Soul brought down a hammer with a steady swing, striking the wooden post in front of him. The clash caused half of the post to plunge into the mud and cracks to spring out from around it.

“That was a bit too strong!”

Layla, who was perched on the fence, laughed. The wind picked up her coal black hair with ease but none of it ever blew into her face.

“It’s like it’s the first time you’re using your arms!”

She snorted.

“Shouldn’t you be working?”

Soul yanked the post out of the ground with one hand. Layla’s eyes followed the motion.

"Haven't you heard?"

She fluttered her eyelashes.

"This whole ordeal was so traumatising that Aunt Wenwen granted me the rest of the day off!"

“Right…”

Soul grabbed some soil from a nearby sack. Several other emptied sacks lay discarded around the area. Several mounds of dirt were also piling up like a mole had taken to the land. He filled his newly created hole with the soil and patted it with a shovel. Soul wiped the sweat off his forehead and, using the shovel, marked in the area where the fence post was supposed to go. It had to work this time, he was running out of dirt. He pushed the wooden post into the ground slightly and grabbed his hammer.

With a mighty swing he raised the hammer to the sky. That last swing had too much juice so he would have to do it lighter this time. He brought the hammer down, taking care to hold back as much as he could.

Tink!

The post didn’t give an inch. Soul stared at it then raised the hammer again. Somewhere between the last two hits should be right, right? Before he could swing the hammer down again, a dainty set of fingers rested on his arm.

“What?”

Soul tilted his head at Layla. Mostly because she actually bothered to walk over instead of shouting a quip or two in his general direction. She wasn’t looking at him though, her eyes were glued to the wooden mallet.

“Seeing you try so hard to think hurts my head. Pass that here.”

Soul handed her the mallet. She positioned it on the post, sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth. When she raised it, she almost fell backwards. Soul reached out to steady her but before he could touch her back, she swung the mallet back down with an unusual force that bounced off the fence post. It sank into the ground a slight amount.

“There!”

She handed Soul back the mallet. She panted and wiped the sweat off her forehead with a satisfied expression.

“You saw me do it so it should be easy now.”

Soul blew air out of his nose, then, with far less struggle, replicated her movements. The wooden post sunk further in.

“Great! Now you can just repeat that until it’s at the right height.”

She leaned on a part of the fence that was still intact.

“Shouldn’t you be resting.”

“Shush. Keep working.”

As the sun crept through the atmosphere, they worked at an exponential pace repairing the fence. Others who were moving on to different tasks stopped to observe the unlikely duo before being ushered off by older members of the farm. Soul and Layla fell into an almost rhythmic groove. Soul would mark the hole, Layla would place the fence pole, Soul would hammer it in, then, Layla would bring the horizontal fence piece and hold it while Soul nailed it in. They worked like this, only stopping for water, till they were at the final post.

Soul stuck his shovel in one swift motion. This was the area of the original breakage that caused a lot of the wood to crack and need replacement. The original state of the fence flashed through Soul’s mind. It had been twisted and splintered in a way that was almost unnatural. Soul assumed that it had been a storm but thinking back, wouldn’t a storm destroy a lot more of the fence?

A rustling sound crawled out from the forest in front of him. Normally he wouldn’t pay it any mind, but his intuition was never wrong.

“Get back.”

He held his palm up to Layla who had been humming whilst carrying a horizontal post over. He gestured towards the forest and shook his head. Layla dropped the wood and backed away. Soul looked around him. He didn't have to worry about anyone else being around because Aunt Wendy forbade everyone else from approaching the unfenced forest area.

The rustling noises increased. It was getting closer. Soul raised his shovel. It wasn’t much of a weapon but it would have to do on such short notice. He took a step back and planted his feet firmly in the ground. What was he to do? If he was lucky, it’d be some wild critter that strayed too far from its nest. If he was unlucky…

A shadow approached slowly at first. It grew bigger and bigger until it covered Soul’s whole body. Then, it stopped. Soul held his breath. If he got the jump on it, maybe he could scare it away. He peered through the tall brambles in an effort to make out the creature’s shape. While searching, a glowing, red light caught his eye. He stared at it, almost transfixed before particles emerged from his own eyes causing him to blink. He took in a small breath and opened his eyes again. The light had moved and the shadow grew larger. It noticed him. Soul gritted his teeth.

