The loud ruckus of physical drums and acoustic guitars filtered through the room’s only window. A large, but old, LED advertisement board scrolled the words ‘Happy New Years!’. It backed down a large figure as he choked a small naked child. His wheezing grunts sounded like the distance squeals of a dying pig. A single retro red lamp sat on the end table beside the large bed. It’s light illuminated the girl’s vacant expression while it only showed the vile sadistic grin of the man.

Kaira watched in horror as the man humiliated Ester. Her new friend. Her accomplice in her escape. She roared through the fabric that’d been stuffed into her mouth like a captured dragon. If looks could kill, the man would have died a thousand times. But they didn’t, and she had to watch every waking moment as her friend - a cheery poor girl in the Upper Canal District - was being broken.

Every inch of her felt fear, terror, and complete humiliation. She, the daughter of Daniel Cross, the Dragon of Santa Monica, was bound and gagged to a chair. Forced to watch the first true friend she’d ever made be raped by some obese pig-man. And she couldn’t move. Since the first time she’d been kidnapped, reality hit her. She felt true powerlessness.

Sticky, wet clapping filled the room as the man threw his head back for the fifth time. He let out some creepy monstrous howl as he ‘finished’ in her. Finally, he sat back and released Ester’s throat. The young 12 year old girl let out a gasp as tears broke through and her lungs clawed for each atom of air.

“I was hoping she’d put up more of a fight,” The fat man sighed as sweat glistened against the red and blue LED lights outside that outlined his figure. “I even broke her jaw. Maybe I should have broke her neck as well.”

“Now, now,” A cheap synthetic robotic voice quipped from behind Kiara, “I just bought that little bird. You can kill her when I’ve made a return on that investment.”

The pig-man clicked his tongue, and rolled the small child off the bed. Her body thumped against brown laminate hardwood flooring. She landed on her back, allowing Kiara to see each bruise inflicted on her. Each cut across her small, once pretty face. Her once sparkling hopeful blue eyes were dead as her small bruised chest rose and fell weakly. The lamplight barely illuminated the small pool of blood that began to gather between her legs on the floor.

Two cold metallic hands slid through Kiara’s long black hair, before caressing the sides of her head. “This is the little bird’s punishment for helping you. I told you when I left you in her cage, that I’d inflict hell on anyone that helped you. I thought a spoiled little fuck like you would be scared enough not to try. But I should have expected the Dragon’s spawn would take after the father.”

The hands that held her head slowly applied pressure. At first, it only aggravated her. A few heart beats later, Kiara trashed her dear life. No matter which way she moved, she couldn’t free herself from the cybernetic hands. She herself was just a normal human; untouched by the modern world. Almost every poor person had at least one cybernetic, but it’d been becoming a fad among the elites to keep their bodies ‘pure’. In this moment, she cursed her father for not allowing her to have some sort of cybernetic.

“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you,” The hands fell away, along with the pressure. “Yet.”

A laugh filled the room, slow and cheap. It sounded like it’d been fed through an autotune program. That didn’t make it any less horrifying to the teen.

“What about this one?” The fat man pulled ester up by her short cropped hair. It’s dirty blonde strains were covered in her blood.

A steel hand waved dismissively as its owner stepped out in front of Kiara. Panic began to steep in as she lost sight of Ester. She’d been replaced by a disfigured man with a steel trap for a mouth. From his jaw to the bottom of his eye sockets, it was one solid piece of smooth silver, and three slits where a mouth should have been. “Toy with her a bit longer. Once you’re done, send her to the butcher for fixing.”

Kiara flinched when the pig-man’s excited and troubled breathing filled the room again. The disfigured man moved aside. And she got a few of Ester dangling from her hair, even as some of her scalp began to peel away. The left side of her face was covered in blood. He went back to ‘toying’ with her and made sure Kiara had a VIP seat to the hellish scene before her. All Ester could do was mouth ‘Help me..’ over and over…

A sliver hand glinted past her view. “You won’t need this.”

