I peeked over a small snowy hill, amazed by the sight before me. Hundreds of mantises skittered around a lava pit, chittering and eating everything they could find. Some of them I’ve seen before. One mantis was missing its right eye and half of its left arm. Another was a corps missing its arms while its brethren consumed its body.

Looking over to Haze, I asked, astonished, “Did I fight some of these monsters? Is there more than one of it?”

Haze nodded, “Yep, it’s a hivemind monster. It doesn’t care if a few bodies die because it can reproduce the lost body. Now we have to empty the enclave, and then we’re done.”

Sighing a little bit too loudly, I said, “I wonder how Scarlet and the rest are doing?”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Haze said reassuringly as she stood, cracking her knuckles and neck as a manic grin spread across her face, “Now, rip and tear until it’s done.” Then she shot forward with a bestial war cry, and I couldn’t help but smile and follow after her, releasing my own war roar.

***

One week earlier…

Scarlet, Jax, Shiro, Cami, and Xiao departed from an airship a dozen kilometers from the port town they needed to go to and protect. The town was on the opposite side of a Pine forested mountain, and the ship’s captain didn’t dare get any closer to the town for fear of being attacked by the monsters. So, Scarlet decided to get off where he told them to rather than argue like Shiro.

“I fucking hate that old man!!” Shiro yelled as the airship departed, “The cowered couldn’t have dropped us off any closer!!”

“Shiro, stop complaining,” Scarlet ordered, lifting her duffle bag over her shoulder, “it’s only a short walk, and the exercise will be a good warm-up for us in case we have to jump into battle. So, stop complaining and move.”

Shiro hmphed, “Fine. I still don’t like that cowered!”

“No one is asking you to like him,” Xiao said, hefting his pack over his shoulders and beginning the ascent up the mountain. Jax, Scarlet, and Cami followed after him, with Shiro grumbling to himself for a minute before finally following.

It was midday when they started walking, and it wouldn’t take long for them to reach the port town with their strength and speed. All the same, they took it slow and steady so they wouldn’t tire themselves out too quickly. As they walked, Cami walked next to Scarlet and gave her a soft elbow, whispering, “Hey, you going to do it?”

“Do what?” Scarlet asked quizzically.

“Do a certain scene to a certain grumpy teddy bear,” Cami clarified, wiggling her eyebrows mischievously.

Scarlet felt her cheeks blush, and she looked away from the smug-looking Cami. Scratching her cheek sheepishly, she said, “I don’t think now’s a good time.”

Cami groaned and skipped ahead of Scarlet, walking backward, she said, “Then when will be a good time? When you’re on death’s door? You should do it!”

“No, I can’t,” Scarlet denied, waving her hands, “Now just isn’t the right time.”

Rolling her eyes, Cami countered, “If you don’t, I will do it for you.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Would too—AHH,” Cami began to say before tripping over a rock and landing on her butt. “Ouchy,” she groaned, rubbing her bruised behind.

“That’s what you get for teasing me,” Scarlet said, walking past Cami and continuing the walk up the mountain.

The rest of the hike continued in silence as they ascended, and once they reached the top of the mountain, after about thirty minutes of walking, they could see the large town far below. The town had been made of adobe and wood from the surrounding forest. The port town was situated on a natural gulf with a massive dock along the beach for sea vessels and a tall wooden dock for airships near the mountainside. The port town looked as though it had seen better days. Several dozen buildings looked like they had been crushed to rubble. Several of the sea docks had been smashed to pieces, and it looked as though there used to be three air docks rather than the one they now saw.

“What could have done this?” Jax asked, in disbelief.

“Don’t know, don’t care. We’re going to kill it anyways. Let’s go already,” Shiro said as he walked past everyone and quickly descended the mountain. Scarlet shrugged and began to follow him.

The descent was much faster than the ascent, and they soon reached the port town. The town looked almost abandoned, with very few people on the streets. And of those people, they looked like they hadn’t eaten anything for a long while. Most didn’t even acknowledge their existence as they walked by, keeping their heads down or staring off into nothingness with hollow eyes.

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“This is horrible,” Cami whispered, “What’s been going on here?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll soon find out,” Scarlet said as she walked up to the front of her team, “We need to report to the town hall and meet whoever is in charge before we get to work.”

Scarlet quickly led the team to the town’s center and found three lines of people waiting to be fed some simple stew. Four guards, two slithkin, and two humans in light leather armor stood at attention at the long stew table and watched the townspeople, ensuring they wouldn’t start any fights over the meager food.

“Excuse me,” Scarlet said, approaching the closest human and slithkin guards, “I’m looking for—”

“Back of the line,” the human guard interrupted her, pointing at the line.

“Uh, no. I’m looking for—”

“I said back of the line, kid. No, cutting in line,” the guard interrupted her again, more sternly this time.

“No, I’m not—”

“I said, get in line!” the guard yelled, drawing his sword, “Or will this town have one less mouth to feed!”

“I’m—” Scarlet began but was cut off again as Shiro blasted forward with a thunderous boom and punched the guard’s stomach with a lightning-covered fist.

The guard crumbled under the force of the attack and vomited whatever stew he had yet to digest. “THE LADY WAS TALKING!” Shiro yelled, “WHERE’S THE LEADER OF THE TOWN!?”