It started with one clawed appendage that wriggled out of the brambles. With a single finger pointed outwards, it tore through the twigs like they were made out of butter. Another mangled paw reached out of the newly created space. It yanked apart the plants, dragging up roots and leapt through.

It was a ball of fur, claws and teeth. Soul didn’t want to look at any part of it for too long. Especially the eyes. The eyes were bloodshot. They were unfocused, pulsing things that had as much light as a dead fish. It leaned over in a clumsy way, as if its own head was too heavy for its body to keep up. What remained of its ears pricked up and moved around. Could it see him? He held his breath again. The creature lumbered forward but knocked against the incomplete fence. It let out a low growl, and in one blink, swiped at the fence with its hand. The fence twisted and buckled under the monster’s weight. At that moment, a thought flashed through Soul’s mind: I can’t let this thing come any further into the farm. The monster swung another paw at the fence.

Soul swung his shovel in kind. They collided and despite the fact that Soul had struck it with the sharp side of the shovel, his arms jolted back. The recoil made his body shake. Maybe the paws weren’t the best place to hit? He shook it off and aimed another strike at the monster’s joint. The monster yanked back its arm with a guttural growl. Its unfocused eyes swivelled to meet Soul’s. So it could see. Then, was it just ignoring him?

A red light flashed through Soul’s mind. Dangerous. He couldn’t run away if he wanted to. He let out a sigh that was similar to the monster’s growl. Now. It needed to die now before it did anything else. Soul swung his shovel at its chest. The monster remained idle till seconds before the moment of contact. It adjusted its posture so Soul raised his shoulder to protect his head from a claw swipe.

What he didn’t expect was that the monster would attack from above. It stretched out its neck with a snake-like motion and dived on Soul. Soul looked up just in time and shoved his shovel into its mouth to push it away. To his surprise, the monster latched onto it as Soul backed away.

Soul tried to yank it back but the monster made another swipe at his neck. He leaped away, relinquishing the shovel. Its teeth sunk deeper and deeper into the wood until there were only splinters left in its jaws. The monster spat it out to the side and traced its teeth with a slimy, black tongue. It bit down on the fence below it and managed to create a large enough gap using the unfinished part as a starting point. So it was intelligent too? Soul gripped his short, white hair. What now? Soul stared at the monster and glanced around. Maybe he could knock it over?

Then, it got on all fours. The steps it took towards him carried no sound. Soul took a few steps back. Did he have to fight it with his bare hands? The impact against his shovel had been strong. If that had been his arm… He took another step back. The monster arched its spine and paced from side to side. Sometimes it would stroll outside his peripheral vision. When that happened, Soul would turn his full body to face it. Was it trying to get behind him? Soul tilted his head at its cautious approach but shook it off.

Any further back than this and the monster might get wind of the sheep. Worst still, it could lock on to Layla. Layla! Where was she? Soul’s eyes darted all over the surrounding area. Had she left? If she was gone then everything else was fine. He could take getting a little injured if he managed to drive the monster off. Soul stared at his fists. At least this wasn’t his first fight-

“Soul, dodge!”

He instinctively jerked his body back. The monster’s maw shut around his afterimage. Why did it attack? He was fully facing it. How could it tell the moment he lost focus? Regardless, that voice just now was Layla’s. She was still here.

The momentum from jerking away caused Soul to lose his balance. The moment he touched the ground, he shuffled further away from the monster. Layla’s warning may have prolonged his life by a couple seconds but he couldn’t do much in his current position. Still, Layla was there, he had someone to protect. He had to do something. He scrambled about on the ground till his hand pushed something back. It was something hard… It was his mallet! The second he looked away, the monster broke into a sprint. It threw its maw open, revealing an impossible amount of rusted, metallic teeth. It was going to bite his head off.