And Kiara clothes were torn open. Another robotic chortle filled the room alongside the fat man’s disgusting wheezing. The anger and humiliation had finally died unceremoniously in her. All that was left in her was pain, sorrow, and regret. Kiara could only just beg now; beg for these devils to stop this madness.

Wake up… Ester’s voice appeared in her mind, as if she was speaking in a tunnel from far away.

The cold steel hands gripped Kiara while another one reached into her mouth and scooped out the balled up fabric. The disfigured man appeared beside Kiara, his eyes gleefully narrowed like crescent moons. He unraveled the fabric to reveal that it was a pair of pink children panties. A little cartoon bunny head had been printed on the back. Ester’s panties.

“Was the Dragon’s daughter just…” Kiara could almost see the malicious grin in that metal jaw. “Begging?”

Kiara’s eyes begged along with her. “Please… Just stop… I’ll do whatever you want. I won’t try to escape again - just leave her alone now… Please…”

“Well now,” He said. “Since you’ve finally admitted your sins and asked for forgiveness. I guess we’ll just have to cut this short. I am getting bored of this show afterall. Now…”

He turned to the pig-man and nodded. She still couldn’t see his face, but in that moment, she saw his eyes glint. In that glint, there was no humanity in there. Just pure evil and malicious joy as he jerked Ester back and forth lifelessly on his body. He only pressed her closer for a moment so Kiara could smell the mixture of blood and human… Discharge.. On her breath. Her vacant eyes had a glint of hope. Then she was pulled away, and the disfigured man reappeared.

“Now it’s time for your punishment,” Something akin to a dentist’s drill filled the air. The disfigured man reappeared and he held a small drill with a inch wide drill bit attached. “This little’s bird’s face will be the last thing you ever see - besides me of course. And yes, it’s personal kid.”

Wake up… Ester’s voice reappeared in her head louder this time.

Kiara was too scared to move. She hadn’t believed something this horrible could ever happen to her. Out of the corner of her sight, she could see the room begin to warp. The shadows grew darker and the music had disappeared. Pig-man and Ester were nowhere to be seen. The disfigured man began to elongate and his face wrapped to reveal wicked teeth.

“Wake up, Kiara,” His voice was no longer that robotic one. It was deep, demonic, and it licked at her fears. “Wake up, or you’re really gonna die!”

Wake up!

∇

Kiara’s lungs filled painfully with air as she gasped. Her arms clawed at the beautiful lilac, void black, and milky rivers that swam across overhead. She tried to grasp the stars that freckled, trying desperately to grab for something that was not there. Terror gripped her heart, as she did not want to be dropped into that dark abyss again. The teen would never let something take her vision ever again; even if it meant death.

“Ki!” Ester’s sweet angelic voice rang in her ears as the glint of platinum blonde hair appeared over her. The maid quickly subdued the flailing arms, and pinned her miss to the cold dirty stone floor beneath them. “Stop! You’re critically injured! Shit - pin the leg, pin the leg!”

Sporadic gunshots filled the air a moment later. Kiara stiffened as her hearing dulled and her head rang. Her HUD began to reboot as lines of codes ran across her left eye. It then froze. After a heartbeat, the lines of codes became distorted and fizzled. It then changed and a bright orange warning triangle appeared in its place. Kiara’s brain struggled to compute the sudden influx of information ramming itself into her brain.

“Warning!” The system reported. “Mini-map functions OFFLINE. Cross Industrial Starlink connection severed - CANNOT RECONNECT. Proximity scanner OFFLINE. Warning - System has detected a breach. System is disconnecting RFID. Warning, User does not have any breachable system points. Diagnostic will be !)_ !)_($**&_!)(#@*&#_! (!!!!!!!!!)))))))))(((((((((((((.”

Kiara’s HUD then vanished. No lines of code, no text box, and no mini-map. She was left with her normal vision now. Her eyes were wide in shock as dozens of shrill warcries filled the air. They were followed by a barrage of gunshots before another wave of war cries followed.

