Being flung, I flinched at the crazy pressure as I flew through the water.

I couldn’t even move my arms or legs…! That was how fast I was going. The pressure was…

Then the pressure disappeared, as I hit what felt like a wall of pure stone. Instead though it had simply been the surface. I exploded out of the lake, flying up into the air.

Groaning as my weightless body continued to climb into the air, I realized this was going to hurt. It had not only flung me hundreds of feet into the air… it had done so at an angle. The lake was very quickly disappearing… becoming small and distant…

Then the world beneath me started to get close, and darker. Greener.

“Shit,” I was able to say one single word before landing into the dense forest.

I rolled through trees and limbs. For a few moments I could do nothing more than fall. I felt arms and legs break each time I broke through a mass of branches. I felt my spine snap when I went through an entire tree. I felt all the tiny cuts and gashes from my fighting sting as I fell into mud and dirt.

Rolling along the forest floor, I eventually came to a stop in what felt like swamp.

I groaned, and lifted my head as to take in a deep breath of air.

It hurt to do so. My lungs spasmed as I took a breath, and I felt the familiar feeling of blood flow up my windpipe.

Coughing as I puked up blood from my lungs, I wondered how far I had been flung.

Pulling my arms under me, I did my best to lean upward. I was in what felt like half a foot of water. Beneath the water was thick mud, but not so deep that I was in danger of sinking. There were large blades of glass all around, and they were oddly sharp. I felt them cut and slice my already cut open skin.

The feeling of the grass cutting into my open wounds made me itchy. I ignored it all though as I coughed up a few gallons of blood.

Punctured lungs were annoying. They healed quickly, but…

Once I wasn’t having a coughing fit, and the blood turned into a small trickle, I started to sit up.

Doing so hurt. And not just because my arms and legs were broken.

Staring at the branches sticking out of me, I sighed and went to grab the biggest. It was lodged into my stomach.

Touching it felt weird. It didn’t hurt, but even the lightest touch made my right leg twitch and go stiff.

I ignored the weird feeling as I grabbed the wrist sized branch and tugged it free. It made a weird sound as I pulled it free and tossed it away.

Without even waiting to check the damage, I went to pull out the other branches stuck in me. The rest weren’t as bad, lodged in my thighs and sides.

Once free of branches, I coughed again and felt both of my femurs resettle. They were still broken, but not completely. I got my feet under me, and cautiously rose to my feet.

“What the hell are you doing Vim,” I asked myself.

Looking around, I realized I was likely on the edge of the forest. There were thick trees all around, but it was also wet. Marshland styled swamps surrounded me… which meant I had likely not been thrown too far from the large lake.

Glancing up at the sky, I peered past the treetops at the night sky. The moon was just overhead, shining brightly through some small clouds.

Midnight maybe. So I’d been fighting it for ten or so hours.

Groaning as I stepped forward, I almost slipped thanks to the slick mud. But I stayed upright, and forced my left elbow back into its socket.

Bones reset. Muscles recoiled and tightened. The holes all over my body were already the kind of itchy that told me they were sealing back up.

Like usual, during battle, my body healed quickly.

I’d feel the exhaustion later. Once done. Once finished.

But right now…

My heart thumped, and I felt the rush of blood because of it. I had to spit a small mouthful of blood thanks to it.

Walking forward, I headed back towards where I assumed the lake was. I followed the trail of broken trees and their branches, and was a little surprised to see how far the line of broken branches went.

I had been airborne quite a while. And had fallen at a harsh angle.

Usually it’d make me worry. If the Monarch was capable of that, I’d usually need to fight it in a different way. To attack it from a different angle, or with a different method.

Yet it hadn’t been something intentional. It had been a last ditch effort to separate me from it.

Stepping past a huge broken tree limb, I hesitated as I heard something odd.

I wobbled around the limb, and found the source. An elk, lying on its side.

Broken. Its legs weren’t the only things mangled.

It called out, likely for its herd, and the call sounded weird. Like me its lungs were full of fluids.

“Sorry,” I apologized to the thing as I stepped up to it, and placed a foot on the back of its neck. It was so broken it hadn’t even tried to shy away. It hadn’t registered I was even here. It was in that much pain.

Crushing it and putting it out of its misery, I coughed some more blood up as I glanced around.

Where there was one… there was usually many more.

Yet I didn’t see any. Maybe, if luck was on my side… they had escaped the brunt of my fall.

“Like always, the weak suffer,” I groaned as I returned to heading for the lake.

It really was a constant. Monarchs never died peacefully.

But it was my fault. I was only so strong. So able.

I could only kill them by removing their hearts. I wasn’t like my parents. I could only fight them in one way.

