“Wake up!”

Something violently shoved her, ramming into her side. She fell off the bed.

Drowzee, she felt around, trying to make sense of everything.

Brrring. An alarm blared through the church.

Lexi clumsily pulled herself up and looked around. Her head was ringing.

Saxa was running wildly, her face full of panic. Her clothes were wrinkled as she ran around, grabbing something.

What… What’s happening?

Seeing that Lexi was somewhat awake, she shoved a bag and dagger into her arms.

The force pushed her back, causing her to stumble backward. She fell onto the ground.

Brrring.

“Ow,” mumbled Lexi. She clutched the items in one arm and rubbed her head.

As she was collecting herself, Saxa tugged her. With a frown and a serious face, she ran out of the room, dragging Lexi behind.

Lexi stumbled behind, almost banging into the wall on the way out.

Along the way, she somehow managed to recover her bearings and steady herself. She glanced around, observing the situation. Everyone was awake.

Uneasiness welled up in her stomach. Their expressions were either serious or full of terror.

For some reason, they had their stuff and were running towards the front door.

Brring.

Bang.

The alarm rang, and something exploded.

The sound fueled her adrenaline, triggering her flight reflex. She mindlessly ran forward, attempting to escape.

Fire. Flames.

Lexi could faintly hear the sound of stomping feet. Screams of pain rang in her ears.

Burning. Ashes.

She wanted it all to stop. Her breath became heavier as panic settled in. With her eyes closed, Lexi ran as fast as she could.

Stop.

She didn’t want to see it.

The scent of burning flesh.

She didn’t want to remember.

“Lexi!”

A sharp pain shot up her arm. It yanked her out of her spiraling.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Saxa and Sister Rose.

“Calm down, dear. Take slow breaths.”

Lexi listened, slowly breathing in and out.

Seeing that she was calming down, Rose turned towards Saxa and said something. Lexi couldn’t hear, she was busy trying to not panic.

Saxa was agitated, but she led Lexi to a tree and sat down.

When Rose left to check on the others, Lexi scanned the area.

Where are we?

They were in the forest. They, meaning all the church children and Sister Rose. The other sisters weren’t there.

A cry cut through the silent night. It was one of the younger children, a young reptilian. Inu went to comfort him.

Bang.

An explosion came from the church. Flames rose and flickered in the night.

“Everyone,” roared Rose, “we need to leave.”

Saxa jumped up. Her face was twisted with anger, “We can’t.”

“People are still inside.” She pointed towards the church. “And my sister isn’t here.”

Rose looked at her with a stern expression. “It isn’t safe here.”

“So what?”

“We need to take the children to safety.” Rose pointed at the five younger children.

Their hair was unkempt, strands poking out all over the place. Their clothes were messy with dirt splotches all over. A few of them had tears in their eyes as they tried to stifle their cries. They were glancing between Saxa and Rose.

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Saxa looked at the children and grimaced, but she stopped arguing.

Bang.

Another explosion.

When Lexi looked up, she saw flames rising… and something else.

Why is the sky cracking?

“We have to leave!”

Rose grabbed two hands and motioned towards the older children, telling them to gather everyone.

Lexi, Jules, and Evan each grabbed one, leaving Saxa and Inu hands-free. They clutched their weapons and each took a side.

Inu stood in front, acting as the vanguard. He scanned. carefully watching for enemies.

Saxa followed the rear, making sure that there were no sneak attacks.

The group quietly traversed through the forest.

As they walked, it was disturbingly quiet. No crickets chirping, owls hooting, leaves resulting, or even the whistling of winds.

Crack.

“Everyone run!”

Lexi felt her heart thumping in her chest, the sound beating in her head.

She quickly lifted the child—the young harpy—into her arms and sprinted forward, not daring to look back. She faintly heard stampeding footsteps behind her, all of them in disorder and disarray.

As the group rushed through the forest, she spotted a black shadow in the trees. It quickly moved along, disappearing from her sight.

Her eyes widened. She had felt it staring at her.

But that can’t be right… It doesn’t have eyes… and it was ahead of us.

“Wait!” she cried, her voice full of fear.

Saxa jogged up next to her. Her knuckles were white from clutching onto her daggers. “Lexi. What happened?”

“Shh. Listen.”

They had stopped moving a while ago, but there were still footsteps. The sound halted shortly after them.