Whether it was a reflex or random impulse, Soul threw his particles out of his body. The monster flinched at the light but kept charging. When the monster was four paces away, Soul grabbed the mallet with both of his hands. At three paces, he struggled to his feet. Two paces away, he raised the mallet above his head. At one pace, the monster’s breath grazed his face. He very nearly flinched away but the image of Layla behind him kept him steady.

That’s right, he didn’t need to think of anything complex. It was a swing of his trusty mallet, he didn’t need to do anything else. Soul leaned back like he had seen Layla do. He stood on the tips of his toes. Any height that he could gain was vital. He swung forwards, aiming the mallet at the centre of the monster’s snout. It was a matter of life and death, so he didn’t bother holding anything back.

Bonk!

The monster’s mouth was forced shut. The mallet almost splinted in half under his force. The monster stumbled, tripping over its own snout. Soul rose above it, momentum lifting his feet off the ground. A cracking sound emerged from the monster’s jaw and a single tooth shot out. Soul lifted his mallet, panting. He raised it, ready to go in for another strike but the monster shrunk back.The crazed look in its eyes had faded and its expression was now one that was twisted in pain.

It took a step back with a wince. Then another, then another. Once it had backed up beyond the fence, it turned tail and ran.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Soul stopped releasing his particles and fell to a knee, releasing a long exhale. He had done it, he had protected the farm. His vision spun. He was on the verge of collapsing when a dainty hand touched his shoulder. He grabbed the hand and stood up, leaving him face to face with a crying Layla.

“...I’m fine”

Soul ruffled her hair.

“Just a little tired.”

Soul thought back to the monster squeezing its massive body through the only gap in the fence. No, that couldn’t happen again. He shook the exhaustion out of his body and did a long stretch. Then, he walked over to the now twisted part of the fence. He yanked out the bad boards and hammered in new ones. Layla stared at him with lips slightly parted, rubbed her eyes on her sleeve, and carried over a board.

“You don’t want to take a break?”

She held it up as Soul hammered it in.

“This is still my first task.”

He hammered in another post.

“This… is also going to be a long report.”

They finished off the rest of the fence in silence.

*

“...That about sums up what happened.”

Soul scratched the back of his neck and looked away. Aunt Wendy adjusted her reading glasses. The whole time they were talking, she never stopped working. Currently, she was sorting papers with one hand and writing notes with the other.

“Is that so?”

She didn’t even glance at Soul.

“We’ll have to send for someone from the nearest town.”

Soul shuffled his weight from one foot to the other.

“... I could do it.”

Soul knocked his fist against his chest. Wendy glanced up.

“Aren’t you busy enough?”

“About that-”

Soul winced under her gaze. He stared down and lowered his arm.

“Can I get-”

“An extension? Let me guess, your curiosity has been grabbed by that wolf thing. I bet you won’t even be able to sleep properly.”

She tossed a random paper to the side.

“Here’s some advice: don’t think about it too much. Thinking’s never been your strongest point.”

She poked him in the chest with the back of her pencil.

“I still need the extension…”

“Ah, of course. That wolf fight must have been so tiring. I’ll give ya one more day.”

She brought the pencil a hair's length away from his face.

“I heard that Layla had to help you knock the fence posts in. I’m… surprised to say the least. I’d thought you’d have more utility with that strength of yours. Remind me not to give you anything hard next time.”

“I want to do everything I can for the farm.”

Aunt Wendy offered Soul one more quick, piercing glance before going back to work.

“You have plenty of time to do whatever you want, the farm’s not going anywhere. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“You’re dismissed.”

Soul left the building with slower, heavier steps. Aunt Wendy was right. How could he ever investigate the issue when he was barely able to fend off the monster? Soul closed his eyes. After fighting the Shimmer, a dream of sorts had planted itself into his mind. He shook his head, trying to dislodge it. When that didn’t work, he tucked it away in the deepest parts.

Give up on trying to save everyone. You’re not a hero, you barely managed to stay alive. If you got caught off guard now, who would save you?

