t know, but right now I’m just glad he seems to be holding it together.

“Let’s keep moving,” I say. “We’re gonna be ok.”

Stepping in front of them, I continue moving towards the kitchen, hoping the physical contact and call to action will snap them out of it. After a second’s delay I hear their footsteps following me and I breathe a sigh of relief.

We slowly leave the hallway and enter the kitchen, and I keep my eyes peeled for any other signs of death or the monster. Luckily, I find neither, seeing only a normal kitchen. The doors of the fridge are hanging off the frame and the cupboards look to be ripped open, as if the monster was searching for something, but the counter is mostly clean.

The only things on the counter look to be a few letters and magazines, along with a bowl holding a few sets of keys. Finally. Just what we are looking for.

With any luck, one of those keys matches the truck outside and we’ll have an easy route back home so we can leave this nightmare behind, once and for all.

Still keeping an eye out on the surroundings, I edge toward the counter with the keys. Grabbing the whole bowl, I hand them to Styx behind me, who already has her backpack opened and ready. Dumping the keys in, I turn to Pallas and Melete, who looks to be a bit more aware than she was earlier.

There is likely more stuff we can use in this house, but I don’t care -- time to get out of here. “We’ve got what we need,” I say, still trying to keep quiet, “let’s get out of here.”

The relief on the faces of my companions is palpable, and we turn back down the dark hallway, still in the same formation. As we pass by the room, I can’t help but glance left, choking down a sob as I do.

Exiting the house into the sunlight is one of the best feelings I’ve ever known, the fresh air and light acting like a balm to my shattered reality. Only a bit longer, I think to myself, and we can finally be home, safe. It’s just a short drive away.

We make our way over to the car, and I try the door. Locked. Styx reaches into her backpack and pulls out a handful of keys.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

It only takes a few seconds to identify the correct key based off of the logo, and I feel even more relieved when it effortlessly turns in the lock. That relief comes crashing down when I open the door and look inside. “Um...any of you know how to drive a stick?”

Pallas, who still is looking outward, glances towards me and raises his hand. I share a smile with my companions. I only started driving this last year, and while I know the general concept of how to drive a manual, I don’t want to waste time trying to learn specifics.

“Ok, let’s load up everything, and then we can drive the rest of the way into town. Melete, can you help me load the wheelbarrow into the bed?” I ask as I toss the key to Pallas.

Melete nods, and I’m happy to see that she, and Styx as well, looks to be doing much better now that we’re back in the sunlight and away from the corpse. I don’t envy whatever psychiatrist she’ll have to see once we get home. After thinking of the week we’ve had, I reevaluate. That we’ll all have to see.

From behind me, I hear Styx pull down the tailgate to the truck with a loud clunk. Then, I hear a similar clunk echo back from the half-opened doors of the barn.

“The barn!” I hear Pallas call out, just as the doors are slammed open and a silhouette fills the wide entrance.

The barn! How could I have completely forgotten about the barn?!

Leaving the wheelbarrow, I run with Melete back over to the truck and stand next to Pallas and Styx, weapons held ready to fight.

A huge roar escapes from the barn and the monster steps forward into the light.

It’s huge -- at least seven feet tall, and human-like in appearance. It’s skin is a dull grey, with not a shred of hair, and only a loincloth for clothing. The eyes are recessed into its skull and its lower jaw protrudes out from its face.

“Troll,” I hear Styx mutter from next to me.

This...is not a fight we can take, I realize. We have to run! But before I can give out any instructions, the troll monster releases another roar and charges toward us.

Frantic, we scatter, and the troll monster crashes into the back of the truck, shifting the rear tires in the dirt. It’s big and strong, but it doesn’t seem quick -- maybe we’ll have a chance to escape.

But the monster shakes off the collision with the truck and looks around, only for its eyes to lock onto Styx. It runs in her direction. She takes off at an angle, the troll monster hot in pursuit. It’s not quick, but in a straight line it is too fast for us to escape from. We’ll need to distract or injure it for any chance to run away.

The troll monster is gaining on Styx. Realizing this, Styx runs to a fence post, reaching out her hand to swing her momentum in a different direction. The troll monster reaches out as it crashes through the post, the sausage fingers of its hand only inches from Styx’s head as she ducks and gains a few more yards of distance.

It turns again to follow her. Styx is still running, but I can see she’s already tired from the sprint -- she needs a distraction. I run towards the troll monster, waving my arms and yelling at the top of my lungs, “HA!”

The troll monster seems surprised at my charge and hesitates for a second, just enough time for Styx to gain a bit more distance. But then it growls and refocuses on me, and starts another charge in my direction. I gulp, and then immediately turn to start running away.

I can feel the presence of the monster behind me as I run, terrified it will swipe its hand out to grab me any second, when I hear singing start from where Melete is standing. I glance back, and see the troll monster trip as her voice pierces the air.