“Fuck,” Kiara watched Ester mouth the curse before she turned back and gestured to someone. A moment later, another figure appeared beside Ester. The figure wore a full head helmet with the large visor that had a human skull printed across the entire front. Its mouth hung open as if it were laughing. While others would have been scared at the sight of the mythical urban legend in the flesh, Kiara was still cognitive enough to recognize it was a reaper.

It was not the man who’d hurt her…

Ester pointed to Kiara’s chest before instructing the soldier to help the wounded girl lean up. Both of them hooked their arms under her armpits and slid her up against a cold stone pillar 5 odd feet back. It’d been felled and laid across the brick floor like a pony wall. The other reapers were there, firing over it as something threw itself at one of them. It was a small green man, no… It was a monster.

The reaper’s arm expanded as a black shot out of his forearm, exiting on the underside. It skewered the green monstrosity before ramming it into the stones below. He released his long rifle, and with trained grace, pulled his side arm and executed it before turning the pistol on the next jumper.

Kiara stared at the scene in wonder. What’d just happened there defied all reasonable laws of reality. The body that laid bleeding at the man’s boots was a… Goblin. There was no way to reason herself out of that. She’d seen plenty of fantasy movies. She doubted there wasn’t a kid alive that didn’t know about goblins. It was even a term to call rowdy toddlers.

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“That’s…” Kiara turned to Ester, who now was visible as the moonlight illuminated her beautifully haunted face. She couldn’t ask the question she wanted to ask. Ester’s only real eye expressed unrestrained worry for Kiara. Her other eye seemed out of place next to it, but it was an artificial eye, of the same top quality as Kiara’s eyes. However, there was something about real eyes that expressed emotions that the fake ones could never.

“It’s… Gonna be fine,” Kiara said. The words strained as it hurt to breathe.

“Don’t you fucking lie to me,” Ester hissed. “Hurry up, you can apply the fucking gel now. Fucking HURRY!” She turned and screamed at the only reaper with a different skull decal. Instead of the laughing skull, this one’s mouth was closed, and a cross had been cut out of its forehead; it was a medic.

The medic pulled a dull metal canister from a side pouch. It was about the size of a normal water bottle, with the added application nozzle. He didn’t waste any time and put the nozzle about an inch over Kiara’s right shoulder. The teen in question was confused, still fuzzy as she tried her best to process everything. She found that the Holy Grail, or God’s Fragment, was embedded deep into her shoulder.

“O.. O--” Kiara was oddly calm, all things considered, about that injury. Blood oozed from all around the wound, and riverlets of blood were visible as the rock had pierced through the supposedly ‘stab’ proof material. Slowly, Kiara’s eyebrows rose as her mind caught up. Before the shock could wear off enough, the medic clicked the bottle, and a cold piercing gell splattered across the area where skin and stone met.

Kiara’s body stiffened up as it felt like millions of fire ants had suddenly been shoved into her shoulder. Her fingers twitched uncontrollably as she threw her head back in a silent howl of pain. Ester caught her head before she could kill herself on the stone pillar. “It’s going to be okay.. Shhh, it’ll only last a minute, love.”

Ester could only comfort her as the medical gel began to disinfect and seal the wound. She looked to her friend’s left leg. It’d been mangled and the lower leg had been ripped away, leaving Kiara with a stump of a leg. The gel had already been used on it, with the stump appearing to have a thick blue silicon cap over it. Bubbles of blood had been trapped inside the gel cap, but all in all, Kiara would not bleed out.

Before they were out of the woods, the medic then placed a syringe gun to Kiara’s neck and pulled the trigger. Just like snapping fingers, and just as quickly, the tool injected anti-drowsy painkillers. “It’s done.” He said before he looked to Ester. Kiara blinked a few times, just in time to see a dead goblin suddenly appear. She stared at it, just a ribbon of green blood splattered around it. A reaper had killed another.

