3/22/54

ALEXANDER GALDUR

Before anyone knew what was happening, I could feel energy fill my body as I sprinted across the street. I hadn’t anticipated being able to break free from Deimos’s grasp; however, he hadn’t expected me to run off into the danger zone like that. It made sense in the end, I guess. It didn’t matter at the moment; what mattered was helping that kid!

Making bounding leaps with my light-empowered body, I traveled the distance in the blink of an eye. I never knew I could go this fast, but then again, I never pumped this much magic into my body before.

Going from my dash to a slide, I scooped the kid in my arms as I leapt high into the air. I landed on a lamppost, almost losing my balance. Then, I did lose my balance as the electro-toad threw itself against the lamp.

I slipped.

I fell.

Plummeting to the ground, I made sure to make it so I would take the brunt of the damage, letting the kid get off scotch free.

His terrified screams were the only thing I could hear as I rapidly approached the asphalt below, getting ready for my fall to end in the worst possible scenario. Something wet and slimy grabbed me, wrapped around my body, and ripped me to the left.

Opening my shocked eyes, I could see a tentacle made of black ink pulling me back where I came from. I glanced to the left and saw that Max had taken a knee while his eyes and hand glowed with a flowing, black aura. I only needed to wait a little longer as I was soon brought to an abrupt stop and rolled a foot backwards.

I rolled into a crouch as I kept the kid close in my arms. He looked at me with tears in his eyes, and I could see fear and terror. Along with something far more heartbreaking. Sadness, grief, and denial. Looking up even though I knew I’d regret it, I looked back to see his mother being ripped from the rubble by the toad.

She was eaten soon after, quite the messy ordeal, but my own mind kept me in a far greater torment than watching some mutilation of a body. I could see what it was like when I was only four. Her hand stuck out of the rubble of our car the same way this kid’s mother’s did. I remembered every detail from that night with excruciating precision. The blue flames, the pitch black sky, the twinkling lights, and beautiful crescent moon. It was scary how closely the two nights resembled each other. And now? Now a child was orphaned as well.

Breaking me from my memories, the kid started whimpering, “M-Mom, dad! Th-they’re still *sniff*, they’re still there!” He cried and I quickly pulled him close, feeling my own eyes begin to get a little misty.

Stroking his head while shushing him, I told him what I know would’ve helped to hear back then, “It’s okay, it’s okay. Everything will be okay. You’ll be okay. We’ll help them, don’t worry. What you have to do right now, though, is run. You need to run and get out of here and live. That’s what they would’ve wanted.”

He looked at me, snot and tears running down his face, “B-But what about mom and dad?”

My heart wrenched and I could feel it skip a beat. I put my hand on his head and ruffled his hair while giving him the best smile I could muster and lying despite the pain it brought me, “It’ll all be fine. We’ll help them. Now run, kid, run!”

Hearing me raise my voice a little along with the urgency that laced it, the kid quickly got up to sprint away, only looking back once. As soon as he was out of my line of sight, I focused back on the situation in front of us.

“Sorry you two, looks like I got us into some trouble.”

“Don’t worry about it, Lucas; I would’ve done the same.” Max said, sending a kind smile my way.

Deimos nodded, “It was the right thing to do. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

“Well, what now?” I asked.

Deimos sighed, “I would’ve sent you two on your way while I went back into the fray, but I don’t think either of you are going to be heading back.”

Both Max and I gave our confirmation, each knowing that if we stick around, we might be able to save a few more people.

“That’s what I thought.” Deimos nodded, “Well, the way I see it, there are a bunch of monsters here which need to be put down, and it is kind of our job to do it. So I say, Max, you go around, set up some traps, defenses, anything you can to run interference. Lucas and I will go out there, do what we can to make those beasties trigger some traps while also letting hell rain down. All of us should focus on saving civilians first, though. How about it, people?”

“Well, I’m not sure of how much help I’ll be, but I’ll do what I can.” Max stated, somehow sounding both determined and unsure.

I smirked and let out a sarcastic laugh, “Looks like I’ll be raising that medical bill more.”

Deimos then began their countdown, “We go on three. One.”

A scream followed.

“Two.”

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A car was overturned.

“Three!”

The shout sent us dashing into danger. Max was the first to break off, quickly drawing a sigil on the ground and getting up again. By the time he left my sight, Deimos was the next to split, going after that goat-monster that had first appeared. I kept up my run, setting my course to go straight ahead at the electrified toad.

Light filled my limbs, and I felt my body hasten. The air ran across my skin and whipped my hair around while I sped up. Soon enough, I was basically on top of the amphibian-fuck, dropping into my boxer’s stance. My arms shined with light as did my legs, and letting loose a swift jab, a strike flew out with ridiculous speed.

