"MARGE!"
Eleanor swung open the bakery doors armed with a heavy silver axe. She looked around but couldn't see anyone.
"Marge! Get out!" Eleanor slowly walked around the small bakery. Except for the baker's absence, everything seemed perfectly normal. The air was filled with the scent of sweets and baked bread, the loaves and cakes were pristine, even the counter was wiped clean of any dust.
Eleanor frowned when no one responded. She even checked behind the counter, but Marge wasn't there as well. Perhaps she is at the back, Eleanor thought.
"Marge!" She shouted again, but no one replied. Eleanor decided to explore the door at back of the room but suddenly felt someone, or something, yank her off her feet.
* * *
Wait, where are the doors?
Both the front entrance and back doors were missing. Eleanor suddenly found herself surrounded by rows of shelves filled with bread, cakes, and pastries, but there was simply no entrance or exit.
Still frowning, yet more cautious, Eleanor ran her left hand over the silver axe. Glowing blue sigils briefly flashed on the head. They shortly faded and the edge of the blade glowed bright red. Sizzling sounds could be heard as she swung her axe around.
Armed with the axe on her right, the silver bracelet on her left wrist also started emitting flashes of light. It unwound itself and lengthened into a long metallic whip, before coiling itself around Eleanor's left forearm.
Fully alert, Eleanor continued exploring in the maze of baked goods. She wandered among rows and rows of shelves stocked with countless loaves of bread towering to an unfathomable height. The monotonous shelves were occasionally replaced with chilled glass cabinets containing delicate cakes and pastries. Eleanor carefully pressed the blade of her axe against one of the shelves. While it cut like a hot knife through butter, there were no other changes in her surroundings, except for scraps of wood and toasted breadcrumbs.
Eleanor decided to try something different. She channeled her aura to the edge of the blade, which started emitting waves of heat to her surroundings. The air close to the edge started shimmering due to the sheer intensity of the heat, and faint wisps of steam rose from the toe of the axe head.
She slowly performed a chopping motion midair. As the blade pressed down, she suddenly felt it cutting against something taut and rubbery. Encouraged, she tried harder to press it down, eventually forming a small black tear in the air in front of her which quickly mended itself. Eleanor tried to repeat the same motion again.
Thud. Eleanor felt something drop on her head. She looked down and saw a small dinner roll on the floor.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
More rolls started dropping on her. More annoyed than alarmed, Eleanor raised her left arm. The whip uncoiled itself and formed a circular barrier above her head. More and more buns continued to drop on her.
Bang!
Eleanor fell to her knees, surprised by the sudden heavy weight. Gritting her teeth, she yelled and pushed back against the weight.
Bang! A deceptively normal-looking dinner roll rolled off her shield, forming a deep indent as it crashed onto the ground. Its weight seemed more like a boulder than a bun.
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Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Faced with the sudden onslaught of dinner rolls, Eleanor blinked and both of her eyes became completely white. She started glowing with a golden light and faint white wisps emanated from her body.
Strengthened with renewed vigour, Eleanor dropped her left arm. Instead, she swung her axe faster and faster, quickly picking up in speed as more and more rolls started dropping. Her speed increased until the rapid flurries of the axe eventually become a streaking blur. The chopped dinner rolls started dropping around her, and her surroundings were filled with cracked indents and crumbs of bread. The rolls continued dropping for a full minute.
Feeling slightly tired, Eleanor panted and leaned against one of the few remaining intact shelves. She suddenly jerked her head sideways as something brushed past her right cheek, smashing into the shelf behind her.
"Oh for f*ck's sake." Eleanor hoisted her axe behind her. After taking a deep breath, she glowed even more intensely and straightened her silver whip into a staff. She channeled the glowing light from her body into her staff, which also started glowing with a faint golden light.
She pointed her staff forward before thrusting it slightly to the left. Her staff went through the pointy end of a baguette which felt as heavy as the dinner rolls earlier.
Flinging the baguette away, Eleanor twirled her staff and dashed towards the source of her attacks. She was confronted by furious streams of baguettes from various directions. However, her skilful twirling and thrusts successfully parried all the attacks she faced.
The barrage of baguettes soon changed into sliced bread. While most slices have some form of thickness, the edge that was facing Eleanor was razor-sharp instead. While she was confident that her staff could hold on, she decided to err on the side of caution and slow down her charge, opting to whack the flat sides of the bread instead.
Eleanor's surroundings was literally a baker's nightmare. Broken slices of bread, dented loaves of baguettes, and halved dinner rolls were everywhere. The razor-sharp bread slices were soon replaced with acidic lemon tarts that exploded and melted whatever they came in contact with. She swiftly changed her whip into a circular shield and continued charging forward.
Eleanor felt something sapping her powers with each thrust and parry. It was not the result of simple exhaustion. She eventually noticed that every piece of bread, or tart, that collided with her staff was sucking her powers before being flung away.
She soon heard a deep, frustrated roar somewhere in front of her. Before Eleanor could bring her shield down to look at her assailant, an immense force flung her back. She crashed through several shelves before stopping.
Wincing, Eleanor groaned as she saw what was happening. All of the broken pieces started forming a massive, gloopy wall which smelled ironically nice despite its threatening height. After rising several meters tall, the wall crashed down like a tidal wave and surged towards her.
Eleanor quickly coiled the whip around herself and reached for her axe. A blazing light shone from her body as layers of geometric shapes and concentric circles formed behind her back. She lifted her axe up high and swung it down.
A blinding blade of light shot forward as the axe was swung, forming a deep and wide indent in the ground. The light blade grew larger and larger before crashing into the wave of bread. The impact parted the wave, forming the pointy end of a 'V' shape in front of Eleanor.
No longer glowing and utterly spent, Eleanor rested the eye of the axe on the ground and leaned on the knob. Unfortunately, before she could relax, she noticed that the surrounding shelves and its contents were shaking.
Something rearranged the shelves to surround Eleanor in a circular fashion. Loaves of bread, cake, and pastries started levitating off the shelves and turned ominously towards her. The welcoming, homely smell of bread changed into an acrid and acidic stink which lingered in the air.
Sighing, Eleanor lifted her axe in front of her with both of her hands. She wanted to swear, but gave up as she was simply too tired. She concentrated and coated herself with her powers again, but the glow was noticeably dimmer than before.
As the baked goods launched towards Eleanor, she imagined Rosie's cheery face and smiled briefly. Her smile was quickly replaced by grim determination, as she resolved to chop down as many of these baked bastards as possible.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The dim glow around her body changed into an intense golden white flame. However, just before she could attack, she felt the same yanking sensation from when she was in the bakery earlier.
* * *
Eleanor felt her surroundings warp and shift. She found herself back in the original bakery.
"E..lea..nor......," someone feebly croaked.
Eleanor looked towards the bloodied counter. Marge was slumped over the countertop, and black wisps of smoke were coming out of a ghastly wound on her back.