“We have to move,” Another reaper appeared beside them. His helmet’s speaker barked loudly so they could hear over the now too sparse gun fire and increased dead body throwing. “We need to push up to the door now. We may be able to blow it, maybe not, but we can’t stay here. They’re beginning to flake us. We are down to five men - we can’t hold this position anymore.”

“Ki!” Ester turned to her. “We need to leave. The osprey is downed, and we’ve lost 15 reapers fighting our way up onto the temple landing. We are currently in an enclosed courtyard, but those little monsters have way more numbers than us. There’s a closed stone door behind us, 50ft back. We couldn’t open it when we entered, but there’s no other way. What’s your order?”

Both the reaper and the medic turned to Ester, almost as if they were questioning why she was handing command over to the spoiled kid. Kiara knew what they were thinking, because that was a logical response. She’d always been a born leader, that girl. Even her father said that. She could have been a general if she’d been born in a higher class, but she was an orphan sold into the sex trade in the Canal District. It was only by sheer luck, or God, that she ever met this wonder girl.

And yet, Ester looked at Kiara with that ‘What’s next boss?’ expression. It was the same expression that left no room for her to cower away, or shirk responsibility. Kiara figured it was the same her throwing under the boss as well.

“Uh…” Kiara short circuited. Her nerves were just flatlining now, and she was now well aware of her leg. Ester snapped her fingers in front of Kiara’s face to pull her attention.

“Orders, love. Orders.” Ester smiled softly, but she couldn’t hide the worry in her real eye. “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll figure out the rest.”

“I want my dad,” Kiara blurted, and she felt stupid the moment the words jumped from her lips. Ester nodded, rolling her finger just under her own chin that meant ‘continue with that’. “I-- We need dad. H-He’ll have enough men to save us, so maybe if we get into that…” Kiara stared past Ester and the two reapers, and saw what looked like a blend of a stereotypical temple and a castle. The courtyard was as big as a football field with the exit and entrance being opposite ends of the lengths.

“In the temple?” Ester asked, and the reapers turned to Kiara. They all watched the gears turn on her face.

Kiara nodded hesitantly. “In the temple. We can try and bar it. If not, use the doorway as a choke point.”

Ester took that moment to toy with Kiara’s chest wood, applying the last needed top gels to complete the seal. She knew that, once Kiara latched onto a thought, she’d be distracted so long as she kept her thinking. It was a neat trick she’d picked when she watched the slum doctors give shots to babies. Different applications, but same method. And it almost always worked on Kiara. She didn’t question why.

The teen in question looked over Ester’s shoulder to view the top of the courtyard’s walls. They stood over 50ft tall, and figures were beginning to mull on the top of them. They were trying to plot a course down several pitch black broken sections to find a way down behind them.

“Alright,” Ester nodded as she looked up, stilled, then launched her left arm upward as it opened up. A long polished etched black, the length of her forearm, lanced outward as a goblin appeared on top of the pillar. The other two reapers also skewered the goblin as well. Each blade retracted back into their owners’ arms and slid lifelessly down to land beside Kiara.

“Time to go,” Kiara squealed the words as Ester effortlessly heaved her up into a princess carry.

While Kiara’s plan sounded childishly, it was the only plan she could think off. Ester went everywhere with her, and both of them knew her father had installed a tracker in her brain. In fact, if the reapers hadn’t already thought about it, it was obvious that they’d need to bunker down somewhere. It was an inescapable blessing, and curse, that Daniel Cross always found his daughter. Since the time she’d been kidnapped and rescued when she was 13, the Dragon of Santa Monica never allowed Kiara out of his reach.

When danger was afoot, either in person or by a pawn, the Dragon always reached out to kill the miscreants before they could harm her. She was his one and only treasure. And he’d mobilize heaven and hell to pull her back into the cage again. The fact he razed nearly half of Los Angeles and the LAPD, along with the National Guard, was proof that the Dragon would stop at nothing to find her. It was that kind of blood curdling determination and tenacity that gave Kiara the unshaking trust that her beloved father would and will come for her. Nuke aside, they were still alive, so why couldn’t he?