Soul shoved his hands into his pockets and strolled over to the old barn. The sun was lower in the sky, dyeing the farm a subtle orange. A lot of people were taking breaks or heading over to the next task. What would they think of Soul only having done his first one? He picked up the pace.

The old barn had no other name. Its wood had been moulding for a long time but Aunt Wendy had burned the rotting planks before they could spread. At this point, it had more charcoal than wood. It had been used as a second storage building since Soul was a child. After a while, holes opened up all over its body giving it the appearance of a red block of cheese. Eventually, it bent at the slightest whisper of wind. It was probably the second oldest building on the farm, and it would soon disappear by Soul’s own hands.

Soul grabbed a flat bar and hammer that were cast to the side and pried off the wooden planks. He was just about done with one side when a creeping shadow caught his eye. He raised his hammer then paused. He forgot to check if there was anything inside.

“Hello?”

Dust floated around like fog clouds, making it hard for him to see anything. After much deliberation, he took a step inside. The barn had been cleared, safe for a pile of hay in the corner. Soul kept his back close to the wall and edged around. Under no circumstances was he falling through the floor. Not like last time.

As he approached the pile of hay, something leapt out. It was something small. It scampered towards him. A breadrat? Its long ears perked up as it stopped in front of Soul.

“Hey there?”

Odd. These things were supposed to be shy. Soul crouched and held out a hand towards it. It sniffed his fingers, then crawled up his arm. Settling on Soul’s shoulder, the bread rat curled up.

“Any more?”

Soul tilted his head at the pile of hay. If he could avoid any needless deaths, he would. A few more crawled out and joined the one on his shoulder. Bread rats are called that because of their resemblance to bread buns. They only eat insects, so everyone came to an agreement within the village: ‘If they don’t attack first, they shouldn’t be harmed.’

Soul was often told that he took that statement a bit too far. Having previously dived into a lake to save one. To him the bread rats were just more members of the farm that needed to be protected. He carried them outside with steady steps and scanned the surrounding area.

He stumbled across a pile of freshly cut grass that had been left out by a fence. Whatever it was supposed to be used for, it was now a place for the bread rats. He ushered them off his arm onto the pile and they crawled in the second they touched it. With that done, he had nothing stopping him from toppling the barn. He strolled back over with newfound energy.

Soul hummed a song to himself as he pulled down the remaining planks. When the old barn was a skeleton of its former self, Soul brought his hammer up to the corner beam. With a decisive swing, he knocked it down, along with the rest of the building.

“So long…”

Many a memory, wiped out in an instant. Though leaving it to rot would have done more harm than good. A melancholic tune flowed through Soul’s mind. He hummed it whilst making subtle moments with his fingers. Would the spirits… That’s right… It's spirit night today! He couldn’t miss that no matter what. Soul put his tools away and strolled back to the village centre.

Everyone else was already clearing up for the night. A group of girls were carrying milk to the storage room. As they passed by Soul, an older girl with fluffy, chestnut hair strolled up to him.

“Soul, I heard about your confrontation with a Shimmer in the morning. You’re not hurt, right?”

Soul glanced at his hands. No scars that weren’t there before.

“Evenin’, Penny.”

Soul tipped his head to her. Her frown grew so he shrugged.

“When has anything ever hurt me?”

Soul pushed the memory of the monster to the back of his mind. It seemed that Aunt Wendy hadn’t told anyone about it. Good. Still, Penny’s intuition was borderline supernatural so it would be hard to hide it for long.

“Don’t say that in such a nonchalant voice!”

She checked Soul over anyway.

“You’re fine… Thank goodness.”

“Penpen, what were you expecting?”

A girl from Penny’s group chimed in.

“Yeah, if he got hurt, there’d be no hope for us!”

Another girl said. They linked arms and strolled off, laughing. If they had heard about the creature that invaded the farm they would have had heart attacks.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t worry…”

Penny mumbled. The crowd coming over was growing in number now. Soul didn’t blame Penny for worrying about him with his past track record, but things were different now. He was actually able to face the troubles that inevitably found him. Penny looked away with a slight frown.