And my method was rarely swift or easy…

Coughing some more, I picked up the pace as my body started to heal enough to do so. Fingers were back in place. Arms and legs had their strength return. A ringing in my left ear had faded, and now I could hear normally from it.

“I’m more a monster than they are, sometimes,” I admitted as the ground started to get more and more wet.

I left the area that had proof of my existence. The broken trees and branches remained behind me, but had done enough. As I neared the lake, I heard the sounds of the water. The splashing of waves.

And…

I frowned as I heard what could only be grunts. And not from an animal.

“What…?” I turned a little, to head for the sounds.

Then I picked up my pace even more and broke out into a run, when I heard a shout. From a familiar girl’s voice. One more mature than it should sound.

Breaking out into a run, I splashed through the wetland marshes… and eventually found them.

Not far from a small creek, which was now flooded entirely thanks to the violent waves from the nearby lake, I found both the little girl and another man. One I didn’t recognize.

They were rolling around in the mud, not far from the flooded creek. At first I’d think they were doing something different, but the little girl had her hands around his throat and they were definitely fighting to the death.

Both of them looked like this had been going on for more than a moment. They were both covered in deep bruises, already forming, and lots of little cuts and marks. From fingernails and the twigs they were rolling all over.

“What the hell…” I paused a moment, unsure of what to even think of what I was seeing. Why were they fighting like this? Why now? While I fought a Monarch?

Tiny golden sparks danced around them. Flicking from their hair and body. They grunted and groaned as they rolled, trying to get on top of each other. The man had a single hand on her throat, and the other beneath him. He was trying to get leveraged, but the waters had made the whole world muddy and slick. His hand kept slipping and…

Then something snapped. The familiar sound of wet wood being snapped into two forced my feet forward, and I quickly grabbed the girl by her upper arm. Before I could tug hard enough to dislodge her from him, the man went still and fell back into the mud.

Pulling her off the man, I ignored the intense shock of voltage that ran up my arm as I held her. It was so strong it made my whole body go numb, and my lungs forcefully inhaled and exhaled without meaning to. The sensation hurt, especially since it made blood go up my throat and then back down into my lungs.

Coughing the blood out, I groaned as I resisted the urge to throw up. I hated the feeling of thick blood going down the wrong pipe!

“Get off me!” she screamed as I let her go. Involuntarily, too, since my hand had gone completely numb.

Somehow that shock had hurt more than the Monarch’s had while we had fought…

Stepping back, I watched the girl roll in the mud. Away from me and the man. I was a little thankful for the mud, since it clung to her… hiding her naked, and wound covered, body.

She basically hissed at me as she crawled away backwards, as if expecting me to tackle her too.

Looking away from the girl, I hesitated at the sight of the man.

He was completely still. And his eyes were bugged out and…

“You killed him…” I whispered in shock. So that sound had not been a broken arm or something, but his neck.

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“Good!” she screamed at me.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and sighed. This was too much. Even for me.

This was why I liked hunting Monarchs. They never came with all this drama.

“I’m not suited for this. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to this…” I complained.

I flinched at the weird sound of flesh being dug into.

Turning, I half expected to find her stabbing or clawing at the man… but instead…

My mind went numb as I watched the girl claw at herself. Her sharp nails dug into her arms and chest, digging out huge chunks of translucent skin in the process.

“What are you doing…?” I asked her.

“Shut up! I feel gross…!” she shouted back at me.

Gross…?

I flinched as I realized exactly what she meant.

“You’re kidding…” I mumbled as I looked to the dead man.

It wasn’t the same man from before. This one was a little bigger. A little wider in the chest. And his hair wasn’t white or silver, but instead a light blond.

He honestly looked like a teenage boy more than man, but… for them that was probably adulthood.

“Did… did he try…? While I was fighting that thing? While the whole world is being chaotic?” I asked, trying to understand it. Why try now? The lake was so violent and…

“Shut up! This is your fault! I hate you!” she shouted at me.

I nodded. “I can understand that,” I whispered as I turned, to look past some trees. To the lake just beyond them.

The waters were violent still… thrashing around wildly, as if the Monarch was just under the water’s surface. Wildly moving about.

Yet it wasn’t. I could barely sense the heart. It was deep. Probably deeper than it ever had been.

Another loud pop rang out, but I didn’t flinch or worry. It hadn’t been from her, or something she had done. It instead had just been my clavicle resetting.

Taking a deep breath, I sighed and wondered what to do.

I needed to resume the battle. The Monarch would heal if I didn’t. Although not as fast as I did, they did heal quickly.

But…

Turning, I felt horrible as I stared at the girl curled up nearby. She was sitting in a ball, shaking. At least she was no longer clawing at herself.

What do I do here, I wonder?

What would Celine do?