With that, Ester bounded across the last 50ft towards a partially illuminated recessed doorway. Small rocks clattered around them as the goblins above screamed guttural - assumed - obscenities at them. As if the sharks smelled the blood in the water, scores of goblins chased after them. Pouring over their abandoned position with such speed that Kiara wondered why they hadn’t done so before. Their figures weaved about the large courtyard like hungry wolves.

Once inside the doorway, Kiara saw the 10x10ft double doors made from solid polished marble. Behind her, the last of the reapers set up a defensive line just within the doorway, leaving a 5ft space between the entrance and the girls. The goblins were quick to spread out, hollering, jumping, and dancing some distance away from the entrance. The last 50ft was nothing but open field. One reaper sniped any daring goblin that had built up enough courage to make the final charge.

That had sent them running for cover behind the pillars. It was obvious to see that they weren’t the brightest and courageous mob. It didn’t seem to stop them from screaming at the opening as more rocks clattered uselessly by the entrance.

“Now what do we do?” Ester asked Kiara as the young miss fumbled with her dirt skirt.

“Look for levers, buttons, or anything that appears to have the ability to move. Maybe try saying passcodes to the door.” Kiara replied as she hiked up her skirt. Along with flashing her black lack panties to her friend, she revealed an elastic band that wrapped around her soft right thigh. A rose-gold plated double stack 9mm CWI Commander Special 1911 had been concealed. She pulled it out, revealing its flowery ornate slide along with Santa De La Muerte; Our Lady of Holy Death. Or, Saint of Death. On the slide’s top, ‘Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum’ was etched longways.

Ester glanced at her friend’s panties and gave an approving lift of her eyebrows. Despite the fatal situation they found themselves in, Kiara managed to find the moment to tap the tip of her maid’s nose. “No lewd.” She gave a half hearted smile before she made Ester put her down just behind the arch of the doorway. It was a 3 foot outcropping, but it was better than nothing. Kiara then pulled out her only 2 spare magazines with shaking hands and kept them in her left hand.

The maid jumped into action quickly as the reapers depleted their ammo reserves. Each one resorted to picking up the rocks they’d been so graciously supplied with, and using their cybernetic strength to maim and kill any approaching goblins again. It wasn’t as effective as their firearms, with the goblins slowly beginning to encroach on them again. The hateful boom sticks no longer rocked the walls, and they were free to hunt their prey.

One minute turned into ten, and the horde slowly inched closer. The goblin above had stopped throwing rocks and the soldiers were dry on their cold munitions.

“There’s nothing here!” Ester growled as she punched the stone door. Her first clacked useless against it.

Kiara just leaned her head against the cold wall as she clenched her jaw. The jeering of the monster had slowly been picking at her. She had to remind herself that she was the daughter of The Dragon. Over and over again, she told herself that until she hardened herself. Only, it wasn’t working. Each time, she was reminded how she was nothing like her father. He could lead armies. He could stand against governments and cities, and he could raze one for one person.

Screams filled the air as several goblins gained enough courage to charge forward. They were quickly extinguished. But the levies had already been broken. One by one, the goblins began to push forward. The last line in the sand had been crossed and the cat was out of the bag. Their prey had finally been cornered and mostly defanged. It was their closest chance to get them yet. They were met with five fierce tigers that unleashed the meaning of ‘Reapers’.

Five soldiers held the opening. Each cybernetic limb glowed as they pushed it all to the limits. Each arm formed hardened blades, sealing them close permanently to fight harder and longer. Their legs opened up, revealing the exoskeleton underneath, but used the open panels like somewhat sharp knives. Blood danced through the night air. Heads rolled and goblins were torn in half. By the score, goblins fell dead as their green blood pooled by Kiara’s feet.