“Don’t you hear that?”

Inu nodded and frowned. “We’re being followed.”

Rose quickly scanned the area before calling out directions. “All children to the center.”

“Saxa and Inu, be on guard.” They lifted their weapons, facing the forest.

“Jules, shield.” Jules opened his spellbook and cast a barrier around the children. Then, he readied a spell.

“Lexi, back support.” She summoned a wind bow and arrow, pulling back the string.

“And Evan, help me watch the children.” He nodded and stood in front of them, a pair of daggers in his hands.

They stood there cautiously scanning the area, trying to find their opponents.

Lexi watched, trying to see or hear movement.

“Nine o’clock.”

Jules and Lexi blindly shot in that direction. As the light of their magic illuminated the direction, the group could see a shadowy monster.

It roared but didn’t approach.

“Five o’clock.”

Lexi fired a wind arrow. Another one.

“Twelve o’clock.”

Jules blasted a beam of light towards it.

…

We’re surrounded.

Both sides were at a standstill.

They couldn’t attack because they needed to protect the younger children, and the shadowy figures weren’t attacking either.

It felt like hours had passed. Her heart was still drumming, and her skin grew cold.

Bang.

Something exploded in the distance.

The sound triggered the monsters, and they began growling. Low, grating growls that reminded Lexi of fingernails on a blackboard.

With a roar, one of the monsters crawled out of the bush.

Its body was like muck, black and thick.

Saxa ran out to face it, scanning for weakness.

The sludge kept on squirming, and the color started changing too. It mutated into different limbs connected to the same body, like a chimera of various creatures.

What is that? Lexi had never seen or heard of anything like this before.

Eventually, it settled on the shape of a large black bird with tentacles coming out of its beak. The monster was plump and big. Its feathers looked razor sharp and were covered in what looked like a layer of dried blood.

A gasp came from the children. “It’s a roc.”

The “roc” charged at Saxa, snapping at her with its slimy beak.

As she dodged, it swung its wing at her, the feathers cleanly cutting through her scales. Blood flowed down her right arm, dripping into a puddle on the ground.

She groaned and forced pressure on the wound.

It attacked her again, this time striking with its talons.

“##.” She quickly activated her tattooed spell and rolled out of the way.

Lexi transformed her arms into half wings and jumped into the fray.

Since it was large, she didn’t need to worry about accuracy. Pulling back the string, Lexi shot five arrows in quick succession at the monster’s eye.

It screamed when one of the arrows pierced through and gray sludge dripped out. Its tentacles wildly flailed as it stomped around in pain.

Taking advantage of distress, Saxa snuck up and stabbed a dagger into its wing.

Clang.

She scowled as the blade bounced off. The bird was still thrashing about, not noticing Saxa’s sneak attack.

“Fuck,” she mumbled, “What kind of roc has armored feathers?”

“Aim for the eye!”

Lexi fired another ten shots at its other eye, but the “roc” noticed her movement.

It stopped flailing and charged at her with its beak open. The tentacles leaped forward, chasing as she jumped back.

One of them latched onto her leg and pulled her to the monster’s mouth.

She reached out, grabbing something to stop her.

Looking around with panic, she tried to find something to save her.

When she glanced back, Lexi saw a mouth with hundreds of tentacles, all trying to grab her.

It was disgusting.

But she also saw her anklet.

“#####!”

A wave of water gushed forward with great strength. It soaked Lexi and forced gallons of water down the “roc’s” throat.

The monster let go, choking and gasping for air.

She quickly hastily backed away, putting distance between them. Raising her bow, she shot an arrow into its mouth. “#.”

As it pierced into its throat, Saxa jumped up. She thrusted her dagger into its unharmed eye, repeatedly slashing and stabbing it.

After a while, the “roc” managed to push her away, slicing her stomach in the process.

It fell.

Saxa staggered to the ground, breathing heavily and clutching her belly. She was covered in gray sludge. Lexi rushed to her side and checked on the injury.

They watched the monster, waiting for it to stand back up.

…

When it didn’t, Lexi breathed a sigh of relief. But they couldn’t celebrate yet.

…

A scream pierced their relief, drawing their attention to the other battle.

While Saxa and Lexi were fighting the “roc”, Inu and Jules had been facing an undead flaming harpy.