Of Ice, Death & Monsters

‘Run.’

‘That didn’t work last time!’

‘Try to get them distracted?”

‘With what?’

‘The trees???’

‘Great I’ll just command nature next.’

‘I meant run behind them, try to get as much cover as possible?’

‘Let’s just head to the cave then-‘

But there was no time for me to think so quickly; one of the Bes had already made their charge. My whole body was as stiff as a board, and Matthias was trying to rush me to the inside of the cave, but the beast was already closing in.

‘Move it!’

Suddenly, something in me snapped. I stomped my foot on the ground and raised my hand up high. Immediately, the earth in front of me shook, and a wall erupted just before Matthias and I were gorged by the horns.

But the wall wasn’t even strong enough to fully stop the Bes. It broke through the earthen defense, scattering the rocks everywhere, and slammed into both Matthias and me, sending us both in opposite directions.

Matthias crashed into a wall with a thud and a sickening crack, already coughing up blood as he struggled to move. I skidded towards the snow, rolling near the forest as I felt my whole body ache from the impact, and my vision went blurry. The voices in my head pounded against my skull.

‘Run.’

‘Fight.’

‘Run!’

‘Fight!’

I stood up the best I could, my body shaking as I watched the other Bes charge straight at me. This time, as if somebody else moved my body in time, I carefully took a step to the side and stomped on the ground once more, raising my hand upwards.

In an instant, I summoned the earthen wall once more, and it didn’t just act as a barrier, but as an attack; the edges of the wall slammed right into the jaw of the Bes, knocking it off course enough that it only broke the wall and not slammed into me.

Quickly, I then unsheathed my knife, throwing it at the other Bes with such force and finesse that it slashed against its arm, yet it merely annoyed it as it turned back to me.

“Matthias! Run! Get the others! I’ll hold them off here!”

‘Why am I doing this?’

Matthias got up, bloodied as he looked my way, and then into the cave. I simply nodded as I stared down the Bes I angered while the other one began to get back up.

‘Run.’

There was only the option of leading them into the forest. But, if it meant leading them away from Matthias, then maybe… or maybe I can find a way to hide by the tree trunks. I can use it to make sure I’m safe. I don’t know how long that could last, but I can make it work!

The Bes I didn’t stagger charged straight towards me. I took a deep breath and tried to focus again, but this time, my own voice spoke to me in my head.

‘You can’t keep using Names like this. You know what happens if you do.’

I grimaced for a single moment, enough that my body flinched right before I could perform the Name. I tried to dive, roll, or anything else, but I was locked in place once more as the Bes approached me like a charging bull.

I hoped for the best, bracing for impact as I leaned towards the blow. Yet instead of being impaled by their antlers, the Bes grimaced in pain, turning its head just enough that I wasn’t immediately gorged. Instead, I was tackled from the side, rolling across the snow as the Bes crashed into a tree, breaking it in half as if it were a twig. In a briefest of moments, I saw the knife I used to slash the beast earlier now embedded within its back.

“Ugh-w-what?” I looked at who tackled me, and my eyes widened in confusion, gratefulness, and horror as I saw that it was Matthias. His long white hair had streaks of red from his blood. He lay on me, shaking furiously as he tried to get us up.

“W-what are you doing here? You should have ran!?”

“You wouldn’t survive any longer out here on your own. I won’t leave you behind… I won’t be the cause of another person’s death! Not again!” He grabbed my arm to pull me up as we both trudged towards the cave.

However, we couldn’t make it that far before the first Bes finally got up, roaring in anger and frustration. It swiped us with its claws from the side, and instinctively, I grabbed Matthias and shielded him from the slashes that cut across my back like swords; the only reason I was even alive was because of the Teni protecting me.

My vision went blurry from the pain as I doubled over, but I had to keep moving forward. I had to get Matthias to safety, and I had to get myself to safety. I stumbled forward again, looking to see if he was okay, and found that he was writing something on his handkerchief with his blood.

But that didn’t matter right now, as the second one was preparing a charge. I couldn’t concentrate on anything, much less manifest a Name. So I did the second-best thing that came to my mind.

“T-Thanks… for everything, but I’ll take it from here.” I pushed Matthias off of me, causing the handkerchief he was holding to fly into the air. I barely had time to make out the math symbols on it right before I was impaled by the antlers.

“Gahhhh!” My screams were accompanied by the blood I gurgled out of my throat as I convulsed in a familiar pain. The antlers were deep in my body, already through my chest as I doubled over. Tears fell down my face as I couldn’t even describe the agony I was in. All I could do was hope that my pain wouldn’t be in vain as I suffered.

Yet, I saw Matthias staggering along the snow with the Bes right behind him. I didn’t really save him, now did I, only delayed what was inevitable. Somehow, that felt worse than the literal antlers in my gut right now.

For a moment, I accepted my pain, twitching in agony as I looked up into the sky. Then… the handkerchief from before came down, right onto the antlers of the Bes. It was a math equation, one that I remembered solving a day ago… it was the Acting of Entropy.

