Victor and his group sat at the fringes of a mining outpost that led straight into the mountains. There, he could see numerous Altesians chained up and working, not unlike in a prison he’d see in a movie. Leading them were what looked like humans, but all too perfect.

They had unblemished skin and beautiful proportions. Men and women of a dozen different tones and sizes watched over the Altesians, looking bored as they forced the balloony monsters to work.

“Woah…” Victor couldn’t hear the words, but he could guess that’s what Lillie and Amadeus were thinking by the sight of the faux humans. Qeeny, however, trembled like he was about to watch onto a butcher’s work table.

Enough time had passed that the day had given way to night time, but that didn’t rid the sky of its red tinge. Instead, it loomed a grand deep purple in the sky, with stars speckled all around it. It helped hide them at least, which was the most Victor could hope for at that point.

He nudged his allies and started scrawling something onto a piece of paper in front of them.

Those aren’t humans if you couldn’t tell. Just remember what I told you, when you get the attention of one of them, don’t look away. You won’t be able to focus on anything else if you do.

Qeeny said something in reply but Victor quickly placed a hand over his mouth. The little Altesian’s squeaky voice was loud enough to hear over a storm, so he wasn’t going to risk it at night.

Qeeny, where is this friend of yours trapped? Victor wrote down on the paper. He then slowly handed it to the little blob, who wrote down a reply.

Inside.

Great, Victor thought to himself. He’d have to get through the lot of them to reach that ally of his.

What about the Altesians down there? How are we going to free them? Amadeus asked.

Truth be told, Victor had intended to leave them, if he could. But seeing as there was no other way…

We’re going to incite a rebellion tonight.

****

When one Altesian got out of line, they got beat. The entirety of the camp was kept in check by fear and nothing more.

Amadeus winced for those poor little creatures.

“It’s a defence tactic, Am. They want you to think they’re cute so you help them!” Victor bellowed at him and Lillie throughout the trip, but he was still helping regardless.

I guess the saying is true. No one is immune to propaganda. And as long as it helped them in the long run, there was nothing wrong with doing a bit of good, was there?

Amadeus shuffled over to the stables with Lillie in tow. His powers were too loud, so he’d been forced to pair up with her. Victor and Qeeny had gone the other way around, to drop an enlarged boulder in the middle of the camp and distract them.

“Am, in here,” Lillie helped him up onto a glowing platform she quickly dismissed. They were on top of the stables now, and crouched as they walked over to a hole in the middle. Once they’d realized the Daughter’s weren’t using their abilities, they’d taken their earbuds out.

Inside they found two figures. One of the handsomer looking men that Amadeus knew to be an Daughter of Mara, and the other was a sickly looking maroon Altesian whose hands were glowing.

The Daughter admonished the little monster, who shook his head vehemently. But they weren’t sure of it, since wax still coated their ears. Amadeus and Lillie circled around the Daughter from up above, then looked to each other in a nod. Then they brought out their combat knives and jumped down from the hole.

In an instant, the Daughter was stabbed through the head and neck, and spluttered as he fell to the ground. His appearance changed in an instant, as the illusion of beauty faded. Left in its place was a sickly thin creature with gashes all over its body, blue veins and bloodshot eyes that bled. Its skin looked stretched over its whole body, and the sight made Lillie flinch.

The little Altesian looked over and backed into the stall of his patient. He tried to squeal but his voice caught in his throat. He darted his eyes between the both of them and the dead corpse beneath.

Amadeus raised a hand in silence towards the monster, even though it was covered in sickly mauve blood.

“Shhhh. We’re here to help,” Amadeus told it. But the Altesian wouldn’t stop shaking, and the horse behind it was growing agitated.

“Please. I swear we are,” Lillie told him as well. She grabbed a ring of keys off of the dead Daughter and slowly approached.

Kneeling down, she undid the locks on the Altesian’s body and quieted its squeals.

“T-thank you.”

“You’re welcome. But we’re going to need something in return, okay?” Lillie asked in a disarming voice. The Altesian shakily nodded its head to obey, and she gave it a deceptive smile.

****

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Victor was stuck with the ball of fluff until this operation was over. It would’ve been bearable had the monster stopped fidgeting for even half a second.

“Keep it down, will you. Someone’s going to notice if you keep moving like that!” Victor scolded him. He and the Altesian were hanging off of the rocks on the side of the mountain, scaling it quickly and as quietly as they could.

As it turned out, Altesians weren’t really the most nimble of species, so Qeeny often had to struggle to make his way up.

“I-I’ll fall!” the monster whimpered.

“You won’t if you just stop shaking,” Victor said.

But the monster slipped and lost his grip. Before he could fall, Victor popped a large flat blade from the side of his leg to catch the monster. Qeeny stumbled on it but caught himself before he could tumble off even that.

He looked up at a scowling Victor, and silently grabbed the rocks in front of him.

Once they made it to the top of the climb, they searched around in the dark for their quarry. Crouched low, Victor could barely see a thing in the darkness. He couldn’t pull out his phone either, if only because the Daughters might spot them up so high.

“Here! Biggest one here!”

Victor scurried over to an admittedly impressive sized rock. It was positioned just right to fall into the middle of camp, he just needed to make sure it made enough of a commotion.

He braced his hands against the small boulder and let out energy from his palms, enlarging it. It seemed to break the ground beneath it as Victor heard cracks spreading. Qeeny joined in as well, helping to give the final push through and the rock dropped.