“Shiro!” Scarlet yelled.

Shiro whirled on her, “WHAT!? HE THREATENED TO KILL YOU! WHERE YOU JUST GOING TO LET THAT STAND!?”

“YES, I WAS!” Scarlet yelled back, matching his volume. Then she took a deep breath and calmed herself, “He was just doing his job. Now you can do it for the rest of the day since you knocked him out cold.”

“WHAT?!”

“You heard me!” Scarlet yelled over him. Shiro gritted his teeth and crossed his arms in a huff, no longer arguing as he stood beside the unconscious guard. Turning to a scared lizard woman serving the stew, Scarlet asked, “We’re looking for the town’s leader. We’ve come to help.” The woman pointed to a two-story building behind her. “Thank you,” Scarlet said with a slight bow and began walking to the building.

Meanwhile, behind her, Shiro yelled again, “HEY! GET THIS LOSER OUT OF THE WAY AND IN A BED TO RECOVER! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!?! GO!” Followed by the hurried footsteps of the slithkin guard carrying his unconscious friend somewhere.

Scarlet walked into the building and looked around. The first floor looked to have been changed into an infirmary, with many people lying on beds taking up every square meter of the floor and nurses stepping lightly between them and wrapping bandages around the wounds of the injured. Without a single word from Scarlet, Cami dropped her duffle bag and approached one of the nurses, asking where the severely injured were resting.

Walking down a narrow row to a small flight of stairs, Scarlet walked up to the second floor, which was also changed into an infirmary but at the back of the room was a closed door. Quickly approaching the door, Scarlet walked in to see a small office with two people inside.

The other two were both slithkin. One wore fine clothes with a white button-up shirt, black jacket, and pants. His brown and black scales were dull and flaking, as though he was in the middle of shedding his skin. And the last person in the room was a female slithkin with pristine green scales and a black gi with a blue sea serpent design curled up on her back.

The three stopped talking when Scarlet and the others walked in, and they all turned to regard the newcomers. “Who are you?” the slithkin man asked.

Scarlet bowed respectfully and said, “I am Scarlet, leader of team Fiery Heart. We’ve been sent here by our master to assist in any way we can and dispose of the monsters that raid this town.”

The slithkin man sighed with relief and asked, “Oh, thank the heavens. I am Gobaro, the mayor of Shur’cal. How many of you were sent here? Fifty? A hundred?”

Scarlet rose from her bow and looked Gobaro in his green eyes, “There are five of us.”

Gobaro’s shoulders slacked as he fell back into his chair, rubbing his scaled forehead in disappointment. The female slithkin stepped forward and introduced herself, her red eyes soft and looking tired, “I am Grandmaster Valdour. Despite the mayor’s disappointment, we are glad to have you here. You said there are five of you, but I only see three. Where is the rest of your team?”

Scarlet pointed to the two behind her, “They are Jax and Xiao. Shiro is outside assisting the guards at the stew table, while Cami is downstairs helping to heal the injured. And although we do understand your disappointment, Mayor Gobaro, rest assured, my team specializes in slaying monsters. So, hopefully, we can get you through these troubled times.”

Gobaro chuckled to himself weakly, “What’s the point? There’s no salvation now.”

“Enough of your doom and gloom, Gobaro!” Grandmaster Valdour snapped, bearing her fangs to the mayor, then turned to address Scarlet, “Come with me. I’ll tell you what needs doing.”

“Yes, Grandmaster,” Scarlet, Jax, and Xiao said with another respectful bow and followed Grandmaster Valdour out of the building.

Once they reached a spot in the town center that was mostly empty, Grandmaster Valdour spoke, “Do you know what we are up against?”

Scarlet shook her head, “All we know is that this port town has been under siege by a hoard of monsters.”

“Right, of course, they leave out ninety percent of the details,” Grandmaster Valdour said, shaking her head in exasperation. “The town of Shur’cal relies on trade and fishing to stay alive. They do this by having a fish farm out at sea and having paths to and from the town by land, air, and sea. About half a month ago, the fish farms were destroyed by something we have yet to determine. After that, the ships that went out to rebuild the farms were destroyed by krakens and sea serpents.”

“What?” Xiao asked, astonished, “Those two monster species never work together. They’re more likely to kill each other over territory than share.”

“Exactly,” Grandmaster Valdour confirmed, “Their actions are highly irregular. And now they are attacking the town with orchestrated attacks. They attack for one hour every high tide before retreating into the ocean.”

“What could cause this behavior?” Scarlet asked.

“I am unsure. But to make matters worse, a large bandit group has set up camp around the town, blocking the land roads in and out of the town because of the chaos. The only way in and out of town now is by airship, and the bandits shootdown any that try to leave the town. To be honest, we’re lucky you even got our request for help.”

Scarlet nodded in understanding and said, “First things first, we need to secure an escape route for the townspeople. Then we deal with the monsters. How long until high tide?”

“Four hours,” Grandmaster Valdour answered quickly.

Scarlet nodded, “We can handle them. Can you protect the town if we aren’t back by the high tide?”

“Of course, I can. Now get moving and leave your stuff in the town hall,” Grandmaster Valdour confirmed, and Scarlet nodded as she began the mission.

***