‘Oh? So that was his plan, huh… guess… at least I’ll try to make sure he has one less problem…’

With my own blood, I began to draw the last few symbols needed for the equation to be completed, grimacing ever so slightly as the Bes below me drank my blood like it did to Henry.

Before I completed the Name, I clawed my hand, summoning that damned fox again. I could almost feel it smiling at me as if it was happy to see me suffer like this. It got the handkerchief and jumped toward the Bes that was beginning to charge at Matthias, putting it on the monster’s back before completing the Name.

In an instant, the beast began to evaporate. I could barely see little spirits falling out of the handkerchief and ripping apart the beast, bit by bit. It barely had any time to even bellow out before it was completely consumed.

I smiled and felt my whole body go slack. The pain was leaving my system, replaced by the dread of death I felt a day ago. I closed my eyes again, wondering what would happen next in the cold embrace of darkness.

But then, the voices came back once more.

“No… No No No! This will not be my end! I will not die here! The world has not felt my wrath! My fury! I will not perish as long as I still feel the anger in my very soul.’

Images flashed across my mind of thousands of people slaughtered on the fields of battle. An endless war raged across a tundra's forests, mountaintops, and so much more. My friends were bisected out on the floor in front of me. My comrades were drowning in the depths of lakes, and those I loved were crushed underfoot by monsters I was unable to kill, leaving behind only stains of blood and crushed flesh.

I saw myself working day in and day out in some soul-draining corporation. Always looking over my back, waiting to see if those I have scorned or betrayed would finally come back to haunt me as I tried my best to make amends, doing all I could with the little power I scrounged up for myself.

My life as a construction worker seeped into my mind, and I just wanted to give to my family. I just wanted a good job until those damned constructs began to fill the industry, kicking me out after I failed once... I tried working with them, and it was good for a while, but I needed more, my family needed more. Why couldn't there be more... Why couldn't I do more?

I was then bombarded with my history in Galfania. I was doing my best to protect those I cared for, my brothers and sisters in arms. Yet every day I found them dwindling, every day we slowly got whittled down until I was part of that chopping block. I wish there was more I could have done, and I wish I had saved more of them.

Then, I saw my own life, me floundering around, trying to find a job that could even pay decently well, trying to survive day-to-day life… and then seeing John simply live… live the life that I wanted to live, that I deserved to live.

Rage filled me, more than it ever has before. It fueled my body like gas to a car, and I bellowed out a roar as if I were a wild beast instead of a man. I raised my right arm up, clenching my hand into a fist, and suddenly, I felt something grow along my forearm, something large and unwieldy yet an extension of me all the same.

I brought it down at the antlers that impaled me, breaking them off as I fell to the ground.

Finally, my mind somewhat returned to lucidity as I stood up and, in shock, ripped out the antlers in my body with surprising ease. I looked down, seeing the wound had closed and that… I had developed muscles? I had abs for some reason.

Then, I turned to look at my right arm, nearly yelling as I found a strange antler-like protrusion that had emerged from my forearm like some kind of arm blade. “What the fuck…”

I didn't have time to really think about it because the Bes didn’t waste any time swiping at me again, but my body moved even faster than before. I grabbed the shadowy stuff on my chest and slammed it into its claws. Immediately, the shadows exploded into spikes that pierced through the Bes’s hand, drawing blood.

It roared in pain and backed away, but I would never relent. I dashed towards the beast and shoved my antler blade into its gut, impaling it upon my own horns and twisting it around as we both let out a guttural roar, his of pain, and mine of rage.

I kicked him off my antler blade, sending him flying into a tree, breaking it in half as it growled like a wounded dog. But I wanted more. I needed more blood. I needed to destroy it, I needed to make it pay for killing me. I wanted the monster to suffer, like all monsters should.

I got on all fours, frothing at the mouth like an animal with rabies, before the Bes could get up I lunged towards it, stabbing its chest with my antler blade as I twisted it deeper and deeper into its body, carving it up. I watched as it squirmed, and it gave me such a delight that I never thought possible. For a moment, I wanted to eat it alive, but my mind staggered back to somewhat normalcy before I could open my mouth.

‘End it quick. End it now! I cannot lose myself to this bloodlust. Do it!’

With that command, I angled my blade upwards, slicing open the chest of the Bes, completely splitting his upper body in half as their blood sprayed my body like a musk, giving it a death worthy of an animal as I stood over its body and roared like I was the beast instead.

I looked down at my kill, salivating as if I wanted more. That I needed more. I deserved more. To help my kingdom and my people, I needed to destroy those who stood against it, destroy the monsters that are a threat to it.

“P-Peter… is… is it dead?” A faint voice came from behind one of the rocks. I turned and looked, finding Matthias peeking out.

“Yes… Yes, it is dead.” I said as I began to walk to him. I needed to destroy my enemies. And my enemies were monsters. All monsters had to be culled to ensure that those I love would be protected.

So, for that, every monster had to die.

“And you will join in its demise.”