Choosing to do my best, I stepped over to her. She flinched, but didn’t shy away. She remained curled up into a small ball, ignoring me.

Kneeling down, I fell to a knee… not on purpose, though. My leg had given out for a moment.

I coughed, and sighed. “Please tell me that hadn’t been your uncle,” I said.

She nodded.

Great.

Reaching up, I rubbed my head. Right above my ear that had been ringing earlier. I felt a gash running through my hair, up my skull. I ignored it as I itched around it.

“Who needs enemies when you got family like that,” I said.

“Shut up,” she groaned.

“I’m proud of you, though,” I then said.

She inhaled, likely to tell me to shut up again… but instead of saying anything she looked up at me. Confused.

I smiled at her and nodded. “Well done. Sorry I didn’t help sooner… I’d been a little confused,” I told her.

“What’s with that…?” she asked as she smiled.

“I never got your name, you know,” I said.

She sniffed, and slowly unfolded her arms. She remained seated on the ground, covered in the mucky mud, but seemed to relax a little as she nodded. She scrunched up a little, covering herself with her arms… but not as tightly as she had been doing early. As if suddenly she was aware she was actually naked.

“My name is Merit,” she finally whispered.

“Merit. That’s a beautiful name. Do you know what it means?” I asked her.

“No.”

“It’s the term one uses for value. A way to attribute praise, or define significance to another,” I explained to her.

“That makes no sense,” she complained.

Smiling, I nodded. “Basically, Merit… you’re someone destined for excellence. You’ll be known for something one day. They’ll give you merit, Merit,” I said to her.

Merit glared at me through her muddy white locks. “If my family had known what it meant they wouldn’t have given it to me,” she said.

“Possibly. But who cares what they think?” I said.

Her tiny lips trembled, and she blinked at me.

Taking a small breath, I glanced behind me. To the lake.

I still felt the heart. It hadn’t moved.

“Merit… do you have other family?” I asked her.

“Yeah? There’s lots of us,” she said.

“Any you’d like to save?” I asked her.

Merit blinked, and frowned at me. “Save…?” she whispered.

“You don’t get a choice now. I’m saving you. Whether you like it or not. But the rest of them haven’t earned that privilege. I saw some of them swimming around while I fought the Monarch. I think I know where you all live now. So…” I wasn’t going to tell her outright I planned to deal with them immediately after I was done with the Monarch… but…

“Kill them all. I don’t care. You can start with me,” she said.

“I just said I’d save you Merit. You don’t save someone by killing them,” I argued.

She scoffed at me.

Well she had a right to scoff. Sometimes death was a mercy, in a way…

But not here and now.

Glancing at the dead man nearby, I wondered if she had… taken advantage of the moment, and the chaos, or if our appearance had caused this.

If she’s been tormented and abused for a long time and only acted out now… then it could be for many reasons. Whether she had simply tried to fight back thanks to the emotional stress or to take advantage of the moment… it didn’t change the fact that I had indirectly been the cause.

My presence had helped force her hand. If even only indirectly.

Which meant I owed it to her.

How was I going to explain to this to Celine? She was going to be furious with me. There weren’t many types of people that Celine would outright allow me to kill on sight, but abusers like him were one of them. So letting him die was not an issue… but letting him live long enough to hurt Merit to this degree would be.

I was not looking forward to the ass chewing I’d receive when this was over.

The girl was glaring at me, but still curled up a little. She didn’t seem to have any intention to stand up.

What to do with her…?

I really did need to finish off the Monarch. Before it tried to flee. I had gone deeper into the lake, during my fight with it, and had been able to tell there was a massive cavern system under there. Likely an underground aqueduct that and cave system that expanded for miles. If the Monarch fled through those cave systems…

There would be little I could do to chase it. It would turn a small several hour battle into something that would last days, or even weeks and months.

I couldn’t afford that.

Merit was no longer in immediate danger. But she was in danger all the same. I worried not just over her current mental state, after going through what she just had, but we weren’t far enough from the lake to ensure her safety from the Monarch either. That creature was big enough to endanger her even here. Even if she seemed to potentially be immune to its electrical ability.

She sniffed, and it hadn’t worked. She had to wipe her face with a muddy arm, which only seemed to make an even bigger mess.

Smiling softly at her, I wondered how old she really was. It was obvious now that she wasn’t as young as she appeared… but…

“What?” she asked, noticing my stare and smile.

“I need to finish killing it, Merit. The Monarch,” I said gently. Her glare turned into an odd look, and I nodded as to affirm it. “Think you can escape and get away? Why not go to the village? At least until I’m done?” I asked as I stood.

I hadn’t planned to step away, but I still did. Because I had to shift, since my hip had almost dislocated. The mud and water splashed, and I flinched at the weird pain it brought me.

“Wait…!”

