NO!

I stood above the man with wide, wild eyes. My bat was swinging out with many crushed heads under my boots, bits of brain clinging to every part of me.

Despite my call for help, only the man beneath my feet—where he was safest—helped me fight the goblins.

My heart was hammering, making it hard to breathe with how hard it slammed against my lungs. My lungs ached, like my heart was shoving them painfully against my ribcage.

The man was in poor condition even before the fight. He lasted a long time, taking out or crippling many of the hundreds of creatures swarming us.

“Lawrence!” I yelled to the man who hadn’t left the tunnel. There wasn’t a response as I fought, and I didn’t look over to the cave.

I couldn’t.

Even still, disappointment and pain filled me.

My bat swung out, crushing skulls even as I shifted around, kicking at the ones clawing at my legs.

Goblins were everywhere. My legs burned as claws got through the armor.

All around me was the flickering faces of goblins. Their sinister grins didn’t change my determination to keep the man safe.

I didn’t have time to question why he was here, what he was doing in this dungeon, how he got past the military. All the thoughts in my head aside from combat-related ones were gone, and my mind was as quiet as it had ever been.

Open mouth.

Bat. Gagging noises and a loud crack. The goblin’s eyes looked less malicious, its body falling limply to the ground.

Talons aimed at the man.

Stomp. A loud cracking sound. A taloned hand crushed underfoot.

I’d run out to save the man the moment I heard his scream, not putting any thought into it. Was that a good idea?

Claws in my hip. Shouldn’t have questioned.

Elbow. My elbow slammed into the nose, a bunch of small cracking noises echoing out. The goblin’s head snapped back.

Pain radiated from the sliced lines along my skin, hidden by tattered black fabric.

More claws. Aimed at my Achilles.

My boot snapped out, and the goblin went flying back.

Arms wrapped around my back, the sound of nails on plastic unpleasant to the ears. Thankfully it was muffled by the helmet.

My head snapped back. Nothing happened, so I swung at another goblin with one hand while the other grabbed at the weird muscle on the skin-and-bone arm that connected the bones.

Fingers digging into the arm, pain branched up from my legs as two goblins took advantage of the one on my back. One of my legs lifted up as I kicked at my other leg, letting myself fall back.

A grunt and a crack reached my ears as the goblin caught my fall.

I sat up, turning and punching the goblin in the face. My bat snapped out and slammed into the ones on my legs even as more crowded and tried climbing onto me.

Groaning, I stood back up to protect the man. My bat swung out, my legs bloody and weak. My knees hurt, but the goblins didn’t aim for my knees. Did they not know a human’s weaknesses?

Did they not share them?

My bat swung out viciously, and all the goblins backed away as I swung 360. They didn’t realize how weak that attack was compared to my normal swings.

My heart felt like it would explode, my teeth clenched and bared in a grimace as I fought to protect.

More claws dug into my legs, and they gave out.

No.

No.

I remained above the man, on my knees as I swung my bat with all my might, my fist snapping out at the creatures now the same height as me.

In spite of the possibility of me dying, I was more concerned with the man beneath me.

“You—ung—better be—uck—okay,” I managed between grunts, bat crushing skulls as claws dug into my back.

I was stupid for running out here without a plan, I realized.

My arms were exhausted as I swung as hard as I could constantly. I could feel the armor on my back cracking. The sound of plastic snapping and the sound of scraping reached my ears. I shifted, turning so I could give the goblins behind me brain damage, my swings not instantly killing them anymore.

“Just… a bit… more…”

It wasn’t said to the unconscious man, but a comfort to myself.

A lie, as the sea of writhing creatures felt never-ending.

Pain sheared through my arm, a claw making it through the armor on my upper arm and slicing through my triceps.

I watched more than felt my arm instantly give out.

Gong.

My bat clattered away with a loud noise.

I swallowed, exhaustion weighing at my shoulders as the adrenaline rush I’d gotten ran out at the wrong time.

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

My every muscle felt strained, a weird twisting feeling telling me I definitely pulled several muscles, pain echoing throughout me.

Looking around, I saw at least twenty goblins if not fifty still surrounding us.

“You’ll be okay,” I promised as I looked down to the man, hands on either side of him as I tried pushing myself up, “I promise. I got you. I got you.”

I forced myself to my feet, legs shaking and arms tired, throat raw from how hard I’d been breathing, the taste of blood and salt coating my tongue. A groan escaped me as I saw what had to be a hundred goblins.

My fists snapped out, but it was for naught. My arms no longer had any strength in them. I couldn’t even see anymore, sweat stinging my eyes as I reached for anything that moved.

I jabbed at their eyes, tore at their ears, shoved my fists deep in their throat and ripped at whatever I could grasp at.

I choked.

I clawed.

I struggled.

“I’ll… save you,” I promised even as I collapsed next to the man, staring at his battered and bruised face, “I…”

My voice trailed off before I could promise, body not listening to my instructions. I could still breathe, but I felt as my arms and legs slowly went numb.

