*Jada

74.2 souls collected

I sneak a glance at Jadan, making sure he's facing the other way, and pop the last ike into my mouth. A satisfied grin spreads on my face as I wipe the imaginary crumbs off my chin and smooth my shirt, checking that my stomach is still flat. I tell myself that the fullness I feel is normal as I turn around and start packing our bag.

This forest is a gold mine for ikes. You can't throw a stick without hitting a madness-made manifested monster. "I'm done eating, Jadan. You can turn around now."

"Jada, you know-"

"I KNOW!" I snap, then close my eyes and take a deep breath. "Sorry, Jadan. My deipnophobia is just acting up. Let's just keep moving. You said you heard a horse earlier. That means we're getting close to civilization. Come on." I hand over our bag to Jadan and he slings it over his shoulder. We head toward the direction of the horse sound.

What if that's this world's main way of travel? I've never ridden a horse before. "Jadan, we might have to learn how to ride horses."

"Do you think they like carrots?" he asks.

"I'm sure they do. We caught a mouse with cheese once, and cartoons are always full of trivia like that."

"I want a blue horse," he says, smiling goofily as he imagines having a blue horse. I smile back and make a promise to myself to get him a blue horse someday.

We walk into the biggest clearing we've seen since traveling to this world. We stop in our tracks as we see the biggest madness-manifested monster we've ever encountered. Standing at least fifteen feet tall is a black horse with a skull for a head and bone ribs-like armor along its sides. Sitting on top of it is an all-black rider with four bone horns protruding from his skull-like face. We freeze for a second as he raises his spear and the monster horse charges towards us.

I grab my brother by the shirt and roll to the side, then raise my gauntlet hand and punch the horse in the hind leg, but it doesn't even flinch. I barely have time to raise my hand to block as a hoof crashes into me, sending me rolling backward.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Switch

As my brother skids to a stop on his feet, I start to heat up my weapon body. As I collect more and more heat, my sleek white color turns a bright red. As I reach my limit for stored heat, Jadan manages to get in close and strikes the horse right in the chest. As flames blast out from the impact, Jadan is knocked back by the rider's spear.

Switch

I slam into a tree and groan. I look up and see that the horse only has a small burn mark on its chest, but no serious damage. Gritting my teeth, I charge at the incoming horse and swat at the spear strike, only to be thrown across the field again.

Stumbling to my feet, I look at the black gauntlet covered in bumps and vibrating lightly, filled to burst with energy. As the horse gallops towards us again, spear raised, I run at it again, ready to strike. This time when our weapons collide, the spear shatters as the energy is released.

Switch

Landing on the back of the horse, Jadan raises my gauntlet form high into the air and strikes the rider as hard as he can in the head. The bone-plated face cracks and his head twists in an unnatural angle before he retaliates by striking at Jadan's unarmored arm, causing blood to spurt out. Jadan falls back and is kicked by the horse.

Switch

My lips curl into a snarl as I swing and clip the horse before flying from the previous momentum. Looking at the small amount of bumps on the gauntlet, I run towards the horse again, striking at its skull head.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" I scream before being head-butted by the horse.

Switch

I struggle to keep my gauntlet form as my head spins. As my vision clears up, I see Jadan bleeding from his arm and being battered by the horse.

Switch

He can barely hold his weapon form and my legs are shaking. Not from fear but exhaustion. We've been fighting since we arrived here. Even fresh this would have been tough. As anger at our situation rises inside me, I dive at the charging horse again, punching with all I have and breaking one of its armored bone ribs. Before my brain can register the success of my attack, an arm bats me away, flinging me back, and everything goes black.

...

I can feel it like a blanket on a cold night.

It's warm and comforting like falling asleep in a hug. As consciousness returns, so does the sharp pain in my chest. Taking fast shallow breaths, I feel a soul trying to comfort mine. Eyes snapping open, I hear my savior's voice. Telling me we're going to be okay. I can feel it. My brother and I are being enveloped in an aura of caring. This is a meister.

"Listen, when I tell you to run into the house and find a place to hide. I'll try to hold off the Grimm," she says.

No, not just any meister. As she dodges the now-named Grimm and hands me keys to her home to hide away, I'm sure. She's not any meister. As my brother forms next to me, our eyes meet and we nod. Back straight and hands raised to fight, there's no mistaking it. Taking her right side while my brother takes her left, we take our weapon form, finally in the hands of our meister…