Pandora's Box

Chapter 14: August

20 minutes after The Sealing

***

August felt the full strength of the cyclops as its' fist made contact with his stomach, sending him flying backwards. Part of August wanted to marvel at the Virtuo's ability to allow players to feel something so realistically, but he wasn't exactly enjoying that feature at the moment. Just one punch was enough to shatter the shield that August was holding and launch him ten feet into one of the market stands. This wasn't the most cushioned landing, and August was beginning to wonder if his character just had a really awful luck stat.

The cyclops roared as if to say yeah, your rng sucks, before directing itself towards August again. The attack had left August a bit disoriented, and he was having trouble placing everyone. Jesse seemed to have disappeared, although August didn't necessarily blame him for that. They'd only known each other for fifteen minutes, and that wasn't exactly an ample amount of time to warrant dying for someone. Past the cyclops, August could still see Jasper collapsed on the ground.

The cyclops took a step towards August, breathing heavily. Time was running out for August to come up with a game plan, and he wasn't really seeing any good options. He couldn't run, as the cyclops would surely catch up. Or worse, the cyclops would turn back to finish off Jasper. He wasn't exactly sure how he would fight though either. Sitting up, August glanced around, but there weren't any other weapons in sight. Part of him thought that even if there were, the dagger hadn't done much damage last time.

The cyclops took another step, and it bellowed a war cry towards August, as if to try and taunt him in to attacking. August, out of ideas, decided that he would need to try to get past the creature and scoop up Jasper. There was only about five feet between the cyclops and August though, leaving very little room to try to pull this off. Despite that, August knew that he had to try anyways.

Getting to his feet, August readied himself. He was still winded from the punch, but he tried to push that aside. The cyclops bared its' teeth in to what looked like a grin, but August was having trouble reading the cyclops' emotions due to his one eye and lack of eyebrows. August grabbed a piece of the shattered stand that he had collided with, fastening himself a makeshift wooden stake. Now armed, August launched himself towards the cyclops.

August remembered reading about a Greek hero named Odysseus who blinded a cyclops. Odysseus and his crew were confronted by Polyphemus, a gigantic cyclops, and they were only able to escape because Odysseus drove a wooden stake through Polyphemus's eye, successfully blinding him. August wasn't feeling like a Greek hero, and his wooden "stake" was looking a bit rough, but he was doing the best with what he had.

As August reached the cyclops, he pointed the sharp end of his wooden stake towards the cyclops' eye and drove his hand forward. However, just before the makeshift weapon could reach the cyclops' eye, it grabbed his fist, bringing August to a stop. With it's other hand, the cyclops grabbed August by the throat and raised him into the air. August desperately kicked at the cyclops, but the cyclops continued to choke him. He could feel himself starting to suffocate, his vision beginning to become spotty. In the background, August could see Jasper finally beginning to stir. He was in no shape to fight, but August silently hoped that Jasper would at least be able to get away before the cyclops was finished with August.

Just as August was about to pass out though, the cyclops bellowed out in pain. Staggering backwards, its' grip loosened and dropped August back to ground. August fell and landed on his butt, and he quickly scurried away, clutching at his neck as if to try to bring in more air. Looking back up at the cyclops, he was able to see why it had suddenly dropped him.