I paused, and glanced down at the tiny little hands wrapped around my ankle. Even with both hands she couldn’t completely encircle my ankle. She really was tiny.

“I can’t Merit. I’ve actually done a lot of damage to it already. If I wait too long it’ll heal and I’ll need to start all over again,” I said.

Merit shook, and I watched as she looked up at me with a look of pure terror. She began to tremble, and her tiny mouth opened and closed… as if gasping for air. Yet she was just trying to say something. Trying to formulate the words her soul wanted to say.

Her heart was in turmoil, and she wasn’t sure how to express it.

I knelt down slowly as to not fall over or break anything, and smiled at the girl who wouldn’t release my ankle. Even when I reached over to pat her on the head, she held on firmly.

Her hair felt oddly thick. Even with the stuff being strewn with mud, it was definitely one of her non-human traits. Maybe it was more fur than hair… which was odd. Fishes didn’t usually have fur.

“It’ll be okay Merit,” I said to her gently.

She shook her head. “She’s a god!” she whispered loudly, and then she flinched in worry… as if the Monarch could hear us.

I shook my head back at her. “No. She’s just a very big fish. In fact she’s an eel, if you didn’t know,” I said.

“You’ll die!” she shouted.

“If I do, don’t be jealous,” I said.

The small girl squeezed my ankle, and I felt a tiny shock as some electricity popped and zapped around her. “You’re an idiot,” she said after a moment.

I chuckled. “Sometimes.”

Her tiny eyes wavered as she glared at me, and that glare quickly turned into a sad look of worry and concern. “Please don’t,” she whispered.

Ah…

Patting her head some more, I nodded. “I’ll be okay. I know I don’t look it, but I’m used to this. I’ve slain many of them in my years. I will be okay, I promise,” I told her.

“But…”

“Are you able to swim, Merit?” I asked her, before she could continue worrying for me.

She startled, and sniffed and nodded. “Yeah…?”

“Go to the village. The ducks. Remember Lilly? The one with wings? Find her for me, if you would,” I asked her.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I can’t go fight that Monarch until you’re gone, Merit. Not until you’re safe,” I said.

“Why…?” she asked again.

“Because you’re now a member. And one of the rules I agreed to, reluctantly, is before I’m allowed to hunt a Monarch I’m supposed to make sure all of the members around me are safe and at a distance. If able to,” I said.

“I’m not a member,” she argued.

“To me you are,” I said.

“I don’t want to be.”

I shrugged. “Don’t join then? But I’ve already vowed to protect you, so get over it.”

“I hate you,” she said as she finally released my ankle.

“Do you really?” I asked her.

Merit hesitated, and then smiled. “Maybe. Fine. I’ll go to the ducks. But I’m not joining your stupid society,” she said.

“Please and thank you. You going to be okay by yourself? Want me to go half way with you?” I asked her.

She shook her head and pointed past me, around my shoulder to the creek nearby. “I can get there without going through the lake. I’ll take the small channels,” she said.

Oh. Good. Very good. I nodded, glad to hear it.

“Swim swiftly, Merit. And be careful.”

She nodded. “Yea… if they found out I killed him they’ll hunt me too,” she said as she slowly got to her feet.

I hadn’t meant that, but she was right. The Monarch was now the least of her worries. Especially since it was obvious what had happened to her. All the bruises and wounds on her would heal, but not quickly enough. Anyone with half a brain would be able to put one and two together… especially if was known he had been abusing her already.

I remained kneeling, and smiled as we met eye to eye once she was standing up fully. “If you want you can tell them I killed him,” I told her.

“Why would I do that?” she asked with a glare.

“Nothing wrong with being proud of it either, I suppose,” I gave in and admitted.

She nodded with a huff. “Damn right.”

Standing, I sighed as one of my knees made an odd sound. She glanced at it, and I rolled a shoulder. “Let Lilly know I should be done soon. I think the heart is in its bloodstream. It keeps moving back and forth in its body, which is why it’s taking me so long. But it shouldn’t be long now,” I told her.

Little Merit glared at me for a moment, and then sighed. “If you die I’m eating your corpse. Or whatever is left of it,” she said as she stepped away.

Frowning at the little woman, whose feet made odd sounds as she walked through the mud… I watched her approach the creek and then pause before it. She turned, glared at me once more, and then nodded.

She jumped into the creek, and hurriedly swam off. Heading deeper into the wet forest.

With a deep breath, I nodded.

That could have gone better… but it could have gone a lot worse too.

Stepping towards the lake, I decided to make sure the rest of the fight went better. No more hiccups. No more heartaches.

I was healed enough to go back into battle. Enough to fight once more. No more stalling.

Diving back into the violent lake, I swam towards where I sensed the heart… once more into the fray.