The realization was as slow as the weakness spreading through my blood.

Poison.

Their claws had to be covered in some sort of poison. Or their teeth.

Poison.

Paralysis… if it reached my heart…

Oh.

I was dead.

No, no.

The man.

I had to save the man.

I promised.

A familiar glowing red liquid appeared as a goblin turned to dust. My arm twitched. My every move was sluggish. I reached out. My body couldn’t reach.

My breathing was coming out in gasps, and my neck was starting to feel numb. My lips. My gaze was intent on the red liquid.

The ground was rough and cold. In spite of that, my wounds burned all over my body, the only places spared being my chest and back, where the heaviest of the reinforced plastic was.

I swallowed thickly, my throat hurting.

The bottle.

It healed.

I could heal the man.

Slowly, horribly, I dragged myself over, my arms only strong enough to carry me an inch at a time toward the vial only a few feet away, on the other side of the man.

The feeling of me dragging and kicking my way over was odd, my clothing shifting and the scrape of plastic on stone almost as pathetic as the sound of my shaky breathing.

Come on.

Come on.

What felt like several excruciating moments later, my fingers just barely managed to grab at the glass.

Wet blood dripped down the side, the inside red tantalizing and promising even as the bottle shifted away.

No no no!

My chest heaved. My vision wasn’t the greatest at the moment, the vial twisting in and out of my vision randomly, though I knew it wasn’t moving.

I dragged myself again.

Almost. Skkr.

There! Skkr.

Reaching out, I felt relief as my hand fell over the bottle. It was a struggle to get my fingers to move. A struggle to fully grasp the glass slippery from both my blood and others.

Grabbing the vial, I shifted. Turning was a lot harder than I thought it would be. My breathing was audible, my head aching weirdly.

I felt like I could pass out at any moment. That if I relaxed, that would be it.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha,” Escaped me as my lungs struggled to keep breathing, vision blurring and world spinning.

I didn’t relax.

“I…”

My arm finally listened, dragging toward me and to my other side. Several seconds later, I was turned. The man had long brown hair like my ex, I noted. My ex wasn’t as nice looking, though.

Even covered in scratches, bruises, and blood, I saw the smooth-shaven man had nice skin.

“P…” A gasp of exertion escaped me as I dragged the healing potion to the man, “Promised.”

The sound of glass scraping against the floor echoed in my ears. I couldn’t hear anything except the sound of my beating heart and the glass of the potion. Not even the sound of my breathing. Was I breathing?

I don’t think I was.

The glass soon entered my vision, pressing against the bloodied and tattered t-shirt covered in other grime. I pressed it against the crook of his neck, my fingers just barely brushing against the vial as it finally rested against the man.

It wasn’t in danger of rolling off, now.

Ba-dum…

After dragging and pushing the potion to the man, I released it to drag myself closer.

Ba-dum.

An inch closer. Skkr. Two. Skkr.

Ba… dum…

Brown and orange blurred together.

Sk. Sk.

Were my feet still pushing me forward? Did my knees still bend? My heart felt heavy in my chest, but I was hyper-focused on what I was doing.

All I saw was the vial and the man’s pale face, his eyes closed and his mouth parted.

Like a princess.

I huffed out air I couldn’t afford to lose, collapsing against the man with wheezing breaths. I was still breathing. Barely.

My hand dragged over. It took me much too long to wrap my fingers around the vial, the glass slippery. I held it as tight as my shaking fingers could hold it. Shadows flickered in my vision.

Thud.

“Ggk!”

The vial slowly, carefully dragged up the man’s thankfully soft and unbroken neck. My fingers shook around the glass as I roughly dragged my other arm up.

Thud.

Ba…

…

Dum.

I couldn’t open the vial even as I dragged it closer to the man. I tried breaking the glass against the man’s mouth, but I couldn’t lift the glass at all, anymore, let alone slam it down.

Ba…

I couldn’t.

I couldn’t save him.

Dum.

Even without intending to I broke a promise. How very me. All this effort, all this struggle, and I couldn’t even save the man I’d thoughtlessly run out for. A twisting and bitter sort of mirth filled me.

As expected of a failure like me.

Something swirled in my vision. Surprise blossomed deep within my chest. For a long moment, I wasn’t sure what I was seeing.

Crouched in front of me was a man with blood-stained clothing.

Ba-ba—

Pain in my chest made me convulse.

Ba-

Pale, long, shaking fingers covered in blood took the potion from me. I watched as it was opened insultingly easily despite Lawrence’s shaking hands, fed to the man.

“See?” I managed to whisper.

Dum-du-du…

My chest ached. I tried breathing, but found I couldn’t. My twirling and twisting vision grew darker and darker. I didn’t even realize when my world went dark.

Silence screamed in my ears.

The beat that had filled my last moments weren’t pulsing through my mind anymore. My lungs weren’t moving…

Oh.

Realization washed over me like a cold wave of water washing over the beach, my entire body relaxing as all of the pain was washed away.

My heart wasn’t beating.