“Soul… You might not be able to join in on today's session.”

Soul crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side.

“Penny, I’ve never missed one since I first learned, why would I now?”

She rubbed her wrist with her free arm.

“Aunt Wen said that it might be better for you to watch our uninvited guest…”

Soul raised his eyebrow.

“It’s spirit night. You know what that means, right?”

She stared at Soul with wide eyes, then nodded.

“Some things are more important than an intruder… I’ll tell Aunt Wen.”

She swayed off, carrying away the milk bucket like it was full of air. Soul headed back to his cottage to grab his case. Nothing was going to ruin this night.

***

“Tch.”

The stranger struggled in the dark. Bound up like ham in some place unknown... The stranger struggled harder. They wriggled like an air drowned fish, alternating between thrashing on their stomach and their back. They only stopped to cough and sneeze the dust they kicked up out of their lungs. Every time they moved, more and more dust would ball in the air.

With grit teeth, they built up a rocking motion and jumped to their feet. They took in a deep breath and scanned the area around them with a glare. How dare those people! How could they do this to him? A named shimmer like him should be a god to those country bumkins! Well, there was no time to be mad, they needed to focus on getting out of wherever they were. Their breathing mellowed out and their pupils turned a brighter orange. A gold spark shot down their body, cutting every inch of the rope to shreds. The simpletons that did this didn’t deserve to live.

For such actions, done by such people, the formal punishment was death. The stranger lamented having to kill so many people. They didn’t want a bunch of dud’s blood on their hands. Mostly because it would be hard to wash off. They thought for a moment, then pointed their hand at the door. If they didn’t want to deal with the blood, they could just burn it all away.

“Gold: The Precious Blaze.”

The sturdy door was swallowed by flames in less than a second. The golden fire didn’t spread from the door. The bright light it emitted illuminated the entire room. As the stranger took in their surroundings, the fire raged harder. The door creaked and buckled under its own weight. As soon as the stranger stepped out of the building, the fire enveloped the rest of it. It was so dark, they couldn't see far beyond the door frame. They sent out some of their particles to check the area for movement. The particles came back undisturbed. No one should be about in this darkness anyway. The stranger ran their fingers through their hair. Using the particles to help them navigate, they made their way to the nearest building. Nothing was alive or moving inside.

They slunk over to the next building. No sign of life was found. The stranger scratched their arn. Should they burn the entire village? They grit their teeth. They didn’t have the energy to do something so flashy. What were they supposed to do if the villagers fled the area preemptively? Then, a slight, melancholic sound drifted past their ears. It was music. Where there was music, there were people! They crouched over to the source of the sound, eventually finding a lit building. It was a large building, way larger than the one they threw the stranger in.

They're all in one place? The stranger smirked. How… Convenient. They took a step away from the building and held out an open palm. A golden energy gathered around it. The particles pulsed in sync with their heartbeat. More energy gathered, and it pulsed faster. This much would be enough to wipe out everything but their shadows.

“This is in the name of the Golden family. Phew… Gold: Pillar of Purifying Light”

They muttered the lines and squeezed their eyes shut. When nothing happened, they opened their eyes again. Oh, they forgot to choose their target in their mind. Particles were such finicky things. Before they could go any further, an energy several magnitudes bigger than their own surrounded them.

“Huh?”

“~Watch where you point that thing honey~”

A voice that sounded like it was barely breathing tickled their ear. Before they could process the words, they were knocked back by a colossal explosion. The explosion pierced past their body and deep into them. The stranger felt a sensation comparable to being torn apart. Something restricted their voice from coming out. Just as quickly as it came, it left. They dropped to their knees, then face-planted into the soil. A hollowness throbbed through the stranger’s body as if they lost something important...

Summoning the last of their energy, they moved their face into a position that let them breathe and reached an arm out towards the building. Did they want those people to save them? They let their body go limp and closed their eyes.

Pah, living would be more of a bother.