Mythics

When at Deaths Door

Fire engulfed the wooden huts as the citizens stampeded through the hamlet to safety. Thoughts and questions run through Colton's head, he pushed them aside and grabbed Ailine's hand as he took off with the mass of people. What was going on? Who could have done this? Colton could hear his heart thumping in his ears. None of it mattered, Ailine's health was the priority. Before long, the crowd came to an abrupt halt, he peered his head over the townspeople and immediately wished he hadn't.
He saw the faces of disfigured men, all presumably normals who had been possessed. They were clad in broken and rusted armor, each with a morbid dagger, sword, or maul in hand, carving into the helpless citizens. For the quick second he spent looking at the monsters, one word forced its way to the forefront of his mind, why? He collected Ailine, who was visibly terrified, and took off in the opposite direction. They soon found themselves at the edge of the hamlet, the only thing between them and an army of monsters was a wide open field. Colton swung to the right and ran along the edge of town, praying that they Hadn't been noticed.
As they passed one of the houses, a mass of mangled arms stretched from an alleyway, Colton ducked under the appendages just to feel Ailine being wrenched from his grip. He had no time to think about his next move, so he ducked into the alleyway and caught sight of a group of monsters with Ailine in their possession. Two members of the group fled with her, while the remaining three stood to face Colton.
He drew his sword and charged the beasts with a battle cry. His first swing buried itself into the first monsters shoulder, it shrieked as blood poured from the fresh wound, and fell to its Knees. As Colton recovered, he narrowly ducked under a maul, aimed for his head. He swiftly plunged the tip of his blade into its stomach, and wrenched it out along with chunks of the monsters ribboned intestines. He grew confident, but was careless as the third monster dug a dagger into Coltons side. He roared in pain and retaliated with a slash to its midsection. The creature slumped, lifeless.
Colton knew he had no time to check his wound, let alone clean it, he took off further down the alley toward echos of metal armor clanking together. As he ran, he couldn't help but think of what would happen if he was too late. 'No,' he thought to himself, 'don't think about that, you'll make it.' He swung around the final turn into a dead end and laid eyes on the two remaining monsters, huddled over. Colton stared in horror as flesh and blood was dripping from their mouths, back onto Ailine's mangled body.