But for a Slime

He entered the inn and clambered through the common room at the entrance, ignoring the innkeeper and his family as they hurriedly packed essential belongings. He sped up the stairs and crashed into their room then stopped when he saw Kilniara pacing in the room. He stared at her, surprised to see her here. She stared back and then immediately began haranguing him, question after question flying at him. He stared at her for a few moments before turning away and fleeing to his room, her questions white noise in his mind, his thoughts too consumed with escape.

He gathered what little belongings he had then stared at Garnedell’s belongings as well before grimacing and pulling out the few coins and cores Garnedell had as well as taking Garnedell’s new bow. He pushed past his sister back into Master’s room and froze, his breath rapidly growing as his thoughts considered his path. There’s no going back! None. I gotta… He breathed deeply and charged across the room and ripped open the drawers next to Master’s bed. He scrambled through it until he found the bag of Master’s cores. He stared at it until finally reaching in and jerking it out, almost like he was reaching into a hot oven and feared being burned.

When he did so, Kilnaira suddenly began shouting and pounding her fists on his back. Zilnek grimaced in pain, her wild punches harming him much more than they normally did. His purpose was interrupted with that realization and he quickly grew sorrowful. His sister had grown so strong in only months, and now he would lose this opportunity. He kept his hands up to protect his face but turned to face his sister. She stared back at him, shouting question after question, but he simply looked at her in pain and sorrow before fleeing, her questions ignored and just white noise pounding against him.

The common room was empty by the time he got there but he didn’t stop fleeing, the sound of his sister’s feet on the stairs behind him pushed him on in fear. He fled the inn and turned to the inner clan wall. Everyone had to flee to the clan if they wanted to survive a dungeon break, but he had to go to another clan gate. He had no desire to see Gwenvair. His steps pounded down the street in a rapid clap that echoed in loneliness off the walls of the buildings. He was almost half way to the second gate when his sister’s shouted questions reached him.

“What happened?”

“Where are you going?”

“Why are you acti… oh no! What happened? Is Master OK?”

“Wait.. don’t…”

A good dozen questions assailed him and he stopped in shock and looked behind him, searching for his sister. But, he was alone. Utterly alone. Zilnek’s breath caught in his throat and fear thudded through him. His eyes turned towards the sky, fluttering everywhere but where he knew he would find his answers. His breath turned to pants and he struggled to control himself. Finally, in stomach churning fear, he spoke one word.

“Status”

A dark black screen stared back at him, filling his haunted eyes, a black much darker than that of a simple thief.

* * *

Kilniara paced in her room, anxious for Joe’s return and now with an added concern for her brother. He’d returned and been very strange and afraid. He’d crashed into the room and stared at her for almost a breath or two before rapidly ransacking the room. When he stole Joe’s cores, he’d frozen in fear a good two or three breaths but nothing seemed to stop him, and he ignored her questions and pleas, his rapid dash around the room to ransack it. It was an odd experience to see her brother in such a light. He moved with frantic energy and a deep panic. Seeing it churned her stomach, leaving her deeply afraid and only caused Kilniara’s worry to grow.

* * *

The monsters now coming were a nonstop stream of beast after beast. Joe was still dealing with it easily enough, killing each monster faster than the next. He had no rest, however, as each next monster came on almost as soon as the previous one was killed. After a while, Joe noticed his mana had recovered and attacked the next monster with aggression, killing it quickly before leaping back after a quick glance backward. He landed just next to Garnedell and quickly slid a foot back to tap against Garnedell’s butt. He quickly dumped his mana into Garnedell, his mana bottoming out to zero once again. He pushed, allowing what he guessed was about half his natural mana to go into healing Garnedell before he leapt forward again to return to his defense.

He continued to do this every ten minutes or so, struggling to keep the beasts at bay, and soon the monsters began to grow ever more in number. Joe grew ever more concerned as he saw the wave of monsters growing and growing. Joe realized that it was getting to a point where he would not be able to easily defend Garnedell or himself since the monsters would soon be able to surround him and press him up against the wall. They weren’t going to survive this, and Joe grew ever more anxious.

Finally, he screamed in frustration, exploding outwards. His presence erupted out with him and then he charged into the beasts. There was little he could do but hope that the end was soon coming. Time seemed to slow, the monsters unmoving and frozen in place as his spear struck out again and again and Joe soon cleared the hallway of beasts. He stopped, slightly exhausted with that burst then grew confused when he noticed the monsters at the corner and presumably behind it all frozen. Why…?

