I shook that thought from my head and tugged on his robe again.
“Arden!” he yelled. “If you’re bored, go kill the crawlies that infest the catacombs. Earn your keep. The gods know you’re not good for anything else or your parents wouldn’t have left you on the orphanage steps.”
My lips tightened.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “that was unkind, even for me.”
Ignoring him, I said, “I think there’s a military procession outside, and it doesn’t sound like our ragtag guards. It sounds more… regimented.”
Just then, the doors to the temple flew open.
The two men at the altar stood and turned back, horrified. I followed their gaze to the door. A large man – no, creature – stood in the doorframe. It stood like a person, but its head was a solid sphere of pitch black metal that reflected a slight pink sheen from Laranj’s holy aura. A series of sharp glistening teeth lined a mouth that had broken into a sadistic smile.
The creature’s body was a hulking mass of utter blackness, with horns protruding from its shoulders, elbows, and wrists. An army of other creatures stood behind him. Those that stood on two feet held swords and spears, while others rested on all fours like evil, mangy canines.
If shadows could walk, they would run from these monsters.
Without hesitation, they charged down the center aisle of the temple and screamed in shrill voices, pointing their blades forward. Cahn stood, frozen by the frenzy that had broken out.
The lead creature held a spear for only a moment. Then he launched it at Laranj. Her pink skin erupted in red. The harps and sound of gentle angels came to an abrupt end. Whatever that thing’s weapon was made of, it had the power to slay a goddess.
The creatures lost no time turning their attention toward us, but instead of throwing weapons, a few creatures in the rear of the group sent tendrils of black magic through the air. Some landed like ribbons on the ground and extinguished, while others landed on the two worshippers and on Cahn.
I jumped back from the spell, avoiding the first volley of magic. The men that had been hit started to grow dark, magic covering their skin like soot. Their eyes became solid black. They turned on me.
I had no interest in being torn to shreds by Cahn. He had been tearing into me my whole worthless life. It was time that came to an end.
As the enchanted men and evil creatures chased after me, I rounded the altar and ran into the vestry. This was the room where Cahn kept all of his robes. I was forbidden to linger here, using the room only as a corridor to the warren of hallways and storage closets beyond. I locked the door behind me and kept running.
The crunch of wood let me know that keys were too delicate for the monsters stampeding this holy building. I turned down a hallway and tried a door, but it was locked. I kicked the door, but it didn’t come down. Again, my low Strength got the better of me. I moved onto the next door, and the next.
Then an army of black shapes emerged in the hallway. I sprinted to the corridor’s end and found an open door that led to a bathroom.
Great, I thought, I’m going to die in a bathroom. My legacy just keeps getting brighter.
This room had a window. A window that big strong men wouldn’t fit through, but a lowly temple worker with a Strength of 1 was slim enough to squeeze through. Maybe.
I pushed the window open and threw my weapon outside. This part of the building was halfway underground, so the weapon didn’t have far to drop. Then I struggled to pull myself toward it. My fingers clawed at dirt and grass just outside the window. The black army of murderous creatures bashed down the door.
I kept pulling, kicking, squirming. And then I was free. I scrambled to my feet and tore off across the temple grounds.
Smoke and screams. Those were my first two thoughts as I ran. Some of Meadowdale’s short, thatch-roofed buildings were on fire, and men and women ran through the streets in terror. Some of the men had the same black, glossy look in their eyes as Cahn had. Others tried desperately to escape the invading force.
I had no family here. Aside from the admiration I had for the goddess Laranj, there was no one in Meadowdale that I needed to check in on to be sure they were safe. Not that it mattered; no one was safe. I just had to get out of there, and fast. Before that thing spotted me.
In the center of the city, towering over the one-story shops that lined the main dirt road, was a broad-shouldered man made of the same black shadowy evil as the other creatures that had attacked. He held a sword in one hand, broader than my entire body, and his eyes crackled with red energy. Armor plated his body, and his black helmet had large curved horns.
He gestured with his sword and yelled at the inky warriors that terrorized the town, sending them after any of the local residents he spied hiding or running for cover. A group of women cowered in a covered doorway, but he didn’t take aim at them. It was the men he was after, and those that he hadn’t killed were slowly becoming dark and violent as these monsters’ strange magic took hold.
The temple wasn’t far from the southern wall surrounding the settlement. I ran that way, dodging past screaming townsfolk and black creatures that looked like dogs on steroids. When I reached the wall, I climbed up on an abandoned fruit cart and jumped outside the city’s limits.
Meadowdale was a free city, at least until this. There was no imperial power that protected it. For years, the people of the city were proud of that. It meant they didn’t pay taxes, and they weren’t beholden to an emperor’s whim.
It also meant no army would save them from today’s onslaught. There was no fighting force to guard the goddess that called this city home.
I ran south, as far as my legs and my lungs would take me. The city receded in the background, and with it the smells and sounds of war.
By the time my legs gave out, I was deep in the forest and I had lost my sense of direction. I lay on the grass, my weapon still clutched tightly in my hand.
Then something poked me in the back. I rolled over so I could look up at it. It was a gi-ant, and it looked hungry.
+2
The gi-ant looked at me with large, waxy eyes. Its mandibles were two sharp fangs that jutted from its lower jaw. It poked me again with one of its six legs as I pushed back with my feet and yelled. I had never been that close to a giant insect’s mouth before; I never wanted to be again.
The monster reared on its hind legs and twitched its antennae. I realized then that two other gi-ants were behind me. They were communicating with each other somehow. This guy looks tasty, I imagined them saying, and he’s already salted himself with sweat. Yum!
I brought my weapon up and knocked the gi-ant over. It landed on its back and twitched its legs as it tried to right itself. The other two creatures came toward me at impressive speed, convincing me that running away was not an option.
“Come and get me!” I yelled. I was pretty sure they were going to do that anyway, but watching them follow my command made me feel powerful, if only for a second.
The first ant neared and I stabbed it in the face with my spear. It let out a high-pitched sound that must have been a scream. I yanked my weapon away and stabbed toward the second one. It dodged my attack, then leapt at me.
It landed on my chest, pinning me against the ground under its weight. It sank its mouth into my shoulder, digging into my muscle. I slid my spear under its body and thrust up with both hands, forcing the monster off of me. It flew into the other gi-ant and was slowed for a moment in a tangle of gi-ant legs.
I took that opportunity to stab my spear through both creatures at once. They bucked and writhed against each other and against my pole, but soon their struggle ended. I had killed them both.