The heavy boulder was about the size of a man by the time it started jumping down the mountains. It broke the ground wherever it landed, letting out a shockwave of noise that caught the attention of the mining camp.

Then it finally flung into the air and came crashing down atop a Daughter. In an instant, the man was crushed and the other workers of the camp stood in awe. The next, a light blared onto Victor from below, and screams erupted from the camps as he plugged his earbuds back in.

Qeeny had done the same thankfully. From below him Victor saw the Daughters start to climb the mountain with haste. Perfect.

Once they’d made it halfway to him, he pulled out his glock and started firing at them. he didn’t need to be precise, but his shots carried enough weight to drop them to the ground. The Daughter’s weren’t durable, so once they hit the ground their lives left them.

At the same time, a herd of stampeding horses escaped from the stables and ran amok around the camp. They kicked up dirt that obscured the ground, which made Victor less than happy. But he’d handle the Daughters up here so Amadeus and Lillie could take care of the ones on the ground.

****

It’d happened faster than he’d expected. Amadeus and Lillie waited on the outskirts of the stable, afraid that they’d be caught by another patrolling Daughter. But instead they’d heard the signal Victor had set for them.

“Now!” Lillie shouted to the little Altesian. He let the horses go free from their little pens and sent them running towards the camp immediately. After all of them had been evacuated, Amadeus placed a hand on the monster.

“Go hide. We’ll tell you when it’s over!” he reassured as the Altesian nodded.

Amadeus kept a gun in one hand and plugged his earbuds back in. he nodded to Lillie and the both of them ran out of stables primed.

They came after the horses had done their work, leaving them with a mist of dust to cover under. Whenever they’d find a Daughter hiding among the dirt, Amadeus would send lightning flying at the monster. It dropped them scorched black.

Lillie covered his behind. A ball of fire soared overhead and Lillie’s barrier blocked it. Amadeus tried to aim at its caster and caught her eye. She looked beautiful, but a twisted scowl stretched the skin around her mouth inhumanely.

“Agh!” Lillie yelled as another Daughter tackled her, taking her away into the mist.

Amadeus broke sight with the caster he’d been facing as a million thoughts flooded his mind. He found himself unable to focus, frozen in the middle of the battlefield. Whenever a thought dared to embed itself in his mind’s eye, it was whisked away with the wind.

He struggled even to raise a single finger, as a Daughter of Mara came close and grabbed at his face. She spoke with a wicked grin, moving her fingers to grab at his ears. She got out a single earbud and readied her honeyed words.

No, no, NO!

He mustered up the will to push her back. The Daughter looked impressed with him, but raised her hand again to fire. It seemed his interest to her had run out.

But her hand cut off at the elbow before she could even start. A shadowy figure landed right next to her, coat flaring out.

“Come on, Am. Falling for the first pretty woman that lays eyes on you? What would the kids think?” Victor said. A blade extended from his knuckles that frightened the Daughter.

She opened her mouth to shriek, but a blade her head off. Her disillusioned body fell to the ground while Victor let his sword disperse.

“They knew I was a hopeless romantic,” Amadeus said as he lifted himself up off of the ground.

“Where’s Lillie?” Victor asked him.

“One of the Daughters grabbed her.”

Victor clicked his tongue in anger and started stomping off into the mists yelling her name.

Amadeus followed as more of the Daughters came for them. The Daughters tried to ambush them but Victor was always quicker. But the fighting took so long that the dust started to clear.

Victor stabbed another Daughter through the stomach and raised its body as a shield against an arrow. The arrow expanded into a system of roots that embedded into the corpse. Victor threw it aside and looked at his assailant, a Daughter holding up a single hand.

He fired another but not before lightning impacted his hand. The arrow flew off into nowhere and the Daughter let out a howl of pain. Then he looked back up and realized he was outnumbered. None of his brothers or sisters were left alive.

He turned tail to run but he crashed into a barrier of light head-on. A couple of gunshots rang out and riddled his side as the monster fell over onto the ground.

Lillie popped out from the darkness clutching her bleeding arm with the other. She stumbled a little before putting down her gun beside her.

“Lillie!” Victor ran towards her without abandon.

“Aaahhhh!” Qeeny yelled.

Victor continued running but Amadeus had stopped for the little Altesian. He waited and jumped into the air, stopping his descent as they both landed peacefully. The monster struggled a bit in his grasp even after that but stopped once he realized he was in good hands.

“Aha…. Thank you, Mr. Amadeus.”

“No problem, little guy,” he replied.

“Can you let me down? I must help Ms. Aster,” the Altesian insisted.

Amadeus and the monster jogged over to her beside the ground. Victor was trying to clean her wounds with gauze as she winced with every swab. He glared at Qeeny as he approached and stopped the little Altesian in his tracks.

“I…I can help her,” he offered diminutively. But Victor refused to put away his scowl. It was as if a single touch would expire the young woman. It’s barely been weeks, but does he…

Amadeus shook away the thoughts. He couldn’t know Victor’s thoughts, only guess. Maybe he was just the overprotective type. What was clear to Amadeus— however— was that Lillie needed his help.

“Vic, you have to let him. If you don’t…”

“For them, Am?” Victor looked betrayed.

“H-He’s right… they c-can heal…” Lillie said weakly, before flinching again.

Victor took a glance between Qeeny and Lillie one last time.

“It could be infected…” he muttered to himself before looking back up to the Altesian.

“Please, help her.”