Benjamin kept running as he felt the sensation of his body becoming heavier spread from his arm, the one Vita kept the flame in. He watched as his skin seemed to grow thicker, to the point of it looking like armor that knights use. With the increase in weight came a slowness in speed, allowing one of the faster kobolds to leap towards him with its mouth wide open. Benjamin retaliated by swinging his arm around to try to stop the monster, but to his own and the other kobolds surprise, sent the attacker flying through the air. The sound of the impact was that of bones snapping and flesh rupturing.
It seemed that even his muscles had gotten stronger too, and monster and human alike stopped in their tracks. Both of them stood there, staring at the body of Benjamin that had completely transformed, to the point of looking non-human. Benjamin looked at his other limbs and realized that they too had transformed. Heavy, strong and knight-like were some of the words that crossed his mind.
The kobolds seemed to have reignited their morale with yips and barks, before slowly moving towards the strange human. Benjamin, however, was busy staring at his hands and legs. One of the kobolds, must've been angered by this ignorance or found this as an opportunity, stepped up and swung its makeshift club at Benjamin's head.
Out of reflex, Benjamin raised his right arm up and actually managed to block the hit with his new arms. His other hand, the one with the flame still burning, delivered a fiery palm strike to the kobolds center. It fell to the ground with a nasty burn wound in its stomach, but this did not stop it from biting Benjamin's legs. It held on to the leg, but didn't manage to bite through it. Yet it was enough of a distraction for another kobold to repeat the leaping move and managing to land a strike right at Benjamin's dome. The hit brought out a scream of pain from the kid before he got tackled by a kobold.
Once he hit the ground, the rest of the kobolds swarmed him and attacked with everything they had. Biting and striking him with makeshift weapons. Benjamin was screaming through the pain and fear, but anger and frustration slowly built itself inside of him. Loss of his family, getting lost, and now this. He had had enough of it all, all he wanted was to go home.
He struck out with a closed fist at one of the kobolds, landing a lucky hit, knocking it out before kicking off the one still gnawing on his leg. Trying standing up again despite the kobolds repeatedly striking his body, Benjamin protected his face as he managed to grab one of the kobolds and swinging it around like a sack of potatoes. Sending the kobolds sprawling around, he threw the battered kobold at one that tried standing up, he ran again.
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He ran until he couldn't hear any of the kobolds, ran until he could taste iron in his mouth. Slowing down to a stumble, Benjamin leaned onto the cold stone wall and coughed out some spit. To him, it was the first time he had been in a fight with a monster. He should be happy or at least feel good, he was doing something good after all. But the sounds and the violence of it all was too much for him. This time, he could feel all the emotions in his chest finally boiling out. It felt like too much, too much blood. He didn't like the violence, didn't like it at all. He slid down the wall, pushing his knees up to his chest and burying his head in his knees.
Benjamin cried softly and wished for it all to be a bad dream, despite having done so for nearly a week. His features softened, and his skin returned to normal, as he let his tears fall in the dark. Vita slowly moved towards his face to wipe away a tear before rubbing his head. It was extremely awkward, not only since Vita didn't know how to soothe a child, but also because it's being done with Benjamin's own hand.
“Are you good? You can cry properly when there aren't monsters trying to beat you up.” Vita tried, yet it wasn't quite good enough. Benjamin staggered up for the second time, sniffling and wiping his face, and started moving once more.
“Don't act so dim, little guy. I'm sure everyone your age would've started crying if they were here, so be way cooler than them all by not crying.” Yeah, Benjamin liked the idea of that. Maybe if he was cool enough, then he could become a knight. Perhaps a hero! Vita was right, cooler kids didn't cry. He gave his face a good wipe before walking with the determination of being cool, maybe even the coolest!
With the sound of yips and barks coming back in much greater numbers, he looked at the hole that was Vita's existence on his body. His eyes no longer needed that flame to look in the dark, his eyes had gotten used to it, but wielding flame as a weapon was cool. Vita seemed to pick up on this, and right behind his knuckles a blade of fire shot out. Consistent, stable, and most importantly, really cool. He could imagine it, the future where he becomes a hero of coolness that gets written down in all the history books. He would get to meet the many nobles and get to speak with the royal families. And finally, he would meet the Crown and they would become friends.
As the horde of kobolds rounded the corner, his resolve had gotten ever so stronger and his eyes were steeled. But deep down in his bones, at the microscopic level where molecules were the only things visible and then beyond even that, Vita gave what could only be described as a gaze of madness. For the plans Vita had for this child of misfortune were filled with nothing but cruelty. And as any good monster of horror, it would be best to appear as a friend.