An enormous cloaked creature stared down a sewer tunnel. The small cloak on its large body made it look almost like someone had attempted to hide a carriage with a quilt. Its arms and legs poked out of the sides of the cloak, emphasizing further its massive frame.
Out of the front of the cloak stuck a large, rat-like nose with bristly whiskers, and behind those lay two bloodshot bulging eyes. Those pained eyes seemed to pierce through everything they glanced at, including the three kids in front of it.
In a man's voice it yelled:
"Disgusting creatures!"
Before immediately taking off after the three. Apparently, in its blind rage it had failed to notice the rope stretched out just high enough to make him…
BAM
trip.
It fell heavily onto the grimy brick pathway, carried by both its weight and momentum it tumbled off the path and into the sewage. It was slowed down significantly, but the stench that now caked his cloak only served to enrage him even further.
"Haha!" Arne called back, "He fell for the trap!" he yelled forward at Eli's back, so he didn't have to turn around.
SLAP
Thea slapped the back of Arne's head.
"Focus on the path ahead of you! I'll watch our backs, just keep running!" she said resolutely, while Arne frowned due to the dull pain from the slap.
Eli led the three of them deeper into the sewer. Hopefully he was luckier than Arne... they were going to need it if they were to escape this alive.
"Take a right up here!" called Arne, yelling once again at Eli. "We may be able to lose him if we turn at random places."
"Then we might get lost! We should just keep running until we see an exit!" called back Eli.
Rapid splashing could be heard, and a foul, well fouler scent assaulted their nostrils. The Rat King was approaching!
"It's much faster than we are! We need to turn!" yelled Thea, forced to watch as the speeding abomination barreled towards them with rapidly increasing momentum.
"The settlement ends up ahead!" yelled Arne, "Turn as soon as possible Eli!"
"Understood! I have an idea that might help us escape as well!" said Eli, picking up a crooked stick from a tent as he ran by.
"What are you doing! That'll only slow you down!" cried Arne, before seeing the effects of Eli's plan. As he ran by each mana-stone torch, he hit it with the stick, bursting the mana stone and putting out the light. Not only would the creature not be able to see exactly where they were, but it wouldn't be able to see any obstacles in the way. Then later, if they managed to loop back, they would know exactly where they were.
"That's brilliant Eli!" said Arne. Now that Eli was carrying a big stick, they both ran closer together due to the cargo they were carrying.
Suddenly Arne came up with a plan to help assist Eli in his escape measures.
"We need to turn now!" cried Thea desperately, she could almost feel the hot breath of the creature chasing after them. His toothy mouth was preparing to take a bite out of her!
Arne's eyes began to glow an oceanic blue!
'Expand...'
'Infuse...'
'Bend!' thought Arne, as he quickly manipulated the water behind them to splash onto the path behind them. Eli and Arne then turned as quickly as possible.
Right as they turned the corner, the Rat King, already wet from his plunge due to Arne's trap skidded across the slick floor, and missed the turn entirely crashing into some tents!
'Perfect!' thought Arne.
"Phew..." said Thea, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead.
"That was close!" exclaimed Eli, continuing to smash the mana stones overhead.
The three of them passed a small enclave on the side of the path, which would be perfect to hide in. Arne had an excellent idea!
"Eli smash the next mana stone and follow me!" he whispered, and so Eli did. He smashed the next stone, dropped the stick in the water, and quickly chased after Arne, who of course was tucked away within that small enclave.
El squeezed in as well.
"Arne what are we doing!?!" whisper-yelled Eli. "I thought you had a plan! That thing will catch us if we stay still!"
"Quiet down Eli," whispered Arne, "The creature took a serious tumble back there, by the time it is chasing after us, it will have thought we stopped smashing stones to speed up. It will just keep running down this path, and we can go back the way we came!"
A soldier's voice yelled:
"Get back here!" and by the entrance to the small enclave, the beast sprinted past at full speed, barreling down the path.
Arne's heart was beating out of his chest. He felt like a genius! That stupid creature did exactly what he thought it would! After about a minute of holding their breath, Arne finally broke the silence.
"Eli," he said quietly, "will you look around the corner to see how far he's gone?"
Eli nodded, before peeking around the corner. The creature was long gone, he couldn't even see how far down the tunnel he went. In fact, he couldn't even hear the creature anymore.
Eli gave Arne a thumbs-up, and all three walked out, well Arne and Eli walked out. Thea was still on Arne's back.
"Can you put me down now?" asked Thea, still quietly.
"You think you can walk on your ankle now?" asked Arne.
"...It wasn't that bad." she said
"Then why was I carrying you!" yelled Arne.
"SHH!" said both Eli and Thea in unison, while glaring at Arne.
Arne smiled wryly, scratching the back of his head. He then took the rest of the rope off of his shoulders, and handed one end to Eli. Meanwhile, Thea backtracked a little ways down the path to find a good stick to swing just in case."
"Same as last time, this way if he comes back we will have a bit more time." said Arne, "This time, I'll make the floor wet as well, so even if it notices in time it will still hurt itself."
"Alright. That doesn't use up too much of your mana does it?" asked Eli.
"Not much at all... I could do it a bunch more times if we need to." he replied, proud of his newfound magical prowess.
Arne and Eli continued to tie down the trap firmly so that the Rat King's legs wouldn't break the trap.
"Perfect" said Eli.
"Alright let's get back to The...a..." trailed off Arne. He heard a semblance of a strange sound, almost like clicking...
The Rat King had once again appeared.
Except he was coming from where they were planning on going...
In between the Rat King and them, was Thea, crouched down on the ground looking for a stick to fight with.
She was unaware of the Rat King rapidly approaching.
"Thea it's here!!!!" yelled Arne.
She looked up at Arne with a confused expression, before turning behind her. The Rat King's ominous shadow loomed over her.
In a man's voice it yelled:
"Disgusting creatures!"
It raised it's enormous claw above its head.
Arne's eyes glowed blue.
'Please hurry mana hurry!' screamed Arne in his mind.
'Expand, Infuse, Bend, Expand, Infuse, Bend!' he repeated in his head like a mantra as his mana spread out and infused with the water and the surface began to rise.
Thea was frozen in fear.
The Rat King's claw descended.
The water increased in size forming a small wave, but it was too late.
Blood.
A lot of blood.
Arne looked to his side.
Eli was missing.
"Don't worry Thea..." said Eli, his body shielding hers. On his back was a massive gash seeping deep crimson blood.
Eli was deathly pale.
"Don't worry..." he said, before collapsing over her.