The sun is at its peak in the sky and all is silent.
The area is a wasteland with sand as far as the eye can see. In the middle of this wasteland is a single post, a silhouette of a woman hanging from it, a young boy wearing nothing but rags stands in front of this post, tears flowing in a constant stream. The woman's head tilted to look at him and spoke in a whisper…. Yet it held so much love…care… and hope, her eyes yet dull and lifeless were still full of all the warmth a mother holds for their child.
"Akira… promise me"
"Promise me that you will become great ok?"
"Promise that you will grow strong"
"Become the man I know you can be".
As the woman spoke her voice became weaker… her eyes slowly fading, yet a smile grew on her face, and with her last breath she uttered six single words.
"I love you… My baby boy...".
When the women's final words reached the boy's ears it was like a lever was switched.
Screams.
Shouts.
Cries of pain and agony.
All rang in his ears as he fell to his knees. The boy begged and begged. Yet his cries were never answered.
"Please… make it stop".
"Please make them go away"
As apparitions of three people circle the boy. One was a man with dark skin and no hair on his head, a muscular frame, and deep sword wounds on his back and chest, the next one was of a younger boy of similar skin tone to the man, the boy was missing his arms and legs. And lastly was the woman on her post, she had short black hair and a lighter complexion than that of the man or the boy.
They slowly went closer to the boy as the screams and wails got louder and louder. The young boy kept his eyes shut trying to block out the noise all the while crying and screaming for this all to end. Just as the people were about to be on top of him the boy felt a jolt of pain and his eyes shot wide open.
Totara's hand was in a position that suggested he had just socked Akira in the face. Noticing Akira's eyes had grasped reality again, Totara started to speak in a calm tone yet it was contradicted with a rushed pace.
"Sorry Akira, I just had to bring you back and nothing else was working, are you ok?"
"I… she just made me remember past wounds I would rather keep out of mind." Akira glanced downwards and spoke with a soft despondence. His ears had muddled the background noise of a fierce battle, but once they too came back to reality, Akira caught sight of the beast and Ashley fighting in hand-to-hand combat, and from the looks of it Ashley was losing.
Confused, perplexed, and filled with worry, Akira exclaimed "What is Ashley doing?! She is going to get herself killed."
"I know it might be hard for you to face this creature but this is why I was trying to get your attention. Ashley needs our help." As Totara spoke, Ashley had kicked the beast's knee in, the heel of her stiletto somehow punctured through scales and muscle. Buckling from the pain and the power of the blow the monster precariously balanced in a position similar to a lunge. Its right hand grasped Ashley's bloodied face and forced her head down to the ground. Placing all its weight onto Ashley's head to aid in standing back up, the young woman was then plucked off the ground and flung like a ragdoll against the nearest wall once again. She still got back up, and like a magnet went straight to the monster with powerful strides. Legs glowing with the fiery power within them yet they highlighted the tattered, stained cloth, which dripped a warm, burgundy, liquid.
Akira stood up slowly, his mind felt heavy, so heavy it even slowed his body down with the weight. Totara and him approached the creature ready to join the battle.
"You relentless pest. You just can't stop getting back up, and you throw punches with the strength of a tiny butterfly." The relentless voice of the monster still fails to corrupt Ashley's mind with insecurity.
"Do you.. Ever SHUT UP!" The battle-crazed girl yelled. As rushed forward with a burning right hook towards the monster, only for it to be blocked and countered with a leg sweep from the beast. Rolling with it Ashley swiftly got back up and sent a sidekick towards the monster head which was grabbed.
Smirking at Ashley the beast tossed her over her shoulder with such force a great deal of dust was blown up in the direction she sent the young elf. While in the few seconds, it took the monster to swing Ashley over its shoulder she managed to release the fire javelin at point-blank range into the beast's eyes causing it to yell out in pain and anger.
"YOU FILTHY MONGREL!" The monster growled with venom.
"AUGHHHH.. YOU.. YOU WENCH.. WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I'LL GUT YOU LIKE A FISH!!" It wailed, clawing at its eyes.
Turning back around, Ashley did a cartwheel once her hands touched the ground and stared at the raging and raving monster whose hands were still covering its face, seeing this she rushed in only to be nearly cut cleanly in half if not for her battle-heightened senses as she managed to lean to the side, though she was not fast enough to dodge it fully, as there was now a shallow cut on her abdomen. She then heard a loud crash from behind her. Looking behind her she saw the beast looking right at her with eyes filled with nothing but malice and hatred, its left hand now covered in blood… her blood she realized.
Looking at the monster she saw that it was completely unfazed from her last attack… now that she thought about it none of her attacks had any lasting effects on the beast and the attacks that did hurt her seemed to heal instantly.
The beast continued to look at Ashley, its calm and cheerful demeanor was gone, slowly lifting its hand it licked the blood off of it and growled as its hair seemed to start to float in the air.
"How dare you," It said, Its voice lacking the same sadistic tone
"At first you were amusing… and I'll be honest you have been fun to play around with… but now… I'm just going to kill you. She said when it was finished, the monster's tone was calm and cold. Staring at the elf's pitiful state she could not help but chuckle slightly before her eyes steeled once more.
"Please.. I'm not even trying". Ashley said a small but weak smile formed on her lips as she slowly shifted into her stance once more. If she was being honest with herself she was at her limit… her arms felt like falling off and her legs felt like they were going to shatter if she took just a step… but she did not care, after all this is not just for Akira anymore if this monster is set loose it will cause mass destruction and chaos and she refuses to let that happen.
".... I'm going to love carving you up!" The beast spoke, and a devilish sneer grew on its face as it got into a charging position.
"You can tr-"
Ashley's words were lost when in the blink of an eye the beast was in her guard and its fist inches away from her stomach, all she could do was look into the hate-filled eyes of her soon-to-be killer in her final moments all she could think of is….
"Akira"