The strike was so fast that the toad’s tough skin rippled and it jumped away in pain. I pursued it rapidly, the normally slower walk while in stance easily losing that weakness as light pushed me along. The toad watched me carefully, and as soon as I got close enough, it shot out its tongue.

Seeing its attack, my brain froze, giving it enough time to land on me and drag me into the amphibian’s mouth. Immediately a buzzing sensation filled my body, and the monster released an electric charge. My mind filled with pain while my body spasmed, all the while its jaws pressed their sharp teeth into my flesh.

I screamed out as I felt something deep inside stir.

Fuck off!

Shadows swirled inside of the thing’s mouth, gripping onto different parts of the toad’s tongue. Flesh was ripped away and the blood that was pumping to the appendage to keep it supplied with oxygen quickly started filling the toad’s mouth.

Spitting me out, the blood spilled out of its mouth as it struggled to think of a way to remedy the fact that it was now beginning to bleed out. I was also in a similar position, now trying to figure out what to do with my mauled body.

It hurt; it hurt like hell. Turns out being chewed up by the abominable cross between a taser and a toad was not fun. However, nothing could be done about that, and sitting around and wallowing in pain was not doing anyone any favors. Struggling through the agony, I limped my way to standing, holding a couple of the deeper teeth marks to stop from draining out too much.

I stared down the monster responsible for this as it stared back while trying to keep itself from bleeding out as well. The two of us stared at each other, waiting for the other to make the next move. After a couple tense seconds that felt closer to eons, the toad leapt towards me. Lightning raced across its slimy hide as it prepared another discharge, but I was ready to take on whatever this toad could dish out.

And by take on, I mean get out of the way of it and not die.

Not die on my watch at least.

In a light-empowered dive, I hit the ground as the toad reached where I was just standing. Reacting as quickly as I could, I made a flashbang a distance away and released it. The monster, that was still in the air, let out its monstrous version of a yelp as it shut its eyes. Losing its sense of balance and not being able to see what was in front of it, the toad landed on its side as the mucus that covered its skin protected it from too much damage.

Still, though, a little blood leaked from the scrape, and with the wound in its mouth, the toad was getting ready to shut down. In a desperate attempt to take myself down with it, the toad launched its tongue at me again.

Oh, that won’t be working a second time.

I was already in my stance, so before I even knew it, I curved my body to the side like I learned to in my training. I slipped and weaved under the jab-like attack of the tongue and began my sprint towards the toad.

Before it could react with its electricity, I released two jabs followed by a straight. shifting to the side, I aimed at its eye with another jab before moving back in front of it. By harassing it with a flurry of light-hastened attacks, I didn’t give it any time to recover as I finished the attacks with a combo.

Letting my body takeover, I moved with what felt natural and the most damaging. Right hook to left hook to straight to jab to a dominant-hand uppercut finisher. The final attack landed, and I felt the beast’s bones as my fist landed on the tough body of the amphibian.

Launching back a little despite being extremely heavy, the toad’s brain must have been rattled along with the blood loss as it lost consciousness and passed out.

I felt myself first filled with disbelief, followed by extreme joy.

… Then it was followed by exhaustion and pain.

Coughing, I noticed blood coating my hand that wasn’t there a moment before. Grimacing, I slowly gathered up my strength. It was going to be a while longer of fighting which meant I couldn’t go down now, so I was going to need some breaks with this being my first. Limping my way out of the battle to rest, I froze as I heard a cry for help.

I saw a business man backing away from a horse-sized squirrel with tough-looking bark and wood that grew from its flesh. It opened its mouth to reveal its enlarged teeth that could easily sever body parts. Letting out a high-pitched roar, the man yelled for help again.

… I shouldn’t do this. I don’t want to do this. If I go there now, I’ll only end up getting killed. Who will I be able to help then?

… Damnit.

Despite pain and sloth running through my body, my vision darkening at the edges, I powered through it to cast my magic one more time. Yeah, just one more time.

It may not have been pretty, but it was hastened to the point of being faster than what I normally could have mustered as I limped to the man in need. I dove into the guy before the oversized rodent could hurt him, successfully launching him to safety while I took his place.

I tried to get up, but whatever power I summoned was gone. In addition, a sharp pain radiated from my leg’s skin because of a scrape while a deeper, worse pain pulsed from somewhere in my shin. Just putting pressure on it sent dull feelings of discomfort and ache through my leg.

The squirrel opened its mouth as it slowly approached me, and I could see in its eyes its bloodlust. I glared at the monster with anger and fear, knowing my time had come despite not wanting to get taken by the reaper.

This was it.

This was the end.

And I’m still alone.