Jack and Red stand in a hall of an ancient castle. The structure is constructed of large, gray stone blocks with ceilings that loom high overhead. Iron, torch-lit scones line the walls. They stare at a creature as it lumbers towards them. It’s an amalgamation of puppet and sharpened blades, having pointy legs and swords for arms. It moves with elbows raised high to each side as if being controlled by unseen strings. It rears back and swings at Jack. He deflects with the haft of the axe, then swipes downward, knocking it to the ground.

  The creature disintegrates, leaving behind small red orbs that funnel into Jack’s chest. He jumps back and starts reaching for his chest. “What?—What was that?”

  Red smirks. “Don’t worry about that, it’s just part of the game. It’ll keep happening, so you’ll have to ignore it. I doubt it will do anything for us.

  Jack continues to touch and look towards his chest. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine. Look, here comes another one. See if you can knock this one up into the air. I want to try something.”

  “Ok?”

  “Just do it.” Red has her pistols in hand as the marionette moves their direction. It rears back and Jack quickly steps forward, swinging his axe in an upward arc. Red shuffles forward during his swing, but the creature turns to ice and sails backwards. It turns into more red orbs, then passes into Jack.

  “Ah, screw it.” She switches out for the katana as another creature approaches. She opens a portal at its feet, retrieves the second pistol and begins firing upwards as the creature falls from above her. The pistols alternate shots, firing up into the plummeting creature. It continues to fall, unhindered. Her slides lock back as she runs out of ammo. She sidesteps, allowing the creature to impact the floor, where it releases orbs that move into her. She shakes her head as she replaces her magazines. “Yeah, I’m calling bullshit on the whole juggling thing.”

  “Ugh, was something different supposed to happen?”

  “Nah, it’s fine. Wasn’t what I was expecting is all. But if nothing else, I know I can drop them to death.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Let’s just be ready. We should be getting a visit from that lava spider soon.”

  “Are you sure you should be fighting this thing? Or did you become resistant to fire somewhere along the way, and I just didn’t hear about it?”

  “Yeah, it’ll be fine. Just make sure none of the puppets wonder in. Also, make sure you’re looking out for jets of fire. You don’t want to get hit by one of those things while focusing elsewhere.”

  The two of them walk into a portion of the castle that looks like a cathedral. Columns align the sides of the rectangular shaped room and a round stained-glass window sits in the center of the ceiling. The glass shatters, sending shards twinkling to the ground as a giant tarantula plummets to the floor.

  The spider’s body is as big as an elephant, covered in white fur, and is accented with lava-colored crevices. It lands on the floor and looks towards the two of them.

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  “That’s a shame,” says the spider with a guttural voice, the lava pooling in the back of its throat like phlegm. “I thought I sensed bigger prey.”

  Red lays one of her pistols over her shoulder and points with her katana. “Is that right? Well, I’m about to teach you the correlation between dynamite and small packages.”

  “Sarah, are you sure?”

  “Yeah, just keep everything else out of the fight.”

  With that, Red charges at the spider.

  The spider spews a molten jet towards her.

  Red quickly opens a portal, redirecting the spray into a nearby wall. She opens fire, sheathing the blade and drawing the other pistol as she closes the distance.

  It prepares to spew again, then recoils as shots enter its mouth. It fixates on her anew as a foreleg moves to squash her.

  She dodges as a pistol slide locks back. She leaps into a roll, switching the pistol back out for her katana.

  The spider leans forward to bite the little girl’s face, but rears back in a howl as the katana slices open its right cheek. Its bulbous abdomen contacts a pillar, jarring it to a stop and allowing Red to run underneath.

  She hunches below it and fires up into its underbelly. It starts to turn above her, moving its abdomen away from the pillar, then backpedals. It rears up on its back legs and drops in another failed attempt to squash her. Her other slide locks back, and she puts it away before stabbing upward. She pulls the blade free releasing a gout of lava.

  She recoils from the heat and gets clipped by a moving leg. She tumbles away in a sprawl with her red cloak flaring. She collides with a pillar, then pushes herself to her feet, holding her ribs as the spider turns back towards her.

  The spider lunges with a foreleg as she sidesteps with a groan. She swings to attack its other front leg where her blade bites deep. It becomes lodged, so she yanks in an attempt to wrench it free.

  The spider turns its head back to her and spews another jet. She leans away while still clutching her katana’s hilt. She screams as her upper arm, shoulder, neck, and side of her face blister. She releases her grip and retreats to crouch behind a nearby pillar.

  Red looks over to her injured arm, wincing as she tries to keep it still. She hears a commotion and looks back around the pillar to find Jack attacking from the opposite side. “He won’t be able to hold out for long,” she says to herself while pushing back out of her crouch.

  She runs back towards the spider, seeing her sword still sticking out of its foreleg. She passes under it from the rear, then dances around the flailing legs as she tries to progress towards the head.

  The spider stumbles as an explosion of ice erupts from an attack, allowing Red to pass outside of the legs. She grabs the katana hilt and opens a portal, only to immediately close it, severing the leg.

  Lava spills out of the wound and the spider stumbles towards its missing appendage.

  Red leaps back from the heat as her scarf streams out ahead of her. She opens another portal that she falls back into. She continues falling and turns in the air as she descends from above the spider. Her cloak and skirt billow up as the tail of her scarf flaps higher above, trailing like smoke coming off the back of a shot down plane.

  She curls into a kneeling position and struggles to turn her sword into a downward strike. She screams in pain as she moves both arms to grasp the hilt with both hands. She lands—hard, her own body weight shoving the katana into the spider’s back while knocking the wind out of herself and sending black spots across her vision. She quickly opens a portal within the spider.

  A portal exit opens across the room, exposing the spider’s innards. The spider bolts forward as it get impaled, causing its innards to jettison from the exit portal like a rolled up garment leaving a t-shirt cannon. The spider sheers its own insides as Red loses consciousness. Her scarf falls in a loose coil around her as she slumps forward like a domino, the spider collapsing immediately after.

  The spider soon disintegrates, releasing a heap of large red and green orbs while depositing her on the floor. The green orbs pass into her, and the burning of her skin reverts to normal. Jack kneels next to the pile that is her. He checks and finds her breathing unlabored. He gently scoops up the fragile thing that had come unraveled and carries her someplace safe, until she recovers.