One reaper pivoted on his left leg, raking his right across four goblins. One took that moment to lung through just as his back was turned. Another lept onto his back using another goblin. A reaper next to him quickly speared the second goblin through the side of the head. Another speared the first through the neck before using it as a meat shield. One by one, they continued to kill, and kill, and kill.

Please, God… Open the door for us… For the first time in 10 years, Kiara prayed to God. She didn’t expect it to actually open, or an answer really. Despite having the ‘Holy Grail’ embedded in her shoulder, it felt like a sentimental last act.

You finally called out to me… A voice whispered back, almost gleeful. Come, enter my domain…

Kiara’s deathly pale face turned to the door as it groaned. Ester backed up in surprise. The reapers continued their onslaught, even as one reaper’s arm broken in half from the heavy usage. Metal was but a material item, and he resorted to using the arm as a bat. A cold, sinister air wind fluttered out. It granted a moment’s respite for the humans as the goblins began to backpedal in fear.

Even Kiara stiffened. Like some sort of primal instinct sensed something ancient and powerful was lurking within. The goblins melted into a scared frenzy as they tried to escape. There were just too many of them to do such a thing. Ester snarled as the stone doors rumbled open, revealing an empty void of a hallway. The darkness devoured the light until Kiara’s shoulder began to glow warmly. It countered the air that seemed to flow outward like it was exhaling.

“Get inside!” Kiara barked weakly as some color began to return to her features. Still, she felt weak and slow. That last part was mostly due to the cocktail of meds they’d just given her to deal with the pain. Thankfully, Ester was an attentive person and helped her up. She also kept an eye on the too-close-for-comfort battle line. No doubt that Kiara would have been a prime target, if she’d been sitting in the open.

“Fall back!” Ester screamed before she hurriedly pulled Kiara through the door and into the long dark tunnel. The moment both the girls crossed its threshold, they instinctively felt something was wrong. The darkness washed over them like a ghostly fog, swirling afterthem before dancing after the reapers.

The stone in Kiara’s shoulder glowed completely before the light became focused. Like a wide-beam laser, the light cut through the inky fog some tens of feet. Beautiful faded murals covered the walls on either side. One of a beautiful white dragon. One of a beautiful light skinned woman with bluish hair. Another of a great battle that spanned some odd 50ft, but neither the less, they continued onward as the reapers flanked them. Black fog sizzled violently after they passed, as if the light burned it. Either way, none of them wanted to figure out what was actually happening. Each of their optical modes were down, and the reapers only had HUDs up in limited-mode thanks to their top of the line armor that protected the core electronics.

A muffled roar sounded from behind them, followed by several more. The hallway fell silent again, aside from their footfalls.

Two thick muscular green arms shot out from the darkness. Kiara saw it just as she mustered the courage to look back. She wasn’t quick enough to get the warning out as each hand grabbed the two most rear reapers. Maybe because their limited-systems get them a warning, or maybe they saw the panic in her eyes - Either way, they swiftly turned their arms around and began to stab into the thick tree-like arms as it held their heads.

Two figures shot past them and tackled the two reapers ahead of them. They were human-sized goblins, and with Kiara’s knowledge of fantasy, she surmised they were hob-goblins. And if they were…The two reapers the massive arms grabbed went limb, as their heads were smashed like watermelons being dropped. Crimson liquid, mixed with bits of brain and milky liquid squirted as Ester stopped to figure out what was going on.

“Go!” The last remaining reaper blurted out.

Two hob-goblins stabbed the reapers with fervent feral bloodlust. Even as one of them had been able to retaliate and skewer them in the side. A massive inhuman face appeared out from the darkness. Its head scraped against the ceiling with each step forward before it dropped the dead reapers in its grasp. Its eyes were that of a goat, and two large tusks spiked out from its lower jaw. It smiled down on the girls with lustful eyes. Not the pleasant kind, but the one that promised it would be living hell for them.

“Orge…” Kiara muttered.