My head immediately starts pounding upon hearing the music, but it’s nothing compared to the relief I feel as the troll monster looks to be even more affected.

The monster is on its knees in the dirt, hands held around its head. We may actually be able to win this fight!

But then the monster growls, and I can feel power burst out of it. Instantly, I feel drained -- not physically, not mentally, but still somehow affected.

Melete’s voice stutters to a stop, and I identify what’s happened -- my skill! The slight weight in my chest, the weight I’ve gotten used to over the last few days with the constant use of my skill, suddenly is gone. Not just the weight though -- the metaphysical third arm I’ve identified with my skill, which was holding the weight -- it’s gone. I look to my right arm, and see the skin pattern reform to the tattoo I’ve been concealing for the last few days.

This monster, somehow, has cancelled out my skill. And from the way Melete has stopped singing and is now running away as fast as her short legs can carry her, I’m guessing her skill as well.

After Melete stopped singing, the troll monster pulled itself back to its feet, and is now chasing after Melete. I breathe in relief that I’m safe for now, only to panic again at the speed at which it’s catching up to her.

I need to be faster! With a groan, I tap out above the Number for dexterity as many times as I can, adding as much of my unspent free Number as I can in two seconds before breaking into a run back towards the monster.

The monster has single minded focus on Melete, which gives Styx the opportunity she needs. Running diagonal to cut off the monster, she dives at it with her knife outstretched before her. She just manages to get the knife in front of the monster’s left foot before it brings it forward in another lumbering step. The kitchen knife is razor sharp, but even with the strength of the troll monster pushing its own foot into the blade there’s only a thin line of blue left on the skin of the ankle as the knife is knocked away.

It’s enough though to distract the monster from Melete. It roars in anger and pain, and reaches back with its arm to swipe at what injured it. Styx avoids serious injury again by only inches, the giant paw swinging over her head as she crawls away.

She only has moments before the monster will track her down. I’m still running in a full sprint toward the troll monster’s back. Just as it locates Styx on the ground only a few feet away, I jump and swing my trusty spade with all of my might.

I crash into the shoulder of the monster with my full weight, my spade swinging into its back. I feel the air get knocked out of me as the monster is pushed only a single step forward by my momentum. The spade, much more dull than Styx’s knife, barely even breaks its skin.

My goal of distracting the monster away from Styx works -- but now I need to figure out how to survive myself. Still struggling to breathe, I force myself to my hands and knees and start to crawl away. But before I can make it even a few feet, the monster growls and looks at me.

Its giant hand wraps around my ankle, and I scream in pain as it squeezes, yanking me into the air. Hanging upside-down in front of the monster, I throw out a weak punch to its bare chest.

Completely unaffected, I can almost see a smile form at the corner of its lips before it swings me once around and flings me ten feet through the air.

I feel something, or maybe multiple somethings, snap in my leg as it swings me, and I black out for a second as I soar through the air. When I come to, I feel the dirt beneath my fingers. I choke out a sob, feeling only fire from my left leg.

The troll monster is behind me, slowly walking closer, ready to easily finish what it started now that its prey is immobilized. In a last ditch effort, I claw myself forward with my fingers inches at a time, hoping for a miracle.

To my right I can see Melete running back at the monster holding her knives ready, but she’s still too far away -- it’ll get to me long before she can do anything. In desperation, I try my skill, only to feel the same strange absence as earlier. It doesn’t respond to my frantic attempts to activate it, to try to do something. Anything.

But then, my miracle appears: in the form of Pallas behind the wheel of the truck. Slamming into the side of the troll monster, I see the front of the truck cave in as the monster is plowed into the ground.

The lower half of the monster is trapped under the front of the truck, but the troll isn’t completely down for the count yet. It attempts to push itself upward, and the truck on top of it starts to rise as well. But then suddenly Melete is there, stabbing into the back of its neck.

The monster roars in pain and collapses back to the ground, trapped once again. Melete is knocked away by its hand and rolls in the dirt. The troll monster looks over to where she lays disoriented, but still moving.

It opens its mouth to roar at her again when Styx appears, having found her lost knife, and she plunges it down into the back of the neck of the monster. It goes in less than an inch before it stops, the roar of the monster morphing into a guttural yell of pain. But Styx isn’t done. Leaning her full weight onto the knife into the neck of the monster, I see the blade start to move again.

Blood is dripping down the knife from where Styx’s fingers lost their purchase on the handle and are gripped around the blade instead, but she refuses to let go. Her red blood merges with blue blood, spurting from the wound of the monster.

Finally, as the knife pushes in another inch, the monster gives a final shudder and goes still, blood still gushing out. And even through the pain from my leg, I can feel the rush as the Number on my palm reforms.

S: 88

D: ?

W: 48 (+1)

I: 39 (+1)

C: 51

?

Skills: Adjust:Self