Joe quickly realized his Presence was expanded, having burst out with his scream and Joe frowned. How is that… Joe quickly ended his curiosity and turned to options for defense. He looked behind him, seeking anything that might help keep the monsters at bay and quickly noticed the star weapons used against the sparks on the first floor. Relief flooded through him when he noticed them and sprinted back and took the time to rearrange them once again as they’d been pushed around and tumbled out of line, reducing their efficacy. He pondered, remembering the last few hours of fighting and considered what changes, if any, he could make to increase his defenses. His thoughts raced as he struggled to think of how to set up his defensive wall in the best way while also forced to keep his Presence fully extended to press back against the beasts further down the hall.

He looked at the corridor entrance and quickly decided pretty much keeping the same formation, just straightening them up and make sure they were better intertwined and held together. He even took the time to grab a couple of his cloaks to use as ropes to tie the things together. And… the one supposed to impale the monsters… kinda useless… yeah… just use it to extend the wall a bit more… He stacked up the star weaponry as best he could in the short amount of time he had to block the left side of the entrance. He used five or six cloaks to tie the whole thing together, not happy with what he’d done, but not having the time to do more. Then he spun back and grabbed Garendell’s staff and the bag, dragging them both back to reinforce the star weaponry from behind. He went back a third time but almost staggered to his knees from the pressure of maintaining his Presence. He pushed through then struggled to raise Garnedell and the cloaks he was resting on carefully before he settled him leaning against the bag which itself was pressed against the star weapons. Garnedell would be safe but also closer and more in his line of sight. He did make sure to lay Garnedell down parallel to the wall this time so Garnedell’s legs did not stick out into the hallway anymore. Garnedell moaned, shifting some before laying back down on the bag.

Garnedell stirred and smiled up at Joe, smiling softly if wanly, “Hello, Joe. Thank you.”

Joe grinned and chuckled with a shake of his head, “Don’t need to thank me… least I could do.”

Joe grimaced a bit, grunting in pain as he pressed himself a bit more to keep his Presence going so he could check out Garnedells’ leg wounds as well and smiled to see them almost half healed. He quickly dumped another bit of his mana in before turning to defend again. Joe turned to head back to the entrance, now grimacing under the headache to hold his Presence up but froze when he saw Garnedell’s pale sweating face. That’s… not good! What…

Joe pressed a hand to his forehead quickly then leapt back to his line, his Presence too fragile to maintain anymore. His Presence dropped and the beasts shook themselves free, almost as if they’d been frozen in some form of grip. They leapt towards him once again, the bellows and shrieks thundering down the hallway once again. Despite that, his thoughts were too worriedly focused on Garnedell. As he grew anxious in his worry for Garnedell, the next beast scrambled through the break in the defenses and immediately attacked him. Joe defending with a rapid thrust but the monster danced underneath and swiped at Joe’s thighs.

“Go, Joe. I’m OK. You need to fight.”

Joe’s worry settled with Garnedell’s statement and his thoughts immediately stilled as he turned his focus on the attacking monster with a grimace. He brought a shield edge down on the beast stunning it. He thrust his spear deep enough into the next to allow his mana point to kill it before flipping the spear once again down into the creature stunned at his feet. His thoughts faded and only the plotting of each movement, strike, block, and parry remained. He fell into a rhythm, flowing from strike to strike, slicing through monster after monster. His stamina fell slowly while his mana continually recovered regularly. And just as regularly, Joe flung his mana into healing Garnedell by taking any lull to slip across the hallway to dump his mana into a heal for him.

“Joe?”

“Hmm?” Joe replied.

“Can I tell you a story?”

Joe grunted, a shield whipping out to slam a small fast running monster back into the crowd of beasts while his thrust forward with a spear that was infused at just the moment prior to piercing into the monster.

“Sure. What do you want to say?”

Garnedell took a bit of time to reply, but Joe didn’t really notice, his focus upon the monsters before him, “A long time ago, the original patriarch of the emperor’s family gathered together the great heroes to bring order to the chaos in our great cycle.”

A bubble of mana swelled up and Joe flinched, glancing around wildly before suddenly the mana burst out in a wave, causing Joe to be worried. A monster took the distraction to sink its teeth into Joe’s calf but Joe was able to react quickly, plunging his spear deep into the skull of the beast, killing it instantly. When the monster faded away, taken by the dungeon, his HP took a small hit as it rapidly healed the holes in his calf. He returned to his combat with ease and quickly recognized what the bubble of mana had been, relaxing and growing calm when a meaning floated up into his mind, the last part of Garnedell’s statement shifting meaning and bringing a new one to his mind.

“… the great heroes brought order to our galaxy in chaos.”